Deleted Scenes: The Comparison Trap (John 21:1-19)

First off, last Sunday was just amazing. Huge kudos to our kids and Kaleo volunteers/staff (Kaleo is our kids’ performing arts ministry). They put so much time into preparing for Sunday, especially in the week leading up it. To the four pre-teens who did monologues- Kyle, Ilke, Toby, and Brighton- that was a ton of memorization, and all of it pointing to Jesus! It was so good. If you were here, you know we had a Kaleo-infused band that led us in worship at the end of the performance- are you kidding me?! The talent and the heart that we saw there blew me away. The response we saw to the word also moved me deeply. I talked about Peter’s experience of redemption during the beach breakfast with Jesus, and invited people to come forward afterward who wanted to receive that redemption. So many came forward, worshiping and praying and experiencing renewal. We also had our first Christianity 101 class, and it was wild. I’ve never done that class with people who had so many questions right off the bat (which is a great thing!). On top of all that, we had the most people attend worship services on a Sunday in Bridge history as far as I know (breaking the record that had been set one week before!). Numbers themselves don’t mean anything, but what I’ve seen says that people are coming hungry for the Lord and are growing in their faith in Jesus. I’m so, so grateful for what the Holy Spirit is doing in our church. And I want to emphasize it’s Him. We pray, we make space, we surrender to Him, and He does the heart work.

I’m naturally a competitive, driven person. We got into the “connected fitness” world with a great rowing machine earlier this year, and knowing where I’m at on the various leaderboards motivates me like crazy. I easily fall into the same thing with ministry. How is our church doing compared to this church or that church? If people are choosing to go to another church, it must mean that I’m the worst pastor ever. If people are choosing to come to our church, it must be because we’re the only ones doing anything right. It’s either pride or despair, depending on how I’m feeling about things. Neither are good. Pretty clearly, it’s a distorted and profoundly unhelpful mindset to carry.

For that reason, the end of the Gospel of John has always hit me hard. This little article I’m writing cheats a little, because it’s not so much “deleted scenes” (as in, something in the text we didn’t cover sufficiently on Sunday) as “extended scenes” (as in, the very next passage). Right after Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him and to feed his sheep, Peter asks Jesus about John. John is following close behind them (lurker!). Peter and John seem to have had a pretty competitive relationship (remember the race to the tomb in John 20 that John really wants you to know he won?). Peter has just been given this incredible responsibility, but what’s on his mind? Where John stands. He asks, “Lord, what about him?” Here’s what Jesus tells Peter: “if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” (John 21:22)

That’s our job. That’s our calling. Not to stack ourselves up against other Christians or other churches and think, wow, we’re doing really great compared to those pathetic excuses for Christians over there. Or to say, we are just terrible compared to that cool megachurch, or that pastor with the massive social media following. Our calling is simply to follow Jesus. To listen for his voice, do what he says, and be who he’s called us to be.

So whatever is happening around us, let’s keep laying our lives and our church before him, and let’s keep running the race with our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus.