Many people have said we’ve become a disposable society.

Our pattern, if something stops working, is to buy a new one rather than fix it. Part of that is simply our economy and the types of things we buy now. Electronics change so rapidly and cost so much to repair that it makes more sense to buy new.

I remember the first car Elaine and I bought as a married couple. We were living in Southern California, the “hot car” capital of the world. It was 1991, and we had our eye on a 1987 Honda Accord. We’d given it a test drive, but decided we weren’t ready to buy. We asked the salesman to let us know when more like it came in, and he said, “Ok…but we don’t often get cars THIS OLD in on trades.”

The car was four years old! Apparently that’s too old for LA; most cars are traded in after two.

We have a fascination with newer and better.

One result is that we don’t have many examples of things that are repaired, reclaimed, and brought back to full use. If something goes bad, we throw it out and buy new.

How does that affect the way we view people? How does that affect the way we view ourselves, when we fail?

I think the world we live in keeps us from seeing an essential character of God. God is in the reclamation business! God never gives up on anyone, never throws even the most broken and failing people on the trash heap.

God’s like MacGyver, when it comes to people! God can take the little scraps of our lives and make something good out of them. God loves to heal!

With God, there is no such thing as a lost cause.

Jesus’ good friend Peter was a lost cause.

As we’ve followed him through the book of John, he’s made many failures; first he won’t let Jesus wash his feet, then he goes too far. First he says he’ll die with Jesus, then he denies he even knows him.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, how do you think Peter felt? I can imagine he had given up on himself as a lost cause. Even though he was glad Jesus was alive, I could see how guilt would overwhelm him to the point of despair, thinking he could never be of any service to God. I could see Peter waiting to be tossed on the trash heap while Jesus went for the new and improved model of disciple.

But Jesus will not let Peter consider himself a lost cause. In our story today, we see Jesus restoring Peter’s hope, and proving to us that no one can ever be written off as a lost cause.

READ 21: 15-19

No one has a failure so bad that God can’t use them.

Peter had done the worst failure and betrayal imaginable. He had denied three times that he even knew Jesus. This story is clearly a restoration of Peter. Jesus is demonstrating to Peter that there is forgiveness and hope. He asks him three times, one for each denial, “Peter, do you love me?” He gives Peter a second chance, and in the second chance is also the chance to do Jesus’ will again. It can be made right again!

You do love me…I know it…feed my sheep. Be a shepherd of people just like me.

One good thing about failure is it can break our pride.

Before his failure, Peter had boasted that, “I will lay down my life for you.” He often shoots his mouth off. He wants to decide how he’s going to serve Jesus.

In chapter 13, with Jesus washing the disciple’s feet, Peter even wanted to tell Jesus how Jesus should do things. His mouth could get ahead of his mind, even when his heart was in the right place.

But now, by the Sea of Galilee, his pride is broken. It’s hard for him to have Jesus ask the question, “Do you love me?” three times in a row. All he has left is to appeal to Jesus. “You know all things. You know I love you.”

It’s submission. It’s recognition he doesn’t have it all together. No bravado, no over powering sense that he will do it all.

Like Peter, when our pride is broken, when we give up dictating how God ought to be or what we think God can do, that’s when Jesus asks us to follow him. That’s when it becomes clear we have nothing left to do. “Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. I will follow you, and let you decide how things will go.”

Like Peter, we have to learn to give up control. And, again like Peter, that’s not an easy thing to do.

Jesus has reassured Peter that there is still a place for him in ministry, in being a disciple.

At the same time, Jesus also clearly lets Peter know how great the cost of following him will be.

Peter’s following of Jesus will lead him to the same suffering and death that Jesus himself suffered.

It’s sort of a weird couple of verses to our ears, but the part about stretching out the hands was referring to carrying the cross as Jesus did, with arms tied to the cross piece. Early church records tell us that Peter was crucified in Rome about 30 years after Jesus.

Yes, Peter, you still have a place as my disciple. But being my disciple means following me, molding your life after me. It means suffering like me, and you’re going to experience that completely. Don’t let the suffering sway you from your devotion to me, because I need you to feed my sheep and to follow my example.

So, being the saint that he is, Peter looks Jesus in the eye and says, “Ok, great! Let’s do it!” Happy ending, right?

Nope. Peter’s been restored, Jesus has given him an important responsibility, he’s been cured of his pride…but Peter still has very human reactions.

READ 20-22

Wait a minute, Peter says. What about that other disciple? What about him? Yeah, sure, I love you, sure there’s work to do-but do I have to suffer and die like you? Is this some kind of punishment for my denials? What about him, will he have to walk this path too?

Probably the most human reaction is to compare and to be jealous of somebody else. Peter’s made incredible strides, he loves Jesus, he’s willing to give everything he can to ministry, he’s even willing to die like Jesus.

But he wants it to be fair! Like all of us, he wants to know what will happen to someone else that he’s close to. He’s come a long way, but now there’s a little bit of whining:

“What about him? If I have to do this, what about him? Is this fair? Why me?”

Jesus’ answer seems a little harsh, but there is great wisdom for us in it.

“If I want him to stay alive and live a great life till I come back, what’s that to you? You have to follow me.”

Following Jesus isn’t a matter of keeping our eyes on others. Jesus never promises that following him will lead to fair and equal results for all of his disciples. And, we are never allowed to let others be our gauge. “Well, I may not do as much in obedience to God as so and so, but I’m sure a lot better than that guy!”

Our only gauge, our only responsibility, is to follow the path Jesus has set out for us. This story reminds us so clearly that Jesus asks different things of different people, and it does us no good to compare our journey with someone else’s.

It doesn’t matter, Jesus says, what I do in the other disciple’s life. It doesn’t matter for you one bit if his life will be easier or harder than yours. The only thing that matters, Jesus says, is for you to follow me.

But…

This goes against one of the major unwritten rules that some of us have. In the back of our minds is this idea:

“If I follow Jesus, my life will go well.”

I’ll be happy. I’ll be successful. I won’t struggle. Jesus is giving Peter a very different message: you will follow me, but you will be asked to suffer and give up your life in the same way I have.

Following Jesus does not guarantee a good life. Even more importantly, we cannot compare the “results” of our lives to the “results” of those who are closest to us. We can’t gauge, necessarily, how well we are following Jesus by how our life is going. We can’t gauge how well we are following Jesus by comparing our life to someone else.

The only thing we can know along with Peter is, we must follow God.

Peter is hope for all of us that it is never to late; there is no failure so great that it will keep us from being changed by the love of God.

Whatever you or I have done wrong…however we’ve turned our backs on God…whatever we feel our own personal faults and failings to be…Jesus is asking us the same thing he asked Peter-“Do you love me? Then follow me.”

The overwhelming love and forgiveness that is available through Jesus Christ is never more visible than in this story of Peter. And that love and forgiveness is made possible because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Two weeks ago, we celebrated Easter together, and talked about the hope that Jesus offered, a hope that took the worst things in our lives and transformed them into something good.

Jesus truly is alive.

Jesus truly does love you! And, his death and resurrection are what make it possible for us to be forgiven and to have our lives changed. His death and resurrection are the reason none of us are ever a lost cause.

Life with God begins with how we answer the same question Jesus asked Peter. Jesus, the living God, is asking each one of us, “Do you love me?”

Life with God begins by saying, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.” That’s our step. That’s our only responsibility. That’s the only thing we need to do to forever keep ourselves from being a lost cause.

If you are at a point of feeling overwhelmed by failure, doubt, and hopelessness, today is your chance to tell Jesus, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.”

And the promise of this story, the promise of the whole bible, the promise of the good news about Jesus Christ is that God’s great love for us knows no limits. God will not reject anyone who comes to Jesus Christ.

No one is a lost cause. God’s love is there for us all. And, when we tell Jesus we love him, we’ll here the same words Peter did: “Come, Follow me.” Loving Jesus leads us outward! Loving Jesus leads to service and ministry. How will you love Jesus today?