[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 05:00 p.m. or Wednesdays at 07:00 p.m. if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, you can find us
[email protected] dot. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Good evening and welcome to our midweek Bible study. Those of you that are online, we're grateful for your presence as well. Glad you're with us tonight. I am extremely excited for our speaker this evening. His name is Doctor Matt Sokolowski. He's a professor at Fried Hardiman University and is also the college minister at the Henderson Church of Christ. He and his wife Lisha have two daughters, and Matt and I have been friends now for a few years. And he's one of those guys that's just really easy to connect with, really easy to listen to. He's very smart. He has a lot of credentialed letters after his name, so I think that means that he's really, really smart. But he is a very down to earth, very deeply spiritual man and I'm excited for his topic tonight. Our whole theme this summer is on spiritual resilience, and his topic is dealing with mentoring builds resilience. So I'm very, very excited to hear what he has to say and share with us.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: Good evening. Good evening, everybody.
It is good to be here with you all. If you didn't catch my name, it's Matthew Sokolowski, which I know is weird. So most people just call me Soko. So that's what I go by most of the time. And it's really good to be here with you all. And I'm excited to get to share this lesson tonight as you all are thinking about spiritual resilience this summer. And so the topic that I have tonight is that mentoring builds resilience. The importance of wise counsel, and I would say that this is a much needed concept and a much needed type of relationship that we all need in our lives. In an age of influencers. We need more mentors and so tonight, I'm excited to explore this concept with you a little bit. For me, mentors have been so important in my life. A big part of, you know, I grew up in south Texas at a tiny church outside the Bible belt, and I didn't know anything about. I went to fried Hardiman. I knew nothing about it. But when I went there and then people that invested in me, and so I'm excited to be there, and in the same way, try to give back the way that people will important to me. And yet, I also find myself continuing to need mentors as well. And so, as we think about that, I want us to look at some examples we have tonight so that we can be encouraged to seek mentorship, whether we are a mentee or a mentor, or actually have both aspects in our life. So let's turn first to first kings, chapter twelve. You got to start here. It just seems like when you talk about wise counsel and an example of what not to do.
First kings, twelve. So this is.
I don't know what your bible says. Maybe in the category rehoboam's folly, right. So rehoboam, son of Solomon, he is now going to be king. He's going to be crowned king. And what we see in chapter twelve, verse three, the people come together. And so Jeroboam, who's kind of going to be when the kingdom divides, kind of. Jeroboam had been on the run, but he comes back to Rehoboam, who's going to be king. And he says in verse four, your father made our yoke heavy. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.
So Rehoboam says to them, go away for three days and come again to me. So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon, his father, while he was yet alive, saying, how do you advise me to answer this people? And they said to him, if you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.
Sounds like good advice. Right? Well, what do we see happen in verse eight? But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, what do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, lighten the yoke that your father put on us. And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us. Thus shall you say to them, my little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke, my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.
And that's what rehoboam does. He gives Jeroboam that answer to say, you thought it was tough under my dad, just wait till I'm king. And of course, that's going to lead to a dividend. So we have this classic example of rehoboam rejecting the wise counsel and instead going to his peers, who gave him some poor advice. Now, that doesn't mean that your peers always give you poor advice, but he had gone to seek guidance, and he went with the wrong guidance.
I want to look at more positive examples as we think about this evening on mentoring.
The term mentorship is not found in the Bible, and yet the concept is found consistently throughout. So if you'd like to turn with me to let's go to two Timothy first. So Paul's pastoral letters. Paul is writing to Timothy and Titus. He calls them children in the faith. He's writing to them about christian living and doctrine and leadership.
And I think we have a good example here. In two Timothy, chapter two, verses one and two, he says, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
All right, so you see this idea of, this passing on of information. So just as right, you've heard from me, teach it to others, who will then teach it to others.
So again, we have ultimately going back to Jesus, and then Paul is mentoring Timothy, who's telling him to mentor others, who will teach that to others, who will pass it along.
And you see, we all need more mature examples, more mature christians than us, to help us as we move forward in life, to pray with us, to encourage us, to challenge us, to admonish us, to build us up, to give us good advice.
And at the same time, while we need people to pour into us, we likewise need to reach back to others as well, to be a mentor as well. And so really, it doesn't matter what age you are, there's all sorts of opportunities.
I mean, even if somebody is in college and they think, well, who am I to be mentoring. Well, maybe somebody in high school really looks up to you. Somebody in high school is like, well, there's a middle schooler, right?
I'm thankful for the examples that my daughters have in just some of their older friends that are a few years farther beyond them to much older than them. And we all need that. We need to be having others to guide us and passing that along to others as well. If you flip over just a couple pages to Titus, chapter two, we see this is part of the rhythm in the life of the church.
So in Titus, chapter two, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women, likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good. And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind, submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned continues on there. But what do we see? We see this in the life of the body, in the church, these opportunities for relationship, for intergenerational relationships. A lot of times, sometimes we can divide ourselves by generations. But part of the role of the way that mentorship can lead to resilience, spiritual resilience, is to be able to get the benefit of the experience and the knowledge and the perspective and the wisdom coming from different ages. So oftentimes we think of the benefits of the younger from the older. But also, I think that it's a reciprocal relationship as well. And so we see this in the life of the church. And this is not a new concept. I've got a couple verses here that we can look at just to remind us of how we see this idea of the continuing on of the faith.
And one of the things I want us to think about tonight is how the role of mentoring and mentorship and wise counsel plays into this. So, for example, back in deuteronomy, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words I command you to today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way. And when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
So we see here this idea of, like, it mentions children here, but also, it's just all through life, right? When you sit in your house, when you walk, by the way, when you lie down, when you rise.
And when we go over to the gospel accounts in Matthew 22 36 through 40, we see that Jesus adds onto this, right? This is the first command, a second that's like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself, which comes from Leviticus, 1918. He says, on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. And so again, as we think about this, not only do we pass on and talk to our children, we also love our neighbor as ourself. But going along with this, we can broaden this idea to being part of the family of God. The importance of that passing on, of knowledge, of wise counsel, the statutes of God.
In Psalm 78, five seven, he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Again, I know as we talk here about father and children and kind of idea of family, but again, as we broaden this to be as the family of God, the important role that mentorship can play in accomplishing this goal. And you see there in verse seven, why do you do this? Why are you passing us on? Well, so that they should set their hope in God, not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. You follow along, and there are the verses right after that is actually talking. So they aren't like the previous generation that had forgotten God. So we can also learn from the mistakes of others and the previous generation.
And I know you're going to have another talk later this summer on the idea of iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another.
So again, to establish that even though mentorship, that word is not found in the Bible, we see this part of the role it can play in the life of our faith and in the life of our, of the body in Christ. So with that, let's take a look at a couple examples. The first one that I want to look at is one that may not be talked about quite as much but in Exodus 18, if you want to turn over there, we're going to spend a second there.
And so what's interesting here is it's Moses and his father in law, and his father in law, Jethro, was a priest of midian. But what happens when after Moses, the Exodus has occurred, he's at Mount Sinai. Jethro brings Moses wife and children back to him.
And Moses tells Jethro all that has gone on and how God has delivered them. And we see that Jethro in verse nine, chapter 18, Exodus 18 nine. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel and that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And he says this in verse ten, blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now, I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair, they dealt arrogantly with the people. In Jethro, Moses father in law, brought a burnt offering and sacrificed. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father in law before God.
So this reunion, Moses is updating his father in law, and Jethro is rejoicing with him, offering sacrifices to God. And then he's getting to see a day in the life of Moses.
And what he does, he offers some really sound advice. So you want to talk about tonight, as we're thinking about mentorship, adding to resilience, we're going to see that Jethro has great advice so that Moses can be resilient and continue on. So let's take a look at this in verse 13. The next day, Moses sat to judge the people. And the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses father in law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father in law, because the people come to me to inquire of God when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another. And I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.
Moses father in law said to him, what you're doing is not good.
Have you ever had that?
I love a person who, again, will encourage you, but also is not afraid to tell you, hey, you know, you could do this better.
It's like in course evaluations. At the end of each semester, I tell the students, I'm always up for constructive criticism. Right keyword being constructive, something that helps me to be better as a teacher. And so he says, what you're doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You're not able to do it alone. Now, obey my voice. I will give you advice, and God be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God. And you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. So you're going to still be able to do what you just said you have to do.
But notice verse 21.
Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you. But in a small matter, they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you and you will be able to endure. And all this people also will go to their place in peace.
So it continues on that Moses listened and basically followed Jethro's advice.
It's a great example of some wise counsel that is leading to resilience, so that Moses can still do the job that he has to do. But some insight from somebody that was a little bit outside the situation. That's another beautiful thing about mentorship, is somebody can come in, you're living the experience, and somebody can kind of come and see from the outside and say, hey, here's something you may not have considered.
And so this is kind of an interesting example, I think, this little story here in the middle of exodus.
Now, let's think about a couple takeaways that we can have tonight and maybe some examples that illustrate it. So as we think about this, mentors develop the next generation. And also tonight, we, of course, want to be thinking about spiritually. So you talk about mentorship, you know, in the business world or all those different things, there's all sorts of opportunities for mentorship. But especially as we think about spiritually developing the next generation, just as we had looked at some of those verses, right? Deuteronomy. Look at Jesus adding the second commandment there and how we can, you know, we rise up and we talk about these things, and we encourage each other going about life as we're doing life together.
So as we see this, I want to take a minute to look at Moses and Joshua.
If you go to, let's see, just right before chapter 18, in chapter 17, we see in verses eight through 16, this is where we're going to see that Joshua is chosen to lead the israelite army against the Amalekites.
And so that's in Exodus 17. So he's a leader in that regard. Then Moses also brought JOsHUa to the mountain when he received the ten commandments. If you flip over to ExoduS 24, verse 13, well, we'll back up here. We'll go to Exodus 20, 412. The Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.
So Moses rose with his assistant JOSHUA, and Moses went up into the mountain of God, and he said to the elders, wait here for us until we return to you.
So as I started to think about, you know, naturally, you think about JOshUA and Moses RelationShiP, and we're going to see how it ends with JOsHUa taking the next LeaderShip position. But really, it was interesting to start to look where you see JOsHUA come up in the narrative and that he's intimately associated with some things that I hadn't quite realized. So we see here, if you continue on, like in chapter 32, in Exodus 32, when they're coming down from the mountain, let's see, Exodus 30, 217.
So they're coming back down, and the people are, you know, this is the idol and all that going on. But in verse 17, when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, said to Moses, there is noise of war in the camp.
But he said, it is not the sound of shouting for victory or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear. And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf in the dancing, Moses anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
So we see that Joshua gets to see Moses in a variety of situations.
And not only that, but if you flip over one more chapter in 30 311, when it talks about the tent of meeting starting in chapter seven, how when Moses would go out there and the cloud would descend and the people would rise up and worship God, well, we see this little caveat here in verse eleven.
Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua, the son of nun, a young, young man would not depart from the tent. So Joshua has a front row seat, in many ways, to seeing Moses in a variety of circumstances and in his leadership.
And so it's not surprising in numbers, chapter 14, when the spies are sent over, Joshua and Caleb are the ones that we remember. Why? Because they came back with a good report. The ten. Well, they all had the same report, right? It's a great. It's a wonderful land. And they're like. We're like grasshoppers. There's mighty people and fortified cities.
But Joshua and Caleb, they're faithful in saying, no, God is for us in this. Don't turn back. And so we're not surprised that Joshua, there is one of those spies that is trying to encourage the people to take the land. And then, of course, we see in Joshua, in the very beginning of Joshua chapter one, where God basically says, all right, joshua, you're now going to be kind of in the position that Moses was in. We see in Joshua chapter one, verses. We start in verse five.
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. And he continues on to encourage him. There, we see that again, this is. It's natural. It's not like Joshua comes out of nowhere to have that role. This actually goes back quite a long experience. And I think, again, this is a kind of example where we see this modeled in Moses and Joshua, that he's training up right. In the same way, we need to be thinking about how are we contributing to that continuation in God's kingdom?
How are we pouring into others and helping develop them spiritually? Again, we go back to what was mentioned in Titus, chapter two, right? This kind of giving and mentorship role in relationship. Think about our elders, right? Our elders encouraging future leaders. They're pouring into the deacons. Or there's all areas of life, all areas in life of the church, in the kingdom that we can find ways in which we are instilling resilience for the next generation.
So, number one, mentors develop the next generation.
Second, mentors guide others in unfamiliar territory. If you'd like to turn over to Ruth in this great little book, just a few pages long, we see this relationship between Naomi and Ruth. So Naomi, of course, her husband, Imilic. I can't say it right. Elimelech. Elimelech has died. Her sons has died, her sons have died. And so she sends her daughter in law. She's going to go back to her home, to the land of Judah.
But, of course, we see that Ruth is going to stay with her. And we see that in verse 16 of chapter one, Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me. And more also, if anything but death parts me from you.
And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, no more.
Ruth is going to remain loyal and committed to Naomi. And Ruth, in her desire to care for her mother in law, wants to go and glean in the fields.
She says, in chapter two, verse two, Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him, in whose sight I shall find favor.
So she goes and she gleans. She so happens to be gleaning in a field where she encounters Boaz.
And what's interesting is in chapter three, as this short narrative plays out, that Naomi helps Ruth navigate the situation with Boaz.
Remember that Ruth is a foreigner.
She's an outsider.
But Naomi, even though she's gone, she's returned home. And her daughter, who's been faithful and loyal to her. Now Naomi is helping her navigate this unfamiliar territory.
Aren't there so many opportunities for us to do this in the life of the church?
So many different stages of life or situations in life where we need to turn somebody. I don't know what I'm doing, and you have somebody to turn to that can help you through that situation. When you go, I don't know what to do.
So not only when we are in uncertain situations should we look to wise counsel, but also we need to be in positions to be able to offer that wise counsel as well.
This is amazing, that being part of the body of Christ, that there's a way in which, for example, if you go through some sort of pain and suffering, nobody wants to go through that. But then, in a way, there's almost like God can redeem that in a way and use that in which it becomes a help to someone else.
I think about my wife, who's pretty private, but especially after a second. She probably had postpartum after the first, but it got really bad after our second daughter was born, and so that was an awful, terrible time. And so, again, she's pretty private. But, you know, usually about once a year when it comes around, she will share that because it was. Because there was somebody else that had shared something when she was in the pit of despair. And she reached out to me and said, help me.
And so then it never fails. Every year, there's somebody that goes, I haven't verbalized this to anyone yet, but I think this is what is happening, right? There's something that, as awful as it was and would never choose to go through that. There's all sorts of things in life that are like that, good and bad, in which suddenly we can help people when they're in. In a new situation that they don't know what to do.
They do not know what to do. We can play a role in that. Now, there are so many other examples that we could look at that we could kind of look through this lens of mentorship. We could think of Mordecai and Esther, Elijah and Elijah. But I would like to go to the Book of Acts, and I want us to think about the idea that mentors connect us to others.
You know, as we talked about the pastoral letters with Paul writing to Timothy and Titus, think about who's part of Paul's story.
You got to think of Barnabas. If you go over in acts chapter nine.
In acts chapter nine, we have the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. And pretty quickly, right, he is in Damascus, and he is proclaiming Jesus. So we see in verse 19 of chapter nine, for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying, he is the son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priest? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. So some time passes, and the jealous Jews are going to raise a plot to try to kill him.
And so he sent on the disciples lower amount by night. And we see in verse 26. And we had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
Okay, sure. Right. This is one way to get in the doors, right? So you can then drag us off to prison.
Notice verse 27, though. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him and how Damascus, he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And we see in verse 31 that the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.
Barnabas stepped in and helped kind of vouch or advocate for Paul. He was able to connect him because Paul had so much to offer that early community.
If we flip over another chapter, chapter eleven.
When you look in chapter eleven in verse 19, we have the church in Antioch where they were first called Christians. So when people were scattered because of some of the persecution, they're scattering and they're preaching the gospel. They're preaching good news, but they're preaching it to other jews.
What happens in Antioch is that there were some of them, we see that in verse 20 who were speaking to the hellenist or the Greeks, and they were preaching the Lord Jesus. And God is blessing, that it says in verse 21 a great number and the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Verse 22. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. Okay, so Barnabas, right, he sent as a scout to check this out, what's going on?
To see, like, on the ground what's happening. And he sees all the work that God is doing and then notice, what does he do? Verse 25. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called christians. Again, Barnabas is connecting, right? Barnabas goes, seize this opportunity and he's going to bring Paul and they're going to work together and so much so that they're actually going to gather an offering and take it down to Jerusalem together. We see that at the end of chapter eleven. And then if you jump over to chapter 13 when they, Barnabas and Saul have returned from Jerusalem, right? And in verse chapter 13, verse one, the church of Antioch is going to send out Barnabas and Paul on this first missionary journey. We see that in verse two, while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
You see this importance that Barnabas plays in the life of Paul, of bringing him into the community and getting him connected.
So as we think about this, we see the different roles that mentors can play. But as we start to wind down this evening, let's think about Jesus for a minute. Jesus is so much more than a mentor, right? He's our savior. But think about this ultimate example of a mentor. If we think about the way he invested in his disciples, especially the twelve, Jesus is long suffering and patient with his disciples. We see a lot of times that just the disciples, they don't get it. And again, we can look back and be like, how could they not get it? You and I wouldn't have gotten it either. Okay. Hindsight is 2020 in this regard. And so Jesus is so patient and loving and long suffering. If we go over to the gospel of John in John chapter 13, we see here when he washes the disciples feet in John 13 three, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Of course, Peter is going to have a little bit of problem with this at the beginning. And then Peter is Peter. And so we have that interchange. But when he's done in verse twelve, when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and lord, and you are right, for so I am. If then your lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you example that you also should do, just as I have done to you this idea of servant leadership. Jesus uses his words and his actions to teach the disciples. Jesus gives them the great commission, the same great commission that you and I have today that we get to carry on, too.
And I also can't think about help, but think about the compassion of Jesus. And I think this is an opportunity to think about as, as mentoring. An aspect of that is to have compassion, because sometimes you might be pouring into somebody who you're like, are they ever going to learn?
But keep investing, keep loving, keep serving.
In John, chapter 21, this is the third time that Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection. So he appears on the first day of the week, right? He's crucified on Friday, appears to them the first day of the week. On Sunday. He appears in them again the next Sunday when Thomas is there. And then this next encounter.
John says at the end of this chapter that this is the third time that Jesus has appeared to his disciples in this way. So they're out fishing. They've gone back to Galilee, which Jesus has said, head to Galilee as well. And when they get out on land, Peter, once they find out, they're like, it's the Lord. And Peter just jumps in and he's going. And in verse 15, when they had finished breakfast, this is 20 115. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him, the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
Jesus is not trying to bring up old wounds.
I think this is a redemption opportunity for Peter. And what's interesting is that you see in verse nine of first of chapter 21, when they got out on land, they saw a chart fire in place.
I don't know how much time exactly had passed, but remember, right before the crucifixion, during the trial of Jesus, Peter denies Jesus three times. He said, no, lord, I will be willing to die for you. And Jesus says, you're going to die. Me? You're going to deny me three times.
Well, it's interesting. In chapter 18, verse 18, John also tells us that when they're warming around that fire, that time of that denial, you know what adjective is given about the fire? A charcoal fire.
You know how we associate smells with things.
I don't know. This may be imposing too much on the text, but it's still a nice thought if it is but what we have here is that, you know, Peter's greatest failure, Jesus, is redeeming that moment.
And I don't know if this, you know, like I said, not to impose too much here, but, you know, these smells that we associate with things, instead of it being something that is Peter's worst moment.
Peter can think about the compassion and the redemption that Christ offers him and that he'll even die a death in the name of Jesus. He will die for Jesus sake. You see, Jesus has that same compassion for you and me today.
And as we have a few final thoughts to finish here on time, in John chapter 17, the prayer that Jesus prays right before he's about to be arrested, he prays for his disciples, but also I love and take great comfort in the fact that he prays for you and I. And how do I know that he's praying for you and I in verse 20 of John 17? I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
So not only those that saw him, but those who believe through their word. And that's you and I.
And that's the beauty of thinking about the importance of mentorship, that we can each be part of that chain that reaches all the way back to Jesus, that we seek out mentors, but also seek out those we can mentor and serve.
We all need spiritual mentors that not only point us to God and his word, but also offer those lived out examples, and not just the shiny versions of it, but the real life challenges and difficulties.
To get to see real life, to see the struggle, but also to see the beautiful redemption and hope that is found in Jesus.
As we think about mentors and wise counsel, building resilience, see that mentors develop the next generation. They guide others in unfamiliar territory. They connect us to others. Also, they connect us back to Jesus and point us to Christ.
Because in Jesus we have our perfect model of how we should live.
There's a real opportunity for us to strengthen the bonds in the body of Christ through these opportunities of mentorship.
Hebrews twelve we're encouraged in verses one and two. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
We're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We also get to be witnesses to one another. We get to help each other, to lift each other up, to bear each other's burdens, to encourage each other, to rebuke when needed, and all of it to pointing, looking to Jesus, the perfecter and founder of our faith, Jesus, who's not just a mentor, but who is our savior.
And there's the beauty of living life together in the body of Christ.
I know there are lots of other examples out there and maybe takeaways, but I hope this has been encouraging to think about ways that we can either. We'll do both and let us seek out mentors and let's be available to others to help mentor them. Let's bow together, shall we?
Dear Lord, we're so thankful for another day that you've given us the breath in our lungs, the opportunity to come here to gather together, to focus on your word. Lord, we fail you and fall short, but you redeem us. You offer us abundant grace and mercy. Pray that we can exhibit the christian life lived out in a way that is a shining light to others, to be salt and light, to be ambassadors for you, to get to live together in community, to find our identity in Christ, to have our purpose informed by you, to seek you, and to do that together with one another.
I pray that you would continue to watch over us and bless us and just thank you for the blessings that you give us every day. We pray, Lord, that you would put good people in our lives to help direct us and guide us, give us wisdom, most importantly, wisdom that points back to you. And may we also be people who look for others to reach out a helping hand and a word of wisdom to others along their path as well. And we look forward to resting with you one day for eternity. In your son's name, we pray. Amen.
