Keychain Leaders

Scripture: John 21:15-19

God has a sense of humor, and I am convinced that the thing that God finds the funniest is irony.  Here is why I believe this is true.   The vast majority of times when someone says, God has a sense of humor they then tell a story about they ended up doing the one thing that they said they never would do.  I know that is my story.    In our culture we do this crazy thing where we expect a teenager to pick a career path for their whole life, and I remember doing that in high school.  While I had a couple of different options I was interested in before settling on history teacher, I did have a starting point.   I absolutely did not want to be a preacher.   As many of you know my dad is a pastor, and I was emphatic that I absolutely was not going to follow in his footsteps.   God has a sense of humor.  

Throughout the bible we see God’s sense of humor on display as people find themselves in situations they never imagined.  Moses went from softspoken exile to leading all of the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness.   Jonah was a prophet of God who took a message of repentance to Nineveh, the one place he did not want to go.   Paul went from trying to destroy the church to planting churches all across the Roman empire.   And in this morning’s scripture Peter moves from a fisherman who was full of shame and who thought he had blown his chance to being a shepherd for Christ.   It does seem when it comes to living out our faith, it is perilous to say “I’ll never do that” because there is a long track record going all the way back to the bible of people doing what they said they would never do or people doing what they thought they could never do.    We see that dynamic in this morning’s scripture, and it should lead us to reflect on two vital questions:  What might God be calling us to do and who might God be calling us to encourage, lead, or mentor into doing more than they ever thought possible? 

This morning’s scripture takes place after the resurrection.  According to the gospel of John, this morning’s events on the seashore are the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples.   In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives the message to his disciples to meet him in Galilee, and that is presumably what Peter and the rest of them went to do.  We do not know exactly when this was.  We know they waited at least a week in Jerusalem, and it is about a four-day journey to Galilee.   So, it is likely this event takes place roughly two weeks after the resurrection.

 I imagine for Peter this was a rough two weeks, filled with anxiety.   On the one hand he had to be filled with joy, hope, and expectation.   He had taken a huge risk three years prior to follow Jesus.   He had given up everything to follow something he believed was greater than himself.   Along the way, he had come to believe.  He was the first disciple after all to profess that Jesus was the Messiah.   He had to be elated that the grave was empty.   He had to have a lot of joy from when Jesus appeared to all the disciples and showed his wounded hands, to prove that it was him resurrected from the dead.   The impossible had happened, and it must have left him with wonder and awe.  

However, Peter had to also have a sense of dread and a gnawing anxiety.   When Jesus was in the most need, Peter had completely ghosted him.  Worse, just like Jesus said he would Peter denied Jesus three times.   Not only did Peter deny following Jesus, but he also denied knowing even knowing Jesus.   Peter went as far as swearing to God, “I don’t know the man” before the rooster crowed the third time.   As Jesus went to the cross this is where Peter stood in his relationship with Jesus.   Even after his grief gave way to hope, Peter had to be absolutely wracked with shame and guilt.  Even though Jesus had appeared to the disciples twice before, Peter still had some unresolved stuff to work out between them. 
            This finally happens in this morning’s scripture, and I cannot help but wonder what Peter felt.  I imagine he had the feeling of nervous energy, that tight ball in the pit of your stomach.  I imagine Peter’s breaths were shallow, too on edge to even take a deeper breath.   Peter was human just like us, so I am sure the worst-case scenarios were playing through his head all while he was trying to convince himself the best case scenario was possible.  It does not take much to imagine how Peter felt, because we have all been there haven’t we?   We have had moments of reckoning where we had to face the music for our failures, shortcomings, or mistakes.  All of us have been in the spot where Peter is and we were unsure if the hammer was going to drop.
It is possible that Peter thought he had messed up for good.  That he did not belong, that he was not worthy to follow a risen savior, and there was no place for him in the future. Jesus and Peter have their long coming heart to heart, and Jesus does not cast Peter out.   He does not yell out Peter, and he does not treat Peter to some sort of putative measures.   Jesus offers Peter a re-do.   Three times, Peter denied Jesus so three times Peter is offered the chance to affirm his love of Jesus, and that is it.   There is no warning to not do it again, there is no demotion, and there is no letter placed in his permanent file.  Jesus simply ends with the same request, that started this all for Peter:  follow me.  
Even though Peter did not have a perfect track record, Jesus still invites Peter to join in on the work of feeding the sheep.  As a lifelong fisherman, Peter probably never thought of himself as a shepherd but that is what Jesus is inviting him to do.  While Jesus is the good shepherd, he metaphorically hands over the keys, he entrusts Peter to do the job.  Despite Peter messing up, despite Peter not delivering when it mattered, and despite Peter being imperfect Jesus still trust Peter to lead.  Jesus does not back down from the statement that he is the rock upon which the church of Jesus Christ is going to be built.   By the end of this scripture Peter finds himself being not only forgiven and reinstated by the savior he betrayed, but he is entrusted with important, kingdom-building work.  
In the same way, it does not matter our past.   It does not matter how many times we have fallen short, it does not matter how many times we stepped up to the plate only to strike out.   God can and will use us.  There is a theological concept called the Missio Dei, which is Latin for the mission of God.   This is the understanding that the saving of souls, the redemption of all creation, the building of God’s holy kingdom is all the mission and the work of God.  Yet God, invites, empowers, and entrusts the church to be part of making God’s mission a reality.   Just like Jesus shared the keys with Peter and invited him to care for the sheep, God invites all of us and shares the keys to the kingdom with us so that we can build for it.  This means that all of us, that you can make an eternal difference in the life of someone else or a meaningful change in making this world a kinder and more loving place.  As testimony after testimony attests to, often the way that God can best use us is in a way we thought would not be possible.  We do not have to have it all together, because often God does call the equipped, God equips the called. 
I celebrate that many of you are already doing that.   You give of yourself to lead in the church whether it be serving on a vital work team in the church.   Many of you use your talents to serve and bless others by helping with funeral dinners or serving in the community at the food pantry, the school food bags, or many of the other ways you volunteer to make a difference.   Even if it was not vocational ministry, many of you have lived out your calling through your job where you used the gifts and graces that God provided you to make the world a better place. 
 I celebrate that many of you have accepted the divine invitation to join the Missio Dei, but that also gets us to the second question we should consider this morning.  Peter did just lead the early church and feed the flock of Christ by happenstance.  He did so because Jesus invited him and shared the keys.   So who are you inviting to make a difference in this world?  Who are you intentionally mentoring and who are you sharing your leadership keys with? 

​Often the way that someone responds to God’s calling, the way that someone begins to live in the greater purpose that God has for them, is because someone else nudges them to do it.  Again, this is my story.  I did respond to God’s calling on my life, but I still did not want to be a preacher.   I saw myself serving in the capacity of youth ministry and only youth ministry for the long term.  I served in that capacity at Avon UMC with Karen Devaisher as the senior pastor.   She saw something in me that I did not see.  She was convinced that I should preach.  I went back and looked at those early sermons, I cannot say what she saw-but she was unwavering.   She regularly shared her pulpit with me, giving me opportunity after opportunity to preach.   She was gentle mentor and a constant encourager.   I had convinced myself that being a preacher was not right for me, but Pastor Karen did not see it that way.   I can say with all confidence that if it was not for her pushing me and for her sharing her keys of leadership with me, then I would not be here today.  

Research from the Fuller Youth Institute has found one of the essential strategies for churches that grow young, that is churches that attract and keep younger people, are churches that share the keys of leadership with young people.  The research has shown that people ages 15-29 especially are looking for a role to play right now in the church.  This does not mean that we find younger people and have them do all the grunt work while we sit back and tell them what to do.   Leadership in a church should not require paying your dues and working your way up.  It should be about equipping the called, and those who have the experience are in the best position to pass on what they have learned.

Keychain leadership is what Jesus demonstrates in this morning’s scripture.   It is sharing the keys of responsibility, authority, influence, and access.  The way this is best done is not just handing over responsibility and saying good luck, but it is inviting someone to come along side, and then walking with them, encouraging them, and entrusting them.   Because remember the work of the church, the work of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, is God’s work.  It is God’s mission.  If we are engaged in the work of the church it is because we have been invited by God, and we have a responsibility to invite others.  

I realize right about now you might be thinking, that sounds great but we do not have a ton of 15-29 year olds that we can engage in keychain leadership.  That may be true . . . for now.   However, if we collectively decide and strive to make sharing leadership, encouraging one another, and inviting others to join us in the work of the church of the church-then we will be working to create a church culture that the research strongly shows young people want to be a part of.   This is because this creates a church culture where the words of Jesus from this morning’s scripture can be felt and experienced- Follow me. 

This morning’s scripture is a reminder that no matter what our past is, God can still and will use us.  If you still feel like you are searching for how you can make a true and eternal difference, then may you know that there is a standing invitation from Jesus where he says “follow me”.  You are invited to join in the mission of God.   If you feel like you are using your gifts and graces in a way that can serve God and build for God’s kingdom, then may you be willing to invite others to join you in the work.   May you be aware of the keys you hold, may you be willing to use them to open doors for some while training and entrusting others.  Wherever we are in our own faith journey, may we all seek to follow Christ even when it leads us to doing things we never thought we might do.   In doing so, may we help build God’s kingdom here on earth.