Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 48 – December 1992

 

Do You Love Me?

 

Sermon by Rev. John Haverland on John 21:15-19

Reading: John 13:31-38, 18:15-18, 25-27

Singing. 437, 459, 441 (Psalter Hymnal)

 

Beloved congregation,

At some time or other all of us have had a difference of opinion with someone who is close to us.  Maybe with our husband or wife or a close friend.  Sometimes those differences or arguments aren't settled properly; they aren't dealt with; they aren't brought out into the open.

So they simmer beneath the surface.  They make us feel uncomfortable with the other.  Something has come between us.  There is some uneasiness there.  Things aren't quite the same.

That uneasiness continues until we make up with that person; until we clear the air.  We may do that either by bringing the matter up in a direct way, or by dealing with it indirectly.

This sort of tension is the background to these verses in John 21.  There was something between Jesus and Peter.  Something that Peter had done and that sat there in the back of his mind.  Something that needed to be cleared up.

Peter had denied his Lord.  Not that he ever thought he would.  'I will lay down my life for you', he had boasted.  Yet despite his big talk and his arrogant confidence, he had forsaken his Lord and denied him three of times.

Here, in an indirect way, Jesus goes back to Peter's denial.  As he does so He calls him to love him, to shepherd his church, and to follow him.

These are the things we want to look at in this passage

We will consider how Jesus calls Peter,

1.  To love Him

2.  To shepherd His church

3.  To follow Him.

1.  Jesus calls Peter to love Him.

I'm sure this story is familiar to you.  It occurred after the resurrection.  The disciples had met Jesus again after a night's fishing on the sea of Galilee.  Jesus had invited them to breakfast.  It was still early in the morning.  The disciples had just finished their meal and were sitting around the dying embers of the fire.

Then Jesus turned to Peter: 'Simon, son of John'.  It is significant that Jesus addressed him like this.  He took him back to the time when He called him and had renamed Simon as Peter, the rock.  Here Jesus did not address Peter the Rock, but the Simon who had not stood firm, the Simon who was impulsive and self-confident.

'Simon, son of John do you love me more than these??  It is not entirely clear just what Jesus was referring to in this comparison.  Some suggest that he was referring to the boats and the fish and the fishing gear.  'Do you love me more than you love this life of fishing?'

But it is more likely that Jesus was referring to the other disciples.  Peter had compared himself to the other disciples and had boasted of his devotion to his master.  'Even though all fall away I will not'.

Jesus asked him if he would make that boast again: 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these men love me?'

The question filled Peter with a sense of shame.  With the other disciples sitting there listening he was reluctant to make that boast again.  He had learnt something from his fall.

So he didn't answer that part of the question.  Instead he only responded to the question about love.  'Yes Lord, you know that I love you.  I don't want to compare my love to that of others, but I do love you'.

In this passage John uses two different words for love, a difference that is reflected in the NIV translation where one is translated as truly love and the other as 'love'.  There is much discussion in the commentaries as to whether or not this difference is significant.  Most agree that the difference is simply stylistic.  It seems wise not to build too much on a minor and disputed difference.

Yet having said that we do need to recognise that Jesus is probing the depth of Peter's love.  He came back with a second question: 'Simon, son of John, do you love me??  This time the question was more searching, more penetrating.

He didn't ask if his love was greater than that of the others, but whether it was there!  Whether it was present!  Do you truly love me?  Do you really have a love for me in your heart?

Peter responded in the same way as before.  He again affirmed his love for Jesus.  ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.'

But then Jesus came back with a third question: This really stunned Peter.  He suddenly realised that Jesus was replaying his denial!

He remembered how vehemently he had denied ever knowing of Jesus.  He recalled hearing the cock crow.  He saw again in his mind the pain on Jesus' face as He had turned and looked straight at him.  He felt again the bitter tears of sorrow and repentance as he had rushed out and wept over his sin.

Jesus probed Peter deeply.  He wanted him to face what he had done.  He wanted to bring it out into the open so he could clear it up, so it need never stand in the way again.

But the question went through Peter like a knife!  John who sat there through this whole conversation tells us that Peter was hurt' when Jesus asked him this.  He was grieved, saddened.

You can imagine that his final reply was said with tears in his eyes.  That his voice was broken and choked.  'Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you!  Lord you know me, you know what I'm like, you know my heart, you know that I love you!'

What Peter said was quite true.  Jesus does know us.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.

There is great comfort in this for us?  He knows that we want to love him.  We stumble and fall and fail our Lord, but still we want to love Him!

'More love to thee O Christ, more love to thee,
 Hear thou the prayer I make, on bended knee,
 This is my earnest plea, more love Christ to thee,
 More love to thee, more love to thee.’

Is that your prayer?  Do you love Jesus?  Do you want to love him more?  Do you want to demonstrate that love in a life of service?

These questions bring us to the second point to notice in this passage.  Jesus not only called him to love Him.  He also called him...

2.  To shepherd His church.

Jesus' commands to Peter are a little unexpected.  We might have thought that Jesus would have said: ’Yes, I know that you love me.  I love you too.'  That might have given him some confidence and hope.

Yet the issue here wasn't whether or not Jesus loved him.  For He did.  That was never in doubt.  He had proved that by laying down his life for his friends.

What was in doubt was Peter's place amongst the disciples.  He had denied his Lord.  Did he still belong there after his denial?  Was his record clear?  Was there still a task for him to do?

The answer was, 'yes'!  By God's grace!  In a public setting, before the rest of the disciples, Jesus gave Peter a job to do, a task to perform.

Earlier He had told him he would be a fisher of men.  Now He changed the analogy and told him he would be a shepherd of sheep.

Very soon Jesus would establish the New Testament church.  The church He purchased with His own blood.  The church over which He is the Shepherd.

But the chief shepherd appoints under-shepherds.  Peter was one of them.  Along with the other disciples he was one of the key pastors of the early church.

God hasn't appointed guards over the church, or army generals, or kings.  No, He has appointed shepherds.  Men who are called to care for those in the church as a shepherd cares for his sheep.

That's what the word 'shepherd' refers to; to the broad task of looking after sheep: feeding them, tending them.

This is a task that God assigns to the pastors and elders today.  It is their task to meet the needs of those in the church:

- To provide food from God's Word

- To comfort and encourage

- To protect and guide

- To watch over and serve

- To lead and be examples.

This is the job description for those who are office-bearers.

But this doesn't just apply to the pastor and elders of the church.  It applies to all of us.  Each one of us is called to serve the Lord in whatever task He calls us to do.  We are to meet whatever needs we see around us.

Just as a flock has different kinds of sheep, so too the church has different kinds of people in it.  Some are still drinking milk.  Some are hurting and weary.  Others are struggling and discouraged.

Still others are healthy and need plenty of solid food.  We are all to care for each other according to the gifts God has given to us, and according to the needs others have.

It is a task to be performed in love.  It is significant that the one question Jesus had for Peter before giving him this task was the question: 'Do you love me??’  If he was to truly serve Jesus he had to truly love him.  Love, says one writer, is the basic qualification for Christian service; the indispensable requirement.  Without love, says Paul, all our work and service is empty and vain, a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

So we are to serve Jesus, with love.  In doing this we are following him.  This is the final point we want to note in this passage.

3.  That Peter was called to follow Jesus.

Jesus had called him to be a disciple.  A disciple is one who follows.  Peter had tried to do this, but he had not followed his master consistently or continuously.

Jesus reminded him again of his calling to be a disciple: 'Follow me!’

The verb is a present imperative which means that the sense is: Keep on following me!  Follow me and keep on doing this.  Follow me continually, constantly, steadfastly.

We know that Peter did this.  He sought to follow his Lord: He was prepared to deny himself, take up his cross and follow him.  He was prepared to do this despite suffering, pain, imprisonment and even finally, as Jesus hinted at here, a death on a cross.

This should be an encouragement and an example to us.  We too are called to be disciples of Christ, followers of the Master.  We know that we have often failed him or denied him.  We know that we have said things and done things that have caused him sorrow.  We have at times fallen far and deep into sin.

But here the Holy Spirit reminds us that despite our failings, our falls, our sin, Jesus restores the repentant sinner.  Then he calls us to love him, to serve him, to follow him.

To love Him with all our heart, and mind and strength.  To follow him with everything in us.  To follow him wherever he leads us.

Are you willing to do this?

AMEN