Sermon Text – John 21: 15 – 25
Sermon on John 21 – Do You Love Me?
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love ( agape ) me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love ( phileo ) you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love ( agape ) me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love ( phileo ) you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love ( phileo ) me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love ( phileo ) you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
“I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. ( NIV )
Do you love me? Imagine a loved one asking you that question, not just once, but three times in the same conversation. Do you love me? Of course I do. Do you love me? You know I do. Do you love me? By the third time, we would probably wonder if we said or did something that would make them doubt our love for them. We’d probably feel hurt like Peter in our text. Peter was the disciple who once boasted, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will…even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” Suffer and die for Jesus? Peter wasn’t even able to suffer the accusations of a lowly servant girl, calling down curses on himself and swearing that he didn’t know Jesus.
He had fallen a long way from the day he had confessed that “Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” The day Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you Simon Son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock ( the rock of your confession ) I will build my church.” Yes, Peter had fallen a long way, but not so far that he was out of Jesus’ reach. In our text, we once again see the love of our Savior as he deals sinners, like Peter, and like you and me. The sins and situations may be different, but the question is the same. Jesus asks, “Do You Love Me?” I. If so, follow me… II. And feed my lambs and sheep.
Jesus begins by asking, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Talk about a rather awkward after breakfast conversation. I’ve often wondered about the tone with which Peter answered Jesus that day. Was he even able to look Jesus in the eyes after what he had done? I say that because I wonder how I would have answered those questions. What about you? If Jesus looked you in the eyes and asked, “do you love me more than these?” More than family? More than friends? More than the pleasures and treasures of life? More than your career? More than your hobbies, your free time, your vacations? Your homes, your cars, your investments? What gets you more riled up in life, hearing about your favorite sports team losing, or hearing about someone who died without faith in Christ? We could think about the times we’ve sided with the politically correct rather than the scripturally correct. The times we’ve failed to speak the truth in love because people might get defensive or upset. The times we’ve neglected opportunities to grow in God’s Word because we saw other things as being more pressing, more important. Than Jesus?
It’s at times like these that Jesus asks us, “Do you love me…Do you love me…Do you love me more than these?” Take a look at the text printed out for you on your bulletin insert and you’ll see how two different Greek words are used for the one English word love. Agape and Phileo. Agape love is a self-sacrificing kind love, the word for love that Jesus used when he said, “God so loved, or agaped, the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Phileo love is a friendship kind of love, a God-pleasing kind of love, but obviously not as intense as agape love. Agape is the word for love that Jesus used in his first two questions to Peter, but notice the word for love Peter uses in return. Phileo love. Why do you think that is? As one commentator writes, “the painful memory of his shameful denial would not allow Peter to claim the kind of agape love that Jesus had for him.” He had promised to die for Jesus, not deny him!
Twice Jesus asked the question using agape love, twice Peter responded to the question using phileo love. Finally Jesus asked him the third time, “do you love me?” This hurt Peter, not only because it was the third time Jesus asked it, but notice the word for love Jesus used in asking it. Not agape love this time, but rather phileo love. Almost as if to say, “Simon, son of John, I understand how you can’t claim to love me with the kind of agape love I have for you, you haven’t even been able to love me with the kind of phileo love you claim to have for me. Do you truly hold me as the nearest and dearest friend you have in life?” It was a question that struck Peter to the heart. May it do the same for us.
Notice we don’t see Peter standing up to boast and brag about all the good things he had done for Jesus, surely those things must count for something! No, Jesus had gotten his point across and Peter the rock had hit rock bottom. He realized he had no feet on which to stand before God, no bargaining chips to prove that he was worthy of God’s love and forgiveness, no righteousness he could claim on his own. Relying solely on the grace and mercy of his Savior, Peter said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” It brings to mind the words of the hymn writer, “Jesus thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.”
Any pride, arrogance, self-reliance lingering in your minds? Any confidence in yourself, your works, your church and Bible class attendance leading you to feel that you are somehow worthy and deserving of God’s love and forgiveness? If so, Good Shepherd Sunday once again serves as a good reminder that, “we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…yet…the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” We don’t have a Good Shepherd who merely has a strong affection for his sheep and lambs, we have a Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep and took it up again to give them the sure hope of heavenly pastures. A Good Shepherd who called us to be his own and calls us to follow him and feed his sheep and lambs.
Jesus could have looked Peter in the eyes that day and said, “Peter, based on your past performance and in view of recent events, I’m afraid that we’re going to have to let you go,” but he didn’t do that. Instead with the same words by which he first called Peter to be his disciple on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus reinstated his disciple by saying, “Follow me,” and adding the words, “Feed my sheep and lambs.” This past week I came across the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on television. It was at the part when Charlie came clean and returned the everlasting gobstopper instead of giving it to Slugworth. Do you remember what happened next? Charlie was welcomed with the open arms and warm embrace of Willy Wonka! He not only received the lifetime supply of chocolate, he received the very chocolate factory itself! What a happy ending!
That morning on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Peter was once again welcomed by the open arms and warm embrace of his Savior. He was once again reminded of his Savior’s lifetime supply of love and forgiveness. And he was given the keys to the factory as it were. The privilege of feeding and taking care of the sheep and lambs of Jesus, the ones Jesus purchased with his blood. Jesus has given the same privilege to us. To be about the work of feeding the sheep and lambs of our Savior with the bread of life found in the pages of His Word, in church, in Bible class, in Sunday School, in our Christian Day School, in our Vacation Bible School. These are all opportunities for Jesus’ sheep and lambs to, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Feeding the lambs and sheep of our Savior is something that Peter would do faithfully in the years to come. Take a look at Peter’s life and one might argue that it did not have a happy ending. In a rather chilling manner, Jesus would predict the way Peter would die by saying, “’I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” Peter didn’t feel that he could match the kind of self-sacrificing love Jesus had for him, but in a way he would. On Maundy Thursday Jesus told Peter, “where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Church history tells us, “at last Peter came to Rome, where he was crucified, head downward; for so he himself desired to suffer.” …feeling unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Savior. He had come a long way from the proud and arrogant man he once was to realize that his strength was in Christ alone. In this sense his life did have a happy ending as he was welcomed by the open arms and warm embrace of his Savior in heaven. Heaven is the same happy ending that is in store for us by the grace of God through faith in Christ alone.
Peter made the ultimate sacrifice of his life for Jesus because that’s how important Jesus was to him. How important is Jesus to you? Peter’s sacrifice kind of makes any sacrifices we make for Jesus seem relatively small in comparison, doesn’t it? The time we sacrifice to sit at Jesus’ feet in church and Bible class. The time we sacrifice to serve in a position of leadership in the church, on the MCC, Servae Christi, to serve on a committee, to volunteer for VBS, teach Sunday School, staff the nursery, usher, play the organ, serve in Pioneers or the many other opportunities God gives us to serve. The time we sacrifice to lend a hand at a church and school cleaning party. The time we sacrifice to tend to the landscaping or shovel snow around here. The dollars we sacrifice to bring God the best in our offerings for budgets, missions, organ projects and the like. These are all small sacrifices we make out of love for our Savior who made the ultimate sacrifice for us through his death and resurrection. We don’t just do them for Good Shepherd our church and school, we ultimately do them for Good Shepherd our Savior.
Would you have trusted Peter after the way he let you down? Jesus did. Do you think Jesus can trust you after some of the ways you’ve let him down? He does! His continued love and forgiveness is proof of it! You could even say he’s counting on you to get the message out! That’s the kind of Good Shepherd we have in Jesus! Rescuing and restoring people with His Word. Calling people to follow him and feed his sheep and lambs. Yes, Jesus asks, do you love me? May the Holy Spirit enable us to always say, yes Lord, you know that I love you, but only because you loved me first!
Amen.
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