Sermon Central
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Do You Love Me?
Contributed by John Lowe on Feb 7, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus was the same after His crucifixion, as He was before His crucifixion. Although, He had lain in the tomb, and descended into the place of the dead, and then retraced His steps back to the land of the living, He remained unchanged in His behavior and
Do You Love Me?
Text:
15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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.”
16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep (John 21:15-17).
Jesus was the same after His crucifixion, as He was before His crucifixion.
Although, He had lain in the tomb, and descended into the place of the dead, and then retraced His steps back to the land of the living, He remained unchanged in His behavior and character.
His death, and His resurrection, could not change His character as a man, any more than they could affect His distinctiveness as God the Son.
He is Jesus and He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
And after His resurrection, when He appeared to His disciples, He still had His kind manners; He hadn’t lost any of His interest in their welfare; He talked to them just as tenderly as before, and He called them His children and His friends.
He was even concerned about their bodily needs because he asked, “Children, do you have any meat?”
And He was just as worried about their spiritual condition, because after He had supplied them with a net full of fish from the sea, (which He may have created just for this occasion) He asked them a question that would test the condition of their faith.
He began by asking the one that you would suppose would be in the most sickly condition, the one who had denied his master three times, and then wept bitterly.
He asked Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”
We are only going to look at three things in this event:
1. There is a serious question; “Do you love Me?”
2. There is a discreet answer; “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
3. There is an assignment made; “Jesus said to him, ‘Feed My lambs’ or ‘Feed My sheep.”
First, then, there was A SERIOUS QUESTION, which Jesus put to Peter, not for the Lord’s information, but for Peter’s benefit.
The question hurt, and Peter expressed his pain, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
It is good for us, especially after committing some unpleasant sin, to think about what we have done.
And Peter needed to think about what he had done, because sin can have an awful affect on our spiritual condition, and Christians should check themselves to see if their heart is tuned to listen to the Lord.
All of us should think about what we have done whenever we sin, and ask for forgiveness from our Heavenly Father.
It ought to be a daily habit, and we will need to do it for as long as we live.
Our Savior asked Peter this question, so that Peter could ask it of himself.
So, I think that we should also ask ourselves the same question this morning.
Let’s ask ourselves in Jesus name, “Do you love the Lord?” “Do you love the Savior?” “Do you Love the One who died for you?”
Notice what this question was.
It was a question concerning Peter’s love.
He did not say, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you fear Me?”
He did not say, “Do you admire Me?” or “Do you idolize Me?”
And this wasn’t a question regarding his faith.
He didn’t say, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you believe in Me?”
But he asked him another question, “Do you love Me?”
I believe that love is the very best evidence of holiness.
Love is the greatest of all the graces that a person can possess, and therefore it is the best evidence of holiness.
I believe that faith is the foundation of our salvation, and that love springs from it.
If we have faith, it is a sure sign that we are God’s children; but there are also the gifts of God and they are also sure signs as well, but many of them cannot be seen by others.
Love is perhaps the best evidence and probably the easiest to detect.
The person, who lacks love, must also lack faith.
If love is little, that is a sign that faith is little; but a persons who believes much also loves much.
