Cross Road

Baptist Church

© 2017

Sermon Text

If You Love Jesus – Show Some Sign

15. So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me more than these?” He said unto Him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love You. He said unto him, “Feed My lambs.”

16. He said to him again the second time, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?” He said unto Him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love You.” He said unto him, “Feed My sheep.”

17. He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?” And he said unto Him, “Lord you know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said unto him “Feed My sheep.”

John 21:15-17

Have You Ever Been Questioned By God?

Consider the timing of these questions that Jesus asked Simon Peter. It was after our Lord’s Resurrection. According to the record of John the Beloved, this was Jesus’ third post-Resurrection appearance to the Disciples. Why was Jesus appearing to them and what was next on God’s agenda for His followers? Jesus was preparing them for service. The Church of the Living God was about to be born. All the key players needed to be in place, and these Disciples, as weak as they were, were destined to become God’s mighty apostles.

Consider also the occupation of the Disciples at the time Jesus asked these questions. They were ‘reemployed’ fishermen because they had decided that in the absence of Jesus, they decided to go back to their old career. Although they had been trained as fishers of men by Jesus Christ, they did not feel adequate to take on the task of telling people about the Kingdom of God.

Lastly, consider the very Person of God speaking to Peter and the other Disciples. This was God in the Person of Jesus Christ. This was not an Angel; nor was it one of the great prophets. This was God Almighty eating fish with those He loved. John 21:12, Jesus said unto them, “Come and dine.” And none of the disciples did ask Him, “Who are You?” Knowing that it was the Lord. So, do you get the picture? The Resurrected Savior appeared to the Disciples while they were pre-occupied fishing and spoke to them as God because He is God.

Jesus spoke to Peter. This voice of God was not the booming Voice of Mt. Sinai but it was the Loving Savior of Calvary. Jesus spoke to Peter with words not of condemnation and judgment but words of compassion. Jesus asked Peter a question that would cut to our soul as well. Four simple words that you and I must answer if we are to ever have a full relationship with God; Do you love Me?

In these verses, God is questioning you and me about our love for Him. We sing, “O How I love Jesus.” Has the thought occurred that if God should question us, would we be able to answer Him? As a matter of fact, when we read these verses, we can hear God whispering to us, “what about your love for Me?” Do we really love God with all our strength, all our soul, and with all our understanding? Do we love God enough to care about His sheep? If we love Jesus, there ought to be some sign.

Why Would God Ask Questions?

So let us begin with the supposition, what if God questioned you and me about our love for Him; how would we answer? Why love? Why not the wisdom of God? Why not the power of God? This goes back to the greatest commandment given to man by God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. What I have discovered is that when our love for God is compromised, our service to God is limited. It is also true that when we compromise or fail to love God, we do not know how to love ourselves or anyone else. Why is that? When we don’t love God in response to His Love, then we don’t understand love in its truest form. As a result, our love for others and our love for self is distorted, twisted, riddled with ulterior motives, and based on nothing more than emotions and fleshly expressions. Let me break that down. A society that does not know the Love of God will find it easy to cultivate hate groups. A society that does not know the Love of God thinks the highest expression of love is sex and money. A society that does not know the Love of God does not value people. As a result, the poor gets stepped on; the rich get stepped up; the rest of the people are stepping to the beat of the world’s drum as they struggle in a dog eat dog society. No wonder we ask “baby, baby, where did our love go.” We should be asking “do we love God?”

So here is the Lord of Heaven, God Almighty, asking Simon Peter the question that really should be asked of every soul on the face of the planet: “do you love Me?” Let us understands that when God asks questions, that means something is lacking. Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me more than these? What was lacking? Peter was loving something else that competed with his love for God. Of course his answer was, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love You.” What Peter did not answer was the question of why these other things were getting in the way. You and I, we also have “things” that interfere with our love for God. God has said, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Yet those things keep creeping into God’s Space and stealing our love for Him. Let’s take a breath and ask what things have we allowed to creep into God’s space? Kids? Jobs? Church? Good times? Money? Sex? Drugs? Gambling? Anger? Worry? Pride? I can tell you that God will not accept anyone or anything occupying His Holy Place in your heart. You say you love Jesus. Is that right? Well, if you love Him – move “things” out of His way.

Let’s look at another reason why God asks questions. When God asks questions, some action must be taken. Jesus, the Lord of Glory, did not let Peter’s reply stand as the sufficient response. Jesus told Peter to do something. Notice this is a command, but it is not a command based on obligation or ‘a supposed to’; it is a command based on motivation; you can’t help but do it. Jesus was saying, Peter, if you love Me, feed My lambs. Verse 15. Then again in verse 16, Peter feed My sheep; that is if you love Jesus. We need to be careful making the statement that we love God if we don’t have anything to back it up. Talk is cheap. Love will make you put everything on the line. We have heard of parents running into fires to rescue their babies because they loved them. Love calls for action not song and dance. The entertainment version of love is poetry and stage performance. Real love gets its hands dirty in order to make things right. My question is this, what has happened to the Church? They can talk love talk. They know all the right words. When it comes to truly being committed to Jesus, where did the love go? If you love Jesus, you really ought to show some action. Take a deep breath now, and ask, “when is the last time, the Lord laid something on my heart to do and I ignored it?” Admittedly, I have reasoned with God that I could do it later or that it wasn’t that important. Do you see that God has every right to question your love? Here is the Good News; if you did not have the capacity to give love, He would never have asked the question. If you love Jesus – show it.

The question of love does not end with the question of what is lacking or what actions should be taken. Whenever God asks questions about love it goes deep into the heart. When God asks questions, He looks beyond our faults. Notice in verse 17, the question hurts until it heals. He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?” Jesus was not trying to break Peter, but rather to make Peter realize that the answer was not in himself. Peter admitted, “Lord, you know all things.” Don’t expect God to ask questions and then stop. God will ask until you answer. Don’t let God ask you, “how long will you continue in that sin?” Don’t expect God to get tired and just go away. That is not going to happen. He will keep asking until you repent and confess the sin. Remember when you were in sin – God saw your sin, but He noticed more the things you needed. God kept after you until He got the answer He sought and the answer you needed. He looked beyond your fault and my fault and saw the need. God questioned until we got tired and realized that God was not going to give up. I am glad that He did not give up. He kept asking. He kept asking. He kept questioning. Like Peter, we are grieved over the questions. We should be rejoicing that God is speaking to us and that He is drawing us to Him. When God asks questions, He is looking past our faults into our future. If we could see that the future is so much better without that nasty sinful life. Living God’s way and doing God’s will is greater than sin for a season.

When God asks questions, He calls us to follow Him. Think about it, none of us know where we are going. Yet we talk a good game. Peter said to the other Disciples, “I am going fishing.” We should be glad that God calls to us from the shore to ask if we know what we’re doing. In His questioning, God is directing us to focus on His plans and not our own. Jesus kept asking Peter for three times. He asked until Peter was grieved. He remembered that he had denied the Lord three times, now the Lord was questioning him three times. “Peter, do you truly love Me?” But don’t let that love end with words spoken; let it end with deeds performed. Those deeds and actions should be manifested in our daily walk with Christ. And when He had spoken this, He said unto him, “follow Me. John 21:19. Following Jesus means we can now operate in the Love of God. Following Jesus means God is responsible for us because we are obeying Him in love. Following Jesus means we have both direction and purpose for our life. Jesus really is the best thing that could ever happen to us. If you love Jesus like you say that you do – then follow Jesus like you are supposed to.

Show the Love

Where is the Love? Where is the love you have for Jesus? If you love Jesus then the action will definitely follow. The question is whether you love Jesus. Love calls for action. Love action expresses itself in three ways.

First, our love for God must be Undistracted Love. Verse 15, “do you love Me more than these?” Undistracted Love means there is nothing between my soul and my Savior. I am responding to His Love. Has anything ever stood between God’s Love and me? No, God never stopped loving. Love made a way out of no way. When sin threatened to get between God and me, God took it to Calvary. Love settled the matter. Mercy found me because of the Love of God. Now we have that same undistracted love because Jesus is living in our hearts. The old folks had a saying for undistracted love. “I ain’t gonna let nothing turn me around.” If you love Jesus – show it. Adam and Eve got distracted, but we can maintain our focus through Christ.

Another demonstration of our love for God is Unconditional Love. That is the kind of love that keeps on giving. Verse 16, Jesus challenged Peter to feed My Sheep. Feeding sheep is something that requires constant care. They must be fed constantly because they are always eating. You cannot take care of sheep some of the time. Some sheep will graze until they fall off a cliff unless the shepherd is there to care for them. Unconditional love is really all-the-time love. It’s the kind of love that God wrought in Christ when God turned from His Son to love you and me. Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” At that moment, God’s unconditional love was extended to every sinner. God did not stop. When Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished,” that meant that Love was complete. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s vein. And sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain. If God loved you unconditionally that means you know what love is. Now give to others what you have received. Show some sign.

Lastly, there is the Unprecedented Love. This is the kind of Love that goes past liking Jesus. This is the kind of love that you decide in your heart to make Jesus your choice. This is the kind of love that goes past your feelings being hurt. This is the kind of love that makes you take it when people say evil things against you falsely. This is the kind of love that makes you walk the talk. This is the kind of love that makes you say, “Lord you know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said unto him “Feed My sheep.” John 21:17. If you really love Jesus, you must get out there and see that there are people that need Jesus the same way you needed Him. There are people that if you don’t reach them, they will die in their sin. Where is the love you sing about? Where is the love you talk about? If there ever was a time when we need to show some love – let us show that love now. Talk time is over. Singing time is over. We must show the love of Jesus Christ.