Do You Love Me?

JOHN 21:1-14

OPEN: About 50 years ago I went with my WIFE’S FAMILY on vacation up in Canada at a place called North Bay.
It was a great place. Beautiful lake, rustic cabin, and there was the fishing.
You remember the part in the story of the disciples out fishing where they’ve been out on the lake all night long?
That’s me.
If anybody’s not gonna catch a fish… it’s me.
Frankly, it’s a lot more fun to fish if you’re actually catching fish.
(Tell story about Jack and I making a bet on who would catch the next fish.)
The story we’re looking at this morning talks about another fishing story…

But the story actually began a few days before this.
A few days before, Jesus has had a Passover meal with His disciples and we’re told that “when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”
And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same. (Mark 14:26-31)
Well, we all know the rest of that story.
Jesus was arrested.
Peter denied Jesus 3 times before the cock had crowed twice.
AND all the disciples scatter like sheep.
It’s not their finest moment!

Three days later Peter hears the tomb is empty, and he hears about the angels and that Jesus has risen from the dead… and he runs to see if it’s true. And it is!!! The tomb IS empty!

But then we're told that that Peter "went away, wondering to himself what had happened." (Luke 24:12)

There’s a song called “He’s Alive” that tells the rest of the story this way: “…something strange had happened there, but just what, I did not know.
John believed a miracle, but I just turned to go.
Circumstance and speculation couldn't lift me very high.
'Cause I'd seen them crucify Him and then I saw Him die.
Back inside the house again the guilt and anguish came.
Everything I'd promised Him just added to my shame.
When at last it came to choices - I denied I knew His name.
And even if He was alive… it wouldn't be the same.”

There are many scholars who believe that that’s exactly how Peter responded to the resurrection.
He was despondent and filled with anguish.
It wasn’t that He wasn’t excited to see Jesus risen from the dead.
It’s just that he KNEW he’d betrayed Christ.
He knew he’d failed.
He knew that he’d made a promise and then did exactly what he said he wouldn’t do.
And when at last it came to choices - he denied he knew His name.
And even if Jesus were alive… it wouldn't be the same.

So, what’s he gonna do about it?
Well, he’s going fishing.
And he’s not going fishing for a couple of hours… or a couple of days… or a couple of weeks. He’s going back to what he knows.
He’s failed at being a follower of Christ, BUT he knows how to fish.
And it’s at this turning point in his life that Jesus comes to pay him a visit.
It’s been a miserable night.
They’ve been out all night and they’ve caught nothing.
And then this stranger appears on the shore and asks how they’re doing.
"Friends, haven’t you any fish?"
"No," they answered.
He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Now… why would Jesus do this a 2nd time?
I mean, I can understand why Jesus would have done it the 1st time.
He was trying to get their attention.
Trying to convince them that He was the one they should follow.
Trying to get them to realize they needed to abandon their fishing and be His disciples.
What I found interesting about Peter’s response to that first miracle was:
“When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8)

Now, isn’t that interesting?
Jesus did His first miracle for Peter, and that made Peter realize he was a sinful man.
And now Jesus has done that same miracle all over again all because Peter ALREADY believes he’s a sinful man.

And not just a sinful man… but an empty, useless, worthless man.
So, Jesus comes looking for Peter, because PETER needs “looking for”.
Peter needs something that only Jesus can give.
Peter needs forgiveness.
You know, people deal with their sins in the strangest ways.
Some folks deal with their sin by trying to hide it behind good deeds.
We call that kind of thinking karma.
Karma is the belief that if you do enough good stuff in your life you can cover up the bad stuff.
Peter had been a big believer in Karma.
That’s how he’d lived his life.
You see, Peter worked at being more righteous than the ones around him.

When Jesus said he was going to be betrayed – disciples would run away, do you remember what Peter said?
“Even though THEY all fall away, I will not.”
Why would he say that?
Because he believed he was more righteous than they were!

He wanted to impress Jesus with his superior righteousness so Christ wouldn’t see the dark struggles and doubts that lay just beneath the surface.
He was hiding his sinfulness behind the fact that he could be more righteous than anyone else.

Now, we can expect that kind of behavior from pagans.
That’s the only hope those outside of Christ have to feel good about themselves.
If they can just be better than their neighbor or their boss, or their friends they can somehow feel justified.
But there’s a lot of people in churches that are like that too.
They live their Christianity trying to show how much better than others they are.

They compare their giving to that of others.
They compare their superior attendance.
They compare their position and influence.
They are impressed by their own religious activity – because as long as they can be better than you are – then they can forget their sinfulness.

The Bible talks about that kind of mindset in 2nd Corinthians 10:12b
“When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”
In other words, if you go to comparing yourself with others in the church you show that you’re not very smart!

ILLUS: People like that remind of the story of the two men who were out in the woods one day. You remember the story?
They see a bear, and the bear sees them and chases them. They’re running for their lives when all of a sudden one of them stops, sits on a stump and starts to put on his running shoes.
“Are you crazy?” says the 2nd man. “You can’t outrun that bear?”
“Don’t have to outrun the bear,” said the 1st man. “All I have to do is outrun you.”

Folks like that think that if you can “out-righteous” the next guy (religiously out-run them) then God will pay more attention to the other guy’s sin instead of their own.
The only problem is you can’t out run that bear!!!

Unless your sinfulness is removed you can out-run/out-righteous anyone you want to… but the bear is still there.
Your sin WILL catch up with you.
So, one way people deal with their sin, is to try to hide that sin behind good deeds.
Another way folks deal with their sins by trying to hide THEMSELVES.

That’s what Peter’s been trying to do.
He’s wanting to go back to his fishing.
That way he doesn’t have to face Jesus again.
That way he doesn’t have to see Him and remember how he failed Him.
So Peter’s trying to hide from Jesus.
That’s what two other people in Scripture tried doing.
Remember when Adam and Eve were in the garden?
They ate of the tree they shouldn’t have eaten of and then they “heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they HID from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:8
Now, why on earth would they hide from Him?

Because if He didn’t SEE their nakedness maybe He wouldn’t KNOW they had sinned.

ILLUS: I’ve done that.
In the past, I’ve been praying and I get to the part where I’m confessing my sins to God… and suddenly I stop. And I think to myself - IF I tell Him about that sin, then He’ll KNOW what I’ve done and He’ll hold it against me at the judgment.

Now, what’s wrong with that picture?
Is there any sin you’ve EVER done that God doesn’t know about.
Of course not.

Even if you don’t confess your sins to God… He STILL KNOWS.
He knows your very thoughts as well as every word or deed you’ve ever done.
There’s nothing you could possibly do or think that He doesn’t know about.

The only way to fix the problem is to come to Jesus.
There’s a wonderful promise in 1st John 1:9 that says “If we CONFESS our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from (most of our) unrighteousness.”

Is that what it says?
NO. It says “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from ALL of our unrighteousness.”

But first I have to confess those sins.
First I have to come to Jesus.
But Peter won’t come to Jesus… so Jesus goes to Peter.
As I was thinking about this, a passage from Ephesians came to my mind
“everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” (Ephesians 5:13-14)

Jesus is the “Light of the World” and now Jesus has come to shine His light on Peter.
So, how did He shine that light on Peter?
Well, He sat down with Peter and he ate with him.
And they talked about it.

And Jesus wanted to confront Peter’s failure before it got worse.
When Jesus sat down with Peter, He didn’t condemn him or insult him or to reject him.
Jesus sat down with Peter to confront his sin, but He confronted Peter because HE wanted to win Peter back.

So He sits with him
and eats with him
and He TALKS with him.
And do you know what Jesus says:
“Peter, do you love me?”
“Peter, do you love me?”
“Peter, do you love me?”
THREE TIMES Jesus asks Peter that question.

Why would He do that?
Why ask Peter that question 3 times?
Well, for one thing… Peter’s a little on the slow side.
It takes Peter a little time to catch up.

We see that again in Acts 10 where God wants to send Peter to talk with the first Gentile converts. Three times God sends the same vision to Peter, because it takes a while for Peter to catch on.
But more even more that that, this is the most important question anyone can answer.
If you don’t love Jesus… nothing else matters.
Jesus once said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15

Notice, Jesus didn’t say if you want to be holy, or righteous, or accepted you’ll keep my commandments. He said:
IF YOU LOVE ME

ILLUS: I once read the story of a woman who’d been married to a very mean man. He didn’t like the way she kept house. He didn’t like the way she did laundry or ironed his clothes. He didn’t like the way she dressed. He constantly criticized her for everything.
Early on their marriage he handed her a list of 25 rules for her to follow.
She hated it… and she hated him.

You can imagine how frustrating it was to her to have to constantly check her list to see if she was pleasing him - and to staying out of trouble. She usually failed miserably and each time, he belittled her all over again and he made her feel miserable and small.

Then, one day much to her great joy… he died.
Soon, she fell in love with and married a wonderful loving man. They loved each other very much. She practically broke her neck to please him – and even brought him breakfast in bed.

One day, she ran across that old list, and the feelings of anger and inferiority returned.
But, suddenly she began to laugh! As she checked the list, she realized that she was now doing it all for her new husband.
Why? Because she loved him.

Peter… do you love me?

Sing this song with me
“Oh, how I love Jesus, oh how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus because He first loved me.”
Now, what’s interesting was that - after Jesus asked “Do you love me?” - He told Peter to do something.
"Feed my lambs."
"Take care of my sheep."
"Feed my sheep.”

If you love me: feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep.
WHY?
Because your Christianity isn’t about YOU.
Christianity isn’t about your personal desires and wants.
Jesus saved you… so you could become like Him.

You remember John 3:16 “For God so loved the world…”
Well, there’s a 1st John 3:16 and it says this:
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…”
Almost sound like JOHN 3:16 doesn’t it?
But then it finishes off this way:
“… and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
In other words - if you want to be like Jesus, you need to love like He loved.

Feed His lambs.
Take care of His sheep.
Feed His sheep.
Do you love Him? Then that’s what you and I need to do.
THIS is what love for Christ is all about.

(sing) “Oh, how I love Jesus, oh how I love Jesus
Oh, how I love Jesus because He first loved me.”
One last thing.
Until you realize you are a sinner in need of forgiveness you’re never really going to love Jesus.
Until you realize you need Jesus more than He needs you,
you’re not going to love Him like you should.
You see that’s what Peter’s problem had been all along – he thought Jesus needed him.
Peter viewed himself as Jesus’ muscle. His protector.
No one was going to touch Jesus as long as Peter was around. Jesus “needed” him.
Peter figured he was OK… just the way he was because Jesus needed him.

But it was only when he realized he’d failed… sinned…
he’d really messed up… that he knew how much he really needed Jesus. And that’s where this meal down on the shore helped him realize that truth.

From that day on, that was Peter’s message: you’ve sinned, you’ve failed – you need Jesus.
Everywhere Peter preached he made sure his audience knew they’d sinned.
At one point the Sanhedrin complained “… you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

Were they?
Were they guilty of Jesus’ blood?
Of course they were.
They had sinned and failed.
And so have you.
And so have I.

We need Jesus.
In one of his most famous sermons in Acts 2 Peter tells the crowd
“God has made this Jesus, whom YOU CRUCIFIED, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:36
He wanted to bring them to the point where they NEEDED Jesus. To the point where they wanted to LOVE Jesus. And when you love Jesus – you’ll keep His commandments
When they heard this (they had sinned) they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

If you love Jesus, you’ll come to Him on His terms

INVITATION