WWUTT 1016 Peter, Do You Love Me?

Three times, Peter denied that he knew Jesus. And three times, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, reinstating Peter and commissioning him to go out and feed his sheep. When we understand the text.

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John 21 and the Commissioning of Peter

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the gospel of John and looking at finishing our study of John this week. Today we're in chapter 21 and we'll be looking at verses 15 through 19. The apostle John wrote, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

And Peter said to him, yes, Lord. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter said, yes, Lord. You know that I love you.

And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said this a third time. Do you love me? And Peter said to him, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

This he said to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me. Now, just to give you an idea where we're going here this week, today we're looking at this commission that Jesus gives to Peter in verses 15 through 19.

And then in the last section of John, when Jesus talks about what he is going to do with the apostle John, the one who is writing this gospel, that will be in verses 20 through 25. And then we'll close that out tomorrow.

And then Wednesday, kind of do a summary. We'll go back through and talk about everything that we've studied over the course of the past year. We started this study in September at the end of 2018. And so we'll kind of do a recap of everything.

Do once again, a summary of all of the gospel of John that we have been through. So here in verse 15, it says, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus begins talking to Simon Peter. If you'll recall, where we left off last week, the disciples, the Passover was over.

So they went back to Galilee and decided to go fishing. It's almost like they were resuming their livelihood again. Still not in the understanding that Jesus was calling them to be fishers of men. So they go back to fishers of fish and they're on the lake.

They don't catch anything all night long. Jesus is on the shore. He tells them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. They bring in just this massive catch and John knows it's the Lord. Peter jumps in the water.

He's the first one out there to get to Jesus. And then Jesus gets some of the fish that they've caught and makes them breakfast. It says, this is the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

That was verse 14. And Jesus in eating breakfast with them is showing them, look, I'm eating, I'm not a spirit, I'm not a ghost. This really is my body that has been raised from the dead. And here I am with you, supping with you.

So then over breakfast, Jesus is talking now to Simon Peter and says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And you probably understand the significance of Jesus asking him this three times.

Because if you'll recall, Peter denied Jesus three times. And this would have been, just like a little more than a week before all of this that's taking place here, two weeks before or something like that, where Jesus had been arrested.

He was taken to be tried and eventually to be turned over to Pilate. And it's while Jesus is under trial that there are people coming to Peter and saying, hey, you're one of his disciples. We recognize you.

We know you're a Galilean. We know you're with this man. Three times he was pressed on this and Peter denied that he ever knew Jesus. All three of those times, according to what Jesus had prophesied about him.

All four gospels record Jesus saying to Peter that before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And so because Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus asks him three times, Peter, do you love me?

It's in Matthew chapter 26, starting in verse 30, where we read the following. When they had sung a hymn, this is right after the institution of the Lord's supper. They sing a hymn and they go out. By the way, just kind of a side note here.

Whenever we do the Lord's supper in our church, we close the same way. We close with a hymn just because that's what they did when Jesus finished giving this supper to his disciples. They sang a hymn and they went out to the Mount of Olives.

And so we do the same thing. We'll partake in the Lord's table and then we'll all join hands in the sanctuary. Sometimes we make a full circle all the way around the sanctuary and we sing a hymn together.

So Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. That's Matthew 26, 31. You will all fall away because of me. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. So that said in Matthew, and that's what we see going on here in John. Jesus has gone ahead of them to Galilee. So the disciples think that they've arrived there first and that's why they're fishing, but Jesus has already preceded them there.

And so this is in fulfillment exactly what Jesus had told to the disciples. And remember that Matthew, Mark and Luke had been written prior to John. So some of what John is writing here, even after 70 AD, he's showing how some of those things that people may have been familiar with according to Matthew, Mark or Luke's gospel, how they were fulfilled.

John is kind of adding a little bit more understanding or clarity to the gospel account. So again, Jesus says, after I'm raised up, I'm gonna go before you to Galilee. And Peter answered him, verse 33, though they all fall away, though these all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.

And Jesus said to him, truly I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And all the rest of the disciples said the same.

It's just astounding, we might think that the disciples would even argue with Jesus, but would we have been any better if we had been in that particular situation? The only reason we know better and we can kind of snicker at the fact that the disciples are arguing with God, the King of Kings, is because we know the story.

Like we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, as Peter said in 2 Peter 1. And so it's because of that, we can be wiser to these things because the Holy Spirit has showed us with clarity, these things as they were prophesied and as they took place, as they were fulfilled.

So we know the story, we can read it with that kind of dramatic irony, because we know exactly how this is going to come out. But the disciples, you know, standing right there before Jesus, they're confident, they think, no, I'm so devoted to my Lord, I am not going to deny you.

Peter said it, all the rest of the disciples said the same. So with that in mind, with that exchange that happened there before Peter then of course goes out and denies Jesus three times, you have Jesus asking Peter, Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?

Now, what are the these that Jesus is referring to? Well, in light of Matthew 26, these are the other disciples. Jesus is saying, do you love me more than these other disciples love me? Now I've heard this interpreted multiple ways and I don't think anybody's necessarily wrong in the way that they interpret this.

Some will say, do you love me more than these? Meaning like the fishing boat and the nets that were there, because that's what they just got done doing. They were fishing. Jesus called them to be fishers of men and they're not doing that.

They went fishing instead. Jesus is saying, do you love me more than you love this little occupation that you had over here? Because I'm about to tell you to go feed my sheep, to go and do something else.

But that isn't necessarily the context. Remember that when Jesus was standing on the shore and called to them to throw their nets on the other side, John was the one that recognized him. Peter in his zeal is the first one in the water.

Can't even wait for the boat to get to shore. He is gonna get there to his Lord and he is gonna be the first one. He would have been the first one to the tomb, to the empty tomb, if it wasn't for the fact that John was just younger and more spry and outran him and got there first.

But Peter was the first one to get into the tomb to see that the body wasn't there. So we see Peter's zeal and we've seen it the whole time. Even with Peter saying in Matthew 26 though, these all fall away.

I will never deny you. He can talk a big game. But remember as Jesus said to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. And Peter's flesh was certainly weak in this particular case.

He could talk it, but he couldn't do it. And so the these here, do you love me more than these? Even in context, according to what John is saying in John 21, in fulfillment to what we see in the other gospels and even in the context of John 21, these are the other disciples.

Jesus is saying, do you in your zeal for me, do you love me more than these others? And Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. And that's the way Jesus reply is gonna be though.

Though Peter almost seems to get kind of frustrated with the way Jesus is saying these things. Jesus consistently is gonna be saying, feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. He's giving the role of a shepherd to Peter.

Peter kind of being an under shepherd here. This is the commissioning that Jesus is giving to Peter that he would go out and shepherd the people of God. And you see this kind of come into Peter's first letter in fact, in first Peter chapter five, regarding the instruction to elders to shepherd the flock of God.

This is what we read in first Peter five, one through five. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

And note there that Peter says, I'm talking to you elders as a fellow elder. I'm talking to you shepherds as one who also shepherds. And it's that word that is used for shepherd where we get the word pastor, because that's what pastor means.

Pastor means shepherd. So Peter says exactly what Jesus said to him. First Peter five two, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you.

Not for shameful gain, but eagerly. So you don't do it to please yourself, but you are eager to please God. Just as Peter was, he was indeed eager to please his Lord. I'm gonna expound on that a little bit more as we go through John 21.

But continuing this instruction in first Peter five, not domineering over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. In Hebrews chapter 13, it says that we are to imitate the faith of those who taught us the faith.

And we are to desire to be like them. Paul said to the Corinthians in first Corinthians 11 one, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. So likewise, we have examples that we are to follow that are to show us a model of mature Christianity.

And a pastor is to aspire to certain qualities. There are definitely certain characteristics, qualifications that a pastor is supposed to have. We read about those in places like first Timothy chapter three, one through seven, or in Titus chapter one, verses five through nine.

But when you look at those qualifications for a pastor, they're really not all that outstanding. There are things that all of us as Christians should aspire to, not just a person who is a pastor. So a pastor is gonna be a model to his congregation of a mature Christian.

And that's what Peter is saying to the shepherds here. He's saying that you need to be examples to the flock. You're not there to domineer over those in your charge, but you're there to be examples to the flock.

As Peter has learned to do this, and he is saying the same to the rest of those elders that he is writing to in Asia Minor in this particular letter. Verse four, he says, and when the chief shepherd appears, so we're all under shepherds, under the instruction of Christ.

When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. And then there's also instructions for those members of the congregation that they would be in submission to those who are over them as shepherds of the flock.

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, the shepherd humility toward the sheep and the sheep also in humility toward the shepherd, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

So there you have Peter having learned what Jesus was commissioning of him to go out and do, to feed my sheep. And you see it right here, even in his first letter, first Peter five, one through five. As Jesus had told me to feed the sheep, Peter is saying as an apostle is one sent with the word of Christ.

So I say to you, fellow elders, pastors, those who have the flock of God under your charge, you likewise need to feed the sheep, feed his lambs, tend to the flock of God. So we go on here in John chapter 21, Jesus said to him a second time, Simon son of John, do you love me?

And Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. And I don't really know that there's supposed to be any kind of distinctive in the three different ways that Jesus tells Peter to go and feed his sheep.

I don't know that for sure. If there's something distinct in each of these three ways, because the first one he says, feed my lambs. The second one he says, tend my sheep. And the final one he says, feed my sheep.

So is there supposed to be a difference there or is Jesus just trying to be extremely thorough in this instruction that he is giving to Peter to do? Lambs has a little more individual quality to it. Sheep is definitely more of the flock.

So maybe Jesus is saying where individual care is necessary, then you need to show individual care. And when it comes to considering the entire flock, the whole church, that body that is gonna be underneath you, you need to care for them as well.

And then feed my sheep again, maybe it's even a broader context. We're going to all of Christendom. Everyone who is a brother or a sister in Christ, you will have a responsibility toward. Maybe that's what it is that Jesus intends.

I don't know that for sure. Little bit of conjecture on my part. But there's some differences, at least in the language, the way that Jesus says to Peter, feed my sheep, but we're not really given much in terms of knowing why there's a difference, other than Jesus just being thorough, saying, hey, I'm telling you to feed my sheep.

How many ways can this be said to Peter so that Peter will get it? And so again, the second time, Peter says to him, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus says to him, tend my sheep. And then in verse 17, he said to him the third time, Simon, son of John.

And it's just interesting that he includes that again, which is the address that he gave all three times. Simon, son of John. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon, son of John. Very particular. I'm speaking specifically to you, my brother.

Do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. And I've preached on this particular section before.

And one of the things that I've said is, I really think that Peter's mind might even be going to the Psalms where David has prayed to God to search his mind and heart. Psalm 7, 9, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God, you will establish the righteous.

Psalm 11, 4, his eyes test the children of man. Psalm 11, 5, the Lord tests the righteous. Psalm 17, 3, you have tried my heart. You have visited me by night. You have tested me. Over and over again, David prays and asks that he might be tested.

Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind. That is Psalm 26, 2. And so I just have to wonder if maybe that's what Peter had in mind. And he really had a confidence in his answers and saying, Lord, I do love you.

But there's even something of an undertone to his answers in saying, test me and know that I love you. You know everything. As it says in 1 John 3, 20, as John will write later on in one of his epistles.

Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. So if even Peter's heart feels condemned because of the denial that he has done, because of denying that he ever knew Jesus, he is asking that the Lord try his heart and that he would know for certain the genuineness in his heart when Peter says, you know that I love you.

And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. So Peter's response of you know everything, you know that I love you, it's not Peter panicking and it's not him being belligerent in any way. He's rather acknowledging Christ's omniscience that he knows all, you know everything, you know I love you.

He was grieved over it, but this was to make him cling all the more to his Lord Christ and worship him for who he really is. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. And he says in verse 18, truly, truly I say to you when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not wanna go.

Then the parenthetical reference in verse 19, this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. You know how Peter died, right? He was crucified upside down. And he was crucified upside down because he refused to be crucified right side up.

He would not have the same kind of death that Jesus died for Jesus crucifixion was for the atonement of his own. Whereas Peter's would be because he shared in the sufferings of Christ. So he was asking to be crucified upside down rather than right side up.

And I think it's necessary to add in this caveat. We don't know that for sure. It's kind of church tradition that says that Peter was crucified upside down. So there's nothing really concrete that tells us that, but that is generally how we understand it.

And the hint and the suggestion here seems to be even from the scriptures that Peter was gonna be crucified. You will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. Now, at the time that John was writing this gospel, Peter had already been put to death. He had already been crucified, but we know that even from the Bible, there are suggestions here of exactly the way that Peter did die.

And that's where we're gonna come to a close for today with Jesus commissioning of Peter. Tomorrow we'll look at Jesus talking about the beloved apostle, who is John, the one who is writing this particular letter.

But the lessons that we draw from today's reading are understanding our responsibility that we have to the flock of God. Now, of course, in the context that I put it in, we were looking at these instructions.

I was talking specifically to pastors. We're talking about pastors for that's what Peter says about shepherding the flock of God in 1 Peter 5, one through five. But again, the qualities of a pastor, the qualifications he's supposed to have are qualities that a mature Christian is supposed to have.

So we should all aspire to that. And all of us have a responsibility to look out for one another. As it says in Colossians 3, 16, we are to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. That is a responsibility that each one of us has to each other.

So let us not neglect our responsibility to the flock of God, that all of us have a responsibility to this calling. Though certainly pastors have a more particular responsibility that are upon them as under shepherds to the chief shepherd to be examples to the flock.

Let us conclude with prayer. Our wonderful God and Savior, we thank you for calling us out of the world to be part of your kingdom. And may we live as kingdom people in this world. May we be looking out for one another.

May we go out with the gospel, sharing the gospel with others so that those who are your sheep that the father has given into the hand of the son will come to the flock having heard the call of the shepherd and responding to his voice through this message of the gospel.

Let us be faithful to this, the sound teaching that we have in your word, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.