Feed My Sheep

He came first for them, no matter what. For then they’d follow him to the ends of the earth.

This is still true for office bearers today—and for every one of us. It is only by loving Christ that we can serve him rightly. Through being filled with devotion to him, good work will be done. You can know a lot. You can read a lot. You can be gifted in different ways, and hold an important position. But it’s all for nothing without a love for the Saviour. That should be our chief motive, our main driver. ‘Christ loves me, I love him, and now I want to serve him.’

Peter’s example shows that none of us love him perfectly. We too have denied that we knew him. We’ve denied him with the things we said and did, and by what we’ve thought. Aren’t we denying Christ when we knowingly break his commandments—we know it’s wrong, but we still do it? Aren’t we denying Christ when we live like we’ve forgotten his faithfulness? Jesus could turn every one of us inside out. He could search us, and find a million failures.

Yet God is so gracious when we have faith in Christ. If we love him, Christ forgives! If we love him, Christ restores! This is the kind of Saviour we’re allowed to serve: one who is loyal, steadfast, and gracious. If we love him, He comes near. If we love him, He works in us the joy of service.

2) Peter’s replies: When the disciples first saw Jesus that morning, especially Peter was eager to greet him. He’d jumped out of the boat, then waded a hundred yards to get to shore. But now, faced with the grilling of his Master, Peter might’ve wished he was back in the safety of his boat. That old name and those pointed questions hurt Peter deeply.

Yet Peter was nothing if not direct: “‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you’” (v 15). He affirms that he loves the Lord. But the way that Peter answers shows that he’s learned something. This time he doesn’t compare himself to the others. For Peter recognized how he had failed. He saw how his proud words rang hollow. So now Peter can only appeal to what his Master knows: “You know that I love you.”

And the Lord does know. He knows every human heart. He searches and knows us. That’s uncomfortable, to think Christ knows all your thoughts, even your hidden desires. He knows our proud dreams of getting glory for ourselves. He knows our weak hold on the truth, knows our bitter resentment toward this person and that one—knows it all. Yet that same knowledge of the Lord can also be a comfort. Think of Peter: from any point of view, he was worthless. He should’ve been off the team. After talking so big, he’d shown himself to be worthless weakling.

Yet Peter still loved his Lord. He loved Jesus, and Jesus knew it! “You know that I love you.” If we can honestly say that to the Lord, we’re doing OK, better than OK. Because Jesus won’t reject anyone who turns to him with a true love. We might have a lot of personal baggage, and great weakness, but if our love for Christ is real, He won’t turn us away.

So when that second question came, Peter was ready. He replied as he had before, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” (v 16). That was his confidence—the Lord knows the heart. But then Jesus asked his question a third time. We imagine the other disciples leaning in to watch the fireworks: Surely Peter was going to snap under all this pressure! Now he was going to abandon the humble approach and get cranky!