| Introduction I have looked for different ways to refer to this season that we are going through, but I keep on going back to "unprecedented." That is a word that everyone is using, and we are getting tired of it, but I can't think of better words to describe it. The more I think about the unprecedented nature of this time, the more I conclude that this is a time that is providing us with the unique opportunity to rethink a lot of things. For the next couple of weeks, I want us to rethink our definition of success. This morning let us consider love as part of a biblical definition of success. In God's good providence, even pagans stumble on truth every once in a while. The Beatles stumbled upon some truth when they sang, "Love is all you need All you need is love." To love and be loved is one of those fundamental needs that we have. Love is a characteristic of God and we are able to love because God first loved us. What we need and are made to do is also how we measure how successful we are in this life and the life to come, namely, love for God. There is nowhere we can see this better than in Jesus's interaction with Peter on that beach in Galilee. A. It is an early morning on the shore of the sea of Galilee where we find a group of despondent disciples including Peter, 1-2. B. Peter is discouraged even though Jesus has appeared to the disciples and specifically to him a few times. 1. Perhaps the sound of the rooster crowing is still ringing in his ears. 2. Perhaps the three times he denied Jesus keep on playing in his mind even though Jesus had already told Peter that his peace was with him. 3. Perhaps the image of his Lord looking sorrowfully at him after the world's most infamous denial was burned on his retina and he couldn't stop seeing it. C. So, amidst this massive sense of failure that gripped his heart, Peter decides to do the one thing he is most familiar with – go fishing, 3. 1. The resurrection had already happened, but Peter had not yet pulled himself together. 2. His sense of failure was immense. D. After a whole night of fishing without catching anything, the table is set for the most amazing talk about success ever recorded in history, 6-10. 1. It is interesting that John makes the point that no one even wondered if that was Jesus on the beach, 12. 2. They had a great breakfast with Jesus, 13. E. All that seems to have happen without much talk till Jesus starts some divine surgery. A. When Jesus started talking, he didn't beat around the bush – "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?", 15. 1. Can you imagine Peter's heart jumping as he hears these words? a. John doesn't describe for us the way Peter reacted, but we all have been in uncomfortable situations like that. b. Peter's heart raced, his stomach turned, his eyes probably teared up. 2. Notice that Jesus doesn't even call him Peter. a. He calls him Simon, his name from before he met Jesus. b. Jesus seems to be intentionally avoiding his Lord-given title – the Rock. c. This question is meant to cut – Jesus is performing surgery on Peter's heart. 3. Notice also that Jesus asked Peter if he loved him more than the other disciples did. a. I wonder if Jesus was reminding Peter of what he said the night Jesus was arrested. Mt. 26:33 – Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble." b. What agony Jesus's question must have brought on Peter! 4. Notice the unnecessary mentioning of the coals on fire, 9. a. The aroma of the fire on the beach likely brought memories to Peter's mind of another fire he sat around. Jn. 18:17-18 – Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this Man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." 18 Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself. b. Everything the Lord did was divinely calculated, like a surgeon with a scalpel, to reopen Peter's tender wounds. 5. All the disciples are listening to this conversation and the question is hanging in the air – pretty sure everyone is very uncomfortable with the situation. B. Peter eventually answers, but he can't bring himself to use the same words as Jesus, 15. 1. Jesus asked Peter if he loved him supremely, but Peter can only say, "I love you with deep affection, with a friendship love. 2. What Jesus says next is not what one would expect – "feed my lambs." a. In essence, Jesus says, "If you have what you claim, then you may serve me." b. Not the comfort we would expect. III. Taking a Make Over Test, 16. A. Painful as it was for Peter, Jesus was not finished with his line of questioning. B. But this time there is no comparisons – no "more than these." 1. Jesus is saying to Peter, "Simon, dropping all comparison with the others, the simple question is not 'Do you appreciate me?' but 'Do you supremely love me?' 2. No comparisons, no play on words, straight up – do you supremely love Jesus? 3. All that Peter can say again is, "I have deep affections for you." a. Don't get me wrong – Peter's word for love is a perfectly good word to express our allegiance to God. b. It is used in other places like in 1 Cor. 16:22 to describe the Christian's love for Jesus. c. But here there is a contrast and Peter – poor, failed Peter – couldn't get himself to use the same word as his Savior did. 4. Jesus again tells him, "Tend my sheep." IV. The Final Question, 17. A. There is violence in Jesus's questioning, but it is a loving, gracious violence. B. Jesus is doing something wonderful for Peter. C. Jesus now condescends to Peter's level – "Do you have great affection for me?" 1. I can only imagine how Peter's agony peaked 2. John actually tells us that Peter was grieved/pained 3. But out of this pain, Peter lovingly answers, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I have deep affection for you." a. He threw himself on Jesus's perfect knowledge. b. Peter loved Jesus with the deepest of loves, but his illusions, his presumptions about himself, were stripped away. 1) The three incisions were accomplished. 2) In the first question, Jesus challenged Peter's rock-likeness and the superiority of his love. 3) In the second, Jesus questioned whether he had any love at all. 4) In the third question, he challenged Peter's humbles claim to a less exalted affection. D. For the Lord, that last question was enough, and he tells Peter, "Feed my sheep." 1. Peter's restoration was accomplished. 2. Three questions, three confessions, three commissions, and Peter's heart soared in relief. V. This Is the Quintessential Question A. Greek philosophers for the longest time taught that the whole material world could be explained in terms of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. 1. Aristotle eventually came along and said, "no, there is a fifth element (ether) from which the other four come from." 2. This was the quintessential element – the foundation of everything else. B. That is what Jesus question is – the quintessential question: Do you love Jesus? 1. This drama between Jesus and Peter has been preserved for the church to establish the abiding principle that before all things, even service to God, we must love God with all of our hearts. 2. God has always made that love the priority of existence. a. From the earliest days that was the confession of God's people. Dt. 6:4-5 – Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. b. Our Lord taught us that all of the Bible can be summarized by love. Mt. 22:37-40 – Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." VI. When Success Is Defined as Love, We Are Liberated to Serve. A. Defining success as being loved by God and loving him places our lives and ministries beyond the fallible, oppressive judgment of the statistics keepers. 1. Your church is not big enough. 2. Your kids are not very good at school. B. Defining success as being loved by God and loving him liberates us from the destructive tendency to compare ourselves with others. 1. In a very real sense, who cares about what the Joneses are doing – we don't have to keep up with them. 2. Our dignity and accomplishment lie in our relationship to God and our love for him. C. Defining success as being loved by God and loving him frees and motivates us to live our life's highest priority because if we really do believe that loving God is the most important thing in life, then everything will progressively reflect this love. D. Defining success as being loved by God and loving him is freeing to the whole church regardless of status because loving God is something equally open to all. 1. The ability to love God is not determined by stature or standing in the ecclesiastical world. 2. College education or intellectual aptitude are no advantage in loving God. 3. The possibility of intensely loving God is equally open to all in the church. 4. This is very liberating in our name-dropping, status-conscious world. E. The commitment to love God above all else has three ingredients. 1. The first ingredient is absolute honesty about our love for God. a. In Peter's final exchange with Jesus, he said, "Lord, you know all things." b. The word Peter used for know means personal, intimate knowledge. c. It is as if he had said, "Lord, you have walked with me. You have watched me personally for years. You know me intimately in every way. I cannot fool you. You know the depth of my love for you." d. And in the same way Jesus knows exactly how much each of us loves him. 2. The second ingredient is to cultivate serving because we love him. a. Just because one serves God doesn't mean he loves God. b. The older son in the Prodigal Son parable seems to have served the father faithfully, but we get the impression there wasn't much love there. c. The third servant in the parable of the talents is called a servant. d. Perhaps we can even saying that Martha was serving God while forgetting to love him in that episode where she wants Jesus to rebuke Mary for not working. e. In the midst of serving God, we need to stop and make sure we love the one we are serving – sometimes even taking the time to express that to him. 3. The third ingredient is spending time with him. a. It is a simple truth that we spend time with those we love. b. The more time we spend with God, the more we are going to grow in love with him. Earlier on in the gospel of John, Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (14:15, 23-24). Notice that Jesus doesn't say, "Love me by keeping my commandments," though it is true that we demonstrate love to God by obeying him. He says it is out of love that true obedience proceeds.
Are you a successful person? Do you love God? Then, regardless of whatever other accomplishments you may or may have in your life, you are a successful person.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2020/03/all-you-need-is-love-john-21.html
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