Spurling Silver: You, Follow Me, John 21:11-25

Pete and the guys went fishing, all night.

Fishing.

Not catching.

Until Jesus showed up.

Then, everything changed.

With the catch of his life still flopping in the net, with his new found humility and priority, Peter left it all, and plunged in the water.

Jesus was waiting on shore with breakfast, and a question.

John 21:12
Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord.

None dared ask, knowing that it was the Lord. The Creator, needs no introduction.

Jesus, the Great Inviter, the Great Host. They’re tired and hungry; so He feeds them. Simple as that.

Anybody can make a shore lunch, anybody can say, come and eat; but add the love of Jesus, and it turns into an amazing feast.

That is the simplicity and profundity of the Gospel.

Jesus shows up, has Church, where we’re at; work, play, the lake, the shore, the Lakeshore mall, the golf course, shuffleboard court, cornhole… Clubhouse.

Lord, cause us to carry Your love in our heart, Your invitation on our lips, at the lake, the shore, the mall, the course, the court, so all will know, they’ve tasted You.

¹³ Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

Jesus; not only the Great Inviter, the Great Host, but also the Great Servant.

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45. The Great Servant King example, washing feet; John 13:1-17.

¹⁴ This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

Third appearance to disciples, not third appearance overall. John 20:19, 26, 21:1.

This is Jesus’ seventh appearance, and it just happens to be to seven disciples. John 21:2.

¹⁵ So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

Peter’s public restoration conversation begins.

You can visit the very location where this amazing breakfast conversation took place. Or, at least where we think it took place.

The Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter, in Tabgha, Israel, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, commemorates the presumed location, of Jesus’ public restoration of Peter.

So, when they had eaten

When they had eaten, or perhaps while they were eating (the original text doesn’t say “after they had eaten” as some translations imply), Jesus asks Peter, publicly, a question that many think should only be asked privately.

They say, my religion, is personal, private, between me and God, nobody’s business…

Hogwash.

You are salt of the earth, the light of the world… let your Light so shine before men that they see your Good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven, Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus asks Peter, publicly, do you love (agapaó) Me?

We cannot grasp the full meaning of this conversation in English, because we only have one word for love, whereas, the Greeks have four.

Eros: Romantic, love.

Storge: Family love.

Phileó: Friendship love, brotherly love; root of Philadelphia.

Agapaó: Godly, Selfless love. The love Christians are commanded to have.

The Agapaó Command:

John 13:34-35
A new command I give you: Love (agapaó) one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.

Jesus asks, do you agapaó Me?

Now, before we say, yeah, of course, absolutely. Let’s check out what agapaó looks like in action.

Matthew 5:44
But I say unto you, love (agapaó) your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Agapaó Command in action: Love. Bless. Do Good. Pray. Repeat.

In last Sunday’s Sermon, we saw the power of this in the life of Abraham. In Genesis 20, the pagan king Abimelech, took Abraham’s lovely wife, Sarah, into his harem; because Abraham had lied and called Sarah, his sister.

God told Abimelech that he was a dead man, and He shut all the wombs of the women in his household.

Abimelech immediately returned Sarah.

Then, God told Abraham to pray for Abimelech.

Imagine that.

God told Abraham to pray for the guy who abducted his wife. To pray for Abimelech’s household, to receive the very thing that he and Sarah had been praying for, believing for, hoping for, for over twenty-five years—an open womb.

To Abraham, that might’ve felt like rubbing salt in a wound. Nevertheless, Abe prayed. God heard. Abimelech’s household got pregnant.

And then, before Sarah can sing, Away in a Manger, she’s sending Abee Baby to the store at 2 a.m. for pickles & ice cream.

You see, agapaó never fails, according to, 1 Corinthians 13:8.

The Agapaó Command is a lifestyle, not something you do, but who you are.

John 15:13; Greater love (agapaó) has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Some think the agapaó command is optional.

There’s no such thing as an optional command. Optional command is an oxymoron.

1 John 4:8
He who does not love (agapaó) does not know God, for God is love (agapaó).

Lord, help us agapaó You, and each other, so we can know You, so, none of us, or any of those You’ve given us, will ever hear the words, “Depart from Me, I never knew You.”

Do you love Me more than…

Do you agapaó Me more than… anything, more than these, those, that, everything; do you agapaó Me more?

Am I first?

Jesus puts it like this:

Mathew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The first Commandment is:

Exodus 20:3
You shall have no other gods before Me.

God first. Period. No exceptions.

Jesus makes it clear:

Mark 12:29-31
The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. ³⁰ And you shall love (agapaó) the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. ³¹ And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love (agapaó) your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus is asking, do you love Me, more? Do you love Me first?

Do you love Me more than these… fish?

Fish? What? Sounds kinda fishy?

The full and unbroken net represents probably the best catch of Peter’s career. The second best was about three years earlier. There were more fish, but it was a chaotic mess. The boats were sinking, the nets were breaking, fish were getting away, some may have not been worth keeping.

But today, this catch was perfect. All keepers. All nice, good, big, keepers. No chaos, no broken nets. The perfect catch to jump back into the fishing career.

Peter, people, do you love Me, more than your old life? Career? Success?

Do you love Me, more than these… guys? friends? family?

These guys have become family. Do you love Me more than family? More than wife and kids? Will you love Me, even when it makes trouble at home? Or, will you say, I don’t want to upset the kids by waking them and taking them to Church. Will you love Me more than these? Or, do you say, “Happy wife, happy life.” She isn’t into the God thing, so, I’ll just be a silent witness, a dark light, unsalty salt, a secret agent Christian… in other words, an oxymoron Christian.

Do you love Me more than these… love Me?

Do you love Me, more than they love Me?

Now, this hits home. This exposes Peter’s heart in front of everyone.

Only weeks ago, Peter boasted in front of everyone. Hey Jesus, don’t worry, Rocky’s here, I got You. These other guys, pfft, they might scatter like scared little sheep, but not me, I never will. Matt. 26:33-35, Mark 14:29, John 13:37–38.

Peter, people, do you agapaó Me?

15 …He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

On the surface, that sounds like what we’d expect to hear.

Do you love Me?

Yes, of course, You know I love you.

However, in the original text, Peter’s response is the opposite of what we’d expect… but exactly, the integrity, Jesus was looking for.

You see, Peter didn’t use the same word for love, as Jesus did.

Jesus said: Do you agapaó Me more than these?

Peter said: You know that I phileó You.

Peter used, phileó in place of agapaó.

Phileó: friendship, brotherly love, Philadelphia (where Rocky’s from).

Imagine:

The guy on bended knee, little box in his hand. “Hey Adrian, I love you, my love for you will never fade, never fail, meeting your needs, making you smile, will always be the greatest joy in all my life; you know, I really, agapaó you.”

She smiles, blushes a bit. “Oh my, that is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” She touches his hand, his cheek, nods, “and you know, I really… phileó you.”

Ouch! She filleted him. Or, is it phileó-ed?

Anyone else would’ve felt flustered and filleted—but not Jesus. This is exactly what He was looking for.

What? Why?

Previously, Peter showed a new found humility and priority, when he covered himself, and plunged into the water, leaving behind a net full of fish; because getting to that Man on shore was first and foremost, above all else. Nothing else mattered. John 21:7.

That wasn’t a fluke. Now, here, Peter stands tall by humbling himself with brutal honesty. He doesn’t over promise and under deliver, like so often in his past. The old Peter might’ve said, Oh yes, Lord, I agapaó You more than anybody ever agapaó-ed anybody, ever, in the history of the world.

But now, he throws no one under the bus but himself.

Lord, You know, You know, that I don’t know anything. I don’t know if I know how to love, at all. But You know, that I really, really, want to. You are, and always will be, my very best Friend, my Phileó. You know that.

Peter passed the first test with flying colors. And, without even knowing it, was showing agapaó.

¹⁵ …He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

Jesus lets everyone know, Peter’s not going back to fishing, as a matter of fact, he’s not just going to be a fisher of men, but a Shepherd of them.

Feed My lambs.

¹⁶ He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

It wasn’t uncommon back then, and even a little now, to repeat a statement, in the hearing of others, to establish it, so it’s clear, so there’s no misunderstanding.

However, Jesus never wastes words and He has a plan and purpose and is heading somewhere.

Notice, this time Jesus doesn’t include the words, more than these, in His question.

Put yourself in Pete’s place.

It’s just Me and you. Forget about the guys. Forget about everyone else around you. It’s just us.

Do you agapaó Me?

¹⁶…He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

Like a rock, Peter stands. Unwavering, unchanging. Pete, repeats, exactly what he said the first time.

Lord; You know that I phileó You.

You know my weak, and wounded heart. I give You everything, honestly, all that I am, just as I am, I come…but this is it; it’s all I’ve got.

Jesus probably smiled at the raw, humble, integrity, pouring from His friend.

You see, the one thing He wouldn’t use, was hypocrisy; but this transparent cloak of humility, this He can and will use mightily.

Way to go Rocky.

¹⁶ …He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

Peter passed the second test.

This time, instead of “Feed” He says, Tend My sheep. One more honor added to his commission.

Remember that, we’ll come back to it.

¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

Third time.

This time Jesus changed from agapaó to phileó.

This time He uses the same word for love, that Peter uses.

Jesus is not lowering His expectations of Peter. He is doing what God does, coming down, to us, alongside of us, to work with us, where we’re at, the lake, the shore, the mall, the course, the court, our house…

James 4:8
Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you.

Jesus gets close, looks you in the eyes and whispers, “Shalom, My phileó. Peace, My friend.”

Peter couldn’t see it, but Jesus watched with joy, as the trajectory of Peter’s heart soared toward agapaó.

How do we know? Because Jesus never changed Peter’s mission. He established it with this third question and commission.

¹⁷…Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

Of course, Peter noticed that Jesus changed from agapaó to phileó.

Peter was grieved (deeply sorry) that he wasn’t able to say, agapaó.

Oh, how he wanted to.

Yet, by not just saying it, he was actually doing it.

It takes a beautiful, humble, heart full of agapaó, to stay true and honest and transparent.

Especially when, it hurts.

Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Psalm 15.

¹⁷…And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”

Lord, You know everything. I’m naked before You. Nothing to hide. Nothing to show.

Peter knew the 51^st Psalm of repentance. You desire Truth in the inward parts. A broken and contrite spirit You will not despise, Psalm 51:6, 17.

Peter refused to become a spineless, “yes man.”

He stayed true to his conviction and thereby passed his third exam.

Well done.

¹⁷…Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Three times.

Previously, Peter, publicly, shamefully, denied knowing Jesus, three times.

Now, Jesus, publicly, honorably, restores Peter, three times.

Jesus is in the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19.

Jesus not only restores Peter publicly, but promotes him.

SHEPHERD’S LESSON:

Peter is told twice to feed, once to tend.

FEED.

A shepherd, (pastor) is commissioned to feed the flock of God by rightly dividing, and delivering the Word of God. 1 Peter 5:2-4.

2 Timothy 2:15; Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

John 1:1; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14; The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Matthew 4:4; Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

John 6:63; It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Hebrews 4:12; For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Psalm 119:11; Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Ephesians 6:17; And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

TEND.

Feeding the Word, is of utmost importance, and mentioned twice; however, it’s not all.

Tending the sheep, is right smack dab in the middle of feeding.

Shepherding is more than pulpits, and preaching, and prayers. It’s sweat, sawdust and slivers. Sleepless nights and hospital visits. Tending, at the lake, the shore, the mall, the course, the court, the house.

It’s never being too busy with ministry, to minister.

¹⁸ Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”

Jesus encourages Peter with a prophecy about his future,

When you were younger, you were impulsive, strong willed, you went where you wanted, your motto was: Ready. Shoot… aim.

However, when you’re old. Yes, you’ll live to be an old man.

You will stretch out your hands. You will die by crucifixion.

¹⁹ This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.

The pain and fear of knowing he’d be crucified, was overshadowed by the joy of knowing that through it, he would glorify God.

¹⁹ …And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

Follow Me.

Like three years prior, perhaps at that same spot, on the same beach, when an unknown, quiet, Carpenter from Nazareth, said to an unknown loud mouth fisherman, those same life changing words…

Follow Me

Those same words echo from that beach to you and me.

²⁰ Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

²¹ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”

Oh, for Pete’s sake Peter.

Jesus just said “Follow Me” and the first thing you do is, turn around?

God’s dealing with our heart, and we say—what about them?

Jesus says, Follow Me.

To follow Him we must keep our eyes on Him.

Like following someone in a car through traffic on a road you’ve never traveled. You must keep your eyes on them, or you’ll lose them, and be lost.

²²Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?
You follow Me.”

Do you want Me to change your name from Rocky to Nosy?

My calling and mission to John is none of your business.

Don’t worry about him. You follow Me

These are the last words of Jesus, in the book of John.

You follow Me.

Yes, you.

What will you do?

²³ Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”

Even, then, the Words of Jesus were misquoted, taken out of context, and misunderstood.

²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

John identifies himself as eye witness and author, confirming, these words are True.

²⁵ And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen

I suppose that even eternity itself can not contain the glory of our Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:9
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us enough, to ask the hard question.

Do you agapaó Me?

Thank You for knowing us enough, to show us how to find the Answer.

Follow Me.

Thank You.

We agapaó You, forever.

Amen.

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