John 21:15-19 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ 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.” ¹⁹ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

INTRODUCTION

I have three quick introductory notes I’d like to share.

First, I want to thank Colin for his sermon last week. It was a good reminder of the humanity and kindness of Jesus. It will be a real joy and blessing to have him here as our shepherd in the coming weeks.

Second, I want to thank Matt for his Ebenezer message. The twin ideas of murmuring being the opposite of thanksgiving and it being a good indication that something is wrong in our hearts has come up over and over in both my own mind and in conversation with others. It was simultaneously convicting and encouraging.

And third, let me encourage you to really embrace the advent season. To keep our eyes on the glory of the coming of God into the world as a man, means continually swimming against a stiff cultural current. Every day we are bombarded by ads, attitudes, shows, and traditions that seek to profit from the generic, largely secular “Christmas spirit,” rather than point us to the glories of the incarnation. And that’s only the things outside of us. Inside we are bombarded with selfishness, laziness, worldliness, and idolatry.

Jesus’ birth is something truly worth celebrating, more than almost anything else in our lives. But doing so (for all the reasons I just mentioned and more) requires intentionality, purpose, determination, and above all, God’s help.

We want to help with all of that. Practically, you’ll notice several “Advent Activities” mentioned in News and Notes and around the church. I encourage you to prioritize them as a means of tuning your heart. What’s more, we have the devotionals (and samples of more) on the back table. Take one and gather your family and friends around it each day. And, of course, by God’s design, each worship service is one of the most significant means of incarnation-appreciation grace available.

With that, we’re about to get back into John’s Gospel and Jesus’ continued revelation of His resurrected, glorified self to His disciples. The big idea of this passage is Jesus’ loving and gracious restoration and recommissioning of Peter. Jesus’ love for Peter led to His forgiveness of Peter, to Peter’s love for Jesus, and to Peter’s glad willingness to shepherd Jesus’ flock. The main takeaway for us is to receive Jesus’ love, to love Jesus above all, and to follow Jesus in loving ministry.

Let’s pray for this sermon and those yet to come in John (probably three more after this week) to be faithful to the text, life-giving, and Christmas-celebration-fuel to all who hear.

DO YOU LOVE ME MORE THAN _____?

Jesus opens His restoration and recommissioning of Peter with a question that seems fairly simple on the surface, “Simon [Peter], son of John, do you love me more than these?” Before we come to the meaning of “these,” we need to begin with the fact that there ought to be no clarification which would change the answer. In other words, no matter what Jesus meant by “these” when asking Peter, “Do you love me more than these,” the answer ought to have been a resounding, emphatic, unhesitating, unwavering, unqualified, YES!

And so it is for us, Grace. When we are confronted with the question, “Do you love Jesus more than___,” we must not let the question finish before yelling, “Yes. Whatever it is, YES.”

It is what God requires, “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

It is the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

It is because Jesus is the greatest treasure, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).

It is possible because God first set His love upon us, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Above all, God set His love upon us by sending His Son to save us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Because of these things, in a very real way, it must not matter what Jesus meant by “these”.

Do you love Jesus more than your stuff? Yes!

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

Do you love Jesus more than your family and even your own life? Yes!

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

Ask the Lord to be gracious to you, Grace. Ask Him to fill you with ever-increasing love for Him, for setting your love upon Him is what you were made for. He is what you were made for. Our very nature is such that to love something higher than Jesus is to be perpetually unsatisfied. Our very nature is such that to love Jesus above all is the one and only place of true life and joy and peace and rest.

Do you love Jesus more than anything and everything? By the grace of God, more and more each day!

DO YOU LOVE ME MORE THAN THESE? (15-17)

You may remember that in Pastor Colin’s sermon last week, he pointed out that Jesus cooked breakfast for several of the disciples after they’d spent the night fishing. John set the context for our passage by explaining that it picks up where that one left off, stating, “When they had finished breakfast…”.

More than likely, then, this is not a scene in which Jesus and Peter were off by themselves. More than likely, the disciples mentioned in 21:1-14 are still within earshot.

No Love by Comparison

With that in mind, “Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’”.

There are several possible things Jesus could have meant by “these.” The most likely, by most accounts, is that Jesus was asking Peter if he loved Him more than the rest of the disciples loved Him. “Peter, is your love for Me greater than their love for me?”

On the surface, it’s an odd question. But something important was happening here. Peter had denied Jesus after repeatedly making claims of a unique and superior devotion. Peter consistently spoke up first when it came to matters of obedience and commitment. Up to this point, Peter seemed to believe that his love for Jesus was greater than “these.”

For instance…

After a particularly difficult teaching, many who had been following Jesus turned back. Jesus asked the disciples if they were going to turn back too. It was Peter who replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

When Jesus went to wash the feet of His disciples, Peter stood up among the disciples and said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet” (John 13:8). And when Jesus rebuked him for his obstinance, Peter instantly recanted, saying, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (John 13:9).

When Jesus told the disciples that He was going away (to be crucified) and that they couldn’t follow, Peter again stood up among the disciples and said, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37).

At Jesus’ arrest, it was Peter who “drew [his sword] and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear” (John 18:10).

And most clearly of all, although John doesn’t record it, the other three Gospels all tell of Peter’s reply to Jesus insisting that after His crucifixion His followers will fall away. To that accusation, Peter cried out, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (Matthew 26:33).

The point of all of this is the simple fact that Jesus seemed to be revealing to Peter that his love and devotion was not meant to be measured in comparison to the other disciples. The pride that led Peter to have done so previously was the same pride that led to his denials. By His question, Jesus was trying to root that out of Peter.

Peter’s love and devotion to Jesus was meant to be fully given to Jesus because Jesus was worthy, not because of how it stacked up against the others. (We ge...

Do You Love Jesus More Than?