Sermon Synopsis for February 8, 2009

“Are You In Love?” John 21: 15-19

St. Valentine’s Day is coming. Maybe you heard …
A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, “Last night I dreamt that you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine’s Day. What do you think it means?”
He said, “You’ll know tonight.”
That evening he came home with a small package beautifully wrapped and gave it to her. She opened it to find a book, entitled “The Meaning of Dreams.”

Have any of you been in love?
What happens when you fall in love?

A comic strip from the 1980s explains it this way
[Calvin & Hobbes Cartoon]
Frame 1: Calvin says, “What’s it like to fall in Love?”
Frame 2: Hobbes, “Well … say the object of your affection walks by …” Calvin, “Yeah?”
Frame 3: Hobbes, “First, your heart falls into your stomach and splashed your innards.”
Frame 4: Hobbes, “All the moisture makes you sweat profusely.”
Frame 5: Hobbes, “This condensation shorts the circuits to your brain, and you get all woozy.”
Frame 6: Hobbes, “When your brain burns out all together, your mouth disengages and you babble like a cretin until she leaves.” Calvin, “That’s Love?”
Frame 7: Hobbes, “Medically Speaking.” Calvin, “Heck, That happened to me once, but I figured it was cooties!!”

There is the Scientific Explanation: Neurochemical processes that involve hormones, dopamine, oxytocin, pheromones, endorphins, etc.

Basically, scientists tell us that, love has less to do with the heart, and more to do with the brain and glandular excretions.

Scientists have been trying to explain love rationally for decades.
But, can love be explained rationally? I don’t think so.

All of this scientific stuff can kill the mood.

John 21 – the final chapter of the book. This is the place to make the last impression, the final emphasis, the main point you want to get across – the one people will go away with, remembering.

The story of the encounter of Peter and Jesus seems like an odd way to end the Gospel of John.

BEYOND SALVATION
Chapter 20 of John ends with these words: (v.31) “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The purpose of this book is so that we may believe (put our faith in Jesus)
Through faith we have eternal life.
This needs to be established first – we are saved by grace (God’s free gift), not by anything we have done (our works).

The Gospel of John deals with who Jesus is. What has he taught? What has he done? What he said. It explains why we should believe him, believe about him, and believe in him.

Chapter 21 is for our life after salvation – after receiving his grace and truth. After the resurrection.

Some think that after you receive salvation, that’s it. You’ve got the story straight; you believe in Jesus, you’re saved. You don’t need to worry about anything anymore – you have your free pass to heaven.

John teaches something a little different. After we have received these things, we are to now respond to the conversion of our lives – with action! A full relationship with Jesus leads us to works of love.

Christianity needs to move from our head (intellect) to our heart (emotions) to our hands and our feet (actions).

Jesus needs to be more than a concept, a set of beliefs. Jesus needs to be in a relationship with us. This is a relationship of love. It’s a relationship that causes us to follow him every day. It’s being in love all the time.

WHAT DOES JESUS WANT?

We see Jesus and Peter after breakfast.
Jesus asks, “Do you love me?”
Think of all the things Jesus could have asked Peter.
Service, commitment, martyrdom, etc.
But he asked him if he loved him.

LOVE

Love is a word that we often use, but it’s difficult to define it precisely.
It’s important because it describes the very nature and being of God.
“God is Love” (1 John 4: 8, 16)

Jesus commanded his disciples to love God (Mark 12:30; Deut 6:5)

Jesus also let his followers know that people would know that they are his followers if they loved each other (John 13:34, 35 for example)

Love is the test of our spiritual life.
Ship navigators (of old) depended on a compass to help determine his course.
A compass shows him his directions because it always points north. This is possible because a compass is so constituted that it responds to the magnetic field that is part of the earth’s makeup. Just as a compass is responsive to the nature of the earth so the Christian is responsive to the nature of God and just as a compass naturally points north so a believer will naturally practice love because love is the nature of God. Love is visible and can be very easily seen in the way we behave.

Greeks used 4 words for “love,” three of which are found in the New Testament. [see C.S. Lewis, “The Four Loves” for a deeper explanation]

Storge (στοργη)– not in NT, a fondness for another person, “like” (acquaintances, buddies, friends)

Philia (φιλια)– friendship, a strong feeling of affection and concern for another person. (BFFs, brothers / sisters, etc.)

Eros (έρως) – emotional, romantic love for opposite sex. (couples)

Agape (αγαπη) – the love of God. God’s love. An unconditional love for another, not dependent on reciprocation or repayment. It’s a deep, abiding love. [Hebrew = hesed]

First time
Jesus asks peter (v.15) “do you truly love (agape) me more than these?”
These = other disciples? Other disciples love? Fish (his job)?
Knowing Peter’s pride, it was probably asking if he loves him more than the other disciples did.

Peter responds, “You know that I love (philia) you.” “I’m fond of you; I love you like a brother”
Peter had grown close to Jesus, like part of the family. They lived together, ministered together, had fun together – they were like family.

Second time
“Do you truly love (agape) me?” (v. 16)

Once again, Peter responds the same, “You know that I love (philia) you.”

Third time
“Do you love (philia) me?” (v.17)

Peter (impatient), “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love (agape) you.”

Peter’s response, acknowledges what Jesus wanted to know. The depth of his love: like a brother, like God’s love.

Peter had “brotherly love” for Jesus, but he needed to have “unconditional love”

The bottom line – Do you love Jesus?
If we could narrow down everything we learn in the Scriptures, that question is the one that needs to be pressed into your conscience: Do you love Jesus?

IT’S NOT: are you fond of Jesus? Do you love him like a brother? Do you have a great concern and affection for Jesus?
IT’S: Do you love Jesus with the depth of the love that God has for you?

How deep is God’s love?
Jesus, “I love you this much.” And he stretched out his arms and died for us.

Jesus to Peter, “Peter, Do you love me that much?”
Jesus to us, “Believer, Do you love me that much?”
Do you love Me? Do you agape Me? Is your heart set upon Me and are you trusting in Me for all things, in every circumstance and season in your life?

Are you trusting Me for your ministry?

Are you trusting Me for your work?

Are you trusting Me for your daily bread?

If the answer is no, yet you desire to trust Him, don’t be surprised when you find yourself having distractions in your life taken away without your own doing.

Peter has to wrestle with this issue. He presses Peter and shows Him the difference between the kind of love He requires and the kind of love Peter was at that moment, because of His past denial, capable of.

Peter is the man that was loved by Jesus, cared for, taught, provided for by Jesus. And it Jesus darkest hour, he falls asleep in the garden.

This is the guy that follows Christ and sees His trouble and instead of saying yes to those that asked about his relationship with Jesus, he lies and denies he ever knew Him.

Peter sees Jesus tortured, he sees Jesus crucified for his sin, he is there at the burial and is there when the tomb was found empty. He has seen the risen Lord and now God makes him breakfast and asks him do you really love me?

HOW DOES JESUS KNOW WE LOVE HIM?

How do we show our love?
Good gifts: Chocolates, dinner, cards, gifts, flowers, jewelry, etc.
Better yet: Good deeds, cleaning up our mess, helping out, etc.

Jesus tells Peter, “If you love me, do something with that love?” (Actions speak louder than words). Love is a verb – action. It’s not just an emotion of the heart, it is a verb of action.
Love is something you do, not something you describe.

It’s not enough to have a great theology, a sound doctrinal position, all the knowledge of the Bible. We need to put it into action – God is love, and so we must be love.

Jesus response to Peter was the same, “Feed (care for) my lambs (sheep)”

Isaiah (53:6), “All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”

Care for others; don’t just think about Peter; think about all the other sheep under God’s care.

What does that mean for you?
For Peter it meant his life (vv. 18-19 – indicate that Peter would give his life for his love for the Lord). Peter was that much in love with Jesus – he’d give his life for him.

When Mother Theresa was alive a reporter writing an article on her life watched her as she cleaned up a neglected outcast in the slums of India with her bare hands. After watching her for some time he remarked in disbelief “I would never do that even for a million dollars”. “Neither would I,” replied Mother Theresa. She was performing a duty out of love and not for money. She was saying yes to Christ’s question “do you love me?”

The world has known many people who are said to be great lovers, but, without doubt, the greatest lover of all is God Himself.

Have you ever been in love?
You know the feeling – you’d do anything for that person …

Are you in love with Jesus?