The Depth of the Risen Savior’s Love

Morning, brothers and sisters. Happy New Year.

I’d like us to start by looking at a song in the hymnal. I don’t think we know it, but those of you who do know it, we could sing it. It’s a wonderful song. Barb and I know it as Wally’s song.

Just so you know, Wally was an old saint from PBF who has since gone on to be with the Lord. He came to the Lord when he was older—he must have been in his sixties or seventies. It was wonderful. He would call this song as often as he could, though he would not call it all the time because he said, “I feel that people think that I’m calling it too much.”

But the Lord had made such an impression on him, and this song was very dear to him. So I would like to read this as an introduction to what I’ll share today. I’m sorry we can’t sing it; it’s a simple tune. It is hymn 649.

Into the heart of Jesus,
Deeper and deeper I go,
Seeking to know the reason
Why He should love me so;
Why He should stoop to lift me
Up from the miry clay,
Saving my soul and making me whole,
Though I had wandered away.

Into the will of Jesus,
Deeper and deeper I go,
Praying for grace to follow,
Seeking His way to know;
Bowing in full surrender
Low at His blessed feet,
Bidding Him take me, break me, and make me,
Till I am moulded and meet.

Into the cross of Jesus,
Deeper and deeper I go,
Following through the garden,
Facing the dreaded foe;
Drinking the cup of sorrow,
Sobbing with broken heart,
“O Savior, help! Dear Savior, help!
Grace for my weakness impart.”

Into the joy of Jesus,
Deeper and deeper I go,
Rising with soul enraptured,
Far from the world below;
Joy in the place of sorrow,
Peace in the midst of pain,
Jesus will give, Jesus will give;
He will uphold and sustain.

Into the love of Jesus,
Deeper and deeper I go,
Praising the One Who brought me
Out of my sin and woe;
And through eternal ages
Gratefully I shall sing,
“O how He loved! O how He loved!
Jesus, my Lord and my King.”

Let’s pray.

Lord, we would ask that this song would always be so priceless to us, as it was to Wally. We thank You, Lord, that we have celebrated You this morning as we have come around Your table. We have celebrated this very thing: Your great love for us and how deep it is.

Lord, this morning we just want to know more of the depth of that love—the love that is not only on the cross, but that is beyond the cross. Lord, open our eyes. Open the Word to us in a way that we can see afresh, or maybe even for the first time, Lord, the depth of Your great love to us. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I tell you, you guys must be sick of this, you know? My glasses fog up. I can’t see anything. You’re probably saying, “Oh, it’s good. He can’t see anything. It’s good.”

John 21 as an Epilogue

So, the last message today in John. It is an interesting chapter, chapter 21, and we’re going to read the first twenty-two verses. It is kind of an epilogue. It seems as though the Gospel should have finished with chapter 20 because, if you read John 20:30-31, it says:

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in His name.

That seems like a good, fitting ending. Yet this chapter is—not that I want to say tacked on. I don’t think it is an afterthought. It was meant to be here, as Scripture was meant to be here for us. There is something that the Lord wants to show us about Himself, and also about us.

But really, the focus is that we want to see the Lord. We want to see the Lord. We will see ourselves when we see the Lord. The thing that really helps us is that we see Him, because it overcomes what we see of ourselves.

That is what we need, because that is what will take us through to the end. That is where the Lord wants to take us. The Lord wants to take us all the way through to the end. That is His will. That is His desire for us. It is not that we would just be reconciled to Him.

The reason why I read this song was because it talks about the depth. A lot of times, we stop and look at the depth of the love of Christ as found only in the cross. But the depth of His love is deep. It is deeper than just what we see on the cross. It goes beyond, into the resurrection.

This is what we need to see today, and this is, I think, what John is trying to show us: the depth of the Savior’s love for us. So let’s go ahead and begin by reading the first verse in chapter 21. We will read all the way through the twenty-second verse.

Scripture Reading: John 21:1-22

After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias;
and in this way He showed Himself:

Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,
the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We are going with you also.”
They went out and immediately got into the boat,
and that night they caught nothing.

But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore;
yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”
They answered Him, “No.”

And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”
So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it,
and plunged into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the little boat,
for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits,
dragging the net with fish.

Then, as soon as they had come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”
Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land,
full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three;
and although there were so many, the net was not broken.

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.

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

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

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of Jonah, 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.”

He said to him again a second time,
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

“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.”

This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.
And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

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?”

Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”
Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

Now, this is a really interesting chapter. I am not going to go verse by verse, but I just want to say this about it: this is a transitional time for the disciples. I can’t say it is a transitional chapter, because it is the last chapter, but it is a transitional time.

It is also a time of their being established in a new way in their relationship with the Lord. The reason why I say it is transitional is because they are no longer going to relate to the Lord as they had for the last two or three years.

For the last two or three years, they had been with Him in a way that they could touch Him—physically touch Him, physically lean on His breast, physically hear His voice. There is not going to be any more of that. They are in this new type of situation, and they do not know what this means.

This is before Matthew 28, where He gives the Great Commission and says that they are going to go out and make disciples. He has not said this yet. This is before Acts 1, where He gathers them at Jerusalem and tells them to stay there until power from on high comes. This is before that. Nothing has really been said to them.

As a matter of fact, it had to be so weird for them. Here they are sitting in a room, and all of a sudden Jesus is there. Then He is gone. I mean, tell me, how would you be? It would be freaky. You do not know what to expect, what to know, or what to do. What does it mean that Christ has risen?

The Restlessness of the Disciples

They have gone up to Tiberias, or the Sea of Galilee, because they had been told to go up there. They are going up there, and they do not know what to expect. They do not know what to do. Jesus is not with them in the sense that He is not physically with them anymore.

So they are going up there. What do we do? Wait. Wait for what? What are we waiting for? I don’t know. There is just a restlessness in these guys. Finally, Peter just says, “I am going fishing.”

Now, this does not mean that he is saying, “I am going back to my old life, my old livelihood.” Some people say that. But most people that I read say no, there is not that sense. It is just, “I am tired of inactivity. I have got to do something.”

Peter is ADD. He just cannot stand sitting there. “I have got to do something. I’m going fishing.” The other disciples say, “Yeah, we’ll go with you,” because even though John might be the one who likes to sit and meditate, I think they are going bonkers. They just do not know what to do with themselves.

The Lord has not told them anything except, “I’ll be seeing you here and there.” So they go out fishing. They are restless, and they do not catch anything. Now they are frustrated—frustrated on top of their other frustration.

They are frustrated because they do not know what to do and do not know what to look for. They are frustrated because they have been out there all night fishing and have not caught a darn thing. It is like, “What a waste. What a wasted night. We have been out here all night—nothing.”

Then the Lord appears to them. The Lord appears.

It is funny: how does John recognize that it is the Lord? You remember, didn’t something like this happen before in their history? Didn’t the Lord say, “Cast your net on the other side” one time? Yeah, back in Luke 5, almost toward the beginning of the ministry.

This says something, because I think we believe that these disciples had some thing where, once they were called, they never went back to anything. But this is really the third time Peter is called.

Remember, first Andrew introduced him to Jesus. Then we do not see anything until, I think, Luke 4, where Jesus calls him out of his boat and says, “Come and follow Me.” Then in Luke 5, you see he is back in his boat again. The Lord calls him again, calls him out, and says that he will be a fisher of men. Here we see him again going back to the boat.

But isn’t it wonderful that we have examples like this? People go back to the boat because they do not know what else to do. But isn’t it wonderful also that the Lord does not leave them in the boat? He always comes back and gets them. He always comes back and gets them and puts them on the track He wants them to be on, because they do not know.

Just like us, we do not know. Sometimes we just do not know what the Lord wants us to do. So we go off and try to do things, and the Lord has to let us get frustrated. Then He comes back and says, “Hey, boys, have you caught anything?” “No.”

Peter’s Restoration to Service

In the rest of this passage, we find the Lord establishing what He wants for them, and He establishes Peter back in the place where he is supposed to be. He does this publicly before the other disciples, because these other disciples knew that Peter had denied the Lord.

Now, they fled. But Peter, before he fled, denied his Lord three times. How did the other disciples look at this? He had to be established afresh before the other disciples, so they could not pull the thing on him: “Yeah, well, you denied Him. You denied the Lord three times, Peter. Why should we listen to you?”

So the Lord does this publicly. This is not outside the hearing of the others when He starts talking to Peter. The thing is, this is not about reconciliation. Peter has already been reconciled.

In 1 Corinthians, it says the Lord first appeared to Peter. Why? To reconcile him. To tell Peter, “Peter, you denied Me, but I want to let you know that you are forgiven. You are restored back to Me in the relationship that I want you to be in.” So this is not about reconciliation. This is about service. It is a call to service.

A lot of writers will say this is so akin to the three denials. Peter denied Him three times; the Lord asks him three times, “Do you love Me?” There is a charcoal fire, and there are all these little types that go with it. But I just want to say this: this is a deep working of the cross into Peter.

It is a working of the cross in two ways. First of all, it is a working of the cross of Calvary. What I mean by that is, the first thing He says is, “Do you love Me more than these?”

Now, “more than these.” Some commentators say He is talking about the fish. There is credence to that, because those who believe Peter went back to fishing as a livelihood would see the Lord saying, “Do you love Me more than your business?”

But I really think it means—and most commentators will say this—remember at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, “You will all flee”? Remember what Peter said? “Everyone else will flee, but not me. I will even die with You.”

When the Lord asks, “Peter, do you love Me more than these?” He is saying, “Peter, are you still of the idea that you love Me more than these men love Me?” Peter cannot even answer that. He always goes back to, “You know.” He will not even say, “Yeah, I love You more.” He cannot raise himself to say it.

The Lord uses agape, and Peter responds with phileo. Finally, the Lord comes down to the level Peter has been using. Peter is grieved because it seems that the Lord even has to lower the level for him.

Peter says, “You know all things. You know that deep in my heart—I can’t even come there—but You know, because You can see into me.” Then the Lord goes on and says, “I do know. You know how you said you would die for Me? You will die for Me. You will die for Me physically, and you will lay down your life for Me in ministry.”

This is what the Lord is after in Peter. He is saying, “Where is that work? Where is that work of the cross, that work of reconciliation that shows us ourselves, and that says, ‘I know that You would still call us into service and would still say, “Feed My sheep.”’”

Then there is another work of the cross. The rest of Peter’s life would be lived out of that principle: “Another will gird you.” In other words, Peter used to do what he wanted. How many times did he go back to the boat? Andrew introduced him; he was back to the boat. The Lord came and said, “Follow Me”; he was back to the boat.

Now He says, “Another will gird you.” I believe that other One who will gird him is really the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead you and gird you, taking you where you do not want to go—things you never thought of doing, things you said, “Oh, I’d never do that.”

For example, remember Acts 10, when Peter had that vision of all those animals coming down on the sheet? The Lord said to him, “Kill and eat.” Remember what Peter said? “Oh, I’ve never done anything unclean. Never.”

From that, he was sent to the Gentiles. Here he is going to the Gentiles, and he even says to the Gentiles, “I really don’t want to be here.” It would be like me coming up here to speak and saying, “Good morning, brothers and sisters. You know, I really don’t want to be with you, but I am going to go ahead and give this anyway.”

But Peter—that is just Peter. The thing is, the rest of his life will be worked on that principle: the principle of the cross. Not the cross of Calvary, but the cross of dying to self so that the Lord’s life, and what the Lord wants, can come through and do His work.

So He says, “This is what will happen to you,” and then He finally says, “Follow Me.” Now, follow Me—how am I going to follow You? You are going away.

The thing is, “I am coming to reside in you.” It really means, “Travel with Me. Go along with Me.” Peter will be in this new relationship, just like we have to be in.

The Risen Lord’s Relationship with Believers

Isn’t this the most wonderful thing, I think, in the Gospels? The apostles, after living three years with Jesus and seeing all the things He did, had to start just like us. He was taken away from them. There was no longer that physical thing. There were memories, but there was no longer that physical time. They had to be just like us.

They had to trust in the risen Lord Who was living in them—to witness to them, to lead them, to guide them, to open the Word to them. Same as us. Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that wonderful how the Lord makes it known to us?

These guys have nothing on you in that sense, because they are called into the same type of relationship: that relationship which is unseen, not physical.

That is all I am going to say as far as exposition goes. I want to apply this. How does this apply? Then I want to talk about the depth of love that we see here.

Transitioning from Nominal to Practical Christianity

I think a lot of us are living in a transitional time. When I mean transitional time, I do not mean, “Oh, these are the last days, and these things are happening outwardly.” I am not talking about that. I am talking about a transitional time as far as our relationship goes.

Our brother Stephen gave ministry on the new covenant. A lot of us get convicted because we say, “Oh my gosh, I’m living old covenant.” So there is transition. How do I transition from one to the other? How do I get from one to the other?

In a sense, we do not know how to go there. We want to go from being Christians by name to practical Christians. Now, notice I did not say Christians by practice. If I said Christians by practice, it would be almost like Muslims and Buddhists practice their religion. They do things. Muslims will pray five times a day, give alms, and do that type of thing.

It is not that we are seeking a type of behavior to follow. That is not what I mean by practical. We are not looking for a form. We are not looking for a behavior. We are looking for an outworking of this life—for this life to become practical and to be the thing that moves us.

Instead of being moved by outward things—“I have to do this because Christians are supposed to do this”—we have this life in us. A lot of us, for the longest time, did not know we had the life of Christ in us. We knew about being reconciled. We knew about being forgiven.

Then we get to a place where we say, “I need more. How do I get more? This abundant life—where is this? Is there something I have to do?” We become restless, just like the disciples. We become restless, and we seek to do. We want to do things that are going to give us the spiritual life that is already in us.

But you say, that is good, because that is just like saying, “I am going fishing.” Do you know what really going fishing means? “I don’t know what else to do, but I have got to do something to find Him. So I am going to look.” That is what going fishing means. “I am going to look. I’m going to seek. I have got to find, because this other stuff is just killing me. I can’t go on like this. I can’t go on being nominal.”

For a lot of you young guys who are high schoolers, I think that is some of the stuff you are going through. You have come to a place of saying, “I have reached the highest I can go. Is there something more? I have met the teaching. I know the teaching. I know all this stuff. But where is the life? How do I serve? Where is the serving? I don’t know.”

So you settle down into just being nominal. Then we get hardhearted. But the thing is, we need to say, “I am going fishing. I am going to look.”

Seeking the Lord through Restlessness

Now, you know something? I hate to fish. I think fishing is the boringest thing in the world. You throw a hook in there, and then you wait. I do not see why guys get so turned on by fishing. You could just go into your backyard, throw a line out, and read a book. It would be the same thing.

Maybe you get the thrill. I remember I fished a couple of times. I am from California, okay? I remember reeling in—I did not even know I had a fish on the line. “God, my God, what’s this doing here?” Then they hurt you when you try to take them off the hook. They fling the spring out, and they hurt you. Who wants a fish?

My older brother is a fly fisherman. He really gets into it. He ties his own flies and everything. He loves it—goes out there, hikes, all that. But not a lot of us like to fish because it is seeking.

A lot of times, a fisherman, when he is fishing, waits. He casts that thing out there, or he is trolling it around and waiting. But he is looking for the fish. He is looking for the best place where the fish is going to be.

Brothers and sisters, we need to fish. If we are in that place of saying, “I don’t know. I’m unfulfilled,” then we need to fish and go about finding that place. Because it is when you go fishing that the Lord met them.

He met them when they were out fishing. He met them at a time when they were so frustrated because they were not finding anything. A lot of times we just want to give up: “I just can’t. I don’t know what’s going on.” That is when the Lord meets us.

That is when the Lord comes to us and says, “Got any food?” “No.” “I’ve got you food. I have some.” That is where we find out it is the Lord.

This is an experience—not an experience like a guy all of a sudden saying, “I’m tingling,” and stuff like that. It is a witness in our own spirits, in our own hearts, that we have met the Lord. We know it is the Lord. There is no mistake.

Notice it says nobody asked Him, “Is this the Lord?” because they knew it was the Lord. Isn’t that the new covenant? That all will know the Lord—from the least to the greatest.

I am glad that in the new covenant it is put, “from the least to the greatest.” It does not trickle down, so to speak. Everybody knows. You will know.

My daughter says, “Well, how will I know?” “Well, you’re going to tingle in your feet.” No. You will know. It registers in your spirit. It is the Lord speaking to you, with you. His presence is with you. You know it.

Fellowship as the Foundation of Service

Once He is there, He does not just stay there and give us this warm little fuzzy feeling. Once we get out there seeking, He calls us. He calls us to two things. The first thing He says is, “Come and dine.” Come into fellowship.

Before I get into that, I just want to say: notice in this chapter seven disciples are there. Can you name them? You can go ahead and cheat and look back. Come on, who is the obvious one? Peter. Yeah, okay, right. John. Nathanael. Thomas. Who? Two others.

That is great. Two others. Nameless, nondescript, probably not even so important, huh? I think this is important to us, because I think we believe the Lord only appears to important people.

Isn’t it wonderful that they are nondescript? Bless you. He does not even know their names. John does not even recall them—just two others, maybe a blur in his memory. But you know something? The Lord knew them.

We might not know them. They might have no notoriety or anything, but the Lord knows. The Lord goes out to them just as much as He goes to Peter and John and says, “Come and dine.”

He calls them into fellowship: “Come and dine. I want to have fellowship with you. I want to share with you all that I am for you and to you, and all that I am in reality to the heavens and to the universe. I want to share that with you.”

“What I want from you is the same thing. I want you to share with Me all that you are. All that you are. Go ahead, open yourself wide to Me. I’m not going to be shocked by anything that is in there. Just come and have fellowship with Me.”

“I have reconciled you, so there is no worry about anything. You are already reconciled. You can be ashamed of things you have done, but there is nothing you have to hide, because I have already judged it. I have already reconciled you. It is all behind. There are sins I will remember no more.”

Then fellowship leads to a call for service. There is no call for service if you are not in a place of fellowship with God. If you are not in fellowship, that service is filthy rags.

Service—the call for service—comes out of fellowship. That is where you hear the voice of the Lord saying, “I want you to serve in this manner, in this way. I want you to do this.”

Remember, when Peter got that vision, what had he done? He had gone up to the roof to do what? To pray, to meditate, to have fellowship. That is where the Lord directed him to service. That is where He called him into service. It is the same for us.

Love as the Prerequisite for Service

There is a prerequisite to service. The Lord wants us to serve, and He calls us to serve. But if you look at these Scriptures, each time before He says, “Feed My lambs,” or, “Tend My flock,” the first thing He says is, “Do you love Me?”

The prerequisite to service is love for the Lord, because whom are you serving? You are serving Him. He is calling you to serve Him, and His prerequisite is that you love Him.

Now, this word love—agape. Remember I told you there were two words? You have agape, which the Lord uses twice, and then you have phileo, which Peter uses all three times. Then the Lord uses phileo the last time.

Ray Stedman, from Peninsular Bible Church in Northern California, had a teaching ministry up there, and this is what he said. He said, “Agape is love that is a decision one makes to commit oneself wholly to another for that person’s benefit—not for your benefit, but for the benefit of the one to whom you are giving love.”

I know this type of love. I have given this type of love, and I am not bragging, but anybody here who is a parent has given this type of love. It is the type of love you have when you tell your kids, “Do your homework.”

It is the type of love you have when you sit up all night with a sick one. You are not doing it for yourself. You are not saying to your kid, “I gave you some medicine. You’re going to be okay in a couple of hours. Just go back to sleep.”

No, you sit up with them. You are with them for their benefit, because they need that comfort. That is love. You are devoted. It is a devotion.

That is what Campbell Morgan says. Morgan does not look at this as merely being love; he says devotion. “Am I devoted?” Peter, are you devoted to Me more than these?

Let’s apply this. For us, we cannot apply it by comparing ourselves to the other disciples, but we can apply it to the fish. “Jim, are you more devoted to Me than you are to Clover Hill High School?” That is a deep question, isn’t it?

He asks that. It is a tough thing to answer. First He puts that comparison: “Do you love Me more?” Then He just says, “Do you love Me? Do you love Who I am? Do you know Me? In knowing Me from what you know of Me, do you love Me? Are you devoted to Me—to Who I am, to what I stand for?”

The Exposure of Human Limitation

There was a time in all our lives as Christians when we would jump up and say yes. Do you remember those times? Do you remember that time when you first got saved and you were ready to do anything?

We were like Peter in the sense of saying, “I will die for You. I’ll go to death for You. Everyone else will, but not me.” We really felt that way about ourselves. But then life happens. It does, doesn’t it?

Life happens, and life has a way of eroding the façade and getting down to bare bones. From Peter’s experience, we can see that Peter is just laid open before us in Scripture, isn’t he? All his mistakes.

You can see why Peter cannot even say to Jesus, “I’m devoted to You,” because he knows himself after all these three years. He knows his impulsiveness. He knows his failure. He knows everything. He cannot even raise himself to say, “I’m devoted to You.”

“I’m afraid to say I’m devoted to You, Lord, because I’m going to find out that I’m not.” Isn’t that like us?

I remember there was one brother at PBF who would say, “I can’t even sing this one song because it’s not true in me.” Or, “I can’t even say, ‘I love You, Lord,’ because my love vanishes.” Are you like that? Sometimes we are, aren’t we? We just cannot even raise our heads to say that. The Lord knows it.

But this is God’s goal for us. This is His goal and His call. It is a high call. “Are you devoted to Me more than anything else?” That is a high call.

Not only that, it is unbending. He does not relax it at all. “Do you love Me? Are you devoted to Me?” Twice. That means He is not letting down on it. “Are you devoted to Me?”

Brothers and sisters, that is the end He is looking for. The starting point is when He comes down and says, “Do you love Me?” in the way Peter is speaking. Peter is saying phileo, and phileo means, “I have an affection for You.”

“I like You like a friend.” I hope you have never said that to a girl or a guy: “I like you as a friend.” But that is as far as Peter could go. “Lord, I love You like a friend. That is as high as I can go.”

Affection and Spiritual Maturity

The last time, the Lord comes down to Peter and says, “Peter, do you have an affection for Me?” Because this is where the Lord starts His work.

What it means to have an affection is this: when I started to have an affection for my wife, before she was my wife, I could be swayed. I could be swayed because I liked her. I liked her a lot.

All of a sudden, if she did not like something, I would say, “Oh yeah, I don’t like that.” If she liked something, “Oh yeah, I like that too.” If she wanted to go somewhere, “Yeah, I want to go with you.”

There is a verse in the Psalms that says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” This word delight has that same type of meaning. It says, “Have an affection for the Lord.”

What that means is this: if you have an affection, you are moldable. You are moldable. You can be molded. You are letting down your guard. You are letting yourself be touched—not just touched, squeezed a little bit. It is okay because you have an affection.

The Lord is saying, “Peter, can I sway you?” And Peter says, “You know You can.”

He says, “Above all things, I know what a blow-it I am. But I know down deep in my heart, Lord, You can influence me. You can sway me. You can sway the way I think. You can sway me in the things I do, even to the place where I serve You.”

Then the Lord comes back and says, “You will. You will serve Me.” That is a wonderful thing. That is really prophetic. He is talking about the way Peter will die, but He is saying, “You will.”

Boy, I want to latch onto that—the Lord saying to me, “You will. You might not see it now, but you will.”

Feeding and Tending the Flock

Now, what is the service? I have got to hurry up because we are running out of time. This is the New Year, and I am already taking too much time.

He says, “Feed and tend My lambs, My sheep, My little sheep.” That is the service the Lord has for us.

Just to say this: there are two words, feed and tend. A lot of times we want to relegate feeding just to giving the Word: “I’m going to teach the Word. I’m going to do something.” But I want to go a little deeper than that.

How can I, as a young Christian, feed other Christians? I do not feel skilled in the Word and stuff. How can I feed them? Well, brothers and sisters, what is it believers feed on? And do not say the Word, because that is wrong.

Fellowship with Whom? We feed on Christ, don’t we? When we see Christ in the Word, we get nourishment from that, right? What about when I see Christ in you? Do I feed on that? Yeah, I do.

When I see Christ in you, all of a sudden my heart is encouraged. You guys who are young might think, “I don’t have a word to share.” Let Christ live in you. Just let Christ live in you.

When you feel the Lord is leading you in this way, or having you go out somewhere, whatever, let Christ live in you. You know something? You are going to feed the sheep, because we are all called to feed the sheep.

All of us are called to feed—not just pastors. We are all called to feed the sheep because the Shepherd lives in us, and the Shepherd is out to feed the sheep and tend the flock. So let Christ live in you.

There are times when you are going to get better in the Word and be able to share more in the Bible study, or be able to share a Scripture with somebody at a meeting, or even here at the table read a Scripture or something like that. It is going to feed the flock. Praise the Lord.

But even when you cannot do that, just by walking with the Lord you are feeding others. You are feeding your friends. You are feeding your parents. Feed the flock.

Then there is this idea of tending. Tending means to care for. How do we care for one another? There are a number of ways.

We can comfort when someone needs comfort. How many times do you see saints going and comforting someone, visiting, calling, and coming alongside?

Admonishing—oh, admonishing is a hard thing to do. But how many times have you been called to admonish a brother and say, “You know something, brother? You’re going the wrong way.”

Not in a judgmental spirit, but to say, “Brother, I see you, and you are one of the flock. You should be in the flock. Let’s get in.” Comfort. And how about this: to pray for.

I made a note on this. I said to pray for—not just to pray for, but to pray for and pray through to God’s end. I have really been struggling with that part: praying through for somebody. What does that mean?

I want to be one who can pray something through and see God’s end happen—not for my sake, but for the benefit of the brother or sister I am praying for.

I think of Elke Dalton. I want to be able to pray through for that sister. I just want to be able to pray through, so the Lord gets what He wants in her life—and not just gets what He wants in her life, but gets her. Saves her to the uttermost. I want to be able to pray through.

That is one way we tend and care for the sheep.

The Cross and Self-Giving Service

How is this all accomplished? It is accomplished by the cross working in our lives. First, the cross of knowing that we are reconciled; but secondly, it is the cross that takes us out of our comfort zone and says, “Go this way. Just trust Me.”

“Let Me gird you. Let Me take you where you do not want to go. Will you open your hands to Me?” That is how this is accomplished. That is how this service is accomplished. No other way.

We do not naturally want to serve others. We are selfish people. That is our nature. If we are serving others, maybe it is because we get something out of it—we get notoriety, fame, or some kind of place.

But the service here is service for another. This is the kind of cross that is really the cross of Christ. Christ went to the cross not for Himself. He went to the cross for others.

Sometimes we say, “Oh, I’ve got to do the cross,” and we are thinking, “I’m going to deny myself because I want to get a benefit from it. I’m going to deny myself and read my Bible, or I’m going to pray. I’m going to get some benefit. I’m going to get closer to the Lord.”

But this cross was a cross that says, “There is nothing in it for myself. It is for the sheep.” I am afraid I do not know much of that cross. I know the other one.

The cross Christ is calling us to is this cross that says, “I will deny myself for my brothers and sisters. I will do it on their behalf, that they might have benefit.”

Then He says, “How do you do this?” You follow that life in you. You follow Him. You do not worry about other people not seeing what you are seeing, because the Lord is not calling all people to serve like He is calling you to serve.

He says, “You follow Me.” Do not worry about other people. Other people do not have your vision. You go and serve the way He is showing you to serve.

The Continuing Love of the Risen Christ

Now, in closing, I want to bring back this hymn: the depth of the love of Christ. A lot of us come to the place of saying, when the Lord said, “It is finished,” that is the depth of the work of Christ. It is finished. The cross is done. That is all it goes.

But do you know what this chapter shows us? It shows us the heart of the risen Savior—the One Who has already died on our behalf and has been raised on our behalf.

What do we see? What do we see in this One Who has died and risen? What is His concern? What is on His mind? “Feed My lambs.”

He is not saying, “Okay, I did the work on the cross. Now I’m finished. I don’t have to worry about anything else. I don’t have to be concerned about everything. Father, I have done what You asked Me to do. It is over. It is finished.”

No. The risen Christ has His sheep on His heart. His sheep are in His mind, even to the fact that He is saying to Peter, “Feed My sheep.”

Even to the effect of saying, “Peter, let Me so live in you that I can tend My flock.”

How deep is the love of God for us—the love of Christ for us? It is so deep that He says, “I need a myriad of believers who make up My body to show My love for the world.”

It is not just those of us who are here, either. Jesus said in John 10:16:

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring,
and they shall hear My voice;
and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd.

I think we have this idea that when we are tending the flock, we are just tending the brothers and sisters who are Christians. But do you want to know something? There are Christians in waiting. Do you know that? There are Christians in waiting who have to be fed.

It is amazing to me that Christ went among sinners. Even though He said, “I am only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” He went among those outside the sacred walls.

He dined with Levi. Remember the feast in the house of Levi, the famous picture we find in Matthew? Matthew called Him and had a feast. Remember what the religious people, the people within the sacred walls, said? “What is this man doing, eating with sinners?”

Zacchaeus, get down from the tree. I must go to your house and eat. A brother in waiting—waiting to be drawn out, waiting for those words.

Sometimes I think—and I am pointing my finger here—I have been trying, when our faculty has little dinners and stuff, not to say, “Nah, I’m not going to go, because they are going to be drinking and stuff like that. I’m not going to go.”

But I have been asking, “Lord, I want to be a witness. Well, how can I be a witness if I am not where they are?” I am not saying being in the same place as they are intellectually, but if I am not where they can see me, what influence do I have?

To serve His sheep, there could be sheep among my faculty—sheep in waiting. If I am not at places where they can be fed, where I can feed those sheep, what good am I?

How deep is the love of God? It goes beyond the sacred walls, and it goes to the world. It goes beyond our merely being reconciled to our being completed—to the place where we no longer have to say phileo, but where we can say, even trembling, agape.

We can say, “I love You, Lord. I do not just have affection, but I love You.”

This is how the book ends. Then you go past this, and what do you find next? You find the book of Acts. You find these very things being put beyond teaching and into real life.

That is what the Lord has planned all the time: that He could live in us and walk in us; feed His sheep in us, care for His sheep in us, and in doing this complete His purpose, building us together.

We all may be built together. We all may find the Shepherd living in us. We all may find ourselves ministering to others because the Shepherd in us is ministering to others.

Then we can all find ourselves bearing that cross that is no longer for me, but for my brothers and sisters. How deep is the love of God for us? It goes beyond reconciliation, brothers and sisters, to save us to the uttermost.

Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer

Lord, forgive me if I am talking down. Lord, I just pray. I pray for all of us. I pray for me. I pray for all of us in this way.

Lord, just help us. Help us to see You as risen, as caring, as wanting to come and dine with us. Lord, You are not asking us to do all these other things without first asking us just to come and dine.

Lord, I pray for those who are just in the place of not knowing—not knowing how to go about this. Lord, I pray You would help them go fishing. I pray You would show them Yourself, just like You showed these disciples Yourself on that shore when they went fishing.

Then, Lord, just draw us in. Catch us Yourself, Lord, as You caught these men. We want to be caught as You used these men; we want to be used.

Lord, we do not want to just be nominal Christians. We want to be practical ones. We want to be Your arms and Your legs. We want to be Your mouth and Your ears and Your eyes.

Lord, we just tell You, we know so much. We are so hard. We are such non-doers.

Lord, I am not saying that we want a flurry of action. I am just saying, Lord, we do not want a flurry of action. We just want to do what we see You doing, just like You did what You saw the Father doing. That is just what we want. We do not want anything less.

So we ask that You would help us. We give ourselves to You. We want to hear You say to us, “When you were young, you went where you wanted; but when you are old, another will gird you.”

Lord, we want to sense that other One girding us and taking us to those places where naturally we do not want to go. Help us to serve You in those ways where You want us to serve, in the way You want us to serve, and through the life in which You want us to serve.

How we need Your help, Lord. How we look to You. How we cry out to You. How we thank You that this is what You want for us. What an abundant thing. What a life.

Oh Lord, give us this life, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.