Pastoral Letter 211
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Resurrected Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Last Sunday, we reflected on Jesus appearing to His disciples a week later, when they were gathered in the house, filled with fear and bewildered. Jesus appeared to them and to the doubting Thomas, to make sure that they understand what had happened and their responsibility to go out and proclaim the good news of salvation, which was sealed on the cross with the blood of Jesus and affirmed by His glorious resurrection.
This Sunday we reflect on His third appearance, when the disciples were back to their normal life, they were back to their fishing. But Jesus was there to give them the same, but a new challenge at the same time. He wanted His disciples, starting with Peter, to feed and take care His lambs and sheep. He invited them to follow Him and obey His command to become fishers of men and serve Him.
Please join us tomorrow to worship with us and give thanks to God for entrusting us with the task of serving Him and taking care of His church. If you are not able to join us, please light a candle and join us from home following the attached Order of Service.
Molly McConville’s funeral service, according to her wish, will be held here in our church on Tuesday 23 April at 11:30 am. Molly passed away peacefully in Bowral on Friday 5 April aged 87. Pray for Molly’s loved ones, who are mourning her loss.
Continue to pray for Virginia and remember in your prayers Max Thorpe, who is in Longueville Hospital.
Please continue to pray for those who are going through difficult and tough times, seeking God’s presence, help and healing and yet another escalation of the situation in the Middle East and Lebanon.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for peace, harmony and good to prevail the earth.
- Pray for the Middle East, and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who are refugees in different parts of Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray especially for Virginia as she undergoes her treatment seeking God’s help and healing.
- Pray for Molly’s loved ones as they mourn her loss.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
Feed My Lambs – Serving the Lord
John 21:15-25
It is always our joy and privilege to serve in the church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in any capacity. It could be as an office bearer, volunteer and in many other ways. We do what we’ve got to do by pressing on and serve our great and gracious Lord, seeking His gain, not our own. We serve out of love for the Him.
That’s the heart of working in the church: because we trust in Christ and praise His name, we’re willing to work among His people! We serve out of love for His gospel and glory. When we love Christ, we also love His church. His people are precious to Him, so they should be precious to us also.
These are the truths of God’s Word in John 21:15-17.
The Good Shepherd entrusts His flock to His earthly servants:
1. Jesus’s questions
2. Peter’s replies
3. Jesus’s commands
1. Jesus’s questions
As the days were passing, the disciples were getting used to the idea that their Lord Jesus was no longer dead. After a couple weeks the resurrected Jesus appears again, this time along the Sea of Tiberias, where a group of disciples had just spent a long and unsuccessful night of fishing. But then that mystery man helps them make an amazing catch. Seeing this, they knew beyond any doubt that He was the Lord, who some time ago He called them to be fishers of men.
After breakfast Jesus asks Simon Peter: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” (v 15).
Here Jesus calls Peter by his original family name, “Simon, son of Jonah.”
Years before, Jesus had given Simon a new name, Jesus had asked His disciples: “Who do you say I am?” (Matt 16:15). And Simon had answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v 16). This was a good confession. So, Jesus gave a name that signified the important job Simon was going to have: “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build by church” (v 18). Simon was now Peter: he was a rock, a foundation for God’s people. This was a position of great honour, but also great responsibility. As a leader for the people of God, big things were expected of Peter. But he had failed. A few weeks ago, Jesus had been taken away and all the disciples scattered. And as Jesus was being interrogated by the leaders, Peter stood in the courtyard, warming himself by the fire. When the bystanders challenged him, and said they had seen him with Jesus, Peter denied Him three times.
So, when Jesus asks this first question by the seaside, uses that old name ‘Simon’. Wasn’t Peter still the Rock? Or was he merely Simon again, the humble fisherman from Galilee? Was he no longer the foundation on which Christ would build the church? “Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”
What exactly is Jesus asking? “Do you love me more than these?” More than what? The best reference, I think, is to the other disciples. But some commentators say that Jesus could not be referring to them. They say this would be a bit harsh for Jesus to say, without consideration for their feelings or Peter’s reputation with many of the disciples right there! “Do you love me more than these other fellows love me?” Just what is Peter supposed to say?
Some say that Jesus must be referring to material things. Jesus has called Peter to be a fisher of men, so Jesus is pointing to all the stuff on the beach, and asking: “Do you love me more than all of this? More than the safety and stability of your former life, your expensive fishing boat, a life close to home, where you can spend time with your wife and kids?” Was Peter willing to lay all these things aside for the sake of being an apostle? So that he could work as a faithful servant of his Lord? If he really loved Him, he’d be willing to leave it all behind.
It’s a good question to ask. Serving God does mean making sacrifice. It means we sometimes have to give up things that we treasure. Each of us must count the cost of following Christ.
Good questions. But I think it’s more likely Jesus is actually asking that very uncomfortable question: “Simon, do you love me more than these other disciples do?” He asks this to humble Peter. Because it was Peter who exclaimed at the Last Supper: “Lord, I will lay down my life for you!”
Peter had claimed to be supremely devoted to his Master. He claimed it but hadn’t shown it. So, Jesus challenges Peter. And after Peter replies, Jesus repeats the question: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” (v 16).
This second time, Jesus doesn’t compare Peter’s love to that of the others. Jesus wants to know from His disciple: “Are you sure that love is the bond between you and me? You say you love me, but is your love real? Will it stand the test of time, and endure the trial of hardship? Is your love committed and true?”
Peter answers again, but Jesus isn’t done yet. For He asks the question a third time: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” (v 17).
Three times Peter had denied his Lord, so three times he had to profess his faith again. Now, Peter had to be honest: Did he really love Jesus? Would he always love Jesus?
But these questions were for all the disciples. They all abandoned the Lord in His hour of need. All of them needed to reaffirm their love for Jesus. And it was so important to do so, because without a true love for Christ, there can be no true service in His church! Before they could go spread the gospel to all the nations, they each have to be sure that they were personally devoted to Jesus Christ.
This is still true for all of us. It is only by loving Christ that we can serve Him. Through being filled with devotion to Him, good work will be done.
2. Peter’s replies
When the disciples first saw Jesus that morning, especially Peter was eager to greet Him. He’d jumps out of the boat, then paddles a hundred yards to get to shore. But now, faced with the grilling of his Master, Peter might have wished he was back in the safety of his boat.
Peter answers: “‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you’” (v 15). He affirms that he loves the Lord. But the way that Peter answers shows that he’s learned something. This time he doesn’t compare himself to the others. For Peter recognized how he had failed. So now he can only appeal to what his Master knows: “You know that I love you.”
So, when that second question came, Peter was ready. He replies as he had before: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” (v 16). That was his confidence—the Lord knows the heart. But then Jesus asks His question a third time. Peter grieves because He said to him the third time: “Do you love me?” (v 17). He is hurt because Jesus seemed to doubt him. And Peter at last replies: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you” (v 17). For years they’d been together, and Jesus had seen Peter’s devotion and love to his Lord. And Jesus knew it.
So, He didn’t really need to hear Peter say these things. But the point is, Jesus wants to be confessed as Lord. He wants this to be the constant theme of our lives: “I love Jesus Christ.” He wants this repeated confession in our hearts, and on our lips: “I love the Lord”. Because that’s where it all begins. That’s where service and giving and leading and helping begins.
Jesus knows that we love Him too, but we’re good at keeping it shut up inside. It’s unspoken, while we prefer to talk about other things. But Christ wants us to speak of this love. Tell the Lord. Tell our friends. Tell our children. Tell our neighbours. If we love Christ, we’ll say it, and we’ll show it.
3. Jesus’s commands
After Jesus asks His first question, and Peter gives his first answer, Jesus replies in a surprising way. He doesn’t answer with sarcasm but gives him a simple command: “Feed my lambs” (v 15).
Peter probably knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. For back in John 10, Jesus had called Himself the Good Shepherd. There Jesus said that He knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him—they listen to His voice, and they follow wherever He leads. And whatever happens, He’ll never forsake them. Jesus is the faithful shepherd, the one who even lay down His life for His flock.
The Good Shepherd is about to ascend into heaven. So, it was clear that someone else needs to take care of the flock. So, He gave this job to His disciples. If they love Christ, they have to show their love by their service.
The task of caring for the sheep is not a one-time thing. It is to be continual and ongoing. For Jesus answers Peter a second time: “Take care of my sheep” or “Tend my sheep” (v 16). In His instructions, He’s gone from “feeding” to “tending” (take care) moved from “lambs” to “sheep”—but there’s no great difference here. Lambs need to be fed; sheep need to be guided. They are weak and helpless on their own, so Christ’s flock must constantly be strengthened and protected.
What does this mean for us today? Christ gives us the task of taking the lead in caring for His sheep. We show mercy to the needy ones, those who’ve had operations, gotten sick, or become burdened in any number of ways. We are called to feed the flock with the good things of the Word. We are to nurture with the solid food of the gospel. We must care for the sheep, by pursuing those who are wandering and drawing them back in. We must care for the flock.
A third time, Jesus gives the command: “Feed my sheep” (v 17). Peter now knows what he has to do. He had confessed, he denied, he confessed again—and now he has to carry on with the work Christ had given. As Jesus goes on to say in the next verses, this work would be Peter’s life. It would even mean his death. Peter should do the same thing the Chief Shepherd had done: He’d lay down His life.
It’s fascinating that we hear an echo of these words in Peter’s first letter. For there he instructs the office bearers in 5:1-4: “I appeal [to you] as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing…not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” Peter held onto that as his life-calling. It is the selfless and constant service of Christ through being a shepherd of his flock.
This attitude should move all of us to serve. We love Christ, so we’ll gladly care for His church. We love Christ, so we’ll love His sheep. We’ll show mercy to the weak ones. We’ll be patient with the difficult ones. Look for sheep who always keep to themselves and reach out. Have an eye for ones who are struggling.
We have a special calling. We thank God for how He provides us to do this work among the people. We pray that we will receive the Lord’s blessing. And we also know that Jesus delights to use each of us in His Kingdom. Like Peter, we are very weak. We struggle. But Christ is strong and faithful. He’ll equip us. He’ll give us the words to say. He’ll give the energy to serve.
We should love His people, tend His lambs and take care of His sheep. Amen!