Do You Really Love Jesus?

 Easter Sunday in 1993, Bernhard Langer won the Masters golf tournament. As he stepped off the 18th green to receive the green jacket—one of golf’s most coveted prizes—a reporter said, “This must be the greatest day of your life!” Without missing a beat, Langer replied: “It’s wonderful to win the greatest tournament in the world, but it means more to win on Easter Sunday—to celebrate the resurrection of my Lord and Savior.”

 Langer had an opportunity to boast about himself, but instead he turned the spotlight on Jesus Christ.

It’s exactly what Paul was talking about when he said, “We also rejoice [boast] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:11).

Theme: From John 21:15-17, we are going to look at Peter’s response to Jesus’ three questions: In Peter’s responses, we find three ways that we are to love Jesus.

Let’s look at them briefly.

 A SUPREME LOVE (John 21:15-17)

 We know from reading the Gospels how impulsive Peter was. Following the washing of the disciples feet, Peter makes an impulsive statement that would come back to torment him later.

 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” 

Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake?

Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."

 In Luke 22, we have the gripping account of Peter’s denial of knowing Jesus.

After Jesus was arrested he was taken into the high priest’s house.

Peter was following at a distance. He acted like a curious, but cautious sheep.

And three times he was questioned about his association with Jesus, and three times he denied it.

And then a startling sign. A rooster crowed. And Jesus who may have had his back turned, turned and looked directly at Peter.

And it all came together to stab Peter in the heart.

He realized that what Jesus predicted would happened, had just happened, and it says that Peter went out and wept bitterly.

 Now after the resurrection, after breakfast, Jesus asks these questions that tests Peter’s commitment of love for Him.

“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?

We don’t know what is meant by “More than these” whether it was fishing nets, (vocation) or the other disciples, etc.

But one thing is clear: Jesus wanted to know if Peter loved Him supremely, totally, without question – first and foremost.

 That is the question for us: Do we love Jesus more than anyone, or anything in this whole wide world?  

What are we willing to give up for Him. Everything?

 The rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-27) kept all the commandments, but he could not keep himself for Jesus.

1)     We can be busy being good, and doing good things for ourselves.

2)     But is Jesus first place in our hearts, and in our lives?

 I know this is another story about golf, but I believe it brings out a good point: “In the 1920s Bobby Jones dominated the golfing world, despite being an amateur. In one film about his life, “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius”, there is a scene where a professional golfer asks Bobby when he is going to quit being an amateur and grab for the money like everyone else does. Jones answers by explaining that the word “Amateur” comes from the latin amo-to love. His answer was clear: He played golf because he loved the game.

 We can think of reasons why we became Christians.

But the one that should matter most of all, is that we love Jesus, and we delight in the opportunity to live for Him, and serve Him with all of the ability and strength that we have.  

 I think about my wife and I, and our service for the Lord. I am not bragging. But when I think about giving up living close to our families, and being in communities we had never been before, getting to know new people, and helping churches who were struggling to make a difference for the Lord.

In some places we were treated well, and others, not so much.

Why for 46 years did we do this? Because, we love the Lord.

(It begins there)

 A SUFFERING LOVE (John 21:18)

 Jesus compares Peter’ life when he was young, before he started to follow Jesus, to what his life will be like when he is older, as a result of following Jesus.

The contrast couldn’t be greater - on one hand when he was younger Peter was free to dress how he wanted and to go where he wanted,

Because of his future faithfulness to Jesus he will find himself being dressed and led to where he does not want to go - a place where he would have to stretch out his hands.

Jesus is telling Peter that he will one day face death by crucifixion for following and proclaiming him.

And tradition has it that Peter was indeed crucified.

 In 1986, John Piper nearly quit as minister of a large church.

At the time he admitted in his journal: “I am so discouraged, I am so blank, I feel like there are opponents on every hand.”

But Piper didn’t walk away, and God used Him to lead a thriving ministry that would eventually reach far beyond his church.

Although success is a word easily misunderstood, we might call John Piper successful. But what if his ministry had never flourished?

 God gave the prophet Jeremiah a direct call:

“Before you were born I set you apart.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

God encouraged him to not fear his enemies, “For I am with you, and will rescue you.” (v.6) Jeremiah was imprisoned, his life threatened, and his ministry rejected by God’s people.

His people never repented. He saw them slaughtered, enslaved, and scattered. Yet despite a lifetime of discouragement and rejection, he never walked away. He knew that God didn’t call him to success, but to faithfulness. (Why do we suffer for Jesus? Because we love Him)

A SUBMISSIVE LOVE (John 21:19)

 Love is the greatest privilege in the world, but it brings the greatest responsibility.

 The Bible doesn’t tell us how the apostle Peter died.

The most commonly accepted church tradition is that Peter was crucified upside-down in Rome. Tradition says that, when Peter was put to death, he requested to be crucified on an inverted cross.

The reason for his request was that, because he had denied his Lord, he did not consider himself worthy to die as Jesus had (see Matthew 26:33–35, 69–75). Again, this is only a tradition, and the Bible doesn’t confirm or deny the story.

 The earliest reference to the martyrdom of Peter comes from the letter of Clement of Rome (about AD 90). 

He said, in his Letter to the Corinthians,  "Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death… Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labors, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him." 

Not much there as to the means or location of his death, but that it was an execution is clearly implied. (The important matter is that Peter submitted to the call to be a shepherd to the church of Christ, and he gave his life in fulfilling the Lord’s call upon his life.)

 David Brannon= "When my son Steve left home in the summer of 2006 to join the US Navy, he knew the gravity of his decision. He understood that once he walked onto that naval base for boot camp, he was giving up everything a teenager lives for. He was leaving behind his freedom, his guitars, his music, and his girlfriend. He surrendered the right to make his own choices and to do what he wanted to do. He said, in effect, “I am making myself a living sacrifice. I no longer do things for me; I do them for the service of my country.”

(Read Galatians 2:20 – this is what it means to have….

A submissive Love!

To love Jesus is to have a Supreme love, a Suffering Love, and a Submissive Love. (Do you love Jesus today?)

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