DO YOU LOVE ME?
Sunday, November 07, 2004
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." 16 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." 17 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.18 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."19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me." John 21:15-19 NKJV
After the resurrection Jesus had a conversation with Peter in which He asked him if he loved Him. To understand exactly what Jesus meant and why Peter became upset at the question, you must look back to the words in the original language, Greek. In English, we have one word: love. In Greek there are more words: phileo and agape are two of them and they have different meanings. The Amplified Bible renders it this way: phileo is a deep, instinctive, personal affection for someone, as for a close friend, and agape is a reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father. Phileo is a human love, but agape comes directly from the Father.
Two times Jesus asked Peter if he loved (agape) Him (with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father), but Peter replied with a different word. He told Jesus that he loved (phileo) Him (with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend). Then Jesus changed His question and asked if Peter loved (phileo) Him (with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend) and Peter told Him, “You know I love (phileo) You (with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend).”
Phileo is a friendship type of love based on the characters of the two people involved – the higher the character, the higher the quality of the friendship. This love is dependant on the person being loved. You can have this love for a friend or a family member. Husbands and wives can love each other many different ways, including as friends. Agape is the God-kind of love. The quality of agape is not based on the person being loved, but on the person doing the loving. It is a love that chooses to love in spite of the other person, not because of them. Agape love sees other people as valuable and precious whether they are or not. Jesus loved us – He saw us as so valuable and precious – that He was prepared to sacrifice His life for us even though we were dirty, rotten sinners!
He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest (displayed) where we are concerned: in that God sent His Son, the only begotten or unique [Son], into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:8-11 AMP
The essence of agape love is that God loved us first. We were totally incapable of loving Him appropriately until He first loved us, died for us, resurrected us to new life and placed His love in our hearts. Romans 5:5 AMP says that God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. We can only love God or anyone else with agape love when we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The more of His Spirit we have in our lives, the more love will be poured out in our hearts.
Peter was upset at these three questions that Jesus asked, because he really did not know how to love Jesus with agape love before he was born again and filled with the Spirit, but on the day of Pentecost all that changed! When the Holy Spirit fell on Peter, he was radically changed. Instantly, he stepped into his calling and began his ministry. With the love of God and the boldness of the Holy Spirit in his heart, he went forth to feed Jesus’ sheep and His lambs. God’s love has been shed abroad in our hearts. Let us love Him enough – with a reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion - to love others, as He wants us to, and let us love Him enough to go ahead and fulfill the call of God on our lives!
Recent:
Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the