John 21:1-19

Matt Summerfield reflects on the love of God and how this can shape our lives.

Nope, Jesus doesn't do any of that. He simply asks - three times - do you love me? And each time Peter says yes, it's like the forgiveness of Jesus wipes a denial away.

Peter denied Jesus three times by a fire and now, as he searches his soul, Peter affirms his love for Christ three times by a fire.

I want to suggest that Jesus knew that Peter loved him - he wanted Peter to know it for himself. And each time Peter says yes, Jesus responds with a commission - to love and care for the church - the family of God on the mission of God - to see it thrive and grow - which Jesus then makes clear will one day cost Peter his live.

But Jesus knows that despite his back-and-forth, failure ridden faith, Peter will be up to the challenge and so he says at the end of verse 19, 'Let's go! Follow me'.

Friends this is astounding. That Jesus asked a group of people, who were still so in need of nurture and guidance themselves, to nurture and guide the early church, the bride of Christ.

And guess what? Despite repeatedly failing, arguing and messing up, they did just that, which is why you're here today.

Why am I saying all of this?

Because we all need to discover the relentless love of God.

Why are we?

Crippled by comparison and words from others.
Riddled with guilt and shame.
Not spending time with God in prayer.
Why do we not hunger for His word?
Why don't we share our faith with others and invite people to church?
Why don't we give away more, cry more, laugh more, party more and embrace life more?

...because we don't understand the relentless love of God; the love that time and time again meets us in the points of our failure and says, come with me, follow me and do life with me.

In his book Faith in the Fog, Jeff Lucas writes, 'I learned that God only uses fragile, limping people, because that's the only kind of people there are'.

The theologian Karl Barth was once fielding questions from the audience after a lecture in Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University Chicago in 1962. A student stood and asked him if he could summarise his life's work in theology in one sentence. The audience gasped that the student could be so bold, so rude even, to ask this great man to sum up his incredibly theological understanding in one sentence. Barth paused and then said this, "The greatest theological truth I have come to understand is this. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so".

It's interesting to note that John's most often recorded phrase in the Gospel, when he referred to himself in the story, (and he wrote this), was, 'The disciple whom Jesus loved'. We might think he was being a bit arrogant, but in reality what he was saying was this, my name isn't the most important thing about me, the most important thing about me is that Jesus, the Son of the living God, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, light of the world, the lamb that was slain etc. Jesus, loves me, this I know.

Will you let God love you this year?
Will you grow in His love?
Will you allow His love to transform you?
Will you die to religion and performance based faith and embrace the day-by-day journey of being transformed by the love of God?