Introduction:

Many times we - and by "we", I do include myself in the statement - we read a passage of Scripture and miss the greater truth in it. The passage that we're going to look at today is very important for the Church - not just for Rock Hill Baptist, but for every local Church, the entire "Body" of Christ. The passage is not just addressed to Peter, but it stands as a command from our Lord Jesus Christ to both the spokesmen whom God has chosen - His pastors - as well as to every member of the Body, saved by the Grace of God through faith in the finished work Christ.

This text is even more important today, for I truly believe that we are reaching the end of time. Over the last fifty years we have seen local churches indulge the whims of the world by compromising Biblical truth. Recently the Episcopal church voted to ordain an openly homosexual man - a man who divorced his wife and left his children in order to satisfy his own desires - as a minister in the Church. Other local churches have followed. Moral values have relaxed to the point where - I am told - one local church pastor discovered that two of his Sunday School teachers were living together outside of the bonds of marriage.

People say that our times have changed - and they have - but today is no different than the days of the Roman Empire where our Lord planted His Church. The Romans were hedonistic people, pleasure seekers, following after every form of debauchery known to man. There were temples dedicated to the goddess of love, Venus, whose every aim was to satisfy the sexual needs of the heathen. Though television was not invented, people regularly went to the coliseum to view fights between gladiators. People were murdered for the enjoyment of the crowd. And, though we lose many in our churches to organized sports games every Sunday and Wednesday, we have never seen the bloody spectacles that the Roman Caesar's inflicted on that society.

Need I mention that our Lord Jesus Christ was murdered, crucified, while the Roman soldiers played games at His feet?

(Matthew 27:35-37 KJV) "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. {36} And sitting down they watched him there; {37} And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS."

We may as Christians denounce the terrible times that we live in, but we also need to note that the same conditions, minus a few of our more recent technological advances, existed at the time our Lord Jesus commissioned His Church. The words of the Bible are just as timely today as ever. The commands of our Lord Jesus are just as valuable today as ever.

1. We Must Be Focused On Christ:

When we view a synopsis or a parallel of the Gospels we find out that when Jesus told Peter "Feed My Lambs" is very important. If you were to view a timeline that covered all of the appearances of Jesus immediately following His resurrection you would discover this sequence:

a. Jesus appeared to the women, and later to the men at the tomb: Matthew 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-13

b. Jesus appears to two unnamed men on the road to Emmaus: Mark 16:12-13; Luke 24:13-35

c. Jesus appeared to His disciples while Thomas was absent: Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-23

d. Jesus appeared to His disciples while Thomas was present: John 20:24-29

e. Jesus appears to the eleven disciples while they are on a mountain in Galilee and issues the Great Commission: Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18; John 14:23

f. Jesus appears to His disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, where He caused their nets to break with fish: Luke 5:1-11; John 21:1-14

Following this last appearance the disciples (commonly called the Eleven) pulled their oversized and breaking nets to shore, and prepared the fish on fires started by our Lord Jesus. It was this meal that the disciples ate - a breakfast meal shared between the Eleven and Jesus as the sun rose over the waters of the beautiful Sea of Tiberius. It was at the end of this meal that the Lord singled out Peter and asked him:

(John 21:15 KJV) "So when they had dined {had breakfast}, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

Though Jesus had already given the Eleven the Great Commission - at least several hours before this moment - and though Jesus had already upbraided the Eleven for the unbelief - Jesus had not yet approached Peter for denying Him to the Sanhedrin.

I can imagine Peter's anxiety. When I was a little boy I remember playing among the clothes racks at J.C. Penny's department store. You see, my momma was shopping for clothes, and I and my brother were bored. We decided that we would play cowboys and indians - and what better trees and forests to hide in than those wonderful racks of clothes. Momma warned us to stop, but we ignored her and kept on playing.

That is, until momma said, "Wait till your daddy gets home!"

Boy, that stopped us in our tracks! Daddy was a strict man, and I knew what momma's warning meant. We went home a little later, ate supper, and daddy came home. I remember momma telling him all about our transgressions, and daddy saying "Come see me once you're through eating".

Oh Beloved, I know Peter's heart! When Jesus appeared while Peter was at the tomb, Peter expected to be chastised. When Jesus gave the Great Commission, Peter expected to be chastised. When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the locked room, Peter expect to be chastised. When Jesus told them to throw down their nets, and He filled them to the point of breaking, Peter expected to be chastised. As they ate breakfast, Peter expected to be chastised.

Jesus looked into Peter's heart and saw the self-condemnation there. He looked at Peter and saw his uncertainty. And, knowing Peter's heart, Jesus asked him:

{15} Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

That is, "Simon, do you love (agape) Me more than these other Ten apostles?" An earlier Peter would have brashly stated, "Of course I AGAPE You, Lord". But that was an earlier Peter. That was the bold, the arrogant, the sure Peter. This was a new Peter, a Peter broken by God so that he could be used by God. Beloved, until the vessel is broken it cannot be used. While the vessel decides that it can do all things apart from Christ, the vessel cannot be used. For God to use us He must break us. This is the testimony of Scripture:

Until Adam was broken, Christ could not come.
Until Israel was broken, they could not be freed from Egypt.
Until Pharaoh was broken, he would not release Israel.
Until Israel was broken, they could not enter the Promised Land.
Until David was broken, he could not be King of Israel.
Until mankind is broken, it abides under the judgment of the Law of God.
Until a heart is broken, a sinner cannot accept Christ as Savior.
And
Until the Christian is broken, he cannot grow and do the great things that God would have him do.

Jesus looked at Peter as He asked this question, this all important question. "Do you love (AGAPE) Me more than all these other disciples?" Peter's response was, I can imagine, both humble and expectant of chastisement. The apostle looked at Jesus and, perhaps with tears in his eyes, said:

{15} Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.

"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." But Beloved, our English translation does not adequately express the original Greek text, for Peter actually said, "Yes Lord, you know I love (PHILEOS) you like a friend". The old Peter would have said, "Agape Love - Absolutely Lord! You know I can be this good. You know I can love You the way that You want me to love You". This was not the old brash Peter, but this was a new Peter. And, as he said these words with tears in his eyes, I expect that he expected Jesus to tell him how worthless he was for failing Him. I believe Peter expected the worst. I believe he expected Jesus to say, "You remember that Great Commission I gave you the other day? Forget it Peter. I've discovered I can't trust you. I've discovered that - even though I gave the Great Commission to you along with the others - you just can't be trusted.

But Jesus didn't do that. Jesus never does that.

Jesus said:

{15} ... Feed my lambs

God never destroys us, He breaks us of ourselves so that He can empower us to greater things. But God never condemns:

(Romans 8:1 KJV) "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

God never confuses:

(1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV) "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."

God never gives fearfulness:

(2 Timothy 1:7 KJV) "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

These things are for those who are outside the family of God. These things are for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. Condemnation is for the world, for the person that rejects the peace of God in Christ.

(John 5:24 KJV) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

2. We Must Be Focused On God's Word:

God does not require that we go through a period of brow-beating, or self condemnation. When we fail we are required to do as Jesus told Peter - get up, get our eyes back on Jesus, and get busy. As Jesus said to Peter:

Feed my lambs

Let's look at this first commandment that Jesus gave to Peter in more detail. The word "Feed" is the Greek bosko {pronounced bos’-ko}, which means "to graze". This word is found in both the first and third commands that Jesus made to Peter:

{15} Feed {bosko} my lambs.

And in verse 17,

{17} Feed {bosko} my sheep.

Peter, as the Church's first pastor, was told to BOSKO or "lead the sheep to good pasture". He was not to be led by the sheep in spiritual matters, but he was to provide them proper spiritual sustenance. What is proper spiritual sustenance? Our Lord Jesus tells us:

(John 17:17 KJV) "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

(2 Samuel 22:31 KJV) "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him."

Here is that which the lambs of God, the young Christians, and the sheep of God, the older more mature Christians must be provided. This is that which we graze on. This is what the pastor must provide, and that right early. God's Word, His holy Word, is a buckler, an enabler, the nourishment that must be provided to every person. The pastor must be careful to provide just His Word, to BOSKO, to lead the church to proper pasture. The pastor must be careful never to lead the flock away from the Word of God:

(Proverbs 30:5-6 KJV) "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. {6} Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

Lest he poison the flock with the vanity of life and worldliness - and the flock must be careful to listen to and absorb the Good Word of God.

It is so easy, in this day and age, to allow the world to convince you that you need to compromise the teachings of the Word. There is, in every one of us, a desire to be liked, to be part of the crowd. I suspect this is what has crept into the Church on slippered feet - that desire to be liked, that desire to conform to this world. Yet we are warned:

(Romans 12:2 KJV) "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

I remember when I was a child, momma used to make liver every so often. I remember smelling that wonderful smell when I got home from school, the smell of fried food. But when I went in the kitchen and looked in the pan - what a terrible surprise! Liver! Oh, how I hated liver! It made me gag to want it. I'd rather eat pound cake (momma made great pound cake), or steak, or spaghetti (gaspetti, as many little children call it), or anything, but not liver. Momma would put it on the plate and there it sat. Beautiful, brown, smelling good, but the taste - YUK! I hated liver. But momma made us eat it, and you had to eat it all, every bit of it, before you were allowed to leave the table. I hated liver, and though I love my momma very much I know that I - for a long time - harbored bad feelings about the liver I had to eat.

It's a funny thing. Today I love liver, and I ask my wife to prepare it every now and then. I love the flavor. When I was young I hated the taste, but now I am older I love the taste. And I found out that liver is full of vitamins that are so good for you. Momma always told me that liver was good for me, but I never understood it as a child.

(1 Corinthians 13:11 KJV) "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

It may not taste good to a child, but liver is good for you. The teachings of God's Word may not feel good or sound good to you, but as you mature you will find that those teachings are anchors you can grab hold of when life is getting you down. The saddest thing about pastors and churches that compromise the Word of God in order to be more politically correct or more acceptable to the world is that neither pastor nor church grow past babyhood. The only thing you get by compromising with the world is the same useless empowerment available to the worldly. A vacuum. A foolishness. A uselessness.

Both the sheep and the shepherd must be focused on the Word of God. Both must be aware of their duties to Christ when He says, "Feed My sheep". Finally,

3. We Must Be Focused On Unity:

John 21:16 "He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep."

In the first and third commands, "Feed My lambs" and "Feed my sheep", our Lord Jesus used the Greek word BOSKO, which means to "lead to good pasture". But in the second command Jesus uses different word for "feed". He uses the Greek poimaino {pronounced poy-mah’-ee-no}, which means - not to feed - but to shepherd and cherish. This verb is in the Present Active Imperative, which means that it is both a command and a call to repeated action. Jesus tells Peter:

"Keep on pastoring and cherishing My sheep"

We must ever be mindful that we all belong to Jesus. We are His sheep. In the words of the Psalmist:

(Psalms 100:3 KJV) "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."

We are Jesus' people, His sheep. We are purchased possessions, purchased with the Blood of Christ:

(1 Peter 1:18-19 NASB) "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, {19} but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."

We are not our own, but we are Christ's, if you have accepted Christ as Savior:

(Revelation 1:5-8 KJV) "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, {6} And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. {7} Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. {8} I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

The pastor is called to cherish, love, and protect the flock that Christ has entrusted to him - even though that pastor is not perfect. Peter was not perfect, and yet Jesus told him to "keep on shepherding My sheep". Love is the way of the shepherd, and the sheep must strive to apply - to absorb and walk by - the good Word of God.

We cannot afford to divert to the ways of the world. We must continue to focus on loving one another. We must remain focused on unity.

If the Church remains unified under Christ, there's nothing hidden from us that will not be uncovered. There is no trial we can come against that we cannot overcome. But we must persevere - not compromise with the world.

Conclusion and Call to Salvation

Concluding Thought: “The pastor's job is to lead me to Biblically sound doctrine – and my job is to hear and apply that doctrine to my daily walk.”