church

INI
Fifth Sunday After Easter
May 5, 2013
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE TREMENDOUS LIFTING POWER OF JESUS’ LOVE
John 21:15-19

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has
made us kings and priests to God and His Father, to Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever, Amen. Today’s text comes from the Gospel of John,
chapter 21, beginning with verse 15, as follows:

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." 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." 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. 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." This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And
when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me." These are the Words.

In the Name of our Forgiving Savior, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

Do you think you could lift an object that weighed 350 pounds? A huge
barbell, for instance, or five sacks of grain at one time. Sound like too much?
-It's not, really. In fact, you do it all the time! When the adult human heart - one
of the miracles of God's creation - pumps blood, it does the equivalent work of
lifting 350 pounds of dead weight every five minutes. Over the course of your
lifetime, this amazing organ of yours will do the equivalent work of lifting a
ten-ton load ten miles into the air! That's the tremendous lifting power of the
human heart.

You need lots of different kinds of lifting power in your life, don't you? You
need your heart to lift blood to the various parts of your body. You need an
elevator to lift you to the top floor of a tall building. You need a jack to lift up
the car when you've got a flat tire. But what happens when it's your soul that
needs lifting? What happens when your sins and your past mistakes have got
your down so low, you think there's no power on earth that can lift you up
again? Don't despair! In our text for today, Simon Peter discovers that there's
one power that can help you even when you're in that situation. That power is,
in the words of our theme:

THE TREMENDOUS LIFTING POWER OF JESUS' LOVE
I. It lifts us up in forgiveness even when we haven't loved Him.
II. It lifts us from serving ourselves to serving our Savior.

After hearing the text read, and then hearing the theme, you might think to
yourself, "Well, the pastor got it wrong this week. This text is about Peter's
love, not Jesus' love!" And you'd have a point. In our text, the Lord three times
addresses Peter's love for Him. He questions it. He puts Peter's love under the
microscope and examines it. And it comes up terribly lacking, as we'll see. -But
that's not what this passage is really all about. We're already too familiar with
the shortcoming's of Peter's love, because we've got some of the same failings
he had. We know about Peter's love -- what we want to know about is Jesus'
love! And the comforting message for us here is that Jesus' love lifts us up in
forgiveness, even when we haven't loved Him.

The early morning is a special time for me; maybe you feel the same way. So
often it's wonderfully fresh and still just before dawn. Sometimes the eastern
sky is streaked with beautiful colors in advance of the coming sun. This was the
pre-dawn setting on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee when the risen Lord
Jesus - nail marks in His hands, spear wound in His side - appeared to His
disciples. He shared breakfast with them, gathered round a fire of coals in the
early morning light.

Our text is a conversation that takes place immediately following that
breakfast. Simon Peter has a burden on his heart. As he stares into the dying
embers of the fire, he may well be remembering the last time he had gathered
with others round a fire of coals. It had been in the courtyard of the High Priest,
the same night when Jesus had been arrested and put on trial. Oh yes, Peter
recalled that night vividly. That was the night when he had proudly bragged
about his love for Jesus, and how he would stand by him through thick and
through thin. In fact he had boasted that his love was greater than that of his
fellow disciples. He had said, "Even if all are offended because of You, I will
never be offended... Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!'" --
Mat 26:34-35. And that had turned out to be the same night when, warming his
hands at that fire in the courtyard of the high priest, Peter had denied with an
oath that he even knew who Jesus was!

Now, on the beach, Peter is silent. Jesus knows that this is a difficult issue that
has to be taken care of without delay. Peter’s sin was committed in public, so it
needs to be resolved in a public way, too (it’s the same in our congregation, by
the way.) So Jesus turns to Peter. Only He doesn't use the name "Peter," which
means "rock," but rather a name that would remind him of his humanness, and
his frailty. Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me
more than these?" Do you really love Me more than the other disciples do, as
you once boasted so proudly? They both know what the answer is. The answer
is no. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter forsook Jesus and ran away just like
the other disciples did. So there is no pride in Peter's voice now. He hangs his
head in shame and murmurs, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said
to him, "Feed My lambs." The implication is: no, Peter, you didn't love Me. But
I still love you, and I forgive you! And I have work for you to do.

He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?"
Irregardless of these others, do YOU really love Me, Peter? If so, you certainly
didn't show it in the High Priest's courtyard, when you used every filthy swear
word you could think of to deny Me. Peter's voice is reduced to a whisper as he
says to Him, He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said
to him, "Tend My sheep." Peter, you failed in your love to Me. But I still love
you, and I forgive you! And I have work for you to do.

Finally a third, agonizing question. Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? It's
interesting, by the way, that Jesus here switches to a much milder form of the
word "love," as if to say: do you care for Me at all? Even as a friend? So Peter
was grieved…" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.

At this point in the sermon I could draw a lot of comparisons about the ways in
which you and I have denied our Lord Jesus, and failed to love Him as we
should. But I'm not going to do that -- because I think you know. When you
look back at your background and your past, you know how you have failed
your Lord. You know the secret sins, that nobody knows about but you. You
also know the public sins, that rather than glorifying Christ's name, have instead
splashed mud on it. If you’re like me, you know you haven't come anywhere
near loving your Savior as you should, and you know just how low and
unworthy that sin makes you feel. Well, Godly sorrow over our sins is a good
and necessary thing, as Paul says: "Godly sorrow produces repentance to
salvation, not to be regretted." -- 2 Cor 7:10.

But don't stop there -- for the Lord never meant for you to stay in the depths of
sorrow. Remember the tremendous lifting power of Jesus' love! Three times -
one for every time Peter denied him in the courtyard - Jesus gently lifted His
fallen disciple. Three times He impressed on him that, no matter how terrible
his denial was, no matter how miserable his failure, Jesus still loved him with an
unfailing love. There by that fire on the beach, with the sun just rising, Jesus
was reminding Peter of the central truth of Christianity: Jesus' blood covers all
our sins. There is no sinner too guilty to be forgiven! There is no sinner who has
fallen so low that Jesus' love cannot lift him up and restore him to God's grace.

Peter could see the proof of that right before his eyes in the body of Jesus - the
marks of the nails and spear. They were part of the limitless suffering Jesus
endured on the cross. Jesus' whole mission on earth was to lift up sinners like
you and me from the degradations of our sin to the glories of His salvation. And
you know, that's why He allowed Himself to be lifted up -- on the cross. Jesus
said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
eternal life." -- John 3:14-15. Christian, look to the cross! Behold the lengths to
which Jesus' love for you drove Him! Behold the rich rewards that His suffering,
death and resurrection have reaped for you! In Him you have full and free
forgiveness of sins, life and eternal salvation. To you also our Savior says today,
Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. -Mt 9:2. Surely that's got to be
the most uplifting Good News there could possibly be in your life!

In love, Jesus lifted Peter up by showing him that his past sins were pardoned.
But Jesus had another reason for lifting Peter up - He had work for Peter to do!
And that's another remarkable thing about the lifting power of Jesus' love: it
lifts us from serving ourselves to serving our Savior.

Jesus not only restored Peter to grace, He gave him back his job as an apostle.
Jesus issued him this threefold commission: "Feed my lambs; tend my sheep;
feed my sheep." And Peter carried out that commission, serving as shepherd of
the flock in Jerusalem and elsewhere. In the last part of our text, Jesus predicts
that Peter would not only with his life, but also with his death serve his Lord:
Jesus told Peter, 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." This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And
if tradition is correct, Peter fulfilled that prophesy to the letter. Tradition says
that he died a martyr's death in Rome, under the wicked emperor Nero. The
historian Eusebius says that Peter, like Jesus, was crucified, but that he asked to
be crucified head-downward, to witness how unworthy his death was, as
compared with the all-atoning death of his Savior!

You've heard the expression, "saved to serve." Did you know that, in ancient
China, there was a custom which stated that if somebody saved your life, you
were bound by law to serve that person for the rest of your days? It makes
sense, doesn't it? If it weren't for that person you'd have no life at all, so it
seems logical that what life you do have should be dedicated to the service of
the person who saved you. The same holds true in our lives as Christians. Jesus
has lifted us up from the pit of hell. With His redemptive work on the cross He
has literally "saved our lives" -- eternally! By merit of His blood and
righteousness, you and I are headed for the eternal joys of heaven. The only
question left is, what can we do to serve Him in the meantime? Because we've
got to do something! Paul says, "The love of Christ constrains us, because we
judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those
who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them
and rose again." -- 2 Cor 5:14-15.

Commenting on our text for today, one Christian writer remarked, "Not at the
end of every Christian's course stands the martyr's cross; but no Christian can
finish his course without being led from Peter's youth to Peter's age, and being
exercised in cross-bearing." (Besser). It's not likely that you or I will be called
upon to sacrifice our lives for our faith. But when you, in faith and love, turn to
your Savior and ask, "Isn't there something now, that I can do for You?" He
won't turn you away. He will lift you up, and provide you, too, with work to do
in the kingdom of God! Our congregation here needs more than a pastor - it
needs volunteers, faithful church council members, willing Sunday school
teachers, people to spread the word about our mission, people to encourage,
admonish, visit and support their fellow Christians. You may be able to support
the work with increased gifts from the financial bounty the Lord has given you.
And this is really just the start of the list. In His love for you, Jesus' has lifted
you from sin. Now, if you are searching for a way to express the faith God’s
given you, you can be sure that He will lift you up to a life of service, as well.
Whatever your talents are, however humble you feel your abilities to be, Jesus
turns no one away. That's the tremendous lifting power of Jesus' love!

I'd like to leave you with the same words Jesus left Peter with, there on the
beach at the Sea of Galilee. After that difficult discussion, after patiently
restoring Peter and giving him a sobering glance into the future, Jesus said to
Peter, simply, "Follow Me." That comforting exhortation is for you and me, as
well. The sins of our past are covered in Jesus' blood. The service and sacrifice
that our future holds is hidden from our eyes. But it's not hidden from our
Savior's. And He says to us simply, "Follow Me." Let us do so, with the
confidence that His love will lift us above every obstacle, AMEN.