John 21:15–19 CSB

When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”

Open in Prayer

Do you love me?

This passage is one of the passages that start to change the way you think while reading it. When asked this statement we all would assume that we know the answer.

Think about it is Jesus was face to face with you what would your answer be if asked Do you love me?

I think it is safe to say that most if not all our answer would be yes. But when you break down and look that the requirements that Christ tells peter in this passage we will start to find that maybe we do not love him as much as we think.

There are three things that Christ tells Peter that need to be done Because of the love for Christ we say we have.

Feed his Lamb

Shepard his Sheep

Feed his Sheep

We are going to look at these and see if we can answer the question to Christ if we love him or not.

Feed My Lambs

This is a statement that can be taken into so many different aspects when reading it. When in truth it is something that is so grand to think about while we are young adults trying to grow.

Often times come and we spend so much time asking God what does loving Christ look like or how do I love Christ in a manner that he has loved me.

one of the things i want us to look at it What is a lamb right it is a baby sheep.

But in this aspect it's not talking about a baby sheep I want you to think of before you knew Christ or when you first accepted Christ did you know everything about him. No you were considered a baby you were considered young you were considered unwise. That is what he's saying here Jesus is telling Peter to feed my lambs to give the knowledge to the people that don't know him or barely know him and feed them and educate them and show them love and show them every aspect of which Jesus was about.

We in fact were called to do the exact same thing the first step to showing love for Christ is 2 feed the lambs if we don't educate the people that don't know Jesus and we don't live the life like Christ so the people want to know who Jesus is we will never actually be able to love Christ. It's all about exposing the nonbeliever the world to Jesus just as he calls us to do.

Once we have showed the love of Christ to the lambs we are then call to the next Part which is to Shepard the the sheep.

Shepard his Sheep

Shepherding his sheep is a very interesting thought when you think about it you know once we educate people on who Christ is and what Christ is about and how Christ loves and he cares then it's a matter of guiding them.

Now sheep are considered one of the dumbest animals you'll ever see they will go and get themselves hurt they will go and get themselves lost they will go and just wander just because they can and they actually required someone to Shepherd them and guide them in the direction of which they're going because even if they knew where their home was they would still always wander because that's what she do we in ourselves or exactly like sheep

we do the exact same thing we know who our master is we know who to follow we know who to go to 1 where in trouble but we always wander off to do the same thing we always wander off to away from the master we always go and try to do things our way and we always try to just survive on things that aren't possible and then the first thing we say is why. But here Jesus is talking to Peter and he's saying Shepherd my sheep you know if you love me if you want to be a part of me if you want to show that love once you tell them about me then you're to guide them every step of the way and now guiding them comes in multiple ways

the first way it comes in is keeping them accountable we are called to keep each other accountable we're called to make sure that we aren't straying from the path that we're going to go. The next way is to make sure they're healthy you know one of the things the Shepherd does is always checks on the sheep make sure they're alive make sure they're healthy make sure none of them are sick we are called to do the same thing we are called to look after each other to lift each other up to make sure that we're doing OK physically mentally spiritually but that is what we are called to do to Shepherd and when you start doing these things then you finally get to the last aspect which is probably the most important one

we are called to feed his sheep

Feed my sheep

This one is probably my most favorite one he's summing it all up and Jesus telling him the final time it's time to feed my sheep. Wincher growing the flock in your having the lamps growing and then you start shepherding them and you're holding each other accountable and stuff there's only one other thing that it's called to do at this point the Jesus calls us to do. He calls us too feed each other help each other grow in any biblical aspect there's things that you understand that someone else might not understand he calls us to help each other feed each other grow each other build each other up. One of the things you notice when you look at Jesus is life throughout the whole time of his ministry was that no matter what he did no matter who he encountered he was always lifting them up he was always teaching them the way he was always guiding them because that's what love is love doesn't put people down love doesn't hurt people love doesn't put people in a place where they have to make a choice Jesus is love was built for us to demonstrate it so freely

he cared about everybody no matter what he fed everybody it didn't matter how much money the person had it didn't matter how broken the person was or if he was in good health those things didn't matter because he fed them what they needed he said the Holy Spirit was for everybody.

This comes so much to us because sometimes we lose track of our ways and lose track of the fact that I don't have to be perfect I don't have to have it all together I don't have to understand the opposite sex I don't have to get good grades all you need to do is have the willingness to learn engro and put into practice the things that Jesus tell us to do.

He calls us to feed his sheep he calls us to lift each other up to help each other grow to guide each other to feet each other weather that is spiritually physically or mentally. Now we're coming to a time where it's time to ask yourself do you love Christ the way you say you love him or is that just something that you just say because you were always accustomed to saying it do you do these three things 'cause these three things are required to love Christ he told Peter this do you feed his lambs do you go out and share the gospel like you're supposed to to people that don't know the gospel do you go in help people and keep people accountable and lift them up like they're supposed to do you go and help each other grow and feed each other and guide each other like we're called to if not now is the time to maybe talk to God about it now is the time to come back to Christ and ask him to help you love him.