Do You Love Me?

Quick announcement. One is this, we need some workers during the summer. Becky and Kristen do such an incredible job with our children. And I mean, they are just, Wednesday night’s just a special night. You can see kids everywhere. But we want to give them a little bit of a break. If they want to choose to work during the summer, that’s fine. But if you could maybe help out a little bit, maybe take one Wednesday night. We’ve got seven that we need some helpers and not having everybody do it all through the summer for them. So if you could kind of help out, that’d be great. It’s always good to give folks a little bit of a break. You know, when you come off a break, you’re ready to go back to kind of work. But if you can help us with that during the summer, you can probably see Becky or you can see Kristen and we can line you up for one of those Wednesdays. And we would love you to do that.

Also, May 20th is the fish fry. So apparently you guys know how to do a fish fry, right? So I’m coming to eat. You don’t want me to stop frying anything. But it’s going to be a great, so put that on your calendar. That’ll be May 20th. That’s a Saturday. And then the next morning, we’re going to have Gideon Sunday. Now, normally someone goes, oh, really? Gideon Sunday? You don’t want to miss it. In fact, you want folks to come to that. Major General John Reynolds is going to be in this pulpit. And he’s going to give us testimony. And it’s a pretty powerful testimony. I’ve written a bunch of stuff about him. He came to Pinecrest when I was there. And he was, you know, some guys look like generals. He’s one of those guys. Went to West Point, but he was the first guy out of West Point ever to go into the Marine Corps, which boggles my mind. But he, I mean, his resume is amazing. He was a Rhodes Scholar. He was brilliant. Got his MBA at Harvard. But he was a good old Georgia country boy out of Macon who was a high school football player, all-state football player. He is the guy who is responsible for Colonel Oliver North coming to Christ. And he was president of the Citadel. He has, I mean, won the Silver Star, which is just under the Medal of Honor. So you want to be here on May 21st to hear his testimony and hear how Gideon Bibles are literally changing people’s lives around the world. You think about a guy, a big, important guy like that, and then he’s, can you imagine him standing on a street corner handing out Bibles? That’s what he does. So you be here, that’s May 21st, to hear Major General John Reynolds in this pulpit giving his testimony of how Gideon Bibles changed His life. So let me encourage you to be part of that.

If you’re one of our guests this morning, on the edge of your bulletin is a little tear-off sheet. And if you wouldn’t mind just tearing that off, either putting the offering plate or just leave it on your seat, we’ll get to it. You may also have a prayer request, so you don’t have to be a guest for that. But if you have a prayer need, we would love for you to be part of that. If you notice, we have an insert now for prayer requests. So just take this home and just pray over these names. We’ve separated the shut-ins, the active military. And if you would like your name, you can give Angela a phone call or you can email her. Probably the easiest way to probably email her. And we’ll get your name on there. So we’d love to do that.

And we’re going to do something a little different this morning. I want you to look around. I want you to, you know, I want you to get up in just a second. But I want you to look around. And I just want you to welcome somebody to church. Maybe you’ve done some of that already. But I want you, you know, if you see a face you don’t see or you just haven’t seen since last Sunday, I want you to, I want you just to say, man, I get, I’m glad I get to worship with you this morning. So let’s stand, just kind of welcome each other real quick. I mean, we’re not going to invite each other to dinner. We’ll just welcome each other real quick. And you’ll say, and Clark, You’re good to see. What’s up, bud? I love you, Ronnie. I love you, too. Come on. Tell her when she said hi. I will. Is that your company? Oh, Donnie.

Okay, let’s come back together. Yeah, I got control of this crowd. You better get out of control. Okay, let’s come back together for worship. All right, while you’re standing up there, you just want to turn back to the front and we’ll keep singing. So our next hymn is number 247. Come the Almighty King. So keep standing and we’ll sing. Words are up on your screen. Keep hugging. Amen.

Okay, let me ask you a question. Why do you think folks don’t come to church? Because they don’t want to. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Any other reasons? What would they rather do when they’re tired? Sleep. Yep, yep. How do you think God feels about that? What do you think? How do you think God feels about that? Kind of sad. Okay, yeah. What’s another one? You don’t want to? Yeah, yeah. We kind of covered that. Yeah, sometimes they just don’t want to. You know what one of the main reasons people say? Well, because they look at folks in the church and they go, well, they don’t act like a bunch of Christians, do they? You want to be around folks that say they’re one thing but act a different way? You ever see that at school? Where they say they’re one thing but they do something totally different? You ever see that? Or around friends or whatever? Yeah.

I want to show you something. Morgan, can you throw up that first slide? What is that? Oh, yeah, you guys know exactly what that is. Okay. Huh? And it’s growing something, too. So that’s a tadpole. Okay. Give me the second one. Tadpoles grow into what? Frogs. Okay, so that’s a big green frog. Okay. So, which is amazing that tadpoles become that. Because they don’t look at all alike, do they? No. Okay. But there’s something in the middle. Anybody know what a froglet is? All you biology majors? Okay. What’s a froglet? See, what a froglet is, you’re exactly right. But what a froglet is, is the middle between a tadpole becoming a frog. Throw up the third one for me there. There. Okay. Yep. That is a froglet. Okay. So it’s in the middle.

You know, sometimes we’re kind of hard on folks that say, yeah, I go to church or I’m a Christian because they don’t always act that way. You know, one reason a lot of folks don’t act that way is because they’re new to it. And so they’re kind of coming out of one thing and like a tadpole, you know, to become a froglet before they become a full-grown frog. So before they become a deep Christian or a Christian that knows a lot of things and knows how to make better choices and moves, they’re in the middle, which is what this guy is.

Now, here’s what happens. That froglet there, you can probably all the tadpoles looking at that froglet going, well, he kind of looks like us, but he ain’t us no more. You know, he’s got the tail, but he’s got arms and legs. We ain’t got no arms and legs. He ain’t done there. But he ain’t a frog yet either, is he? So the frogs look back and they go, I ain’t got no tail no more. He ain’t like me. You know, he says he’s coming to be like me, but he ain’t me. So you got the ones on the ends kind of being hard, you know, they’re kind of judging him and then the other, and they got the one here saying, well, he ain’t like us no more. And a lot of times they’re pretty tough on him. And maybe what we ought to do sometimes, instead of being tough on him, we ought to say, maybe we can help him because he was once like us, but he ain’t like us no more, but he’s going to be something better. And the one that’s already there, go back and say, well, I can help him become something better. Does that make sense?

You know, Jesus says this in John chapter 15, He’s talking to His disciples and He says these words. He says, this is how people are going to know that you love me. If you love one another, you know, the best way we can ever show someone we love Jesus is by loving other folks. Does that make sense? Even when they ain’t like us, because some of them like this froglet might just be growing into being one of Christians like that. Does that make sense? Okay. So maybe there’s somebody in your life that you go, man, they’re trying. They ain’t like me yet. Maybe I can help. Maybe I can be a friend. Or maybe those folks that used to be going, well, I don’t like him either because he used to be like this, but he ain’t like us no more. And so maybe we need to come together and say, let’s help that person. That makes sense? Let’s pray.

Father, thank you. Thanks for loving us. And sometimes we’re in that froglet stage of life of being a Christian. And we’re just growing. And maybe we need somebody that’s around us. Or maybe we can be that person that helps someone else and just loves them because that’s the best way we show we love You. Be with these children and let them have a great children’s church. In Your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

Thanks, guys. It’s going to be number 308. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. So you stand, we’ll sing. So say, sing in the Lord, in His word. Stand in His word. Thank you, choir.

We’ve just come to a prayer time at this time. A couple things. Just found out that Maryland Building had a fall this morning and may have really messed up her shoulder. And I think they were kind of coming by the church on their way to the ER. So we don’t know the extent of anything, so we want to pray for her. And, of course, Miss Jane Sports this week had major surgery. And I talked to her this week, and she’s doing actually pretty well. So keep hearing it. And I know some of you are dealing with issues, numerous ones. Some of you are waiting for tests. Life just gets tough sometimes, doesn’t it? It’s just a pain sometimes. That’s why I’m happy to know Jesus. So we’re going to pray for them in just a moment.

Keep our search committee in your prayers. I think they’ve got probably some interviews coming up as far as probably on the computer and some different things. That’s just a tough job. So just keep them in your prayer. Find the right guy for our church. And I’m sure you just came in with stuff, too. So I just think there’s a lot. And just, like I said, take your prayer sheet home and pray over it this week. Let’s go down the list and that kind of thing.

So why don’t we go just bow our heads in just the silence of the moment. Just kind of maybe there’s just something on your heart that you’re dealing with. Could be a lot. Could be work-related. Could be somebody in the family. It could be a lot of things. Maybe something you’ve got no control over most of life. So let’s just bow our heads. Let’s close our eyes. Kind of get in that humble position. And let’s just talk to the Lord. He loves to do that with us. So let’s just do that.

Father, as our choir is just saying, life comes at us from every direction. And like Your word says, if we’re not built on solid ground, it kind of, we just sink. So, Lord, we’ve got folks in our church. I thank You for Miss Jane’s surgery this week, that it went so well. I thank You. We’ve, one of our members, Ronnie Barber, was buried this week. Miss Marilyn, that You would just be with her and the doctors as they look at that shoulder and whatever else with her fall this morning. And then we just got stuff we’re dealing with. Life’s just sometimes just tough. Like Your word says, when the world just seems to overwhelm us, we need to just be reminded that You’ve overcome the world. So, Lord, we want to claim that this morning. We also want to worship. We want to hear You clearly. We want to be drawn closer to You. And that can be dangerous sometimes. Come bring some things out that You just need to take care of. So, Lord, just be honest with us. Remind us, again, how much You love us. You’ve got a word for us. That You’ve got a plan for our lives. And it’s also not to just stay here, but to go out wherever we go. So, Lord, we thank You for just loving us, listening to us, always being there. And now we give this time to You. In Your Son’s precious name we pray. All God’s people said, amen.

You’ve got your Bibles. Like you turn with me to the book of John, chapter 21, as we kind of wind up kind of Jesus being on the earth. This is the end of the book of John. We talked a little bit about last week where He’s kind of in the middle of restoring Peter and how they’re feeling and how Peter’s feeling. And especially after Peter had denied Him. Sometimes we just struggle in life. We struggle with, and we know better. If you were around in the 1980s, which most of you were, if you were involved in athletics or watched track at all or whatever, you might remember this name, Kathy Ormsby. Kathy was a success story. She was a dean’s list student at NC State University up there in Raleigh. She was straight A’s. And she, I mean, she just made it. She was majoring in pre-med. In fact, she wanted, she came out, she was a Christian. She wanted to be a medical missionary when she first went to campus. But one thing she could do was run. She loved to run. She found out that she was good at running. I mean, at the University of Pennsylvania Penn Relays in April of 1986, she set the NCAA collegiate record for the 10,000 meters. I don’t know if you’ve ever run 10,000 meters. That’s a pretty long, that’s a pretty long race. And she set the NCAA record. She qualified for the NCAA championships in three events, the 3,000, the 5,000, and of course the 10,000. I mean, she was a celebrity. She was, I mean, like a, if you were in the track and field business, she was a who’s who. Everything seemed to be going right for her. She was 21 years old, seemed to be on top of the world. And then in June the 4th of 1986, she was at the NCAA track championships in Indianapolis. About two-thirds through the race. She’s running about third, which is about kind of where she would usually run. Just kind of pacing herself till she makes her final kick. And all of a sudden, she just swerves off the track. Jumped a seven-foot fence. Goes outside the complex. Goes down about two blocks. Jumps another about four-foot boundary. And dives head first, 40 feet down into a riverbed. Where she punctured both lungs. She snapped her spine. And the doctors told her, not only will you never run again, you’ll never walk. She’s paralyzed from the chest down. The Seattle Times article of June 11th of that year asked this question: How many other athletes are obsessed so much with winning and are heading for a fall? Good Christian girl, raised in church. How do you get so broken when you seem to be on top of the world? I think that’s kind of where Peter’s at. Peter was on top of the world. I mean, he was hanging around. I mean, he hung around Jesus for three and a half years. I mean, for goodness sake. How do you go from, as one football coach said, from the penthouse to the outhouse so quickly? Peter did. Let’s look at John 21. Let’s start with verse 15. If you’ll stand with me for the reading of God’s Word. So when they had finished breaking bread, or finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said to Him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And He said to him, then tend my lambs. And He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to Him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And He said to him, then shepherd my sheep. And He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because He had 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. And Jesus said to him, then tend my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wish. But when you grow old, He will stretch your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death He would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, then just follow me. You may be seated. Thank you for standing. Jesus in His discussion with Peter is gonna lay out His will for what Christians need to just, folks, I’m just thinking basic understanding if you’re gonna follow Jesus. See, it’s one thing to say, yeah, I’ll follow you. Peter was good about that. I mean, I want you to just, let me just ask you a question. If you were Peter, how would you react to yourself after you had denied Jesus? Now, some of us may look at that and go, what is the big deal, okay? What’s the big deal? I mean, Peter’s denial. See, we just kind of say, well, yeah, I mean, Peter was scared, not stars. Give the guy a break. But it was still pretty grievous, okay? Number one, Peter wasn’t just one of the 12. Peter was one of the three. He was one of the inner circle. Secondly, you can go back to Mark 13 and Matthew 26, because they all record Peter, no, all of them record Peter’s denial. Peter swore he wouldn’t deny Him. Now, the other guys say they wouldn’t deny Jesus, but it’s after Peter says he won’t, and they’re going, yeah, we’re kind of, we agree with that. We’re not, we’re gonna do that. We’ll never deny You. I mean, Peter was going, Lord, when these guys, and maybe that’s what they heard, when these guys deny You, I won’t. When these guys aren’t willing to die for You, buddy, I’m in there. I’ll die for You. So these guys were, those other disciples weren’t stupid enough to sit there and go, I’m in, I’ll do whatever, until Peter said, well, these guys, if they don’t, I will. And they’re going, well, we will.

He didn’t just do it once. Remember? He didn’t just do it once. He did it three times. Three times. You think maybe round number two, going into number three, he would have had maybe kind of, kind of had a second thought about this and go, I can’t do this. He willing, and to the point of this, on the third time, he curses. It’s recorded that he curses. Now, he’s not cursing the people that are asking him because that’d get him in real big trouble. Who’s he cursing? He’s cursing the Lord. I’m telling you, I don’t know this guy. I mean, he’s cursing on God’s name. And I want to tell you, in that time of the world, in that time, pocket of friends and people, I’m going to tell you, loyalty was everything, especially to a Jew. I mean, Jews value loyalty. When it seems like everybody else in the world is against you, and the only thing you got is each other, and then for one of the inner circle guys to sit there and go, I got no clue who that man is. And don’t you ask me again.

Let me ask you this. You ever done that? You probably haven’t been so blatant, but you ever been about, no, no, I’m not one of those Jesus freaks. Oh, no, no. I’m not a fanatic. You know where we get the word fan from? It’s from the word fanatic. It’s the first three letters. I’m not a fanatic. Where would you be with, so it’s not like this isn’t some easy sin to forgive. And Jesus does a thing here. He’s almost like a spiritual doctor who goes in there and takes His scalpel and starts cutting because He’s going to be a certain number of things with Peter. Number one, Jesus gets personal when He talks about our relationship, and He gets personal with Peter. First of all, I want you to understand this. Look what He calls him. He doesn’t call him Peter. What does He call him? He calls him Simon. When was the last time He called him Simon? We’ll go to John chapter one when He comes to him and He looks at him and He says, I want you guys to follow Me. And it’s basically, you know, Peter and Andrew and James and John. And He looks at him, but He looks at Peter and He says what? He says something different to Peter. He says, Peter, I’m going to change your name. Well, first of all, He says, Simon, it’s going to become Peter, which means what? Rock. Bubba, you’re going to be solid. You’re going to be My guy. You’re going to be the guy that, you know, is going to, you know, be just, if I can’t count on anybody else, I’m going to count on you. You got leadership, buddy, but He doesn’t call him Peter here. He calls him what? He calls him Simon, son of John. He goes all the way back, says, you maybe used to be a rock. You ain’t a rock anymore. Let’s go back to the beginning. And then He’s asking some questions. He looks at him and He gets personal and He sits there and He says, and He’s, and He, and I’m just looking at the situation. Remember last week? I mean, who’s the guy first out of the boat? He doesn’t notice it’s Jesus and he says, “I think it’s Jesus.” And then boom, throws on his robe, he jumps in the water and he heads to shore. And now it’s, we got this time where they probably had breakfast. Some guys might be sleeping around the fire. And then He looks at him and out of the blue, He just has this conversation and goes, “Peter, I want to know, you love me?”

Let’s look at the word love there because it’s personal. He says, “Peter, do you love me?” And, you know, if you know anything about the original language and you’ve probably heard this in sermons before, there were three different Greek words for love. There’s Agapao, okay, I remember the first, my mama was Greek so the first Greek thing she ever taught me was say Agapo, which means I love you. But that, that word Agapao in the original language means this, it’s an intellectual word. It means, I’m going to love you regardless. I want you to know that no matter what happens, I’m in there for you. I love you. So He’s looking at Peter and He’s kind of going, “Peter, let me ask you this, is your love so deep that no matter what happens, you’re going to love me?” And Peter goes, well, what does it say? “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

But Peter don’t use the same word love. Peter used another word. It’s a word in the Greek called phileo. The only reason that’s important is we get that word phileo, it means brotherly love. It’s where we get our word Philadelphia or phileo-delphia. It’s more of an emotional word. It’s more of a, I’m in there with you. It’s a word, it can be a deep love. It can be a good, a deep friendship love. And basically He’s looking at him and saying, “Hey, yeah, you’re my friend.”

J.B. Phillips, who’s a great commentator, kind of paraphrased this passage and he kind of puts it this way. Verse 15, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others?” And he said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I’m your friend.” It takes a different meaning. “Then feed my lambs.” Then He said for the second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” returned Peter, “you know that I’m your friend.” “Then care for my sheep.” And then replied Jesus, then for the third time, Jesus spoke to him and said, “Simon son of John, listen to this, are you even my friend?” Peter was deeply hurt because Jesus’ third question to him was, “Are you my friend?” And he said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I’m your friend.”

Let me ask you this. If Jesus came to you this morning and said, “Do you love me? Do you agapeo love me? Do you intellectually love me? Do you commitment love me? Do you love me whether you feel like it or not?” You know, we look at the word love and we kind of think, you know, love, well, it’s got to have emotion in it. And yeah, it needs to have some emotion in it. Yeah, love needs to be passionate. I’m not arguing that. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, which is called the love chapter, Paul the apostle puts it this way. He says, have you ever heard this at weddings? I do this at every wedding I do. Love is patient. Love is kind. It’s not jealous. Love does not brag. It’s not arrogant. It does not act unbecoming. It does not seek its own. It’s not provoked. It does not take into account a wrong suffered. It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but it rejoices with the truth. It bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things, endures all things. Why? Because love never fails.

How much emotion did you hear in that? Did you hear any emotion? I didn’t hear any emotion. Patient and kind, rejoices with unrighteousness, rejoices with truth, believes things, hopes things. See, sometimes you’re not going to feel like loving somebody else, but you do it anyway. Like I told the kids, John 15 says, how do you show the world that you love Jesus? You show the world that you love Jesus by loving each other, whether you agree with them or not. You still love people. It’s a choice. It’s an act of will. Love is always an act of will. Beth and I have been married almost, I think we will been married 46 years. And we dated five and a half before that. How do you think our love is? It’s got to be deep. She wouldn’t have put up with me for 46 years. Yeah, patient. Yeah, patient and kind. You’re absolutely right. So it’s got to be an act of will. But do you think she loves me some days a little more emotionally than she does on other days? Why y’all doing this? Everybody’s going, yeah. Well, yeah, absolutely. That’s why I always struggle with folks who say, well, we’ve just kind of fallen out of love. Well, then work to put it back together again. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. And the hardest thing also is just loving people. Again, we talked about Wednesday night. You know, people aren’t our enemy, even lost people. Satan’s the enemy. Do you love me? Tim Keller, in his perspective of this, says it’s so personal here that Jesus looks at Peter and He pretty much says these words, Peter, you know, you failed me. And Peter’s going, yeah, I failed you. Peter, you know, you failed me. Yeah, I know I failed you. Peter, you really did fail me. How many times could God look at us and say, you know what? Al, you failed me. I know, Lord. I could have done this. I could have said this. I know. I don’t know why I said what I did. I don’t know why I’m thinking what I, I don’t know why I did that. Failed me out. I mean, how many times do we do that daily? How many, how many times is that just part of, even as Christians, we do that. And then we, and then because the Holy Spirit’s inside of us and we get convicted of our sin, we realize, why did I do that? I know better than that. So God’s about dealing with us personally and He deals with him personally. He doesn’t ask John, what do you think? He doesn’t look at James and say, what do you think? They might be sleeping. He doesn’t say, you know, Timothy, what do you think? Thomas, I mean, Thomas, what do you think? He doesn’t, he doesn’t look at those guys and say that. He says, Peter, do you love me? Jesus not only deals with us privately, Jesus deals with us publicly when He’s looking for our support. Peter denied Him publicly. You know, it’s interesting that Peter denied Him at a fire and Peter will be restored at a fire. Now fire can do a number of things. It can burn us. It can illuminate how we really are. I mean, that’s what light does. That’s what fires do. Christ can also heal us. He heals. Peter’s about to be healed. But it’s publicly. He’s around the other disciples. One reason we know this is because Peter’s not writing this. John’s writing this. So John’s right there hearing everything that Jesus is asking Peter and he’s hearing everything how Peter answers Jesus. It’s publicly. I mean, Peter wants, I mean, Jesus wants us to live our faith publicly. I don’t know if I shared with you, I had a lady one time across the street from me when I lived on James Island. Knew that I was in the ministry and she knew that I was Southern Baptist. And she said, I remember she came in, we were talking one day, we were in our yards and she, I’ll never forget it. She goes, Al, I know you’re one of them Southern Baptists. I don’t know what that meant. You know, you’re one of them Southern Baptists. I guess that we do things more publicly than everybody else. But she says, I, my faith is private. I, I’m a Christian, but I, my faith is very private to me. Well, I think it ought to be private to everybody. You don’t need to keep it private. You know, we make public professions of faith. We are publicly baptized. Something we do publicly. You know why? Because Jesus wants to hear how we feel about Him and He wants, and He wants to see how not only the world is going to react, but the world needs to see us. You know, baptism is one of the first things you do as a Christian. One of the first acts of obedience. Reason you get baptized, it becomes, it becomes an outward expression of what God has done inwardly in your life. You have made, you’ve made a major monumental decision spiritually. You have taken, you decide you have taken a step that you want to go to another level spiritually, and you’re not ashamed of Jesus. And that’s why when We join a church, we do it what? We do it publicly. Because Peter denied Him publicly, Jesus is going to restore him publicly. But this also becomes a thing for the others that if they’re there and they’re watching, that they see this. You know, our work is to be publicly. You know, it’s interesting here that Jesus doesn’t scold him. You ever done something wrong and you just expected, man, I am going to get chewed out? You ever had that? Whether it’s at work, maybe your home, maybe it’s your parents. Remember growing up? God, I got caught. They’re going to just jump all over. I’m done. You ever been, and if you played sports at all, you know, coach is going to nail me. Does Jesus do that? Now, let me tell you what Jesus doesn’t do. Jesus doesn’t come up to him and say, hey, bud, look, let’s go back. I know you messed up. You’re probably scared. I mean, you’re just reacting. And I know you probably didn’t really mean to do it. It’s not that big a deal. Let’s just let bygones be bygones and let’s forget it. Does He do that? That either. Jesus never acknowledged and said sin’s not that big a deal.

One of my, a guy that I like to read every once in a while is a guy by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Now, if you don’t know Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he was a German theologian, last century, loved the Lord, was passionate about the Lord. In 1936, he wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship. This is a guy who was so against Hitler and what was going on and how the church was capitulating to Hitler that at the end of the war, he actually got captured and he died in a German POW camp, but wrote some great stuff. Loved, I mean, just passionate, but he came up with a, he coined a phrase and the phrase was this, cheap grace. I mean, when I first read it, I was going, well, that’s kind of an interesting phrase. Now, here’s what cheap grace is. Cheap grace is this, God is good. God is loving. God is gracious. And He is a, and sin, sin’s no big deal. That’s cheap grace. That’s, that’s the grace that I don’t want to be, I don’t want to be part of. Bonhoeffer was said, that’s how the church was. He says, one of the biggest problems in Germany was how the, how the church, the national church in Germany just capitulated and just turned themselves over to Adolf Hitler. Just cheap grace. Just, let me ask you this. And I see that in today’s culture. I see that in today’s politics. Do you ever feel like when you go to the polls, you’re kind of holding your nose or you make this statement? Hey, look, I’m not voting for the guy to be my pastor. I’m telling you, the culture today is, I mean, it’s like, it’s no big deal. Publicly. Sin’s no big deal. Publicly. Yeah, the church. I’m telling you, the church, publicly ought to be a big deal. The church and how we live publicly ought to be a big deal.

Maybe one reason Jesus doesn’t give us responsibility, He knows our hearts. He knows if we truly love Him that when we look at Him, let me ask you, do you really love Me? Are you willing to take a stand for Me on this issue publicly because of what Scripture says? Are you willing to do things publicly for Me and love people that don’t love you publicly? I mean, how do you show that? He’s looking for us that way. And I want to tell you, there’s a difference between righteousness and unrighteousness. You know the Old Testament perspective? Here’s a perspective between righteousness and unrighteousness or wickedness. Righteousness is this by the old Hebrew standard, that you are willing to say, I will be disadvantaged so that somebody else can be advantaged. Let me tell you what wickedness is and unrighteousness. It’s saying, you know what? I’m going to be advantaged even if it lets or makes someone else disadvantaged because it’s all about me. Ladies and gentlemen, when it becomes all about you, it has nothing to do with Jesus.

So Jesus deals with him. I mean, He looks at him and He says, Simon, do you love? And I like the way He said, do you love it more than these? I think that’s an interesting question because that could have three number of meanings. It could be, do you love Me more than these? And He could be pointing to the stuff that He does. He could be Sitting there going, do you love me more than that fishing boat? I mean, that’s your lifestyle. You love me more than that? How about that catch of fish you got? I mean, my star, all that stuff came in. I mean, that’s a pretty big haul. And I mean, it could be a lot of money. Do you love me more than that? I don’t think we, that’s probably not what He’s asking. He could even look at him and says, you know what? Peter, do you love me more than these guys? I mean, you grew up with, I mean, Andrew’s your brother and James and John, those are your buddies. And you’ve gotten to know, you know, Philip and Thomas. Do you love me more than these guys? I’m sure He’s asking that either. Maybe the third question is, Peter, do you love me more than these guys love me? Peter’s already told Him, remember back in Mark? He said, what? Lord, if these guys quit loving You, I’m going to be there. And so He’s penetrating and He’s doing it publicly and He’s coming in there. And the best Peter can come up with is not, Lord, I don’t know if I can do that commitment stuff. I don’t know if I can do that no matter what stuff, that agapo, that Greek word. I don’t know if I can, I can go that route no matter what, but I’ll be Your friend.

But then in the third question, you know, because in the second question, He didn’t even say, do you love me more than these? He said, just do you love me that way? But then in the third question, He asked him and He says this, Peter, do you even love me like a friend? Bible says it grieves you. I mean, it goes straight to the heart. Peter kind of goes, and Peter’s going, do You really even love me that much? See, my thing is, if God looked at you and said, do you love me? If Jesus said, really, you call yourself a Christian, which the first six letters are Christ. So you’re naming what you are and who you are and what you should be about after those six letters, which is Christ. If He asked you, do you love me? What would you say? So Jesus not only does it privately and publicly, Jesus penetrates our very deepest barriers when He searches our hearts.

It’s interesting, Peter denied Him how many times? Three times. How many times does Jesus ask him and restore him? Three times. Jesus is always thorough. Now, Jesus is going to make the experience painful. I don’t think this is a joyful experience for Peter. He’s making it painful on purpose. And sometimes God’s got to bring pain into our lives and reconstruct what we’ve done so that He can wholly take care of it. I think when doctors, you know, go in and operate, you know, I always find, you know, when they’ve taken cancer off of my arm or my shoulder or something, you know, they always got what they call what? Margins. They want to take care of everything around. They want to make it thorough. Jesus wants to make it thorough with Peter. They ask Him three times. And Jesus is again, like a spiritual doctor, physician with a scalpel. Peter’s got to sit there and stay still too. He could be running out. I’m done. I don’t need to hear this anymore, but he stays there. I’m thinking patients need to, you know, when a doctor works on a patient, they need to be pretty still. That’s pretty important. You don’t want them getting up, moving around. They need to cut and the cuts usually painful, but what do they, the guy need to get all the junk out. You know what the junk, the Bible says that the knife or the sword of the, of, of, of the armor of God is? It’s the word of God. You know, this, this word cuts deep sometimes. Sometimes we don’t want to read it. We don’t want to see it.

So Jesus is asking us today, are we even Jesus’s friends? General repentance that leads to restoration is, is concerned, is when we get concerned, how my sin, how does my sin affect God? See, this affected Jesus. Now, Jesus used it and He went to the cross. And if sin affects the Lord, let me tell you, you want to tell when, I can tell when you’re going to become a deeper Christian, or I can tell if I’m going to become a deeper Christian is when I sin, it’s not so much how it affects me or it Affects Beth or my daughter, but of how it affects Him. When I start saying, I let, it’s not that I let Beth down, I let April down, I let my grandkids down, I let my work down, my friends, I let God down. You start thinking that way, God can do some things with you. Our cry should be, Lord, restore me no matter, no matter what it takes, no matter what it costs, no matter what it means.

See, not, Lord, I don’t like my circumstances. I don’t like what I’m going through. I don’t like this. Can you get me out of this mess? Here’s the neat thing. Jesus looks at Peter and says, Peter, you were my biggest disappointment. Among all my disciples, outside of probably Judas, you are my biggest disappointment, but you’re going to become my biggest leader. You know how we know that? It’s interesting what He says to him in this passage. Because He looks, Peter, do you love me? Tend my lambs. Tend those young Christians. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep, Peter.

And I can see Peter kind of go, don’t like sheep, like fish. I’ve been a fisherman, fish all my life, not big into smelly sheep, stupid sheep, dumb sheep, sheep that get into trouble, can’t defend themselves. And He goes, feed my sheep. That word feed in the original language is the word hormonos. And basically what it means is this, pastor, shepherd, tend, feed, watch over.

He’s looking at you and says, you failed me, you messed up. He could look at him and say, but you’re on probation. I’m going to give you another chance, but it’s going to be down the road. Let’s give you a six months to a year, see how you do. And then we’ll, then I’ll, I’ll give you something big, important to do. He doesn’t do that. Jesus looks at him and goes, Bubba, go be a pastor. Go be a pastor. Go be a teacher. Go be a mentor. Invest your life in the life of somebody else. That’s what I’m asking you to do, Peter. Yes, you messed up. Yes, it was sin. Yes, it was grievous. Yes, it hurt my heart. God was bothered by this. Go do what you need to do, Peter.

So if we’re going to impact those around us, let me just go through this real quick. I’m going to use a quick acronym, GROW. Preachers, we do that. So that’s a G. Number one, God is sufficient. Peter’s looking at Him and says, Lord, I messed up. Jesus is going, then trust me, you need to be sufficient. I need to be enough. Am I going to be enough for you? Relationships are essential. Surround yourself with people that are going to help you grow. Relationship, I love the word joy. Jesus others you. Make your relationship with Jesus first. Others in your relationship, but then go deeper yourself. Obedience is mandatory. It’s not an if. It’s not when I feel like it. He’s looking at you and says, obedience is mandatory. And the other is this, worship is vital.

Now, you can worship privately, but we also need to worship public. You know when we come to church and just kind of hang on? You know, all I had to do was give you guys a cue this morning. Turn to somebody around here that you maybe haven’t seen since last Sunday and just say, man, it’s good to worship with you. You all didn’t need much. Kind of like organized chaos, but it’s kind of nice to know that somebody wants to hug you and shake your hand and say, I’m glad you’re here. That’s what church is. I mean, worship is vital.

See, Peter’s identity will no longer be found in success. Peter’s identity will be found in Christ. You remember Kathy Olmsby? You wonder if she ever got over that mess? You know, she’s still alive today. She never got to walk again, much less run. She never did. What’s interesting is she went to the University of North Carolina, I think in Wilmington, and got a master’s in occupational therapy. Isn’t that something? She now works with those who have lost the ability to walk or whatever. And she does occupational therapy for patients, and they usually give the hard ones to her. She also witnesses to them. She also, listen to this now. She tells patients that when it seems like the end of the world, it’s not. She talks about the power of forgiveness and the importance of new beginnings. She tells them, listen to this now, that there’s always hope. On Sunday, she teaches a young adult Bible class at the Myrtle Grove Baptist Church in Wilmington. She’ll say, “I don’t know why I did it. I’ve always wondered a little, but I’m at peace with it. I’ve asked God, my parents, and my friends for forgiveness. I have forgiven myself, and I’ve moved on with my life.” And her story is always about hope. Someone wrote, this lady by the name of Paula Reinhart said, “The amazing thing is that God follows us into the blackened ruins of our dreams, our misbegotten mirages, into our house of cards that have collapsed on us in some way. And He speaks, not with chastisement we feel we deserve, but of all things, somehow God, He speaks to us with tenderness.”

Someone mailed her a book that became her favorite next to the Bible. Here’s the name of the book: “You Got to Keep Dancing.” It’s written by a guy named Tim Hansel. It’s the story of a California mountain climber for whom pain became a daily fact of life since a 1974 fall that severely injured his back. Hansel’s message: life touched by tragedy can be filled with joy. Kathy Olsby said this: “Sometimes in life, you just got to choose joy.”

Peter is at a crossroads here. He can be bitter. He can sit there and say, “I never mean, God can never use me. Look what I’ve done. He could never forgive me.” Or Peter could choose joy. You know what Peter chooses? Go back and read his life. Go back to the book of Acts. Read 1 and 2 Peter, where he talks about being a pastor, and he gives advice to new pastors.

I’m asking you this morning. God is looking at you and He’s asking these words: Do you love me? Do you, I want to just ask you, do you love the Lord more than your spouse? Do you love more, Lord more than your job? Some of you are going, “Yeah.” But if you had the perfect job, would you love Him more than that? Do you love Him more than your children? Do you love Him more than your grandkids? Going deep now. Do you love Him more than your future? Do you love Him that much?

Is there something in your life that needs to be restored? I mean, if the gospel is about anything, it’s about restoration. Story after story after story after story. Old Testament, New Testament, it’s about restoration. But here’s the question: Do you want to be restored? I’m going to give you an opportunity this morning to be restored. You’ve heard the message. Jesus restores. That’s what He does. Jesus restores when He denied Him. That’s what He does. Jesus restores when you lie to Him. That’s what He does. Jesus restores when you say you’re a Christian and you don’t act like one. You know why? Because that’s what He does. But one reason He may not be able to do things in your life is because you need to be restored. And you’ve got junk you need to deal with. Maybe He needs to do that with this church. I don’t know.

Just bow your heads. Close your eyes. Because the last two words He says to him are this: Follow me. We’re just going to be in silence in the moment. Are there things in your life you just need to confess and get rid of? There are things in your life that you need to repent of. Is God sufficient? Tell me about your relationships. Tell me about your obedience. Tell me about your worship. Do you love Him? Really? Or is He just a friend? Is He the priority of your life? You know, when He becomes the priority, then your sweetness, your relationship with your spouse gets better. Your kids get better. Your grandkids get better. Your friendships get better. I’m telling you, your job will get better. When it’s all about Him, everything gets better.

You want to choose joy? Silence of this moment. Let’s just do that. How do you need to be restored? Count it out. Not like He don’t know it. Deal with it. You’re going to be obedient and just do that. Those two words, follow Him. As one author said, are you going to be a fan or are you going to be a follower? Come out one by one. Deal with it. Repent. Confess. Repent. Follow Him. All God’s people said, “Amen.”

Donnie, come up and lead us in. Okay. We’re going to close with number 450, “I Need Thee Every Hour.” Stan will sing. Thank you. So be here for that. Of course, we’ve got kids and all those kind of things. If you can, by chance, help out one week, I’m not saying do the whole summer. I’m just saying maybe just take one Wednesday night and just help Becky and Kristen. That would be pretty awesome.

Okay, here I want you to do something. I want you to get somebody. We’re going to bless each other tonight, this morning. So look at somebody, grab somebody near you and look at them. And I just want you to repeat after me. We’re going to do the Aaronic Prayer, which is Numbers 26. Numbers 6, verses 24 through 26. And just got somebody. Okay. This is Aaron blessing the people of Israel, the Hebrews. Okay. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up its countenance on you and give you peace. All God’s people said, amen.