Quiet Power of Love II, First Fruits of Love

This is North Way tape number 541. This message was delivered by Pastor Jay Passavant of North Way Christian Community on Sunday morning, September 7th, 1986. The Word of the Lord. John Chapter 21. Hallelujah. If you're visiting with us today, and I know a number of you are, we have visitors every service, I want to set you at ease and let you know that what you're seeing here is an expression of a group of people who really believe that God meant what He said. That Jesus meant it when He said, I've come that they might have life and life abundant. And we're just a group of people like you who believe that God is real and we're seeking to search after Him with all of our hearts. And sometimes when you do that, you feel, you discover rather that what you were told all along in church kind of led you off of what really the Bible has to say about God's desires for His people. And so I pray that if you're visiting, you really search your heart and ask, do you know Jesus the way He wants to be known? Have you really come to know His love and His peace in your heart? We in no way make claims to having arrived. We're just on the march. We're making the journey. And we welcome you to come and join with us in that. The disciples were men to me that represented what it was to be on a journey of faith. I want you to just imagine for a moment in your own life if something like what happened to Peter would happen to you. Jesus had appeared twice to the disciples, visibly, tangibly appeared to them. And this, the third time, it's recorded in John 21, results in the life of Peter in a situation that would forever change him. Jesus appeared for the third and almost the final time before he was ascended into heaven. And He gave Peter a personal prophetic word for his life, which we're going to look at in a few minutes. How many know that something that somebody says just before they leave you is important? Ever been beside the deathbed of someone about to die and the last thing they say to you just stays with you for the rest of your life? I want you to know that what Peter heard here in John chapter 21 as it's recorded changed his life and stayed with him forever. And I want us to look at this as a follow-up to the word that the Lord gave last week that He was pouring out His love, His power to love on this church. That God was pouring out His power to love on we, His people. How many of you find that when God starts doing something, He tests you to see if you're receiving it? Anyone have an opportunity to love somebody this week that was kind of tough? I found that I was in a number of situations where I was stretched in my ability to love. In fact, in quantity, if not in quality. I mentioned to you about the time that the elders had all last weekend interviewing different folks and we had an elders meeting. I think Wednesday morning, I walked in to have breakfast and we got home at a normal midnight or so and had prayer. And then at six, I went home for breakfast and I fell asleep over the raisin bran. And Carol said, how was the elders meeting? I could just basically gurgle over my cereal. Just the ability to keep giving in relationship. And I needed the power of God to go on in love. You know, I don't have the strength in my own self to do all that God wants me to do. Do you have that kind of strength? Do you find that if you don't get God's strength, you end up lashing out at people? You end up saying, why did I say that? Why did I do that? It takes the power of God to love. Now here the Holy Spirit is going to make something alive to us about the way in which we act on the love that God's pouring out. When we were down in Washington D.C. in August with the worship team and praise team, after one of the meetings, we were walking out of the hotel, we were heading down into this little street full of small little restaurants to get something to eat. As we walked out, somebody gave me a ticket, a printed ticket, that said, buy one meal, get another free at the park, place, restaurant, whatever it was. Anytime you get something that says free on it, what do you think? Sure. But we went over to this little restaurant and I ordered something off the menu and Carol got a free meal. I was waiting for somebody to come along and say, by the way, your water was seven bucks. But what value would that ticket have been to me if I had not gone to that restaurant? What good would it have done me? How much would I have been nourished by holding the ticket in my hand? I had to expend the ticket. I had to employ the grace that had been extended to me. Beloved, listen. God is pouring out His power to love, but you have got to take it and employ it. And that's what I'm going to show you today from this scripture. Now there's four things that happen here that Peter, I just love Peter, thank God for him. He reminds me so much of Scott. And myself and many of you. Now, first of all, let's just read together. Verse 1. Afterward, Jesus appeared to His disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, Calidonimus, Nathanael from Canaan and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and the two other disciples were together. That's 7 of the 12, if you didn't count real quickly there. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, we'll go with you. And so they went out and got into the boat Now, beloved, first of all, notice that Peter is still leading the disciples. Do you see that? He's still on the point guard. He's still out there blazing a path. Amazingly to me, they still follow this guy. This is the guy that made all these wild claims and then blew it, and yet the disciples said, Peter, I'm going fishing, and they said, well, hey, I'm going with you. Now remember, Jesus had said, leave your nets and come and follow me. And listen, right there I see something. God many, many times will call us to something. And rather than obey the call of God and wait on Him to move, we'll get out and just do what we kind of feel comfortable with doing. We'll busy ourselves with activity. And I love this. I love the fact that once again, how much did Peter catch during the night? Same old results. Nothing there. Verse 4. Early in the morning, now this was all night they fished. Beloved, do you see something in that? How many of you have waited for God all night and nothing happened? And maybe your all night has been two years now, but nothing seems to happen. But in the morning, Jesus came. God will always come. He'll never fail you. Say that with me. God will always come. He will always come. Jesus came in the morning and He stood there in the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Him. And so He called out and He said, Friends, haven't you any fish? And no, they answered. He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. And when they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of the fish. And then John got a word. It's the Lord. Didn't take a whole lot of discernment, did it? Reached over there and couldn't even lift the net up again. Same thing that happened years before. It's the Lord. Now look at this. Here's the first thing. Peter saw this. Peter heard Him say, It is the Lord. He wrapped His outer garment around Him for He had taken off and He jumped into the water. And I was always told that He jumped in the water and ran away from Jesus. But what does that say? What's the next part of the verse say? The disciples stayed in the boat and they what? Followed Him. Where was Peter going? He was heading right to Jesus. There He was. You know, Mr. Macho Disciple. I hear, Jesus, it's You. I'm coming after You. Now one thing that's neat about that is to me it says He was healed. He had been healed. He had been healed of that time of forsaking Christ. And so He's going after Jesus and the disciples are in the boat. Peter in his just classic fashion lets the revelation result in zealous response. That's our first point up there for you to write down. Peter's response to the revelation was, Glory to God, it's Jesus. I'm going after Him. Think of the poor slobs back in the boat trying to get this net in here. There goes Peter. Do you know anybody like that? Do you know anybody that gets real hyped spiritually and says, Oh, God's doing this and God's doing that. And they're leaving you out there in the nursery? They're leaving you out there to take care of the home group? They're just giving all this stuff about God's showing me this and there's Jesus in that and I had a word from... Now you're the one that's cleaning up the dishes after home group? I love this. There he goes. He's just charging in after Jesus and the disciples are back there laboring away. And Peter goes on and says down in verse 10, Jesus said, Bring some of the fish you've just caught. And Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. Now here is this net full of fish and Peter is like this little kid to me. Like this giant man but a little kid. And he's pulling this net full of fish. You know, showing, Look, Jesus, I can bring the whole thing in. And then he stacks the fish up. You know, 153 of them. I told you right there, somebody counted those buggers. Jesus said, Now bring me one or bring me some for breakfast. And they did that. I just see this, beloved, as this point. There's all kinds of zeal in our response to God many times. But I want you to notice something. Zeal, passion, emotion and excitement is not enough of a response to the love of God. Singing glory hallelujah on Sunday morning is not enough of a response to the love of God. Let's see what Jesus said. Verse 15, When they finished eating, I love the natural setting. Imagine a campfire. Anyone ever had a campfire on a beach? Just a quiet, a sense of serenity about this. It's a profound setting to me. Jesus said to Simon Peter, verse 15, Simon said to John, Do you truly love me more than these? I can just picture Jesus. They finished breakfast and they come and he taps Peter and he says, Come, let's go for a little walk here. They take a little walk away from the campfire, just a few, maybe 20 yards, 30 yards or so. And he says, Peter, he looks back at the disciples and he said, Do you love me more than these? You see, Jesus had seen Peter jumping out of the boat and racing to get there. Jesus had seen Peter trying to be the, hauling in the net of fish and trying to show his strength. He had heard Peter years ago saying, or weeks ago rather, saying, If all these forsake you, I'll never forsake you. And Jesus looks over at him and he says, Peter, do you really love me more than these? Peter in his normal humility says, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. You know that I love you. And Jesus says, Feed my lambs. Three times the question comes, Do you love me? Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep. Beloved, I hear in this, the Lord God saying to Peter, All of your zeal and all of your emotional hype doesn't really matter to me. It's not enough of itself. He says, Feed my lambs. He is saying to Peter in specific what he told the disciples all together in John 15. If you love me, you'll obey my commandments. And what was his commandment? What is the commandment that Jesus gave us? What is it? Love one another. Write it down. John chapter 15, verse 12. Love one another. This is my commandment. Now, beloved, there is such an obvious point here. And I'm afraid that we so often miss it in the church. The heart of Jesus is this, that love for him is expressed through care for one another. Love for God is seen by the ability that you have to care for somebody else. Peter, you think that you're showing your love by running ahead of the disciples and leaving them in the boat? You think you're showing you're more excited about me by making all these vows, but you leave the people that I care about sitting there? Quit trying to be first, Peter. Quit trying to put on a show. Quit trying to be just a little more up front, a little more religious and feed my sheep. Let's not just say, beloved, that we love God and come to church and worship. Let's not just say that, well, I speak in tongues. I know 287 of the 300 praise choruses at North Way, but let's hear Jesus say, show that you love me by your care. How many people I've talked to in marriages when the wife will say, he says he loves me, and every once in a while he remembers me and my anniversary or he takes me out, but I never see him show it. He doesn't listen to me. He doesn't pay attention to what I have to say. He ignores me when he comes home. He doesn't really know what my needs are. You see, saying it up this way, beloved, getting romantic once in a while and passionate is not love. It's not agape. It's not the love of God. That is shown. It's demonstrated by care, by giving, by listening, by helping. Now notice, Jesus didn't say, Peter, do you love me? Then go out and do more healing than the rest of the disciples. Peter, do you love me? Then have more prophecy. Peter, if you love me, feed my lambs. Listen, don't get hung up on what feeding is. To me, it's just simple little acts of caring. It's just caring. It's calling somebody up who's lonely. It's coming in and taking a burden off of somebody who's laboring quietly on their own. That kind of love, beloved, that's the second thing on that outline. It's a love that's revealed in action. It's got to be shown in action. 1 John 3, 18 says, Don't say you love me in word, but show that you love me in deed and in truth. That should be something we write, right on the cover of our Bibles, every one of us. Now, look at this. Peter, verse 17, was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time. Can you imagine Peter being hurt? Jesus, how could you tout me? Don't you think I'm sincere? He was hurt, the Bible says, because Jesus asked him the third time. Look at this profound thing now. This is something. Jesus said, verse 18, I tell you the truth. When you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. What is he saying? Beloved, he's talking right now to many of us. You see, Peter had been his own man. Peter had done what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. Now, if that doesn't describe 20th century American Christians. Peter dressed himself when he felt like it and went where he felt like he wanted to go. And Jesus is saying, Peter, if you are going to respond to the power of my love, then it's going to require reorientation in your life. That's the third thing, Paula. To require reorientation. You are no longer going to be the master of your own life. You are no longer going to get just in your own flow. But you're going to go in the extreme where someone else wants you to go. And in fact, what was he talking about? Verse 19, Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. How would you like to have that as a prophetic word over your life? Did you see it? You are meeting with Jesus there and sitting there with Scott. The Lord appears and he says, Jerry, I have a word for your life. Oh, what is it, Lord? What's going to happen? Are you going to speak blessing on my life? Is the church going to grow? Are people going to be on fire with the Holy Spirit? No, you're going to die. Can you imagine what Peter was thinking right then? Oh, boy, this is a heavy word. Peter, he's thinking, I hope no one else heard that. Maybe just between God and we can work this out. But look, look what happens here. Peter gets this word and it's a heavy word from the Lord. And look who's right there to hear it. Verse 20, Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. Don't you like the humility of that? How would you like to be free enough to say the disciple whom Jesus loved? I mean, that's John writing about himself. He says, he's right there to hear this word. This prophecy comes from Peter. Uh-oh, John heard that. That means someone else knows what's going to happen to me. And I love what Peter does. He does what every one of you would do and what I would do as well. Well, God, you had this word for me. And he turned and he looked. He said, what about him? Do you have a word for him, Lord? What about him right here? Okay, I accept that you have a word for me and I'm going to die. But do I have a word for Scott? You know, there's something about it. If you're going to get that kind of a word, it'd just be a lot more reassuring if someone else got one too, right? Let's just make something up. But look what Jesus said. If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? And then he gives these two words that to me, beloved, this is my definition of success. Success is following Jesus. Write that down, would you? That's success in the Christian life. It isn't what you accumulate or accomplish. Success is following Jesus. No matter what the person next to you is doing. You know what one of our greatest impediments, number four, really is? We compare ourselves to everyone else. See, the Lord speaks to us and he says, I want you to be at prayer three mornings a week. And your neighbor right across the street who also comes here never gets up. And you say, well, Lord, come on. Why aren't they going? Well, the Lord speaks to you and he says, that new car that you wanted to get, you're going to have to wait a year because I want you to give that extra increase to help another family. And that neighbor drives up the next day with his new car. And you say, God, no. Come on, let's be fair about this. How many of you know God just doesn't deal the way we think fairness is? He deals with his plan for us. And we need to resist the idea that comparison is the way that we're going to decide whether or not God is speaking. You see, if we're going to move in the power of obedience and love, beloved, those four things have to happen to us. We need to see that our response to revelation isn't just zeal and emotion. We need to realize that it's revealed in action. We need to see that it's going to require a total reorientation. Jesus is going to have to be Lord of our decisions. And finally, we cannot compare ourselves with what God is telling another to do. This is what God is saying. Now listen to me as I conclude, please. Jesus is saying to us, I'm pouring out my spirit of love. And I fear, beloved, that we have too often equated that with something defined as miracles. And I want to be here today to say to you, I believe that what God wants to do more than anything else is to teach us how to love each other. He wants you to care for that single parent who doesn't have anyone to help them raise their children. He wants you to be the one that's going to call the person that doesn't have an automobile and give them a ride. He wants you to be the one that's going to look around and see the person who's a brand new Christian and doesn't even know where to look in the Bible for something. And he wants you to spend some time with him teaching him the Word of God. You say, well, I don't know how to do all this. Beloved, we are desperate for people to care for other people, new Christians, new people to our church. And this message isn't some kind of a thing to try to lure you into ministry. I'm just saying to you, there are needs all around us. And if you don't see them, it's only because you're not looking. And if I could ask God for one miracle, you know what it would be? It wouldn't be that someone would walk out of that wheelchair. Those of you who think that that's the proof that God's in this place, you know what the proof of God being in this place is? Your love for one another. Your care for one another. And I'm saying, God, give us a miracle of care. And you know what the Lord made alive to me? When we learn to care like that, they're going to come out of the wheelchair. Because the presence of the Lord is going to be manifest. Let's pray. My Father, I ask right now, in the mighty name of Jesus, that the power to love that you promised you're pouring out, Lord, would show itself in obedience in your church, Lord. That your commandment, Lord, wasn't a suggestion, but a command. That God, there are those who are crying out, saying, Pay attention to me. Help me. Listen to me. Care for me. And Jesus, I just hear you saying to this church today, Feed my lambs. Care for my sheep. Feed my sheep. God, I ask you to move in us right now. Minister to us, Lord, that we cannot take the grace of God and lavish it upon ourselves. But God, we must move in response to what you're doing. Glory to God. Church, as we prepare right now to receive our communion, deacons and ushers, if you'd be preparing the elements, I want to ask you a question. What are you going to do with the love of God? I believe it's time today for some of us to repent. Some of us have allowed ourselves just to lavish all the good things that God is doing right in our own little lives. We're so caught up in the corporation. We're so caught up in keeping the business going. We're so caught up in all the things to do at home that we're forgetting. And right next to us is someone that's new, someone that's lonely, someone that's looking for an answer, for someone to care for them. Do you know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, communion is spoken of in the context of people abusing the privilege? Paul said, when you come together, you get stuffed, and you get drunk, and you have no concern for the one next to you. If you need to commune with God, I trust it's with the idea in mind that God would enable you to love that one next to you. And I believe before we take communion today, some of us need to say, Lord, in my heart, I've been indifferent toward the needs. Lord, in my heart, I've been cutting off others. Lord, in my heart, I've been cold. Give me that love. Let me care. Come bring the elements up, brothers. Just the bread, please. Just bring the bread up. Just bring it right up here. I want to pray with you first. Thank you, God. Father, as the men come, we take this element, Lord, this bread right now. We receive it with thanksgiving, Lord, realizing that it is not our privilege to take the grace of God in vain, but that, Lord, as you give us the power to love today, that, Lord, you do something in our hearts to break forth the grace of God in acts of care and love to others, Father. And, Lord, we receive it in that light. In Jesus' name, amen. As you're being served, and you can go ahead and serve, everyone, brothers, I'd like you to hold the element, please. And if what I spoke this morning, if just a portion of this spoke to something in your life, I want you to take that element and hold it in your hand. I want you to kneel in front of your chair. And I want that to be your act of repentance before God, to say, Lord, I want to feed your lambs. I want to care for your sheep. Make me an instrument of that love. As you receive your elements, if that's what God spoke to you, don't do it just because I'm saying it. Do it because the Lord is making that alive to you. I want you to kneel right in front of your chair and respond to the love of God. Hallelujah. Let's all bow our heads now. Allow the communion of God to move on us today.