ON THE SHORE OF GALILEE

Many have been looking forward eagerly no doubt to the great scene and events which lie before us at this point in our Lord's post-resurrection ministry.

The Lord Jesus had commanded the disciples that they go to Galilee. There they had fished all night and had caught nothing. That morning He was on the shore and asked if they had caught anything. They said, "No." He then told them to cast their nets on the other side. They did and their nets were filled. The obvious teaching here is that He will make us fishers of men if we will but follow His instructions.

He had prepared breakfast for them and when they came ashore He said, "Come and dine." You will recall that the last time this group had eaten together was in the upper room — and what a contrast that meal was with this! The other was before the Cross; this is after His death and resurrection. On the former occasion they were in the upper room; now they are out of doors. Before they were in the city; now they are away from the city's crowds. Before they were conversing excitedly; now there is great quietness.

In the upper room the shadow of the Cross was upon them, and in the flush of the moment they were asking many questions. Peter said, "Where are you going? Let me go with you — I will lay down my life for you!" Thomas said, "We do not know where you are going; why do you not show us the way?" Philip said, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." And Judas, not Iscariot, said, "Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?"

How different this meal on the seashore which was eaten in silence — not even the Lord Jesus said anything. When He had told them to "Come and dine" not one of them asked, *Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord." The resurrected and glorified Jesus was the same Jesus, though there was a difference born of the resurrection, and they would not be so familiar with Him now.

And so these men are eating breakfast with Him — they know that He is the risen and glorified Christ and they say nothing. This is a men's meeting. I call attention to this fact, for we are living in a day when Christianity is looked upon as a woman's interest. But in its beginnings we find this group of virile fishermen, rugged in life and rugged in faith.

"So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs" (John 21:15).

Here is something very important. After the meal, the Lord Jesus questioned Simon Peter three times. Simon Peter answered three times, and on the basis of that the Lord Jesus commissioned him three times.

Why three times — why not just once? We are not sure that we know, but three times Peter had denied Christ publicly, and three times he makes an affirmation. This, then, is the restoration of Simon Peter to service.

There are those who contend that this elevates Peter above the other apostles. There is not a word to prove that. Because of his denial, Peter had fallen and was in disgrace, and in this act the Lord brought him back to the level of service with the others. He is brought back publicly to the position which he occupied before.

The Lord Jesus had appeared to him privately (I Cor. 15:5). Details of that are not recorded, but it was then that he was restored to fellowship by his repentance. But on this occasion the Lord restores him to service.

Now look briefly at the mechanics of this passage. There are three interrogations of the Lord. There are three declarations of Simon Peter. There are three exhortations or imperatives of the Lord Jesus. While the three interrogations are similar, each of them is different. As to the declarations of Simon Peter, the first two are identical, but the third statement adds, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." The three exhortations of the Lord are all different. First, He tells Simon Peter, "Be grazing my lambs." Second, "Shepherd my sheep," and third, "Be grazing my sheep."

You will want to consider the three aspects of this questioning. Jesus must have looked across the dying embers

The third Greek word for love is agapao — it is the supreme word and, in connection with this verse, there is always the note of worth; that either the lover or the beloved is "worthy" of love. I am sure this is a Bible word, as we see it used in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." Again, Paul said, "Who loved me, and gave himself for me." John said, "We love him, because he first loved us." These are instances where this word appears — it is the word Christ used twice with Simon Peter. So the Lord said twice to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me with divine love more than these men love me with divine love?"

Now follows Simon Peter's first declaration, and note that he did not reply with the word that the Lord used. Simon Peter used phileo and said, "I have a human affection for you." There are many who find fault with Simon Peter for this, but he did the best he could. You see the love of God, the agapao love, is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given unto us, and he was not filled with the Holy Ghost. Christ was not yet ascended and the Holy Spirit had not come into the world, so this great big fisherman expressed the deepest affection that was in his heart for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus did not censure Simon Peter for failure to rise to the heights of love. No, He recommissioned him and gave him His first imperative, saying, "Feed my lambs," or better still, "Be grazing my baby lambs (my tiny lambs) '." These are the new Christians who, regardless of age, are baby lambs in Him; and if you love the Lord Jesus Christ you will want to feed His lambs. Each Lord's Day there are millions of Sunday school teachers who feed a host of His little lambs and they do it because they love Him.

Now we come to the second interrogation. The Lord Jesus asks a second time, "Simon Peter, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" No longer does the Lord make the comparison with the other disciples; He makes it purely personal— "Can you, Simon Peter, say from your heart that you love me with a divine love?"

Again Simon Peter cannot ascend the heights. He answers as on the first occasion, "Lord, thou knowest that I have a human affection for you," and this comes from his heart, doubtless every fiber of his being trembling at the of that fire, upon which He had prepared their breakfast, and straight into the eyes of Simon Peter as He said, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?"

Just three years prior to this, the Lord had said to Simon Peter, "Your name is Simon, but I am going to change it— I am going to call you a 'rock-man.'" But when He speaks to him here by the Sea of Galilee three years later, and probably in the same place, He calls him by his old name, because this man is no longer a rock-man. His word to him is: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" There has always been a difference of opinion as to just what the Lord Jesus meant by "more than these." If, as some suggest, it means, "Do you love me more than you love these who are here?" then we must confess that we do not understand it at all. On the other hand, we feel that what He meant was, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these love me?"

For three years Simon Peter had been professing a most devoted sense of following the Lord as expressed in these words before the crucifixion: "Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet shall I not be offended." And again, "I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death." Now the resurrected Lord looks at him and says: "Simon, son of Jonas, are you ready now to say that you love me more than these men love me?"

At this point let us direct our thinking to the interesting nature of the word "love" used here. There are many who say that the English language is a limited language, and if that be true, then here is a case in point. There is only one word for love in the English — there is no synonym. But while the English has but one word, the Greek has three. Eros, the first word which the Greek employs, was degraded in its usage. The word speaks of sensuality — our modern equivalent is sex. However, this word eros is never once used in the New Testament.

The second Greek word meaning love is phileo, carrying the sense of friendship, the affection of the heart. Our English carries it over in the word "philanthropic," love of man; Philadelphia, brotherly love. Phileo is the highest human word for love that the Greeks had. To us it would mean dear, sweet, tender — a word you would use in speaking to your mother. It is this word Simon Peter used when he replied to the Lord.

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...words. The Lord does not criticize him, but adds a second commission, "Shepherd my sheep." That means to discipline in direction.

Today we have it all mixed up — we try to discipline the young Christians and feed the old ones. The Lord said, "Feed the young ones and discipline the old ones."

An anxious father asked, "How can I bring up my boy in the way he should go?" and the answer was given him, "By going in that way yourself."

You will find great worth in these remarkable verses:

"Twas a sheep, not a lamb, that strayed away,

     In the parable Jesus told;

A grown-up sheep, that had gone astray,

     From the ninety and nine in the fold.

 

Out on the hillside, out in the cold,

     'Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought;

And back to the flock, safe into the fold,

     'Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd brought.

 

And why for the sheep should we earnestly long,

     And as earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger, if they go wrong,

     They will lead the lambs astray.

 

For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know.

     Wherever the sheep may stray;

When the sheep go wrong, it will not be long

     Till the lambs are as wrong as they.

 

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead,

     For the sake of the lambs today;

If the sheep are lost, what terrible cost

     Some lambs will have to pay.

It is not Junior, it is his father, who needs the discipline.

The third interrogation reveals an interesting dealing of the Lord with Simon Peter. He dropped down and used the same word that Simon had been obliged to use and said, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you have human affection for me?" It grieved Peter because the Lord asked him this for the third time, and with a burst of emotion he said in effect, "Thou knowest that I love Thee. I wish with all my heart I could say that I have a divine love for Thee, and I think I do, but I have found out that I cannot trust myself any more, for I make such big statements, but do so little. Lord, I am sorry that it is necessary for Thee to come down to my plane of 'phileo' love, but it is the best I can do. Thou knowest my heart, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest I love Thee." Then the Lord Jesus gives him the third imperative: "Be grazing my sheep."

There is much church activity today, but why is there so little Bible study in the pulpit? Do not misimderstand me when I venture this reply: There is little study of the Word of God because we must first answer Christ's question, "Lovest thou me?" Until that is answered, the commission, "Feed my sheep," will not be given to us.

We must remember that the Lord Jesus commissioned Simon Peter on one basis alone — "Do you love me?" This is the badge of Christianity. The Roman officials sent men to spy out the Christians, and TertuUian writes that when the spies returned they said: "These Christians are strange folk; they have no idols, but they speak of One who is absent by the name of Jesus, and my, how they love Him! And how they love one another!" That is the report made of the Christians of that day. How would a report made of His followers of today compare?

Listen to Paul writing to the Corinthians: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be anathema ... I can have all knowledge, but if I have not love, I am nothing." You and I are this day under this acid test: Do we love Him?

Psychologists are now discussing an "E.Q." as well as an "I.Q." A brilliant university student may have straight A's as the product of his high I.Q., but when the result of his E.Q. or emotional quotient, comes to light, he may show behavior of which only a feeble-minded person would be capable.

The greatest drives in the world are not intellectual; they are drives of the heart. Christianity is a matter of the heart. You must start right. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." The Church today needs a baptism of emotion; it needs real and genuine tears coming from the heart that can say, "Lord Jesus, You know that I love You." Christianity is a love affair. Peter said, "Whom having not seen, ye love."

In Portsmouth, Virginia, back in antebellum days, there was a famous blind preacher by the name of Waddell. Since this was a seacoast town, late one Sunday afternoon a sailing vessel put into port and the sailors went ashore. The captain and three of the sailors were Christians, and seemingly by accident, went into the church where Waddell was preaching.

That night his text was the same as the one used here, and he concluded with this question, "Can each one of you who is a member here say at this time, 'Lord Jesus, You know that I love you'?" A hush went over the congregation, but one of the sailors, forgetting where he was, broke the silence and cried out with all of the enthusiasm of his young heart, "Lord Jesus, You know everything, You know that I love You."

My friend, let me say again, Christianity is a love affair. "We love him, because he first loved us."