1.
Jesus restores Peter publicly, reassuring him of His love. In the words of Dr. Edwin Blum: “No matter
how great a person is [they] may fall (cf. 1 Cor 10:12). But God’s grace and forgiveness will restore
the repentant.” Regular examination of our lives should produce godly
repentance and restoration. A good
prayer to pray in the process is: “O
God, search out the weak places in my life, the parts of me that are vulnerable
and immature. Establish Your rule there
so that I may grow into wholeness, receiving Your strength and expressing it in
the love You revealed in Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Eugene Peterson)
2. Jesus’ challenge to Peter is to love Him
above these other disciples, above his old life and vocation. Out of love for Jesus should flow ministry to
Jesus’ sheep. All ministry flows from
love for Christ (“wholehearted devotion to Jesus”). The primary qualification, motivation and
prerequisite for service is love for Jesus.
3. “Just before Jesus left this earth, He
instructed Simon Peter to care for the dearest object of His love—His
sheep. How could anyone care for them as
Jesus cares? Only out of love for
Him. There is no other way. Three times Jesus asked Peter, ‘Do you love
Me/’ He asked His questions to
underscore the essential truth that only love for Christ would sustain Peter in
the work that lay ahead—that arduous, demanding work of caring for people’s
souls—perhaps the hardest work of all.
Jesus did not ask Peter if he loved His sheep, but if he loved Him.
Affection for God’s people in itself will not sustain us. His sheep can be unresponsive,
unappreciative, and harshly critical of our efforts to love and to serve
them. In the end, we will find ourselves
defeated and discouraged. The ‘love of
Christ’—our love for Him—is the only sufficient motivation that will enable us
to stay the course, to continue to feed the flock of God.” (Excerpted from Our
Daily Bread)
4. “Beware of any work for God which enables you
to evade concentration on Him. A great
many Christian workers worship their work….A worker without this solemn
dominant note of concentration on God is apt to get his work on his neck; there
is no margin of body, mind or spirit free, consequently he becomes spent out
and crushed.” (Oswald Chambers)
5. Jesus instructs Peter to “keep on following
Him.” This is the dominant issue in the life of every Christian. We are not to look back, look around, look at
others, look at the circumstances, or even look at ourselves. We are not to deviate from concentration of
Jesus and following Him.
