Do You Love Me? 

"15. So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, 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.

16. He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Tend my sheep.

17. He saith unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."

Jesus, three times, questions Peter’s loyal commitment of love for him, the Master. Peter, having previously sinned by disobedience and denying Christ in the past was reflective of this in his response back to Christ, and Christ responding more vehemently, to make the point known: ultimate love is to love Christ, to revere Him supremely, above all else in a believer’s life.

Men have a tendency to rely on their ability to communicate, their job security or other worldly ambition; not to dismiss these things as being evil or sinful, but that Jesus said, Do you love me more than these things?, possibly referring to Peter’s career as a fisherman.

Likewise, if one says that he ‘loves’ his wife and does many things and yet does not love Christ first and foremost, with the fruits of obedience, then he does not truly love Christ, but simply shows human love when he is ‘loved’ back.

Jesus focused on ‘feed my sheep’ as the Shepherd showing love to the sheep by ministering through the Word of God. The gospel, the ultimate demonstration of Love through the Cross, is the power of God in one’s life to bring change, reconciliation and godly submission.

It is common in modern 'Christian' martial counseling to lay down human behavioral principles as a method of solving differences. These psychological principles may even make sense and show temporary results, but, in a long term marriage, these philosophies merely suppress the flesh conditionally. For illustration purposes, I can go out to my garden and cut weeds all day and show the results of my work in a big pile of green and a nice, clean looking garden, but if in my foolishness, I neglect to pull those roots out it will merely grow right back two weeks later, to my own shame, and I have accomplished nothing and am doomed to repeat the process. It is only the Word of God, through the Spirit of God that can transform our sin nature, and as a result, obedience and peace. 

As Jesus said, "If you love me, obey my commandments."

Jesus has commanded us to feed His sheep with the word of God. It is only through the word of God that we have a passion for God, for how else would we know about Christ if not for the Scriptures.

It is man’s impulse to communicate the Word of God through human examples; this is particularly true when it comes to marital counseling. Not that this is sinful in principle, and occasionally it may be helpful in illustration purposes, such as the story of pulling weeds in my garden, but if it becomes the habit for when brethren meet together to do this, it pulls away from the Scriptures and obedience to Christ, which leads to works away from the grace of our Lord Jesus.

God has placed us in a day when evil has beset the Church; the Scripture refer to the church of Laodicea as lukewarm and about ready to be spewed from the mouth of Christ. The Scriptures speak of the love of most growing cold, that false prophets would appear, claiming to be Christ, and that the days would wax worse and worse, that men would gather to themselves teachers who would itch their ears, that people would revile against the Lord, taking the grace of Christ and turning it into lasciviousness, that such people are clouds without rain, that they would be like waves foaming up their own shame and it if it is possible, that even the elect would be deceived.

We see the evidence of this in many ways: the visible church has more or less accepted homosexuality under the guise of ‘love’, allowing women to rule over their houses and their children to become their oppressors, sexual perversions, adulteries, fornications and divorce are rampant in the visible church. Most of this corruption has occurred in the last thirty years.

"For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

22. It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire." (2 peter 2:21&22)

Knowing the grievous and frightful condition of the visible church, out of love for the Church, we should strive to teach and preach consistently from the Word of God, as being the power and authority to change hearts and minds, and through Christ bring the forgiveness of sin. We should not depend on or turn to anecdotical stories or philosophies which have no power and do not have the authority of the word of God; today's 'christian' leader's methodology confuses the sheep with anecdotical stories and philosophies that eclipse the Scriptures and 'water down' the gospel of Christ. 

" Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.

9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you." James 4:7-10

This is not a time for joy, but one of mourning in sackcloth and ashes for the condition of the visible church, fearing the God who does not look favorably on such sins but commands men everywhere to repent. Our liberty and freedoms in Christ should be checked, so to not be as these people, who eat, drink and are merry and who exhaust the patience of our Lord through their continual disobedience.

It is an essential Scripture for men when Jesus proposed to Peter: "Do you love me?", and said, "Feed my sheep.", for men are the head shepherds of their house and are responsible for feeding their lambs; likewise, men who minister to the Church are responsible for the condition of the flock, and must desist from any ‘slight-of hand’ maneuver of giving the Scriptures credence then withdrawing it out of their own insecurity or pride, to the confusion and ultimate destruction of their flock. 

Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and obey." The sheep are hungry for the word of God; they desire the meat of the Word, the nourishment of the Scriptures. So often, 'christian' clergy in this generation, in an attempt to correct the shipwrecked church through moralism, ‘encouragement’ and marital counseling have devised doctrinal plans, materials and systems on a non-Biblical structure in hopes to counteract the transgressions of this age. Yet, all these things do is place burdens and weights that men cannot bear, when Christ instead made it very simple: "feed my sheep".

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God; without the hearing of the word of God all that’s left is moralism and self-righteousness, standing on the deck of the sinking titanic with the mormons, catholics and jehovahs witnesses, fiddling out in unison a heartwarming tune.

Feed my sheep, which is directly applying the word of God consistently, in season and out of season, when convenient or not, whether in marriage counseling or men’s Bible studies; as a result comes peace and unison in doctrine with our brethren.

Steven

We encourage you to email the author to prove or disprove, from the Scriptures, the intent, meaning, purpose or doctrine of this piece. email Steven