{"id":3518,"date":"2013-04-15T15:49:32","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T20:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?p=3518"},"modified":"2013-10-01T08:53:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T13:53:39","slug":"do-you-love-me-feed-my-sheep-041413-sermon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/2013\/04\/do-you-love-me-feed-my-sheep-041413-sermon\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Love Me? Feed My Sheep! (04\/14\/13 Sermon)"},"content":{"rendered":"

15<\/sup>When they had finished<\/em>
\nbreakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, \u201cSimon son of John, do you love me more<\/em>
\nthan these?\u201d He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d Jesus said<\/em>
\nto him, \u201cFeed my lambs.\u201d16<\/sup>A second time he said to him, \u201cSimon son of<\/em>
\nJohn, do you love me?\u201d He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d<\/em>
\nJesus said to him, \u201cTend my sheep.\u201d17<\/sup>He said to him the<\/em>
\nthird time, \u201cSimon son of John, do you love me?\u201d Peter felt hurt because he<\/em>
\nsaid to him the third time, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d And he said to him, \u201cLord, you<\/em>
\nknow everything; you know that I love you.\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cFeed my sheep.<\/em>
\nAbout 15 years ago, Dr. Win Arn did a survey of 1,000 congregations. He asked both
\nthe members and the pastors of these churches what they thought the purpose of
\ntheir church really was. Dr. Arn reports that 89 percent of the lay people said
\nthat the purpose of their church was to take care of the needs of the members.
\nThe remaining eleven percent believed that the purpose of the church was to
\nreach the world with the gospel. Contrast this with the pastors. Ninety percent
\nof the pastors said that the purpose of their church was to reach the world for
\nChrist while the remaining ten percent of pastors in those churches agreed with
\nthe laity that the purpose of the church is to take care of the needs of the
\nmembers of the church. There is a difference between pastors and church members
\non church ministry. What do you think? Which one is more important? I am sure
\nthat most of you think that both are important for our church mission. I think
\nso as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In today\u2019s text, we find a very important message from the conversation between Jesus
\nand Peter. We will look at this text and figure out what kind of a Christian
\nand a faith community Jesus wants us to be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the sea of
\nTiberias. Jesus\u2019 disciples were fishing but caught nothing. Just after
\ndaybreak, Jesus stood on the shore and called out to them, \u201cFriends, haven\u2019t
\nyou any fish?\u201d \u201cNo!\u201d they answered. Jesus said, \u201cThrough your net on the right
\nside of the boat and you will find some.\u201d When they did, they were unable to
\nhaul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then, they had a meal with
\nJesus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Peter. \u201cDo you love me?\u201d Peter replies
\nYes, Lord you know I love you. Jesus said to him, \u201cFeed my lambs.\u201d Jesus asked
\nthe same question and Peter answered the same. Then, Jesus said, \u201cTend my
\nsheep.\u201d Finally, Jesus again asked the same question. This time, Peter felt
\nhurt but answered the same. Then, Jesus said, \u201cFeed my sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In order for us to more deeply understand this conversation between Jesus and
\nPeter, we need to see the use of the words in the original Greek text. A
\nproblem with most English translations is that they don’t distinguish between
\nthe two different words for “love” that are in the original Greek. In
\nthe Greek version, we can more easily understand the conversation. The first
\ntwo times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” What Jesus uses in
\nthese first two questions is agape love. This is the love of John 3:16, \u201cFor
\nGod so loved the world that he gave God\u2019s one and only Son, that whoever
\nbelieves in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d This love is
\nunreserved, unconditional, unwavering and totally oriented for the good of the
\nother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, when Peter responds to Jesus, “Yes Lord, you know I love you,” he
\nuses a different word in Greek \u201cphilios\u201d which means “friendship.” So
\nthe first two encounters might be better translated as follows, “Peter,
\nare you fully devoted to me?” or \u201cDo you unconditionally love me?\u201d
\n“Yes Lord, you know I am your friend.” \u201cAnd I love you as a good
\nfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

What we see in this conversation is that Jesus twice offers Peter the opportunity to
\nconfess his love toward Jesus. Imagine the conversation in connection with the
\nfollowing two scenes. The first scene is the last supper. Peter said to Jesus
\n\u201cI will never deny you.\u201d The second scene is Peter\u2019s denial three times before
\nJesus died on the cross. Even he began to call down curses on himself and he
\nswore and he said \u201cI don\u2019t know the man!\u201d
\nPeter is human, and we can understand what he did to Jesus. In fact, Jesus also knew
\nthat Peter would deny him. Peter might think and determine that he will never
\ndeny Jesus. However, he couldn\u2019t keep the promise that he made with Jesus. Even
\nthough Jesus offered Peter agape love, he couldn\u2019t even keep friendship with
\nJesus. I believe that Jesus understood it. So, when Jesus asks Peter for the
\nthird time, “Do you love me?” Jesus uses “philios” instead
\nof agape. That is, he accepts Peter\u2019s offer of friendship. So, it might be
\ntranslated like this, \u201cPeter, are you my friend?\u201d \u201cLord, you know every thing,
\nyou know I am your friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The love that Peter can actually offer is not agape love. It is friendship and it
\nis sometimes conditional and wavering. \u00a0However,
\nhere is the most important message. Jesus accepts that it is enough. Jesus
\naccepts us as we are; there is no need to pretend that we are perfect. Jesus
\noffers us agape love and we offer him friendship which might be conditional.
\nNevertheless, Jesus accepts us as he did Peter. I can see and feel the grace of
\nGod in this story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following the way of Christ is the key practices of our faith. However, in our church
\nlife, many people find themselves under great pressure to offer agape love back
\nto Christ. This pressure makes many people exhausted in the course of their Christian
\nlives. However, we don\u2019t need to be exhausted. Today\u2019s story tells us that
\nJesus accepts our offer of friendship instead of agape love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, here is what we as a church should remember. The key practice to take care of
\noneself in the church is to build a friendly relationship with Jesus Christ.
\nThis is what today\u2019s church needs. This relationship with Christ will play a
\nmajor role in both our personal spiritual growth and church growth. This
\nrelationship with Christ will play an important role in meeting our needs in
\nour Christian lives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last Sunday, we started a Spring Bible Study group. Many of you participated with interest
\nfor the growth of your spiritual life. I hope that we can have meaningful time
\nto build a friendly relationship with Christ and even Paul through his life and
\ntheology, which are filled with God\u2019s grace, Jesus love, and the Spirit\u2019s
\npower. I pray this study group will influence your life and mine too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, I want to emphasize again what Jesus said to Peter three times, \u201cFeed my
\nlambs.\u201d \u201cTend my sheep.\u201d \u201cFeed my sheep.\u201d There is no doubt that in this
\nconversation, Jesus commends Peter to take care of not only the church but also
\nthe neighbors. Reaching out is a very important practice that we should emulate.
\nLet me share with you my experience that I had a few days ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, I went to the hospital. It was my first time to visit the hospital as a
\nchaplain alone. I hesitated a little and worried if they might not want me to
\nvisit. So, I stopped in the lobby on the second floor and prayed to God. With a
\nlittle courage and big smile, I started visiting patients. In one room, a man was
\nsitting on a chair and saw and welcomed me. I introduced myself and he asked,
\n\u201cWhat is your mission?\u201d So, I told him that my mission is to visit patients to
\ntalk to them, listen to them, and pray for them. Then, he told me his mission.
\nIt was \u201cto stay alive.\u201d He was 91 years old and was waiting for the end of his
\nlife, but he was too emotional and trembled with fear. I grabbed his hand and
\nprayed for him. While praying for him, he cried and even cried loudly. I couldn\u2019t
\nstop myself from getting emotional and crying also. I couldn\u2019t stop praying for
\nhim. I prayed and prayed. After the prayer, he didn\u2019t stop crying and said to
\nme, \u201cIt is the most blessed day in my life ever.\u201d \u201cThank God, thank God!\u201d And
\nhe said to me, \u201cBless you, bless you, bless you.\u201d It was my first visit as a
\nchaplain and I realized that many are waiting for God\u2019s comfort, grace, mercy,
\nand love. I was ashamed of myself because I hesitated to visit them. This visit
\nclearly reminded me of why I am in the hospital and what I am doing in this
\nhospital. I prayed for him and shared God\u2019s love with him and he kept saying
\n\u201cthank God and \u201cbless you!\u201d That day for me was full of blessing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear friends, we have the responsibility to take care of not only ourselves, our
\nbody and our soul but also our church and our neighbors. We are Jesus\u2019
\ndisciples and in order to support us, he sent the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is
\nwith us and strengthens us and fills us with wisdom and courage, so we can become
\na faithful community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are still living in Easter season. For this season, I pray that we all can
\nengage in the process to build a friendly relationship with Jesus Christ. And I
\npray that we are making one more step for us to be faithful Christians. For
\nthis process, we need to support each other with prayers and concerns. And I
\npray that we are making one more step for us to be a faith community to reach
\nthe world with the gospels for the people who need God\u2019s comfort, grace, mercy,
\nand love. Let\u2019s depend on the Holy Spirit for this and the Spirit will support
\nall of us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let us pray.<\/p>\n

Lord, we call you our friend, but most of the time we are incapable of understanding
\nwhat that means. We believe that you want intimate relationship with us. Help
\nus to build the relationship with you and continue to be with us. Continue
\ncalling us to a faithful relationship with you and the world you created. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, \u201cSimon son of John, do you love me more than these?\u201d He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cFeed my lambs.\u201d16A second time he said to him, \u201cSimon son of John, do you love me?\u201d He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-and-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3518"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4008,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions\/4008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}