Peter, Do You Love Me?

This sermon by Rev. Gilbert Jansen focuses on John's account of the events surrounding the disciples waiting at Galilee, after the resurrection, to meet the Lord Jesus, and of the famous post-breakfast questions of Jesus, "Peter, do you love me?"

The texts for this sermon were:

• John 21:1-17 (main sermon text)
• Mark 16:5-7
• Psalm 138

Some points of interest from the sermon:

• The differentiation between agape and phileo love is discussed extensively (trust me: it's not boring).
• Pointing out that John 21:5 is better-translated in the NIV.
• Quote: "I phileo my wife, alright!"

There were many memories evoked for me in the rest of this service, too.  I can hear my brother Peter coming over the top in the choir, and what I presume to be his six-week old son Danny crying throughout.  In the pastoral prayer, Dad prays for Dorothea Meyer and Jean and Jimmy Goodsell.

The apology about the problems with the delivery of the hymn books made me smile, and helped me date the sermon - Dad only labelled the tape "10/4", so the hymn books reference helped me be certain it was 1988.

I also felt, more than ever, the truth of these words for my Dad as I heard him sing them again:

I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath,

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler pow’rs;

My days of praise shall ne’er be past,

While life and thought and being last,

Or immortality endures.

Links:

• The Sermon Only
• The Entire Recording

Which We Have Heard

Read: 1 John 1:1-3

Present day intellectuals are very proud that their post-modern rationalistic brilliance is above the primitive fairy tales of the Bible. This is nothing new. This mindset has been around a long time, and was in the world that Christ's apostles went out into.

Christ's coming, his teachings and his actions were real things, that happened to real people. John used his senses of hearing, sight and touch to make observations. Observations from which he drew conclusions about who Jesus Christ was. And then, he was compelled to share his observations: to proclaim it both verbally - and most importantly for us - in the written form.

Peter, another of the apostles, responded to the scornful reactions to the apostles' message when he wrote, "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16).

In the documents of the New Testament we have well verified, historical accounts of the man named Jesus, called the Christ. The information at your disposal is reliable. What you do with it is up to you. Try reading it first, before you reject it.