Healthy, Growing Churches (8)

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” John 21.15

Sermon 229n.1
Augustine (354-430)
“Christ the Lord was raised from the dead, and out of his love he raised Peter. He questioned him about the love he was confessing and entrusted him with his sheep. After all, what benefit could Peter confer on Christ by the mere fact of his loving Christ? If Christ loves you, it is to your advantage, not Christ’s. And if you love Christ, it is to your advantage, not Christ’s. And yet Christ the Lord wanted to indicate how people ought to show that they love Christ. And he made it plain enough by entrusting him with his sheep. ‘Do you love me?’ ‘I do.’ ‘Feed my sheep.’ All this once, all this a second time, all this a third time. Peter made no other reply than that he loved him. The Lord asked no other question but whether he loved him. When Peter answered, our Lord did nothing else but entrust his sheep to him.”

How do we know when we love God? What does a church look like that is motivated above all else by love for God? What distinguishes its worship? Its disciple-making? Its mission to the community? Love for God is evident in many ways: When we love the world as He does (Jn. 3.16). When we love His praise to all generations (Ps. 45.17). When we love His presence, His Word, and all His works (Ps. 16.11; Ps. 119.97; Ps. 111.2). When we fear and love Him at the same time (Ps. 86.11). But supremely, as Jesus explained to Peter, we show that we love God when we are committed to caring for and edifying His sheep, helping every member of the body of Christ grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Pet. 3.18), gain the equipping they need to serve Him (Eph. 4.11, 12), and share with other members those goods and gifts which make it possible for the entire body to edify itself in love (Acts 4.32-35; 1 Cor. 12.7-11). And, as Augustine pointed out, this is not just a work for those called as shepherds to a local church. Rather “Christ the Lord wanted to indicate how people ought to show that they love Christ.” A church is healthy and growing where such love for God abounds.

How are the members of your church encouraged to practice this kind of love for God?

T. M. Moore

The Work of Shepherds
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.