This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're looking through
John chapter 21 this week, day three of our look through this chapter. We're
going to be focusing on verses 15 to 17 today, as we continue in this theme of a
resurrection of purpose in our lives.

The first command that Jesus gave to his disciples in this chapter was cast your
net on the other side. It helped them to realize the new things that he could
do, he alone could do in their lives through that command. There's a second
command of Jesus in this chapter.

We hear it in his conversation with Peter in verses 15 to 17, listen to what
happened. When they'd finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of
John, do you truly love me more than these? " "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know
that I love you.

" Jesus said, "feed my lambs. " Again, Jesus said, "Simon, son of John, do you
truly love me? " He answered, "yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

" Jesus said, "take care of my sheep. " The third time he said to him, "Simon,
son of John, do you love me? " Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third
time, "do you love me?

" He said, "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. " Jesus said,
"feed my sheep. " There it is, that second command, "feed my sheep.

" He also said, "take care of my sheep, feed my lambs. " Same thing three times.
You want to make a difference in other people's lives?

You take a look at what Jesus had to say here to Peter. He teaches us that to
make a difference in other people's lives, you gotta make loving Christ your
first priority. You gotta take to heart Christ's forgiveness for even your
greatest sins.

And you have to believe that Jesus can work through you to make a difference in
other people's lives. Let's take a closer look at those three things. You gotta
make loving Christ your first priority.

Jesus asked him three times, "do you love me? " And he begins with this phrase,
"do you love me more than these? " This is one of those times when it would be
good to have a video of the Bible rather than read the words.

Because Jesus obviously was pointing at something when he said these, but we
don't know what he was pointing at. Was he pointing at the boats and the fish?
Do you love me more than these tools of your trade that you used to rely on
before you met me?

Or was he pointing to the other disciples? Do you love me more than these other
disciples? Peter had a pride issue in his life where he was able to say, "if
everybody else stops following you in Jesus, "I'm going to still follow you.

" So he's saying, "do you love me maybe more than these? " We're not sure.
Again, it's one of those things I'm going to ask Peter and Jesus when I get to
heaven.

But in the end, it doesn't matter. Whether Jesus was pointing at boats or people
or something else, it's the same issue. Am I the top priority in your life is
what he's asking.

Make loving Christ your first priority. And Jesus immediately points to an
entirely new set of priorities in Peter's life. It's one thing to be excited
about the empty tomb on Easter.

It's quite another thing to let the truth of that resurrection change the way
that you run your life. On Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, change the way that
you treat people and you serve people. And Jesus here is pointing to this need
to love others.

You need to take care of my sheep. You need to feed my lambs. You need to feed
my sheep.

You need to give your life for other people. But notice he begins with the
question, do you love me? You want to love others?

It begins with the question, do you love Jesus? You want to have the strength, the
power to love others? I don't have it.

I've never met anybody who has true power to love others unselfishly, except for
the love of Jesus Christ in our lives. Our love for others flows out of his love
for us. You see, even if you begin strong, we all have a tendency to lose
interest, to lose motivation, to lose strength.

Where do you love others? How do you love others for a lifetime? The only way is
by recognizing Jesus Christ loves me.

You know that I love you. You make loving Christ your first priority. You want a
resurrection of purpose in your life, that's key.

You want a new purpose in your life, you also have to take to heart Christ's
forgiveness for even your greatest sins. You see, Jesus's three questions
reminded Peter here of his threefold denial. That's why I believe when he asked
him the third time, Peter was hurt, he was grieved, because he realized that
Jesus was giving him three opportunities to say I love you, just like he had
denied him three times.

Peter had failed miserably. Jesus forgave him magnificently. He shared with him
in the most personal way and the most powerful way, I have forgiven you.

We've all failed at one time or another. We've all let someone else down, we've
let ourselves down. And we all honestly know that we have failures in our lives
where no one else is to blame, I'm to blame.

And failure is only overcome by forgiveness. There is no other way. Oh, you and
I need to begin to live a new life.

We need to let those failures, especially if they involve our sins, be changed
by Jesus Christ, so we're not living that way anymore. But your failures are not
going to be overcome in your heart by saying, well, now I'm doing better, 'cause
you're always going to look back to the past and the hurt that happened in your
life and other people's lives because of your sin. Failure is overcome by
forgiveness.

In fact, apart from accepting the forgiveness of Christ, we tend to always be
drawn back into our failures. It is in forgiveness that we find new life. And
Jesus gives Peter here three chances to declare his love, three chances because
he wanted him to take his forgiveness into his heart where it truly mattered.

You see, it's one thing to know about the forgiveness of Christ, but it's
another thing. It is another thing to take it to heart. And maybe that's what
you need.

You know about Christ's forgiveness of your sins. You even accept it
intellectually as true, but you've never really taken it to heart. You need to
hear Jesus ask the three times, do you love me?

Do you love me? Do you love me? You take to heart Christ's forgiveness for even
your greatest sins.

And then you do a third thing. For this new sense of purpose, you believe that
Christ can work through you to make a difference in other people's lives. Now,
Jesus puts this in terms that Peter could easily picture.

There were a lot of sheep in that day, a lot of shepherds. And so he says, I
need you to feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep. Shepherds make
an incredible difference in the life of sheep.

Without the shepherd, the sheep would starve. Without the shepherd, the sheep
would be attacked by enemies and killed. They make an incredible difference.

And Jesus is saying here that God has put each of us on this planet. He's put
you on this earth to make an incredible difference in some person's life. And he
knew his plan for Peter's life.

He knew the sheep that he needed him to care for and to shepherd and to feed. He
also knows the sheep that he has for your life. Who is that?

Maybe it's kids. Maybe it's some ministry that God's put in your mind. Maybe
it's family.

Maybe it's some group of people that everyone else is ignoring. Maybe it's some
group of people that are right under your nose and you haven't recognized I
could serve them. This may include this sense of the sheep that you're to
shepherd some people that you don't even know yet, but God knows who they're
going to be.

Jesus says, feed my sheep. Take care of the people that I want to take care of
because you love me. Do you love me?

So then feed my sheep. Let love be your motivation. My love for Jesus Christ, it
is expressed as I feed his sheep.

That's the way that he means for it to be. He doesn't mean for me to feed his
sheep or for you to feed his sheep to serve other people out of anything else,
but love for him. And your love for him is expressed.

It is expressed in the feeding of his sheep. You do it as unto the Lord. You do
it because you love Jesus Christ.

As we spend some time, some moments talking to Jesus today, I'd like to focus on
what this means. To make a difference in other people's lives. And as you talk
to Jesus today, would you just share with him maybe a prayer like this?

Jesus, I know that there are sheep to be fed. There are people that you want to
serve in this world still. And Jesus, I know that you use us as your hands and
your feet to serve the people that you want to serve.

I know that there are believers in your fold who you want to care for. They are
your sheep. I know there are unbelievers who are not yet in the fold, who you
want to bring into the fold.

You want to make them your sheep. And Jesus, I hear you saying not just to
Peter, but to all of us as disciples, that you need us to feed them. You need me
to feed them.

You need me to care for them. This is such a simple truth. But Jesus, I don't
want to lose my focus on this.

And so I spend just a few moments in prayer with you asking these things. Jesus,
help me. I want to ask you for three things, Jesus.

First, help me to focus on sheep and not on me. Oh, Jesus, I've got needs. I
want you to do things in my life, and there's times when I need to be fed.

But if I just focus on myself and making my life better, Lord, I've been down
that road. Jesus, help me to focus on sheep, the people you want me to serve and
not on me, because I know that's where joy is found. The second thing I want to
ask for, Jesus, is this.

Help me to focus on the fact that they're your sheep. They're not my sheep. No,
no, no, anyone else's sheep, they're yours.

And so as I feed those sheep, as I care for those people, help me to realize
that I'm doing it as a ministry to you. They're yours. And then, Jesus, the
third thing I want to ask is this.

Help me to focus on the truth that sheep need food. They need care. They need
not just words or they need not just platitudes.

They need food for life. So I pray that, first of all, I'd let you feed me, feed
my soul, do in my life what I need to rediscover purpose, to understand that
patience and joy and grace and peace can be a part of my everyday life. Lord, I
pray you'd first meet those needs in my life, like only you can, as I read your
word, as I talk to you and pray to you.

But then, Jesus, as you meet those needs in my life, I pray that it would not
stop there, that what you do in my life, I would share with others, trusting
that just like I need food, spiritual food, so do other people. So Lord, help me
not to keep it to myself. Help me to share it with people that don't know you
and that do know you, because we all need to know that you care about us.

We all need to know that you have food for life. Jesus, thank you. Thank you
that you meet the needs of my life.

Help me to not let it stop there. Help me to look to others and to let you use
me to make a difference. I pray this in your name, amen.

Well, don't miss tomorrow. We're going to be talking together about the third
command of Jesus in this chapter that leads to a resurrection of purpose.