Vibrant Faith calls for action
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Did you ever feel like there isn’t much that you can do? I think sometimes we feel that way in the church. We hear sermons about the work of God in the world but come away asking, “What can I do?” We instinctively know that vibrant faith leads to action but we can’t find the handle to grab onto.
Pastor Kelvin suggested the Peter may have felt that way in the story related in the Gospel of John chapter 21. Jesus had been raised from the dead and had appeared to the disciples twice in the upper room but what was next? It seemed an open question. In the vacuum, Peter and some others went fishing. But then Jesus appeared again to give the answer.
It is interesting to note that Jesus’ main question is not, “Will you do this or that for me,” but rather, “Do you love me?” As was often the case, Jesus points at our heart as the key. Our question might be “What have you done for me lately?” But not Jesus. The one who came into the world because God so loved the world asks first about our love for him. The Apostle John wrote:
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.
1 John 5:2-3
So, we can gauge our love for God by three things:
- Our devotional habits, that is our habits of worship and adoration.
- Our obedience, which means walking in the light we have.
- Our love for others, our caring for those in our web of relationships.
Pastor Kelvin asked why we thought Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” He suggested that we can find the answer immediately when we consider this question a continuation of Jesus’ upper room dialogue with Peter concerning the disciples falling away (Mark 14:29). In addition, we can see the reason that Jesus asked his question three times when we remember that Peter had denied three times that he knew Jesus.
After Peter had affirmed his love for Jesus, each time Jesus responded with a version of the simple commission, “Feed my sheep.” All of us for whom Jesus gave his life are the sheep to whom he refers.
To feed the sheep is to provide spiritual food for them through the Word of God and the sacraments. In one sense “feed my sheep” is the pastor’s charge which he or she fulfills primarily through the weekly preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. But in another sense, it is the task of every maturing Christian to help make these things happen, for we are to use our gifts for building one another up and for encouraging one another.
Pastor suggested that small churches like ours have a healthy sense of shared mission to “feed” Christ’s sheep. In them, it’s pretty much “all hands on deck” to do the work that God has given the church to do and that is a very good thing. We all participate together in the work of ministry to others and in the commission that God gave to Peter, “Feed my sheep.”