Scripture reading: John 21:15-17
Let us turn our Bibles to John 21. This chapter is written after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We see Jesus appearing unto the brethren. Let’s read from verse 15, So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved (If I came and did that to you, you would want to know what is going on.) because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Today we want to talk about the feeding of the sheep and the lambs. But we have to get into the background of what was said, because the English does not carry out what Jesus and Peter really said. There are two words here that are used for love: the word “phileo” and the word “agapao.”
Jesus Christ asked Peter, “Do you agape me?” and Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, I phileo You.”
In other words Jesus was asking, “Do you love me with the love of God?” and Peter was saying, “I love you just as much as I can love you; as much as I love my own brother. I love you like my own mother or like my own family.”
Peter was going to his limit but Jesus was trying to force him beyond the man’s limit, “Do you agape me?” Finally, the third time Jesus said, “All right, do you phileo me?” Peter responded, “You know that I phileo You.” Then Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.”
You cannot feed God’s people without God’s love. Love for your family is not enough to give you the incentive to feed God’s people, because feeding God’s people takes suffering. Every mother knows what it takes to bring up a child and when the child rebels against you, you don’t throw him out because he is rebellious. Instead you do everything to throw the rebellion out of him. But then in the process of trying to get the rebellion out of him, you have to get the rebellion out of you, because generally the rebellion that is in the child came from the parents. So the child becomes the teacher of the adult, because you are here trying to get rebellion out of a child while you have rebellion in you. You will find that unless you can put down your own rebellion and begin to deal with the situation in the child, you will be feeding the child with more rebellion rather than deliverance from rebellion as rebellion is a spirit. It is a spirit. So we have hindering spirits that hinder our feeding one another.
Now the peculiar part about this whole chapter of John is that God told Peter to feed the flock of God and God tells the ministry to feed the flock of God. But today God is calling to the flock of God to feed the flock of God. It has come to the place where the body is the feeder.
Let me explain it to you: You take the hand and you pick up the food and you put it to the mouth, but the moment that the food gets to the mouth and begins to go down into the alimentary canal, the body begins to work on it; it begins to send out food to the different parts of the body. So it is the body that feeds the body, although the food originally went to the mouth from the hand. But if the body doesn’t strengthen the hand, the hand will never be able to lift the food to the mouth. I trust you understand what I am saying.
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 2011, pg. 3-4)
Thought for today: Love for your family is not enough to give you the incentive to feed God’s people. You need the “agapao” love of God, because feeding God’s people takes suffering.
Sonlight Devotional 
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