Do You Love Me? | Murray Colville

Devotional

Day 1: Charcoal Fires and Second Chances

The crackling fire where Peter once denied Jesus now warms fish for breakfast. Three denials meet three restorative questions, not to shame but to rebuild. Jesus doesn’t erase failure—He rewrites its story. Like Valjean handed silver instead of shackles, Peter receives grace where condemnation should reign. Restoration stings as it heals, but love insists on rebuilding what’s broken.
[42:00]

“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, 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, ESV)

Reflection: Where has failure left you avoiding Jesus’ gaze? How might His persistent grace be inviting you to rebuild trust today?

Day 2: Three Questions for Three Denials

Jesus asks not for apologies but allegiance. Each “Do you love me?” dismantles a denial, replacing fear with purpose. The repetition isn’t cruelty—it’s surgery, cutting shame to make room for commission. Peter’s hurt becomes holy ground as Jesus trades his old identity (“fisherman”) for a new calling (“shepherd”).
[43:00]

“He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’” (John 21:17, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you need Jesus to replace your shame with a sacred task? How does His knowledge of your heart free you to serve?

Day 3: Loving Jesus Means Feeding Sheep

The breakfast fire becomes a commissioning altar. To love Jesus is to love what He loves—His wandering, vulnerable people. Shepherd isn’t a title but a verb: feeding lambs, leading strays, binding wounds. Peter’s hands that once gripped denial now hold broken bread for the flock.
[45:42]

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, ESV)

Reflection: Who has Jesus placed in your care that feels inconvenient to love? How does His sacrificial shepherding reshape your priorities?

Day 4: Following Into Unwanted Places

Jesus forecasts a path Peter wouldn’t choose—stretched hands, forced steps, a cross-shaped end. Following isn’t abstract devotion but concrete surrender. The call isn’t to safety but to walk where the Shepherd walked, trusting the road leads through death into life.
[46:38]

“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18, ESV)

Reflection: What unwanted path might Jesus be asking you to walk? How does His resurrection promise steady your uncertain steps?

Day 5: Come and See—Now Follow

John’s Gospel ends not with closure but an open invitation. The stories aren’t just history—they’re mirrors asking, “What will you do with this man?” Belief becomes action: loving the Shepherd means joining His search for lost sheep. The final word isn’t “Amen” but “Follow.”
[48:42]

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31, ESV)

Reflection: Where is Jesus asking you to trade passive belief for active following? How will you extend His “come and see” invitation to someone this week?

Sermon Summary

John lands the story on a beach with breakfast and a fire, and Jesus meets his friends where they ran out of competence and courage. The empty nets, the throw to the other side, the sudden weight of fish, the bread and fish on the shore, all echo the first calling and the feeding by the lake. The charcoal fire pulls the memory tight. Peter once warmed his hands at a charcoal fire and said three times he didn’t even know Jesus. Now the same heat and smell frame three chances to answer differently.

Jesus asks the question that matters most. Not “Are you sorry?” Not “Will you try harder?” He asks, “Do you love me?” Peter’s hurt shows how restoration can sting, but love is the doorway back into life. Jesus gives a charge for every “Yes.” “Feed my lambs… take care of my sheep… feed my sheep.” The good shepherd hands a crook to a wayward sheep. Love for Jesus must run in the same direction as his love, right into the care of his people. They are his sheep, not anybody else’s, and they are precious.

Jesus names the cost and then gives the invitation. Peter will be led where he doesn’t want to go, and even his death will glorify God. Then comes the simple call that started it all, now renewed on the far side of the cross: “Follow me.” Not in the abstract, but in the path Jesus walked, through loss and into life. Comparison won’t help here. Peter looks at John and asks, “What about him?” Jesus cuts that off. “You follow me.” Faith rests its eyes on Jesus, not on someone else’s path, gifts, or burdens.

John tells why any of this is written down. These signs are selected so that people might see Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, and, by believing, have life in his name. The invitation has been steady: “Come and see.” The question at the beach sharpens the response: “Do you love me?” No one stands beyond reach. Peter doesn’t. Paul won’t. Even the thief on the cross didn’t. Grace does more than erase; grace restores and then sends. The first breakfast becomes a new beginning, and the flock Jesus knows by name is given his Spirit to walk this out.

Key Takeaways

1. Grace restores and recommissions failures Grace does not stop at “not guilty.” It hands back a name, then hands over work to do. Peter’s three denials are met with three charges, not probation. The same grace that forgives also trusts, and that trust reshapes a soul. [43:32]
2. Love for Jesus becomes shepherding Jesus ties love for himself to concrete care for his people. Affection that never reaches the flock is not the love he asks for. “My sheep” sets the tone: stewardship, not ownership, and a readiness to spend and be spent. [45:18]
3. Old echoes invite a new start The full nets, the beach, the bread and fish are not nostalgia; they are a reset. Jesus revisits familiar ground to re-call a faltering disciple. In places of past failure, he writes a new line and points it forward. [39:33]
4. Follow me, not their path Comparison is a clever thief of calling. Jesus refuses to map out another disciple’s road as a condition for Peter’s obedience. Attention fixed on Jesus frees a heart from envy, fear, and the need to keep score. [51:41]
5. Belief in Jesus births life John’s purpose is not information but resurrection life breaking in now. Seeing the Son, trusting him as Messiah, becomes participation in his life, not mere assent to facts. The question “Do you love me?” guards belief from being bloodless. [48:42]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[23:41] - Scripture: John 21 on the beach
[30:36] - Pentecost service and hospitality
[31:14] - Why John’s ending now
[31:48] - Les Mis and costly mercy
[35:22] - Are some beyond restoration
[38:52] - Going fishing and empty nets
[39:33] - The net fills and Peter swims
[40:24] - Echoes and the charcoal fire
[42:44] - Do you love me three times
[45:18] - From sheep to shepherds
[46:06] - Cost foretold and call to follow
[48:42] - Written that you may believe
[51:41] - Stop comparing, you follow me
[53:58] - Promise of the Spirit and prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
John 21:15-19 (ESV)
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, 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.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Observation questions

What specific details in John 21:15-19 connect to Peter’s earlier denial of Jesus (e.g., the charcoal fire, three questions)?
How does Jesus’ instruction to “feed my lambs” and “tend my sheep” contrast with Peter’s previous actions during Jesus’ trial? [43:32]
What physical and emotional details in the passage highlight Peter’s restoration (e.g., the setting, Jesus’ repetition, Peter’s response)?

Interpretation questions

Why might Jesus have chosen to focus on the question “Do you love me?” rather than asking Peter to apologize or promise to do better? [44:34]
How does Jesus’ command to care for his sheep redefine what it means to love him? What does this imply about the relationship between love for Jesus and love for others? [45:18]
What does Peter’s restoration reveal about how grace operates after failure? How does this differ from mere forgiveness?
Why does Jesus foretell Peter’s future suffering (v. 18-19) immediately after restoring him? How might this shape Peter’s understanding of discipleship?

Application questions

When Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” what honest answer would you give today? What might need to change if your actions don’t align with your answer? [50:17]
Where in your life do you need restoration rather than just forgiveness? How could Jesus’ interaction with Peter encourage you to trust him in that area? [34:34]
Comparison often distracts us from following Jesus. What specific situations or relationships tempt you to compare your path with others’? How can you refocus on Jesus instead? [51:41]
Jesus ties love for him to practical care for his people. What is one tangible way you can “feed” or “tend” someone in your life this week?
Peter’s calling involved suffering he didn’t choose. Is there a part of your journey with Jesus that feels like being “led where you don’t want to go”? How can you lean into trust instead of resistance? [46:06]

Sermon Clips

``No longer is it you don't know the way where I'm going. You can't come. No. No. You can come. I've prepared a a way for you. Follow me. I've prepared a place for you even beyond the grave so you can even face that and not fear it. Follow me, he says. Follow me into life restored. And again, have that echo at the beginning of, you know, the the disciples being called by Jesus to leave the nets and follow me. Here he comes and makes that call again. Follow me. [00:47:06] (28 seconds) #FollowMeToLife

So the question Jesus asked Peter is this question the book has been driving towards. Jesus calls your name and says, do you love me? you've seen me. What are you gonna do with me? Will you follow me? Will you love those that I love? Those questions are worth us sitting with for a bit, I think. But it's such a privilege to be those who hear this call. We are those that that get asked this question, who get to see. We are the the sheep that Jesus knows and calls by name. We have a good shepherd. We're the ones offered restoration, the ones brought into the flock. [00:52:35] (39 seconds) #CalledByName

John, the writer, closed the story not by kind of tying up every loose end or saying everything that happened. He even said, you know, if you wrote everything down, you wouldn't fit it in all the books of the world. But he's saying, this is my testimony. This is what I've seen. This is what you need to to know. This is what this is what is really important for you to see about Jesus. We didn't read it, but just before this chapter, the end of last chapter, we've read this a few times in this series. John goes, this is why I've recorded all these things for you. This is why I've shown you Jesus. [00:48:02] (35 seconds) #JohnWitness

I think we know sometimes that restoration hurts in some ways as you figure out and come to grips with the wrong that's been done. And Peter is a bit hurt here. Jesus asks him three times, but he's making that point. You know, you denied me three times. I'm gonna ask you this question three times. Give you a chance to kind of come back from all those answers, the wrong answers with the right ones. And he says, do you love me? Peter says, you know, I do. Jesus then always says, feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. [00:43:17] (31 seconds) #ThreeTimesRestored

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Do You Love Me? | Murray Colville | John 21