In this piece, we will be studying together on what has been titled: The Unconditional Love of a Disciple. We are going to be meditating together as the Holy Spirit Himself teaches us through this piece. We are going to start our observation by going to the book of John 21 and we will read from verse 15-17. The Bible says:
“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.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of [Jonah, 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 [Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
May the Lord bless the reading of His word in Jesus’ name. Now, Simon that Jesus was referring to here is a disciple, and I am sure we are familiar with the disciple called Simon. Simon was one among the 12 disciples that Jesus called to be with Him, and that He might send them out. This discussion happened after that Simon Peter had denied the Lord Jesus 3 times. The Lord spoke to Peter, “you are my disciple and I know that you love me, but before the cock will crow, you will deny me 3 times.” Peter found it very hard to believe. He said, “NO!”. Peter was like saying, “You that among all your disciples, I am the most passionate about you.” “I am committed to You.” That passionate one who took out a sword to cut off the ear of one the persons that came to arrest Jesus — to tell you how passionate Peter was— Peter was one of the 3 inner caucus of Jesus; if you see that there are 3 disciples of Jesus that followed Him to a place to pray, or to intercede, or do a special function, he was not just one of the disciples, he as a very strong disciples of Jesus.
Jesus made him to understand, “See, it has been scripted that you are going to deny me three times”. In fact, Jesus said to him at a point that, “The Devil has asked to sieve you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, and after you are recovered, strengthen your brethren.” After Peter had denied Jesus and He showed up after His resurrection in the Book of John 21 that we have read, He restored Peter back to the degree that he denied Him. After they have eaten breakfast, in verse 15: “Do you love Me more than these?” That was the first time, the second time, and the third time. So, it is to the degree that he denied Jesus, it was same degree of his restoration— he denied Him three times, and he has to profess He three times. Because what Jesus is looking for in raising disciples, it is not in raising apologetic disciples. Jesus is not looking for disciples who will just be marking time with Him.
Jesus is looking for the kind of disciples, that even if the devil will come to them, he will find no offense, any cause, to have them. What is the medium that the devil was trying to have Peter? It was through the denial. Because the devil wanted to have Peter, Jesus stepped in and interceded. And Jesus did not stop just in interceding for Peter, but just as he denied Jesus opening, he needed to confess Jesus again opening; his love for Christ. The unconditional love of a disciple for Jesus is not about what you are thinking in your earth. Jesus knows that we love Him, but in our confession, how many times do we profess our love for Him? Peter denied Jesus three times, and he had to opening declare his love for Him three times.
What Jesus is looking for, and the reason Jesus kept asking that same question, because when he wanted to deny Jesus, it was a little girl that started saying to Peter, “You look like one of the men that were following Jesus.” But Peter said, “I don’t know Him, we have never met”. Another set of people have to look at him closely, really, “You indeed look like one the men that were following Jesus, are you not?” But Peter replied, “No, I don’t know Him, we have never met.” So, when Jesus was going to restore him, He came to him, and said, “Peter, do you love me?” Peter was not happy that Jesus asked him these questions repeatedly, but he didn’t know why Jesus was asking him. When He got to the third one, Jesus stopped asking him.
Meaning that, there are times when our love for the Lord will be tested. There will come period in times, when our love as disciples will be tested; just as Peter’s love was tested. When our love for Jesus is tested, what will be found on our lips — what will be our profession, and confession? At the time when the test of love comes to us, what will be our response? Peter didn’t know, if Peter had known the hour that he was being tested, he wouldn’t deny Jesus, because he would have prepared. He would have said, ok, this is how they want to come! No, Peter would have stood his ground, “I know him” “I love Him”. But it came at a vulnerable time. And this is how our love as disciples are always being tested. Peter was at a vulnerable state of his life, it was a time when the whole communities, societies, were looking for anyone at all that mentions His name, or say, “I know Him.” And because Peter was afraid, he didn’t even know what will become of Jesus that was captured. He denied Him.
So, the test for unconditional love of a disciple comes at a vulnerable time. The times that you are alone, and it seems as if all that the Lord has said to you beforehand, and all that God has said He is, they are questionable. Because I want you and I to put ourselves in the position of Peter for one minute, Jesus was the guy that Peter and the rest followed around town, and they felt so important. Jesus was the one that gave them relevance, He was the one that care about them — they followed Him. They were dear to Him, and He was the One that understand them. He was the only Person that actually comfort them. And suddenly, just in one night, those men, men with wives and children, all that they have followed and believed, all that they have held unto over the years was snatched from them.
When the test of unconditional love will come to you as disciple, it will come as if everything that you have been holding unto over time crashes before your eyes. Everything that you have believed; that you have anchored your faith on, it now looks as if it is no longer the way it has always been. That is when the test will come. Usually, we don’t prepare for it. It is not what will make you go to your closet and you will say, anything that comes, I am ready. No! it will be vulnerable time just like Peter, but the test will come. In Mattthew chapter 4 when Jesus was tempted, the Bible make us to underhand that HE was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, where He was fasting for 40 days and night. The Devil did not come for Him on the 5th day, or 28th day, or 30th day. He came when He was vulnerable; when He was hungry, and he said to Him, “Turn this stone for bread.”
At that time, the unconditional love of Jesus as a disciple for God was been tested. Then the devil thought within himself that, “If that is too cheap for you to fall for it, I will take you somewhere else up the mountain to look at the entire world”. “Can you see the glory, all that you can see, they are all mine, just bow to me, do it and you will get everything as far as your eyes can see.” What a temptation? This is a vulnerable test of faith, at this time Jesus has not begun public ministry. Everything the devil is asking Jesus to do were things that Jesus will actually do in the cause of His ministry. Things that He is trusting God to do, someone is presenting them to Him on a plater of God at a point that He was weak and vulnerable. So, what was the response of Jesus, did Jesus fail the test? Did He prove His unconditional love for God? Yes, He did. And the same thing is expected from us today.
Let us see Romans chapter 8 after the disciple were strengthened; what was their position? Romans chapter 8 from verse 35 to 39, the Bible says:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Shall tribulation? This was something that separated them before. But now, they came to a point of resolve; point of persuasion, and they said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Looking at the state of Peter after Jesus was arrested, what made Peter to deny Jesus? It was persecution. Peter thought quietly in his mind, “If I am to say I know Him and I am as also captured as He has been captured, what shall become of me?” “I don’t even know what is happening to Him right now; I don’t know what His faith is right now”. “Let me even see what will happen to Him first before I say I know Him.”
Persecution! But it came to a point, the disciples said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ; Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” No! that can’t work! It is written, “This is the life we now live; nothing can separate us from Him!” It says, “For Your sake we are killed all day long [and we are not moved]; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” That is unconditional love. We are not talking just on the kind of love that the world talks about, but unconditional, “For your sake”. What do will do for our loved ones? When we love somebody to a point, there is nothing we cannot do for him or her. There is absolutely, nothing we can’t give up. That is the kind of love that God is requiring from us as disciples — that there is nothing we cannot give up for the sake of Christ. There is nothing we cannot count as dung for the excellence of Christ. That nothing is so dear to us that God will request for it that we cannot let it go; place at the altar.
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” In fact, “we are dead; we don’t have a life of our own”. “We are all yours, take us, use us, have us completely.” In verse 27, “Yet in all these things”, what are the things? Things as tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, we are more than conquerors. Meaning that the unconditional love of a disciple does not place a disciple in a place where these things will not happen; even if they happen, yet, we are more than conquerors. We are overcomers, we overcome tribulations, nakedness, peril, swords; we over come them through Him who loves us. This is how we overcome, His love is sufficient for us to love Him, His love is enough for us to sacrifice, His love is enough for us to lay our lives down. Let’s place ourselves in the shoe of Abraham for one minute, what will make a man that has been trusting God for a child, have the child, and God will require the child of him, and he would take the child without questioning or murmuring to the mountain to offer him up, what will make a man to do that?
The only thing that can create that kind of heart is love; unconditional love. In the Book of Hebrews, the Bible makes us to understand that in the heart of Abraham, because he knows that God loves him too much, he knew that even if God were to take the child, He is able to raise him up. That is the kind of love and trust, that Abraham had in God. No wonder God calls Abraham His friend; we think alike. God said, “I am about to release My Son unto the earth, but can I see a man that can show me a similitude of what I am about to do? Can a man do it, and God found Abraham.” And when the Lord saw how Abraham was ready to give his son, only son, God said to Himself, “I can’t withhold Mine.”
We have understood from this scripture in Romans chapter 8 that, His love made us more than conquerors. In verse 38 to 39, the Bible says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What made us persuaded? It His love for us. Unconditional love of a disciple. Now, the Bible says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” People that have loved God with their lives; they are looking at us passing through the same sojourn and pilgrimage, how much can you sacrifice for the love that is in Christ Jesus? Apostle Paul was speaking in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 from verse 25 to 27, he said to the people, “Permit me to boast in the flesh a little, since you are not ready to appreciate the grace that is the Lord Jesus, and the one that is upon me”. These are things I have been through:
“Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day adrift in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils from waters, in perils from robbers, in perils from mine own countrymen, in perils from the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness [still in all these things, we are still standing fast and still holding unto the same thing]”.
Nothing else can make a man do that, except for the unconditional love for Christ Jesus. But how comes we the disciples of this contemporary age will be bold to say to the Lord, “If the Lord does not give me a Rolls-Royce car, I give Him 7 days, I will backslide?” Is that Love? God, I have been waiting on you for a husband, I give 365 days, a whole calendar year, if You can’t make it happen, I will make it happen for myself. Is that what a disciple ought to say? We should understand this, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. They have this same life that you are living; they have lived this life and have enjoyed the grace of God. And they have experienced much more than we are even experiencing.
Let’s take some examples of people in the cloud of witnesses: Job, Noah, Paul, Peter, John, Abrham — look at those men, the things that they suffered for God. Moses, Elijah, Elisha; these are cloud of witnesses that we are surrounded with. And they are looking at us daily as we are professing our love for God; and they are seeing that the things we are doing are not matching up with the things we are saying. Yet, we still call ourselves disciples that have unconditional love for the Lord Jesus. The apostles said, “We are persuaded!” This love is not a joke; we are not here to joke; this is serious business — it is our lives on the line. When the persecutors capture them, they were told to stop preaching in the name, and they will be fine. But they went back to their own company, and they prayed telling God that, what they need is boldness to declare it even the more — that is unconditional love.
Let’s take a look at John chapter 16 verse 27, Jesus says, “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” The reason the father loves you, it is because you have loved Me. No wonder that God would order an angel to come and open door of prison for Peter’s release. Why? Peter loved Him! The handkerchief would heal the sick and raised the dead because they loved Him. They would not stop talking about Him, they would not stop declaring Him to the World, that He actually came; died and resurrected, and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father — they will never stop talking about Him. To their grave, to island of Patmos, to them burying them alive, cutting them into two, to them throwing them in hot oil, they wouldn’t stop talking about Him. What will make a man have that kind of conviction? Love!
Unconditional Love, what can separate us? They looked around, but they couldn’t find. What can separate me from Christ, this Christ that I have found? Nothing can take me away from Him. That is the kind of Love that is required of a disciple. Jesus said something in Matthew chapter 8 verse 21 and 22: “Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”” What was Jesus saying to this man? Jesus says, “If you [we] love Him, nothing else will matter”. If you love Me, it will be unconditional. You will not give Me condition; God first. The young man said, “Let me first”, that means he actually put something before Christ. And Jesus said to the man, “This is not the protocol” “Following me is the first thing, and let the dead bury their own dead”.
Whatever you are going through as a disciple, what should come first, is your love for Christ Jesus. How in this situation can I exalt my Lord? How in this situation can I esteem Him? How in this situation can Him be magnified? Making sure that He comes first; His interest first. His agenda first, that is unconditional love. So, as disciples, this is what is required of us, there should be nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. There should be nothing: nothing in this world, nothing in the world to come, that is able to separate us just as the apostles cleared in Romans chapter 8: “I am persuaded.”
The conviction and persuasion will not just jump on you, something must birth it. The Bible says that, “The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” Until that love is shed abroad in your heart, it cannot happen for you. The Holy Spirit must make that love alive. He must rekindle the love in us. Some of us love God from the beginning, but something went wrong with the love, and the flame of that love has dwindled. But it is the Holy Spirit that can ignite the fire again. He is the one that set us up, and fan us again so, we can love Jesus unconditionally. No regret, that we will love Jesus such that nothing else matters. Nothing in this world will do, no other throne compete with Him, no other throne survives; but only Him enthroned. Nothing shall separate me for the love of Christ.
