“15 So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me more than these (Jesus used Greek term “Agapao” for love which means supreme and perfect love)? He said unto Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You (Peter responded with the Greek term “Phileo” which means to be fond of another). He said unto him, Feed My lambs.

16 He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love (Agapao) Me? He said unto Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love (Phileo/fond of) You. He said unto him, Feed My sheep.
17 He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me (Now Jesus uses the term “Phileo”)?  Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, do you love Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said unto him, Feed My sheep.”  John 21:15-17.
Peter was grieved when Jesus asked him a third time “do you love Me” but used the lesser term for love.  Peter understood at that moment the Lord knew all things…even the deep things of his heart.  Jesus had to wound Peter’s heart to teach him.

“Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but charity (Greek “Agape” for supreme and perfect love) edifies.  And if any man think that he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.”  1 Corinthians 8:1-2.

Many have knowledge of Jesus Christ, an intellectual knowledge which puffs up, but they have stopped there.  They have not built up (edified) themselves in the most holy faith…faith in Jesus Christ, Who He is and what he has done on Calvary’s Cross for whosoever will believe, but puffed up themselves in a yoke of intellectualism.  

Religion exorts us to love one another, in which we absolutely should.  However, mankind does not know love until they know Jesus Christ.  We cannot love one another until we love Jesus.  The Jesus of the Bible.  The One Who came to die on Calvary’s Cross to give us eternal life and dominion over our sin nature.  The Sacrificial Lamb of God Who was Resurrected on the third day and now sits at the Right Hand of God.  The very presence of Jesus Christ at the Right Hand of God IS our intercession.  When we are born again we are in Him and His is in us.  HE, Jesus Christ, IS the Way, the Truth and the Life…there is not other.  The latest series distributed throughout denominations is not unity in Christ; it is intellectual knowledge.  Until the church starts lifting up the name of Jesus Christ, to both the sinners and Saints, lives will not be changed.  Captives will not be set at liberty by feasts, festivals, traditions and ceremonies.

Are you being puffed up by intellectual knowledge or edified, built up, strengthened in the inner man but the love of God?  Who or what is being lifted up on Sunday mornings as the source of your victory?  Is it a method?  Do you have to do your part?  The Believer’s part is faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary’s Cross which produces fruit, good fruit…love beyond measure.  Fight the good fight of faith; faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

-Donna Clark Warren