The Power of Perfect Love: Jesus' Look at Peter

Introduction

Harold Afflu, pastor of City Gates Church in Ilford, continues the church's series on Jesus' encounters after his resurrection. After Thomas and Mary, he turns to Peter, from John 21:15-19. The title of the message: “the power of perfect love.”

In this passage, Jesus reaffirms Peter, restores him and entrusts him with his mission again. The pastor warns that he won't finish everything today: he is covering the subject over two weeks. He also reminds us that the scene takes place before Pentecost. After the Holy Spirit comes, Peter will be “a different man,” but before that, “we can all identify with him.”

The message opens with a call to prayer. Harold Afflu says he sensed the Holy Spirit prompting him to call the church to an evening of spiritual warfare prayer on October 30, around 1 Peter 5:8-9: “Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful.” His principle: “We don't put the enemy at center stage, but we don't ignore him either. Jesus didn't ignore him, but he didn't give him center stage.”

Message outline

1. Three conversations between Jesus and Peter

The main text is John 21:15-19: three times, Jesus asks Simon, son of Jonah: “Do you love me?” Three times, Peter answers: “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Then: “Feed my lambs,” and finally: “Follow me.”
Just before this, Peter said to his companions: “I'm going fishing,” and they followed him.
To understand this dialogue, the pastor goes back to three conversations: one before the crucifixion, a silent conversation at the moment of the denial, and this face-to-face after the resurrection.
“When you read the Word slowly, you see things you had never noticed.”

2. First conversation: quick to speak, slow to listen

In John 13:31-38, Jesus gives the new commandment: “Love one another; even as I have loved you.” Peter asks where he is going. Jesus answers: “Where I am going, you can't follow now, but you will follow afterwards.”
The word “now” is crucial, but Peter doesn't hear it. He is too busy answering: “I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus tells him he will deny him three times before the rooster crows. Matthew and Mark add the quotation from Zechariah 13:7: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
“It's like many of us. If the Lord asked a question, we would be very quick to answer.” If we take the time to listen and let Scripture read us, we will hear God's voice and be able to give a more honest answer.
James 1:19 asks us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. “God gave us one mouth and two ears, on purpose.”
A small detour to couples: before marriage, you text each other from the moment you wake up; once married, each person lives their own life. “Communication is what holds relationships together.” The pastor says he is himself working on becoming a better listener.

3. “I prayed for you”

Luke 22:31-32 reveals what is happening in the background: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn't fail. When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Satan wanted to take Peter out of the game. But Jesus had prayed. The pastor thanks God for the mothers, fathers and grandparents who pray: “If you have someone in your life who prays for you, you are blessed.”
“Our prayer can intercept the enemy's plans for someone's life and destiny.” He encourages everyone to be that person who prays for someone else.
He prays for those facing a storm on every side: that the storm would end, or at least that they would be strengthened to stand and face tomorrow for the glory of God.

4. Second conversation: a silent look

Peter wanted to follow Jesus to death. The lesson: you can't do God's work in your own strength. “When you come under fire, you shrink back.” The church is a spiritual army, called to be filled, and continually filled, with the Holy Spirit.
Luke 22:54-62: after the arrest, Peter follows at a distance. By the fire, a servant girl recognizes him, then another person, then a third: “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Three times, Peter denies him. The rooster crows, and “the Lord turned and looked at Peter.”
Eyes say a lot. The pastor jokes about the look you give your spouse at a friend's house to say: it's time to go home.
What did Peter see in Jesus' face? “He must have seen love.” Not an “I told you so.” The look said: “You are loved. I told you that you couldn't do it in your own strength. But I'm here for you. Remember, I prayed for you.”
Yet guilt and shame made him run: “You can be in the presence of love and not be able to receive it, because other things are going on inside.”
We need to seek the Lord's face, as in the priestly blessing: “Yahweh make his face to shine on you.” “Some of us only look for his hand, for what we can get. When you seek his face, you see his approval.”
Let your face encourage others. Some parents are proud that their children run away when they see them; some bosses make their employees hide. The pastor confides that growing up he liked the idea of being feared, until he discovered that it was not in the image of Christ: “I think I'm a better father now.”

5. Silencing the voice of the accuser

Peter lived through shame, and the accuser was on his back. Revelation 12:10-11 describes him accusing the brothers day and night, overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
A warning: if the Holy Spirit cautions you, listen. Like the driver who is speeding and feels an inner reminder: slow down, or the speed camera will flash, and it could cost you your license. “Don't sign yet. Read the small print.”
Regret is one of the strongest negative emotions. The pastor prays that, by the power of the blood, the voice of the accuser would be broken and that everyone would behold the face of Jesus again. “It may not change the circumstances, but you will be changed.”
“Your worst story can become your testimony,” your next book, your next song, if you place your mistakes under the power of the blood. “You may walk with a limp, but you will sing his praises.”
A broken relationship, a wrong turn in business, choices that damaged your health: “Grace is pursuing you. Jesus is the one who lifts up your head.”

6. Sober and watchful, especially when everything is going well

“Be sober”: stay steady, don't be a yo-yo, always up or always down. In the extremes, we become vulnerable.
In hardship, you are at the 6 a.m. prayer and at midnight. When you are blessed: “Life is good, let's relax.” This can happen to anyone.
The pastor often asks: “Holy Spirit, show me. What is the motive behind what I'm doing?” He encourages us to ask forgiveness quickly and not to feed offense, one of the enemy's baits.
The adversary prowls, strategic, looking for who is vulnerable. Is your marriage going well? Is your career taking off? “Stay close to Jesus.” In Revelation, Jesus warns a church that thinks it is rich when it is poor, wretched and blind.
Be competent, yes, get training, yes, but don't put your confidence in your own abilities: pride comes before a fall. The enemy “has been around since before Adam.” If you give him a toe, he takes the foot, then he builds a stronghold.

7. Toward the third conversation, and a testimony

Peter, discouraged, goes back to fishing and takes his friends with him. He has seen the risen Christ, but shame still rules over him: he has disqualified himself. Jesus comes to the shore, cooks them breakfast and has with Peter the conversation that transforms him. The rest is announced for the following week.
Testimony: around 1998, during a church plant in Ghana, a prophet warned him that the enemy was after him. Three months later, a member of his team, “like a Judas,” stabbed him in the back.
His mentor told him: “Harold, guard your heart.” His wife had warned him about this person: “Beware of the flatterer. And beware of gossip: whoever gossips with you will gossip behind your back.”
He was determined not to forgive. It took about six months, and his wife's prayers, for him to get through this wound: “God helped me, and I am healed.”
To conclude, he invites three groups to come forward and pray: those going through a season of pressure, those who can't forgive themselves (“Accepting God's forgiveness is one thing, forgiving yourself is another. Peter had to forgive himself”), and those who want to give their life to Jesus.

Key takeaways

Before Peter even fell, Jesus had prayed for him. Prayer can intercept the enemy's plans.
Take time to listen: Peter was quick to speak and didn't hear the word “now.”
Jesus' look at Peter was not a reproach, but a look of love that left hope for tomorrow.
Your worst mistake, placed under the power of the blood, can become your testimony.
Be watchful especially when everything is going well: self-confidence quickly replaces dependence on the Lord.

Personal application

In your relationship with God and with those close to you, are you quicker to speak than to listen?
Who are you praying for right now, as Jesus prayed for Peter?
What past mistake are you still letting the accuser use against you? Have you received God's forgiveness, and have you forgiven yourself?
When others see your face, at home or at work, do they feel lifted up or do they want to run away?
In which area where everything is going well do you risk letting your guard down?

Verses quoted

Frequently asked questions

What are the three conversations between Jesus and Peter?

Harold Afflu distinguishes three. The first takes place before the crucifixion, when Jesus announces the denial (John 13, Luke 22:31-34). The second is silent: after the rooster crows, the Lord turns and looks at Peter (Luke 22:61). The third is a face-to-face by the lake, after the resurrection (John 21:15-19).

What does Jesus' look at Peter after the denial mean?

For the preacher, that look did not say “I told you so.” Peter must have seen love in it: “You are loved. I told you that you couldn't do it in your own strength, but I prayed for you, you are going to get through this.” Shame and guilt still drove him away, though: you can be in the presence of love without being able to receive it.

Why be watchful when everything is going well?

Harold Afflu notes that in hard times we rush to prayer meetings, while in times of blessing we relax. According to 1 Peter 5:8, the adversary prowls and looks for who is vulnerable. When our dependence on the Lord drops, self-confidence rises, and pride comes before a fall.