Sometimes God asks the same question more than once! In John 21:1-17, Jesus asks Peter the same question (‘Do you love me?‘) three times. The first time, He asks if he loves Him ‘more than these’, showing us that a love for God must be exclusive and above all other loves. We may be surprised at the importance God places on love, but since He is love (1 John 4:8), we ought not to be surprised. Jesus put love for God and others as the summing up of the law (see Matt 22:37) and told HIs disciples that it was through their love for each other that the world would come to know God and believe Him. (John 13:34-35)

Interestingly, Jesus addresses Peter as ‘Simon son of John’ in each of these questions, despite having named him Peter on earlier occasions (John 1:42, Matt 16:18). This reinstatement of Peter after his threefold denial of Jesus before the crucifixion reminds us that we have to lean on God rather than on our own understanding; perhaps Peter needed to be reminded that he could not hope to serve Jesus in his own strength. This whole chapter echoes earlier miracles (see Luke 5), but Peter must re-affirm his love before being commissioned to feed the lambs, look after the sheep and feed the sheep.

Jesus’s questions to Peter are not hard for us to understand, but sometimes we find it harder to deal with what we do understand than what we don’t! Certainly, we see the pre-eminence of love (see 1 Cor 13) and begin to understand that our service must stem from the overflow of love from God’s heart, rather than from our own abilities and strengths. God’s ways are the ways of love; this revolutionary strategy hasn’t changed and must always be our motivation for service.

Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, said yesterday at the Labour party conference that ‘winning the next election is more important than party unity.’ He was trying (I think) to shift attention away from squabbles within his party and focus attention on the bigger picture and more important goal, but I suspect he fails to understand the crucial role unity plays in bringing victory in any realm.

‘United we stand, divided we fall’ was a phrase used by Patrick Henry in a public speech in 1799. It expresses the Biblical emphasis on the critical importance of unity. Psalm 133 outlines the blessings of unity (something described as good and pleasant), and in John 17, we see Jesus praying for His followers to be one, to reflect the unity of the Godhead and thus be a witness to the world of what God is like.

For the Christian, unity and winning are not at opposite ends of the spectrum. They are in some respects identical, overlapping circles which mirror God’s heart. When we are united, we win. I’m not sure a fragmented, disunited political party can ever hope to win the election, but I do know a fragmented, divided church will never succeed. We are urged to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph 4:2). Unity is a precious gift from God and a sign that He is One, His love overcomes all divisions and that there is hope for a divided world.

Scenes in recent days at petrol stations in the UK have reminded us sharply that fuel is an essential commodity in the modern world. Travelling is a key part of everyday life in the U.K., and it’s clear that if we feel we are running on empty and can’t go about our normal business, we feel threatened and insecure.

Panic buying doesn’t help the situation, but it has highlighted people’s fragile thinking. Similarly, in the spiritual world, we are not meant to run on our own fuel, but to be fuelled by God’s Spirit, a situation that our independent spirits often dislikes.

There is no lack of power or energy in God. The ‘life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit’ (Rom 15:13) is always available to us; He will never run dry. Our problem is that we often try to run on our own fuel, on the resources and skills we all possess naturally. Initiative, enthusiasm, innovation and sheer doggedness are all useful, but these are also all finite fuels, whereas the Holy Spirit is God and therefore infinite. He will never run dry; His power and energy are sufficient to last a lifetime and beyond!

Just as we do need to go to a petrol station for fuel in the natural realm, we need to come to God daily for re-filling in the spiritual realm. When Paul urged the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18), He used the word for continually being filled. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one-off event. It is the source of our strength every day and there are no queues at this filling station! God is always with us, but we do need to come to the well to be filled.

In our series looking at questions God asks us, we looked tonight at Matt 16:13-20, where Jesus asked His disciples two questions about His identity. Who Jesus is remains crucially important; if He is both the Son of God as well as the Son of Man, then it matters enormously how we answer these questions.

Initially, Jesus asked for the general opinion about His identity and was told that ‘some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ (Matt 16:14) There was no real general consensus about His identity, though there was a vague feeling He was important – but not enough to affect people personally. This is probably the same response people give today. A survey commissioned by the Evangelical Alliance and Church of England and carried out in 2015 by Barna Group and ComRes subtitled ‘What people in England think of Jesus, Christians and evangelism’ interviewed over 4,500 people in the U.K. to find out the modern-day answer to this question Jesus asked. 40% of adults and 46% of young people aged 11-18 said they were not sure or did not believe that Jesus was a real person who lived on earth while 22% thought he was a fictional character. Yet approximately one in five adults (21%) and young people (22%) said they believed Jesus was God in human form and three in 10 said that they believed He was a prophet. It seems that answers really haven’t changed very much down the years.

Jesus was not just interested in general opinion, however, wanting to know what the disciples thought, and Peter makes one of the most famous confessions in Scripture: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ (Matt 16:6) Peter was beginning to realise that Jesus was more than just a rabbi or teacher; by divine inspiration, he sees that Jesus is not just an important man, but the One chosen by God to be the deliverer of the world.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is totally God (John 1:1-3, Heb 1:3, Col 1:15, 18), but also acknowledges that we needed a human being to pay the price for our sin (see 2 Cor 15:21). Jesus took on human flesh (John 1:14, Heb 2:14) and became our substitute and sacrifice for sin. His identity has always been disputed and will continue to be the ‘sticking point’ for many people. We need to be convinced in our own minds of who Jesus is and the overflow from this will be a desire to share Jesus with others. The question of who Jesus is lies at the heart of our faith and must be at the heart of our evangelism also. It’s all about Jesus.

Dave spoke this morning about the way of love and how this looks so different to the world’s way of retaliation and revenge. Martin Luther King once had his house burned down. His followers were understandably angry and wanted to do a similar thing to other people’s houses, but were persuaded by him of the better way of love. Jesus (see Luke 6:27-38) reminded His followers that the natural rule (an eye for an eye etc.) leaves a blind and toothless nation. The way of revenge and retaliation simply leads to more hostility. The way of Jesus is the way of love and doing good – even to our enemies.

We may wonder how we can love in this way, when everything inside us is perhaps crying out to hate. We have to make the choice to love; it is a conscious decision we must make that no matter what, we will choose to love. This is what makes a marriage work; it’s what makes every relationship work. We can only really do this as we dwell in God’s love, reflecting His nature as we bless and give the way God blesses and gives. This will inevitably affect us and all around us, and is the only way others will see the love of God for themselves.

In the main hall, we had many local businesses and residents displaying their artwork, selling crafts and showing us their skills! We also got to watch juggling and circus skills, listen to singers from the Angel Voices Performing Arts Academy and watch dancers from the Clayton School of Dance.