Introduction: Some time after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James & John, and two other disciples were all together. We aren’t told exactly when this particular encounter took place but we do know that it was after Jesus had appeared to his Disciples in the Upper Room.
Our text doesn’t explain why the Disciples were together but apparently they had made the trip from Jerusalem to Galilee and were now waiting for Jesus to appear to them as He had promised to do. I’m sure that the events of the past few weeks must have dominated their conversation while they waited and waited, and waited some more. Perhaps they discussed their plans for the future. Perhaps they were trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next. They knew that Jesus was alive because they had seen him with their own two eyes on two different occasions. But everything had happened so quickly, one night they were sitting around the table enjoying the Passover meal together, and the next day they witnessed Jesus’ death and burial. Then on the first day of the week they discovered that Jesus was no longer dead, but that He had risen from the dead, just as He had said that He would.
Now here they were together again near the Sea of Galilee waiting and watching for Jesus to appear to them again. It must have been a confusing if not overwhelming time in their lives. Their Master was alive, but at the same time, He wasn’t with them at this particular moment, and they weren’t sure when he would appear.
Peter, like many of us, was not a very patient man. Apparently Peter got tired of sitting around doing nothing, so he decided to go fishing. Maybe the stress had finally gotten to him and he thought fishing was just the thing to do. After all, as many of you know, there is just something therapeutic about going fishing. I don’t know about you, but one of the things I enjoy the most about fishing is being able to get away for awhile and not think or worry about anything but catching fish. Maybe that’s why Peter wanted to go fishing. Maybe he wanted to get away from everyone and clear his head a little. Or perhaps Peter was considering going back into the fishing business full-time. After all that’s what he had done before he became a Disciple of Jesus Christ.
Much of the fishing on the Sea of Galilee was done at night in those days, as it still is today. Fishermen would use torches to attract insects to the boat, which in turn attracted fish to the area. They would then throw out their nets and catch the fish. But even though Peter, and James and John were experienced fishermen they didn’t catch a single fish all night long.
You know that doesn’t bother some fishermen. My father is a good example of someone who can fish from daylight to dark and not catch any fish, and still have a good time. I’m not like that, if I haven’t caught a fish after a couple of hours I’m ready to quit and go home. I suspect Peter and the rest of the Disciples were more than just a little disappointed that they hadn’t caught any fish. They must have been exhausted as they approached the shore around sunrise. That’s when a man called out to them and said, “Hey friends, haven’t you caught any fish?” I can imagine them grumbling underneath their breath before replying, “No we haven’t.” Then the man, who just happened to be Jesus, called out to them and said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” I imagine the other disciples looked at Peter to see what he thought of the idea. He may have said something like this: “Well it’s certainly not going to hurt anything to try.” To their amazement, they caught a ‘boatload of fish,’ 153 to be exact. This must have triggered a memory for the Apostle John of an incident that had taken place earlier in their lives, because He suddenly recognized that this stranger was really no stranger at all, but that it was the Lord. He told Peter, and Peter, immediately put on his cloak, jumped out of the boat, and swam to shore to meet Jesus, while the rest of the disciples pulled the boat filled with fish to shore. When they arrived on shore they immediately noticed that Jesus had already built a fire and had some fish and bread ready for them to eat. Some people might just dismiss this story as just another ‘fishing story,” but I believe that there are several things that we can learn from this particular story.
A. The first one is the importance of obedience.
The Disciples weren’t really sure who this stranger on the beach was and they certainly didn’t understand why he wanted them to throw their nets out again but despite that they did it, and as a result they caught a multitude of fish. You see God’s ways are not our ways and we don’t always understand everything He tells us to do. Bu the important thing is for us to obey Him, regardless of how strange what He wants us to do sounds, and leave the results up to him.
Illustration: Someone sent this illustration to me via e-mail, I’m not sure whether this actually took place or not but it illustrates the point I’m trying to make here so I’m going to share it with you. After hearing a sermon about How God had spoken to Abraham and told him to leave His homeland and go where God told him to go a Christian man commented that He wondered why God never spoke to him that way. He didn’t think too much about it but said a prayer asking God to speak to Him. On his way home from church that night he heard a voice telling him to go by a gallon of milk. He turned around to see if anyone was in the back seat of the car and of course it was empty. He shook his head and said, “boy that was weird.” Then it hit him, and he said, “God do you really want me to buy a gallon of milk.” God didn’t answer, but the man couldn’t get away from the urge to go to the grocery and buy a gallon of milk. So he stopped went into a local Convenience Store and picked up a gallon of milk. He got back in his car and headed home, but when he reached a certain intersection he felt the Lord leading him to turn right. He said, “God do you really want me to go this way?” He went a couple of blocks and then the Spirit of God spoke to his heart and told him to pull over to the curb. He sat there a minute and then God told him to take the gallon of milk to the house across the street and give it to them. The man tried to argue with God, saying, but God the house is dark, it’s late, they are probably in bed. But he couldn’t get away from the urge to follow through with what seemed to be a crazy idea. So he grabbed the gallon of milk, walked across the street and rang the doorbell. In a few moments a Hispanic man came to the door, and the man said, “God told me to buy this gallon of milk and give it to you.” The man looked like he had seen a ghost, he yelled something in Spanish to his wife, who quickly came to the door holding a crying baby. The Hispanic man looked at the stranger and said, “Are you an Angel?” The man said no, I was just following God’s instructions. The husband then explained that they had ran out of formular for their baby, and they wouldn’t have any money to buy more until the end of the week. They had been praying and asking God to supply them with some milk when the man rang the doorbell. The man walked away from the door that night with renewed faith in God, and a new desire to always obey God’s leadership.
Now you and I both know it doesn’t always work like that. However, when we do get a clear direction from God, we need to be willing to obey him no matter how strange it may sound.
B. The second lesson that comes from this story is God’s great provision.
I don’t know about you, but if I had been out fishing all night I would have been ready for a big hearty breakfast by daybreak. In fact when I go fishing, I make sure I pack a few snacks, just in case the fish aren’t biting. But I don’t think the Disciples had that luxury. In fact they may very well have been fishing trying to catch enough fish for breakfast.
In Philippians 4:19 The Apostle Paul said, “And My God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Jesus knew the Disciples were tired and hungry. He knew they were discouraged and confused about their purpose in life. That’s why he had breakfast ready for them when they got to shore. Even after all of the things that had taken place in recent days, Jesus was aware of the fact that there were seven hungry men on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and because He cared for them He took time the time to feed them.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; about what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they.”
The Lord tells us not to worry, that regardless of whether we are hungry or thirsty, or whether we are poor or homeless, that He knows our needs and will supply those needs just like he did for these 7 hungry fisherman on the Sea of Galilee
C. The third lesson that comes from this great story is that God doesn’t ever give up on us.
The remainder of this chapter has to do with Jesus’ conversation with Peter. Some time after Breakfast I picture Jesus walking over to Peter, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder and saying, come on Peter, let’s take a walk. When they were far enough away from the rest of the Disciples Jesus looked at Peter and said, "Do you love me more than these?" We aren’t sure whether Jesus was referring to the fish that the disciples had caught, or the other disciples. Some scholars believe that Peter was considering going back to his old way of life as a fisherman, and thus Jesus may have been testing his loyalty and commitment. However, most scholars believe that Jesus was referring to the other apostles. They draw this conclusion from the fact that the night Jesus was arrested Peter had said that He would never deny you or turnhis back on Jesus even if the rest of the Disciples did. Of course we know that before the rooster crowed the next morning Peter had in fact denied knowing Christ three times. Therefore when He said, Peter "Do you love me more than these?" He was really asking Peter if he still thought his love for Jesus was stronger than the rest of the Disciples. It was Jesus’ way of reminding Peter of his previous failure. But Jesus didn’t chastise Peter for denying him, instead He gave Peter a new assignment, He said, "Feed my sheep." This was Christ’s way of telling Peter that He wasn’t finished with him yet. That he didn’t want Peter to go back to fishing, that He still wanted him to fish for men.
This should give all of us hope, because like Peter we all sin, we all stumble, we all make mistakes, we all do things that disappoint the Lord. But God will never give up on us. He will always be there to pick us up when we fall. He will be there to put his arm around us and say, "Hey, it’s okay! I forgive you, now come on let’s get back into the game, I’m not finished with you just yet."
D. The fourth lesson that we can learn from this passage of Scripture is that God is anxious to give us direction in our life and in our ministry.
The Disciples were expert fishermen, but despite that fact they weren’t able to catch any fish that particular night. I’m sure these men tried every trick in the book, and fished every good spot on the lake that had produced good catches of fish in the past, but nothing seemed to work that particular night. Jesus came along and directed them to "cast their nets on the right side," and when they did they caught a great number of fish.
Sometimes we as Christians are guilty of planning our lives out, and then asking God to bless it. Instead we need to ask God what He wants us to do, then be willing to do whatever it is He wants us to do. Too many times we take things into our own hands and do it our way, instead of doing it God’s way.
The same can be said for churches. Many times Churches or denotations are guilty of thinking they know exactly what needs to be done, and how it needs to be done. We rationalize our decisions to keep doing it the way we’ve always done it because of the fact that it has worked in the past. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should ever change the gospel message, but perhaps the church as a whole needs to rethink the way we do things. Just because something worked back in the 60’s or 70’s doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be the best way to reach people for Christ today. I believe we always need to be willing to change our approach if God directs us to do so.
E. The last lesson we can learn from this story is that God wants us to continue fishing for men.
In the 5th chapter of the gospel of Luke there is a story that is very similar to this particular story. Jesus had just finished teaching the multitudes from one of the boats that Simon Peter owned when he turned to Peter & said, "take the boat out into the deep water and let you nets down and you will catch some fish."Peter responded by saying, " But Lord, we fished all night & we didn’t catch anything." Jesus may have said something like, "Well Simon What’s it going to hurt to try one more time." So Simon agreed to go back out, and when they threw their nets overboard they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. In fact the Bible says that there were so many fish that when they started gathering them in, the boat began to sink.
At that time Peter, James and John were all amazed and left their boats, nets, and fish, lying on the shore and left to follow Jesus. That’s when Jesus said, "Peter from now on you will be a fisher of men." Perhaps this incident after the Resurrection was the Lord’s way of reminding Peter of the Commitment that He had made to Christ to be a fisher of men. It must have worked. Because church history tells us that Peter became a tremendous leader in the early church. In fact on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached, and 3000 people gave their lives to Jesus Christ.
There are many things that we as a church can be involved in and many good programs that we can use, but we need to remember that our main focus should be to be ’fishers of men.’
