We have a standing invitation - by Roger Roark
John 21:1-19 -(key verse 12 )
John 21:12
Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
Summer time is on us. Barbecues, mowing yards, pool parties, t-shirts, sandals, flipflops, mosquitos, ticks.
Summer time is a great time for come as you are.
In the text, John 21:1-19, we see that the disciples had been fishing all night.
We can imagine, that they were tired, smelly ,sweaty, bad breath and all.
But Jesus gave the invitation, come and dine, or come as you are.
He gives us that invitation today, come as you are.
God’s invitation is for everyone. God is always waiting for our fellowship.
All through the Bible, God has a standing invitation to us.
Isaiah 55:1
"Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free!
Matthew 11:28
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
John 6:35
Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst.
1 Peter 2:4-5
Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him.
[5] And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.
Rev. 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." Let each one who hears them say, "Come." Let the thirsty ones come—anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge.
This is the kind of God we have. He invites us to come as we are.
Who does God invite? Is His invitation just for the perfect, the ones who never make any mistakes"?
Is it for the self righteous, the more spiritual than you are crowd?
NO. His invitation is for all.
Let’s look at some examples of who Jesus invited.
1. tax collector
In Jesus’ day, the tax collector was despised, and hated because some of them were very dishonest. They worked for the Roman government, and sometimes most would take a cut of the money for themselves.
Yet Jesus invited Matthew, who was a tax collector, to be one of His disciples.
2. Samaritan woman at the well.
The Samaritan race was also despised by the Jews, yet Jesus invited the woman at the well, to drink from His living water, and she would never thirst again.
3. The woman caught in adultry.
Jesus offered forgiveness and compassion to this woman who was caught, and some wanted to stone her . Jesus told the crowd, " Let him who has no sin cast the first stone.
4. One of the thieves on the cross.
Jesus offered the good thief paradise, as they hang on the cross. Isn’t that just like Jesus? He ministered to others, even when He was in pain Himself.
Sometimes I think that we as the church, have missed it.
Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost.
Jesus never said stay as you are, He said ,"come as you are.
One of the bus lines used to have a slogan, leave the driving to us.
Jesus says, come as you are, and leave the changing to me.
HE says, come, and I will make you well.
Or to put it another way, you don’t have to be good before you are invited to be God’s friend.
When you have God as a friend, you begin to get good.
You don’t say, "I will go to the doctor, when I get well. You say, " I am sick, and I am going to see a doctor.
The same should be true with the Church. You shouldn’t say " I will go to church , when I become a better person.
If you haven’t come to Jesus, Come just as you are.
Jesus says, I will take you just as you are, but I won’t leave you that way.
Just as the hymn, Just as I am says---
Just as I am without a plea--- But that thy blood was shed for me --and that thou biddest me come to thee.-- Oh lamb of God I come . I come
II. Even when you let Jesus down, He still says come as you are.
John 21:7
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and swam ashore.
I think that Peter had been thinking about how he had betrayed Jesus.
He may have been thinking , " why did I run? Why did I make my brags that I would never leave, or betray Jesus, and then turn and run?
Peter had ran, but as they led Christ away, he followed.
Luke 22:54
Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
Peter was loyal, from a distance.
3 times , Peter was accused of being with Jesus.
3 times , he denied it.
3 times , Jesus heard him deny it.
How do we know that Jesus knew that He had been betrayed by Peter?
Luke 22:61
And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
I am sure that Peter remembered that look of hurt, that Jesus had given Peter.
I think that it was the eyes of Jesus, seeing Peter’s failure, that stuck with Peter.
I am sure that Peter was thinking , " I failed Him once, will I fail Him again?
I think that when Peter jumped into the water, and hurried to be with the Lord, that it was his way of saying, " I am sorry Lord, please forgive me. I want to be the first one in your presence to tell you how sorry I am Lord.
Jesus knew how Peter felt.
Just as he had earlier reached out to Thomas and his doubts, he reached out to Peter to help him heal his emotional scars.
HE does the same for us. He wants to heal our emotional wounds. He says, Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
We can be wounded emotionally, as well as physically.
Why did Christ ask Peter 3 times if he loved Him?
I think it was to let Peter know that the 3 times he had denied Jesus had been wiped out. It had been forgiven.
HE may have told Peter, "son , your forgiven. Peter, your still the rock. You can start over again, but you have to put your failures behind you.
That is what Jesus tells you and me when we mess up. HE tells us that we are still the rock, and that we are forgiven and we can start over again.
There is an open invitation for us to come and dine with Him.
This text is about forgiveness, and this story is about His resurection.
We can’t miss this from the text also. Christ says " I love you,feed my sheep.
The best way to show our love for Christ, is to love His sheep.
Love for others is a real way of showing our love for Christ.
WE can see 2 things from the example that Jesus gives us.
1. LOVE IS CARING
2. LOVE IS FORGIVING.
Jesus didn’t want to embarass Peter. He asked him in a way that showed compassion and caring.
God loves you, God accepts you, your sins are forgiven. You belong to God, and you have an open invitation to come to Him.
WHy did Peter come back to the place where he had seen Jesus just a few months before?
I think that he came back to the point where he knew Jesus first.
Sometimes when we mess up, we need to go back to the point where we met Jesus first.
Sometimes , when we seem to lose our passion for Jesus, we need to go back to where we met Jesus first.
We need to make a fresh start, and He will be there to welcome us back.
When we mess up, Jesus invites us to try again.
HE asks us to come and dine with Him.
