“A Passion for Prodigals”
John 21:1-25
John 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
No story in scripture is more winsome that the one Jesus tells in Luke’s gospel about the son of a wealthy man who asks for and receives his inheritance and then leaves home and “wastes” it all in riotous living. He ultimately finds himself hungry and destitute living in a far country without food, funds, or friends and longing for home. At the end we see him reunited with his father and enjoying the blessings of his father’s house and heart. There are many examples of prodigals in real life and in Scripture. My focus this evening is not so much on the prodigal himself but on God’s passion for prodigals. God doesn’t love rebellion but he loves rebels. I want to use Peter as an example of this passion from prodigals.
I. The Problem for the Prodigal
a. The fainting
Several things have happened prior to the events in chapter 21 that are noteworthy. Peter has seen the empty tomb personally; he had seen the risen Lord along with 9 other disciples and he had seen Jesus, this time with Thomas present, and now we are told that this is the third time he appears to Peter and 6 others. Verse 14 makes this very clear and I believe for a reason, Peter and the others backslid knowing full well that Jesus is raised from the dead! Now before we throw stones at Peter and his crew, we need to be reminded that many believers backslide today under the very same circumstances. We know He lives but we drift away from Him anyway. We rebel in spite of the truth of the resurrection! Peter was afflicted with a fainting faith and you and I are also “prone to wander from the God I love.”
TWO MILES OF DITCH
I was headed home late from a wedding reception and had about a two hour drive when a friend said to me, "Remember that for every mile you drive there are two miles of ditch".
I was in the car before that really sunk in, and then it hit me, for every path we walk, there are two miles of ditch along the journey inviting us to veer off the road, twice as many chances to stray away from God.
Few of us intend to go into the ditch. No one just drives down the road and says "Hey I'm going to drive into the ditch" or appropriately in Peter’s case, “I'm going back to fishing". For most of us, it is a simple hugging of the shoulder and little by little we move ourselves from the path of following Jesus and somehow we end up off the road and in the ditch.
b. The followers
Backsliders seldom stop to consider the consequences of their actions. Peter goes fishing and 6 others join him. Rebels always influence others. There is an interesting episode in the life of Peter that occurs later in his career that is recorded in Gal 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
The prophet Jonah put the lives of an entire ship’s crew in jeopardy; King David set a chain of events in motion that led to the death of a loyal soldier named Uriah, the death of three sons and the rape of his daughter. Sin will always cost us more than we ever dreamed that it would. A backsliding believer will never know what his or her rebellion will cost. Some of the damage will show up immediately but some may not be revealed for many years.
c. The futility
They fished all night and caught nothing. When you are out of the will of God you forfeit His favor and make yourself the object of his discipline. Obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings blasting! You will never have a minute to enjoy your rebellion. And like any loving parent God will begin the process of constructive correction!
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
II. The Pursuit of the Prodigal
a. The distance
It is 70 miles from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee. But our Lord will pursue us much further than that. Jesus will pursue you to the gates of hell! Geography and chronology are no barriers to the One who follows after the prodigal that He loves.
Young Russian Agnostic
Andrea Wolfe, on staff with the Co Mission office in Raleigh, North Carolina tells the following story:
In the 1930's Stalin ordered a purge of all Bibles and all believers. In Stavropol, Russia, this order was carried out with vengeance. Thousands of Bibles were confiscated, and multitudes of believers were sent to the gulags-prison camps-where most died, unjustly condemned as "enemies of the state."
The Co Mission once sent a team to Stavropol. The city's history wasn't known at that time. But when the team was having difficulty getting Bibles shipped from Moscow, someone mentioned the existence of a warehouse outside of town where these confiscated Bibles had been stored since Stalin's day.
After the team had prayed extensively, one member finally mustered up the courage to go to the warehouse and ask the officials if the Bibles were still there. Sure enough, they were. Then the Co Missioners asked if the Bibles could be removed and distributed again to the people of Stavropol. The answer was "Yes!"
The next day the Co Mission team returned with a truck and several Russian people to help load the Bibles. One helper was a young man-a skeptical, hostile agnostic college student who had come only for the day's wages. As they were loading Bibles, one team member noticed that the young man had disappeared. Eventually they found him in a corner of the warehouse, weeping.
He had slipped away hoping to take a Bible for himself. What he did not know was that he was being pursued by the "Hound of Heaven." What he found shook him to the core.
The inside page of the Bible he picked up had the handwritten signature of his own grandmother. It had been her personal Bible. Out of the thousands of Bibles still left in that warehouse, he stole the very one belonging to his grandmother-a woman, who throughout her entire life, was persecuted for her faith.
No wonder he was weeping-God had powerfully and yet tenderly made Himself known to this young man.1 Such was his divinely appointed meeting with the sovereign Lord of the universe, the "Hound of Heaven" who had tracked him down to that very warehouse! Remember Jeremiah's words:
Jeremiah 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.
Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
b. The directions
Notice that there are a series of commands from the Lord as He directs this intervention. Each command is intended to test the willingness of these disciples to begin a new obedience to the Lord’s Words. Make no mistake, spiritual drift starts with our failure to obey. Usually it is in our personal life where we neglect our daily devotions like prayer and Scripture reading. It won’t be long before our public life will show the drift. The frequency of our church attendance will usually be the first indication of this drift. Sadly, we might still consider ourselves regular attenders but there will be a change in the frequency. Let me illustrate: I could ask some professing Christians if they attend church regularly and they would say yes. If I ask them how often they attend they might say, “Well, I attend monthly…” None of us would consider this to be regular attendance but they might be perfectly satisfied with their answer without thinking about how inconsistent this is with Scriptures like Hebrews 10:25 which states that we are “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.”
c. The discernment
Just a few minutes earlier they (4) knew not that it was Jesus but now they know that it is the Lord (12) What is the difference? When they returned to the path of obedience. When we disobey we lose the capacity for discernment. They could not discern the Lord’s voice but when they focused on Him.
Dr. John MacArthur writes: “In its simplest definition, discernment is nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think biblically.
First Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer-it is required.
The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one's ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life. For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living-a certain recipe for compromise.”
III. The Passion for the Prodigal
J.C. Ryle on what makes a true Christian
J. C. Ryle: “Knowledge, orthodoxy, correct forms in worship, a respectable and moral life – these do not make a true Christian” (497). Do we love Jesus? That is the issue; it is the question Jesus asks Peter in John 21; we must also answer it.
From a sermon by Glenn Durham, How Do We Restore Those Who Stumble? 6/4/10
a. The test of sincerity – loveth thou me more than these…
The phrase “more than these” is talking about the fish. So, they have Jesus inquiring, “Do you love Me more than you love these fish?” This, of course, makes sense because Peter was a fisherman (John 21:3,7,11; Matthew 4:18; Luke 5:1-11). Three times Peter professes brotherly love but not sacrificial love.
b. The test of service – feed my sheep
Jesus gave Peter a three-fold command to “feed my sheep” in John 21:15-17. Each time Jesus said, “Feed my sheep,” it was in response to Peter’s three-fold declaration of love for Jesus. The setting was one of the last of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to His disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus prepared a breakfast of fish and bread for them, and then commissioned Peter with the task of feeding His sheep and tending His lambs.
The three commands, although often translated the same way, are subtly different. The first time Jesus says it, the Greek means literally “pasture (tend) the lambs” (v. 15). The Greek word for “pasture” is in the present tense, denoting a continual action of tending, feeding and caring for animals. Believers are referred to as sheep throughout Scripture. “For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (Psalm 95:7). Jesus is both our Good Shepherd (John 10:11) and the Door of the sheepfold (John 10:9). By describing His people as lambs, He is emphasizing their nature as immature and vulnerable and in need of tending and care.
The second time, the literal meaning is “tend My sheep” (v. 16). In this exchange, Jesus was emphasizing tending the sheep in a supervisory capacity, not only feeding but ruling over them. This expresses the full scope of pastoral oversight, both in Peter’s future and in all those who would follow him in pastoral ministry. Peter follows Jesus’ example and repeats this same Greek word poimaino in his first pastoral letter to the elders of the churches of Asia Minor: “Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers” (1 Peter 5:2).
The third time, the literal translation is “pasture (tend) the sheep” (v. 17). Here Jesus combines the different Greek words to make clear the job of the shepherd of the flock of God. They are to tend, care for, and provide spiritual food for God’s people, from the youngest lambs to the full-grown sheep, in continual action to nourish and care for their souls, bringing them into the fullness of spiritual maturity. The totality of the task set before Peter, and all shepherds, is made clear by Jesus’ three-fold command and the words He chooses.
What is this food with which shepherds are to feed the flock of God? It can be no other than the Word of God. Peter declares that Christians are to desire the pure spiritual milk of the Word so that by it, we can mature in our salvation (1 Peter 2:2). As early as the book of Deuteronomy, we see the Lord describing His Word as food for His people who live not by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from His mouth (Deuteronomy 8:3). Jesus reiterates this thought in His temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:4). The importance of the Word of God as food for our souls cannot be over-emphasized.
Clearly, the job of the shepherds of God’s people is to provide them with the pure milk of the Word of God so they can move on to the meat and solid food of the spiritually mature (Hebrews 5:12-14). Pastoral ministry should be primarily one of pastors feeding their people the Word of God. Only then can pastors declare, as Peter did, their love for the Lord Jesus. www.gotquestions.org
c. The test of surrender – follow me
Modern Christianity makes a mistake that can only be corrected by a return to a biblical view of true discipleship. Yes, there must be a decision to become a disciple of Jesus, but we must also understand that true disciples are “followers,” that is they adhere to Jesus, abide in Jesus and actively continue following him. Christ calls us to a “long obedience”
The Hound of Heaven
By Francis Thompson (1859-1907)
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat--and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet--
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."
