Scripture: John 21:1-25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Title: Fish and Chips or Being Jesus to the World
What do we do after Resurrection? Jesus shares with us four quick lessons on some things that He wants us (His Church) to do today, tomorrow and for the rest of our time here on earth.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
The last few weeks have been amazing.
+We experienced a great Palm Sunday! I loved all the songs and the testimonies. It was a great time to just sit and listen to how God has worked in so many different people’s lives in so many various ways.
+We experienced a great Resurrection Sunday! It is always good to pause and remember the life changing power of Jesus’ Resurrection.
After all, a dead Jesus does any of us very little good. If Jesus had remained in that tomb then we have nothing to celebrate; we would have no hope, no future.
For the Christ Jesus we needed was more than a man who merely died on the cross. We needed a Jesus who was also raised from the dead.
+A Jesus who was raised from the dead is a Jesus who has power over death.
+A Jesus who was raised from the dead is a Jesus who has power over sin.
+A Jesus who was raised from the dead is a Jesus who is able to give us everlasting life.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way in speaking to the Church in Corinth:
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1“Now brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, “
This morning, we are a couple of Sundays removed from Resurrection Sunday. We find ourselves in a whole new month; the month of May.
+Palm leaves have already turned or are turning brown.
+Easter lilies are losing their blooms if they have any left.
+Our stash of chocolate candy is almost gone and we no longer have display any of our Easter decorations.
So, what do we do now?
That is where we find Jesus’ disciples in John chapter 21.
Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday for them is in the rear view mirror. They are now wondering what they are to do next.
From our reading we can gather a few quick facts about what has been going on:
+The Disciples are back in the area of the Sea of Galilee
+They are growing a little restless
+It seems that some of them maybe toying with the idea of going back into the fishing business
Verses 2 tells us that seven of them (Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John plus two others) were all together in one place. Simon Peter suddenly decides that he wants to go fishing. He was tired of sitting around and wanted to try his hand back at fishing. Looking around, the others decided that they would join him. So, they all got out their boats and nets and spent the night fishing.
This little journey back into the water proved to be a pivotal event in the disciple’s lives.
+You have to wonder if Simon Peter was being tempted to go back into fishing full time. Fishing was something that Peter knew he could do. It was something that he was good at and it was something that he had made a good reputation doing. If the last few days had taught him anything it was that he was not that great of a disciple.
When things got tough, Peter bailed out. When the heat was put on he melted. Peter was confident in his skills as a fisherman. He was not so confident in his skills at being a disciple much less being the next leader of the disciples.
+You also have to wonder if Simon Peter had decided to go back into fishing would the majority of the others decide to join him. Without Jesus present, Simon was next in line as their leader.
It is at this moment that Jesus steps back into the picture.
Everything Jesus had done for His disciples and others over the last 3 ½ was not going to be in vain. Jesus was going to teach them some very important lessons. Lessons that I believe if we will look at this morning and learn from them, they will help us to know what we should do today. For like them we live in a post Resurrection world.
What are we to do today after Resurrection Sunday?
I. When it comes to Catching Fish/People – Jesus is in Charge
All of those men that night learned something important. When it comes to catching fish – Jesus must be in Charge. He can see what we cannot see.
All night long they watched the waters. They prepared the nets and threw them time after time after time. They talked, the joked, they laughed and as the night drew on they probably started getting on each other’s nerves.
It is fun to fish but it is no fun to fish and not catch anything. No one wants to throw a net or throw out their line hundreds of times and not get a bite. No one wants to just spend time seemingly doing nothing.
The Bible tells us that when they gathered up their nets all they got was soggy nets. All they got was smelly wet clothes, weary legs and arms and tired eyes.
I have a feeling by the time the sun was coming up they were all complaining and arguing.
+Why did they waste the whole night fishing?
+Whose stupid idea was it in the first place?
+Boy, would they look foolish coming back with nothing?
But then things take a turn in verse 5. A man on the beach starts talking to them and asks them a question that everyone seems to ask a fisherman?
+Caught any fish?
No….
Then he gives them some advice – throw over there to the right and you will find some.
I wonder what caused them to do that; to listen to that man.
Morning fishing was usually a waste of time around the Sea of Galilee. How could this man who was some 300 feet from them be able to see any fish in the first place?
But when you have spent the whole night fishing and you are tired you will try anything.
And are they glad that they did; for suddenly, their nets were filled to the brim with all kinds of fish – 153 in all.
Then it hit John (the disciple that Jesus loved) that the man on the shore was none other than Jesus. Peter wraps up his outer garment and dives into the water swimming to the shore. The rest of them gather up the fish and come on behind him.
Now, Jesus is not calling for them to renew their skills or to give them a new fishing lesson.
What he challenged his disciples to do may seem rather ridiculous. But it caused them to be able to reset their thinking.
+He reminded them that in their own strength they cannot do very much.
+He reminded them that in their own wisdom they cannot do very much.
But if they will look for him; if they will listen to him then the sky is the limit. If they will follow His directions then He will enable them to do much more than they can ever think or imagine.
Jesus resets their minds and their hearts.
Jesus can help us understand where to throw our nets. Not our nets to catch some fish, but our nets to reach out to people. This is what the story is all about in the first place. It was never about them just catching fish in the natural. It was about them catching people for the Kingdom of God.
It was about reminding them when Jesus called them in the first place –
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” – Matthew 4:18-19
This morning, Jesus will help us if we want him to catch new people. That has always been His promise. But there is a catch – we must be watching him, listening to Him and obeying His leading. Only then will we be able to catch the people that He wants us to help bring into the Kingdom of God.
Years ago, Rebekah and I were pastoring a church that needed to reach out to new people. They had tried some great methods but nothing seemed to work.
It took us some time to be ready to be in the people catching business.
+We spent a great deal of time just praying and asking God to help us to be ready to receive whatever fish He planned to put in our nets.
+We spent time getting ready to work with whoever that would be – having plans in place when new people did show up; being able to receive them, to teach them, to mentor them and to include them in as many things as possible.
+We made sure that the Church smelled good, looked good and felt good – that when people came into the doors of the church they would want to stay.
+We made sure that we were ready to do whatever was necessary; to fish in whatever waters the LORD wanted us to fish, to be ready to cast the nets as many times as possible and to have enough people power to pull in the nets.
But that was not the end of it all as we see in our story. For Jesus goes a little further in his teaching only this time he doesn’t talk about catching people; but shepherding people.
II. Jesus then teaches them that they were called to work with Sheep – little sheep, hurt sheep and mature sheep
Jesus tells them through his conversation with Peter that they are called to feed sheep, care for sheep, guide sheep and make sure that everything is ready for them to be able to rest, eat, grow and mature.
Now, of course Jesus didn’t want them to put down their nets and take up a bunch of shepherd staffs. If they in their own strength couldn’t catch some fish then can you image what it would look like to have Peter and James and John stomping all over hillsides trying to tend to a flock of real sheep.
Jesus was pointing out to them that with His help they could reach people – they could reach people like they had been able to catch fish; people of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and circumstances.
And now, he was teaching them that like sheep they would need to take care of them.
+Some of them would be young in either age or in faith. They would need to take special care with them.
+Others would be lame, sick or in some way hurt; emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. They would need to take special care of them as well.
+Still others would be a little old. They too would need some special care.
It is the job of Christ followers (disciples) to do our best to catch new converts. That’s what we call evangelism. It is important that we tell people the Good News. It is important that we do our best to invite and to share the message of salvation.
That is part of what we are to be doing after the Resurrection.
It is the reason that we make friends in Church. It is the reason we do our social ministries. It is the reason we do all the things we do in church. At the heart of our ministries we are to be evangelistic. We are to be there to tell others about Jesus and to be able to help them come to faith.
But we have another task as well. It’s the sheep tending business.
It’s the business of what is sometimes is called Spiritual Formation/Spiritual Character Building.
Just assisting people to be saved – New Born – Redeemed is only part of our work.
We are called to help people grow in the faith.
We are called to help people find health and wholeness.
We are called to help people mature in their faith and when they get old to be able to die in their faith.
We can’t do any of this work without Jesus. We need Jesus to help us catch people and we need Jesus to help us work with people to help them mature in the faith.
For every Isaac there needs to be a spiritual father and mother like Abraham and Sarah to help them understand what it means to follow the LORD.
For every David there needs to be a friend like Jonathan that loves them so much that they are willing to put others before themselves.
For every senior saint there needs to be those like Dorcas who will do all they can to meet their needs.
For every young person like Mary and Joseph there needs to be a senior saint like Simeon and Anna who are able to bring encouragement and peace to them.
Sheep need sheep. Young sheep need mature sheep. Mature sheep need young sheep. Hurt sheep need well sheep and well sheep need hurt sheep.
This is the Church – the ministry of being Fisherman and Shepherds.
But this is not the only lesson: Jesus has a couple more to share -
III. Jesus teaches them a lesson in forgiveness and restoration
This passage is beautiful in the way Jesus handles Simon Peter.
+He is damaged goods.
+He sees himself as a failure.
+He is unable to express a pure love for Jesus – an agape love
And as Jesus works with him and talks to him, Peter is brought back into the fold. Jesus calls Peter to be the leader – the leader to catch the fish and to work with the young, the growing, the hurt and the mature.
You see, Jesus is not finished with Peter. Peter may be finished with Peter but Jesus isn’t. It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past as much as what can happen in the future.
Jesus looks at Peter and doesn’t see just the man who cut off the soldier’s ear or who denied him before the rooster crowed three times. Jesus looks at Peter and sees a man who will be preaching to 3,000 in less than 40 days. Jesus sees Peter and sees a man who will be instrumental in helping the first Gentiles come into the Church. Jesus sees Peter restored and ready to take the leadership of the Early Church.
Restoration, redeeming and renewing are our tasks as well this morning. We are never to see anyone as a lost cause. We are never to write anyone off no matter what they have done in the past before or after salvation.
Our jobs are simple –
+We are to find the Prodigal Sons and Daughters and help them find their way back home.
+We are to find those enslaved by all kinds of evil, addictions and demons and free them like Jesus freed the demonic and help them find stability and love.
+We are to find those like the Woman at the Well and bring healing and wholeness into their lives.
+We are to find those who like the lepers that have been shunned by society and help them find healing and wholeness – body, mind and soul.
And finally, Jesus has one more lesson:
IV. We are to Walk Our Own Walk
There is one more lesson that Jesus taught that day – Walk your own walk and let others walk theirs.
In verses 20 – 24, Peter struggling with what would happen to John.
Perhaps Peter is a little jealous of John. After all, John seems to be from a high class of people. He has friends in the Temple. He was faithful to Jesus. He had been given the responsibility to take care of Mary, Jesus’ mother. He was the first to get to the tomb and understand its true meaning.
There seems to be a rivalry between John and Simon Peter at least from Peter’s point of view.
But as Jesus shares – Simon Peter will have his walk – his journey. At the same time John will have his own walk.
My mom use to say – You will be busy enough if you just mind your own business and let other mind their business. In other words, do what you can do for the LORD and let others do what they can do for the LORD.
Each of us has our own walk with the LORD. Each of us one day will give an accounting not of what someone else has done but what we have done.
Jesus teaches us four quick lessons this morning:
+A quick lesson on catching fish/people – allow Jesus to be in charge – just be ready to cast the net – have a great net – and be ready to pull in a miracle.
+A quick lesson on shepherding people – be ready to help the young, the hurt and the elderly – be ready to feed and take care of people.
+Always be ready to receive and help restore those who have made mistakes and that believe no one loves them, wants them or accepts them. Always be a part of the Church that has open arms and open hearts.
+Walk your own walk – just follow Jesus’ footsteps and we will be amazed at where He leads us.
This morning, as we close we do so with celebrating Holy Communion. We do so thanking Jesus for
+Having people ready to catch us – having people who wanted to share the Gospel with us and help us come to faith
+Having people ready to teach us, mentor us and help us grow in faith
+Having people ready to help us up when we have fallen, when we have messed up and needed to be restored.
This is the Jesus we love and the Jesus that we serve. This is the Jesus that is our Savior and Lord!
Invitation to Holy Communion/Prayer/Blessing
