INTRO:
How many of you have ever feel frustrated and a failure? I grew up in a broken home. I know the results of a failed marriage. As a teenager, my school report card told me I was a failure. All those “D;s” made me feel like I was "Dumb and Dumber." My unsaved father had a bad name that he called me. When I told him that I was going to Bible school, he responded, “If you want to waste your life, go ahead, but don’t come crawling back me.” I am having a wonderful time “wasting” my life.
My father does not understand that anything outside of God’s will is failure and frustration. Even His disciples did not understand this. He had to teach them in John 4:34,
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish his work.”
Do you feel you fail in the Christian faith? Are you frustrated being a believer?
God is never a God of failure or confusion. He is never frustrated and He never fails. We must understand this. Israel had to learn it. They sat in captivity in Babylon. God’s people in captivity. Does that sound odd to you? That is an oxymoron, a contradiction. No wonder they were frustrated. Some were so frustrated that they were going to fortunetellers and dreamers and sorcerers.
Jeremiah the prophet speaks God’s word to them in 29:11,
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
And God is speaking that to us today, to each of you. God has plans for you. And it includes prosperity and safety and security and provision and protection.
Isaiah 14:27 teaches us a principle about God and frustration:
“For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”
The answer is simple. Ourselves. When we are disobedient. We frustrate God and ourselves when we move out of His plans and program.
I sense the Holy spirit leading me to tell you about a group of 7 young men who felt like utter failures. And it their own entire fault. They brought it upon themselves.
The disciple John was one of those 7 boys. When he came to the end of his writing, he remembered that day of failure. He shares it with us.
SCRIPT: John 21:1-19
BODY:
“1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. {1 That is, Sea of Galilee} It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.”
There they were together, seven men. Really they were all teenagers and early twenties. But each was controlled by the past. And that is outside God’s will.
Their leader was gone. They had watched Him be crucified on a cross. And they had all run away in fear. Yes, they had witness that He had risen from the dead. He had appeared to friends and family. Bur they still felt very alone. Memories of the past had captured them
First was PETER. He was suffering from the hangover of denial. When a slave-girl confronted him, Peter defended himself violently. Luke records his three denials in 22:54-62.
Matthew tells us at this third denial that in 26:74,
“Then he began to call down curses on himself {he talked ugly} and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
That is when he heard an unusual sound. Remember now, it was midnight. Two men heard the rooster crow: Peter and Jesus. And Luke 22:61 says that,
“The Lord turned and looked at Peter.”
Jesus had last spoken to him with His eyes. Peter would never forget that look. And God is looking at you and me today. He is looking at Grace Fellowship. What does He see?
Verse 62 says,
“And he went outside and wept bitterly.”
And Peter had all the memories of failure plaguing and harassing him.
Thomas had his own problems. He was a confirmed pessimist. He is known as “doubting Thomas.” He saw the worse in everything. The cup was always half empty for Thomas.
When Thomas knew that Jesus was walking into a dangerous situation, he threw up his hands in despair n John 11:16,
“Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Even after Jesus is raised from the dead, he is questioning and skeptical, as John 20:25 says:
“Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Thomas was always creeping back into his shell. It was his protection. He was controlled and haunted by his past doubts.
Then there was Nathaniel. He was in the same camp as Thomas; he was another doubter. He was as skeptical. When his friend Philip told him about Jesus, Thomas responded in John 1:46:
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
Then there were the two sons of Zebedee, two brothers, James and John. They always stuck together. Both were kinda fiery guys, ready to pronounce judgment on those who opposed Jesus (although John was the more sensitive of the two). James was nowhere to be seen when the going got tough and the pressure was on. Both felt like failure. They had walked with Jesus for three years but when crunch time came, they thought more about themselves.
There were 2 others, but we don’t know who they were.
They all had a past that immobilized them and sapped their energy. That is what the past does to each person. It freezes you into inactivity. Billy Sunday was the Billy Graham of the turn of the century, and he made this statement, “When a Christian man starts looking back, it’s only a question of time until he goes back.” Kind of remind you of what Jesus said in Luke 9:62,
“Anyone who starts plowing and keeps looking back isn’t worth a thing to God’s kingdom!”
You start making stupid decision and refuse to listen to anyone.
The problem with past failures is that they don’t stay in the past. They travel with you into the present. It brings frustration with your present. And all frustration is outside of the heart and will of God for you.
Returning to yesterday brings frustration with today, the present. That is why they were at the "Sea of Tiberias" (1). This is also called the Sea of Galilee. They were frustrated. They had lost of purpose and meaning as a disciple of Jesus. The smell of the sea brought old feelings back.
Peter reasoning made good sense: “I’ve spent 3 years with Jesus. I messed up and now He’s gone. What am I supposed to do? I might as well pick up my old life, my old profession, the life I had before Jesus. I don’t know what you boys decide, but I have made my decision. Guy’s, "I am going out to fish” (3). The rest of them replied, "Sounds logical. We’re with you Peter." They were taking out there frustration.
Whenever things don’t go the way we expect, we look back and wonder if it’s worth it all. When we get frustrated, we want to drop everything and get away from it all. We want to run far away.
That is nothing new. When the children of Israel hit the desert and had to learn faith, they reached back for Egypt. They wanted the comfort and food of bondage and slavery. “We want the life we feel we are in control of.”
It happens to the best of God’s men. Elijah had just killed 850 prophets of Baal. Queen Jezebel lashed out at Elijah in 1 Kings 19:2,
“So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
She threatened to kill him. And he took off, as far and as fast as his legs could carry him.
Then there was Jonah. God said, “Go to Nineveh and preach.” But he wanted the easy life, so he ran. God spoke to him through a violent storm. Some of you may be in a storm right now. Life is tossing you this way and that. You feel like a cork in the ocean. Your present is confusion and frustration. That is cause you are running.
They did the best with their frustration, “So they went out and got into the boat.” And the next 8 hours of fishing for those 7 boys added to the frustration. They went out on the Sea at night. The lights from the lantern attract fish into the net. The record is clear: “but that night they caught nothing” (3). Some of you know the frustration of fishing all night and catching nothing. But for Peter and the boys, this was unusual. They should have had some level of success, if nothing else, based on experience and expertise. But sometimes, God has to show you it is not by might, nor by power. . . Sometimes God takes us to the place where we cannot work it out on your own. Your street smarts, your budgeting skills and your “know-how” will not get you out. All night long, and nothing.
When you and I are not where God wants us to be, there will be no results, no fish. I wonder what the disciples called it? "Bad luck"? When fishermen do catch something, they call it "skill." When they don’t catch anything, it’s the temperature of the water, it’s the cloudy weather, it’s the wrong bait…always something. What sort of feeling do you have when you get home from all night of fishing and your wife shouts, "What you catch for breakfast?" You reach for the can of worms and crickets…”You want something for breakfast?” Then you get a hold of yourself and tell them about the big one that got away.
The disciples couldn’t even tell about the big one that got away. By morning, they were totally frustrated. Now the sun’s rays were streaking over the horizon. They saw a man standing on the beach. "Probably another fishermen" they thought. We know it was Jesus. He does two things.
1. He Gives them Food and Fellowship
This is inside God’s will. Jesus brings them into His heart and will. He starts with a question,
5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven’t you any fish?"
God asks us questions to help us find out where are you, what is going on. He called to Adam, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) He had to admit, “I am trying to hide from You.” When he heard Sarah laugh that she may fall pregnant at 80 years old she laughed. And God asked, “Is anything to hard for the Lord?” (Gen 18:4). Abraham had to answer, “Nothing is.” He aksed the prophet Ezekiel in 37:3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
And He is doing that with some of you right now. Where are you at? What you doing? God wants your answer!
The question to the disciples is very blunt: “You haven’t caught a single fish, have you! Got anything to show?” He was really asking: "Where are your results? Where is the product of your decision to go fishing? Show me."
You’re going to church, where are the results? You’re reading your Bible, where are the results?
The answer they give Jesus shows their frustration. They give him one word: "No." Sometimes it is hard to confess "No.” You also need to admit you are going nowhere. Your net is empty. That is hard to admit, very hard. “For all of your depression and sweating and budgets and stinginess…working overtime, round-the-clock, can’t afford to tithe stuff…what is the result?”
Is what your doing working? We don’t want to talk about this. We want to talk about how hard we’re working, but not ask if it is working. We are so competitive that we dare not confess that it is not working. What would people think? MIRACLES begin with confession, with admitting you going in the wrong direction. Admitting failure and frustration is the beginning of the solution. Once they admit “no,” He gives them an answer:
6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some."
Remember now who the expert fisherman is: Peter. And now a carpenter tells him how to catch fish. Imagine me walking into Dr. EJ. office and telling him how to do an insurance claim. Imagine me telling Denny Stephens how to wire a light or telling Charlie how to connect a printer to a computer. One thing you never give a fisherman who thinks he is something is advice.
Too many Christians are running in circles. They go up, down, up, down. These men did there best all night. And you no doubt also do your best unto the Lord. But Jesus had better than their best.
The fish were up under the boat all the time. That’s why the devil is trying to get you to move, because blessing is right up under you. Stay where you are. In the toiling of the night, in the frustrations of the night season, the fish should have swum away. But I’m so glad that when God has something for you, He’ll put it on hold until you’re ready for it. He held it up under the boat for such a time as this.
What they couldn’t do all night, God turned it around in the morning. The very place of your frustration, God is going to bless you right there. Don’t run from the problem, stay there God is going to turn it around from a place of frustration to a place of blessing.
He first gives them FOOD.
A catch of 153 large fish (6, 11). One Bible scholar estimated the weight of the 153 fishes as about 300 pounds. How did John know there were that many? They counted them when they got to shore. Some people see all sorts of weird and wonderful things in this number of 153. There are 153 different species of fish in the oceans, 150 nations in the world.
[Cyril of Alexandria said that the 100 represented the fullness of the gentiles, the 50 symbolized the remnant of Israel and the three of course was there for the Trinity.
Augustine’s theory was that there are 10 commandments and 7 is the perfect number of grace and that’s 17 right? Now if you add all the numbers from 1 to 17 together, you know 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 all the way up to 17 you’ll get 153. And not only that but if you were to arrange them like this with 17 fish in the first row, and 16 in the next row, and 15 in the next row you get a perfect triangle which of course symbolizes the Trinity.
Jerome, the early church father, who said that among the Greeks it was widely regarded that there were 153 kinds of fish in the sea. Modern science, of course, has discovered that there are many more species than that. He said that is was symbolic of the church reaching all the people in the world. Personally I have my own theory, want to hear it?]
My explanation is far simpler. Why do fishermen count there catch? So they can boast about it. "Look what I caught, so whaaaa ha ha ha ha." But a catch of 153 was a record.
John couldn’t understand it. He knew this was unnatural, supernatural. He looked at the fish and looked at the man on the beach. And his memories came alive. He thought to himself, “This is like Déjà vu all over again. I have seen this before…it was 3 years ago when this same thing happened. Oh yea, it was when Peter, James and me still had our fishing business together. (Its recorded in Luke 5:1-11.). We had caught nothing all night. Jesus had told us in verse 4,
“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
The results were immediate in verse 6:
“When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.”
That is when the penny dropped. John spun around and shouted at Peter:
“That man who spoke to us, it is the Lord.”
Do you recognize God at work in your situation? It was the same Lord who had not allowed them to catch a thing all that night. He controlled the fish from swimming into the net the whole night. And He controlled the 153 that did swim into the net that morning. He is only one who knows where the fish are.
No, the disciples didn’t recognize Him in the no-catch night. They only recognized Him in the all-catch net. God is calling you out of your frustration and giving you His blessings. He controls the hard times and the easy times. He is in control of the good and the bad. The prophet Isaiah 55 calls out to God’s people in verses 1-3,
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.
I have discovered that the real test comes with the fish. They were everywhere. God challenged His people through Malachi 3:10,
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
As Jesus promised in Luke 6:38,
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
The real test comes when you experienced the running over stuff. Now Peter was in a dilemma. Should he stay with the fish? He had been waiting all night long, and now he finally got it. I got the job, the wife, the house, the car. I have arrived got the Lord’s blessing.
Here is the dilemma of success. Do I stay with what He gave me? Yes, I want to be a good steward. Or do I leap off the boat and go for the One who gave it to me? Paul said I was a Pharisee of Pharisees, but I counted it all but dung that I might win Christ. But the blessings don’t mean anything when you see the Blesser.
Peter said, “You all can stay here if you want, but I’m going after Jesus. If you are going to get Jesus, you got to leap off the boat, leave people behind and go after Jesus. Don’t look for me on the boat, I’m leaping. I’m not satisfied waiting for the boat to get to shore, I’m leaping and swimming. He left the folks and the fish behind.
When they got to shore, something was waiting for them: FELLOWSHIP.
Did you notice the miracle in verse 9?
“When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.”
Where did He get the fish? Where did he get the bread? And where did He get the charcoal? Where did He get the fire? I have no idea. Jesus always knows what you and I need in a crisis. He supplies, he provides.
He gives them a meal and fellowship. When families get together, food is always shared. That is why we share our meal with you today. We invite you to share with us after the service. “Well I did not bring anything with me.” We didn’t ask you to bring; we ask you to stay and enjoy fellowship. Others have brought for you because we are family.
Jesus invites them to the miracle of fellowship in verse 12,
“Come and have breakfast”
Peter had a “raw” blessing of 153 caught fish in the boat. But Jesus had a “prepared” blessing on the shore of cooked fish. And God has got a prepared blessing for you. He’s going to take the toil out of it. You’ll have a job you didn’t have to work for. He’ll prepare a table for you in the presence of your enemies. You’ll eat from vineyards you did not plant, and houses you did not build. As Jesus said in John 14:2,
“I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
We sing a song about a “foretaste of glory divine.” Paul confirmed this in 1 Corinthians 2:9,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
In the midst of food and fellowship God calls.
2. He Calls them to Ministry and Martyrdom
He called them to MINISTRY
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.
When Jesus said, “these” who was he pointing to? Some say that he was pointing to the other disciples, “Do you love me more than these other guys.” I think Jesus was pointing to the 153 large fish they had just caught. Jesus was saying to Peter was,
“Once I called you from a scene very much like this, way back in Luke chapter 5 verse 3 and you followed me. But here you are back in your old life. So Peter are you going to abandon me? Are you leaving the adventure, do the old ties still tug at your heart? Peter, why are you here? Do you want to stay fishing, or is your love for me greater than you love for your boat, and your net, and your independence? Is your love for me greater than these, greater than yesterday, great then all of these things that represent your past, great then your boat and all your gear? Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these things?”
Peter looked at Jesus and said, “Yes, Lord, you know I do!” Jesus looked back at Peter and “Is that your final answer?” Not in those words of course. But he did ask Peter the same question three times. Peter had denied him three times. Now Jesus him the chance to confess his love three times. As Isaiah 43:18-19 says,
“18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
Jesus reinstated Peter and his ministry. He gave Peter clear direction, “Feed my lambs.” “Lambs,” refer to younger sheep. We know that the younger sheep are more vulnerable.
Then Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” “Sheep” refer to the mature; they need a shepherd to lead them because there is nothing worse than sheep that do not have a shepherd.
A third time He said, “Feed my sheep.” He was telling Peter to help them find pasture. Fish need water. Birds need the wind. Sheep need pasture as well as a shepherd.
Jesus reinstates Peter to a new place. Jesus wanted Peter to know that he had work to do and ministry to perform. And God is reinstating some of you to new ministry and shepherding.
He was calling him to be a fisher of men. Every Friday Hannah has a “show&tell day” at school. She takes a favorite toy, shows it to the class and then tells about it. And God calls you and I to “show-&-tell.” And the Lord’s message is this, "Start fishing for men. There are a lot of folks out there who don’t know that I am alive. There are a lot of folks out there who don’t know the joy of living for me, & giving their lives to me. That’s your job. To show and tell the Christian experience."
Jesus does not give us the power of the Holy Spirit so we can remain idle. Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit so that they might be empowered to do the tasks that were put before them.
Ministry goes beyond church membership. It is a way of life. It goes beyond Grace Fellowship; it is living in the grace of God
He called him to MARTYDOM, to death
18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"
Jesus tells Peter that he will live to be an old man, that he would have many years of service. Peter is to live and die just as Jesus did, in imitation of him, reproducing Him. True discipleship continues Jesus’ mission and is based on agape love. Peter will feed the flock in the same way Jesus did, ultimately by laying down his life- freely- for them.
Are you ready to live and die by the cross?
