The Missing Link to Service — Sermon by Rev. Steve Dantin, Deacon

Please be

seated. You know, Dick and Greg just

read uh 19 chapters uh in the last

chapter of the Gospel of John, chapter

John 21 · chapter mention

21.

But if you read the last few verses of

chapter 20 of the Gospel of John, you

know, this would appear that the end of

chapter 20 would have been a real

suitable place to end this gospel. You

know, it sounds like an epilogue at the

end of chapter chapter 20. It sounds

like a closing. And as you read verses

30 and 31 at the end of chapter 20, it

says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in

the presence of the disciples, which are

not written in this book. But these are

written so that you may believe that

Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and

that by believing you may have life in

his name." Now, doesn't that sound like

a fabulous place to end the gospel? So

why does John give us 25 more verses

that comprise chapter

21? Let us

pray. Heavenly Father, you are a God of

completeness. You are a God of

communication. You are a God of

restoration. And you are a God that

builds bridges. And all of these

comprise chapter 21. And may the words

of my mouth and the meditation of all of

our hearts be acceptable in your sight

as we listen to this

bridge. We ask it in Jesus name.

Amen. So why chapter 21? There's two

suggestions. I mean first of all Jesus

is a great savior. Uh he's promised his

disciples that he would die. He would be

buried. He'd rise again. And then he

would appear to them afterward. And he's

done exactly that at this point. Ju done

just exactly what he said he would. And

many people including the disciples uh

have already seen him. Now he's going to

gather all of these folks as the savior

to recommission them to go into the

world and to preach the gospel. So as a

great savior, he's doing exactly what he

promised he would do.

But you know, there looks like there's a

second reason for the 21st chapter as

inspired by the Holy Spirit. And that

would be not only is Jesus a great

savior, but because John is a great

friend. Had he ended with chapter 20,

we'd all be remembered how Peter was

such a failure and how bad and

despondent and discouraged he was after

denying Jesus. But John wants us to know

how Peter was uniquely restored by

Jesus. Yeah. You know, these guys had

been having a friendly rivalry uh uh

throughout Jesus's ministry. But it's

obvious that John loved Peter. And he

wants you to know that even though Peter

denied Jesus three times, Peter also

affirmed Jesus three times. If chapter

21 had not been written and we went

right into the book of Acts, we'd sort

of be scratching our heads because we

know Peter failed the Lord. He denied

the Lord. He ran away from the Lord. And

then suddenly we get to the book of Acts

and for the first 12 chapters, the main

character is Peter. So, we'd be

wondering how he went from a failure to

the principal character who brings the

gospel on the day of Pentecost, converts

3,000 people, and is seen as one of the

chief leaders of the early church. There

needs to be some kind of link here

between these two incidents. And that

link is chapter 21, and it's the

Isaiah 21 · chapter mention

restoration of Peter.

And if you want to follow along, uh,

I'll be going through most of the

verses, uh, in your pew Bible. I believe

it's on page,

uh, oh, these glasses are really bad, I

got to tell you. Pageu, uh, 178. Now, in

verse one of chapter 21, John

begins with a double emphasis. He says

Jesus and that of course that's the

resurrected Jesus reveals himself to

some of the disciples including Peter

and he reveals himself in this way. So

he's he's wanting us to pay particular

attention to this scene and Peter, you

know, Peter and several of these

disciples, they've been out all night on

the Sea of Galilee. They've been

fishing. They've caught nothing. A and

uh day's breaking and it's still dawn

and the light's not very good and they

see this guy on the shore. They don't

know who he is and the guy calls out,

"Children, do you have any fish?" Now,

the disciples would have recognized this

as a really odd way for a stranger to

address them. Children, the term

illustrates human inadequacy and the

futility of relying solely on one's own

abilities. It's a term of endearment

that communicates both familiarity and

authority. And so they're wondering

about this guy and they can only imagine

and we can only imagine that it gets

them thinking who's this guy calling us

children. Okay. So Jesus asked this

question. Have you caught any fish? Now

Jesus of course he knows the answer to

this question before he asked it. I

mean, he created the fish. And just as

he is part of the godhead that created

the garden of Eden, remember the

questions that were asked there. Adam,

where are you? Who told you you were

naked? Have you eaten of the tree?

Now, God and Jesus already know the

answers to these questions. But what

Jesus is looking for here, he's looking

for acknowledgment.

He wants repentance. He wants a

confession that without him and his

lordship, all of our efforts are

feudal. So the disciples ask it, they

answer him back, "No, we hadn't caught

anything." And Jesus says, "Well, throw

it in on the right side of the boat and

you will." And suddenly it's deja vu all

over again. They catch so many fish they

can't haul it in. And John yells, "Hey,

it's the Lord." And Peter, who's in his

skiibbies, for some reason, puts

additional clothes on to jump in the

water and swim to shore. Don't know

really what that's about, but there's

been differing theological speculation

concerning this little detail. Uh

perhaps the most probable is that Peter

was just demonstrating his impulsive

nature and devotion and his eagerness to

be with Jesus. And so he

expresses this lack of concern for the

practical. So Peter gets there first and

the rest of the disciples come dragging

those fish to shore. And when they get

there, Jesus has a charcoal fire going

presumably just like the fire Peter

stood by when he denied Jesus three

times. And you know uh and Jesus has a

few fish on the fire and he's got some

bread there, you know. And as a bit of a

side note, we know where Jesus got the

fish, but where'd he get the bread? I

mean, did he stop by Yitch Shack

Silverstein's bakery and pick up a few

loaves on the way over? Uh, I mean,

think about that. Uh, Adrien Rogers uh

uh likes to muse that Jesus actually

probably turned stones into bread. In

other words, not when you want me to,

Satan, but when I want to. But however

he did it, he had bread there. And uh

then he says to him, he says, "Bring

some of the fish that you caught." So

Peter goes and he hauls the net on shore

and they've got 153 fish. And I'm not

going to go into what the 153 might have

meant. Uh there there's lots of

speculations. I'm I'm going to skip that

part. I will say one thing. Uh one of

the early church fathers, uh St. Jerome

uh and he uh translated the he was the

first man to translate the the Bible

into Latin and it was known as the

vulgate. Uh but Jerome at that time in

the early I believe it was the two or

300s said that he believed that there

was 153 species of fish in the world at

the time that this was written. But

however, Jerome did not know there was a

western hemisphere and that were there

were fish in in South America and in the

United States. So, who knows what that

was. But anyway, it's full to the max.

And John tells us, now here's what is

important. It says he tells us the net

is not broken.

The intact net many theologians believes

symbolizes the unity and the strength of

the church which despite its cultural

diversity and multitude of believers

remains whole and unbroken. And this

imagery also aligns with Jesus's prayer

for unity among his followers just like

he said in John 17 when he prays that

the believers may be one just as he and

the father are one so that the world may

know that he was sent by the father. The

unbroken net also contrasts with the

earlier incident when Peter first met

Jesus on the Sea of Galilee in Luke 5:6

Luke 5:6

where the net did break and the unbroken

net highlights the completeness and the

sufficiency of Christ's provision

postresurrection.

This detail reassures us as believers of

the enduring and and unifying power of

the gospel and it's capable of holding

all of us who are drawn to Christ. And

then Jesus offers a wonderful

invitation. He invites them to

breakfast. The creator of the universe

has made them breakfast. and Peter and

the disciples come and eat breakfast by

that fire that Jesus made. Now, there's

real significance here. You remember in

Jesus's ministry, he said, uh, "Behold,

I stand at the door and knock. If anyone

open the door, I will come in and eat

with him." But to eat a meal with

somebody that's done you wrong is a

gesture of

forgiveness. So Jesus has made a fire.

He's cooked them breakfast and he's

asked them to add some of their fish to

his

fish. Now, was in G was Jesus in need of

their fish? I mean, if he wanted to,

couldn't he have brought an Argentinian

sea bass and and gone bam and put it

right on a plate and it was there with a

little olive oil and capers and some

seasonings. I mean, I know that sounds

fishy, but but he could have done

that. So he had them add their fish to

his fish. Jesus didn't need them, but he

used them. He multiplied them. And he

lost for us to bring what we have. And

what we have may not be much, but if we

put it in the hands of Jesus, he'll feed

a

multitude. So they finish breakfast and

Jesus gets right to the heart of the

matter.

And the heart of the matter is the heart

of Peter. And it's the heart of all of

us. He asked Peter the greatest question

that can be asked of Peter and the

greatest question that could be asked of

any of us. He

says,"Simon, do you love me?" And Rogers

has an interesting take on this. He he

suggests we

consider what Jesus did not ask

Peter. Number one, he did not ask Peter

about his doctrine. You know, you can be

doctrinally straight and not love the

Lord

Jesus. Some people, especially

Anglicans, can split a theological hair

in 16 equal divisions, but they don't

seem to love Jesus in many cases. Anyone

who knows me knows I'm big on doctrine.

But doctrine is no substitute for loving

Jesus. As a matter of fact, if we love

him, we will believe his word, which is

his doctrine. Number

two, Jesus did not ask Peter, "Do you

repent of your sin?" He said to Simon,

"Do you love me? Because if I love

Jesus, I will repent of my sins. You

can't repent without loving

Jesus. Number

three, Jesus did not ask, "Are you

keeping my

commandments?" Jesus said in John 14:15,

John 14:15

"If you love me, you'll keep my

commandments." Now, this is a pertinent

and it's pressing and it's a personal

question for all of us. Suppose I'm not

standing here in this pulpit but Jesus

is. I'm gone. And Jesus is asking

you using your name and pointing to you

and ask you do you love me? Now this

question is coming to you and only you

and it's got to be answered by you.

Now, you know, your positive profession

of faith does not necessarily mean that

you love Jesus. Remember Matthew 16:16?

Matthew 16:16

Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?"

And our main man, Peter says, "Oh,

you're the Christ, the son of the living

God." Now, that's pretty

orthodox. Peter nails that. But that

brings us to the fourth thing that Jesus

did not ask Peter about. He didn't ask

about Peter's orthodoxy because

orthodoxy without love is just a grave

to bury Jesus

in. Again, if you know me, you know I'm

not only not against orthodoxy, I I I

like to consider myself highly

orthodox. Uh our entire congregation

stood for orthodoxy when we departed the

Episcopal church. But Jesus didn't ask

Peter what he stood for. He didn't ask

him about his profession of faith. Peter

had already made a profession of faith.

And it was an orthodox profession of

faith. And like me, many of you have

made that profession of faith. But the

question still comes by Jesus. Do you

love me?

You know, years

ago when I was married, I carried a card

in my wallet. It had facts and figures

about my wife in it. I mean, stuff like

sizes and favorite color and height and

weight. The weight part fluctuated. But

anyway, I had this

card and if ever I needed to buy a

present, I I could just look at this

card and and you know, get what I needed

to get. But sometimes, get this, get

this. Uh, if I was on a business trip in

another town and I was lonely for my

wife, I'd just pull that card out and

I'd look at it. I'd look at that card

with that little bit of information on

it and that card would just satisfy

every need I had because the facts were

there. Do you believe

that? I mean, if you do, uh, talk to me

after the service. I want to talk to you

about selling you the townage bridge.

I mean, having facts on a card is one

thing. Having a woman in your arms is

something else. Can I get an amen?

Not. Are you an orthodox card carrying

Christian? Do you love Jesus?

Number

five, Jesus didn't ask Peter about his

position. Peter was the man. He was the

rock. He said of himself in second Peter

2 Peter 1:16

1:16 that he was an eyewitness of

Jesus's majesty. But the question comes

to you and to me and it's not about our

position. You know, God may have

revealed wonderful things to you. Uh,

you may be a pi fine Bible teacher, a

servant, a pillar of the church, and in

your way, you may have been an

eyewitness to some of Jesus, excuse me,

Jesus's majesty. But that's not the

question. It's not about privilege or

mountaintop

experiences. It's, do you love Jesus?

And lastly, he didn't ask Peter about

his

performance. I mean, this man's faith

once allowed him to walk on water. He

was on the Mount of Transfiguration with

Jesus. He was one heck of a fisherman.

But after counting all those fish, Jesus

still asks him, "Peter, do you love me?"

You know, you may have the gift of

evangelism. You may be a soul winner and

bring people down the aisle. You may

come Sunday after Sunday bringing your

fish with you. Thank God for that. Thank

God for it. But he doesn't ask you about

your performing. You know, you can win.

souls, not as you should or not as you

ought. It's all about do you personally

love

Jesus? And why is loving Jesus so

important? It is the secret of all

service. Verse

15, Peter, do you love me more than

these? Yes, Lord. You know I love you.

Feed my lambs. Jesus did not ask him if

he loved sheep or if he liked feeding

sheep. He says, "Do you love

me?" And you know the you know you know

what the requirement to be the recctor

or the assistant recctor and for

visiting people that's an archaic uh uh

term we use it means pastor uh uh you

know what the requirement to be the

pastor of Christ Church or the assistant

pastor

is. It's not to love people or to love

preaching. It's to love Jesus.

It's the same for any Sunday school

teacher. It's not to love your class or

to love to teach the

Bible. The prime requirement is a

burning, blazing, passionate love for

Jesus Christ. Because when you love

Jesus, you'll love his sheep and you'll

love his

word. Now, Peter has just had a meal

with Jesus. But proof of the love for

the Lord is not that you eat what he

serves, but that you serve

others, that you feed others. And ladies

and gentlemen, brothers and sisters,

that's what the Witfield Center is all

about. Jeremiah 29:7, "Seek the welfare

Jeremiah 29:7

of the city where I've sent you into

exile, and pray to the Lord on its

behalf, for in its welfare you will find

welfare. And indeed we have in so many

ways all in the name and the love for

our Lord. It's about service and being

available and having a a passion for the

the neighborhood and the people we

serve. Some of those you'll meet in a

few minutes. We we will introduce them

to

you. But uh the love for Jesus is a

powerful thing.

I hope I can tell this story without

choking up. And uh the guy that's

here has no clue. I'm going to tell

it. Few years ago at Whitfield, uh there

was a group that had used it and uh they

had uh done a good job of cleaning up

after themselves. They normally do. And

that's an amazing thing, folks. Uh,

Whitfield has hundreds of people a week,

more more than than anybody in this

congregation today that use Whitfield.

It's hundreds and hundreds of people

that use

it. And there was a particular group

that had had used it. And they had done

a decent job of cleaning up. And that's

part of the the

the challenge of everyone that uses it

is that I tell them all there's good

news and bad news. We don't charge you a

fee to use the Whitfield Center. Uh

that's the good news. The bad news is

you're on your own. You've got to clean

up. You've got to take care of

everything behind you. And for 12 years

now, that has miraculously taken place.

It really

has. But this one particular time, a

group had used it and they were using

the outside too. and they had left a

garbage can full of food and uh and and

a couple of days then then nobody saw

it. It was on the deck and it was off to

the side. Uh I was there several days

and I didn't see it and that terrible

rainstorm came and it filled this this

this garbage can up full of water and so

the obviously the food that was in there

began rotten. It became fedded and I I

I'll just stop there. But it it was

really really bad. And I said, "Well, I

got to get this this can off of here."

So I I went over I mean couldn't budget.

I mean this is a 20-gallon can full of

full of water and and and and corrosive

stuff. And so I decided, well, you know,

I'm going to check to see if Ward Barnes

is up there. Ward is the director Young

Life. I get Ward. Maybe the two of us.

Maybe we can move it. So Ward came down

and we tried to move it. couldn't move

it. And I said, "Ward, you know, the

only thing we can do is to push this

garbage can over and just let it go."

And they said, "Then we're going to have

to I'm going to have to clean it up from

that way. And so, let's see if we can

tip it over." So, we dumped this fdded

mess

that it's was unbelievable with insects

and etc, etc. over on the uh the deck of

the Whitfield Center. Some of it went

into the on the ground underneath into

the bushes and so on. And I said, "Well,

Ward, I'll tell you what. I'm going to

go get a wheelbarrow and maybe I I can

start scraping up some of this stuff."

And I I went into the garage. When I

came back, Ward was down there on his

hands and knees scraping this stuff

up. And I said to him, I said, "Man, I

didn't mean for you to get down there.

Why Why are you down there for that

stench?" And he said, 'Well, he said, 'I

figure it's like this. Jesus died a

torturous death to save my soul, and

this is the least I could do for him.

That's loving

Jesus.

Sorry, not sorry for telling the story,

but sorry for choking up.

Uh so I've said that loving Jesus is the

secret of service and more demonstrated

that secret when he did

that and you know if the secret of

service is the love for Jesus and that's

the plum line and it is then it should

cause all of us to re-evaluate our

motivations. If you're a

deacon in this church or a choir member

or on a committee or the vest or the

council or a teacher or on the staff or

on uh do serve in any other way in any

other capacity and you're doing those

things for any other reason than the

love of Jesus, you need to quit or we

need to get it right. And I especially

point the finger at myself as I say

this. Our influence is fraudulent if

we're not embracing an active,

passionate love for Jesus. You might

love music or singing or teaching or

playing instruments or speaking or etc

etc. But that's not good

enough. Do you love Jesus? Because if

you love Jesus, then you can feed his

sheep.

You know, loving Jesus is not just the

secret of service, but it's the secret

of long service. Look at verse 18. Jesus

tells Peter, "When you were young, you

used to dress yourself and walk wherever

you wanted. But when you're old, you'll

stretch out your hands and another will

dress you and carry you where you don't

want to go." In other words, Peter,

you're going to live be an old man. And

what made Peter go all the way to the

end? what changed him? What made him

steadfast? Jesus knew that Peter loved

him and he wanted Peter to relearn that

love. And so he says to Peter once

again, "Follow

me." First time he said, "Follow me and

I'll make you fishers of men." This time

he says, "Follow me and I'll make you

become like

me." And we will all become like Jesus

when we follow him. And we can't follow

him without loving him. And the more we

follow him, the more we love him and the

more we live with him and ultimately the

more we become like

him. And thus Peter is restored. And the

link between the end of chapter 20 and

the book of Acts is complete. But it's

not just Peter's link, it's our link.

The love of Jesus is the missing link to

the Christian life. It has to be there.

All of our Christian efforts of doctrine

or repentance or keeping commandments,

keeping orthodoxy, our position, our

performance, all of it is insincere at

best and fraudulent at

worst. So in

conclusion, here it is. I have to ask

you this morning, do you love Jesus? I

asked myself that question before I

preached this sermon. And I do love him.

Not as I ought to and not as I'm going

to, but I love the Lord Jesus. And I

want Christ Church Anglican to be a

place where it's said above all

things, they love

Jesus. Those people love

Jesus. Amen.