John 21

Please open up John 21 that was read for us a bit earlier on page 907 in the church Bibles.

! John 21.

When you think of all the things that the once dead, now raised to life, living Lord Jesus Christ, could give to you.

You're in His presence and you think to yourself, what would I like Him to give me?

Barbecued fish probably isn't top of the list. Barbecued fish for breakfast.

I know it's traditional, kippers and kedgery and all that kind of thing, but fish for breakfast?

I wouldn't go for that. Nor would I think, do you know what, I'd love a really awkward conversation with Him that made me feel very uncomfortable.

You may have life. And it's the life that John has been showing all the way through his gospel, the life that is truly life.

Life in relationship with the God who made you, the God who made heaven and earth, the God who makes sense of everything.

You can have this life in Jesus Christ. And you think, it's amazing. Let's pray. Let's finish the story there.

No. There's another appearance, chapter 21. Jesus appears again. It happens when His disciples are having a bad day on the water.

And He turns up and He helps them catch a load of fish, but then He gives them fish for breakfast.

And He has this really awkward one-to-one exchange with Peter. Is that really how the story ends?

Well, no, it's not. But it is how the Gospel of John ends. That is, it is the point, the point I should say of this epilogue is to say that the story of Jesus at work in the world doesn't end with His resurrection appearances and the statement that you can have eternal life in Him.

It ends saying that His works continue through the disciples. Look down at verse 23, through the disciples until He comes again.

You see, John introduced his gospel, if you remember, a year ago. It seems like a very long time.

John introduced this gospel with a prologue that lifted our gaze from the here and now, lifted our gaze to the One who was with God and was God and is God, the Eternal Son.

The One who took on flesh and dwelt among us, the One whose glory we have seen through the pages of this gospel.

And now John provides an epilogue. Having lifted us with the prologue, he lands us with the epilogue that focuses on the ongoing work of Jesus in the world.

We lift our eyes to the One, the Eternal Son, and then we bring our eyes back down to earth and see how the reality of that works its way out in the here and now.

So the ending is more of a hinge than a conclusion. It closes the story of the life of Jesus on earth and it opens the story of His ongoing ministry in the Spirit through the disciples and then through the church.

The fish for breakfast, the uncomfortable chat, they're the doorway to something much more significant.

And we know this because of the way John organizes his material.

He puts the story of this miraculous catch of fish and the feeding of the disciples beside the exchange between Peter and Jesus.

And putting them beside each other, it's as if John is saying, well, he often does this.

He describes an event and then interprets the meaning of that event and what he records next.

We saw that back when Jesus washed the disciples' feet.

Do you remember? He washes the disciples' feet and you think to yourself, what on earth is this all about?

What's going on here?

And then he records what Jesus says immediately after that to explain how the washing of the feet is a picture of the cleansing from sin that His death will bring for those who are His.

So we've got the events described and we've got the interpretation of the events.

It's the same here.

The miraculous catch of fish and the feeding of the disciples is about ministry.

It's about the work that Simon Peter is being restored to that Jesus has done with him just after the miraculous catch of fish.

The fish is a symbolic enactment of the role of the church in the post-resurrection era.

All that's going on with the fish is about what we're all caught up in now as the church of the Lord Jesus.

So that's what I want to work through.

We've got three points.

Regarding the church, John wants, first of all, to depict her mission.

To depict her mission.

Depict the church's mission.

So Jesus, 20, has just commissioned the disciples in 20 verse 19 and following.

He's promised them His peace.

You remember?

We heard about that last week.

He's promised them His Spirit and He's given them authority to forgive sins.

But the start of chapter 21, they've decided to return to what they know.

See, when Simon Peter says, I'm going fishing.

Well, they're fishermen.

That's what they know.

Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two others.

All of his disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.

They said to him, we'll go with you.

Now, was this disobedience?

Were they just choosing their old lives?

Had they been commissioned by Christ to go and live for Him?

And they then say, do you know what?

Actually, I'm going to do what was familiar.

I'm just going to drift back into all that was familiar.

Well, perhaps that's the case, certainly given that John refers in verse 3 to it being night.

In John's gospel, that isn't just a time marker.

It always has negative connotations.

So, it's perhaps likely that they were doing that, that they were just returning to what was familiar, giving up and returning to their old lives.

They certainly, what is clear is they certainly are unclear about what their relationship with Jesus entails.

What their part in the life of God involves.

They don't get the nature of their commission.

Hence, the fruitless night on the water.

But then Jesus turns up.

I'm going fishing.

We'll go with you.

Off they go.

And then Jesus turns up.

And because when He first called them, if you remember in the Synoptic Gospels, He told them that He would make them fishers of men.

He brought them from their life as fishermen going into the water and catching real fish to make them fishers of men.

To bring people to know the Lord Jesus, He takes the opportunity to draw out the fishing metaphor to depict their mission and the church's mission.

Put simply, their mission is to draw people to Christ.

That is what He has given them.

His peace and His spirit and the authority to forgive sins to go and do.

To draw people to Christ.

And that is the mission of the church.

Every church since this event.

So the details then that John gives.

Flesh this out a bit.

Develop what it entails for the church.

The mission of the church to be to draw people to Christ.

First of which is this.

The mission will be, firstly, pointless without Jesus.

Verses 3 to 6.

Pointless without Jesus.

The story starts with a picture of failure.

Verse 3.

A wasted trip.

A waste of all their time and all their effort.

It is only when Jesus calls out to them,

Children, do you have any fish?

That their fortunes begin to change.

And then when they follow His instruction, put the net where He told them to put it,

they pull in their catch.

John here is pressing us to see that apart from Jesus' presence and His direction and His power,

that is His presence with them,

His direction as to what to do,

and power to accomplish the task,

their efforts come to nothing.

And it's exactly the same with the mission of the church.

Our efforts to draw people to Jesus are just as dependent on the miraculous,

just as dependent on the supernatural,

as this catch of fish.

Nobody believes in the Lord Jesus unless the Lord Jesus does a miracle in their heart.

So our efforts cannot and will not succeed without the presence and the leading of Christ,

without the animating power of God at work.

So how do we get that?

How do we get the presence and leading of Christ?

How do we get the animating power of God?

We ask for them.

We depend on them.

A church's mission rests on the prayer meeting

and on the prayerfulness of her ministers.

Dependence on the Lord Jesus,

the only one who can bring the fish in.

It's true.

With a bit of natural ability,

with a few quid and with some gifting,

you can create something that looks like a church.

And basic human dynamics mean that you can also gather a crowd

and you can make it look like God is at work.

And you can do it all in the power of the flesh.

You can do it all in your own strength

and all in the talent of the people that are involved.

All in the natural.

But there's no power.

If people will be drawn to Christ

and submitted fully to Him,

we need Him to work.

You can't manufacture that.

And if He will work, we need to ask

and we need to seek and we need to knock.

The mission of the church is pointless without Jesus

and the big application for us is that we must be prayerful people.

Prayerful ministers, prayerful congregations,

dependent on the Lord,

that He might work in power.

Listening to His leading and His direction through His Word

and relying on Him by the power of His Spirit

to be at work amongst us.

Pointless without Jesus.

But then, if we do all those things,

if we do depend on Him,

and if He is at work,

look at what happens, verse 5.

The catch is enormous.

Indeed, this plays into the second aspect of the mission.

It is fruitful with Jesus.

Pointless without Jesus,

fruitful with Jesus.

That's verses 10 and 11.

The disciples come to shore.

The charcoal fire has the fish and bread already grilling.

I'm sure Peter will have caught the unmistakable whiff

of the charcoal before he gets to land.

A terrible reminder of past failures.

But it's what Jesus says next that's so interesting.

Verse 10,

Bring some of the fish that you have caught,

that you have just caught.

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore,

full of large fish,

153 of them.

And although there were so many,

the net was not torn.

Now the disciples here,

they know as well as anyone

that they didn't catch the fish.

Jesus, the Lord of the seas,

drew the fish into the net.

But do you see,

Jesus describes it as their catch.

Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.

And you see,

Jesus had no need for their fish

because we're told that He already has His own fish

cooking on the fire.

So what's going on?

Well, Jesus is demonstrating

how while the mission is pointless without Him,

He involves us in the work.

In that sense, it's a partnership.

It's not an equal partnership, obviously.

But the church that starts with prayer

then goes about the work that Jesus calls us to.

We go about drawing people to Christ.

And don't miss what we're told here

with the size of the hall.

The fact that the nets aren't breaking,

the fact that there's a size of a catch

that they can hardly manage to get ashore

in their own strength.

And then this enigmatic number,

153 of them.

Now there are plenty of interpretations

of what the 153 is.

Some say it's just the number of fish.

There were just 153 of them.

The church father, Jerome,

suggests that there are 153 kinds of fish in the world.

And the number represents the fullness

of every kind of person in the world.

Another view is that the number is an allusion

to the 153,000 workers assigned

to build Solomon's temple in 1 Kings 5.

You have to hold the text at an angle

and sort of look along it to see that.

But that's there.

And he's saying that points

to the building of the church.

The great Augustine suggests

that it is the sum of natural numbers

from 1 to 17,

which is a significant biblical number,

again speaking of fullness.

Still another has to do

with the numerical value assigned

to the Greek letters used in the words

sign, believe, Christ, life.

Big words in John's gospel.

Take your pick.

What is clear

is that the number relates

to the wider point of the paragraph,

and that is the massive size

of the catch.

One commentator says this,

the number symbolizes

the magnitude of the Christian church

and the comprehensive nature

of its mission.

The magnitude of the Christian church

and the comprehensive nature

of its mission.

The promise of this passage is

that the mission of the church

will be fruitful.

God will accomplish His plans.

The gospel will spread through history

like yeast in a loaf,

like a mustard seed growing

to the biggest tree in the forest.

The earth will be full

of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

The size of the catch here

should fill us with confidence,

particularly in our day.

In a day where our Christian heritage

is being dismantled,

even though we need to prepare

our children for harder days

than we've had for following Christ,

the faithful will endure.

The darkness will lift.

The mission of the church in history

will be massively fruitful.

Be encouraged.

The ground, you could say,

of the mission is dependence on Christ.

The nature of the mission

is partnership with Christ.

As the disciples then come ashore,

we see the goal of the mission.

The goal of the mission

is participation in Jesus.

Verses 12 to 13.

Look at verse 12.

Jesus said to them,

Come and have breakfast.

Now none of the disciples dared ask him,

Who are you?

They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came and took the bread

and gave it to them,

and so with the fish.

This is the life of the church.

This is the point of her existence,

that men and women,

boys and girls,

participate in the presence of Christ.

That's the symbolic significance of the meal.

Jesus invites them,

and they come to be fed by Him

and to participate with Him

in this divinely instituted gathering.

That's what's going on, isn't it?

He calls them into His presence,

and they come and are fed by Him

and participate with Him

in this gathering.

Now the allusions to the Lord's Supper

are obviously clear.

It's a sacred meal

in which we participate

with the risen Lord Jesus.

The Apostle Paul uses that word

in 1 Corinthians

when he talks about

eating and drinking

at the Lord's table

as a participation in Christ.

That's what happens

by the Holy Spirit.

The allusions to the supper are clear,

but this is also the case.

This participation is also the case

when we gather,

like we have done this morning,

on the Lord's Day for worship.

We are participating

in the life of Christ.

Jesus tells us

when two or three are gathered

in His name,

He is there present.

That means He is present here,

now, with us,

in this moment,

in a way that He is not present

at other times

and in other places.

We encounter the presence

of the living Christ

by His Spirit

in the worship and ministry

of the church.

that is why this is

the most important time

in your week.

This is why we need

to be here.

There is nowhere else

on earth

that you can be

than gathered with the saints

of God on the Lord's Day

where God is at work

by the power of His Spirit.

This is where He is.

It's not to say that He isn't

in other contexts

at different times,

but this is where

He has promised

to do that work.

And so we want to be here,

but we also want to call

our friends and our neighbors

and the nations

to be here as well.

Fish for breakfast?

No thanks.

Being in the presence

of the risen Christ?

Yes, please.

John depicts the church's mission.

He continues then.

And secondly,

he defines the work

of her ministers,

defines the work

of the church's ministers.

I feel for Peter.

It's another charcoal fire,

the memories of denying Jesus.

And now Jesus turns,

verse 15,

and looks him in the eye.

Simon, son of John,

do you love me more than these?

He said to him,

Yes, Lord,

you know that I love you.

He said to him,

Feed my lambs.

He said to him a second time,

Simon, son of John,

do you love me?

He said to him,

Yes, Lord,

you know that I love you.

He said to him,

Tent my sheep.

He said to him a third time,

Simon, son of John,

do you love me?

Peter was grieved

because he said to him

the third time,

Do you love me?

And he said to him,

Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you.

Jesus said to him,

Feed my sheep.

Simon, son of John,

So, just in case there were any other Simons around

that could have heard,

he's making it clear.

I'm talking to you, Simon Peter,

not anyone else.

Three questions

that mirror Peter's three denials.

Three answers

showing his repentance

and recommitment

to follow Jesus

as Lord.

Lord, you know.

Lord,

yes, Lord.

Lord,

now this is ground zero,

not just for Peter

and these foundational apostles,

but for every minister of the gospel.

We all need the grace

and forgiveness

that Jesus offers.

No minister

can claim to be without sin,

and no minister

should be treated

or expected to behave

as if that were the case.

We all need the grace of Christ

moment by moment

for life and ministry.

But this exchange

also shows us

what it is

that Jesus requires

of ministers.

Do you love me?

Feed my sheep.

Any faithful minister

must love the Lord Jesus.

That is,

they must love the Lord Jesus

more

than anything else,

more than their reputation,

more than their own comfort,

their own professional success,

their own friends.

Peter denied Jesus

for his own comfort

out of fear.

Therefore,

he showed him,

he showed that he loved himself

more than he loved Jesus.

A minister must love Jesus

above all of these.

That's what Jesus demands.

He's saying,

do you love me?

If you're looking

for a minister,

a faithful minister

of the gospel,

you've got to see

that they love Jesus

more than anything else.

because only then

will they truly be able

to do the second part

of what he expects

and that is,

feed his sheep.

Do you see there

when Jesus says,

feed my sheep?

He is retaining ownership.

The sheep that ministers feed

are not their sheep.

They still belong

to the Lord Jesus.

And that is why

loving him

is so important

for a minister.

You are Christ's sheep.

Nobody else

has any claim on you

as their sheep.

You belong to Christ

and that is why

we love Christ

as ministers of the gospel

as a priority

so that we will do

what he calls us to do

in caring for you.

If you know,

if someone you know

entrusts something of theirs

to your care,

you are more careful

with it

than you are

with your own things.

And then if you love

that person

because of your love

for them,

you are especially careful

with what it is

that they have entrusted

to you.

It is the same

with the sheep

of the Lord Jesus

and those that he

has entrusted

to a minister's care.

We shepherd

the sheep

of the good shepherd.

And we love

and care for them

primarily because

we love him.

That is what motivates

the ministers

of this church.

It is a love

for Christ

that causes us

to feed you,

to care for you,

to shepherd you.

And of course,

the way that we do

that primarily

is by feeding you

the word of God.

That is the minister's

primary task.

Opening the word

of God,

saying what it says,

not what we might

like it to say,

and calling people

to follow it

wherever it takes us,

not where we might

like it to take us.

And doing that

consistently,

in season

and out of season,

Sunday by Sunday,

meeting by meeting.

Jesus depicts

the mission of the church

as drawing people

to him.

The way that this happens

is through the church's

ministers loving Christ

and feeding the sheep

with God's word.

And then Jesus

explains how the church

is to respond.

And thirdly,

he describes her manner.

He describes the church's manner.

He depicts her mission.

He defines the work

of her ministers.

And he describes

her manner.

Verse 22.

It's summed up

in a single phrase.

It's actually repeated

twice.

19,

follow me.

22,

you follow me.

Jesus moves between

addressing Peter

as an apostle here,

like in verse 18,

when he informs him

of how his apostolic

ministry will end

and addressing him

really as a model disciple.

He's saying Peter

must follow through

on his earlier claims

and follow Jesus

no matter what.

So the manner

or the posture

of the Christian church

is very clear.

Do you see it?

We follow Jesus.

Peter wants to ask

about others.

Verse 20.

He looks around.

What's going to happen

to this guy?

Jesus says,

don't worry.

Don't worry.

Don't worry

about anyone else.

You follow me.

So we could say

that the manner

of the Christian church

is to follow Jesus,

but we have to do

that ourselves.

You follow Jesus.

It's an individual thing

we all have responsibility

to do.

Those who love

the Lord Jesus

follow him

with all that

that entails.

To follow Jesus

doesn't just mean

that we follow

his mere commands,

although that is

obviously key,

but that we follow

his pattern of life.

When he calls

the disciple,

Jesus says,

take up your cross

and follow me.

In Luke's gospel,

he says,

take up your cross

daily and follow me.

That is,

we are to adopt

the same self-denial

and cross-shaped

pattern of life

that marked

the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is what it means

to love him.

self-denial

and obedience

to his commands.

You follow me.

So, let's think

about what that means.

Let's be somewhat specific.

Boys and girls,

boys and girls,

can you look up

for a moment?

When you find

mom and dad's

instructions difficult,

when you find obedience

in the home hard,

what's Jesus saying here?

He's saying,

you follow Christ.

And you do

what they say.

You honor their authority

as he has called you

to do.

Older teens,

when you feel the pressure

to go with the culture,

to follow your friends,

to wander off

into sin

and the sorts of things

that they want to pursue,

you follow Christ.

You say no.

You be an outlier.

It's hard.

It's hard.

But that's what

Jesus calls you to.

That's actually,

in the moment,

it's hard,

but that is actually

the pathway to life

that is truly life.

When it comes

to relationships,

you follow Christ.

You only choose

Christians,

and you treat them

as a brother or a sister

until you marry,

and you don't mess

with them emotionally.

When it comes

to marriage and family,

you order the home

according to God's Word

with the Father in charge,

and you raise your children

according to God's Word,

and where the state

tells you that you can't

do that,

guess what?

You follow Christ.

When you're told

to define your pronouns,

or wear the lanyard,

or celebrate the cause,

you follow Christ,

and you say no.

When promotion means

that you won't be around

to lead your family,

or raise your children

as you should,

you follow Christ,

and you accept another role.

When you're planning

retirement,

you follow Christ.

You ensure that those plans

involve healthy patterns

of worship and service

in the life of a good church.

This is the church's manner.

We follow Christ.

For generations,

following Christ

really didn't cost us

a huge amount in the culture.

It's getting much,

much more difficult now,

and boys and girls,

your generation,

it's going to be harder still,

but we follow Christ.

We take Him at His Word,

and we trust Him.

If we say we love Jesus,

we follow Him

wherever He leads us,

no matter what.

And so this is where

John brings us into land,

following Jesus.

You follow me.

He's the one at the center

of John's testimony,

a testimony that He's written

to give us confidence,

confidence of the truth

of this gospel.

And when John says,

verse 24,

that his testimony

about Jesus is true,

he's not just saying,

it's true,

you can look under a microscope

and see that all this stuff

is true.

He's saying,

no,

this is an invitation

to participate

in the ongoing work of Christ

in the world

through the church.

It's not about

barbecued fish for breakfast.

It's not about awkward conversations.

It's about a mission

that will triumph.

A mission that will triumph.

And so whatever the cost,

we can follow with confidence

and hope.

And we can know

that in Christ

we have life

that is truly life.

Let's pray.

Amen.