With Restless Disciples

We'll read from the Gospel of John, chapter 21, verses 1 to 14.

John 21:1–14

And this is the reading of God's Word.

After this, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias,

and He revealed Himself in this way.

Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee,

the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them,

I am going fishing.

They said to Him,

We will go with you.

They went out and they got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore,

yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them,

Children, do you have any fish?

They answered Him,

No.

He said to them,

Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.

So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in.

Because of the quantity of fish.

That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter,

It is the Lord.

And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,

he put on his outer garment,

for he was stripped for work,

and he threw himself into the sea.

And the other disciples came in the boat,

dragging the net full of fish,

for they were not far from the land,

but about a hundred yards off.

And when they got out on land,

they saw a charcoal fire in place,

with fish laid out on it,

and bread.

And Jesus said to them,

Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore,

full of large fish,

one hundred and fifty-three of them.

And although there were so many,

the net was not torn.

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 would the fish.

And this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples,

after he was raised from the dead.

This is God's holy word.

Let us pray.

Lord, we ask now that you would open our hearts to hear

what you have to teach us,

to show us how you want to change us today,

from your word.

And we pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

This summer we're looking at some encounters with Jesus

throughout the Gospels.

There are forty-six people that Jesus encounters

individually in the Gospels.

And then if you add the corporate,

the group encounters,

it's a lot more than that.

All types of people,

all different backgrounds,

all with different aches and pains

and issues going on in life.

And so one of the things you can do

when you read encounters with Jesus

across the Gospels

is look for yourself

across these encounters.

This text, John 21,

is an encounter with a group of disciples,

particularly Peter.

And this text has been read

in lots and lots of different ways.

And the way I want to come at it today

is really through that lens

of the encounter with these disciples.

And I want to suggest,

I want us to see in this third post-resurrection appearance

of Jesus to his disciples

that Jesus is encountering people,

apostles here,

who are restless and running away

and hiding and fruitless, really,

in the ministry that they've been called to.

And that is the reason that Jesus comes to them

and comes to encounter them.

They had little impact.

They had not done great things for God yet.

And so Jesus comes to them in that context.

Now, lots of people in this room today

are believers, Christians.

You follow Jesus.

You're a disciple.

And you, like me,

struggle with the fact

that you're intellectually committed.

Credo, I believe,

and I know what I believe,

that Jesus Christ died

and he rose again on the third day

and that happened.

The facts are there.

But you find it really difficult

to get the intellectual assent

to those truths

down into your heart and your hands

where you're actually living

out the Christian life thoroughly.

And so if you're a Christian today

and you've ever said,

in your heart,

maybe to somebody else,

I have a really, really difficult time

getting Sundays to matter for Mondays

and bringing the whole

of what the gospel means

and all of its resources

down into my normal everyday life.

And I can say today,

can you say with me today,

I have the existential anxiety,

the ache,

that I know that there are aspects of me

where I am not who I am

in Christ and the way I live.

That I've not yet put on all

that the gospel calls me to do.

And live for him thoroughly

in every single way.

And that's exactly what's going on here.

One way to express this

is through David Downing's works.

David Downing is an author

who's written a number of books

about C.S. Lewis.

And he wrote a really good book

called The Reluctant Convert,

The Most Reluctant Convert.

And it's about C.S. Lewis' conversion.

And he records some of the letters of Lewis.

And we found a letter from C.S. Lewis

to his friend Arthur Greaves.

Lewis was 17 years old when he wrote this.

And he says,

I believe,

Arthur,

I believe in no religion.

There is absolutely no proof

for any of them.

And from a philosophical perspective,

Christianity is not even the best one.

So he was 17.

And then at 32,

he writes back to his friend Arthur Greaves.

And this is what he says.

Christianity is God expressing himself

through what we call real things,

namely the actual incarnation,

crucifixion, and resurrection.

So from 17 to 32,

he had been converted.

He had come to faith.

And one of his other,

a young man that knew him at the time

that's written a couple books

about him as well,

and David Downing records this interaction,

Walter Hooper,

said that as he watched Lewis over the years,

very famous quote,

in time, he said,

he was the most thoroughly converted man

I ever knew.

Now, God does all the converting.

But what did Hooper mean by that?

What he meant by that was,

over the years,

he saw how much the gospel

got into the bones of Lewis.

And how much it expressed

in every area of his life.

And if you come today,

and you think,

you know, boy,

God is out of sight,

out of mind for me most days.

And I've got a lot of prayerlessness

in my calendar.

And I really struggle

with addiction

to an idol

that I've not been able

to get away from

and kill.

John 21

is for you.

Let me show you two things.

Just two.

Number one,

the restless and running

disciples that we are.

And secondly,

the revealer

who comes for them.

So first,

the restless and running disciples

that we are,

that we can be,

that the apostles were.

All right,

to understand this passage,

there's lots of different readings of it,

but I think you've really,

really got to pay attention

to the context

and the details

that John gives here.

This is the third

post-resurrection appearance.

We're told that twice

in the passage.

And in verse one,

it says that Jesus

revealed himself to them.

In John's gospel,

the word,

the concept reveal,

means far more

than just show up.

John's words are so important.

He's very careful.

And reveal means

an unveiling,

a pulling back the curtain,

a showing his glory.

You saw at the end of the passage

when they're sitting with Jesus

to have breakfast on the beach,

they say,

it says,

they dared not ask

if it was him.

What does that mean

when you're standing right next to him?

When you're sitting right next to him,

you dare not ask?

They knew

there was something different about him

after the resurrection.

And here,

you have this unveiling

of his glory.

Now,

how did he do it?

That's verse one.

Who did he do it to?

Verse two.

And we're told here

about seven disciples

that he revealed himself to.

And it could be,

Peter's mentioned,

Nathaniel,

John the beloved,

and others.

It could be

because John is so

typically using words

and historical facts

as symbols.

It could be that

because there's seven listed,

he's talking about

all of the twelve.

We don't know.

It could be seven.

It could be twelve.

But here,

there's this group of disciples

and we're told that

they're fishing.

Verse three,

they're fishing.

Peter said,

I'm going to go fishing.

Do you want to go with me?

And they went with him.

And so,

they are 95 miles away

from Jerusalem

and they're in Galilee

and they've gone fishing.

And it says here

that it was nighttime,

very important.

It was dark.

They had caught

absolutely nothing

all night.

And John is trying

to get you to see

throughout his whole gospel

that when he uses

a word like darkness,

night,

empty,

nothing,

that he's conveying

not just a historical fact,

and it is.

But also something going on

about the spiritual condition

of the people

that he's speaking about.

So you can remember

someone like Nicodemus.

Nicodemus came to Jesus

at night.

It was dark.

He was spiritually empty.

And he came to ask,

what can I do to be saved?

In the same way,

John is trying to get us

to see through

the little details

that the darkness,

the empty nets,

the fact that they're

not catching any fish

is a revelation

of what's going on

in their souls.

It's a spiritual life

issue as well.

And the empty nets

refer to empty hearts

that there's something

wrong here.

They're not who

they're supposed to be

in this passage.

You can even see this

in verse 4

when it says

that Jesus shows up

on the beach

and when the breaking

of the day came,

when the sun came out,

everything changed.

Right?

And so John's signaling

that this historical detail,

this fact,

when the morning came,

boy,

the spiritual realities

came too.

Everything changed.

And you see how much

John's using his language

to point us to something

deeper,

spiritually significant

throughout the text.

Now, what does that all mean?

What's the takeaway here?

When you see those facts

in the light of chapter 20,

in chapter 20,

the first two resurrection

appearances,

in the first appearance,

Jesus shows up

raised from the dead.

He's in a room

with these same disciples.

And in chapter 20,

verse 22,

he says to them,

I'm now going to breathe

on you.

And I'm going to give you

the Holy Spirit.

And you're going to go

into all the world

and where you forgive sins,

sins will be forgiven.

He gives them apostolic authority

saying,

as you announce the gospel,

sins will be forgiven.

Now,

when that happens

in chapter 20

and you turn to chapter 21,

where do you expect

to find these apostles?

When Jesus has just said,

I'm breathing upon you,

the Holy Spirit's coming upon you,

go into the world

and announce the gospel,

forgive sins,

you expect to find them

in the towns

and the communities

and the cities

doing the work of ministry,

being fishers of men,

announcing the gospel,

going to all the world.

And instead,

you flip the page,

chapter 21,

and it says,

they went to their hometown

and they're fishing.

And one more thing

to really put this in context.

You've got to know

that this is a parallel moment

to Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

And in Luke chapter 5,

Luke 5 · chapter mention

we have the initial calling

of Peter

and these very disciples.

Some of them, at least.

And how was Peter first called?

He was fishing.

Jesus got into a boat with him.

He was casting his net.

No fish were being caught.

And Jesus said,

but cast your net

on the other side

in deeper waters.

And they did it.

And as soon as the net came in full,

they bowed before him.

And Jesus turned and says,

now I will make you fishers of men.

What's going on here?

You see,

this is a parallel moment

after the resurrection.

And what has happened?

This is not just them waiting.

They're actually here,

I think,

sitting on their hands.

They've been given

this post-resurrection commission,

go into the world.

You've got the Holy Spirit.

You've got the authority

of the gospel.

And they went home

and they started fishing.

They're going in reverse.

They're going back to Luke 5

all over again here.

And that's why in verses 4 and 5,

when Jesus asked the question,

he asked them the question,

friends, children,

do you have any fish?

What is that question?

It's more than just

the historical fact.

There's something spiritual.

There's a heart issue

going on in that question.

Friends,

do you have any fish?

And what is he asking?

He's saying,

are you catching people?

Have you gone out

and made,

and gone to the towns,

the cities,

and the communities

and brought people

into the kingdom?

Like I just commissioned you.

It's the issue of Luke 5.

I will make you fishers of men.

And here they are,

they're fishing for fish,

not for people.

They're sitting on their hands.

They're not doing great things

for the Lord.

They're not who God

has called them to be yet

in ministry at this moment.

And these are the apostles.

Thomas,

in the previous chapter,

he was not there

for the first appearance

and so he doubts.

And he says,

you know,

if I can't see Jesus' hands

and his feet

and his scars,

I can't believe.

He doubted like a scientist.

He said,

I need empirical verification.

Chapter 21,

the third appearance

is a different kind of doubt.

It's existential doubt.

It's the doubt

that we all struggle with

as Christians

where we say,

I'm just not really sure

that I totally believe

that if I go out

and fish for people,

serve the Lord

in every way he's called us to

as Christians,

as the church,

that there's going to be

any transformative power.

In other words,

they're in a place

where the Holy Spirit

is a theological concept

but not a belief

in a living,

personal,

transformative.

And the power of God

with us

in the city

that God has sent us to.

And they've got weak faith.

And it's a type of doubt

that resides in weak faith.

It creates an existential ache

that says,

I know that I'm a Christian.

I know that I'm called

to be transformed

in every way

throughout my life.

And I also know

that I am not

who God's called me to be.

And I can't figure out yet

all the ways

that that needs to change.

And there's this ache

deep down in the heart

as a disciple

where you know

that there's a gap there

between those two realities.

And this is exactly

what the apostles

were walking through here.

We learn here

that you can be a Christian

and a rebel to God's will.

You can be a Christian

and you can be a runaway.

You can be a Christian

and not walking

in the ministry

that God has called you to

in your normal day-to-day life.

And what this passage

tells us is that

you can do that

surrounded by your busyness

and normalcy.

What did they do?

They just went fishing.

That was their job.

That was their day job.

And fishing is not bad.

I went fishing last week.

I took the kids fishing

in Mississippi last week.

Fishing is a good thing.

It's not about fishing.

It's about wherever God

has called you

to your day job

being thoroughly converted,

as it was said of Lewis.

Or asking the question,

what is God calling me

to do with my faith at work?

What is God calling me

to do with my faith

as I raise up children?

What is God calling me

to do with my faith

as I get to know my neighbors

in the place

that God has put me?

In other words,

using the resources

of the gospel to ask,

what is God calling me to

in every area of life?

And so,

before I move on

to the second last point,

look,

Peter exemplifies

this reality here.

You could think of him

as a runaway prophet here,

a runaway disciple.

In verse 6,

Jesus unveils himself.

How?

He says,

cast your net on the other side,

and they haul in 153 fish,

and then John says,

it's the Lord.

Remember Luke 5?

This is the Lord.

And Peter dives into the water.

Now, remember that John

wants you to really notice

the details,

and here's a detail

that's very strange.

Before Peter jumps in the water,

we're told that he put on

his outer garments.

Now, I don't know

how it is when you go swimming,

but when I get ready

to go swimming,

I don't put more clothes on.

We don't, you know,

we, he,

it says even more,

the details.

The Greek text here says

he was naked.

Now, it's been translated

in a way that suggests

probably he was wearing

an undergarment

that was typical

underneath the main cloak,

but the Greek uses

the word naked.

And you see,

I think what's going on here

is that this runaway disciple

who had denied Jesus

three times

and who had gone back

to his day job

after he had been commissioned

to go into all the world,

to the city,

and tell people

about the gospel,

he's naked.

He's ashamed.

And he feels that guilt

and he knows that

he wants to run to God.

He wants to run to his Lord

and yet at the same time

he knows,

if I'm going to go to the Lord,

I've got to be clothed.

I've got to be covered.

And so he covers himself

to dive into the water,

to appear before the Lord.

There's another way

that clothing is used

throughout the Bible

that's really significant,

that I think matters here.

And it's also that anytime,

when you come to experience

the grace of Christ,

Old Testament and new,

you're clothed,

you're robed in righteousness.

And a second act of clothing

often happens

in the Old Testament.

What is it?

It's that when a priest

is ordained

or a person is commissioned,

they receive investiture.

What is that?

That's this type of clothing

in the Old Testament

that says you're commissioned,

you're sent.

Both things I think

are going on here.

He's covering his shame.

He's knowing he needs

a robe of righteousness.

And at the same time,

he's being recommissioned

by Jesus.

He's about to have breakfast

on the beach

and be told,

this is who you are.

Remember,

I'm sending you

to feed the sheep.

Both things are happening.

What is this?

Some commentators,

and I think they're right,

have pointed out

that when you look

at the details

of this scene,

especially verse 7,

what is it?

How does John put it?

Peter hurled himself

into the sea.

He threw himself

into the sea.

Where do we see

that language

in other parts

of the Bible?

It reminds us

of language

very similar

to the book of Jonah.

When Jonah was in a boat,

there's a fish in the water,

and he knew

that he was naked

and ashamed

and running

from the Lord.

He was a Christian.

He was a Christian

in the Old Testament sense,

a disciple,

a follower of God,

but he was running

and he was sitting

on his hands,

and it says that

when he realized,

the only way

you're going to be saved

is if I'm thrown

into the sea.

He hurled himself.

Peter here looks like Jonah.

John is telling us,

Christian friends,

we are little Jonas.

We have been,

if you're a Christian today,

you've been called,

you've been converted,

you've been changed,

you have the power

of the gospel

in your life.

You have all the treasures

in Christ that you need,

and yet we know

the ache of struggling

to be thoroughly

living out the gospel

in that way,

of knowing what it means

to come from Sunday

to Monday,

and feeling the existential pain

of not knowing

how to grow

and how to change

and how to be fishers

of people

in our day-to-day lives

and thinking,

you might look up today

and think,

you know,

I don't know that I've ever

shared the gospel

with anybody,

and I've been a Christian

for many, many years,

and God has called me

to be a fisher of people,

and that's the ache

that Peter's feeling.

John 21,

it's about all of us.

What does Jesus,

the revealer,

do about it?

Secondly,

finally,

let me give you

a few things.

You might come today

and say,

I'm a Christian,

and I have not lived

for God.

I'm a Christian,

and I have not done

great things for the Lord.

What does the revealer

have to say about it?

Let me give you a few.

And we'll close.

First,

the first thing Jesus does

is he reveals himself.

He reveals himself

to runaways.

Jesus comes here,

and in verse five,

he calls them children.

They're in the midst

of sitting on their hands,

and he says,

my children,

my family.

If you look back

at years of sitting

on your hands

and buried treasure

and buried talents,

and you say today,

again,

I'm not who I should be

in Christ.

When Jesus shows up

on the beach here

and says,

children,

what he is saying

to you today,

to Peter,

to all of us today,

is your,

your weak discipleship

will not keep you

out of the kingdom

of God.

your little faith,

your weak faith,

your lack of growth

is not going to rip you

out of God's hand.

Jesus,

the revealer,

comes and encounters you

and pursues you

and says to you

once again,

children,

your lack of discipleship

is not going to pull you

away from the Lord.

He's saying here,

I'm going to keep you,

and I've purchased you,

and I've bought you

with a price.

In verse,

sorry,

back to Luke chapter 5

Luke 5 · chapter mention

when he calls them

to be fishers of people,

they had this huge catch,

and there's this

immediate conversation

between Peter and Jesus.

Now,

in this passage

in John 21,

I would love to know,

maybe you would love to know,

what happened

in the conversation

between Peter and Jesus

when Peter dove in the water

and made it to the beach

before everybody else.

We don't know what happened.

We're not told.

The reason we're not told

is because the boat

was 100 yards,

100 meters from the land,

and John was in the boat,

and John is writing

this gospel,

and so John didn't hear

the conversation

between Peter and Jesus.

Maybe it was 10 minutes,

15 minutes for them

to get the fish in,

get back to the land,

but there is a conversation

that takes place

between Peter and Jesus

on the shore

that we never know about.

I wonder what was said

if you go back

to Luke chapter 5

Luke 5 · chapter mention

when they hauled

the fish in,

Peter,

you know,

if Jesus tells you,

you haven't been

catching fish all day,

Jesus says,

cast your net

on the other side

and you bring

all these fish in,

you might say,

wow,

you're amazing.

How did you know

there were so many fish

on that side of the boat?

You have real power.

That's not what happens.

Instead,

in Luke 5,

it says that Peter

bowed his knee

before the Lord

and said,

I am a sinner,

depart from me.

Now listen,

friends,

you know that you've

had a real encounter

with God,

not when you say,

whoa,

you're amazing,

but when you say,

I'm a sinner,

depart from me.

I need to get away

from you.

And I would imagine

that in John 21,

though,

I don't know what was said,

of course,

this is imaginative,

I don't know what was said,

but I would think

in John 21

that when Peter

got to the beach,

he probably got down

on his knees

and said,

Lord,

I abandoned you

three times

and I'm sitting

on my hands,

I am a sinner,

I don't deserve

that you would come

and look for me.

I don't deserve,

I don't deserve this.

And this passage

is giving something

so simple

but so profound,

so important

to all of us today

and that's this.

Jesus says,

maybe Jesus

said it like this,

you know,

you're a little Jonah,

you're a runaway

and you've been running

and running

and running

and running

but Peter,

you remember

what I told you?

Look for the sign

of Jonah.

Three days

I'll descend down

into the belly

of death

but on the third day

look,

look for the sign

of Jonah.

You know,

what he may have said,

he may have said,

you're a little Jonah,

you're a runaway,

you've not done

great things for the Lord,

you've got weak faith

but I'm the true

and better Jonah

and I went down

into the water

so that you might rise up

and he's telling you

here today

to restless

and maybe fruitless

and maybe folks

in the room

that have had little impact

on their community

and on the person

that you've been walking

with for so many years

but never shared

the gospel with,

he's telling you today

your lack of discipleship

will not keep you

away from Jesus.

He comes for you.

His grace

will not let you go.

Then he tells them,

he tells them,

let's respond to that.

He tells them,

now go

and cast your net

on the other side.

Look at those empty nets

for just a second.

What is the empty net

they're saying

to us as disciples?

It's telling us

something so simple

that when you're not

looking at Jesus

in your daily life

and you're not listening

to Jesus

in your daily life

and Jesus is not

the active practical center

of your entire life

then there's going

to be fruitlessness.

So fruitfulness

in ministry

depends upon dependence

and all this text

is really saying

is disciple of Jesus,

follower of Jesus,

listen to Jesus,

look to Jesus.

There's an opportunity

in God's providence.

He's gathered us

all here today

and in God's providence

today,

this morning

is the morning

where he's coming

and asking you

to ask yourself,

in what ways

am I not following Christ

in my day-to-day life

and to come and say,

hey, it's time to cast

your net on the other side,

to seek change,

repentance,

to dive into the water

and go down

so that you can

come up again.

The third thing

that he tells them here

of four,

and this is the more

specific point

and I think the main point,

he says,

you are called,

the main calling

of the church

of followers of Jesus

is to be fishers

of people.

And so in this scene,

he's asking all of us

to look and renew

our calling

to be fishers

of human beings,

to go out into the world

and share the message

of the gospel

with people

in our lives.

What does it mean

to be a fisher of people?

Not obvious language

to us in the 21st century.

Most of us

don't fish very often.

Why did Jesus

take this idea

of fishing

to talk about

the sharing

of the gospel?

And the reason for it

is that in the

Greco-Roman world

and the ancient Near East,

the sea is a place

in most people's minds

of chaos

and darkness

and death.

And I don't know

if you've ever been out,

if you've ever been out

to the very tip top

of Scotland

or the tip top

of the Isle of Lewis

or Shetland.

If you have,

you've seen

the North Sea

and if,

on the east side,

and if you've seen

the North Sea,

you know that

on a stormy day,

you look out and say,

I have no idea

how pre-modern people

ever navigated

these waters.

That's the image

of the seas

to people

in the pre-modern world.

What is Jesus saying

when he says,

go and be a fisher

of people?

He's saying

that you're called

to bring people

out of the place

of darkness,

the domain of the seas,

the place of chaos,

into the light

of the land,

into the sunshine.

And so this is,

this is a simple

recommissioning

to every disciple

in this room

that the calling

is to go out

into the world

and help human beings

that God has put

in your life

by works of mercy

and ultimately

the words of the gospel

to help them move

from a place

of darkness to light,

from a lack

of hope to hope.

And Jesus is calling us

to renew our sense

of that.

I heard this week

a celebrity

that has come

to faith in Christ

from a really,

really hard life,

and they're a very

well-known person,

and I was listening

to a podcast

with them this week,

and one of the things

they said,

they were asked

about how they were

going to use

their celebrity

as a Christian

in the coming years,

and this person said,

well, my mission now

is to preach the gospel,

to love people,

and to be forgotten.

So I'm trying

as best as I can

to be forgotten.

And Jesus is saying here

that to God's glory,

every single Christian's mission

is to love God,

love people,

love the church,

and love the people

God's put in your life

and then preach the gospel

in order to be forgotten,

in order to not be

that important,

in order to give God

all the glory,

and that's the renewal

of discipleship

and commitment

we're being asked to.

And then lastly,

the last thing

Jesus invites you today

to renew discipleship

is to come,

he says at the end,

come and have breakfast

with me.

He calls them children,

he calls them family,

even though they're runaways,

but the climax is in verse 9,

when they get to the beach,

Jesus had prepared

a breakfast for them,

he had set the fire,

and it says

that he took bread

and he gave it to them.

Now what does that sound like

to you?

And we're about to celebrate

the Lord's Supper,

and you see,

Jesus Christ was saying,

because I rose,

because of John chapter 20,

John 20 · chapter mention

today I can come

and say to you,

you are my family,

even in the midst

of your weak faith.

I will not let you go.

And the Lord's Supper

says to us today

exactly that.

Now I want to finish

with this.

The details in the Gospel of John,

so important.

There are only two places

in the Gospel of John

where a charcoal fire

is mentioned.

So sometimes John

says something

and then he adds

an adjective

or a little detail

that you think,

this is extraneous,

if the editors

were on top of this,

they would say,

you don't need this

to progress the story,

but he puts it in anyway.

And there are two places

in the Gospel of John

where he adds a detail,

a charcoal fire.

One is right here,

John 21.

The first is in John 18.

And in John 18,

Jesus had been arrested

and he was at

the high priest courtroom,

the courtyard

of the high priest.

Peter was with him,

but Peter was not allowed

to go inside.

And so Peter was outside

the courtroom

and he was standing

at the door

and it says there was

a slave girl at the door

and she said to Peter,

are you not one

of his disciples?

And he said,

I am not.

And then John writes,

and there was a charcoal fire

sitting next to them

because it was cold.

And you say,

John,

you didn't need that clause.

And then you come

to John chapter 21

John 21 · chapter mention

and the only other place

in the New Testament

charcoal fire is mentioned.

And here it is.

And when they got back

to the beach,

it said Jesus had already

prepared the charcoal fire.

And you know what I think

is going on there?

I think John's trying

to bring a connection to us

and I think what he's saying

to us is Jesus was using

the charcoal fire

to say to Peter,

do you remember?

Do you remember the first time

you were asked,

are you my disciple?

And you said,

I am not.

And he's saying,

Peter,

we're back here again.

And are you my disciple?

And this time,

it is not Peter's job

to answer.

You see,

the fact of the fire,

the fact that Jesus

is sitting there,

he's prepared breakfast,

he's become the host

of the covenant meal.

And he's saying,

you said no,

but I say yes.

You said no to me,

but I overcame your no

with my yes.

And you are my disciple.

And by the power

of the cross and resurrection,

I have claimed you.

Your family,

you're loved by God.

Your weak faith

will not get you

out of my hands.

You were ashamed of me.

That's not enough

to take the gospel

away from you.

That's not enough

to take the power

of the cross away.

The first fire

announced Peter's betrayal.

The second fire

announced his belonging.

The same hearth

that witnessed Peter's rebellion

is the very hearth

by which he was restored.

That's what John's

showing us here.

The cross of Christ

turns restless rebels

!

into family!

And then it keeps us there.

And if you come today

saying,

I have not done

great things for God!

And I am not

the Christian

in terms of my life

that God has called me to be!

Jesus Christ wants you to know

as you come

and you take and eat

that His grace is sufficient

and it will never let you

get out of the hand of God.

He loves you

to the uttermost.

And that the true

and better Jonah,

He went down into the depths

so you could rise up.

And as long as you're in Him

and you are,

you will be family.

He will never let you go.

Weak faith people,

come and eat with Him today.

Let us pray.

Father,

we ask now

that you meet with us

in just a moment

as we come to dine

at your table.

You are the host.

Thank you for wanting

to have breakfast with us.

And so we see that

in this passage,

Lord,

come and eat with us.

We ask now,

Lord,

that you would come

and speak especially

to those in this room

who think,

I have years and years

and years

of nominal faith.

I've not lived for the Lord.

I've not shared my faith.

I've not changed.

Lord,

come to them

and speak your love to them

and then send us out

into our city

to be fishers of people.

And so that's our prayer today.

We ask for that

in Jesus' name.

Amen.