A [Re]Storied People

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

more into the life of following God, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and

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in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. Lord, thank you for this beautiful

passage at the end of John and thank you for

your interaction with your disciples and thank

you for how you are teaching us even this morning

through that. God, I pray that you would do that.

You'd use me, Lord, stumbling as I so often do.

Lord, use me for the blessing of our congregation

that we would be drawn more and more into the

life of Christ and reflect more and more the

beauty of the good news of what you've done in

Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. Again, I want

to say good morning and that it's good to be

with you. We, Elise and I were away last week

at a good friend's wedding in Kentucky and we

both remarked to each other how much we love

being in the house of the Lord. We did actually

get to watch. with you last week as we were making

our way home. And I know John mentioned this

last week, but I'll just reiterate, I'm really

grateful, particularly to Tim, but to others

of you who make sound and video and stuff like

that happen here. I think sometimes those are

overlooked roles, but they're very important.

And I know many others are grateful for them.

I hope you, if you were not here last week, I

hope you heard Jed's sermon. Jed, thank you for

your sermon. It was insightful. It was sometimes

very funny. I particularly liked Juliana's response

to the question. Good job. At the beginning of

the sermon. And if you actually have not heard

it, you can find that on our podcast. You can

watch it on YouTube. I really honestly, you should

check it out. It was a blessing. Anyway, this

Easter tide apart from our Mother's Day sermon.

little deviation from our series. What we're

doing is we're looking at some of the narratives

of Jesus with his disciples after the resurrection.

And what I'm hoping that we're doing together

is we're saying, what does it mean to be a people

who live in light of the resurrected Christ?

What God has done in conquering Satan's sin and

death through the resurrection. And so we saw

in Luke chapter 24, a few weeks ago, that we're

Luke 24 · chapter mention

people of the word. We receive the questioning

words of God primarily to us. I mentioned how

often it is that God questions us in the scriptures.

We often approach God like we're the ones. They're

putting him on the dock, but actually he's the

one that is questioning us so often. We receive

the given word of scripture and the broken word

of his body. And what we saw actually in this

is that in these acts of receiving the word,

the Lord actually changes our hope, right? And

he changes our despair and brings us hope. Then

we saw in John chapter 20 that the resurrected

John 20 · chapter mention

Christ meets his disciples in the room that is

twice said to be locked. They were full of fear.

And then we have the doubting that's taking place

and Jesus meets them in their fear and their

doubt and he actually restores them and gives

them belief. And he transforms this community

and that's what we're hoping for ourselves. Okay,

so today we have a really long passage. Thankfully

Gordon did a... dramatic reading of it in a way,

and it kept you engaged. But it's a long passage,

it's all of the chapter, and you have probably

heard sermons from different snippets of this

chapter because they warrant their own sermon,

but we're going to be taking it all together.

And what I am hoping that you see is that in

light of the cross and the resurrection, we are

a re -storied people. The stories we tell about

ourselves and the stories that are rightly told

about us are actually changed in light of the

resurrection. because we are restored people

in light of what God has done in Christ, okay?

Before we get into that, I want to tell you,

I want to actually read you a little bit of a

book that Lily and James and I have been reading.

Some of you are familiar maybe with Andrew Peterson's

books, The Wingfeather Saga. It would take too

long for me to give you all of the detail that

would make this quote better. So I'm just going

to read it to you. As you might imagine though,

this story is like lots of epic stories, which

means that it has love and betrayal and envy.

And all the things that make up real human life

hurt. Vying for attention from others, putting

others down, putting yourself first. These kinds

of things. Shame and guilt. Hurt. So here is

part of the book, North or Be Eatin'. So tell

us the story, lad," said Poto, the grandfather

figure. What happened? All eyes turned to Janer.

He knew this was coming. He'd always loved Poto's

stories and dreamed of the day he would have

his own, but now that he had a story to tell,

he found the telling was difficult. So much had

happened. How could he tell it all? He was afraid

to relive parts of it and was ashamed of others.

Poto nodded to him. I know it's hard lad, but

it's yours. You'll find healing in it, like it

or not. Start at the beginning, at Raunchy's

place. What happened after I broke down the door?

Janer took a deep breath and began. He told them

all of it. He told them about his anger at Tink,

that's his brother. About the horrors of tilling

court, about the awful darkness of the overseer's

box, and the peace he found there. He told them

about Sarah Cobbler and Nurgbog and Marley. They

listened with wide eyes, they asked him questions

now and then, and more than once, Nia, that's

his mother, Nia's eyes were brimming with tears.

But what Poto had said was true. Telling the

story hurt and helped all at once. Already he

could see ways the story had changed him and

would go on changing him. Did you hear that?

Telling the story hurt and helped all at once.

My guess is you've had some of those experiences

in your life. That's what we find in part here

in John chapter 21. Restoried people, because

John 21 · chapter mention

they have actually been restored, in what God

has done in Christ. And because they've been

restored in Christ, they're actually willing

to enter into the hurt and enter into the help.

And good stories, they have a few traits. Good

stories are honest stories, and they tell a history,

they tell of the past in an honest way. Good

stories engage with the present, and good stories

actually begin to shape the future, okay? So

that's sort of gonna be our outline here. First,

the honest past. past. Again, please keep your

Bible open, John chapter 21. Throughout this

John 21 · chapter mention

chapter, there's a lot of echoes. The Bible does

this quite a bit. That's actually part of what

we're looking at in our Sunday school. How does

the New Testament echo, reuse the Old Testament?

But there's a lot of echoes, and some of them

are really loud, and some of them are quieter,

about the past of the disciples, and particularly

the past of Peter, the disciple Peter. So I want

us to look at a few of them. And the first echo

of the past is about fishing, okay? So our chapter,

it begins with listing some of the disciples

and that they're there by the sea of Tiberias.

Jesus is revealing himself to some of his disciples.

And Peter says, and again, Gordon read this pretty

well, I'm going fishing, okay? which seems actually

rather consistent with Peter's past. He's bold.

He's a leader. He's sort of brash. He's in the

moment living. I'm going fishing. And everybody

else goes, yeah, yeah, okay, we'll go with you.

And here's what I want you to remember is that

right there, you're actually supposed to be thinking

back on the very beginning of these disciples

call and ministry to Jesus, right from the very

beginning of. of the Gospels. These were fishermen.

Most of them are fishermen. At least Peter and

James and John the sons of Zebedee were fishermen.

You might remember actually this winter we looked

at the story of when Peter and James and John

the sons of Zebedee were called by our Lord to

follow him. Specifically, what we learn from

that is that this isn't just a hobby thing like,

hey, let's go catch some fish because it's fun

to do. This is their profession. This is what

they did for their living. And in fact, one of

the things that we noted earlier on in the year

was that the sons of Zebedee would have meant

like, you know, they left their father, it said,

in the boat, which likely means that it wasn't

just kind of, you know, their thing. It was their

family thing and their dad's thing and their

grandpa's thing. And this was, this was who they

were. So it's a lot of their identity. But here

in this story, they are not fishermen. They're

failed fishermen. They're failed fishermen. Some

of you know how depressing it can be when you

go out fishing and somebody says, hey, did you

catch any fish? Like Jesus does here in verse

five. And you say, as Gordon said, no. It's a

great way of saying it. You said it, you captured

it perfectly. Well, if you were a professional

fisherman, and your father was, and your grandfather

was, and so on, then I will tell you this, your

failure hurts all the more. Shame. No wonder

they actually just say one word. Let's not talk

about it, because that is what we do with shame.

I don't want to talk about it. No. Okay, the

second echo that we have is not the echo of fishing

and their fishermen and their names, which evoke

us back to when Jesus first called them to himself.

But actually we have this little detail, it's

maybe a quiet echo, but in the context it's a

loud echo of the charcoal fire. I love this detail

because some of you know that I am adamant that

charcoal is much better than gas and I will go

to my deathbed with that conviction. And as a

little plug, you should come to the picnic today.

Charcoal. But I will tell you this, there are

few things better than fresh -caught fish over

a live fire. That's the beautiful little detail

that we are given. But as wonderful as these

sort of sensual details are that evoke in us

memories and delight, it was actually the exact

opposite that was taking place there. For Peter,

this was not a fond memory. What had just taken

place actually, this one word, anthracia, used

two times in the New Testament. Once right here,

the other time just three chapters earlier. Just

three chapters earlier. There, though Peter had

said he would never deny Jesus, there right next

to the charcoal fire in the courtyard of the

high priest, Peter denies him three times. Which

is to say that the shame of not catching any

fish, is augmented by the sin of the rejection

of God, which is what sin is, rejecting, denying

who God is, what he's done. Let me give you a

third echo. If you look down at verse 15, if

you look down in that paragraph, what you'll

notice is that three times, Jesus addresses Simon

Peter, and he addresses him not as Simon Peter,

but look at this, okay, verse 15, Simon son of

John, verse 16, he addressed, he said to him

a second time, Simon son of John, and then actually

verse 17, Simon son of John. Okay, small little

detail. But if you remember when Peter was called

to be a disciple of Jesus. When he was first

called, he was fishing there and Jesus says,

come and I'll make you fish with men. What Jesus

said was, that's not going to be your name anymore.

Your name is going to be Cephas. And then actually

the gospel writer says, which means Peter, which

means rock. That was at the very beginning of

the story, the very beginning of the gospel.

And it's Jesus that says, this is what you're

supposed to be called. But here, Jesus three

times says, Simon son of John. By the way, actually

this is kind of interesting too. This is the

only other time, sorry, the only other time that

he has said Simon son of John is when he was

first called by Peter and when his name was changed.

That was when his dad was mentioned and now his

dad is mentioned three times in this story. He

calls him his old name, but he also names his

dad along with him. If you look at the life of

Peter and even the echoes that we had already

seen here in the fishing failure and the sin

of denying Jesus, one of the things that we actually

see is that Peter rarely is a rock -like kind

of figure. He's actually much more sand -like.

You're kind of wishy and washy and kind of being

pushed here and pushed there. Bold at one time

and cowardly at another. It's not hard to wonder

why Jesus might have mentioned his dad three

times. He's kind of evoking his family story

and actually inviting him to look back on his

own, right? I'm sure you know this. Your parents

and your primary caregiver shape you more than

anything, any person on this earth. The way your

parents care for you or do not, or the ways they

love you or they don't, or the ways they hold

you or do not hold you, shapes you more than

anything humanly speaking. Your father and your

mother are the beginning of your story. Of course,

we are not actually told much about Peter's dad,

but how odd is it? that Jesus doesn't refer to

Peter by the name that he says he's going to

be referred to. And he three times here mentions

his dad. We don't know much about this, John,

but we do know that this is true, that Jesus

and the Lord has made the world in this way that

our primary caregivers shape us. And he's inviting

him into this kind of thing. Okay, here's what

I'm saying. As Jesus restories our lives around

his resurrection, you have to be honest with

your past, which is, there's three things here.

You have to be honest with the shame of your

past, the failures. You have to be honest with

the sin of your past. You just have to be honest

with your stories, your family stories, your

life stories, the ways that you actually don't

live into the names that you're given or the

ways that other people have treated you. This

is part of being honest with your past before

the Lord. Think of this, okay, truly, Jesus invites

them to consider this in the very places where

actually it might hurt most to consider this,

right? Think about this, okay, he's inviting

them to consider their shame in the very place

where they're most proficient, which is where

we feel the most shame, right? Like I said, these

people are fishermen. They knew far more than

I did do how to catch a fish, which isn't too

hard, but. They're the most adept. They're the

most practiced. This is what they do. If there

was one place where they didn't want to feel

failure, it's the thing that they had done 10

,000 hours of, right? Become a master of. Think

of how much our life is bound up in our professions,

in our career, or how many hours we spend practicing

those things. Is it any wonder, as sad as it

sometimes is, that when we are asked, what do

you do, we don't say things like, I go to senators

games. I paint. I use charcoal to smoke my pork

butts. I play pickleball. No, nobody's saying,

what do you do? I write poetry. I'm an engineer.

I'm a teacher. I'm a pastor. In some ways, because

that's what we devote our lives to so much. That's

where we find this kind of I do identity. And

that's where we feel the most shame when we are

failures at it. Our life is bound up in the time

that we spend in these things, our parenting

and all the rest, and we feel the most shame

in those places. What is the place of greatest

sin for Peter? No doubt for him, it was his threefold

denial on the very night of our Lord's death,

right? That is the sin that I guarantee loomed

large in his heart. And Jesus calls him out on

that with some of the details that would have

brought up, that would have evoked in him the

very place, the very moment, the very person

where he said, I do not know the man. Which is

to say you cannot find resurrection healing without

looking at the things of your past that you would

most like to hide, to just forget. And of course,

while we don't know the relationship that Peter

had with his dad, we do know that our own relationships

with our parents shape us into rocks or sand.

Rocks that can withstand much that the world

throws at us or simply sifting from one thing

to the next. They're some of the most formative

interactions of our lives, which is also why

we are so reticent to engage with them. What

I'm saying is that even in this story, I know

we could have taken apart these different, we

could have had a much shorter sermons here. But

if you take them all together, what Jesus is

inviting us to do is an honest appraisal of our

past. And he's saying you cannot be a restored,

you cannot be a restored person without being

an honest person. Okay, an honest past. Next

thing I wanna say is a participatory present.

Okay, Jesus restores Peter and these other disciples

by being present with them in the resurrection.

Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. Jesus only

heals us by the cross and the resurrection. The

work of Christ is finished on the cross. But

he applies it to us in the present reality through

the work of the Holy Spirit by being present

to us. as God with us, okay? He applies it to

us in the reality of the present. Okay, a couple

of details again here, echoes, right? And the

first echo I want you to see is fish again. So

they don't catch any fish. He tells them to throw

their net on the other side, which is an echo.

which some of you may be remembering, actually,

this story in Luke chapter five, when Peter is

called to be a disciple. In Luke chapter five,

we're actually told that Jesus says, hey, y 'all

catch any fish? No, we didn't catch any fish.

He goes, go out to the deep. And there, they

actually hollowed in so much, and we know it's

a different story, because in Luke it says that

the nets broke, and here it says the nets didn't

break. Different stories, but an echo. So here's

this echo of Jesus meeting their need in the

present. And they're like, you know what? When

Jesus was present to us then, we were failing

at the thing that we should be competent in.

And yet Jesus shows up and he heals us of our

shame then and he does it now. So there's this

present echo through fish. But interestingly,

Jesus doesn't just tell them what to do. There's

another little echo here around fish. Because

what he's doing in the present is he's inviting

them to participate in what he's doing verse

9 When they got out on land they saw charcoal

fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread

So he had all the food there ready. He could

provide he could call the fish into their net

all the rest Jesus said to them bring some of

the fish that you've caught He wants them to

bring what they have caught, even though He's

made them catch it. He says, I want you participating

in what I'm doing. Think of it. The detail, actually,

of fish and bread, of course, would have been

evocative of one of the great stories of the

Gospel of John, where Jesus takes five loaves

of bread and two fish, and the disciples are

like, there's no way we can feed all these people.

And he says, let this little boy's contribution

actually be a participation in my story of caring

for others. He wants their present participation.

Jesus affirms their fishing, the place of their

shame, even though that had been his own provision.

Jesus is inviting them in the presence to be

with him. Okay, another detail. So I mentioned

three times Jesus addresses Peter Simon son of

John But then it's interesting. What does he

say to him after that? The first actually changes

right and some of you know that the word love

is different and the word sheep can be different

I think actually that there's not much to read

into that partly because the text itself tells

us Where is this verse? Yeah 17, Peter was grieved

because he said to him a third time, do you love

me? So some of you might know that love is different,

but he summarizes it with the same word. Anyway,

but what's interesting is that the first time

Jesus says, do you love me more than these? The

other two times he says, do you love me? But

the first time he says, do you love me more than

these? And I want you to think about this. How

often was Peter's sin, and actually the sin that

led to his denial, connected to him putting himself

over others. This engagement with Jesus in the

present moment, just the two of them having this

dialogue, participating with one another in the

present is naming part of what had happened in

the past. When Jesus tells Peter that he will

deny him three times, right? A few chapters earlier,

it was right after that that Peter said, though

they all fall away, Because of you, I will never

fall away. Do you love me more than these? Being

present as Jesus is naming his sin. Jesus says

that before the cock crowed, before the night

was up, Peter would deny him three times. But

here, Jesus is also attentive to the threefold

denial. And he says, just as you deny me three

times, I need to be present with you and name

each one of those and restore you each time.

Which is to say that Jesus invited Peter into

the dark places of his story the places of his

denial the places of his sin And he names each

one and he says right here in the present be

present to me Participate in my redemption right

here Restoring Restoring which being restored

only happens when we can really name and deal

and confess and receive forgiveness for our pasts.

It has to be named, it has to be addressed, it

has to be seen, it has to be named, it has to

be forgiven specifically. Verse 17 tells us that

Peter was grieved that Jesus asked him a third

time, do you love me? But here's what I want

to suggest to you, it's also in that grief that

he found healing. It's not a grief that is actually

to his detriment, it's a grief to his good. He

says, you know all things you know, I love you

Which is remarkable because he's not he's not

playing the comparison game anymore. And he's

actually not compete He's not playing the false

humility game. Well, I don't know I mean, I you

know, I said that before and I don't you know,

this is you know I'm gonna be honest. I know

I love you and you know that One more detail

Mentioned three times that Jesus addresses Peter

as Simon son of John and that he had never done

that until he actually first called him to follow

him. And I think in part, at least, that was

inviting him to consider his past story, and

partly even his family past is part of his past

story. But interestingly, this detail actually

kind of moves us into another detail that's worth

considering. Here at the end of this gospel,

Peter and Jesus, it seems like they're walking

along the edge of the Sea of Tiberius, which

is the Sea of Galilee. And John is following

them, the disciple whom Jesus loved. And Peter

goes, Lord, what about this guy? What about this

guy? What about John? And what does Jesus say?

He doesn't say, well, let me tell you all about

that guy. Instead, he says, what's that to you?

Do you have to say it that way? Seems a little

rude, but actually what he says is, you follow

me. Which is to say, so often we begin to engage

our stories and we actually get caught up in

others, right? He says, hey, Simon's son of John,

he says this three times, he says, you've got

to consider this honest reckoning with your past.

And so often when we do that, we go, how will

we start comparing with others? And I'll be honest,

this is the part I think where I felt particularly

convicted, because I often wonder what Jesus

is doing in others, how I wish he was going to

do that in me, or how my story was more like

theirs, how I grew at the same... rate, height

-wise to be honest at times, or just spiritually.

My life took different turns than it did. How

easy it is just to look at others and go, what

about this guy? What's his story going to be?

Can mine maybe be more like his? I mean, we know

that John lived to an old age. Granted, he was

imprisoned at points, but you know how this goes.

I wonder how their family is. For me as a pastor,

I wonder what that church is like. This is a

great theme in the Narnia books. I know some

of you know them well and love them. It's one

of the great themes really. One of my favorite

stories of the Narnia books is the horse and

his boy. Some of you are familiar with that book.

And near the end, one of the main characters,

a girl named Erevis, is with Aslan, the Christ

-like character, the lion there. And she asks,

Aslan about this other girl. And she says, you

know, what about her? And he says, child, I am

telling you your story, not hers. No one is told

any story but their own. No one's told any story

but their own. Jesus, of course, he's God. He

knows the transformative work happens by being

present with him in the moment. And Jesus is

present here with Peter. And in the moment, what

happens is that Peter says, wait, Jesus, let's

move on from this. I'm feeling a little uneasy

with you calling out my shame and my sin and

inviting me into looking at my past. Can't we

move on to talking about John for a little while?

And he says, no, if you would receive my restoration,

my healing, you must actually engage with you

and me. No one's told any other story but their

own. Okay, we've seen an honest past, a participatory

present. Just quickly, a cruciform future. So

if you look down with me at verses 18 and 19,

that's on the bottom of page 1078, 18. truly

truly which is the word amen by the way amen

amen i say to you when you were young you used

to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted

but when you are old you will stretch out your

hands and another will dress you and carry you

where you do not want to go verse 19 because

by the way this is an enigmatic kind of prophecy

john tells us what's going on This he said to

show by what kind of death he was to glorify

God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow

me. So John tells us that this is how Peter would

die. And the consistent story of the church is

that Peter did die, actually most likely in the

late 50s, early 60s, in Nero's persecution of

the Christians in Rome. And he died on a cross,

upside down. His hands were stretched out, and

he went to his death, which he did not want to

go to. I want you to hear this this morning.

At the end of John chapter 13—this is also another

John 13 · chapter mention

echo, by the way—which is the story of the first

Monday Thursday, Jesus with his disciples up

in the upper room, which is the same night that

Peter betrays Jesus three times. In that chapter

at the end, we read this. Simon Peter said to

him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered

him, where I'm going, you cannot follow me now,

but you will follow afterward. Peter said to

him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will

lay down my life for you. Jesus answered him,

will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly,

amen, amen. I say to you, the rooster will not

crow until you've denied me three times." It's

interesting. This is just a few nights before

this event, you know, the resurrected Christ

event. And he says, I'm going to go with you.

And he says, you cannot go with me, but you will.

Which is to say that Jesus told him that he can't

go with him, but he's going to after an event.

And that event is the cross, the resurrection,

but it's even more this right here, this story.

Because it's this when he says again, the last

time he said amen, amen was right there to Peter.

Now he says again, amen, amen. He says, you are

gonna follow me. You're gonna follow me and you

are going to be like me. And why? Why are you

gonna take on this cruciform, Christ -iform kind

of life? Because your story has been restored

by mine. You've been restored. I've engaged with

your life in a way, in the past and in the present,

that your future life is an imitation of mine.

That, brothers and sisters, is what we are called

to in Christ. What I've been inviting us into

is just to say, what does it mean to be a resurrection

people? What does it mean to be people of the

cross and the resurrection? What does it mean

to be the church? And part of what it means is

people that are honest with our past, our sin,

our shame, and our families, and how we don't

live up to our names and our professions and

all this kind of stuff, to be present with Jesus

and the Holy Spirit in the moment when we want

to say, what about that guy? And as we do this,

we will become like our Lord. Amen? Amen. Amen.

Lord, do this in us. for our good, for the glory

of your name, that the wonder of Jesus would

be known. In His name we pray. Amen. Thank you

for listening to Second City Sermon's podcast.

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