John 21 - Stretch the Nets

All right, good morning. My name is Greg Hampton. If we have never met, I'm one of the pastors here.

I would love to have coffee with you or just chat with you after service, get to know you, hear your story.

I love to talk about Jesus.

And so if you'd like to do that, I would love to do that with you. Today is the last Sunday in our series through the

Gospel of John. We've been walking through it all

summer long. And so we are going to be in the last chapter of John today.

If you miss any of those messages, if you want to hear those, you can get those anywhere that podcasts can be found out

in the ethereal universe of streaming. Or you can go to our Facebook page or YouTube if you want to watch the whole

service. But let's go ahead and jump into the scriptures. We're gonna be in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, there's blue ones on the tables.

And you can download a digital version from any of the app stores.

But you can take one of those Bibles home if you would like to. And we're gonna be in John, the last chapter 21.

It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. If you see any of those, you know that you are in the right neighborhood.

And just zero in on John chapter

John 21 · chapter mention

21. And we have a tradition around here that when we read the scriptures as a part of the sermon that we stand,

we just give it our full attention.

One of the ways you can do that is by standing with me if you'd like to. Otherwise sit and let's just

center our mind in on listening to the scriptures.

All right, here we go. John 21 starting in verse 1. It says this,

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee. It happened this way.

Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.

I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them. And they said, we'll go with you.

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

Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered.

He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.

When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciples whom the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord.

And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him,

for he had taken it off and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat,

towing the net full of fish for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

When they landed, they saw a fire burning coals there with fish on it and some bread.

Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you have just caught.

So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore.

It was full of large fish, 153. But even with so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast.

None of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them and did the same with the fish.

Let us pray. God of every tribe, every tongue, every color, every nation,

we thank you for the scriptures that they have persisted throughout the millennia.

That we have them to learn from, to consider.

I pray that whatever you have for us to learn today, that it would stick.

That it would become a part of the framework of our faith.

That our faith would become stronger as we become more like your son Jesus. Amen.

Can I have a seat? Thanks.

Alright, so this story is found twice throughout the Gospels.

Once here in John and once in the Gospel of Luke.

But there are a ton of differences between the two.

In Luke, it's at the beginning of the Gospel. In John, it's at the very end.

In Luke, there's crowds on the shore watching what's happening as Jesus teaches.

And then this miracle happens. In John, they seem to be all alone.

In Luke, this is the event that causes the disciples to follow Jesus.

But in John, they've already been following Jesus for years.

And then in Luke, this is when Jesus says, I will make you fishers of men.

But in John, he just tells them to bring some of the fish they just caught.

And he adds them to the meal.

Now, there's enough similarities and there's enough differences.

That across the centuries, people have disagreed about whether these are two completely different events.

Where Jesus made the nets overflow two different times.

Or if it's just the same story and John moved it to the end and told it differently because of what he was trying to say.

Now, as you've heard me say many times, we do not really know for sure.

But we know that there's something that we're supposed to be learning here.

So let me tell you what I see.

Because of where this story lands in Luke, it's a recruitment story.

It's exactly what it is. It's a recruitment story.

That the miracle is meant to cause them to see Jesus for who he is and then to follow him.

That's the point. But in John, because it's at the end, because it's the last thing, it's not recruitment, it's commissioning.

It's not the event that's meant to make them follow him for the first time.

This is the event that's meant to propel them into the work that Jesus has for them to do.

Now maybe you've heard of the Great Commission. Yeah?

Both Matthew and Luke have a version of the Great Commission at the end of their Gospels where Jesus tells them verbally what they're going to do, where they're going to go, what it will be like.

But in John, instead of saying it with words, Jesus shows them with a meal.

Much like the Eucharist, like communion, this meal is a metaphor.

So what does it mean? When the disciples got to the shore, Jesus already had something. What did he already have?

Yeah. He already had some fish. He already had fish of his own on the coals.

That's because Jesus had already done his part.

Jesus had already caught his fish. Jesus already had his disciples.

He did the catching he needed to do, but now it was their turn.

In John 14, Jesus taught them, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing and they will do even greater things.

So the fish they caught, with his help of course, represent greater things.

The multitudes that will believe because of their work.

And then remember, just a few chapters ago, earlier in John 17, a couple weeks ago, Scott used it as his reference to preach about unity.

Jesus prayed that all of them would be one.

Not only his disciples, but everyone that will believe that all of them would be brought together because of this message.

And so this meal, what he's doing is he's taking his work, he's taking their work, and he's symbolically bringing it together.

Two thousand years later, Jesus is still bringing us together, amen?

He's bringing us together around a meal. We celebrate it at the end of every service.

I don't know what our average weekly attendance is, because I stopped counting years ago.

Not always healthy for pastors to pay that much attention to that stuff.

But I know this, the last couple weeks we've run out of communion at the end of each of the services.

Which means that there have been more people here, which is great.

But it also reminds me of one more difference between the way that Luke tells this story and the way that John tells this story.

In Luke, before they've been trained and discipled, before they have followed him,

before they have walked with him for years and heard all of his parables and stories and seen all of his miracles,

it says that they caught so many fish that their nets began to tear.

But in John's version, after everything that they've been through with Jesus, after his death, after his resurrection,

it says that the net was so full that they couldn't get it back into the boat, but the nets did not break.

The world needs more kind, life-giving, good churches.

So many of those churches are meant to grow. Numerically.

Sometimes a church is meant to get to a spot and stay there, and they're kind of like a freshwater pool that people come in and out

because they go off to other parts of the world and other people come in, and then they send people off.

Many churches are meant to grow to much larger sizes.

And it'll be a good thing if our church grows numerically, but we also want to grow in a way that will not tear the nets.

Hear that? We want to grow as a church in a way that will not tear the nets.

And that's why I think that this next year is going to be one of the most intentional years that we've ever had.

Let me tell you what I mean. We do these things called rest Sundays.

If you've been here more than six months, you've experienced one of these.

We have them three times a year. We do one on Labor Day weekend. We do one the Sunday after Christmas.

We do it on Memorial Day weekend. Three times a year, we give the entire congregation a Sunday of rest.

There's no service. There's no worship here.

We are encouraging you to be at home or do whatever you find most restful to experience the presence and personhood of God in the presence of rest.

That just happens to be next week.

Now, in my calendar as the lead pastor of this church, in my brain calendar of church, the way that I think about it, next Sunday is the first Sunday of our year.

I think of that as the way that we start. Why? Because I think that rest comes first.

I think that rest comes first. I think that Jesus says, come to me, all who are weak and weary, and I will give you rest.

So in my brain, next Sunday, when there isn't even a gathering here, that's the beginning of our church year.

Rest. Receive. Rest. Come to Jesus. Receive. Rest.

If we do not stop and give, everyone rest. We may never stop asking people to work.

Rest is vital. So that's next Sunday, September 1st. And then we begin to live and work. Monday, September 2nd is Labor Day.

We get to serve our city for the 11th straight year by working and serving in the Rock Island Labor Day Parade.

That's awesome. 11 straight years as a church that we have been serving in the parade. Not just walking in it, but serving in it.

Serving our city. Because we've believed since the beginning that something we're supposed to do is even serve our city in small ways.

Every year we have got a group of eight to ten people at the front helping arrange all of the floats and all of the groups.

It is organized chaos. Because there are so many different groups. And they give you this map.

I've been doing this for a long time now. But they give you this map that has letters and numbers on it.

And then it's like, it's printed on the front and the back and it's the same map. But when you flip it over, it's upside down and turned around.

And so like your brain starts going, I have no idea where I am in this city now. But you're probably over there. Let me help you.

And so you just walk around with people trying to help make sure they know where their float is supposed to be.

And then we have a group of eight to ten. I think you guys got it easy. The group at the end. All you got to do is go over there.

Nope, stop walking right there. Go over there. Stop walking right there.

We have a group of eight to ten at the end that serves our city. But after ten years of serving the parade, this eleventh year,

we thought maybe we were ready to also walk in the parade. We've never walked in the parade. We've always just served.

Because we thought that was important, but we think maybe now may not ever happen again. But this year we felt let's do this.

Let's try this out. And since we are the house, we thought it would be fun to build a playhouse from scratch for the parades,

to put on a trailer and walk with that near the end of the parade so that the people that serve at the front, if they want to,

they can walk with it and we'll put a QR code on it. And everyone that's in the parade can look at it, point their camera at it,

and follow the link, and they can sign up to win that playhouse for free. Because that's another way of offering life.

They will not have to come here to get it. They will not have to come to a church service to win.

All they have to do is see that we are here, to see that we're walking in our city. We're part of this city.

And if they want, they can follow a link. Not a chance of having the Daryl Deluxe on their property. Yes.

And then the next Sunday, September 8th, is what we call Homecoming Sunday.

Homecoming Sunday is from 10 to noon. And so what's happening there is that instead of coffee hour at 10 o'clock and worship at 10.30,

we just have our Homecoming event. It is fun. There are games. There is food. And there are art for all ages.

The most important thing that it has is it has family. This is one of the best days to introduce someone to this family for the first time.

Because as much as people say they're looking for a church with good music or good preaching or good theology,

what they are really looking for is a spiritual family. Not even one that they completely agree with.

If we gave everyone a theological exam in this room, we'd probably have a hundred different versions of Christianity in this room.

And there isn't a hundred people in the room. Diversity amongst thought is good because it is the Holy Spirit that makes us one.

People are looking for a spiritual family. Homecoming Sunday is a great place to meet that family.

And then the Sunday after that, September 15th, remember I'm talking about intentionality.

I'm talking about intentionality of growing as a church in a way that does not tear the nets.

On September 15th, Treehouse starts back up. Gonna get a whoo! Yeah.

Robin Messerly is amazing. Round of applause for Robin Messerly. She is amazing. She leads Treehouse.

She and her team every week in Treehouse, your kids will learn how to climb into God's great story.

They will learn how to climb into God's great story and see that they are a part of it.

So bring your kids every Sunday or as often as you can. You will not regret it and they will remember it.

And then that same Sunday, The Shed starts back up. The Shed is our student ministry for sixth to twelfth graders.

A little round of applause for Alex Campbell. Alex is not here. He is out of town, but maybe he'll...hey Alex.

Maybe he'll watch online. Alex leads the...it's called The Shed. I always am careful to tell people I didn't name it.

We didn't name that. The kids named it that. They wanted to be The Shed. Yes.

Because they are tools in the hands of the Lord is what they said. Right?

It is. They were like, oh, we're all a different tool. I'm not kidding. They spent a Sunday drawing on the board in there.

What tool everyone is. Yep. Of course we had to warn them, don't walk around calling people tools.

That's not what it means. But Alex spends Sunday mornings. It's even just a half an hour, 10 to 1030.

But every Sunday, Alex is teaching our students about how to think about Jesus, how to follow Jesus,

how to think about what it is they believe as they walk out into the world.

Yes, you have to bring your students a little bit earlier than the regular service, but it is worth it.

And there's coffee. So come for the coffee, if anything else.

And then, intentionally, for the first time, we are officially adding a second layer to our student ministry.

Alex Campbell will continue to lead the Sunday morning elements.

But starting in September, Kathleen and Alex North will be planning and leading monthly events for our students.

Round of applause for the future. Kathleen's back there. Alex is over there.

And what I love is that I went over to their house to meet with them to talk about this idea.

And I had to tell them not to say yes on the spot because I could tell that they were going to say yes.

I love that they were excited about working with our students.

They already have something planned for September, for October, and for November.

What we'll probably do is split the ages up. We'll probably have one of the age groups, middle school or high school, do it in September.

The next month, the other group will do something.

In the November, we're going to have something unified, and it will continue on throughout the year.

Listen, sometimes we're just doing something for fun.

More often, what we're doing is a part of being intentional.

Being intentional in how we grow people's hearts.

Because growing our hearts is how we keep nets from tearing.

It's also why in September, we're starting what I'm just calling Tuesday activities.

I talked to Cindy, I was like, should I call them Tuesdayivities?

Should I call them, how about Tuesdaytivities?

I was thinking of something creative, and I was like, they're just Tuesday activities.

Every Tuesday night, there's going to be something happening here for you.

First Tuesday of the month, we're going to have extended worship and prayer.

One, because it's something that I know that my heart needs.

I'm a worshiper. I could play my guitar and sing for 90 minutes straight.

It is the core of who I am.

But I also know that we spent a big chunk of the beginning of this calendar year going through a worship series.

Where we talked about all the different ways that you can worship.

And so now what we're doing is we're putting meat on that bone.

If you want to sing, if you want to pray, first Tuesdays, come on.

Let's sing, let's pray. Let's experience the presence of God in an unhindered, unplanned way.

Second Tuesday of each month, we're going to walk through Greenbush.

Jake Van Dam, wave your hand. Jake Van Dam is going to be leading that.

Jake Van Dam knows a lot about sociology and structure and how neighborhoods work.

He's going through another master's program right now.

And one of the things he's going to help us do is think about where to walk, how to walk, what things to do when we walk.

Is it prayer? Is it cleanup? Is it some kind of service or are we just present?

He's going to be helping us do that every second Tuesday.

Third Tuesday we're going to have what's called spiritual conversations.

You guys got questions? You got questions? Let's talk about them.

Let's talk about them. You got a friend that is an antagonistic atheist. Bring him.

Bring him. Anyone that's ever hung out with me in a public place knows that I am ready to have a conversation about Jesus with anybody.

Not to convince them they are wrong. To show them that Jesus cares.

To show them Jesus wants to talk to them.

And that Jesus isn't mad that they don't believe the way that we believe.

So bring it. Third Tuesdays of the month, let's have spiritual conversations.

Fourth Tuesday, we're going to do what's called facility care.

That water pipe going through this building right there has never been cleaned.

Not even once.

And I always look at it and I go, I need to get on a ladder and clean that pipe.

And then I was like, nah, someone needs to help me.

So every fourth Tuesday, whatever it is, we're going to come up with a list of things and then we're just going to go through them

and make sure that we're taking care of the property that God has given us to minister to people in.

And then every second and fourth, back to Robin Messerly, she's going to be leading something called Worship Dance Crew.

If you love to dance, if you would like to dance as a form of worship,

she's going to be doing that in the Treehouse Large Group space at the same time that the other events are happening.

What time would that be?

6 to 730, all of those. Yep. I want to close by saying something about Sunday mornings in general.

We want you to know that this space is your space.

Linger. Talk. Hang. Go get food and bring it back.

As long as there's still someone in the building, they'll let you in.

Listen, when the pastors need to go, because maybe we got something else going on, we'll lock the doors behind us.

Just turn the lights off when you leave.

Because this is space for you to develop relationships and connections because Sunday is your space.

Today's a great example. This just happens to be the last Sunday of the month.

So even though I've talked about all this other stuff that is happening, there's one thing that I left here to the end because it happens to be happening today.

Dave Hodge, will you raise your hand or wave your hand back there?

Dave Hodge is going to host every last Sunday of the month. Dave Hodge is going to host what's called the Tabletop Game Day.

Just after church, bring your board games that you like or just come ready to play whatever's already here.

Bring some food. You can bring it earlier or head out and come on back.

Guys, it is relational connections between people that make a net strong.

It is the knots that you tie with each other that make a net strong.

What I hope you hear me saying is that worship is important. The word is important.

But what I hope you hear me saying above all of that is that that's only a small part of what it means to be a church.

It's only a small part of what creates moments that truly connect us with each other.

It's the moments between the services that do more to strengthen the nets of a church than just a service that you go to sometimes.

So consider this your commissioning because God has great things for us to do.

God has great things for us to do. There are more fish to gather because of what He has done.

And He will bring us all together. Amen? Amen.