Fresh Start - Better Than You Think

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for being such a great God.

We thank you for us all being here together this morning.

We thank you for adopting us as your very own children.

Holy Spirit, we thank you for being our counselor and our teacher.

And we just ask you to speak to each of us this morning.

And Jesus, just thank you for being our Savior and our friend.

We love you, we trust you, and it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So this month we're talking about fresh starts.

You know, there's times in our lives we need a fresh start.

You know, sometimes it feels like we need a new start in our whole life.

You know, and sometimes it's just areas of our life.

It might be our finances or it might be our marriage or school or friends.

God loves to create fresh starts.

You know, if you need one, he will have one for you.

Last Sunday we saw how Peter got started in his relationship with Jesus.

I want to recap that really quick because it's going to be important as we see kind of a new start that Peter gets later on.

But Peter lived in a city called Capernaum.

It was a relatively small fishing village.

It was on the Sea of Galilee.

It's a freshwater sea.

It's a beautiful blue sea with uh green hills all surrounding it that kind of just fall uh into the sea.

When we picture Jesus walking around, a lot of times in my mind I'm picturing sand and dry and dusty.

But a lot of the time that uh that Jesus lived, it was lush, almost almost tropical, lush and green and beautiful where he lived.

You know, it's where he lived once he had a choice.

He was born in Bethlehem, he was raised in Nazareth where his family was.

But when he got older, he moved to um Capernaum, and that's where he lived through most of the years that he taught.

Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew were all from Capernaum.

Last week I mentioned twelve different miracles or people that uh Jesus brought back to life.

All of them happened in this fishing village in Capernaum.

Peter wasn't uh Peter's real name.

His given name was Simon, and uh Jesus nicknamed him the Rock.

That's one thing we see that Jesus gave different people uh nicknames from time to time.

And uh so just kind of like Dwayne Johnson, um, Peter was called the Rock, and that was Petra, and so we translated Peter.

So eventually he was kind of known as Simon Peter, and the nickname really stuck.

And so later on, uh people just called him called him Peter, um the Rock.

He was a commercial fisherman, Peter was.

And just like the captains of uh the fishing boats on the deadliest catch, you know, he was rough and he was tough and he was coarse and uh and uh foul mouthed.

He owned his own boat, you know, and he lived and he worked and he dreamed of one thing, like commercial fishermen do.

He dreamed of the big catch.

You know, the big catch, the the windfall that that always brings.

And so one day Peter's minding his own business.

He's uh he's fished all night, hasn't caught a thing, he's exhausted, he's cleaning up his nets, and Jesus is there, and a whole crowd comes to hear him teach.

And Peter's not there to hear him teach, he's just over there on the side cleaning up his nets.

But but Peter, or Jesus needs Peter's help, and so he asks him if he could borrow the boat.

And so he goes a few yards off the shore so he can speak to the whole crowd, and Peter's there kind of manning the oars, keeping the boat straight so he can talk with everyone, and and he finishes um speaking, and he tells Peter, you know, let's just go a little further offshore where the water really drops off deep and drop your nets out again.

Um, Peter's exhausted, he's a little irritated.

What's this carpenter?

No, I'm the I'm the professional fisherman.

But begrudgingly he does it.

He drops his nets, and to Peter's surprise, it was the big catch.

It was what he'd always dreamed of the windfall, the nets are bursting.

You know, he has to call for help from uh his partners on the shore.

It's what he'd been striving for his whole life, and Jesus so nonchalantly makes it happen.

And there's something about that whole thing.

There's probably a lot of things happening at once in Peter's mind, how he got a glimpse of a whole different life, a different set of priorities.

Um, and more than anything, he saw that Jesus is God.

You know, so he dropped on his knees in the middle of the boat and decided on the spot that he was going to follow Jesus.

And that's what he did.

And they were inseparable, Peter and Jesus, for three years.

They did almost everything together.

Peter was there at the Transfiguration.

Peter was there as Jesus opposed all the uh religious leaders and the Pharisees.

It was Peter who had the courage to walk on water.

And when he got distracted, Jesus had to help him.

It was Peter who drew a sword to protect Jesus when they came to arrest him.

But it was also Peter who most famously bragged, I will never deny you Jesus.

I would die first.

It happened while Jesus was walking with his disciples.

They're heading up to the Mount of Olives, and Jesus was going to be arrested in a few hours and then crucified.

And Jesus told all of them, this whole group, he said, You know what?

You all are going to desert me.

And Peter did something that he actually was kind of prone to do is he threw everybody else under the bus.

He he literally said, Well, it wouldn't surprise me if they all desert you.

But I won't.

I will never desert you.

I would die first.

And Jesus said, Peter, you will.

You will.

In fact, three times you're gonna deny me.

You're gonna deny that you ever even knew me.

And that, of course, is what he did.

After Jesus was arrested, three times in a row, the third time he went all deadly as catch on him and swore.

So everybody got it.

I get it, you're definitely not a follower of Jesus.

And there was this moment where Jesus is being beaten by the religious leaders.

And Peter is dropping the big bombs to convince everyone that he had never even met Jesus.

And right then the Bible says that Peter remembered what Jesus had told him.

And he wept bitterly and went away ashamed.

So after Jesus is raised from the dead, Peter saw him twice.

Once Jesus is telling the group, hey, we're gonna get together.

And he says, make sure Peter knows.

Make sure Peter knows to come.

But still, Peter was discouraged.

He was crushed.

He was ashamed.

And so he went back home.

He went back home to Capernaum.

And that's what we're gonna see this morning in John chapter 21.

John 21 · chapter mention

Later Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee.

This is how it happened.

Several of the disciples were there.

Simon Peter, Thomas, nicknamed the twin, Nathaniel from Canaan and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing.

See, Peter didn't know exactly what to do.

So he went back to work.

He's a commercial fisherman.

You know, so so he went back to work fishing.

Now the other guys didn't know what to do either.

So they said, Okay, we'll go with you.

We'll come too, they all said.

So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

We saw last week that commercial fishermen uh then and still to this day always fish at night in the Sea of Galilee.

It's because the um the fish hide under the rocks during the day, the tilapia, but they school and feed at night, so they always fished um all night.

But uh more importantly, it had been three years since Peter had met Jesus.

And here he is in the same place, just off the shore of Capernaum, in the same boat, and in the exact same situation.

Fished all night, exhausted, hadn't caught a thing.

That's a discouraging place to be in the same boat.

Some of us are there this morning, you know, you've tried and you and and we've worked and we're making progress, then something happens.

And there we are, back in the exact same place.

Exact same boat.

You know, I've certainly experienced that.

Susan and I have experienced that in our marriage, you know, we're making progress and things are getting better.

And then there's a big argument or there's a situation and it feels like, oh, there we are, right back in the exact same place.

It can be true financially, you know, you start digging out of the hole, you know, and things just start to get better, then something breaks, or there's a job change, something happens.

And there we are, exact same uh boat.

It can be with our children, you know, as as they grow up and they're doing good, then something, then something happens.

And it can be like Peter, where we're just disgusted and disappointed in ourselves.

You know, we thought we had changed, we thought we were different, then one mistake, and we think, you know, we haven't changed at all.

We're still the same.

Well, if that's how you feel, hang in there.

This isn't the rest of Peter's story.

There's more to the story, there's more to your story too.

But that's where Peter was.

Back home, nothing changed, no longer fishing for people, back to fishing for fish.

At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was.

It's morning, it's probably a little foggy, he's a ways off uh offshore.

He called out, Fellows, have you caught any fish?

No, they replied.

Then he said, Throw out your net on the right hand side of the boat, and you'll get some.

So they did.

And they couldn't haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

You see what's happening here?

This is the exact same situation as three years ago with Peter.

Same place, same boat.

If I had to bet, I would bet that they were fishing in the exact same spot.

You know, before Jesus had uh said, you know, go out a little ways, but they were close enough that Peter could yell to his partners on shore for help, and here they are, they're far enough out where they can't really recognize Jesus, but they're close enough that Jesus can yell to them and tell them to drop down the nets on the right side.

And so they did.

And they couldn't even get the net in the boat.

For the second time in Peter's life, it had happened.

The big catch.

The big catch again, the windfall.

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, that's what John called himself.

You know, he's writing this, the disciple Jesus loved, said to Peter, It's the Lord.

When Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic, for he had stripped for work, jumped into the water, and headed to shore.

The light bulb went off for Peter.

Here I am.

Same place, same situation, same catch.

And all of a sudden he realized that Jesus had come to Capernaum to see him.

To see him.

And so he jumps in, robe and all, and he swims to shore.

The other stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore.

When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them.

Fish cooking over a charcoal fire and some bread.

Bring some of the fish you've just caught, Jesus said.

So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to shore.

There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn't torn.

Now come and have some breakfast, Jesus said.

And this is such a beautiful picture of Jesus.

Relaxed, casual, caring, cooking breakfast.

For the guys he loves.

The guys who had all deserted him.

For the guys he loves.

And there are not many times we need to know Greek words, thankfully, to understand what Jesus says in the New Testament, but this is going to be one of them.

There are four different Greek words that are translated love.

Two of them are going to be in this conversation that Jesus is about to have with Peter.

He says, after breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

You remember that Simon had said, hey, these guys, they might desert you, but I won't.

So Jesus asked kind of the same question.

Simon, do you really love me more than these guys do?

And the word he uses is agape.

And uh and some of you know that.

Agape is a do anything, die for you type of love.

It's a rare thing, agape.

We've got some of you who serve in the military or have served in the military.

You know, when you talk about loving your country, it's an agape kind of love.

I would die for my country.

You know, it's a rare thing, an agape kind of love.

Phleo is the is another word.

That's a brotherly kind of love.

You know, I care about you.

You're a good friend.

It's uh where the city of Philadelphia gets his name.

Phileo Delphia, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

It's from this same from this same word.

And Peter's gonna use the word phleo, a close friendship.

You know, I love you, man.

It's kind of like, you know, some of us guys, we might uh give each other a guy hug.

You know, a guy hug is when you slap them on the back at the exact same time, you know, and you say, Love you, man.

And then uh you say, How about those falcons, just so there's no confusion.

But uh it's uh it's that kind of thing.

You know, love you, man.

And so so Jesus says to Peter, Do you agape me more than these guys?

And Peter doesn't really answer the question.

He says, Yes, Lord, Peter replied, You know I love you.

But but the word is phlao.

You know I care about you.

Then feed my lambs, Jesus told him.

Jesus repeated the question.

Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Agape, do you would you do anything for me?

Even die for me?

Yes, Lord, Peter said.

You know I care about you.

You know you're a close friend to me.

A third time he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

But this time Jesus uses the word.

Simon, son of John, do you care about me?

Do you have a brotherly affection?

Consider me a close friend.

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time.

He said, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you.

You know that I care about you.

See, what hurt Peter was that he had asked him for the third time, unmistakably reminding Peter that he had denied Jesus three times.

Jesus said, Then feed my sheep.

This might be the first deeply honest conversation that Peter had ever had with Jesus.

He wasn't trying to impress Jesus anymore.

Not trying to earn his approval.

He just simply says, you know everything.

You know I didn't die for you.

You know that.

And you know I do care about you.

And three times Jesus says what following him looks like, what loving him looks like.

Help others, help others, help others.

Do you love me?

Help others.

Do you love me?

Help others.

Do you love me?

Help others.

And Jesus goes on, looking Peter right in the eyes.

He says, I tell you the truth.

When you were young, you were able to do as you liked.

You dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go.

But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others will dress you and take you where you don't want to go.

Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God.

Then Jesus told him, Follow me.

I'm not sure anyone but Peter can understand what just happened.

What Jesus just did for Peter.

See, what Jesus just did is he took away Peter's shame.

See, Peter denied him three times.

Jesus gets him to tell him he loves him three times.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

Then Jesus says something that is so easy to miss.

He tells him that his death is one, is going to be one that would glorify God.

That he was going to be executed for following Jesus.

And he was.

He ended up being crucified upside down later in his life.

So what Jesus says to Peter is, guess what, Peter?

You do agape me.

You do.

In fact, when you're old, you'll be faced with execution.

You won't break down.

You won't run.

You agape me.

It's okay, Peter.

Just follow me.

See, Peter was going to be stronger than he thought, not weaker.

He was going to be better than he thought he could be.

Because now he was dependent on Jesus, not on his own goodness, not on his own ability, not on his own strength.

And the Holy Spirit was going to fill Jesus just like he does us.

And he was going to fill Peter just like he does us.

And he was going to transform Peter from the inside out.

And he was going to change him more than Peter could even imagine.

And so Jesus met Peter at his greatest point of failure.

Looked him right in the eye, and said, I know that you love me.

And you're going to be better than you think you can be.

And he does the exact same thing with us.

He looks us in the eye and he says, It's okay.

I know you're addicted.

I know you had an abortion.

I know you made some terrible financial decisions.

I know you screwed up your marriage.

I know you lost your temper.

I know there's an area of your life you can't seem to get a hold of.

You're going to be better than you think you can be.

I know everything about you.

I know that you love me, but we're going to get past this, you and me.

And we're going to help people together.

The religious leaders had been spitting on Jesus.

They'd been beating him with their fists.

And just a few yards away, Peter was adamantly, profanely denying that he had ever even met him.

But he had met him.

See, they had met on the exact same spot where they're sitting now.

And Jesus saw in Peter what Peter could not even see in himself.

Peter, it's okay.

I know you love me.

It's a new start.

It's a fresh start for Peter.

Peter was not in the same boat.

He wasn't.

Because he had a relationship with Jesus.

Jesus had more compassion than he could imagine.

Jesus had more love than he could imagine.

Jesus was never going to be disappointed in him and leave him.

And it's the same for us.

It's the exact same for us.

Even though we feel like we're in the same boat, we are not in the same boat if we have a relationship with Jesus.

He is transforming us.

He uses those experiences.

And we get to a point where we can say, Jesus, you know everything about me.

You know everything about me.

And Jesus says, I do and I love you.

You're going to be better than you think you are.

We're going to do more than you think we can do.

I love you.

That's Peter's fresh start.

If you need a fresh start, Jesus has one for you today.

If the worship team wants to come up, let's stand.

We're going to sing one last song together.

And that song is a song of celebration.

I mean, what an amazing thing to have a God that loves us, a God that's for us, a God that's not mad at us.

A Father that adopted us as his own children.

The Holy Spirit who teaches us and comforts us and changes us from the inside out.

And Jesus, who would do anything for us, who has done everything for us, who loves us no matter what.

A real conversation with Jesus.

It's such a wonderful thing to have.

You may be that you need to start with Jesus for the first time, like Peter had three years ago.

That's a pretty easy conversation to have.

You know, we can say it in our own words.

Jesus, I need you.

I want to follow you.

Help me.

I'm not even sure how.

And he will.

He fills us with his spirit.

He strengthens us from the inside out.

He changes us more than we could even imagine.

Or it might be that we need to have the conversation like Peter had.

And get past the shame.

Just get past the shame.

Well, Jesus would say, I know.

I know all about that.

I love you.

I love you.

We're going to do it.

We're going to be better than you thought you could be.

We're going to do more than you thought you could do.

I love you.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for being such a great God.

For loving us, adopting us, your children.

We just praise you for that.

We praise you for that.

Holy Spirit, thank you for teaching us, for changing us.

And Jesus, thank you for loving us in a way that we can't even imagine.

Thank you for your great compassion on us.

Thank you for seeing more in us than we can even see in ourselves.

We trust you to change us.

We thank you and we love you.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.