Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
John 20:30-21:17
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
21:1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 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. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8 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 yards1 off.
9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
[1] 21:8
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
I invite you to open your bibles to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. We will begin reading in verse 30, and I believe it's there in your worship guide as well. Now, Jesus did many other things in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Joel Brooks: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 2 other disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we will go with you.
Joel Brooks:They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was him. 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 the fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord.
Joel Brooks:When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a 100 yards off. When they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have caught. So Simon Peter went on board and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them.
Joel Brooks:And although there were 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 with the fish.
Joel Brooks:This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord. You know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs.
Joel Brooks:He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.' He said to him the 3rd time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the 3rd time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.
Joel Brooks:Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Father, we wanna be fed by You this morning. We ask that You would nourish our hearts and our souls through Your word.
Joel Brooks:Lord, I pray for real change. Where there needs to be healing, we pray that you would heal. Where there needs to be true conviction, convict. But have your way in our midst. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. The gospel seems to have nicely come to a close at the end of chapter 20. I mean, just look at those last two verses.
Joel Brooks:Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name. It sums up this gospel pretty well. It seems to be kinda the the last period, but it's not. John decides to put this epilogue at the end of his gospel. It's kinda like, you know, when you've you watched Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson the director and Frodo, he's already got rid of the ring, thrown it into the fire.
Joel Brooks:Good has triumphed over evil. The movie can't end there, though. There's like an epilogue and an epilogue and another one and another one. You just kinda wanna linger there, and it's necessary because there are still a few loose ends. Well, there's one really big loose end in John's gospel, and that's Peter.
Joel Brooks:What about Peter? Now of of course, Peter was thrilled, joyful, filled even filled with hope that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. How how could he not be? And yet, even resurrection itself could not erase from Peter the memory of what he had done. If anything, resurrection had actually intensified those feelings of shame and feelings of guilt, because how could he have done this to Jesus who was triumphant, Jesus who was right.
Joel Brooks:And so Peter had been completely devastated after he had denied knowing Jesus. He thought he was better than that. He thought he was stronger than that. He realized he he doesn't even know who he is anymore, if he's capable of that. And now he's at this place in his life, he he he's wondering, can Jesus still use me?
Joel Brooks:What's what's my place now in the church? How does one get rid of such vivid memories of sin and failure? A good way to think of this is Peter knows that he has been legally forgiven. He knows that legally, his his slate is clean, that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, his sins have been washed away. But how does he actually experience that?
Joel Brooks:He knows legally that's where he stands, but but really, how are we Jesus? And what's my role in this place? Will you ever use me again? And perhaps that is some of you in this room. You know legally you are forgiven, but you still feel pretty dirty.
Joel Brooks:And can Jesus use you? The story begins in Galilee. This is 80 miles away from Jerusalem. And so that means some time has gone by, perhaps a week since they have last seen the resurrected Jesus. And the disciples are now in some kind of limbo.
Joel Brooks:I mean, what does what does life look like now that Jesus has risen from the dead? Are they supposed to go from town to town to town and and share their faith? Or do they go back to their normal lives? What does work now look like now that Jesus has risen? And and they're not really sure what to do.
Joel Brooks:But Jesus being risen from the dead or not, they've got to eat. And so they go fishing. And I bet it felt good, just, especially for Peter, just hard manual labor, something familiar and just doing that all night, especially after such an emotional week just to be out there working. Well, they caught nothing all night. And then they they they see and they hear this man on the distant shore.
Joel Brooks:He's about a 100 yards off. The the daylight is just beginning to break, so they don't recognize it's Jesus. And Jesus calls out to them and says, hey, why don't you cast your nets out on the right side? And for some reason, they do it. I I I that I can't fathom that because most people hate being told where to fish and where to cast their nets, but they actually do it.
Joel Brooks:And they catch this enormous sum of fish. And it was at that point, John, he recognizes that's the Lord. And the moment Peter hears, it's the Lord, he jumps in and he begins swimming to the shore. And I actually love this little detail that John puts in there. He says, Peter put on his clothes first before he jumped in.
Joel Brooks:In other words, John is saying, Peter's an idiot because who puts on their clothes to then jump in the water to swim to shore? Peter, that's who. And it just it's obviously an eyewitness account. He tells us this because it's how he remembered it. Peter put on his clothes, swam a 100 yards to shore.
Joel Brooks:The haul of the fish is enormous. So enormous that they actually took their time to count the fish. There's a 153 fish. Now, I've read everything. I think there is about a 153 fish and there's there's many scholars, out there or commentators out there who will give you all sorts of reasons that there had to be a 153 fish.
Joel Brooks:There's numerologists out there. They'll tell you what this the number a 153 adds up to in some Hebrew word. Some people say there was a 153 different types of fish or types of nations and so they represent different people groups, but, it's it's really not that complicated. Anybody who has gone fishing and has caught a whole lot of fish has counted them. Alright?
Joel Brooks:It's just what fishermen do. This was the biggest catch they'd ever had. Of course, they were going to count them. Once again, this is an eyewitness account. Why does John tell us there was 153 fish?
Joel Brooks:Because he remembers there was a 153 fish, and we put them all out before Jesus. And then the disciples got to sit down and eat with Jesus. I love verse 12. It's it's another one, those little details where it says, no one dared ask him, who are you? Because they all knew that it was the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Now John wouldn't have included this detail if Jesus didn't somehow look different. It's kind of like they wanted to ask, is this really you? But but they knew it was really him, but he looked altogether different. How do you describe somebody who's no longer subject to death and decay? What does a person like that look like?
Joel Brooks:It kinda like be like somebody in the 17th century and you would show them maybe the internet or show them a automobile. How do they describe that? They could tell you it's real, but they lack the vocabulary. And the disciples lack the vocabulary to describe Jesus. After the resurrection, none of his clothing is ever described.
Joel Brooks:None of his face is ever described because they lacked the vocabulary you cannot all together altogether different, yet, clearly Jesus. Clearly Jesus. Well, Jesus, he, he sits down with them, and then he talks to Peter and begins the most painful, awkward conversation possibly ever recorded in history. You wince as you just read it. Make no mistake.
Joel Brooks:Jesus wants to inflict pain on Peter. He wants this to hurt, because he knows there can be no restoration, no healing without pain. And so Jesus is gonna cut Peter open, but not like a butcher, like a surgeon. He's gonna do some surgery on his soul. He does this first by starting a charcoal fire.
Joel Brooks:He evokes the senses. Smell is the sense that's most closely associated with memory. And the last time that Peter was by a fire was when he was denying Jesus for the last time. And after he had done that denial, Jesus had turned and looked right at him. Once again, they're at a fire and Jesus is looking right at them.
Joel Brooks:Jesus then asked him the question 3 times, reminding him of his denial 3 times. And you can almost just feel it every time that question cutting deeper and deeper. Can you imagine how awkward this was for the disciples who were around? I mean, they're just they're having dinner, and then Jesus just kinda starts gently tearing into Peter. Jesus asked Peter this question.
Joel Brooks:Do you love me more than these? Actually, He doesn't address him as Peter. That was the first sting. Simon. He he addresses him by his pre conversion name, the name he had before Christ called him to be a disciple.
Joel Brooks:Simon, do you love me more than these? Peter, of of course, had said earlier that if all of these if all of these disciples, if they fall away, if they deny you, Jesus, I never will. If I have to lay down my life for you, Jesus, I will lay down my life for you. And now Jesus is asking them the question, do you really love me more than these? It is a crushing question.
Joel Brooks:Jesus doesn't ask Peter, Peter, did you learn your lesson? Are we gonna do that again? I hope you learned your lesson. Can we move on now? Instead, he goes to the heart of the sin.
Joel Brooks:He goes to the sin, really, underneath the sin, and the root of Peter's sin was pride. Peter thought that he was better than that. Peter thought that he was really more courageous, really more spiritual than all the others. At church, when Peter would go into church and he would hear a sermon, he'd be thinking, I hope so and so is listening to this. Oh, I wish so and so was here to hear that message.
Joel Brooks:Peter was the one who would be the 1st to raise his hands up in worship and then the 1st to judge all the other hypocrites who followed suit. They're not like me in my devotion. He'd be the 1st to sign up to volunteer at the soup kitchen and the 1st to judge everyone else who didn't sign up. They'd call themselves servants of Christ. If If they were servants of Christ, they'd be out here volunteering.
Joel Brooks:He had placed himself in a position of superiority over all of his fellow disciples. And so the root of his sin was pride, and pride leads to us denying Jesus. If you really think about it, all sin is really a type of denying Jesus. That's what sin is. Whenever we sin, we deny his lordship over our lives.
Joel Brooks:We deny that he can make a claim over our life. We deny that he demands absolute obedience. We deny the authority of his word. We deny that His promises are real. All of our sins are really a form of denying Jesus, and they're all rooted in pride.
Joel Brooks:So what I want you to see here in this conversation is is not just see Peter. See yourself there. Jesus is asking you these same questions. After Peter answers Jesus, Jesus asked him the same question again. Peter, do you love me?
Joel Brooks:Thankfully, mercifully, Jesus does not add the more than these. Just do you love me? And then Jesus asked him a third time, and that third time had to hurt. The word here is grieved. Peter was grieved after that third time, and it's a strong word.
Joel Brooks:You could say Peter was devastated. Peter came apart, And I'm sure that there was there was weeping. I'm sure there was many tears. He probably had a hard time answering when he said, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.
Joel Brooks:You know everything. You know what Peter is saying when he says, you know everything? He's saying, Jesus, you had me pegged. I didn't believe it. I didn't believe I was capable of it, but you had me pegged.
Joel Brooks:You knew I would deny you. And I would have bet the farm that I would have never done such a thing. But you knew. You know me better than I know myself. You know everything.
Joel Brooks:So certainly, if you know everything, you could at least look in my heart and know that somewhere in there, there's some kind of affection towards you. You know I love you. Now I've been thinking through this text for a few weeks now, and the more I've studied it, the more I've prayed over it. I wanna just confess that I have been grieved by that question. Do you love me?
Joel Brooks:It's brought me to a point where I have grieved, because so often, the answer is no. It's a probing question. Of all the questions that Jesus could have asked, He simply asked, Peter, do you love me? He doesn't say, Simon, will you now listen to my warnings? Simon, will you now believe what I have to say?
Joel Brooks:Simon, will you finally trust me? Simon, will you believe that I am the Son of God? Do you do you believe that? Simon, do you believe my doctrines? Do you believe my teachings?
Joel Brooks:Simon, will you now repent of your sin? He doesn't ask, Simon, will you now confess me in front of others? Will you now give your life for me, Simon? He simply asked, do you love me? Peter, is there any affection in your heart towards me?
Joel Brooks:Do you feel a personal attachment to me? That's all I want to know. And Jesus presses that in, and he presses it in until Peter is grieved. And if I could this morning, I would kinda like to press that in till you are grieved, that question, because it does not matter who you are, how gifted you are, how much you have been used by God, how much you know about God, the question is do you love him? If you go to church and if you go to home group every week, you are not excluded from this question.
Joel Brooks:Nothing excludes you from the necessity of this question. Peter was as religious as they come, and yet Jesus asked this of him. And there's a lot of people who live good moral lives, who go to church every single Sunday, and yet their hearts are not warmed in their affection towards Jesus. Hear me. If you hold a leadership position in this church, you are not excluded from this question.
Joel Brooks:Jesus was 1 or Peter was 1 of the 12. He was an apostle and he wasn't just 1 of the 12. He was he was one of the inner circle. He was one of the 3 and not just one of the 3, he was kinda the one in the 3. He was the one on whom Jesus said, you're my rock.
Joel Brooks:You're the rock on which the church will be built. You cannot get a leadership position any higher than the position that Peter had. And yet, Jesus still asked him a very basic question. Do you love me? Do you love me?
Joel Brooks:So hear me. If you are an elder at this church, if you're a deacon, if you're a pastor on staff, if you're a home group leader, Jesus asks you that question. He is not asking about your devotion. He's asking about your love. If you are a passionate person, one who is zealous, one who has shown great faith, you are not excluded from this question.
Joel Brooks:Because was there any more passionate person than Peter? Anyone more zealous who would take risk, huge leaps of faith? When Jesus was walking on the water, it was Peter who's like, hey, if that's you, Lord, just call me to you. And Peter jumped out and he walked on water. Any of you do that?
Joel Brooks:If you love to study the bible or maybe even you're in seminary or went to seminary to get your masters of divinity, whatever that means, like you master the divine, You are not excluded. Peter went to seminary. 3 years intense discipleship, taught by the master himself, and yet Jesus just asked about His love. He's not asking you if you love books. He's not asking you if you love to read about him.
Joel Brooks:He's not asking if you love doctrine, if you love doctrines of grace. He's asking if you love him. There's plenty of people who would come to a service like this, and they're really happy. I mean, they they they like the music. The lyrics are sound.
Joel Brooks:The preacher doesn't preach heresy. There's good liturgy. There's a lot of things to really like, and you could you could go away just kind of warmed in your spirit, but were you warmed in your spirit towards Jesus, or did you just kind of like the doctrines and the teaching? We wanna love Christ Himself. If you've made huge sacrifices for the church, you still are not excluded from this question.
Joel Brooks:Peter left everything to follow Jesus. Everything. No one was more loyal in their devotion to Jesus. Peter followed Jesus everywhere, and he was scorned and he was rebuked for it, often by the religious establishment of the day, the ones that he wanted the approval of. And yet sacrifice is not the same thing as love.
Joel Brooks:It's true that love always demands a sacrifice, but sacrifice doesn't always demand love. And there's lots of Christians who are sacrificing and sacrificing and sacrificing out of a sense of duty, but not love for the Lord. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said that even if you were to make the ultimate sacrifice and deliver your body up to be burned, you were to have not love, when you've gained nothing? Sacrificing your money, your time, your belongings, your home, These things mean nothing if you don't love him. So if you're a deacon of this church, and you volunteer a lot of your time, that's great.
Joel Brooks:But the question is, is that volunteering is that service out of a heart of love? If you're a musician who who, gosh, the music is great. They sacrifice so much of their time. They get here hours before any of you and they're practicing. That's wonderful.
Joel Brooks:But the question is, is it out of love? Is it out of love? Even me, as I was working on this sermon and finishing it up this morning, I was up a little before 4 this morning just trying to work and finish, and I'm and I'm typing it furiously, and God's just like, stop. Why are you doing this? Do you love me?
Joel Brooks:If you've had incredible experiences, spiritual experiences, this does not exclude you from this question. Peter got to see Jesus being transfigured before his eyes. Peter got to participate in numerous miracles He did. Not just that he heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend that somebody was healed. Peter healed people.
Joel Brooks:And yet Jesus still looks at him, and he says, but do you love me? Paul says, perhaps you speak with the tongues of angels, but if you have love, if you don't have love, you're just a clanging cymbal. Do you love Me? Is the question that Jesus asks every one of us. Not, do you know about Me, or just know Me?
Joel Brooks:Not, are you volunteering for Me? Not, are you sacrificing for Me? But do you have genuine affection in your heart for me? Let that question sit in you this week until it grieves you. Jesus is causing Peter a lot of pain, but not just for pain's sake.
Joel Brooks:This is all part of His restoration and His healing. Each time that Jesus asks Peter if he loves him and Peter says yes, Jesus then responds by saying, feed my sheep. Jesus gives him a task, gives him a vocation. And that's a way that Jesus restores people. Alright.
Joel Brooks:If one of my children is is helping in the kitchen, alright, helping in the kitchen, alright, helping cook things or set the table, And and hypothetically speaking, just they were to carry a bowl that maybe you got for your wedding that cost a lot of money and were to drop it and it were to break. Now now, you would go to them and you would say, hey. You were worth more to me than any really expensive bowl that we'll never ever be able to buy again, child. You're worth more to me. It was an accident.
Joel Brooks:You know, that that's that's fine. Let's just move on. Now that person might feel legally forgiven. Your your child is gonna be they know, okay, legally, dad's not angry. Legally, he's he's forgiven me of this.
Joel Brooks:But they're not restored yet. They're restored when I get another bowl and I put it in my child's hand. I say, will you now take this to the table again for me? That's when they're restored is when I know you have once again been given the task. You're like, okay, I'm not just forgiven, but I'm being used again.
Joel Brooks:Jesus and me are really right. That's what that's what Peter is feeling in this moment. We're really right. He's given me a task again. This is what Jesus does to us when we come to Him, and He cuts our hearts.
Joel Brooks:He restores our calling. He gives us a task. And here, Jesus isn't just being merciful, but inwardly, he's cringing, going like, oh my gosh. How's this gonna work out? I mean, he dropped the ball big time the first time.
Joel Brooks:Jesus isn't doing that. No. Jesus actually knows that Peter's past failures are what ultimately is gonna lead him to his future successes, because Peter's now been humbled. He is no longer the same person who was given that task 3 years earlier. He's been tore down and Jesus has now rebuilt him.
Joel Brooks:And if you read 1st and second Peter, they drip with humility, drip with love. You look at Peter after this and no one was more courageous. In which you could tell people, you're gonna crucify me? Well, crucify me upside down. I'm not worthy of being killed like my lord.
Joel Brooks:He was fearless and he was bold after this. So if you're wondering can Jesus use me after I failed, the answer is yes. Yes, he can and he is going to use your failure as a way of humbling you and rebuilding you up for all your future success. This is the hope that the gospel brings us. So if you wanna understand this story, you really need to understand how Jesus first called Peter and how he is now calling Peter.
Joel Brooks:It's almost an identical story. Back in Luke chapter 5, Jesus, he goes to Peter and this time he's in the boat, but almost the exact same things happen. He's in the boat, he tells Peter, who hasn't caught any fish all day, he says, cast your nets out on this side. Peter casts his nets out. He can't even haul in the enormous number of fish.
Joel Brooks:It's almost the exact same thing, but you have 2 completely different reactions. At the beginning, when Jesus or Peter didn't really know Jesus, 3 years earlier, after Peter's hauling in that catch, he looks at Jesus, and he falls on his knees, and he says, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Get away from me. Here, same situation. Peter jumps in the water, and he swims as fast as he can to Jesus.
Joel Brooks:What's the difference? What's the difference? Does Peter now have a better track record? Is that it? He's proven himself these last 3 years.
Joel Brooks:Has he gotten rid of his sin? No. He's just blown it big time. That's not the difference. The gospel, that's the difference.
Joel Brooks:The gospel is working in Peter's heart. In Luke 5, there was a younger Peter who was pretty self righteous. And when he's confronted by the holy Jesus, his whole world crumbles apart. He felt exposed, but now there's not a shred of self righteousness in Peter. He has been humbled, but in his humbling, he knows that Jesus loves him.
Joel Brooks:Jesus gave his life for him. Let me ask you this. When you fail, do you run away from Jesus, or do you run towards Him? If you run away, you don't understand the gospel. If you run towards him, then you understand his grace and have been transformed by it.
Joel Brooks:And I would encourage you to jump in those waters and swim as fast as you can. I wanna end you with a question that Jesus asked Peter, this very simple question. Hear this from Jesus. Do you love me? Do you love me?
Joel Brooks:Do you love me? Let's pray. Lord, I pray that we would hear you speaking that to our hearts now as we leave all week. And I pray you would stir up in us a genuine affection for you, that everything we do would flow out of a deep personal attachment to you, out of relationship with you, out of adoration for you, Jesus. Put in us a love for you.
Joel Brooks:And we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.