Grace Emmanuel Church
Pastor Sam Chess
(So You Failed…Now Let's Move You Forward)
Who, in the Bible said:
1) "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins
against me? Up to seven times?"
2) "We have left everything to follow you!"
3) "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you."
4) "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." …
"Lord, save me!"
5) "You will never ever wash my feet!” well then wash my hands and
head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
6) "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble
yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you
up in due time.
All statement by Peter… Next to Jesus, Peter is mentioned
more times, by name, in
the New Testament… than any other person… Peter spoke more often
and had more of his direct words recorded than any other disciple.
Last week, we followed this arrogant, brash, big-mouth man that
Jesus chose to be his disciple. We decided God must have put a
spotlight on him, in the NT, because in so many ways… he is so much
like… so many of us.
Most of us can relate to a guy who messes up a lot, constantly
sticks his foot in his mouth… yet Jesus not only loved him but seemed
to enjoy using him, in spite of his faults….That gives us all hope!
Here's a man who spent three years side by side with the Son of
God in human flesh. He closely watched the "model"…who always did the
righteous thing, always thought of others over himself, was always
unselfish, was never arrogant, loved everyone impartially, he saw him
heal sicknesses, give sight to blind people, even raise the dead.
Three years of side by side, one on one, with the Son of God…and
not only did Peter not seem to pick up many of Jesus characteristics…
but when it came right down to the crucifixion, Peter denies once,
twice, three times that he even knew Jesus!
Remember the one lone rooster crowing at that exact moment?
Remember Jesus turning and looking across the courtyard at that
exact moment?
What message did we see, last week in the crow of the rooster and
the stare of Jesus at Peter. Was it a message of anger, accusation,
condemnation… No way!
The rooster, that Jesus ordered to crow that night was not
crowing; "you're a failure!… It was crowing a message of "New
Beginnings!"
Jesus' look across the courtyard said: Peter I love you… so you
failed…now let's move you forward toward the awesome person I've
designed you to become.
I. Lessons Peter has learned so far…
Peter's lessons of those last few hours, leading up to the
crucifixion… fit our lives like a glove as well… Here' the six we
noted so far:
A) Jesus knows what is going to happen every day of our lives!
B) Jesus wants us to stay awake… and stay on our spiritual toes!
C) Peter's arrogance made him unfit for the trial of his life! D)
Jesus eyes are fixed on me in my darkest hours! E) Jesus is in
control of all the events in my life! F) Jesus uses my crises events
to lead me to His truth.
For many people…a failure as big and public as Peter's would have
been the end. The scandal of everyone finding out, the next day, that
he had actually denied his Lord, not once but three times… but Peter
remembered the message of that crowing rooster and that compassionate
look from Jesus.
After the resurrection Peter gets a message from the angels
delivered by the women who first visit the empty tomb. Luke 24
suggests that at some point in the next few hours Peter, actually,
briefly met Jesus… we get no details only this:
Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn
within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the
Scriptures to us?” 33 And within the hour they were on their way back
to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others
who had gathered with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has really risen!
He appeared to Peter.”
Man if that's true, Peter's got to be bubbling with ideas. I
imagine he got out a couple different yellow pads…drawing columns and
scribbling down things to do. Categorizing the part each disciple
would play… He probably came up with a five and ten year strategy for
getting the message of the resurrection, out, to the rest of the
world.
He's, probably, planning a book on how his failures led to Jesus
forgiveness and acceptance. So much to do…
But while they are sitting around wasting time… Jesus is out
there, somewhere, alive…they should be spending every waking minute
with him… this is their chance to learn from him with the shaded
glasses fallen from their eyes. Now they can, really, understand what
he was trying to tell them.
Let's see what the Bible text says:
John 20:9 That Sunday evening, the disciples were meeting
behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.
Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,”
he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and
his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!
Now their spiritual juices are flowing… Doubting Thomas, who said
he wouldn't believe Jesus rose unless he put his fingers into the
nail-prints in his hands….. isn't there, so Jesus makes a special
appearance to him…
My goodness these guys have to be on fire…. Imagine all the
meetings…all the planning sessions… there's a worldwide church to
build around this amazing new truth!
What actually comes next in Scripture?
John 21:1 Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the
Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the
disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other
disciples. 3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”
“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but
they caught nothing all night. (NLT)
Say what? You're going to do what
You've just discovered that your Crucified Lord has risen from the
dead…He's out there somewhere…and you're going where??? To do what???
You've got a whole world waiting to hear this resurrection
message… and you're going out to catch fish?
_______________________________________
***Now we come to yet more of …lessons Peter still hasn't quite
learned…
II. Lessons Peter has yet to learn:
Understand…this wasn't seven guys going out for a relaxing evening
of sport fishing to clear their heads. This was seven guys going back
to the commercial fishing trade…. that Jesus had called them away
from three years earlier!
We know, because we have read this before, that this whole event
was part of Jesus plan to recall and re-commission these disciples…
but it's hard for me to grasp that they ended up on this boat to
start with…
Notice the first two names on the list of who was there. Peter, of
course, is the one who blurted out… "I'm going fishing!". Who is next
on the list?
John 21:1 Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside
the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the
disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas … 3 Simon Peter said,
“I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said.
Accidental positioning of names??? Not a chance!…
Chief Denier and Chief Doubter- post resurrection fishing buddies
There's nothing anti-fishing about what I'm saying here. I've
determined to personally spend more time unwinding amid God's nature,
this year… but this is not Andy Griffith hanging a sign outside the
Mayberry police station.
This wasn't a sign on the door of their office…this was a sign
on the door of their lives!
But…but…but… you guys are called, commissioned, disciples of the
God of the universe who has just finished demonstrating his cosmic
power by defeating death and rising from the dead! You're poised to
be part of the biggest thing in the universe and you're out on a lake
fishing…and not even doing that well… you've fished all night and
caught nothing!
Understand, the "catching nothing" was an outer demonstration of
how these guys were feeling on the inside. Maybe it was a post-tramatic,
let-down, depression or something, …but these guys are definitely not
reacting the way logical thought would dictate.
Is it possible for seven men to have a newly-risen,
death-defeating Commander in Chief of the universe… and still be
depressed about where their lives are headed??
It happens to us, doesn't it?
Here's… was the first, good, post-resurrection example of "walking
in the flesh" rather than "walking in the Spirit."
Everybody here…has been through.. "gone-fishing" times…haven't we.
Some of us have signs posted on the "door of our lives" right now.
Peter, Thomas, James and John… had too much to compute… their
system overloaded… they clicked into hibernation mode..
So they returned to what was comfortable, predictable, familiar.
They knew the peace of the quiet morning, knew the predictability of
the rising sun, the net rubbed comfortably over old calluses.
Ministry with Jesus had been exciting… with constant new lessons, new
truth, huge crowds, healings, excitement about the future, one
amazing day after another…
But now, even though they had seen him risen from the dead… he is
not here with them…their future is no longer certain…they feel
weak…vulnerable..
Yet their return to the familiar, left them even more depressed.
To make matters worse they seemed to have lost their knack for
fishing… A whole night of fishing and not one little fish….
Lesson # 1: Jesus wanted them to know how empty our labors are
when done in the energy of our own flesh.
All night long they had cast out their net…each time expecting a
twisting, splashing, response… As the night progressed they became
stiff, and cold, and felt more and more empty….both in net…and in
heart.
If God has called you to himself… and commissioned you to a life
purpose larger than your job or vocation and you're sitting in a cold
boat casting your net out over and over… and every week your net
comes up empty and your heart even emptier… you need to learn these
lessons with Peter.
Lesson # 2 Jesus wanted them to know that his blessing
always comes when we are in union with him…not existing apart
from him.
John 21:4-5 At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the
disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out, “Fellows, have
you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied. (NLT)
And Peter thought… "go away… nosey man"
Illus: When I used to do roofing.. I had scores of people ask me,
over the years, "Aren't you supposed to peal off that cellophane
strip on the back of each shingle." Each time I would explain that
cellophane was there to keep the shingles from sticking together in
the package. "Well, when my uncle did his roof up north he
made them tear off every one of those before he let them put down the
shingles" Well… your uncle is an idiot! (I felt like saying)
Peter - "Go away! It's bad enough to have fished all night and
come up empty without some landlubber asking stupid questions."
Lesson #3 Jesus wanted them to learn to instantly, and without
question, follow his direction for their lives.
John 21:6 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.
(NLT)
Peter…startled… a memory leaped into his mind. There was something
about that commanding voice coming from the fog-shrouded figure on
the shore. It was de-ja-vue all over again. " let's try it guys"…
"you've got to be kidding"
Then a sharp tug on the rope in his hand brought him to full
alert… but what was really alerting was a familiar bell ringing
inside his head. (a two year old memory)
Luke 5:4-8 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some
fish.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and
didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down
again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to
tear! 8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his
knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me— I’m too much
of a sinner to be around you.” (NLT)
Peter had learned so much since those early days…and yet
somehow…He had learned so little. With perhaps 700-900 more days of
direct, daily, training from Jesus mouth to his ears… With the whole
crucifixion, denial, resurrection, forgiveness thing behind him… he
is still acting in his own power… doing his own self-directed thing.
Self-directed, Self-energized living will always come up empty
of eternal value… and lead to emptiness of soul!
Lesson# 4 Jesus wanted them to know the blessing of complete
obedience!
John 21:7-8 Then the disciple Jesus loved (John) said to Peter,
“It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter 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. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the
loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards
from shore.
If you're listening to the story of Peter and you also feel empty,
frustrated, and aimless…perhaps what you need to do is follow Peter's
lead.
Peter fixed his eyes 300 feet through the hazy morning fog,
then without taking his eyes off the Master; swam, with all his
strength, straight toward him.
Is your life Self-directed, Self-energized… Self-directed,
Self-energized living will always come up empty of eternal value… and
lead to emptiness of soul!
Complete commitment and surrender to the risen Lord will bring you
into an eternal, fellowship, relationship with the God of the
universe.
Lesson # 5 Jesus wanted them to share the joy of living in
His presence
John 21: 9- 13 When they got there, they found breakfast
waiting for them— fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So
Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were
153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn. 12 “Now come and have
some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him,
“Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus
served them the bread and the fish. (NLT)
