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[0:00] Father, we ask that you would gently but very deeply and powerfully pour the Holy Spirit upon us at this time. Pour the Holy Spirit down upon us and deep within us, that your word, your gospel, your grace might come ever deeper into the center of who we are.

[0:20] Father, we ask that you would reveal Jesus to us as Savior and Lord at an ever deeper level of who we are. And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

[0:31] Please be seated. I was raised in a Christian home, but I was not one of those Christian kids who naturally liked church.

[0:44] In fact, probably if you were able to go back in time and bring some of my long-suffering Sunday school teachers and to find out that I'd become a minister, I think they would have been, the Irish word would be gobsmacked.

[0:59] Probably if those Sunday school teachers were getting together and discussing those most likely to live to be a pastor or a missionary or something, I would not have been on that list. And as I got a bit older, I had a hard time with Christianity.

[1:14] And part of the problem I had with the Christian faith was that I just didn't like a lot of the cultural stuff that went along with it. Now, I'm getting to be close to ancient of days, and it's hard for people younger to understand the world.

[1:29] But in the Baptist type of church that I grew up in, I thought that if I was to become a Christian, I had to dress a certain way, had to have my hair cut a certain way. I had to listen to a certain type of music.

[1:42] I couldn't listen to a whole pile of other things and watch TV. I never had any interest in dancing, by the way, but that's something I'll have to learn in heaven. Because we'll probably do a lot of dancing in heaven.

[1:54] But, you know, that wasn't something that I'm particularly drawn to. But I just, music, everything, the type of literature, there seemed like there was this Baptist Christian culture, and real Christians had to like all of that stuff, and I didn't like any of it.

[2:10] I like different types of music, different ways of dress, and so I had a hard time at all thinking that Christianity could be for me. I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but some things transpired that ended up making me realize that I could be a Christian and dress different and do a whole pile of different things, and the Lord appeared to me and I became a Christian.

[2:32] I mention this because it's a very similar problem that I have sometimes when I talk with some of my Muslim or Jewish friends in particular, but just generally when I talk to people, also for people that are raised in the Catholic school system.

[2:46] They try to figure out what type of Christian I am, and I have a hard time finding categories to talk to them. Because, you see, all the Muslims that I know are people who basically have rejected most of the Muslim faith and live a very secular life.

[3:01] And for them, like a devout Muslim, well, like if you're a male and you're a devout Muslim, you start to grow a beard, and you start to wear certain types of clothes, and you start to do a whole pile of very particular Muslim things.

[3:15] That's what a devout, serious Muslim does, and these secular Muslims don't want anything to do with it. And when I talk to my Jewish friends and I try to describe where I am, well, from their point of view, if you're a very serious Jewish person, well, once again, the men and the women will start to dress a very particular way, and they've rejected that.

[3:34] They don't want to have any of that. And it would be the same, actually, for Hindus and Buddhists. And for those who've grown up in the Catholic school system, like real Christians are priests. Like if you're really serious, you become a priest, or you become a monk, or you become a nun, or something like that, and they're not interested in that.

[3:50] So I have a hard time trying to describe what the gospel is, what Christianity is, and who I am and where I all fit, given the fact that there's all these preconceptions, religious preconceptions, about what it means to be a real Christian, a serious Christian.

[4:07] The Bible text that we're going to look at today actually is spectacularly helpful in helping us to think through this issue, not in terms of how we maybe communicate to our friends, but at least for us, to help us to understand.

[4:20] And if you're here just curious, it's a very, very, very helpful text to understand how the gospel is different and what the gospel does in terms of how it shapes you and how it doesn't. So if you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 21, that would be very, very helpful.

[4:36] John chapter 21. And just, you know, it's so funny. In so many churches and so many Christians, when you meet them, they talk about parts of the Bible as if it's just like a quote.

[4:50] But it's not. You know, my wife and I just finished watching a documentary. It was a very good documentary. We really enjoyed it, The Dawn Wall. And it tells a story. It tells the story of this fellow Tommy Caldwell and what he was like growing up and what led him to have this obsession to climb a particular rock face.

[5:07] And there's a story. It goes back and forth about what's happening in his life, what drives him, and how it all ends. And if I just came in and just gave you a quote from a bit of it, it wouldn't make any sense, right?

[5:18] Because you have to sort of know the whole story. It's the same here with John's gospel. He's writing a story. He tells you the story of Jesus, the biography of Jesus in the story form. And when you do that, you realize all sorts of different things about it.

[5:31] So what's just happened, as I just said, John is an eyewitness. He's written this eyewitness biography while other eyewitnesses were around. And he's talked to us about how Jesus died.

[5:41] And he talked about how Jesus was embalmed and how he was entombed and how the tomb was empty and the grave clothes were left behind and how he appeared to Mary and then how he appeared to 10 of the disciples and then how he appeared to the disciples plus Thomas and maybe some others.

[5:58] And that's what we just looked at. That's what's just before this. And there's a very important bit that's just before this that I just have to summarize for you or you don't understand the shocking nature of this.

[6:09] Because I can tell you this, there have been lots of trees that have been put to death because of this chapter, these verses that we're looking at. Because for many, many scholars and many Christians, this is a problem text.

[6:23] And you don't understand it unless you know what's just going on before that. And what's just going on before this is that when Jesus shows himself alive to the disciples, then he gives these four things.

[6:35] He gives them a message which they're to proclaim. And the message which they are to proclaim is that there is a way. Jesus has now done something so that human beings will no longer be at enmity, that's fighting, or opposed to God.

[6:51] But Jesus has done something to make peace with God. Not that God had to make peace with us. He's always been loving. But that we might be at peace with him. And Jesus has now done that. By his life and death and resurrection, Jesus has done what human beings can't do.

[7:05] He has opened a door for us to be at peace with God. That he will be our God. That we could walk with him. That he would be our father. That we are in our father's world.

[7:15] And we can talk to him. And he gives us this message that we have to proclaim. And then the second thing he does is he says, you've got to actually go. Not only do I give you a message, you've got to go and tell people about it.

[7:26] You don't just sort of wait until people come to you. You need to figure out ways to go and tell them. And then the third thing he does, he says, so you have the message, you have the mission.

[7:36] I'm going to give you the power. I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit. He breathes the Holy Spirit on them. So they have the power to do, to proclaim the message and to go. And then the fourth thing he does is he says, this is really important.

[7:48] Like people's eternal destiny hangs upon this. If people die without hearing this or they hear it and they reject it, it means that they will be forever at enmity with God.

[7:59] If they receive it, it means they begin to have peace with God that begins right now and will go on for all eternity. This is very, very, very important. You've got to do it. And then John, and then Jesus says, people who believe in me without having actually seen me, you're blessed.

[8:13] He says over all of us who are Christians, you're blessed. And then John says, by the way, I wrote this whole book so you'll understand who Jesus is and you'll believe him and trust him.

[8:25] And now that can leave us with a bit of, if the gospel just ended right there, we'd say, well, how do we live? Like, what do we do? And so John now sort of gives us a little bit of an implication of all this big message and that's what happens right now.

[8:37] This is where the story continues. It's John chapter 21, verse 1, and here's how it continues. It's very surprising. It's so surprising that, as I said, lots of trees have been cut down to make paper for scholars and pastors to write about it because they see it as a great problem.

[8:54] Right? Very important. Go off and do it. Chapter 21, verse 1. After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias and he revealed himself in this way.

[9:06] Just sort of pause. In the New Testament, you can get a little bit confused. There's three different ways of referring to the same body of water. This, by the way, is very common.

[9:16] If you've grown up in a rural area, that might be the way the rural people refer to something, it might be something that the government refers to it, there might be something that tourists call it, and just reflect it in how the Gospels are written.

[9:28] So the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, and Lake Gennesaret are all the same body of water. Okay? So just to read it again, the Sea of Galilee is more familiar to us. So after this, verse 1, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Galilee or Gennesaret or Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

[9:47] Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of Jesus' disciples were together, seven guys. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing.

[10:00] They said to him, we will go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Now believe it or not, this has caused lots of angst. And the reason is, well, first of all, there's many, many scholars who believe that this is actually out of place, that this should have actually been, whoever was copying the book, they mixed things up and it should really be earlier in the story and it somehow is a mistake.

[10:27] And the reason they think that is they say to themselves, good grief, Jesus has just appeared to them, he's done it several times, he's told them that they have to go, they have to proclaim this message, and these guys are fishing?

[10:41] Like, are they stupid? Well, they can't be that stupid. They can't be that dumb. I know you're not supposed to say stupid, right?

[10:52] Sorry, parents, if you have young kids, you're not supposed to say stupid. Just time out. I shouldn't have done it. Anyway, dumb, clueless, whatever you want to say, they're fishing.

[11:02] It doesn't make any sense. And so they try to figure out how to get around this particular problem. Said some scholars say that it's just a mistake in the copying. And by the way, there's zero evidence that it's in the wrong order.

[11:13] All of the ancient manuscripts show the gospel written in this particular, zero evidence that it's in the wrong order. And pastors will talk about why it is that they're not in Jerusalem, why it is that they're not praying, they're not singing praise songs, they're not studying the Bible, they're not making a plan to evangelize the world, they're not doing any of these things, they're fishing.

[11:33] And it's a problem. And there's another thing which is going on. And by the way, part of the reason that this is a problem, that people view it as a problem, is, well, you see, it's a little bit like what I said at the beginning of the sermon.

[11:55] You see, because real Christians go to a Baptist church, those of you who didn't go to a Baptist church back then, sucks to be you. But real Christians went to a Baptist church, real Christians didn't listen to choirs, soloists, and gospel quartets were particularly what real Christians listened to.

[12:12] And real Christians dressed a certain way, and real Christians had their hair cut a certain way, and real Christians did lots of religious stuff all of the time, nothing secular. And so, a lot of pastors and scholars take this over to the text.

[12:25] Jesus has just given them this great commission, and here they're fishing. Like, that's not what real Christians do. Now, we're going to look at this text. There's more.

[12:36] You have to read the rest of the story. But there's another thing actually here, which is really important, and I'm going to just take a moment to talk about it. There's a little bit of a class bias in these comments as well. As you know, throughout all of Christian history, there's always a bit of a problem of thinking that upper middle class are a bit more holy than working class.

[12:59] We're more polished. I'm not upper middle class. But middle class, you know, more than the working class, you know, we have better people skills. You know, we know how to eat better.

[13:11] We have better taste in music and literature and all of that type of stuff. And there's just this subtle way that we think that these things that make no difference to God whatsoever somehow are connected to being spiritual, being more godly.

[13:27] But here's the thing. A couple of years ago, quite a few years ago now, I listened to a podcast and the podcast was by an executive from Walmart. And the executive in Walmart was talking to a group of other executives and high-level advertising people.

[13:40] And one of the things he said is that Walmart is not for any of you in this room. We at Walmart, we don't care about a single one in this room. Not one.

[13:51] We don't care if a single one of you ever come to our store. Why? Walmart is designed to attract people who live paycheck to paycheck. Everything in Walmart is designed to meet the needs of people who live paycheck to paycheck.

[14:09] You in the room, you don't live paycheck to paycheck. We don't care about you. But you know what? Most of North America lives paycheck to paycheck and we'll make enough money reaching most of them.

[14:22] The early disciples lived paycheck to paycheck. They were not upper class. They were not independently wealthy.

[14:35] Peter went fishing because he needed money. And he needed money not because he was sinful but because he lived paycheck to paycheck. In fact, out of all the original 12 disciples, the only one who might not have had to live paycheck to paycheck was Matthew.

[14:52] But after Matthew gave up his occupation, he also now would have to have been living paycheck to paycheck. And the reason Peter goes fishing and he goes fishing at night is because if you want to make money from fishing, you fish at night so that as the day begins, people can go and buy your fresh fish.

[15:15] That's why you do it. He was making some money. If he was alive today, he'd not be shopping at Nordstrom's. He'd be shopping at Walmart.

[15:26] He wouldn't be eating at the Fauna restaurant on Bank Street. He'd be eating at McDonald's or Subway. That's his social class. And to think that he's doing something sinful by working is partially a reflection, an unconscious social class bias that often slips into churches.

[15:49] Let me tell you, God doesn't love people who live in a mansion in Manitic any more than he loves somebody who's living in subsidized housing.

[16:01] He doesn't. It's a problem. If you're in the military, he doesn't love generals more than he loves privates. He loves people.

[16:12] So, here we have the situation. Like, what's going on? How's Jesus going to respond to the fact that these guys have been going, they're going fishing?

[16:27] Well, let's see. Verse 4, the story continues. So, just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish?

[16:39] Just sort of pause here. The translation there is very literal. But it's actually not very helpful. In the sense that it's a little bit like if I, if you see a guy and he sees some other guys out in a boat, he might say, boys, how's it going?

[16:55] Or lads, how's it going? Right? It's just a term of affection. It'd be like saying, hey boys, how's the work going today? And they'd say something good. And that's what he's really saying.

[17:06] He's saying, boys, how's it going? So, read verse 5 again. So, Jesus said to them, boys, or lads, do you have any fish? And they answered him, no. He said to them, cast the net on the right side, the other side of the boat, and you will find some.

[17:20] Now, just pause here for a second. And this is something that most of you don't know. You would not believe how many people use this text as a proof text to say, the reason your church isn't growing, the reason you're not making more money, the reason you're not having better success in evangelism, the reason you don't have all these other things is you're fishing on the wrong side of the boat.

[17:44] So, go to my 1-800 number, my webpage, sign up, give me your credit card information, I'll give you the techniques so you can fish on the right side of the boat. Okay, next time you read that, time out.

[17:56] This is not a proof text to sell your stuff. The Bible is never a proof text for you to make lots of money with your brilliant idea.

[18:08] It's not. Never. Ever. It's one of the ways that people who say they believe the Bible act as if they don't believe the Bible. It's actually a violation of the commandment about taking the Lord's name in vain, actually.

[18:23] So, I hope there's no guest here who has a 1-800 number who's used this. Well, you know what? I'm glad you heard this, what I said, because I know I'm right on this. And a moment's reflection will tell you, the Bible wasn't written so you can make money off your idea.

[18:40] It wasn't written for that at all, ever. Anyway, back to the story. Got you mixed up. We'll go back to verse 6. He said to them, Jesus said to them, cast the net on the other side of the boat and you will find some fish.

[18:52] So they cast it and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish. The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord. And 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.

[19:11] And 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 yards off. Now just a couple of things here. Believe it, as you can well imagine, this has caused lots of problems as well and some of you are probably wondering why is it that they are not able to recognize Jesus.

[19:29] Like isn't this a contradiction? If you just read the gospel, Jesus has appeared to Mary, he's appeared to the ten of the disciples, he's appeared to eleven disciples and maybe some others and if you know the other things in the gospels, he's appeared to others and here they don't recognize him.

[19:45] It would be a little bit like this. I know if you're a guest here, you don't know who Andrew and Lisa are but for those of us who know Andrew and Lisa and what they look like, okay, and if you've ever helped at coffee, you know there's a little tiny kitchen just about over there, a little tiny, tiny kitchen, not much bigger than a closet and if two of you went into that kitchen and one of you came out and said to me, oh, I saw Andrew in the kitchen all by himself and the other one said, no, no, I saw Lisa in the kitchen all by herself, you would wonder what's going on.

[20:18] Nobody would confuse Andrew with Lisa. It's never going to happen in a million, well, maybe, I don't know, maybe in a million years, I don't know, but they won't live, nobody will confuse them.

[20:30] You know, one is this tall, one is this tall, male and female, different color, different boy, like nobody will confuse them, right?

[20:43] So if one of, if two of you went in and said, no, I saw Andrew in this little tiny room and the other one said, no, no, it was Lisa, you'd go, there's something wrong, like somebody's making up and so we take this assumption because why, we understand what people look like and how perception worked with human beings but here's the problem we have.

[21:02] How much do any of us know about resurrected bodies? How many of us have a direct day-by-day experience with resurrected bodies?

[21:14] If you put up your hand, I don't believe you. The answer is we have zero knowledge of resurrected bodies. The only knowledge we have of resurrected bodies is what we find by reading the eyewitness accounts and all of the eyewitness accounts seem to say that you can't just observe Jesus after his resurrection the same way you can observe Andrew or Lisa or me.

[21:45] It seems as if for we, see, I have fallen, I'm a fallen human being and I'm mortal and I know that I can observe other people and I can just look and I can see them but it seems as if from the records that Jesus really did rise from the dead he really is physical as we're going to see in a moment he eats fish and all of that type of stuff he really is alive he really has defeated death but you cannot observe Jesus and recognize him unless he wills it.

[22:15] and that's what seems to be most of the New Testament accounts all seem to say that and I don't understand why scholars have such a problem with it it only makes we can only really have a problem if you think you know a lot about resurrected bodies and we don't Jesus has to will it and that's what happens in fact if you think if you look at it this isn't just George saying this look up if you put go back to verse 1 of chapter 21 look at this the Bible you see the Bible often if you read the Bible carefully it often helps you to understand what's going on after this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias and he revealed himself in this way he uses the word revealed twice if you want to just skip down now to verse 14 I don't know if it will be on the screen or not verse 14 says this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead and the word the original language word revealed can sometimes just mean appear but the fundamental meaning is makes understood and visible what cannot be understood or seen that God reveals himself we can't see God by ourself he has to reveal himself we can't know what God is thinking he has to reveal it it would just be the same thing as any human being you don't know what they're thinking if I ask all of you right now to just tell me what I'm thinking what I'm thinking in my head right now probably none of you would be able to tell me but I was picturing the little Baptist church

[23:50] I grew up in I had to reveal that to you and that's the word here three times at the beginning and the end of the story Jesus reveals himself he makes visible or clear understood what they could not know by their own power but we still have to get around this whole thing about are the disciples just dumb are they rebellious are they acting in a way that is in complete defiance of Jesus does Jesus do this miracle so he could say okay goofballs I gave you the instructions you weren't doing them and that's why you got zero fish and I have to come up a second time and give you 153 big fish to understand you gotta listen to me and do what I say so get your butts somewhere else get doing what I told you is that what no let's see what happens verse 9 right they get to shore with all the fish verse 9 when they got out on the land they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid on it and bread so the fish is cooking and there's some fresh bread

[24:59] Jesus said to them bring some of the fish that you've just caught 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 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 this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead I'm going to unpack it with some points to help you but here's the main thing if you look at this text there's no word of condemnation is there not one word of condemnation Jesus didn't say you got it wrong in fact what John has done very helpfully is after this very important message which went on earlier which is that you're blessed if you believe in Jesus you have an obligation to go and let people know that Jesus has provided the means by which you as a human being can now be at peace with God no longer at enmity he can be your God he can be your heavenly father you can start to understand his love for you and you can walk with him and with Jesus you can learn about the existence of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's power and be open to it and you have this important message and John here gives this very very helpful pause in terms of what it means in terms we have to live he does not condemn them for anything they've done and in fact more than that he blesses what they've done and he blesses their presence so let's just unpack that with the last few minutes if you could put up the first point that would be very helpful remember that the gospel is proclaimed to deliver you from religion not to make you more religious remember that the gospel is proclaimed to deliver you from religion not to make you more religious you see my mistake and I don't know how I got it and probably if I went back in time to to my the Baptist church

[27:07] I grew up in it might very well be that the minister was all the time speaking against it but somehow or another I didn't get it I was dumb I was a slow learner but I sort of made the mistake that what a real Christian is is a real Christian is both somebody who's given their life to Jesus but is also a Baptist also dresses a certain way also likes a certain type of music also has a certain type of political beliefs and and and and and that's that's what a real Christian is you can't just actually you just can't actually put your faith in Jesus you've got to have that other stuff too that's what religion is it's self-righteous you see it's not enough just to depend it's easier the gospel message is that Jesus does everything to make you right with him absolutely everything with nothing left over every accusation against you every claim against you he deals with it your need to appear perfect before God you're clothed with his righteousness you don't say okay father so thankful that Jesus died to take away my sins and I know I can't appear before you naked so I just want to let you know

[28:17] I wore the right clothes liked the right music didn't like certain movies voted the right way and I went to a Baptist church not picking on Baptist I just I was a Baptist I'm talking about myself right no no no no no God the Father would come up to you and say oh come on dear one you'd want to give me a hug in heaven he said you are so silly all that other stuff doesn't matter in fact it's it's dumb like you're clothed with my son's righteousness that's what you're clothed with and you see at the heart of all religion and all spirituality is this idea that I need to make myself clean I need to make myself acceptable I can't just touch trust purely and utterly and completely and massively upon grace I need to supplement it and then one of the problems is a lot of us look at people who are religious and what we see we see phonies we see hypocrisy and we see a whole pile of things that don't interest us and so we reject it but we're not really rejecting the gospel the gospel is the message that God has done everything that needs to be done to make you right with himself he does it because he loves you he does it knowing you can't do it for yourself he does it knowing you've turned your back on him and you're at enmity with him he knows all of this and still he loves you still he loves you and did all that is needed for you to be made right with him still he loves you and the gospel message is to our Jewish friends you don't stop being Jewish but you don't have to wear that skull cap you don't have to real Christians don't have to wrap your arms with certain types of leather and have certain types of to our Muslim friends guys you don't have to grow a beard you want to grow a beard that's fine you know but you don't have to grow a beard you don't have to wear that clothes to Christians you can like different types of music and it's not the case that a priest is more holy than a lay person you see because what's undergirding religion is that

[30:37] I'm me and Sean and maybe Gary and almost Jonathan and almost Daniel we're the real Christians the rest of you are at best second rate okay I think there's a person here who does a lot of Christian speaking so you're included with me we're like up here but everybody else is second rate because real Christians make their living from the gospel nah that's what this text is saying that's not true God does call certain people to be set aside to make their living from the gospel but most people are not and that's what this story so powerfully reveals but some of you might say all you want is just have to have faith and then you do whatever you want like is that what the Bible is saying you just have this private revelation of Jesus and then once you have your private revelation of Jesus you can just every once in a while sort of have a little zinging conversation with them or a little boast of woo there's a bit of spiritual energy you just sort of live whatever way you want do whatever you no no that's that could you put up the next point that would be very helpful remember that you enter the

[31:42] Jesus way by yourself but you live the Jesus way with Jesus and others you enter the Jesus way by yourself but you live the Jesus way with Jesus and others you see one of the things which is at the heart of the gospel is that the gospel is going to restore you to being human as the gospel grips you and shapes you it will start to restore you to be human and what are human beings on one level I'm a private guy I have my own personal experience none of you actually can ever fully properly enter into my experience it's my experience and but on the other hand you know you have families you have workplaces you have a social life and that's some ways reflected about what the Christian life is it's not just that you become a lonely mystic all by yourself or you engage on your own particular all alone religious spiritual quest no the Bible is going to restore you to what it means to be human and that means there's going to be private things like private devotions but there's also going to be common types of things that's why

[32:52] Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit invent the church that we're meant to do life with other Christians not in a way that becomes all consuming but we're meant to live with others to pray with others to celebrate with others to weep with others to struggle with others to help with each other as what God intends so you have to make a personal decision to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord but then you're going to start the gospel itself will start to shape you to want to spend at least some time in some structured and ordered time with other Christians but can you put up the next point I can't remember what my bridge point was going to be to the next one remember that the gospel shapes you to be more your true unique self that's the type of thing that's what

[33:55] I meant is the transition I don't want to sound really judgmental about this but just give me a little tiny bit of grace but here's the thing like you know when you're if you're in Jerusalem and you see a lot of ultra orthodox Jews all dressed the same well I mean there's like 50 types of them but those who are in the same type they're all dressed the same they almost become like clones they become indistinguishable from each other when you see a poll of very devout Muslims they start to look almost identical it's hard to understand them if you get a group of very very like you know religious Catholics or Anglicans and you see the priests and you'll see that they're all dressed in identical black suits and very similar haircuts and they look like indistinguishable from each other and it's hard to not sort of think that's what religion does that's what spirituality does it forces you to work on externals and end up looking the same but one of the things which is so wonderful about all these stories is that when Mary

[34:57] Magdalene meets the resurrected Jesus she responds one way when Peter meets the resurrected Jesus he responds a different way when John meets the resurrected Jesus he reacts a different way it reflects their personality and Jesus doesn't say by the way just time out Peter gets an A plus Mary Magdalene gets an A minus and John get off your butt dude you only get like a B minus no he doesn't do that they're all completely and utterly themselves Mary passionate just passionate and public and Peter let's go take that hill and John let's just think about it for a bit and those are all fine and even the different ways the disciples respond to Jesus when it's just the ten of them the first time they're all glad they're all giving each other high fives they're giving

[36:02] Jesus high fives they're jumping up and down and in this particular case here's what this is describing a group of guys who've worked hard all night and they're in a beautiful lake it's the early part of the morning and they're sitting there and they have 153 big fish they made a lot of money from that hard work and there's a wonderful fire on the beach beginning of the day it's cool there's some fresh fish being cooked perfectly some fresh bread you're with your buddies and they're just quiet you know why it doesn't get any better than this those of you who love the outdoors and love to fish it doesn't get any better than this the sweat drying you're just quiet and that's good too that's good too

[37:07] Jesus doesn't say that's better than the other way he doesn't say there's one way that you have to behave he brings out your uniqueness it's the opposite of religion and can you put up the next point so some of you might say well okay George I'm a little bit you might remember that the gospel shapes you to enjoy simple pleasures work well in honest labor and enjoy being generous see that's one of the things which is so wonderful about that like many of us many people think that if you become a Christian you have to walk away from simple pleasures like real Christians real Christians just eat steamed kale and quinoa and give all and have no butter on it because butter is sinful and no olive oil it's just plain and maybe some bread preferably dry and the rest of the money goes to the mission field or something that's what real Christians are like no that's not what this text shows that real

[38:30] Christians never have seconds or thirds do you think in this story if one of the disciples said Jesus I'm really famished could I have seconds do you think he'd say no way come on do you think the fish would taste good by the way anybody who's gone fishing and it's an early morning fresh fish on the fire right hot it's delicious can't get better than that and there's simple pleasures Jesus dignifies simple pleasures and he dignifies honest labor those of you in private enterprise Jesus is with you I mean what do you do in private enterprise like I'm sure if Shannon was to talk to you they say at the end of the day the owners of the coffee shop they total up their sales you counted how did they know there were 153 fish is it beyond the possibility that either Jesus waited while they counted with a big smile on his face or he walked over and helped them count it matters honest labor matters and it's generous what Jesus does to come and you know if you're thinking about what Jesus is like and what

[39:42] God is like later on today if you go to a Tim Hortons and you see that that person working at Tim Hortons with the ugly clothes and maybe the ugly cap Jesus did their job for you he cooked he prepared he served and it's generous he blesses simple service he blesses generosity so will the gospel shape you and change you yes it will in all sorts of ways that you can't even begin to go you know for those of us who are unbelievably fixated about money often when we say the gospel changes us all we think about is sex it will make a difference in sex but you know what will make it other things for those of you who are unbelievably tight-fisted and worried about money the gospel will start to make you generous for those of you who struggle with laziness and think you're entitled as the gospel grips you it'll start to make you aware of the fact that honest labor is good for those of you who are working holics the gospel will start to shape you to realize that actually you don't get your identity from your work that maybe you have to spend some time with Christian friends or with your family will the gospel change you the gospel will change you in all sorts of ways that you can't even begin to imagine but it will shape you towards generosity towards honest labor towards enjoying simple pleasures that's how the gospel shapes you and just one final thing before we close and this is one of the things that most hit me

[41:06] I pray for non-Christian friends and family members if you could wrap the final point this has just really struck me here this week and it's helped me with my prayer life and I'm just going to share it with you because hopefully it'll help you with your prayer life pray that Jesus will reveal himself as savior and lord to your family friends co-workers and neighbors pray that Jesus will reveal himself as savior and lord that's at the heart of the text he reveals himself and it just you know I sometimes have a hard time knowing how to pray that people come to a saving faith in Jesus that's a perfectly good thing to pray I wasn't praying wrong but it just really struck me and one of the things I can pray I almost mentioned some names is I can just pray you know I pray for my grandchildren almost every day I believe it or not I pray for the future spouses of my grandchildren even the babies can't get started on prayer too early and I pray that they'll come to

[42:08] Jesus and now I'm going to pray for my kids my grandkids and their future spouses that Jesus will reveal himself as savior and lord for the baristas and the people I meet lord will you reveal yourself as savior and lord to them just want to share that with you to encourage you to take that on as a prayer as well please please stand just bow our heads in prayer father first of all father we just we can we are just I am so grateful we are so grateful you reveal Jesus to me and to many of us as savior and lord not because we were the smartest or the most holy or what you just out of love for us you did that and father we thank you for the work of your holy spirit that we you revealed

[43:09] Jesus to us as savior and lord we received it and we ask father that you would continue to reveal Jesus as savior and lord more and more in every area of our lives in money and sexuality and time and family and work and leisure in citizenship and politics and all of how we think and all we remember and all of our imagination and all of our artistic abilities that in everything that makes us us father just we ask that you would continue to be so kind to us and reveal Jesus as savior and lord in all areas of our life and deeper and deeper in the center of who we are and father I pray we pray for those who have not yet come to recognize who Jesus is that he is their savior and he is their lord that he died for them that he will restore them to what it means to be human father we ask for our friends and loved ones that you would reveal Jesus as savior and lord to them that they would receive it and father we ask that you help us to die help us to be so gripped with the gospel that we die to all religion and that is the gospel that shapes us your word shapes us the holy spirit shapes us father help us to die to all religion and all this we ask in the name of

[44:25]  Jesus your son and our savior and all God's people said amen