WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.820 We come back tonight to a series, I think, that's been happening all month on the one 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:09.000 another commands throughout the New Testament. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.719 We just read the famous one from Ephesians 4.32, which has three different one another 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:17.719 commands there. 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:24.120 It says, show kindness, compassion, and then forgive one another as God in Christ forgave 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:26.480 you. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:32.159 And historically, if you read about these commands in kind of older theologians and 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.159 older texts, they have historically called these the graces of Christ, the one another 00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:40.600 commands, putting on the graces of Christ. 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:45.760 Another way to say it is it's a command to put on the very character of Jesus Christ 00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:46.760 in your own life. 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:49.880 And there are three that you see there in Ephesians 4.32. 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:56.439 There are six that show up in Colossians chapter three, a number more of these graces. 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.919 But we talked about kindness this morning. 00:00:59.919 --> 00:01:07.039 And we said that God's covenant kindness is the quality that God demonstrates of love 00:01:07.039 --> 00:01:09.439 to his enemies. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:12.239 And you think about being compassionate or tenderhearted. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:17.920 And compassion here is the quality that God demonstrates to his enemies. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:21.319 And you say, forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:26.799 And we say forgiveness is the quality that God demonstrates even to his enemies. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.159 And the message is really simple. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:33.959 If one another commands, it's be like God and put on the character of Jesus Christ 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:35.159 in your life. 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:41.519 And it's really a follow on from the original command of Genesis chapter one. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:45.199 You were made in the image of God, so go into the world and image God. 00:01:45.199 --> 00:01:49.039 And Jesus Christ comes into the world and says, Jesus Christ has remade you. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:53.840 And so go into the world and image Jesus Christ by putting on the graces of Christ 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:54.840 from top to bottom. 00:01:54.840 --> 00:02:00.000 Now, I wanted to look at a passage as well that fit this morning together with these 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:01.200 graces in this evening. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:04.640 And I think that that's John 21. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:12.680 John 21 in some ways is the preconditions of putting on the character of Jesus Christ. 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:15.960 And it's really the same exact same thing as just simply saying, what does it mean to 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:17.680 be a disciple of Jesus? 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:22.360 Not only becoming a disciple once, but being a disciple day in and day out and what that 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:23.360 looks like. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:29.120 And so we'll see that here in the 14 verses we read from John 21. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:35.520 At the end of every single one of the gospels, Jesus always comes to the disciples at the 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:41.319 very latter portions where they call, where he calls them back to himself and then he 00:02:41.319 --> 00:02:42.760 commissions them. 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:48.519 And you see a slightly different version of that call and commission in every single one 00:02:48.519 --> 00:02:49.919 of the gospels. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:51.919 And the same thing happens here. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:57.639 Jesus, the resurrected Christ comes to them and he then sends them out. 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:03.560 And if we had two hours to talk about this, John doesn't waste a single word in verse 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:05.079 one to 14 here. 00:03:05.079 --> 00:03:10.199 And every single word serves a purpose as like a symbol or a connection or a metaphor 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:15.119 that is picked up from the Old Testament and all sorts of other places. 00:03:15.119 --> 00:03:21.799 But there are four elements I think here that you can see really clearly. 00:03:21.799 --> 00:03:26.799 Conditions for just being a disciple, conditions for developing the character of Jesus in your 00:03:26.799 --> 00:03:32.639 own life, a forgiving spirit, a loving spirit, in order to be able to do that with one another. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:34.799 And this is what they are right out of the passage. 00:03:34.799 --> 00:03:39.759 First, we learn that disciples must be empty-handed fishermen. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:44.639 And secondly, disciples must be people who have been encountered. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:51.639 And third, those who have heard the command to cast your net on the other side. 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:56.280 And finally, who have heard the invitation and heeded it to come to breakfast on the 00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:57.719 beach. 00:03:57.719 --> 00:03:59.639 So let's look at those four elements. 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:03.959 These are the conditions of being a disciple and of putting on the character of Jesus. 00:04:03.959 --> 00:04:08.120 So first, disciples are empty-handed fishermen. 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:11.120 All right, the commentators are divided. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:16.519 When you look at the end of the book of John on John 20 and 21, they're divided about the 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:19.439 relationship between the two chapters. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:25.439 Because if you happen to have a Bible, you can see in John 20, 21 that Jesus comes to 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:29.360 the disciples and they're all huddled up in the room, remember, right after the resurrection 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:30.759 hiding. 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:36.079 And he comes and he proves himself into doubting Thomas. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:40.800 And just before that, he commissions them and he says, as the Father sent me, so I am 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:42.719 sending you out into the world. 00:04:42.719 --> 00:04:47.439 And when he said this, he said to them, receive the Holy Spirit and he breathes on them. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:52.360 And he says, if you go out and you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven. 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:58.319 And people have pointed out many times that this moment looks like Pentecost. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:02.639 Jesus actually breathes upon them and it says they receive the Holy Spirit. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:08.039 And then he says, go out into the world in the power of my name and forgive sins as I 00:05:08.039 --> 00:05:10.599 have forgiven your sins. 00:05:10.599 --> 00:05:15.839 And immediately after that, he turns and says, okay, now Thomas, let me show you that I really 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:17.199 am resurrected from the dead. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:22.079 And so he comes to them and they're huddled down together, hiding from the world. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:28.279 And he commissions them and says, forgive people in the power that I've given you, because 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:34.519 I've forgiven you for so much, and then he proves himself to a doubting disciple. 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:41.000 And if you come to chapter 21, verses 1 to 14, what we just read, Jesus comes again in 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:48.399 his third resurrection appearance to a huddled group of disciples and he again comes to meet 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:52.039 with one of them in particular who is struggling. 00:05:52.039 --> 00:05:55.000 You know, Thomas struggled with objective doubt. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.079 I don't know if I can believe a person was really raised from the dead. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.000 And then in 21, Peter is struggling with subjective doubt saying, I committed treason against 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.279 the Lord three times. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:07.359 I don't know if I'm still in this. 00:06:07.359 --> 00:06:08.719 I don't know if I'm still a disciple. 00:06:08.719 --> 00:06:11.039 I don't know where I stand before him. 00:06:11.039 --> 00:06:17.680 And so there are actually parallel passages in different places between the second appearance 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:22.159 of Jesus Christ and the third appearance of Jesus Christ after the resurrection. 00:06:22.159 --> 00:06:26.279 In other words, it's saying to us, you've got to read them side by side to actually 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:30.559 understand what's going on here in chapter 21. 00:06:30.559 --> 00:06:31.679 And so let's look at that. 00:06:31.679 --> 00:06:36.679 The context here is that the disciples are 95 miles north. 00:06:36.679 --> 00:06:40.959 They're around the Sea of Galilee and some amount of time has passed. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.319 We don't know how much. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.239 And the tone of the text is in verse two. 00:06:44.239 --> 00:06:47.359 It says that they were, quote, together. 00:06:47.359 --> 00:06:52.479 And what it's doing in parallel with 20 is as soon as Jesus resurrected from the dead, 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.800 the disciples went and hid themselves and they were together and they were huddled down. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:01.400 And Jesus has commissioned them and said, you've got the power of the Holy Spirit in 00:07:01.400 --> 00:07:02.400 your life. 00:07:02.400 --> 00:07:03.920 Go and get to work. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:09.480 And in 21, the very next story, they've moved 95 miles north, but they're still huddled 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:11.200 down together. 00:07:11.200 --> 00:07:15.560 And Jesus, sorry, Peter says, I'm going to go fishing. 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:17.240 And they say, okay, we're coming. 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:18.240 We're coming with you. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:19.240 And so they go fishing. 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:26.199 And so what is happening here and commentators are divided about this because some will say 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:28.759 they've gone back to their hometowns. 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:30.040 That's to be expected. 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:31.680 They're hungry. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.079 These are hungry men and they just, they're going out fishing because they need a bite 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:36.079 to eat. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:37.079 They need food. 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.639 But John, John is putting this here for a very specific reason. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.439 And he's putting this here in parallel with 20 to show that once again, after they were 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:52.680 huddled and doubting and commissioned and received the Holy Spirit, they are back to 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:58.879 huddled and doubting, going back to their day job, sitting on their hands, not doing 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:04.079 any of the things that Jesus had commanded, not forgiving people in the power of the name 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:08.439 of Jesus, not bearing the name of Christ into the world. 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:13.680 And you know, you might say at best, they don't yet understand the power of the commission. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.199 They don't yet understand the mission impact of Jesus' resurrection. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:20.959 But one commentator says that going back to fishing was dangerous. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.600 It was like being lulled to sleep. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:29.160 And one of the reasons that we think that is because this passage is, you might remember, 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:35.320 is parallel exactly to Luke chapter five, which the readers of John, John would have 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:37.560 expected the readers to have read. 00:08:37.560 --> 00:08:41.720 John comes later than Luke in the history of writing these texts. 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:46.680 And then Luke five, Peter was called in the same exact way. 00:08:46.680 --> 00:08:51.320 Peter and some of the disciples, the future disciples were out fishing and Jesus shows 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:52.920 up and he says, have you caught any fish? 00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:53.920 And they say, no. 00:08:53.920 --> 00:08:56.000 And he says, well cast your net on the other side. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.160 And they cast their net on the other side and they haul in a whole load of fish. 00:08:59.160 --> 00:09:02.200 And then he says, well now you're going to be fishers of people. 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:03.680 And come and they followed him. 00:09:03.680 --> 00:09:09.040 And now we get the exact same story in reverse. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:12.879 And it's saying exactly that, that the disciples are going in reverse. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:17.559 They've gone back to what they were before they ever knew Jesus Christ. 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:23.919 And they've neglected the commission to go and forgive people as they've been forgiven. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:31.120 And look, on the one hand, the point, the point on the one hand, this is a call to every 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:36.120 single person who reads it to all of us tonight that Christian disciples can never go into 00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:38.480 maintenance mode. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:43.600 And we have that in the parable of the talents when Jesus gives out in the parable or the 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:47.159 master one talent and two talents and five talents and ten talents. 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:51.840 And one of the men buries their talent and just waits for the master to return. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:55.399 And he returns and the master says, you are a wicked servant. 00:09:55.399 --> 00:10:00.120 You did not do much with the resources that I've given you. 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:05.759 And the point of the parable was a disciple of Christ can never go into maintenance mode. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.000 There are always ministers of the gospel were always on mission. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:15.120 We're always, we have to decompartmentalize, decompartmentalize our lives at every turn 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.080 for the sake of the call of Jesus Christ. 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:23.159 But I don't think that's actually the the point here because I think what John is doing 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:28.399 is actually showing us the conditions of true discipleship and of what it looks like to 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:32.080 put on the forgiving character of Jesus Christ. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:38.000 And they are lost men and they've seen the resurrected Jesus and they've been breathed 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.960 on and they've been called and commissioned and they are sitting on their hands and they're 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:43.759 lulled to sleep and they're lost. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:51.920 And actually that's exactly the point because in the text John marks it off by saying it's 00:10:51.920 --> 00:10:54.960 night time and it was dark. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:00.720 And these are signals in the gospel of John of exactly where we are. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:06.279 In other words, what he's trying to get at is to be a disciple not only once but every 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:12.519 single day we actually have to come as empty handed fishermen. 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:17.279 And no, and we have to get to a place in our lives where every single day we can wake up 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.879 and say without Jesus I can do nothing. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.120 I am empty handed. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:28.399 I don't have the resources and the power within myself to forgive as he forgives or to love 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:34.919 as he loves or to go out my door another day and try to be on mission for Christ in a city 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:36.679 where most people don't believe. 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:43.840 I do not have the, we have to actually every day disciples have to come again and say I'm 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.559 an empty handed fisherman. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:48.840 I don't have anything apart from them. 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:55.519 And I think one of the examples of this is to remember how Saul Paul was called, was 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.039 converted, came to faith in Jesus. 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:00.360 This reminds me of the Saul story. 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:07.599 Remember in Acts chapter nine, it says that Saul breathed threats and murders against the 00:12:07.599 --> 00:12:08.919 Christians. 00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:16.000 And actually in the Greek text, the language there is that he was spitting anger against 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:17.000 the Christians. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.159 He hated them so much it's the verbs of animality. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:26.120 He hated, he was so against Jesus Christ that he was like a slobbering wolf every time he 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.679 saw the Christians. 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:33.399 And you know, when you read that and you see what happened to him and you see that he got 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:35.600 knocked off his horse. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:42.080 And you've got to say this man was the most unlikely convert to Christianity in all of 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.120 human history. 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.240 And you come to John 21 and you see Peter. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:51.799 Peter had committed treason against the Lord publicly before him three times. 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.799 And then he's seen the resurrected Christ. 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:58.479 And the resurrected Christ has breathed on him and said go and do ministry. 00:12:58.479 --> 00:13:03.000 And now he's going back to his day job and saying I'm still not in. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:04.519 I don't know that I can do this. 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:09.479 And you've got to say Paul and Peter, these are the most unlikely disciples that could 00:13:09.479 --> 00:13:13.879 put on the character of Jesus Christ and be forgiven in all of human history. 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:18.319 And you know, on the one hand that tells us that there is no unlikely convert. 00:13:18.319 --> 00:13:23.559 That there is no person in the world that's an unlikely disciple. 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:29.839 But it's the first element of being a disciple, of being able to put on the graces of Jesus 00:13:29.839 --> 00:13:35.199 Christ is knowing it is for the dead and the undeserving and that is me. 00:13:35.199 --> 00:13:38.919 And every day I have to wake up and say I am an empty handed fisherman. 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:43.399 Jesus Christ always counters the human will. 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:48.239 Now the second element and more briefly, the second element is that Christ like disciples 00:13:48.239 --> 00:13:50.959 are people who have been encountered. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:58.000 When you see it right here in the midst of the text, you can see it that it says twice 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.120 he revealed himself to them at the beach. 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:07.960 And that word is really important because it's not saying simply that Jesus just showed 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:14.600 up and said hey, it's a word that appears all the time in the book of John. 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:18.240 The first time it appears is in the wedding at Cana. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:19.480 He reveals himself. 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:23.639 He reveals his glory through the miracle of the wine and people didn't know what to do 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:24.639 with it. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:29.519 He reveals himself at the Transfiguration Mountain and people have to hide their faces. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:32.800 Another moment is in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:38.360 When the soldiers come to arrest him, he unveiled himself. 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:41.560 He said who do you come for? 00:14:41.560 --> 00:14:45.560 And they said Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth and he said I am. 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:51.879 He spoke the divine name and he revealed and pulled back the curtain on a momentary glimpse 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:57.000 of his glory and the soldiers fell down on their faces and worshiped. 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:00.039 And that's exactly what this word means. 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:01.719 It says it twice in the same sentence. 00:15:01.719 --> 00:15:07.079 He revealed himself to him and this is how he revealed himself to him. 00:15:07.079 --> 00:15:10.799 Now, it's such an important word in John. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:16.639 Remember when they're on the beach with Jesus, they say that they want to ask him, is it 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:18.359 really you? 00:15:18.359 --> 00:15:22.319 But they dared not because they at the same time knew it was him. 00:15:22.319 --> 00:15:27.559 And what is going on there when it says they knew it was him but they wanted to ask him, 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:28.879 is it you? 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:36.799 And it's because Jesus Christ was resurrected, John 20, he shows up and there's Mary and 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:38.679 she was with him for seven years. 00:15:38.679 --> 00:15:42.759 He had cast demons out of her and she could not see him. 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:47.879 And then he was on the road to Emmaus with the two disciples and they walked so far 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:50.199 with him and they did not know who they were speaking to. 00:15:50.199 --> 00:15:56.279 And now again, he's appearing to them for a third time and they're saying I see him, 00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:01.319 I know it's him but I also want to ask him, is it really you? 00:16:01.319 --> 00:16:07.240 And that's exactly John's point saying that look, the second condition of discipleship, 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:14.799 of discipleship, of growing in the graces and character of Jesus Christ is coming and 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:21.919 knowing every single day that to be a disciple is to be a person who has been encountered. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:30.279 And it's a person who's been encountered by a God in Christ that we did not expect and 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:33.919 that we could have never created on our own. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:40.559 And who comes in and reveals, unveils a glimpse of his glory and kicks us off of our horses 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:47.279 and makes us hide our faces where we have to say I just want to smash my idols before 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:50.639 him because he's unveiled himself before him. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:56.759 I've seen a glimpse of his glory and putting on the character of Jesus Christ in forgiveness 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:03.559 means being encountered by Jesus Christ and it means smashing the idols in our lives because 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.679 we've seen the resurrected Christ as he's revealed himself. 00:17:08.679 --> 00:17:15.399 Just to close this briefer point, if John wastes no words in the story and I don't 00:17:15.399 --> 00:17:20.319 think he does, when Peter's encountered, when Peter realizes what's happening, it says that 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:27.919 he put back on his garments because he was stripped for work and he dove into the sea. 00:17:27.919 --> 00:17:32.519 You have to ask if you're going to dive into the sea, why do you put your full garment back 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:33.960 on? 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:43.759 And this is the language of Jonah and whenever Peter sees Jesus and he realizes this is the 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:51.400 one, this is the Lord, I'm being encountered, he has to clothe himself because he's exposed 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:57.359 and he dives back down into the depths of the ancient seas, the sea of Galilee knowing 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:03.599 that that is an image of death of Jonah going into the waters of death that he deserved 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:10.079 because he ran for God and there's Peter doing the same thing and when we are encountered 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:17.279 by the resurrected Jesus Christ, discipleship is saying, I am an empty-handed fisherman 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:20.359 and I'm exposed before him. 00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:23.279 I don't deserve his presentation. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.000 I don't deserve his revelation. 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:26.639 I'm poor. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.000 I'm lost apart from his grace. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:35.440 It's an everyday encounter that is the condition of being able to put on the graces of loving 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.720 one another and forgiving one another. 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:44.520 Now the third of four elements then here is that Jesus then speaks and he opens his mouth 00:18:44.520 --> 00:18:52.080 and he both calls them and he commands them and just a couple of things here. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:57.879 He calls them and he says, children cast your net on the other side and there are two things 00:18:57.879 --> 00:19:03.439 that happen here in order to open the disciples, in order for our eyes to be open to who he 00:19:03.439 --> 00:19:04.439 really is. 00:19:04.439 --> 00:19:11.399 You remember I mentioned already back in John 20, Mary thought that Jesus Christ was the 00:19:11.399 --> 00:19:15.279 gardener and how did he reveal himself? 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:21.759 He said Mary and the scales fall from her eyes and she hugs him and she comes in and 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:28.119 she embraces him and John 10, my sheep hear my voice and when I cry out to them, I call 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:33.039 out to them, they come to me, they run to me and when he reveals himself and when he 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:38.400 speaks to you, you can't help but come to him and right here that's exactly what's 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:39.400 happening. 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:44.720 The text says that he says children which is a very literal translation but the Greek scholars 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:50.240 will say that the word children here is colloquial so it's almost equivalent to saying like lads 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:51.240 or my friends. 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:58.960 He calls out and he says my friends come to me and as soon as they hear him, this is Jesus 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:03.279 Christ saying I no longer call you servant. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:07.720 I don't care Peter what you've done, I don't care how much you've run from me, I come today 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:15.640 to call you friend and John makes an interesting point, he stamps the time, it was night time 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.480 when they were fishing but when does Jesus show up in verse 4? 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:25.880 It says as soon as the day broke, as the sun was coming over the horizon, there he was 00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:32.680 standing on the beach saying my friends and their eyes were open and Peter dives into 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:38.240 the water and they come to him but there's also a second element here and that's that 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:45.519 remember this moment is exactly parallel to Luke chapter 5 when Peter was first called 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:53.480 by Jesus and then Jesus said to Peter cast your net on the other side and they say well 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:57.039 you know we've been fishing all night we've got nothing and they did it and they filled 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:02.839 up the boat and then it says when Simon Peter saw what had happened he fell down at Jesus' 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:09.119 feet saying depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:16.239 Now in this moment they fill the boat up with 153 fish they say it's the Lord Peter dives 00:21:16.239 --> 00:21:22.159 into the water he swims to shore and we've got this moment this interlude in the text 00:21:22.159 --> 00:21:30.479 where we do not know what happened when Peter got to the beach to see Jesus again and the 00:21:30.479 --> 00:21:35.519 reason we don't know is because John is writing the story and John is in the boat about 100 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:44.920 yards off the shore but in Luke chapter 5 they filled the boat up and Peter turned and 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:52.480 got on his knees and said depart from me Lord for I am a wicked and unclean man and you've 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:58.559 got to imagine that when Peter swims to the beach and he comes soaking wet he I've got 00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:05.240 to think he falls down on his knees and he says depart from me Lord for I am a wicked 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:12.640 and unclean man and he knows that this is the judge of all the earth before whom he should 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:20.319 be judged and instead he has said you are my friend he's revealed himself he said you're 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:25.359 my friend come to me because when you are when you're an empty handed fisherman before 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:31.240 the face of God and the glory of Jesus Christ encounters you you fall and you say depart 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:36.599 from me Lord I'm I don't deserve to be encountered I don't deserve to be called by you and he 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:41.680 speaks your name and he says I have spoken your name and he calls you friend and he 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:49.880 forgives you and he goes and says now go forgive as I forgive him and that that leads us then 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:56.880 to the fact that we're commanded I heard one pastor recently tell the story of a man by 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:02.880 the name of Simon Wyzenthal Simon Wyzenthal wrote a book he was a Holocaust survivor 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:09.240 a Jewish man he wrote a book called the sunflower and it was about the possibilities and limits 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:19.000 of forgiveness and at the very end of World War II in 1945 Wyzenthal was liberated from 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:25.480 a concentration camp and there he came face to face at the very end of the war with a 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:37.160 German SS officer and the German SS officer was dying and the man grabbed Wyzenthal's 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:43.279 jacket you know grabbed his shirt and pulled him close and he started to confess all of 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:50.839 his sins and he poured his heart out and he said he told Wyzenthal that he had that he 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:57.199 had done things like burn down an entire building full of Jewish men and women and all these 00:23:57.199 --> 00:24:04.000 other things that I won't even say out loud here and the whole book is Wyzenthal saying 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:11.399 that in that moment he didn't know what to do and he explores in the text what are the 00:24:11.399 --> 00:24:19.720 limits and the possibilities of forgiveness and you know Peter had come to Jesus and said 00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:26.519 how many times do I have to forgive and Jesus said essentially told him through a numerical 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:36.680 metaphor you've got to forgive all the way down from the top to the bottom and Wyzenthal 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:42.759 wouldn't illustrate that we have to come to the man on the beach who has called out our 00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:48.120 name and we bowed before him and he said friend to you and we have to be there to say this 00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:54.639 is how far I've been forgiven this is the depths that Jesus Christ has come in stripping 00:24:54.639 --> 00:25:00.199 himself of his royalty and going all the way to the point of great cause for me because 00:25:00.199 --> 00:25:06.479 every time forgiveness happens it really costs something and we have to know that it costs 00:25:06.479 --> 00:25:12.319 the God man everything to the point of hell so that so that so that I so that we could 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:17.519 be for so that I could have the and you could have the power in that he gives to forgive 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:24.200 like he has forgiven and so that means then that we are as we start to wrap up disciples 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:31.119 then under this command to forgive as he forgives and part of that command shows up right here 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:38.480 in the text implicitly Luke chapter five remember is the parallel and in Luke chapter five they 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:44.079 said castranet on the other side and as soon as Peter does that we see we mention what 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:48.480 happened and then the very next thing very famously what does Jesus do he commissions 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:55.000 them and he says now are you are to go be as the King James puts it a fisher of men a 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.480 fisher of men and women and boys and girls a fisher of people that's what Jesus says 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:04.759 you're to go be a fisher of people and the difference in Luke Luke five and John twenty 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:11.119 one is the death and resurrection and here we are again and the commission is implicit 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:18.119 he's saying to them you are now Peter again to be a fisher of you are a man under command 00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:21.720 and you're you're going to go out into the world and you're you're to get busy and we've 00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:26.879 got what does it mean to be a fisher of people and here very important they're in the sea 00:26:26.879 --> 00:26:32.839 of Galilee and the symbol of the sea for a first century person for an ancient near eastern 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:38.839 person was very clear it it it was that the sea was the place of chaos and death and the 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:42.480 Israelites didn't like getting into the ocean waters because of this all throughout their 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:47.319 history and everybody had that when Jesus says I'm going to make you a fisher of people 00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:53.480 what happens when you fish you transfer fish from the kingdom of darkness under the water 00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:59.799 out into the kingdom of light on the shore and he's saying to be a fisher of people 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:06.200 is to be a person who is so on mission that you're always looking in Christ to transfer 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:09.599 people from the kingdom of darkness under the waters of death into the kingdom of light 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:18.119 on the beach and we we do that by speaking the word of the gospel by good works and 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:24.200 by putting on the character of Jesus Christ on display by forgiving people as God in Christ 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:29.200 has forgiven us this in other words he's saying you're you are a person under command this 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:35.720 is a duty that we've been called to be these people if we've experienced the grace of Christ 00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:42.200 in Luke chapter 5 it says that they left everything and followed him and that means that the possibility 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:47.559 of being a forgiving person means that we have had we have to hear the call and command 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:53.960 that breaks the consumer mentality and that helps to see that our life is not about our 00:27:53.960 --> 00:28:00.120 life and that our life is not our own and that we are and that we are called to forgive 00:28:00.120 --> 00:28:10.240 70 times 7 and I was I was on Twitter recently and I saw a person who a teacher in the states 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:16.799 who posted that one of her children wrote an essay I think they were you know p6 s1 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:21.799 type age and they wrote an essay and they started it out now just listen carefully they started 00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:30.519 it out like this in the in the in the late 1900s that's how they started the essay and 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:35.879 you know immediately hopefully you you hear it in the late 1900s that's what the children 00:28:35.879 --> 00:28:41.960 are saying these days we're talking about 1999 just like we might say in the late 1800s 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:47.639 in the late 1700s and this child said in the late 1900s and you know I remember in the 00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:56.520 late 1900s the 90s and some of you remember better than I do I I don't know if it's actually 00:28:56.520 --> 00:29:02.120 the same word I can't remember but you know we have everybody used to wear pagers right 00:29:02.120 --> 00:29:07.880 and I remember my mom and I think doctors still do wear pagers but everybody used to 00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:12.360 wear pagers all the adults had pagers back then and I remember going to the restaurants 00:29:12.359 --> 00:29:18.319 and my mom was an extra she was a radiologist and she would wear that pager and all of a 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:22.559 sudden the call the beep would come through and she would you'd have to interrupt the 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:28.839 dinner and you would go to the phone the restaurant phone and call and they would tell you exactly 00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:31.919 what your orders were where you were good where you were to go and where you were to 00:29:31.919 --> 00:29:39.959 be and you know when you have been called and encountered your life is not your own 00:29:39.960 --> 00:29:47.440 anymore and it's it's not just a life for us a fulfilling personal desires but the life 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:53.079 of the imitation of Jesus Christ the life under command the life of putting on the grace 00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:58.759 of Christ and so the very last thing to say and we'll close the fourth element of being 00:29:58.759 --> 00:30:03.960 a disciple of being a person who's putting on the graces of Christ is that we've heard 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:09.880 the invitation to breakfast on the beach and that we've come and it's right here at the 00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:14.519 end of the passage Jesus prepares breakfast for them and invites them to come eat with 00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:20.160 him on the beach and very quickly the commentators are also divided about what's going on here 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:26.000 but one of the things we can say is this meals in the first century were such a big deal 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.519 and meals today are such a big deal but in the first century eating a public meal with 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:37.200 a person was a covenant act it was saying I love you and I want to be with you and for 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:43.559 you and that's why and they ate their meals by the way out in public the dining areas 00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:49.759 of homes in the first century face the streets open air which is why in so many instances 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:54.720 where Jesus is eating a meal with prostitutes and tax centers and tax collectors as the 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:59.839 text puts it the Pharisees actually walk up to it and say what are you doing because they 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:06.119 saw the meat it's a covenantal act it's saying I identify myself with you I'm for you I'm 00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:12.959 with you and Jesus did it all the time and here he is saying to this these treacherous 00:31:12.959 --> 00:31:18.720 trees and committing disciples of his come and eat with me and I'm for you and I'm with 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:25.839 you and rest here at this meal and the reason it was such a big deal and this is the last 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:33.799 thing is that the contamination laws the laws of uncleanliness in the Torah and in here in 00:31:33.799 --> 00:31:39.399 the first century for the Jewish Israelite people meant that if you ate with a person 00:31:39.399 --> 00:31:45.039 who was unfit to be at the temple through ceremony ceremonial contamination then you were unfit 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:49.839 to be at the temple you could not enter into the presence of God and so even the disciples 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:55.599 will say to Jesus don't eat a meal with public centers because you're not then you won't 00:31:55.599 --> 00:32:01.859 be fit to go to the temple and be with your father and every single time Jesus says no 00:32:01.859 --> 00:32:07.240 come and eat with me and he does not become unclean instead what happens is they become 00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:15.159 clean and when we're in we are in but we we have been called and invited to breakfast 00:32:15.159 --> 00:32:21.240 on the the beach with you the feast to feast at the Lord's table to feast on Jesus Christ 00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:26.799 himself through the revelation of Christ this is this is the public invitation for disciples 00:32:26.799 --> 00:32:33.319 every single day to come back to the feast to eat the celebratory reconciliation meal 00:32:33.319 --> 00:32:40.000 of resurrection and you do it by meeting in communion with Jesus Christ and that means 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.720 that means that the conditions of putting on the graces of Jesus of loving one another 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:49.160 of forgiving one another you know where can you get that power how can I forgive as Christ 00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:54.960 forgives and be compassionate and kind as he is and it means that each of us every single 00:32:54.960 --> 00:33:02.800 day over time it's a habitus a habituation an act of slow growth has to come daily empty 00:33:02.800 --> 00:33:11.120 handed and and allow ourselves to be encountered again by Jesus Christ in his word and we have 00:33:11.120 --> 00:33:15.320 to say woe is me and confess our sins before him and know the depths of forgiveness we've 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:20.439 experienced and come afresh to the table of Jesus amongst his people and it has it has 00:33:20.439 --> 00:33:25.200 to be weekly it has to be daily it has to be habituated and we grow and we grow and 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:31.679 we put on the graces all the more it's the slow formation the long obedience in the same 00:33:31.679 --> 00:33:38.200 direction of Christ likeness and this is its pattern let's pray together father we ask 00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:45.440 that you would make us like yourself and so we come to renew ourselves tonight and what 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:50.840 it means to be a disciple and so we do ask for hearts that are empty handed and open 00:33:50.840 --> 00:33:57.080 and knowing what we don't possess the powers that we don't have we come to you confessing 00:33:57.080 --> 00:34:04.720 our sins we come to you hearing your call my friends we come to you tonight longing to 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:10.720 be renewed and refreshed so that we can be on mission displaying forgiveness and love 00:34:10.720 --> 00:34:17.720 and grace like you forgave us at the cross and so we come tonight and ask for this heart 00:34:17.720 --> 00:34:20.800 among us we ask it in Jesus name. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:37.800 Amen.