If you're looking in the Pew Bibles, it's page 907.
We're taking a little break tonight from our series in 1 Samuel to look at this chapter in John.
It's some of Jesus' last words to his disciples on earth before he would leave them and return to the Father in heaven.
So John chapter 21, I'm going to read verses 1 through 22.
And here we go.
After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.
Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.
Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.
They said to him, we'll go with you.
They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish?
They answered him, no.
He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.
So they cast it.
And now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.
That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord.
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.
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.
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught.
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three 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.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
He said to them, yes, Lord.
He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
He said to him, feed my lambs.
He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
He said to him, tend my sheep.
He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me?
And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.
Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young,
you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.
But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands,
and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.
And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them,
the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper,
and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?
When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man?
Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come,
what is that to you?
You follow me.
Well, this is a time of year where we are looking back
and looking forward.
It's a time of year where some of you may be preparing to graduate and move on.
Others of you may be preparing to leave town,
or other of you may have friends in either one of those categories.
But even if nothing else is changing in your life,
even if you're just staying here and have no plans for anything to change,
it's a good time, it's a good opportunity
to look back and look forward.
Tomorrow, I hope to take a half day for what I call a personal retreat
that I do twice or three times a year.
I usually just go for a long bike ride,
take a Bible and a journal,
and think about what has the last six months been like?
What has God been teaching me?
What's changed?
And then what are my priorities looking forward?
And I keep my notes from when I've done this over the last few years,
and it's interesting to see how much can change,
even just in the course of six months,
in my own life, in my family, in the church.
So, anyway, so this evening we're looking at this passage
at the end of John's Gospel,
where Jesus is preparing his disciples for the future,
but the way he does that is by reminding them of the past.
Now, some scholars have actually questioned
whether this chapter belongs in the Gospel of John.
They point to the end of chapter 20.
At the end of chapter 20, if you read verse 31,
he tells us the purpose of his book.
He says,
These things are written so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and by believing you may have life in his name.
And so some people have said,
Well, that sounds like a conclusion.
You know, the end.
Believe in Jesus, have life in his name.
You know, chapter 21, it seems like,
maybe somebody else added that later on,
sort of an appendix that's anticlimactic.
But actually, chapter 21 is really important.
If chapter 20 focuses on Jesus revealing himself to his disciples
after his resurrection,
and assuring them that he's really alive,
and that he's really their Lord and God,
chapter 21 is him preparing them
to go out into the world with that message.
And you know, that's really the purpose of the Bible and the Gospels,
the Bible in general,
and the New Testament Gospels in particular.
It's not only to assure us
that Jesus really is the Messiah and the Son of God,
but also to equip us and prepare us
to live a life in this world of faithfully following and walking with him.
So the way he does this,
the way Jesus does this in this chapter,
is he reminds his disciples of three events that have gone on in the past.
As we go through this chapter,
Jesus sort of replays these events in their minds.
So it's sort of like if you watch the highlights of a baseball game on SportsCenter,
and you are reminded of that home run in the second inning,
and then that, you know, great play that the defender made in the fifth inning
that kept the game, you know, one way or the other,
and then in the bottom of the ninth inning,
how the Yankees lost, or whatever.
Okay, so, sorry, I'm from Boston.
My loyalties are revealed.
I know some of you are New York fans.
You have to forgive me.
Because you're, you know, because we're Christians,
and we have to forgive each other.
All right.
But the point is,
I'm getting distracted.
It's like the end of,
it's also like the end of a movie
that sort of gathers up the various strands of the plot lines together.
This is what's going on here.
So let me, so you might be wondering,
what in the world is he saying?
Let me show you.
Okay, Jesus teaches us three lessons.
Looking back on three events.
So first lesson, abide in Jesus.
The story begins with Simon Peter
and the disciples going fishing on the Sea of Galilee.
They're,
they are fishing on the Sea of Galilee.
Now, verse one through three,
it's fine that they're going fishing,
but you know, if you read these verses,
they seem a little bit bored.
Sort of aimless.
Simon Peter says,
oh, let's go fishing.
And they're like,
yeah, sure, we'll go with you.
I mean, you know, it's a reasonable thing to do.
They need to eat.
That's fine.
But they're also powerless, right?
They fish all night and they catch nothing.
Now, that would have reminded the disciples of something that happened at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
When Jesus first called Peter and James and John,
the sons of Zebedee to be his disciples,
they had fished all night on the Sea of Galilee and caught nothing.
It's a story that's found in Luke chapter five.
And here they are in the same situation again.
But then what had happened in Luke chapter five?
You can turn back there if you want to.
Jesus had come along.
And he said,
go out into the deep
and let out your nets for a catch.
And Peter protested.
Peter's like,
Jesus, we're a professional fisherman.
You know, we sort of know what we're doing here.
But he said,
okay, fine, I'll do it.
So they go out,
let down the nets.
They're full of fish.
Again,
what happens here?
Same kind of thing.
Cast the net on the right side of the boat.
You'll find some.
They throw down the net.
It's full of fish.
And so they say,
it's the Lord.
They knew who it was.
Now,
both times,
the disciples were working hard apart from Jesus
and they yielded nothing.
And then they listened to Jesus' word
and obeyed his voice.
And their nets were full to overflowing.
Jesus is reminding them
and he's reminding us
that we're dependent on him.
Now, of course,
in a general sense,
all of us are dependent on God
as God's creatures.
There's all,
I mean,
even the fact
that the universe exists
and the law of gravity
doesn't suddenly change
from moment to moment
so that when you're driving down the highway
or riding the bus,
everything doesn't
just start colliding with each other
because
the regular,
regular patterns of the universe
are chaotic, right?
God sustains
the whole universe
day by day.
He sustains our brain,
the system that
has the blood flowing through our body.
There's all kinds of things
that we don't even think about
that we depend on
for our very life
and health
and safety
that God sustains us every day.
In a general sense,
we're all dependent on God
as his creatures.
But in a more particular sense,
Jesus is reminding us
that we're dependent on him
as Jesus' disciples.
Jesus had said
in John chapter 15,
I am the vine
and you are the branches.
If you abide in me,
you will bear much fruit.
But apart from me,
you can do nothing
at all.
Now what does it look like
to abide in Jesus?
Jesus talks about abiding
in his word,
letting his word
sink into our hearts
and shape our lives,
abiding in his love,
resting in the assurance
that he has loved us
and laid down his life
for us on the cross
and nothing can separate us
from his love for us.
Jesus also speaks
about abiding in prayer,
in fellowship with God,
the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
I think that's one
of the key indicators
of whether we're living
a life of abiding in Christ
and depending on God
is our practice of prayer.
Do we feel our need
to pray
just as much as you
get up in the morning
and you feel hungry
and thirsty
and you know
that to have strength
and energy for the day,
you need to drink water
and eat food.
In the Lord's Prayer,
Jesus taught us to pray
for our daily provision.
Give us this day
our daily bread,
for our daily pardon,
forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us
and for our daily protection.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Now, some days,
we might not feel
our need for prayer.
You know, some days,
you might not feel
your need for food.
You know, if you're sick
or if you're very depressed
or if you're taking
certain medications,
they will make you
not feel hungry.
hungry.
And yet, if you don't,
if you don't,
if you wait
until you feel hungry
to eat,
and particularly
if you're sick,
it won't help you
get better.
Sometimes you need
to discipline yourself
to eat on a regular basis
and eat healthy foods
that will nourish your body
even when you don't
feel like it.
And sometimes,
we need to discipline
ourselves to pray
in dependence upon God
even when we feel
like we don't
really need to.
Even when we don't
really feel inclined to
because we need
to realize
our feelings
are not,
in this case,
a good indicator
of reality.
Just like when you're sick
and you don't feel hungry,
you have to override that
and do what you know
is right
in order for your
long-term health.
So Jesus reminds us
of our dependence
on Him.
That's the first thing.
You know,
sometimes God reminds us
of our dependence
through being in situations
like the disciples
when they were fishing
all night
and worked hard
and no result.
And sometimes,
we're working as hard
as we can
or maybe you're looking
for a job
and every day
you're going out
and applying
to five or six places
and pounding the pavement
and handing in your resume
over and over
and over again
and you're doing
all that you can do
and you're still waiting
and you realize
this isn't totally
in your control.
Right?
But,
and sometimes
Jesus reminds us
of our dependence
in those ways
but Jesus also wants us
to be,
to remember
that we're dependent
on Him
even when everything's
going well
and when we're tempted
to think
that we're self-sufficient
and self-made.
So Jesus reminds us
of our dependence.
that's the first thing.
And He calls us
to abide in Him.
So second,
second lesson
that Jesus gives us,
He calls us
to invest for Him.
When they got out
on the land
they saw fish and bread
prepared by Jesus.
Jesus took the fish
and bread
and gave it to them.
Now once again
Jesus was reminding them
of an event
that happened in the past.
from the middle
of Jesus' ministry
when Jesus had taken
fish and bread
and given it
to the crowds of people
to feed 5,000 men
plus women and children.
Jesus,
it's one of most,
one of Jesus'
most significant miracles.
It's the only one
recorded in all four Gospels.
It's in John chapter 6
if you want to
turn back there
for a moment.
Now what was Jesus
trying to remind
His disciples of
by sort of replaying
this event in their mind?
Well on the one hand
it was a display
of His abundant provision.
Right?
All these fish.
Right?
Just as He had
multiplied five loaves
and two fish
to give it to all the people.
But it's not just about that.
It's also about
Jesus' insistence
that His disciples
be involved
in the process.
In John chapter 6
verse 5
it says that
seeing that a large crowd
was coming to Him
Jesus said to Philip
where are we to buy bread
for all these people to eat?
And verse 6 said
He said this to test Him
for Jesus already had in mind
what He was going to do.
You see,
if Jesus
was the Lord
is the Lord of creation
if He was able
to multiply
five loaves
and two fish
to feed
crowds of people
thousands of people
He didn't really need
those five loaves
and two fish
in the first place.
He could have just
created them out of nothing
like He did
in the first place.
But no,
He wanted
His disciples
to be invested
and involved
alongside Him
in His ministry
in His work.
And so He took
a young boy's lunch
that was willingly offered
and He took that
and multiplied it
to feed the people.
And in John chapter 21
Jesus followed
the same pattern.
Jesus was already
cooking fish and bread
on the charcoal fire
and then verse 10
He says
bring some of the fish
that you have just caught.
Bring me
what you have.
Jesus includes
and multiplies
the fruits
of our labors
in His work.
So let me ask you
this question.
Can you remember
a time
when Jesus called you
like He called
the disciples
to invest sacrificially
and to give Him
what you have
to serve others
and then He multiplied
that for the good
of other people
and the glory
of His name?
So a couple examples
maybe
maybe you
are a Bible study
leader
or maybe you teach
a Sunday school class
and you faithfully
prepare your lessons
late at night
because that's the only
free time you have.
You work during the day
you take care of your family
in the evening.
The only time you have
is late at night
but you faithfully
prepare these lessons
for the benefit
of the kids in your class
or the people
in your group
and somebody
comes to you
and says
you know
the questions
you asked
or the insights
you gave
they've really started
to change the way
I think about everything
and they've shown me
who God is
and they've opened up
the Bible to me
and I say
thank you.
or maybe
maybe you heard
that somebody
in the church
was sick
or you
or had a friend
who was going
through a really rough time
and so you baked
a bunch of cookies
and took them over
to their room
knocked on their
dorm room door
or on the door
of their house
and he just said
I just wanted
to bring these to you.
Maybe you hung out
with them
and talked with them
for a little while.
Or maybe you took
a hard step
of gently confronting
a brother or sister
in Christ
who was straying away
from the way
of Jesus
and you confronted them
and you said
brother,
sister
this isn't right
I'm concerned
about you
and you did that
prayerfully
and gently
and humbly
but clearly
and they listened
to you
and they stopped
doing whatever
they were doing
and they changed
their ways
and they came back
to a closer
relationship
with Jesus.
Now I know
it doesn't always
work that way
when you extend
yourself
on behalf
of someone else
for Jesus' sake.
most of the time
was
that
Lord
of someone
to
and
you
can
So that's it?
Violin bump.
Let's get started.
so
Thank you.