Fresh Starts And New Beginnings — John 21:15-19

If anyone needed a

fresh

start and a

fresh

start, it's the man who was at our scripture reading this morning. This incident takes place after some resurrection appearances of our lord to his disciples. He had seen them. They had seen it. Thomas, who was not present. when jesus first appeared to his disciples he said i will not believe until i put my finger on the print of the nails and jesus comes among them and he doesn't even open the door, he just walks in through the door and thomas is there and jesus allows him to finish put his finger on the nails and put his finger in his side and then he says to Thomas you believe because you have seen but blessed are those who have not yet seen they believe and so Peter is aware of the resurrection appearances that it is there he runs with John to the tomb to see that it is indeed empty as the women said, Jesus said, tell my disciples and Peter to meet me in Galilee and after a few days, Jesus is preparing to return to his father, but first he must take care of himself. with Peter Peter when you when you read chapter 21 uh Peter comes to the disciples and says I'm leaving officer I'm going back to fish one one one the translation of that word uh is used to denote the final departure of one who comes to another and says now i'm done with this i'm going to make this was peter's formal announcement to the other disciples that he was abandoning the preaching commission and severing ties and relationships with the lord jesus as far as his previous life was concerned and he will return to his business fishing permanently, but as bad as it is, Peter is not only returning to what he was doing before Jesus called him and commissioned him to preach the good news, but he is also influencing the other disciples to go with him because the Scriptures say they said we would go with you.

Peter is his leader, and since Peter is turning his back on his preaching commission, the other disciples are joining him on an adventure that strays from what Jesus had commanded. I want you to understand this. a master stroke for satan when peter said to go fishing this is a master stroke for satan because satan could not stop jesus from going to the cross he could not stop jesus from rising from the dead he could not stop the effective effectiveness of the blood of Jesus is poured out as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world but Satan argues in Peter saying I'm going to fish if Jesus did all that and no one preaches about it I gain all that by going to the cross all that resurrected from the dead, all That blood shed by humanity would forever be in vain if Peter had returned, fishing would win if Peter goes back to doing what he did before Jesus called him, have you ever wondered why satan was always there? after simon peter peter came to jesus and jesus said i'm going to the cross peter said lord no one is going to take you by force i'm going to be with you all the way jesus said get behind me satan satan wants to have you that He could sift you like wheat , but when you are converted, strengthen your brother.

Peter was always impetuous and sincere, bold and brash, but when the time of testing came, Peter withdrew, Satan was always behind Simon and I think I mentioned this. to you before satan maybe you had seen the program that was printed for the day of pentecost and you knew that on the day of pentecost the main speaker would be simon peter and if satan could stop him before pentecost everything that jesus had done before Pentecost would have been in vain ah brothers I want you to listen to me this morning Jesus calls you because he is on the seashore and uh the scripture says that they are going to fish listen to Peter they are going to fish they fish all night and they catch nothing in the morning He comes and in the middle there is a man on the seashore who says, children, they have caught something, they have some meat and they say to this stranger, no, no, we have not caught anything all night.

Juan, who is the beloved disciple, recognizes that it is Jesus and shouts. It's Jesus Peter is half naked in the boat in the water he jumps out of the boat swims to land because he knows it's Jesus ah brothers and sisters listen to me this morning there are some things we need to be brave enough to face honest enough to recognize and humble enough to confess there are some things we need to be brave enough to face honest enough to acknowledge and humble enough to confess peter was trying to rearrange his life until it fit his delusional self-image of himself because when you are guilty you build this self-image delusional and you make yourself believe that you are not what you really are when you know that you have done wrong and you have to face it. make up all kinds of excuses and all kinds of fictitious ideas about who you are and what you can achieve and what you can be and it's really a facade it's really your Facebook image it's not who you really are it's what you wore to take a photo but that It's not what you really are Jesus knows what you really are and that's why when they come to earth and Peter gets to where Jesus is, the Bible says that he cooks this little fish meal that he gives them. they have breakfast and he lets them have dinner now jesus could have gone back to heaven and not dealt with simon peter but peter was key to salvation history god wanted to use him in a special way so jesus went out of his way and found peter and I'm thankful that I have to tell you and remind myself this morning that he went out of his way to find you, you're in this church this morning, you're hearing my voice this morning, not because you found him, he found you, the dogs of heaven. he came to find you, he did everything he could to find you, he found Peter, but I want you to get something here, the scriptures say after they had dinner, I want you to feel the tension in the air because everyone knows something is happening.

Peter's heart is about to beat out of his chest because it's like when your mom and dad tell you they're going to beat you up and they don't kick you right away, you're going to sit in the living room and then you're going to sit in the bathroom. and then you go watch TV, and then you go out, and then you come back and you try to go to bed and they don't tell you anything, they just keep eating, they just keep doing what they are. You know it's coming but your heart is about to jump out of your chest and They're just watching TV, they're just cooling it down, they're not telling you anything, uh, that you're sweating and your temperature is rising?

You know it's inevitable but you don't know when Jesus is going to come he said come on die come get yourself something to eat sit here I have prepared a breakfast of fish fish and grits for you so whatever you want to eat here here is to sit down and eat and they ate until they were satisfied and then here it comes, since there was a public denial, now there must be a public confession and so, after that strange meal on the beach, we have this exquisitely beautiful and deeply instructive incident of The denier needs special treatment before he can be reinstated publicly.

He publicly denied Jesus and now he has to publicly confess before he can be publicly reinstated. Oh, open rebuke is better than secret love. You have to tell people the truth if you listen again. how we were raised if you act like a fool in public your mom didn't wait until you got home they were nice to you whether it was at the grocery store it was at a wake at a funeral home or it was at the hospital visiting a friend wherever you are in the food, they were good to you because open reprimand is better than secret love.

He publicly denied Jesus. Do you remember that little girl hit him and said you loved him? He said no, I don't know who. He is there and immediately the rooster crowed and he remembered that Jesus said before the rooster crows you will have denied me three times and then he publicly denies that he even knows who Jesus is and since there is public denial there must be public confession and since there is public confession He has to be publicly reinstated to address him as Simon This is where I'm getting at he doesn't call him what he called him he calls him who was Simon Do you love me no no no Peter Simon doesn't call him? as he names it, he calls it as it was when he found it and calls it as it was when he found it to make it remember.

Do you remember when I first found you? You fell on your knees and said: depart from me, oh lord. because I am a sinful man do you remember when your mother-in-law had a fever and I entered the house and put my hand on her and healed her remember when we were on the cesarean shores of Filipino and I asked who men say I am and you said I am Christ the son of the living god do you remember when you cut off that soldier's ear with your sword and I put it back on his head and said that he who lives by the sword will die by the sword? sword, remember when you said that I will go with you all the way and I told you to stand behind me satan because satan wants to have you to sift you like wheat but I have already prayed for you do you remember when you followed me? far away and brothers and sisters listen to me this morning when they follow Jesus from afar they are in a wayward condition um, that was this man who was a strong member of a church and he sang in the men's choir and was faithful in the fellowship of men and then he started to drift away, he missed one Sunday, then he missed two Sundays, then he didn't show up to rehearsal, and then he had other things to do when it was time for men's ministry, so the pastor went to his house and wanted to stop. talk to him I want to meet him this cold lady sat by the fire she welcomed the pastor and they sat by the fire and uh the pastor said we miss you at church we haven't seen you for a while and the man passed by all the things I was doing while I couldn't go to church as regularly as I wanted and I wasn't in Bible study as regularly and I was waiting for the pastor to do it. lash out at him and make him better and give him a stern sermon about not being in church, but he sat quietly in front of the fireplace and then it came to the pastor to take some tongs, take a live coal out of the fireplace and put it in the fireplace. side and in the presence of that man he took that coal out of the chimney and put it aside and in a short time that red hot wood darkened and cooled and the man the pastor came to talk to understood the message without him I had to say a word because you can't stay warm away from the fire if you want to stay warm if you want to stay in the fire for God's sake you have to stay where the other bricks are where the other pieces of wood are because if he brings your firewood and you bring your firewood and all of us will gather our kill we will stay in the fire for God, but if you walk away too soon your fire will cool and you will not be all that God wants you to be because I have learned to follow from afar simon you love me simon you love me he calls him by name what he had when he met him not because of the name he gave him because he saw his future but he wanted to remind him of his past and I think this morning we would do well when we think of refreshing ourselves we should ask the holy spirit to remind you where you were when god found you, ask the spirit of God to remind you of where you could be if God took his hands off you Simon son of Jonah, do you love me now before we get into what that word love means?

Jesus could admit one of three things he could have meant to say Simon, do you love me? simón, do you love me more than you? I love these disciples Simon, do you love me more than these disciples love me or Simon? Do you love your fishing profession more than you love me? Simon Do you love me more than they love me or do they love me more than you love me or you? I love your fishing job, Simon, you love me three times he asks the question because Simon denies it three times, two times, Jesus uses a word and then the third time he uses the word, Simon uses while Simon uses the same word three times, Jesus says, Simon, the first time, Simon. , will you open it for me?

I have power in the Greek transliteration agape. Simon, will you open it for me? The word of love that John uses to inform Jesus' question is agapao or agape. He uses the word uh, these first two times he asks Peter. and phileo the last time peter uses the word phileo every time the lord jesus responds stay with me agapow agape is used about 320 times in the new testament it is a love that arises from the heart of a person by a sense of value awakened in an object What makes one value the loved one is a love that recognizes the intrinsic value, the value of the only love, Simon, will you open agape for me now? for leo, instead of agape, it is used 45 times in the new testament and this is a dispassionate love. friendly love the words that best express the word for leo is affection darling uh I like you well that's for leo love phileo is a love of pleasure agape is a love of preciousness fellaio is a love of delight an agape is a love of esteem phaleo se pleases the beloved person while agape attributes value to the beloved person listen pheneo is a love of pleasure type agape is a love of valuing uh we get uh therefore uh that agape is a love of devotion while fellaio is a love of emotion so let me sum it all up in this word Jesus says to him the first time Simon, will you open it to me?

Simon says sir, I'll give you fellatio oh, Jesus, you asked him the second time, Simon, will you open it to me? Simon says sir, you know I owe you completely. and then the last time Jesus said Simon, well, lay on me and Simon said Lord, you know everything you know. I owe you fully. Jesus is looking for devotion, butall Simon can muster is emotion. Hello brothers, I want you to listen to me. To understand this, Peter is offering a love of emotion and Jesus was looking for a love of devotion. Peter's love for the Lord was far from perfect, but at least it was genuine.

He didn't lie and say something that wasn't really true as many of us say how devoted we are to Jesus when in reality our love is full of emotion amen someone helped me preach it peter said lord I possess you completely lord I like you I like you I have love for you, that It's not the kind of love Jesus was looking for, but it's all Peter had and at least he was honest about it. Many of us say how much we are devoted to the Lord and how much we love Him. how much we put it down is really just for leo it's actually just affection it's actually just affection it's actually just like jesus because we don't pay tithes that's pleasing jesus we don't give our time that's just pleasing jesus because when you want Someone with whom you can cheat but not cheat with him, but when you are devoted to someone you can't help it if you are devoted to your wife you do things that you don't feel like doing if you are devoted to your wife children, you do everything you can to do things for them, If you are devoted to your church, devoted to your Christ, you love him when you don't feel like loving him, because when you really boil it down, love is not primarily emotional love.

Devotional is a volitional surrender of your will to the good will of another and so Jesus is saying Simon, will you open it to me? Simon says sir, I like you, Simon said, will you open up to me? He says sir, I'm affectionate with you, Jesus said, well, if that's all you have Simon, do you like me, he said sir, you know I like him, he's distressed because Jesus says, well, I'm coming. to say what you say because you're not ready for the kind of love I'm talking about jesus found him but then Jesus fed him um I want you to do it I want you to listen to me there are some parachurch organizations like the salvation army and the club of boys and girls and these types of organizations that are parachurch organizations, the girl scouts and the boys.

The scouts and these groups have surpassed the church when it comes to evangelism because evangelism the pattern for evangelism is here in the text Jesus found him, fed him and then set him free that is the pattern for evangelism the club of boys and girls from the salvation army club uh these homeless shelters is it is it is soap soup and then salvation we want to give them salvation then give them soap and soup or we want to give them salvation and then give them soup and soap not clean them feed them and then bring them them to a relationship in jesus christ you can't bring people into a relationship with christ until you meet their needs physically and emotionally and here is simon peter jesus hungry feeds him he first goes and finds him and then sets him free he says listen yes valeo is all What do you have I will take it and tell someone who is listening to me right now if your love for the Lord is warm but not hot he will accept it if if you are not if you're not exactly where you need to be on your journey of faith because you are affectionate towards him, but you haven't really reached the point of devotion.

He loves you so much as he loves Simon, that he will settle for that until you. it can grow and this is our problem, we want everyone to be at our level right now, when we were not at our level, when we start saving, talk to me if you can, we want to clean the fish before we catch them, someone had to clean them. but first they had to catch you and then after catching you they brought you to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, why do you want to be so hard on people when no one was hard on you?

Jesus said Simon, if that's all you have. I'll accept it if all you can do now is be affectionate with me and have affection for me and a real liking for me I'll accept it because I see that in your future I'm done, but Jesus on that. In that in verse 19, verse 18 and 19, he tells Simon when you were young you went where you wanted to go, you did what you wanted to do, but when you are older someone will take you where you don't want to go. and the scriptures say it's predicting the death of simon because right now at this breakfast simon has a Philadelphia type of love, oh, but before he dies he'll have an agape type of love because if you stay with Jesus long enough if you stay with Jesus for a long time. enough it will move you from affection to devotion it will move you from emotional attachment to devotion that is what happens in the life of simon he loves and follows jesus so much that he even writes something that we read in the new testament