FBCWest 611 | Breakfast with the Risen One
Recorded On: 06/16/2024
Bulletin
Hymn # 475 “Victory in Jesus”
SCRIPTURE READING – 1 Corinthians 15:50 - 57
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Prudence Hungate
Praise and Worship
“House of the Lord”
“Echo Holy”
““Promise Land (Glory Hallelujah)”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Breakfast with the Risen One”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“God You Are”
Benediction “Praise You Anywhere”
Sermon Notes
John 21:1 Jesus appears to His disciples again
John 21:2 & 3 Peter with 6 other disciples agree to go fishing, but catch nothing
John 21:4 & 5 Jesus on the beach asked knowing they had caught nothing said to them “.. you do not have any fish do you?” and they answer no
John 21:6 Jesus tells them to cast their net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch. They did so and caught so many they could not bring the net into the boat
John 21:7 John recognized Jesus, told Peter and Peter put his outer garment back on and jumped into the sea
John 21:8 The rest of the disciples brought the boat and the fish back to land
John 21:9 Jesus already had a charcoal fire with fish
and bread and ask them to bring some of
the fish they had caught
John 21:11 Peter went to help draw up the net and there were 153 fish, but the net had not torn
John 21:12 Jesus feeds them breakfast. This is the third time Jesus had appeared to them
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
The Gospel of John records four different occasions when Jesus appears as the resurrected one.
Three times he appears with his disciples.
This time it's substantially different from the other times that John records. Come see what the difference is when the disciples have breakfast with the risen one.
We are continuing to look at the resurrection appearances of Jesus.
John in his gospel includes four different times where he appears as the resurrected Lord.
These aren't the only four times that Jesus appeared, it's just the four times that John discusses.
The first time is with Mary Magdalene when she's clinging to him. And then he appears at an inner room that's locked where Thomas isn't there.
And then he appears another time when Thomas is present.
And now this will be the fourth time that he makes this appearance in his gospel.
But this one is different.
And we'll discuss why this appearance is different than the others.
And so if you have your Bibles, and you should, turn to the Gospel of John chapter 21 and we're going to start with verse 1.
And it says, "After these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius or the Sea of Galilee, and he manifested himself in this way." So John starts out saying the big picture, that Jesus made himself plain. He appeared to his disciples at the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberius and why it's also called the Sea of Tiberius is that's one of the largest towns on the sea.
And so he's now going to give us the details of that manifestation, that appearance.
So verse 2 it says, "Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Canaan in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together." So we have seven of the, now 11 disciples because Judas went and hung himself after betrayal. So we have 11 of the disciples and seven of them are gathered together by the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberius. And the reason they're in Galilee is that Jesus had told them that he would meet them there in Galilee and he's going to meet them at a particular mountain location.
I find it interesting that they're hanging out at the Sea.
So Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."
And they said to him, "We will also come with you." And they went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing. And so I'm sure because Peter is a man of action and he's kind of a doer and probably just sitting around doing nothing and waiting for Jesus to come and how is that whole deal going to work out. I'm sure he has this nervous energy and Peter by profession, by vocation is a fisherman. So you would think, "Well, the best way to get his mind off things and to be doing something is to go to work." So he decides he's going to go fishing and the other six say, "Hey, we're going with you." So it's like it's better hanging out with you fishing than not. Now when they fished and this time it wasn't like a pole and a line and you sat there, you put out nets and you dragged them and it was work.
And so for those of you who like to lazily fish and so you say a day of fishing is better than a day of work, in Peter's case a day of fishing was a day of work because you're throwing out nets that are heavy, you're hauling and hopefully fish that are heavy and so it's a work.
But they caught nothing so that whole evening was pretty much a waste other than they were doing something.
But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Now this is kind of similar to the other accounts of his appearance in the sense of Mary didn't realize it was Jesus at first as she thought he was a gardener. And so there are those who when they initially see Jesus like those, the two men on the road to Emmaus, they didn't recognize it was Jesus until he broke bread. And so there's this sense of not necessarily spiritual blindness but kind of a combination of spiritual and physical blindness of not recognizing who Jesus is, which kind of is like a lot of our friends today who may know of Jesus but don't see him as he is.
And so Jesus is now on the beach.
So Jesus said to them, children you have not, children you do not have any fish do you? And they answered him no. And I find this phrase a little interesting in two ways.
Jesus is telling them he knows.
So he's saying you haven't caught anything have you? And their response is no, because he knows they haven't caught anything.
Now as a husband of many years, I hated this type of expression because my wife did it a lot. So I'll give you an example. She would say, you know, I'll make up something. She would say like, go to the store and get milk.
And when I get home, blah, blah, blah, so I'll be at home and she goes, you didn't get any milk did you?
And it used to irritate me. I'm going, why are you phrasing it in the negative?
You should say, did you go to the store? That way if I went to the store, then I'm not all hacked off because you didn't phrase it negative. And if I didn't go to the store, then I could be, then I could be repentant and say, oh, I'm sorry I didn't go to the store. So now I'm going to be defensive no matter what, because you phrased it negative. And it took her a few times to finally sink in that she should phrase it in the neutral.
Jesus phrases it more in the negative because he's telling them they didn't catch anything. So it's kind of a statement of fact, but he's allowing them to answer, no, they didn't.
And he said to them, Cassinette on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.
Now I want to stop there.
I want you to understand about this boat.
It isn't an aircraft carrier.
It's a little boat.
There's really no distinction between the left side of the boat and the right side of the boat.
It's only a few feet of distance. Now if it was an aircraft carrier and say, oh, the school of fish is on the port side of the ship rather than the starboard side of the ship, then I'll go because it's a big ship. Now this is a little tiny boat.
Enough for maybe one or two people with.
And so the whole idea of saying, Cassinette on one side or the other makes a difference,
but it'll make a difference.
So instead of saying, hey dude, this is a little boat. Doesn't matter if we cast it on the right or we cast it on the left.
It's the same location. But notice what they do. So they cast.
So they follow directions and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
All of a sudden, all night long, they worked and caught nothing. And then in one simple casting, they caught so many fish, they couldn't haul them all in.
Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, said to Peter, it is the Lord.
Now the reason John knows that it's the Lord is because there was a period of time early in their ministry when Jesus was calling him and they had gone out all night and had worked and caught nothing. Jesus told them to cast their net out.
And they said, basically, we worked all night long, but because you, Lord, you said so, we'll do it.
And they caught numerous fish. And so this is a repeat of what Jesus had done during their ministry. And so John recognized that there's not this distance between the boat. It's the Lord. He's the one who is the God of heaven and earth. He's the God of the seas. He's the God of heaven. He's the God who can determine whether the fish are going to be there or not.
Or he can even, if there's no fish, materialize fish and put them there because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth.
And so Peter, again being Peter and taking action, doesn't wait for the boat to get to shore.
So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work. And I'm sure he wasn't naked, but I'm sure what he basically had is their type of underwear. And so he's working and sweating. And so you don't go to God in your underwear.
That's why everybody comes to church semi-dressed, okay? Because we don't come to see God in our underwear. And so before he does anything, he puts his outer garment on and threw himself into the sea.
Because he isn't going to wait for the boat to get to land.
Because of two reasons. One, the boat is not on shore and the other is they're going to have to drag all these fish with them.
So he's going to be there getting to be with the Lord as soon as possible.
But the other disciples came in the little boat for they were not far from the land, but about 100 yards away, dragging the net full of fish.
Which makes sense. They'd been working all night long, had caught nothing. Now they have a net full of fish. We're not going to let it go.
We're going to take it with us. And so they're dragging this net full of fish with their boat onto shore about 100 yards away.
So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it and bred.
Now I want you to notice the charcoal fire has started, which means it takes some time to have charcoal unless you're God.
And let alone have it ready to cook. And then have fish and bread there on it. So Jesus is basically cooking them breakfast.
But he's not using their fish, he's using the fish he provided. And he's using the bread he provided.
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have now caught." So Jesus said, "I've got fish, I've got bread, but I want you to participate in this meal so you bring something."
It's kind of like when we go to someone's home or whatever and we're going to have some kind of meal. Let's say it's, since we're talking about resurrection, it's a first fruits celebration after church and we're going to go to somebody's house and that person is going to provide, for some reason it's always ham or something, and mashed potatoes and all these other things. And people will say, "Well, what do you want me to bring?"
Because you don't want to feel like you're taking advantage of the host. So Jesus says, "Some of the fish you caught, although I'm the one that got the fish for you, you bring it and put it there on the fire. So we're going to share, you're going to participate in what you have done." Which again is very much what the Lord does with us. The Lord gives us the various time and talents and abilities and has us do things that He has provided, but He then goes, "Well, you can kind of participate by doing this." It's always, "The battle is the Lord's, but we'll have you do something."
So for instance, our church is going through, in Bible study Joshua, and in the early part of it, the children of Israel circle around, chairacle for seven days, and they do some things and the walls fall down. Now, the walls didn't fall down because they circled it, because they fell down because God caused the walls to fall down. But He let them participate.
They didn't say, "Well, you stand here while I knock down the walls, and then you do." So again, Jesus is allowing the disciples to participate. He says, "Bring some of the fish that you've caught."
And Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish. These aren't little minnows.
These are large fish, 153.
That's a lot of fish, especially when you've worked all night and caught nothing. So they have 153 large fish.
And although there were so many, the net was not torn. So you've got three spectacular things happening. One, they worked all night, caught nothing. Now they've caught something because Jesus told them they caught not just a bunch of throwaway fish, but large usable fish that had market value and you could eat. And the third was, even though they caught that many fish, they didn't have to work to fix the nets. Because usually that's what happens. You go fishing because of the water and the pulling and the yanking and the weight of the fish. It tears the nets. And so you've got to repair them. Otherwise, if you don't repair them, the fish will just slip out of the net. And so it's a lot of work. And now they don't have to do any work after gone fishing because the net is not torn.
And Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast."
And none of the disciples ventured to question Him. Who are you knowing that it was Jesus?
This is where the appearance of Jesus is different than all the others.
And all the other appearances, when they realized it was Jesus, they worshiped Him.
Thomas even after refusing to say that he would believe unless he saw and felt, his response was, "My Lord and my God."
We have the risen one.
The one who had told his disciples that the Father had sent him. The one who had professed to be and is the Son of God.
And more than spectacularly proved that not only by who he was and what he did and what the Scripture said, but that he rose from the dead according to the Scriptures, proving that he is the Son of God. And what does the Son of God do? He serves breakfast.
He takes the fish that he's cooked, the bread that he's provided, the bread that he breaks and gives to them and serves to them. He is still the one who even though is worthy of all glory and honor and praise and worship,
still does what he did as his initial ministry. He came to serve rather than to be served.
He is God, but he serves.
Who are you and why do we not serve?
If the risen one is happy to have breakfast on the beach and to provide the coal, the fire, the fish, the bread, and to be the one to serve it, who are we to think we're too good to do those things?
Again it would be one thing if Jesus had taught us to serve, to love as he is loved, and to do all the things to wash other people's feet, to be last rather than the first, because then we'll be first rather than last.
He took all that teaching and then said, "Well now it ends because, see, I proved I'm God." He continued doing what he taught even though he totally deserved to be worshiped as the Son of God.
to see him as the risen one, we see him being consistent in doing what he has taught us to do, to serve.
What kind of God is that?
That's the kind of God he is.
That he loves us regardless.
That he serves us regardless. Phase 11 will eventually present the Gospel to much of the known world.
At this point for a bunch of ragtag fishermen and tax collectors and zealots and all kinds of other things.
But after having been taught by the Lord, after having seen him raised from the dead, and after him seeing him, even though he has been worshiped, continuing on with what he had taught us, we need to do the same thing, to worship that God who is the kind of God he is.
Yes, we should praise him for all the wonderful things that he has done.
We are saved by his blood.
We are redeemed by his actions.
We are called the children of God because of what he has done.
And all of the thousands and thousands of blessings that we take for granted, he has done. And all of those things we should be declaring his glory and honor and thanks.
Even more than that, we should thank him not for what he has done, but for who he is. And all God's people say.