Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: John 21:1-18

Theme: Once you’re experienced the risen Christ, you can never go back to a normal lifeJesus always welcomes the penitent believer back into full fellowship with himself and then commissions him or her to service.

Date: 05/20/18 File name: Post_Resurrection_05.wpd ID Number

It’s perhaps a week after the resurrection.

Seven of the disciples have made their way to Galilee per the instructions of Jesus.

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

9 Suddenly Jesus met them.

“Greetings,” he said.

They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”” (Matthew 28:8–10, NIV84)

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.” (Matthew 28:16, NIV84)

Church tradition teaches that “the mountain” Jesus met them at was the place where Jesus had preached his first and greatest sermon— what we call the Sermon on the Mount.

Today it is called the Mount of Beatitudes.

Weather-or-not that’s where Jesus met them is obviously open for debate.

That the instruction is to go to the mountain indicates that it’s a place the disciples know and are familiar with.

John tells us that seven of the disciples (21:2) were together in Galilee.

Peter is there, as is Thomas, Nathanael, John and James, and two other un-named disciples.

They’ve come to meet Jesus.

They wait, and they wait .... and they wait.

Apparently frustrated waiting for Christ to show Himself, Peter announced that he was going fishing.

This decision was more significant than it may seem.

Peter was not a sport fisherman: fishing had been his occupation before he became a disciple of Jesus.

Apparently the six who went with him had been fishermen too.

John 21:3-14 tells us the story:

The disciples fish all night and catch nothing.

Early in the morning— the word for early is day-dawn, a stranger calls from the hill side, asking if they’ve caught any fish.

The disciples answer in the negative.

The stranger then calls for them to shift their nets to the other side of the boat, and when they did the catch was so great that they are virtually unable to haul in the net.

The Apostle John, described as the disciple whom Jesus loved, excitedly tells Peter, It’s the Lord!”

At that Peter jumps into the water and swims for shore as the other disciples follow in the boat towing the net of fish.

By the time they get to shore, Jesus has kindled a fire, and is broiling some fish.

After they’ve beached the boat, counted their catch, and inspected their nets, Jesus invites them to a breakfast of fish and bread.

The Apostle John tells us that this was the third time Jesus had appeared to the disciples after he was risen from the dead (vs.

14).

This is where the story takes a profound and important turn.

This chapter is a story about Peter.

It's also a story about you and me.

It's a story about repentance and getting right with God.

It teaches us that once you've been with Jesus you can never go back to "life as usual" and feel right about it.

Living our lives outside of the will and fellowship of Christ calls for repentance from our sin, from our willfulness, from our self-reliance and from our disobedience.

Repentance is what brings full restoration of fellowship with God.

Jesus has instructed the disciples to return to Galilee where they are to wait for him to meet them.

There are still some things he needs to teach them; some encouragement He needs to give them, and a commissioning that will send them out into all the world.

They finally make their way home to the shores of the Sea of Galilee where so many of them had made their living as fishermen.

There they wait ... and wait ... and wait for Jesus to appear.

Finally, in exasperation, Peter announces, "I'm going out to fish, what about you guys?"

They look at Peter, they look at each other, kind of shrug, and say, "We'll go with you!"

This is were our story begins.

I. THE TEMPTATION TO RETURN TO "LIFE AS USUAL" vv.

1-3

1. becoming a Christian is one of the easiest things in the world to do

a.

easier than falling off a log

b. easier than tripping up the steps

2. it's living for Jesus and being like Jesus for the rest of our lives that is the tough part

ILLUS.

“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

— G.K. Chesterton

a. it's especially tough if a believer does not have a regular devotional life where they are reading God's Word and seeking His will through prayer and enjoying the fellowship of the Spirit

3. Peter yielded to the "life as usual" syndrome

a. he’s an illustration of a Christian who begins well, who blows it, but who is restored to fellowship by repentance

A. GREAT CONFESSIONS ARE OFTEN FOLLOWED BY GREAT DENIALS

1.

Peter was a person of extremes

a. his life ebbed and flowed between spiritually hot and spiritually cold, from being on fire for Christ and a pillar of strength to being preoccupied with self and even cowardly

2. Peter's great confession at Ceserea Philippi is one of the spiritual high-water marks in his life

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked.

“Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”

(Matthew 16:13–17, NIV)

a. at the Last Supper, Peter boldly tells Jesus, I will lay down my life for you (John 13:37)

b. later, that same evening, when Jesus says that the sheep of the flock will be scattered when he, the shepherd, is smitten, Peter proclaims Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away (Matthew 26:33)

3. yet when the chips were down, Peter’s self-confessed faith and love failed and he openly denied three times that he even knew Jesus

ILLUS Peter's life reminds me of ABC's promo for its program Wide World of Sports.

For years, each program began with the familiar phrase, "From the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat!"

And then we watched poor Vinko Bogataj falling off that ski jump again and agan.

a. that's Peter! from the thrill of great confession and spiritual heights to the agony of denial and a lapse into sin

b. if we would be honest this morning, it also defines the lives of a lot of us

4. when faced with temptation or crisis or unexpected circumstances believers frequently revert to familiar territory

a. what do I mean by that?

b. each of us has our own unique way of responding to an event; to a situation; to a crisis or to the people around us

1) we often learn these response behaviors growing up

c. when faced with an unexpected experience we don't take time to pray about our response and ask, "God, what would you have me do right now?"

d. no, our reflexes take over and we respond according to our own unique character or personality

1) we respond in old familiar ways

2) the problem is that our behavior patters are dominated by our old sinful nature

3) when we respond by reflex rather than being led by the Spirit of God, chances are good that you will be disobedient to the will of God and we fall into sin

ILLUS.

The best Biblical example I can think of is the Old Testament character Jacob.

His very name means "trickster."

Whenever Jacob was faced with a difficult or stressful situation he resorted to subterfuge or trickery.

His life is one scheme after another.

Even after his life-changing experience with God at Bethel when God gave him the new name of Israel he often reverted to his old ways when in a squeeze.

e. how do we know that Peter is slipping back to his old ways?

1) because, in this exchange, Jesus calls him “Simon”

ILLUS.

Jesus had given Simon the nickname “Peter” (John 1:42), but referred to him as “Simon” when Peter did something that needed rebuke or correction (e.g., Matt.

17:25; Mark 14:37; Luke 22:31).

It was as if our Lord called him by his former name when he was acting like his former self!

(It’s like when your mom uses your middle name—you know the hammer is coming down).

2) when Jesus began with “Simon,” I think Peter winced