WWJD? Part 3
Notes
Transcript
He Would Meet you In Your Mess
He Would Meet you In Your Mess
John 21:1-19
Main Idea: Jesus meets in us our mess but calls us to obedience.
Good evening!
My name is Zach and I am the director of student ministries and I am so glad to see everyone that is here tonight!
How was homecoming everyone?
Parents Hello!
Thank you all for joining us this fine evening!
Did you all enjoy Nuk’em?
I saw you guys out there!
Tonight is parents night and we hope to just give you a picture into what we do here at youth group!
And at this time we shift into a message.
We address different topics and principals through scripture.
We want to see student learn and grow in their faith in Christ.
If this is your first night with us, we are in a series called What Would Jesus Do?
And for many parents in here you have heard this before, maybe you at some point wore a bracelet or have asked yourself that question.
Over the last two weeks we have looked at not just how Jesus acted but how we responded to people.
We learned that Jesus would love first by looking at the women who was caught in adultery.
and last week we looked at how Jesus sought and did the will of the Father by looking at Jesus in his final hours in the garden of Gethsemane, asking for the cup to pass for Him but still willing submitting to the Father’s will.
And this week we ask the question once more:
What Would Jesus Do?
He would meet you in your mess.
Jesus brings reassurance while the world only gives us more doubts.
I think this is something that we all want, we want reassurance that we are loved.
Me:
I recall a time in my life where I wasn’t giving my child what she needed.
I remember when there was a day and I was taking to my sweet little Rose and she was upset about something and she was also being pretty mean as well to her sister.
And I responded by getting a bit upset with her and making her go to her room, where she just lost it.
And after a couple of minutes of just hearing her wail, I walked into her room, and just hugged her.
And I could feel her tense body just almost go limp in my body.
What she needed was just a huge.
You see she told me that she felt like everyone was being mean to her and they didn’t like her.
And when she was punished and sent to her room guess what?
That affirmed what she had been talk about in her mind.
What she needed was me to tell her that I loved her and I liked her!
She needed a bit of reassurance that she was cared for and loved.
And this may sound silly, and I mean she know I love her but there are time when her mind can plan tricks on her and her heart can be deceived.
And there could be moments where we ask her to do something or we tell her to stop doing something, she can view that as we don’t love her anymore.
And that is something that I bet we all can relate too.
We can try to be the most confident people in the world.
We:
We can say that it doesn’t matter what people say about us, or it doesn’t matter if people like me or not.
And maybe that is true for you, but I think for the majority of us, we care.
We care a great deal.
Like most of us know that we are messy, broken people.
If people really knew the messed up version of me— nobody would want me.
And we carry that weight into all of our relationships, friendship any kind of ship really.
But we also carry that into our relationship with Christ.
We tend to think that if we miss church or youth group that God is now mad at us.
Or if we sin, even we try not too that God is disappointed in us.
Or if we don’t do what he says then he will smite us down.
Or worse he won’t love us anymore.
I mean if people here don’t love me then why would the creator of the world love me?
If we sin against God how can we be loved?
We rationalize it and we are even okay with it because it gives us an out.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
God loves you in your brokenness, in your mess, in your sin, He loves you right where you are at.
He loves you if you have never decided to follow him, he loves you if you have just started to follow him, and he loves you if you have only followed him for over 20+ years.
God is crazy in love with you.
And he cares for you and he meets you where you are, despite our sin.
I know this because we see multiple stories of Christ coming to someone in their mess and he loved them and calls them out of it.
He did it with Zacchaeus
He did it with the women at the well, and he also did it for Peter after he denied Christ 3 times.
Tonight that is where we are going to be looking at.
God:
We will be in John 21.
If you have your Bible you can flip there.
If you need a Bible we can get one for you but the words are going to be on the screen as well.
So let me set up for you what is happening.
In John 21 we find the disciples out on a boat fishing.
Jesus has already died and has been resurrected.
Jesus has also revealed himself to the other disciples at least two times and has told them to go and wait for Him in Galilee.
But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
So Peter, John, James, Thomas, Nathaniel, and 2 other disciples are together in Galilee and they are waiting for Jesus, and Peter says hey lets go fishing.
I don’t think this was them going back to their old ways of life as I have heard before, I think it was them just passing the time waiting for Jesus.
I mean when we want to pass the time we don’t fish, instead we get out our phones and play candy crush, or clash of clans, or scroll mindless through social media.
The disciples were just waiting for Christ.
They decided to go fishing.
Lets pick up in verse 4:
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.
Does this story sound a bit familiar?
If you recall in Luke 5, we read about a time where Jesus told Peter to put his nets in the water after a night of not catching anything and they had a catch so big the nets were breaking and the boats were sinking.
So you may have a bit of Duja Vu here, but no worries this was done with purpose.
The catch is huge they can barely bring it in they need all the help they can get and Peter, puts on his outer garment, that is right we read that correctly, because back in the day you would fish either naked or at least have a loin cloth on.
Peter jumps into the water, after John is like Yo! It’s Jesus!
Peter heard it was Christ and threw himself into the sea.
Now remember Peter has seen Jesus as His resurrected self at least twice.
And both times Jesus does not address Peter.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Then another time with Thomas
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
So both times Peter has not gotten a chance to speak to Christ that we know of.
Do you remember the last thing that happened between Peter and Jesus was?
But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
I have a feeling that Peter was dying to talk to Jesus.
and after seeing Him twice and not having a conversation about the whole denying Him and rooster crowing, Peter had to be begging for a chance to talk with Jesus.
We have been in those situations right, like we need to tell our side of the story to someone, and we see them twice and haven’t said anything but we bump into them a third time and we go all in!
Peter was all in.
And when he get to the shore, here is what is waiting for him.
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.
When Peter first gets on land he sees this charcoal fire, and that stuck out to me for some reason.
Why would John write a charcoal fire, so I looked up the word and found it in one other place.
Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
We see that and its like okay its a fire, no biggie, Peter was cold and they were getting warmed up,
Let’s look at the verse previous to that.
The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
Peter denied Jesus while we was seeking warmth, this fire was at night, it was not inviting, it was cold and distance— Peter was getting warmed from a charcoal fire, the only other place in scripture that this is mentioned.
And now another charcoal fire is set but this time not for warmth but for substance and open arms to welcome to a man who had denied him three times.
Jesus knew he needed to meet with Peter.
Jesus knew he had to connect with him and he chose the perfect moment for it.
If this is not an example of how God uses our weakest moments to show his incredible love, grace, and mercy then I don’t know how else to communicate it.
There will be times in our lives where we will fail, we will fall, we will deny, we will doubt, we will lose sight.
But even in those moments Christ is there to welcome you in, to fill you up, and to send you back out.
This is what Jesus was doing with Peter.
Peter needed this.
There might be some people in this very room that need to hear this, that Jesus loved you and he comes after you, even in your weakness, even in your mess, even in your failures.
He is still there with a charcoal fire.
He is calling you to trust Him, to put your faith in Him, and to follow Him.
We are going to skip down to verse 15 because the story talks about them eating food which is great, and I would encourage you to read that but if I talked about that we would be here for a lot longer.
So lets get to the next section, because I think we can all agree that it is amazing that Jesus meets us where we are at.
We love that about Christ.
Many people’s testimony starts this way, Jesus found them.
And for Peter that is what he needed.
He needed Jesus to come to Him but Jesus wasn’t done with Peter.
And maybe you have a relationship with Christ, but right now you just feel distant.
You feel like you just keep sinning and you keep thinking that you aren’t good enough.
Peter felt this way.
He did, that’s why he jumped out of the boat.
And I pray that if Jesus begin to pull on your heart tonight that you do not ignore it.
That you lean in and accept His love for you.
Now here is deal, Jesus will meet you where you are, but if refuses to just leave you there.
Peter needed Jesus to meet with him, but Jesus wasn’t done yet.
Let’s read in verse 15
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus has a question for Peter.
The first time Jesus is asking Peter, the Rock.
The bold one, the one who stood up as Jesus was being arrested and cut off a dude’s ear.
The one who said Jesus I will die with you.
Jesus was asking Peter, if he loved him more then the other disciples loved him.
Peter believed that he loved Jesus the most, it is another reason why he jumped into the water.
This man Peter was so bold about his love for Jesus that he loved Jesus so much that he would die for Him, He would fight for him.
But notice in his first response he says; he says yes, Lord you know I love you.
This is Peter simply saying, of course Jesus.
It is like when I leave to come to work and my kids are going to be home all day.
I will say I love you and they may be watching something on the Telly.
And I get a yeah love you too.
I don’t doubt they love me, but in that moment it is not a strong dad we love you, we want to hug you.
right?
But if I am leaving for a couple of day or going to camp, my kids will give me huge hugs and tell me they love me.
I don’t doubt their love but one shows me more love then the other.
In this moment the telly’s one in Peter’s mind.
Yeah, Jesus of course I love.
Jesus responds with a command for Peter.
Then he hits him with the same questions
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.”
And Jesus hits him with it again, Peter do you love me?
Peter is maybe taken back a little, like Maybe Jesus didn’t hear me the first time.
We have all repeated ourselves before, maybe a little slower and louder this time.
Yes Lord you know that I love you.
Still coming from a place of yeah of course I love you, but I think Peter is a bit more aware of the question.
Jesus responds again to take care of his livestock, I’m kidding Jesus doesn’t have any animals.
Jesus wants Peter to care for His people.
And Peter was hoping that was it.
Hoping that his answer would satisfy Jesus.
You can almost feel Him wince, and Jesus ask again.
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.
Peter was grieved, not because Jesus used different words for love, but that Jesus asked him three time.
Jesus will meet you where you are but you need to come face to face with the sin that is in your life.
When Jesus meet you where you are, it will be to call you into obedience.
To follow Him.
Jesus was calling Peter to pastor his flock— to teach and give nourishment to believers.
And Peter did for the rest of his days.
You:
God will meet you in your mess, but he won’t leave you there— He calls you to obedience.
God wants to know that you love Him because if you love Him then you will obey Him.
Here is the deal there are a lot of believer who give lip service to God.
Jesus will ask do you love me?
They say— yes of course I love you but never put their obedience where their mouth is.
And Jesus will ask again, do you love me.
And we get taken back— we think Jesus maybe you didn’t here me, yes I love, how dare you doubt that.
And Jesus will ask a third time.
And it should strike you to your core.
Because if we are being honest, we are not okay and Jesus is meeting us in our mess, but as he mets us there, he is calling us out of it.
He is saying— look I will come and meet you no matter where you are.
But know that when I come to you, you have to understand why you are here.
And there could even be a question of why are you still here.
Or why do you keep finding yourself in this mess?
But know this, When Jesus meets you there, he is going to call you to follow Him.
There is nothing greater then putting your hope and your faith in Christ.
We:
That is a lot of how we respond when Jesus meets me in my mess, but how we do this for others.
What would Jesus do?
Jesus would offer grace, forgiveness, mercy and love for others.
Even when they sin against Him.
Jesus still meet them there.
I know we all have friends that needs to be meet where they are.
We don’t ask non christian to act like a Christian.
No— we share with them the hope of the Gospel.
That there was problem— we were separated from God because of our sin but Jesus came and lived a perfect life, to be the ultimate sacrifice.
And Jesus died for our sins— he took them all on.
And He was put into a grave for a short time death because death could not keep Him.
He rose again and He is seated at the right hand of the father.
And His blood is what makes us righteous.
It is nothing you or I have done, to have eternal life, it all rises and falls on Christ.
Which is why we also have to meet people where they are because that is exactly what Jesus did for you.
We have to put judgement aside.
It is not winning souls to Christ.
It is actually turning people off to Jesus.
I hear stories how people won’t follow Jesus because of His followers.
This should break our hearts.
Jesus meet people in their mess.
He still calls them to put away sin but that is for Him to do, for only he can forgive.
It is time that we meet people were they are, share the Gospel with them, and then move aside and the let the spirit work.
What would Jesus Do?
He would love first:
He would seek and do the will of the father
He will meet you where you are.
Let’s Pray