Sermon Tone Analysis

Where Are You Looking

 

John 20:28-31; 21:1-8

 

June 14, 2009

 

I’ve taken the title for today’s message from a devotional by Henry Blackaby based on John 21:20-21: “Where Are You Looking?” We’ve been looking together at the cross, and Jesus’ last words.

Last week we examined His words: “I thirst”.

Comparing them to all His other references to thirsting after living water.

These words were followed by “it is finished.

His last recorded words from the cross in the book of John (19:30) which specified not the end of His life, as some believe, but rather the completion of His task.

“It is finished”: the purpose I came for is completed.

The crucial truth is Jesus died as a substitute for our sin.

It was accomplished on the cross.

God gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life!

(Jn 3:16)

 

Today we’re going to look at the risen Lord’s encounter with one disciple – Peter.

Turn with me, if you like, to John chapter 21 and we’ll start by looking at what Blackaby has to say:

*In John 21:20-21 we read, *

/So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them.

[That disciple] was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is the one that’s going to betray You?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord—what about him?/

The first thing you do after God speaks to you is critical.

Jesus was telling Peter what type of ministry he would have and what type of death he would suffer (vv.

18–19).

It was a sacred moment in Peter's life, as his Lord pulled back the curtain to his future.

His was not to be an easy life but a life ordained and blessed by his Lord and Master.

Rather than responding to what Jesus told him, Peter looked around at his fellow disciples.

His glance fell upon John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

“But Lord, what about /this /man?”

Peter had just been given the somber news of his future death.

How natural to compare his assignment with that of the others!

This is the great temptation of God's servants: to compare our situation with that of others.

Did God give my friend a larger house?

Did God heal my friend's loved one and not mine?

Did God allow my friend to receive appreciation and praise for his work while I remain anonymous?

Did God allow another Christian to remain close to her family while I am far removed from mine?

Jesus assigned Peter and John to walk two different paths, but both Peter and John have enriched our lives.

Jesus knew how dangerous it is when a servant takes his eyes off the master to focus on a fellow servant.

Where is your focus?

Have you become more concerned with how God is treating someone else than you are with how He is relating to you? Let’s look today at the last chapter in the book of John and see what we can learn from Jesus’ encounter with Peter.

Let’s see where he was looking.

| The average reader may conclude that John should have completed his book with the dramatic testimony of Thomas found at the end of chapter twenty (John 20:28-31), and the reader would wonder why John added another chapter.

The main reason is  Peter.

John did not want to end his Gospel without telling his readers that Peter was restored to his apostleship.

Peter’s restoration gives hope for all of us in need of restoration.

I assure you, John’s gospel does not end on an anti-climactic note.

On the contrary.

But before we examine the Lord’s final encounter with brash Peter, let’s look at a couple of other reasons John may have had to add the twenty first chapter to his book.

I think John had  further purposes in mind: he wanted to refute the foolish rumor that had spread among the believers that he would live until the return of the Lord.

Look at John 21:23: “So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?".

John made it clear that our Lord’s words had been greatly misunderstood.

But, I think John may have had another, more important purpose in mind: he wanted to teach us how to relate to the risen Christ and where we should be looking.

During the forty days between His resurrection and ascension, our Lord appeared and disappeared at will, visiting with the disciples and preparing them for the coming of the Spirit and their future ministries (Acts 1:1-9).

They never knew when He would appear, so they had to stay alert!

(The fact that He may return for His people /today/ ought to keep us on our toes!)

It was an important time for the disciples because they were about to take His place in the world and begin to carry the message to others.

I see in this 21st chapter three pictures of the believer.

The first picture is one of fishing.

It’s found in chapter 21:1-6; 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), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

\\ Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."

They said to him, "We will 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.

The Lord had instructed His disciples to meet Him in Galilee, which helps to explain why they were at the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias (Matt.

26:32; 28:7-10; Mark 16:7).

But John did not explain why Peter decided to go fishing, and Bible students are not in agreement.

Some claim that he was perfectly within his rights, that he needed to pay his bills and the best way to get money was to go fishing.

Why sit around idle? Get busy!

That’s what I would do!

I would go back to something I was good at if for no other reason than as a distraction.

Others believe that Peter had been called /from/ that kind of life (Luke 5:1-11) and that it was wrong for him to return.

Furthermore, when he went fishing, Peter took six other men with him!

If he was wrong, they were wrong too; and it is a sad thing when a believer leads others astray.

Whether Peter and his friends were right or wrong we do not know — but we do know this: their fishing efforts were in vain.

Had they forgotten the Lord’s words, “For without Me, ye can do nothing”?

(John 15:5).

Certainly, Peter must have remembered what happened two years before, when Jesus called him into full-time discipleship (Luke 5:1-11).

On that occasion, Peter had also fished all night and caught nothing, but Jesus had turned his failure into success.

Luke 5:11 says Peter forsook everything and followed Jesus.

So why was peter fishing?

Perhaps Peter’s impulsiveness and self-confidence were revealing themselves again.

He was sincere, and he worked hard, but there were no results.

Where was he looking.

How like some believers in the service of the Lord!

They sincerely believe that they are doing God’s will, but their labors are in vain.

They are serving without direction from the Lord, so they cannot expect blessing from the Lord.

Where are you looking?

After His resurrection, our Lord was sometimes not recognized (Luke 24:16; John 20:14); so it was here.

His disciples did not recognize Him when, at dawn, He appeared on the shore asking .

“You have not caught anything to eat, have you?”

Their reply was a brief  “No.”

It was time for Jesus to take over, just as He did when He called Peter into discipleship.

He told them where to cast the net; they obeyed, and they caught 153 fish!

The difference between success and failure was the width of the ship!

The difference between success and failure is in where you’re looking, isn’t it.

We are never far from success when we permit Jesus to give the orders, and we are usually closer to success than we realize.

It was John who first realized that the stranger on the shore was their Lord and Master.

It is love that recognizes the Lord and shares that good news with others: “It is the Lord!”

And it is still love that recognizes what Jesus has done for us, so we want to share this good news with others.

With characteristic impulsiveness, Peter quickly stripped for work” and dove into the water!