Failure Doesn't Make Us Unusable to God

Welcome back to our latest series, “The Aftermath”, which is taking us through some of the events that followed the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are visiting with us this morning or if you’ve missed some of this series, don’t worry. I’m going to start with a review to catch you up.

After the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, His disciples are crushed. In fact, they have stopped believing that Jesus was the Messiah. Why? Because their theology had no place for a Messiah that was going to die. The only thing they understood was that when the Messiah comes, He was going to bring in an eternal kingdom in which He would rule the world. And they were right about that, and they rightly believed that Jesus was the Messiah who was going to bring in that Kingdom.

However, they didn’t understand that He had to die first to take away the sins of the world. And so, when Jesus was crucified they were devasted and they were thinking, “man, I guess we had it wrong. I guess Jesus wasn’t the Messiah.” In fact, as two disciples were walking home to Emmaus, they were saying these very things. And as they were walking, Jesus comes alongside them and asks what has them so discouraged. Now, the Scriptures tell us that they don’t recognize Jesus at this point, and the two disciples are astonished by Jesus’ question. And they say, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what happened over the last days. Jesus, a prophet who was mighty before God in word and deed was crucified after He was delivered over to the Romans by our religious leaders. But listen to what Luke records one of them saying right after this.

Luke 24:21 NKJV

21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

You see, this statement, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel”, proves that they no longer believed Jesus was the Messiah. They believed it before, but Jesus’ death crushed their faith. And of course, when they said “redeem Israel” they meant that in the sense of freeing Israel from Roman bondage. They were looking for redemption from Roman rule, but ironically Jesus had just provided a different type of redemption. Jesus had provided redemption from sin. Simply put, they no longer believed that Jesus was the Messiah because they had bad theology. And a major point of this series has been bad theology gets bad results. And that is so, so true.

So, Jesus has to get these disciples theology straightened out. And that is exactly what he does. Let’s review a couple more verses in this passage.

Luke 24:25–27 NKJV

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Here is the point. Jesus has to straighten out the disciple’s theology in order to restore their faith. So, He takes them throughout the OT to show them that the Messiah had to suffer and die first before He brought in the kingdom.

And so, eventually these disciples recognize Jesus, and they hurry back to tell the original eleven the good news that He has been raised. But meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, the eleven are just as devastated. Just like the two on the road to Emmaus, their faith had been shattered They were confused, discouraged, and in a state of unbelief.

In fact, the eleven had already received multiple eyewitness reports. Mary Magdalene came to them. The other women from the tomb came to them. Now these two Emmaus disciples come bursting through the door with the same message: “We have seen the Lord!” But the disciples still refuse to believe. Their theology had no category for a suffering, dying, and resurrected Messiah, so they simply could not accept the truth.

But that’s not even the worst of it. Jesus Himself appears to them while they are hiding behind locked doors, and instead of rejoicing, they are terrified. They think they’re seeing a ghost. Their unbelief is so deep that even the physical presence of the risen Christ doesn’t immediately convince them. And so Jesus has to do for them exactly what He did on the Emmaus road—He opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. He shows them from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms that the Messiah had to suffer, had to die, and had to rise again.

And as I pointed out in our last lesson, what we are seeing in the aftermath of the cross is the that Great Shepherd of the sheep regathering His flock that had been scattered.

And so, it’s after all of this—after the fear, the unbelief, the shattered expectations, and the restoration of the disciples faith, that we come to John 21. And now Jesus is going to recommission His disciples for service. You see, Jesus had restored the men’s faith, but they are confused about what to do next. And so, this morning we are going to see Jesus appear again to His disciples, this time after they have been fishing all night on the sea of Galilee.

And so, with all that being said, we are ready to jump into this morning’s text, but before we do let’s pray and ask God to open our understanding so that we can comprehend the Scriptures.

Ok, beginning in John chapter 21 verse 1.

John 21:1 NKJV

1 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:

We learn from this verse that Jesus appears to His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Now, don’t get confused here, this is just another name for the sea of Galilee. So, the disciples finally left Jerusalem sometime after Thomas gets straightened out, and they head back to Galilee. So, at this point, the faith of the disciples has been restored, but Jesus hasn’t given them their marching orders yet. Jesus hasn’t given them what we call the “Great Commission”, and so I’m sure in their minds their was some confusion as to what comes next.

They understood now that Jesus was resurrected, and He had told them that He was leaving, so what were they supposed in the mean time? Well, seven of them were fisherman, and they had left their profession for approximately three years, so they go back to what they know. They go back to fishing.

About think about this for a minute. These guys had been through some traumatic events: the Triumphal Entry, the expectation of a new kingdom, a betrayal by a trusted friend, near arrest, Peter, their leader, denying Jesus three time, the agonizing crucifixion of the Lord, the Resurrection, and the appearances of the risen Lord. And so, after these things, they return to familiar territory to do something they knew how to do, go fishing.

But let me make a quick point here, and its the major theme of the lesson. Understandably after everything the disciples had just experienced and in light of their own failures and lack of faith, it makes sense that they were unsure of the future. I mean, they were probably thinking the same thing we would be. Man, we blew it so bad. I guess we’ll just go home and go back to our day jobs. Let’s to back to fishing. But the beautiful thing about this morning text is Jesus is about to show these men, that He wasn’t through with them. Jesus is about to show these men that their failure didn’t mean God wasn’t going to use them. And this brings us to the title of today’s lesson.

Failure doesn’t make us unusable to God.

And if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you’ve learned this. We have all learned this because we have all failed in our Christian walk. But, praise be to God, we serve a risen Savior who uses us despite all of our past failure. And that is what the disciples are getting ready to learn. They are getting ready to learn that they weren’t going back to fishing. Jesus told them that He was going to make them fishers of men, and by the grace of God that was still the plan.

Ok, Picking back up at verse 2 we read,

John 21:2–3 NKJV

2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

Man. These poor guys, they don’t know what to do with themselves so they make a plan to go fishing. And I’m sure they were all pumped up about the idea. I mean these are fisherman by trade, and undoubtably they grew up on the sea of Galilee. They literally dropped their nets to follow Jesus, and so I’m sure they were fired up to get out on the water and do something they loved. And if, they were anything like some of the fisherman I know, they were probably saying man we are about to slay these fish. Were about to load this boat with fish. But after fishing all night, not a single fish. Not one. Talk about the wind getting knocked out their sails.

But, I don’t want you to miss the bigger picture here. You see, the disciples being out on the sea of Galilee and not catching a single fish was something that they had experienced before. Peter, James and John experienced this type of moment when Jesus first called them to be fishers of men. Do you remember what happens in Luke chapter 5?

Jesus is teaching the multitude and the crowd is pressing against Him so He gets on Peter’s boat and tells Peter to push out away from the shore. And when He finishes teaching listen to what He tells Peter to do.

Luke 5:4 NKJV

4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

And listen to Peter’s response.

Luke 5:5 NKJV

5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

And of course we now the story right. Peter even though He doesn't think it going to do any good obeys the Lord. And in verse 6 we read,

Luke 5:6–7 NKJV

6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

There are so many fish, that the weight of the catch was sinking multiple boats. And Luke goes on to record just how astonished everyone is by the size of the catch, which included James and John. Skipping down to verse 10 we read,

Luke 5:10–11 NKJV

10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Here is the point. When Jesus first called His disciples into full-time ministry it began with an all night fishing trip. It began with an all night fishing trip that caught zero fish. And now here again, the disciples are out of the sea of Galilee after fishing all night, and they’ve caught nothing. That is they caught nothing until Jesus shows up.

Let’s pick back up in John 21. So as we know the disciples have fished all night and caught nothing, and then in verse 4 we read.

John 21:4–5 NKJV

4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.”

Every time I read these verses I can’t help but chuckle a little bit. Look if you done much fishing in your life, you’ve had this experience. You’ve had the experience of fishing and fishing and fishing, and no matter what you do, or no matter what lure you tie on, you just can’t catch a fish. It’s what you call getting skunked. And it is so frustrating. And when you are getting skunked there is one question that no one wants to get asked. You know what that question is? “Hey man, y’all catching anything”? Nobody wants to get asked that question when there are no fish in the boat.

And that is basically what Jesus is asking His disciples. Hey guys, y’all caught anything? Y’all got any fish to eat on that boat? And look how the disciples respond, “no”. They give the Lord a one word answer. Nope. You can almost feel the tiredness, frustration, and disappointment they are experiencing in that single no.

Now let me point out another detail in verse 5. It is interesting how Jesus refers to HIs disciples here. It says, that Jesus called them children. This is the only time Jesus calls them children. This word in the Greek was used of younger boys who were still under instruction. That’s important. Jesus is referring to His disciples as younger boys who were still under instruction. What a beautiful picture of discipleship. May we all be children in this sense. May we all be under the continuing instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But that isn’t the only interesting thing about Jesus referring to them as children. Apparently in this culture this term was used by older retired fisherman calling out to younger active fisherman. So, at this point the disciples are probably thinking they are talking to an old retired fisherman. But, this is the voice of their Master Fisherman who was calling them back to service.

And, look what happens next.

John 21:6 NKJV

6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

Now, under normal circumstances I can’t imagine it would make much of a difference what side of the boat these men cast their net, especially after they had fished all night. But these weren’t ordinary circumstances, and that is no ordinary Fisherman standing on the shore directing them.

And there are so many devotional points we can take from this. Let me just give you one.

When the Lord is directing our service, there are no more empty nets.

You see, when we serve the Lord Jesus Christ enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit we will bear fruit. We will bear fruit because we don’t produce the fruit God does. This whole encounter reminds me so much of what Jesus taught His disciples on the night of His arrest. Listen to what Jesus says back in John chapter 15.

These are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. And they teach us how disciples produce Godly fruit. To bear fruit, we must abide in Christ. That word abide means to dwell, remain, or continue in”. And the point Jesus is teaching His disciples was simple. It you want to bear fruit you must remain in Me. You must make me the focus of your lives. You must remain in me, and if you do that, you will bear Godly fruit. And I think Jesus is teaching His disciples the same lesson here, only this time He uses fish instead of fruit. Jesus is letting them know that human effort isn’t going to get the job done. Jesus is teaching them, that His power produces the fruit and His power catches the fish. Keep your focus on Me.

And this teaching speaks volumes to us. You see, we so often start to focus on the works, and commandments, and that leads to burn out and empty nets. Never focus on the works, never focus on the commandments. Focus on the Lord, and He will produce the fruit, and He will catch the fish. Which is exactly what happens here.

And let me give just a quick testimonial comment from my own life. As a Christian, I wondered off from the flock. I was the prodigal son. I ended up in the spiritual far country bankrupted in every sense of the word. And just like the prodigal I came to the realization that I’ve got to go back to the Father. And praise God for His grace, the Father welcomed me back with open arms. The same way He does for every believer who repents from habitual sin. And since then God has done amazing things in my life. Amazing things that I never thought possible. And throughout this crazy journey I never thought, “you know what I need to become a Sunday School teacher, or I need to become an Elder, or I need to become a senor pastor. I never thought any of those things were possible.

No, my focus has always been in one place, sitting at the Master’s feet and learning. That is it. My focus has been sitting at Jesus’ feet because He has the words of eternal life, and there is no other place for me to go. The focus of my Christian life has been to be in the presence of the Lord. And the primary way we do that is beholding His image in the Scriptures, prayer, and fellowship with HIs body.

Here is my point. If you focus on Him and being with Him, Jesus will show you where to fish. He will provide you with the ministry opportunities. Just steal away every moment you can to be with Him, and buckle your seatbelt. Buckle your seatbelt because He will start dropping opportunities in your lap. The Lord will show you where to cast your nets. The Lord will show you where to cast your nets just like He did for the disciples here.

Ok, let’s get back to our passage. So, the disciples have fished all night caught nothing. Then the Lord tells them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. And when they do their were so many fish in the net that they couldn’t drag it in.

And then we read in verse 7,

John 21:7 NKJV

7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.

Now to me it seems pretty obvious how John recognizes the Lord. I mean he has experienced this before. He had fished all night on this sea before and got skunked, and He had seen the Lord tell Peter to let the net down one more time, with the result being a miraculous catch that almost sank their boats. So, when it happens again John quickly connects the dots. And “that disciple whom Jesus loved (John) said to Peter. “It is the Lord”.

And I love how the disciples personalities come out here. John always seems to be the more discerning one. He seems to be the thinker among the group. John actually put the pieces together about the resurrection by seeing the grave clothes at the empty tomb. So, John is the discerning thinker of the group and Peter is the man of action. Peter, was the shoot first and ask questions later guy, which is exactly what we see here.

The second John figures out it was the Lord he tells Peter, and Peter puts on his outer garment and plunges into the sea to swim to Jesus.

Let’s read on.

John 21:8–9 NKJV

8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. 9 Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.

Now, we have to talk about this fire of coals for a second. I’m of the opinion that this whole scene was designed to speak to some of Peter’s past experiences. I mean the Lord has designed all of this to get Peter to remember two specific experiences. The first experience He wanted Peter and the disciples to remember was their first call to service. And Jesus recreated this event as He recommissions Peter again. But that wasn’t the only thing Jesus wanted Peter to remember. You see, right beside a charcoal fire is where Peter denied HIs Lord.

Let’s quickly look at this scene for John chapter 18.

John 18:17–18 NKJV

17 Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this Man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.

One of my favorite commentators writing about this scene says, “The fire in John 18 was the world’s fire. Peter was in the wrong place. He put himself in the place of temptation. But in John chapter 21 we see a fire that the Lord Himself had kindled. Think of it! Think of the grace of Christ, the Son of God, cooking Peter’s breakfast that morning! There is nothing that the Lord Jesus Christ thought too humiliating for Him to do for those He loved.

Here is the point. Peter greatest failure happened beside a fire kindled by the world, and the Lord Jesus Christ in all His grace and mercy restores Peter beside a fire that He kindled Himself, all while, feeding His disciples breakfast. If that doesn’t make you want to fall down and worship the Risen Savior, I don’t know what will.

And let me ask you a question before we move on. What kind of fire are you warming yourself by? Are you warming yourself by the world’s fire, living and behaving like the world? Or are you sitting by the Lord’s fire as He teaches you, transforms you, and restores you?

So, the rest of the disciples make it to land and they see the fire of coals built with a fish already cooking. And moving on to verse 10.

John 21:10–11 NKJV

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” 11 Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.

John 21:12–13 NKJV

12 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

I want to spend our last few minutes this morning focusing on this meal Jesus has with His disciples. I want to land the plane because this is a highly significant meal. You see, Jesus was acting as the host here, and in the ancient near East, when a host extended this type of hospitality to others and provided food for them, this meant something. In the ancient world, sharing a meal implied acceptance, protection, and renewed relationship.

And so this meal Jesus’ provides speaks of acceptance, forgiveness, and commitment. Also, by the disciples accepting this meal they were implying that they were recommitting themselves to follow Jesus. Simply put, Jesus is telling His disciples, “You are still my guys. I still have a plan for you. You are not going back to fishing. You are going to be fishers of men, just like I told you in the beginning.”

And further still this meal is showing the disciples that He would provide for all of their needs both spiritual and physical as they followed Him. And church this meal is speaking all of these wonderful truths to us. So let’s start wrapping up where we started this morning.

Failure doesn’t make us unusable to God.

Failure doesn’t make us unusable to God. In fact, sometimes failure is the very tool God uses to break down our pride so that we stop depending on ourselves and start depending on Him. That’s exactly what happened to these men — especially Peter. That night in the garden they thought they had everything under control. They were confident. They were bold. Peter boasted again and again that he would never deny the Lord, that he would stand when everyone else fell.

But when they struck the Shepherd, they all ran in fear. And Peter — the loudest, strongest, most self‑assured of them all — denied Jesus three times beside a fire kindled by the world.

Yet here on this morning, beside a fire kindled by the Lord Himself, Jesus shows Peter — and He shows us — that failure is not final. Grace gets the last word. Mercy gets the last word. The risen Christ gets the last word.

And church, this is where the hope of the gospel shines brightest. Jesus doesn’t restore perfect people. He restores broken people. He restores humbled people. He restores people who know they need Him. What does the book of James say, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. Now, the disciples are humbled. And Jesus says, “now you are ready, men. Now your ready to depend

The disciples thought they were going back to fishing. Jesus says, “No — you’re going forward to build my church” They thought their story was over. Jesus says, “No — your story is just beginning.” They thought their failure disqualified them. Jesus says, “No — your failure prepared you.”

So hear this today:

Your failure doesn’t make you unusable to God. Your failure makes you ready for grace.

If Jesus can take a man who denied Him three times and turn him into a pillar of His church… If He can take a group of frightened, confused fishermen and turn them into apostles who turned the world upside down… Then He can take your life — with all its regrets, wounds, and empty nets — and use it for His glory.

So come to the fire He has kindled. Come to the table He has prepared. Come to the Savior who restores, recommissions, and renews.

Because church — failure doesn’t make us unusable to God. It makes us trophies of His grace.

Let’s pray.