LESSONS AT THE OLD FISHIN' HOLE

LESSONS AT THE OLD FISHIN' HOLE John 21:1-19 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Maurice Fetty, "Second Chance Religion"; Larry Crabb, The Pressure's Off; John R W. Stott,  Gospel of John; Bruce Milne, Commentary on "John" (Inter-Varsity Press) April 27, 2003 [Additional Notes] Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Jim Byrne of Cairns, Australia, was fishing one day when he suddenly found himself in the fight of his life with a giant marlin. He had hooked him firmly, but the fish leapt and splashed and fought. Byrne finally worked him to the boat and landed him. But the fish wasn't finished yet. While thrashing around on deck, the marlin speared Byrne in the chest. His sword missed Byrne's lungs and heart by a fraction of an inch. Quickly the great fish jerked again, withdrawing his weapon, and casually flipped overboard and swam away unharmed. Someone asked me just yesterday if I liked to fish. I responded like I always do-No! I told him my idea of fishing is taking a five-dollar bill to the local Schnucks and buying any fish I want. No standing on the shore for hours bored stiff, no investment in fishing gear, boots or boats. And I just overheard a great trick. You get the clerk at the fish counter to throw your packages of fish to you, then you can honestly tell anyone who asks you, "Yep, I caught 'em myself!" Our text is about an important encounter at the old fishin' hole. The 153 That Didn't Get Away! (John 21:1-8) "Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 'I'm going out to fish,' Simon Peter told them, and they said, 'We'll go with you.' So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, 'Friends, haven't you any fish?' 'No,' they answered. He said, 'Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.' When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!' As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, 'It is the Lord,' he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards." (John 21:1-8) Twice already Jesus has appeared to his gathered disciples in the past few days since Resurrection Sunday. But He seemed to move around a lot, making unpredictable visits. Still somewhat confused, and maybe even a little jittery, Peter decides one day, "Hey, we have nothing else to do, and here we are right by the Sea of Galilee where we used to carry on our fishing business. Let's go get one of our old boats and a good net and see if we've still got it!" Four professional fishermen and three amateurs launch out about 90 meters into the lake. At 12 miles long and 7 miles wide, the Sea of Galilee is about the size of Rend Lake. Peter, Andrew and the Zebedee boys knew the lake well, and they knew just where they wanted to drop the nets. But they didn't net one fish all night. And this should have been a clue right away. It was after a long night of catching nothing when Jesus told them to go back out and try again in the early morning. They did and caught so many fish that their nets tore. Just as they are about to give up, some stranger on shore yells out to ask, "Haven't you any fish?" [webmasters note: John 21:5] This, of course, was hard to take for the seasoned fishermen. There's only one thing worse than catching nothing, and that is having some stranger ask you if you caught any. But Jesus was getting their attention. And there's one thing worse than that to a professional fisherman-that is when the stranger is a know-it-all who thinks he has good advice for you to help you make a catch! And this landlubber did. Did they hear him right? Throw the net to the right side of the boat? That is ludicrous! As if ten feet away from where they had been fishing there will suddenly be hungry fish! Amazingly, they went ahead and threw the net off starboard. Amazingly, the fish were there-153 big ones, to be exact! Amazingly, the net didn't break! For John, the beloved disciple, all these "amazingly's" were adding up to something familiar. As soon as he says, "It's the Lord!" [webmasters note: John 21:7] out loud, Peter grabs his clothes and dives in and rushes to shore to see Jesus. The Lord had their attention. About half-way to shore, when swimming turned to wading, don't you imagine Peter began to remember that similar occasion three years earlier when they miraculously caught the fish. That was when he first realized who Jesus really was and he fell to his knees in that boat and cried out, "Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man". [webmasters note: Luke 5:8] The thought of his own sinfulness brought the stinging reminder of how he had forsaken Jesus the night of His crucifixion and how he had wept so bitterly in remorse. Here he was, running to the beach to greet Jesus, but the guilt he feels forces him to approach the risen Christ cautiously. A strange mixture of joy and shame slow him down. Do you ever come to Christ with such reservation? We are like Peter, aren't we? He had an entirely wrong notion of who Jesus was and how He would rule. He in his impetuous way had tried to fit Jesus into a popular and worldly kingdom. Jesus not only wouldn't go there, but He rebuked Peter in the strongest terms. That was the same day Peter swore his allegiance to Jesus - "Though they all forsake you, I will never forsake you!" [webmasters note: Matthew 26:33, Mark 14:29] We have our vision of who we want Christ to be: a champion of our causes, from Americanism to feminism. Some are sure He is a dictatorial fundamentalist, others a sentimental friend. Many want Him to be a Christ of minority advocacy, many cast Him as the Christ of academia with rational answers, and still others would have Him be their cheerleader for self-help psychology, new age religion or the Christ who belongs to "my denomination". Try as we will, we cannot control God, or domesticate Him; we cannot put Him in our box and He won't stay on our leash. This is Abraham Joshua Heschel's idea, that God speaks first, eternally, and we answer when we figure out we've been called. We answer . . . and one day God lets us know who we're dealing with." --Annie Dillard He is God and the closer we get to the resurrected Lord the more we realize that our preferences are petty and He alone is the Holy One, God almighty. With Peter we shuffle hesitantly in the sand toward Him. The nearer we get the more clearly we see Him for who He is, and the more starkly real is our sinfulness and our unworthiness. We've abandoned Him just like Peter did. We've sworn we didn't know Him just like Peter did. We've promised Him our undying loyalty and our fervent devotion, and we've let Him down time after time. We've experienced His love and His grace in our lives hundreds of times, but hundreds of times we've rebelled and resisted Him, just like Peter did. But this story challenges us to recognize, like Peter, that Jesus is the God of second chances. The guilt we feel when we think of drawing near to the Lord will evaporate when we come to Him in repentance, ready to admit our fault and to receive the forgiveness He's been waiting to administer. That's why He came to the beach in the first place. He had prophetically changed this man's name from Simon (a "reed") to Peter (a "rock"), and now He has come to restore this broken reed and change him into the rock again. It doesn't matter how badly you've blown it. It doesn't matter how far you've wandered. And it makes no difference how guilty you feel. The Lord Jesus will come to you; He'll get your attention; and He'll heal forgive and restore you, IF you come to Him in repentance and godly sorrow. He loves you. That's why He comes to you and urges you to come to Him in faith. He is the God of 2nd chances. Garrison Keillor writes about Larry, a resident of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon. Larry was saved 12 times at the Lutheran Church, an all-time record for a church that never gave altar calls. There wasn't even an organ playing "Just As I Am Without One Plea" in the background. Regardless of that, between 1953 and 1961, Larry Sorenson came forward 12 times, weeping buckets and crumpled up at the communion rail, to the shock of the minister, who had delivered a dry sermon on stewardship. But now he needed to put his arm around this person, pray with him and be certain he had a way to get home. "Even we fundamentalists got tired of him," Keillor writes. God didn't mean for you to feel guilty all your life. There comes a time when you should dry your tears and join the building committee and grapple with the problems of the church furnace and the church roof. But Larry just kept repenting and repenting.--Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home Fish Breakfast on the Shores of Galilee (John 21:9-14) Well, Peter arrives, probably somewhat awkwardly, at the shore. Impetuous people always seem to arrive early and feel awkward. We have no record of his immediate conversation with Jesus, but Jesus is saving some very important dialogue with Peter for after breakfast. Notice that when Jesus tells the disciples to bring the fish they'd caught, Peter is quick to go to the boat and get them single-handedly-as if he is anxious to do something because he didn't know what to say. "When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples dared ask him, 'Who are you?' They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead." The last time Jesus ate with His disciples in this place it was the occasion of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14). At that time, when He worked that awesome miracle, the scripture records the very same phrase, "Jesus…took the bread and gave it to them…" (John 21:13) When He was at table with the two Emmaus Road disciples, "…he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them…" (Luke 24:30) And, of course, at the Last Supper, the scripture records these words: "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.'" (Matthew 26:26) It was in the breaking of the bread that the disciples recognized the Lord. Jesus appeared to His disciples several times, this being the third. And the record of those appearances frequently mention that Jesus ate with them. Have you ever wondered why? I want to suggest to you that the detail of them eating with Him would later serve as important evidence that Jesus had risen bodily, and that His post-resurrection appearances weren't some ghostly apparitions. A heretical teaching would surface in the early church in the second century AD that Jesus did not rise from the dead physically, but that He only spiritually rose to bring hope to His disciples. So it was as a ghost that He appeared to them suddenly, walking through walls and disappearing as suddenly as He arrived. But ghosts don't eat fish and chips! Jesus deliberately arranged to share this and other meals with the disciples, so they could always recall the fact that He was physically with them. John would write at the close of the first century these words to combat the earliest forms of this heresy: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." (1 John 1:1) I would simply add another brief observation. The Lord loved to eat with people. He ate with sinners and publicans, tax collectors and prostitutes. He also ate with Pharisees and Scribes. He seemed to relish times of sharing a meal and talking of spiritual things with His tablemates. Whether it was the Seder meal or bread and fish on the shore, He honored meal times. And we should not be surprised that He gave us the "meal" of the Lord's Supper by which to remember Him and His atoning sacrifice for us on a regular basis. We should find it perfectly natural that the early church often shared meals with one another, invited strangers to join them, and they maintained a rigorous schedule of fellowship meals. And guess what is waiting for us in heaven? That's right-the Wedding Supper of the Lamb! Peter's Redemption (John 21:15-19) Following breakfast Jesus turns to Peter to take care of some important personal business. And it is not for Jesus' sake, but for Peter's good. You see, there was still this matter of Peter's threefold denial of Jesus back in the courtyard the night of the trial and subsequent crucifixion. Jesus knew, even more than Peter did, that this disciple, this leader, this "rock" needed absolution. His guilt needed to be lifted and his shame healed before he could properly lead the others as he was supposed to. After all, he was the one who had made all those promises about being faithful and devoted through thick and thin, about always being at His side and never forsaking him. He was the one who first boldly confessed Jesus was "the Christ the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16) In fact, Jesus lauded him for believing this revelation he had received. Moments later, though, Peter blew it when he tried to rebuke Jesus for saying He would endure suffering and death in Jerusalem. Peter remembered that very well. He said, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" Those words had provoked his beloved Lord to call him "Satan" and accuse him of having not the things of God in mind but the things of men (Matthew 16:21-23) A thousand times he wished he could take those words back. Now Jesus was about to give him the opportunity. "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?' 'Yes, Lord,' he said, 'you know that I love you.' Jesus said, 'Feed my lambs.' Again Jesus said, 'Simon son of John, do you truly love me?' He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' Jesus said, 'Take care of my sheep.' The third time he said to him, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, 'Do you love me?' He said, 'Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.' Jesus said, 'Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.' Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, 'Follow me!'" (John 21:15-19) The God of the second chance does not simply dismiss Peter's sins with a wave of the hand and a quick "I forgive you." No, He knows that this grief and guilt in Peter is a cancer that runs deep and it will need a skilled surgeon to excise it. With insight and skill that make psychotherapy and medicine look like cheap Band-Aids, He weaves a conversational tapestry that not only addresses the sin Peter needs to be rid of, but gently leads him in this painful process of admitting that he loves Christ with all of his heart. As this admission comes forth, Peter is healed. When he is healed, he is also commissioned by Jesus. He tells Peter what He wants him to do-Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep, follow me. There are a hundred things we could say about these directives for ministry, but I want us to see clearly this point. You are not ready to serve Him until you let Him forgive and heal you. Without His forgiveness and His deliverance you simply cannot minister effectively to others, nor even to God in worship. So, to all those who desperately want to please God and live in fellowship with Him: take care of first things first. Come to Him for healing and forgiveness. Come to Him for your second chance. The forgiveness that Jesus extends to all of us is the same. It does not treat sin as if it weren't important or offensive to a holy God. It is. But He says to us, "Let's get this out in the open and stop hiding. The hiding is killing you. You're being strangled by guilt and buried in shame. I love you and want to deliver you from sin and death. You're afraid that I will turn on you in anger and judge you ruthlessly because of what you've done." "But, listen, I died so that you could be free from that sin. It's true that I must judge that sin. In fact, it is so serious to me that it demands judgment of death, even eternal separation from me. But I have paid it for you. You're free!" "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'" (Isaiah 1:18) It is the love of God, self-sacrificing for us that heals us and makes us whole again. Bill White shared this insight: Recently I witnessed an unusual accountability partnership at my church. In an effort to break his habit of using profanity, Paul started meeting with another guy from church, and they set up an aggressive plan for holiness. Each Sunday, Paul would report to William how many times he cussed during the week, and he'd put $5 in the offering plate for each incident. The first week cost Paul $100. Although following weeks improved somewhat, he wasn't having the success he wanted and was losing a lot of hard-earned cash. After the fourth week, William told Paul he had unilaterally changed the deal for the coming week, but he wouldn't tell Paul how. Paul wanted to know, but all William would say was, "Trust me. It will cost you both less and more." The following Sunday before worship, Paul was looking a bit down, obviously having failed again. William put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Paul, this will cost you both less and more. It's called grace." At that he took out a check made out to the church, dated and signed by William. Only the amount was blank. "Your sin still costs, but for you it's free. Just fill in the numbers. And next week there will be more grace." That first week of grace cost William $55, but the second only cost him $20. There was no third week. It cost Paul too much to fill in those checks, so he quit sinning. When we truly meet Jesus and understand what it cost Him to save us from sin and death, we will be healed and changed forever. You don't have to worry about getting "good" or even cleaned up before you come to Him. He already knows you just as you are-every single sin, every evil thought and every potential in you-and he loves you. When you come to Him in faith, He will do a work of grace in your life. He will begin the work of cleaning you up for heaven. You see, it's not a matter of you earning your way into heaven. He has earned it for you. You are saved by grace, and Titus 2:11-13 says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope…" What is grace? It is God's favor-unearned, unmerited, undeserved. The bible says that He demonstrates (proves) His love for us by dying for us while we are yet sinners. Years ago in a southern state, Billy Graham was once pulled over a policeman. He confessed his guilt and the cop took him to see the judge. The judge asked, "How do you plead?" "I plead guilty. I broke the law." About that point the judge looked up and said to the famous evangelist, "You broke the law so a penalty must be paid. I find you guilty." As he said that, the judge reached into his wallet and said, "But, I'm going to pay your fine for you." He attached a $10 bill to the ticket and then said, "Mr. Graham, if you don't mind, I'd like to take you out for a steak dinner." That is grace! That isn't the way people usually treat each other, but it is the way God treats us. And that is amazing. One author illustrated it this way: In the spring of 2002, I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time before my final exam in the Youth Ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri. When I got to class, everybody was doing their last-minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us before the test. Most of his review came right from the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard. When questioned about it, he said they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn't argue with that. Finally it was time to take the test. "Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one, and I'll tell you to start," our professor, Dr. Tom Hufty, instructed. When we turned them over, to my astonishment every answer on the test was filled in. My name was even written on the exam in red ink. The bottom of the last page said: "This is the end of the exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced ... grace." Dr. Hufty then went around the room and asked each student individually, "What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?" Then he said, "Some things you learn from lectures, some things you learn from research, but some things you can only learn from experience. You've just experienced grace. One hundred years from now, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your name will be written down in a book, and you will have had nothing to do with writing it there. That will be the ultimate grace experience." Let's close with a reading and confession of this scripture together. "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'" (Isaiah 1:18)     [Back to Top]