Ditching Your Disappointment

It’s easy to get disappointed, isn’t it? It’s easy when our hopes or expectations aren’t met, when we don’t get what we want. We may work hard and do our best but life just doesn’t work out the way that we think it should.

Things don’t go our way. We don’t get the job or promotion. We didn’t make the team.

It may be something as simple as the grocery store not having your favorite brand of snack. You know that feeling when you see the empty space on the shelf where the salt and vinegar chips normally sit.

Sometimes we’re disappointed when we get what we don’t want. Nobody wants to get a flat tire or catch the flu.

We can get disappointed in others as well. People don’t always meet our expectations, do they?

Have you ever looked up to someone and they let you down? Have you had high hopes, high expectations for someone and they didn’t even come close?

But I think that most of us at some point have been disappointed in ourselves. You know how that is, don’t you?

I can’t believe I did that again. I am so stupid! Why did I say that? Why did I do that? You’d think I’d know better. What’s wrong with me?

We’ve all experienced disappointment. Maybe you’re even disappointed this morning

God allows disappointments to come into our lives. In a way, we could say that disappointments are His appointments. It’s in those times, He has some things for us to learn.

Today, I want to look at one of the disciples who was probably pretty disappointed – not in Jesus but in himself. When Jesus said that all the disciples would desert Him, Peter told Jesus that he would stand beside him through thick and thin even if nobody else would.

He was arrogant. He was strong-willed. He was sure of himself. He expected more of himself.

But what happened? Before the rooster crowed, Peter had denied Christ three times. Peter was disappointed, not in Jesus – Jesus had met all of his expectations and hopes, the apostle had seen the empty tomb and had actually seen the risen savior twice – Peter was disappointed in himself

He’d let his Lord down. He was a failure, a disappointment.

Let’s pray, read our text and see how Peter ditched his disappointment.

Pray!

John 21:1–14 ESV

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. 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. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Let’s look at seven ways to ditch our disappointment.

Don’t give up when you’re feeling down

When Peter was feeling down, he wanted to go back and do some of those things that he used to do. But when he did, he found that it didn’t work. I wonder if some of you are tempted to do the same thing. Perhaps you’re going through a hard time right now and you just want to walk away this whole Christianity thing. Maybe you feel like people have let you down so you just want to get away from everything.

Peter discovered the hard way that we can’t go back, but we can get through it. Several years later, he wrote in:

1 Peter 5:10 ESV

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

As Rick Warren states, “You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.”

In fact, if you’re a Christian, God won’t let you find satisfaction in those things you used to do because He loves you too much to see you stray.

It’s interesting that they go back out at night but it shouldn’t surprise us. It’s always dark when you decide to go back to the old gang, the old ways, the old spots. It’s always dark.

Maybe you’ve tried it. Maybe you’re thinking about going back.

Are you close to giving up? With all that God has done for you, don’t walk away from Him or His church. Keep serving Him faithfully no matter what happens.

We can do nothing apart from Christ

It’s amazing that there were at least three professional fishermen in the boat that night that knew how to fish but they didn’t even catch a thing. Verse 3 tells us, “but that night they caught nothing.”

To not catch anything was pretty unusual and no doubt led to a deeper level of disappointment and discouragement among the disciples. After all, they had decided to go fishing to get rid of the blahs.

But when you go back, it’s just not there. It just doesn’t work any longer. You come up empty.

Jesus was teaching them the truth of what He had said earlier in John 15:5: “…for apart from me you can do nothing.”

They couldn’t rely on their experience or their expertise to achieve anything.

But it’s so easy to go through the motions, isn’t it? If we were honest, most of us rely on our own abilities instead of surrendering to God’s Spirit. It’s so easy for us to be fooled into thinking that we’re accomplishing something for God.

But the truth is that we must stop going through the motions of religious routine. Let’s allow those times of disappointment to reveal how easy it us for us to get bored with our faith. Have we lost our passion for Christ?

When Jesus spoke to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, He commended them for their hard work and perseverance. They had certainly worked for the Lord, but Jesus points out that something was significantly wrong in verses 4-5:

Revelation 2:4–5 ESV

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we as a church forsaken our first love? If we have, let’s repent and get back on track, refusing to settle for second best. Jesus does not tolerate anyone taking His rightful place in our lives or in His church.

As we walk through trials and difficulties, as we experience disappointment, God strips away the junk in our lives so that we will see that we can do nothing apart from Him.

And when we realize that our “nets” are empty, we see the need for God to fill us. And it’s at that point we will either bend our knees to Him, or we will be broken.

Maybe there is some bending and breaking taking place in your life right now, and that’s not a bad thing. We can also take comfort from the next verse as Jesus tells Peter that he will get through the trying times because the Lord Himself is praying for him:

Obedience is always the right choice

In verse 5, we see Jesus call out to his disciples, greeting them as “children” and asks how the fishing is going. He wants them to admit the obvious fact that they’ve caught nothing.

A true miracle takes place here as the fishermen actually say they caught nothing.

Fishermen always say, “You should have seen the one that got away.”

But there comes a point in life when you go back and realize it stinks, that there’s nothing there. It sounded so good as you reminisced about the wind blowing your hair, the smell of fish in the air, the rocking of the boat and being with the boys. It sounded so good when you thought about it, but when you actually got there, it wasn’t the way you thought it would be.

Jesus affectionately calls them children to show how He loves us even when we go astray. He watches us rely on our own expertise, He sees our empty nets and wants to fill them up.

Max Lucado said it well: “He loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.”

And the way He changes us is through obedience. When we decide to obey Him, no matter how we’re feeling, no matter how empty we are, and no matter whether it makes sense or not, He is honored.

In Jeremiah 41, the people make a commitment to be obedient to the Lord:

Jeremiah 42:6 ESV

Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

That’s what He wants from us. And that’s exactly what the disciples did when Jesus told them to throw the net on the right side of the boat. That didn’t make much sense because they had been trying all night to find some fish. But they chose to obey.

I wonder how many blessings we’ve missed out on simply because we haven’t always obeyed Him.

Blessings are closer than we think

The difference between an empty net and an overflowing one was only the width of the boat!

Three or four feet from one side to the other, that’s how close they were to success in their endeavor.

And you might be just three or four feet away from seeing success happen in your life, in your ministry, in your occupation. How do you move the three or four feet that make all the difference?

You do what Jesus says. Listen to what He’s telling you. Maybe He’s been dealing with you, speaking to you about a certain issue, but you’ve thought His direction doesn’t relate to the challenge you face.

The disciples could have said, “We’ve been fishing all night. We’re experts. What do three feet have to do with anything?” But when they did what He said, they were immediately on the right side.

You might be that close as well. All you have to do is decide to listen and obey.

We can’t fish the blessings out of life but we can catch what God sends our way. The disciples, in their own strength came up empty. But when they obeyed, God sent His blessings.

Do whatever it takes to get close to Jesus

John was the first to recognize Jesus. Maybe that’s because of all the disciples; it was John who hung in there while Jesus hung on the cross. His love for His Master was never questioned and Jesus had a special place for him as well. As they’re struggling with the wet nets, John turns to Peter and says, “It is the Lord!”

Verse 7 says that as soon as Peter heard this, he grabbed his outer garment and jumped in the water. When Jesus performed the first fish miracle in Luke 5, Peter wanted Jesus to get away from him; now He jumps out of the boat in order to get to Him.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, Matthew tells us

Matthew 14:28 ESV

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

When Peter knew for certain that it was Jesus he got out of the boat and walked on water toward Him. The first time, Peter needed confirmation but this time he doesn’t because he knows for sure. And yet again, he can’t stay in the boat. He has to get to where Jesus is.

Peter won’t let anything stop Him from getting to Jesus. While He certainly still had some guilt and shame, He knew that Jesus would forgive him.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get as close to Jesus as you can? We can’t be passive about this. Spiritual growth only happens when we become disciplined to read our Bibles, to pray without ceasing, to worship with other believers, to serve others, and to fishers of men.

We must take action.

I don’t know how disappointed or disillusioned you are today but I do know that you are only as close to Jesus as you want to be.

We can’t sit around and just wait for growth to happen. We must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing. It always begins with a decision.

It’s time to get out of the boat and seek Him passionately like Peter did.

Everything we accomplish is by His grace

My favorite verse in this passage is verse 10:

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”

Jesus already has some fish frying and some bread but He invites them to share what they have. It’s interesting that Jesus asks them to bring the fish they have caught. Now, the disciples knew that they didn’t do anything to catch the fish. It was Jesus who provided the catch. All they did was put the net in the water and bring it back up.

The fish in their nets weren’t ones you would throw back in. They were all definitely keepers. It shows the magnitude of the miracle as their emptiness was replaced with God’s provision.

This is a great lesson for us to remember.

While we may do something for the Lord, it’s all by His grace. We really can do nothing, and yet we often take credit for those things that go well in our lives, and in the church. And yet, Jesus allows us to participate in the blessings, and partner with Him in His work in the world. That’s amazing to me.

Friends, we need to make sure we are free from pride because it has some ugly consequences.

Proverbs 11:2 ESV

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

The disciples couldn’t high-five each other, and celebrate their fishing expertise because Jesus was the one who filled their nets.

Daniel 4:37: “…and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

Hosea 13:6 reminds us how easy it is for us to take credit and become spiritually sluggish and proud of our own accomplishments:

Hosea 13:6

6 but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

And as James 4:6 makes clear, “…God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

It’s all about God and yet we often think it’s all about us.

Jesus wants to rebuild what is broken

The emphasis in this passage is not really on the fish; it’s on the fishermen. They needed to be restored and the only way that was going to happen was through spending time with Jesus.

12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

Here Jesus recognizes that they’ve worked all night and are cold and hungry and so he invites them to breakfast. Jesus knew that they needed to have their physical needs met before He could minister to their deeper needs.

It’s as if He is giving them time just to sit and enjoy His presence. As they eat, their failures fade away as Jesus passes around His forgiveness. In this setting, the disciples didn’t have much to say because they were in awe. They had come to the shores of God’s amazing grace and were invited back into fellowship with Him and to restored community with one another.

In short, Jesus wanted them to be at peace with Him, and with each other.

While we certainly need to wait on the Lord, this passage reminds us that Jesus is waiting on us. He’s on the shore right now and He’s inviting us to sit down with Him and be restored. He wants to rebuild what is broken in our lives. The empty net reminds us that He’s not finished with us yet.

Are you ready to ditch your disappointment today?

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