Let's Run It Back

John 21:1–14 (NIV)

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way:

Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as 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.

Introduction

Confidence is a powerful thing, isn’t it?

Have you ever felt super confident one moment, only to have your confidence taken away?

It’s a messed up thing isn’t it? I’ve got one of those moments...

I played a lot of baseball from the age of 5, up until I was 12 years old. One of my closest friends down the street was really good, and I would train with him and his Dad on occasion. It took me a while to get good at the sport, but one year, what would be my final year, I made it on the All Star Team. Everything clicked for me that year, I finally found a position that I enjoyed, and I got my bat going. I made the All Star team and I was ready to go out and crush it the next year.

Well, the week before the try outs I got in a quad accident. I was riding with my cousin, and he rolled the quad. He broke his ankle and I broke my wrist. So it was time for try outs, and they only had one try out, and I couldn’t be there.

So when they were ready to place players on Teams, my Dad got a call from one of the organizers. He said that becuase I couldn’t try out, I was unable to go to the next division. They were going to have me repeated my division once my wrist healed up. My Dad went to bat for me, told them that I was reayd for the next division and I had already made the All Stars, but they wouldn’t budge.

Fam, that was it for me. I never played another season again.

Even when we got to High School, some of my friends from All Stars were asking me to come play on our School Team, and I was like no, not going to happen.

Why? Because I lost my confidence.

Transition

And today, that’s what I want to talk to you about. How do we get back in the game when we’ve lost our confidence? How can we be confident in our new life with Jesus?

Not What I Expected

We have been looking at the days following Jesus’ resurrection together. We began on Easter talking about Jesus’ appearance to his disciples on the evening of his resurrection. Last week, we talked about Jesus’ walk on the road to Emmaus with two followers of Jesus, who were seemingly inconsequential. As we discussed last week that though they were not one of the twelve disciples, or another well-known follower of Jesus, they represented who was next in God’s plan for the church.

And today, I want to take you to this passage of scripture here in John.

This is one of those passages of scripture that narrates a story. John, who calls himself, “The Disciple that Jesus Loved,” is the only one to write about this experience on the Sea of Galilee. Now, I am just going to pause here becuase this is all too funny, and real to me.

We know Peter as being the outspoken disciple, but John threw a lot of shade at the other disciples.

He always referred to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. And, he does it in the third person. He’s kind of like Ricky Henderson, do you all remember him? He was a great baseball player who always spoke in the third person.

John does that, but he says, “the disciple who Jesus loved sat next to Jesus.” Who does that? Like, who talks like that? John does apparently.

So John gives us this story of the disciples returning to Galilee. They do this because Jesus asked them to do this.

The Gospel of Matthew records that when Jesus appeared to the disciples on the evening of his resurrection, on that Sunday evening, he tells them in parting to return to Galilee, and that’s exactly what they did.

What happens next, and what we read here in the text, can be interpreted in many ways. So I will give you my interpretation, and as always, I encourage you to do the same and come to your conclusion.

We read that Peter, who was a fisherman before he followed Jesus, decided that morning to go fishing.

There is some debate as to wether Peter just wanted to go fishing to pass the time away, or if he went back to fishing because Jesus is gone.

Like was this a one off excursion, or was Peter genuinely thinking about going back to the life he had before Jesus came.

I am on the side that Peter was really struggling with what to do next with his life becuase he has some serious doubts about Jesus, about what just happened over the last three years, and what is he supposed to do next.

It’s Natural

The reason I lean in this direction is for two reasons:

In the passage that follows, Jesus asks Peter three times, do you love me?

I think that when Jesus asks a question like THAT, it is becuase he sees what’s happening right here, in our hearts, and he’s bringing us back to the place of encounter. He’s trying to converse with us. He’s trying to reason with us. He’s trying to get us to open up and be real with him.

So that’s the first reason that I believe that Peter is having doubts.

2. The second reason is that I believe that it is a very human response given the circumstances.

The disciples are lacking clarity. When they last saw Jesus, he just said go back to Galilee. The disciples are still operating on a need to know basis with Jesus. He is only giving them their next step, not a map, and that’s a frustrating place to be. I know for me it is. I don’t want to know the next step I want all the steps. Give me everything that I am getting into. I want to make an informed decision. And for many of you that’s the case too. Don’t start side eyeing me. I know that I am not alone in wanting to know what’s next.

But the Bigger Issue Is...

And so here is Peter, and he is struggling with what to do next, and this is what I want to focus on this morning, Lighthouse.

How do we keep our confidence from wavering?

Said differently, what do we do when we are on the struggle bus?

I want to to talk to the person who has had their confidence in God, in church and in their faith shaken. I want to talk to the real people in the room that have gone through some stuff that made them completely question their faith.

If you’ve ever gone through that kind of situation, or if you want to grow in your confidence in God, I want you to lean in to what I want to share with you.

Confidence in Christ

So here’s the first thing that I want you to know, Our Confidence is in Christ.

Stop listening to your feelings, stop trusting your emotions and never allow culture to tell you how to think. All of these things, when given too much authority in your life, will make you believe that you need to be confident in yourself.

Smile girl, you got this.

No, I don’t got this. I am very unsure of myself. I don’t trust myself to make the right decision in this circumstance.

If you ever feel like that, welcome to the club!

But here is the good news, and here is what God wants for you.

He doesn’t want you to be confident in yourself, he wants you to be confident in Christ!

“I don’t know what tomorrow is going to look like, but I know who holds tomorrow in his hands!”

“I don’t know how I am coming out of this, but I know who will be with me every step of the way!”

“I have a lot of doubt in my abilities, but I don’t doubt the promises of God!”

This is what it means to root our confidence in Christ. I don’t have to overcome what He’s already overcome. I can be sure of this one thing, that no matter what happens to me, and in-spite of how I am feeling, Christ is unwavering.

[TEXT]

In our text, we see a picture of this in the consistency of Christ piercing through the inconsistency of Peter.

The Consistency of Christ Is Greater than the Inconsistency of Me

Please get this Lighthouse...

You will try and navigate your Christian experience thinking that your consistency causes Him to be consistent, and that’s not what Christianity is about.

Religion says you must do, bur Christianity says it’s already done.

Peter is a lot like us - wavering. And Jesus is right there and he’s still calling out to the disciples.

Confessions

When the disciples finally get back to where Jesus is, as I mentioned just a minute ago, Jesus is asking Peter, do you love me? He asks him this three times.

Some say that the reason Jesus asked Peter three times was to cancel out the three times that Peter denied Jesus on the night that he was arrested. Others dig into the different Greek words Jesus used to articulate the depth of love he wanted from Peter.

Where I want to land with this application is that I believe Jesus is bringing Peter back to a confession of his love for Jesus.

Confessions are a powerful thing.

All throughout the scripture we find commands that we should make confession. It’s used in many different contexts and applications, but the point remains that there is something powerful that happens when we begin to verbalize our confession.

If your confidence is in God, then say so.

If you know that better days are ahead, then say so.

If you believe that your valley is just a season, then say so.

Life and Death are the in Power of the Tongue

I am not saying that whatever you confess, or what you declare, has to come to pass. I am not saying that. God is faithful to His word, and He is faithful to His Promises. He’s not faithful to whatever you declare.

But my Bible does say “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

There is power in our confession so we are going to open up our mouths and we are going to declare the goodness of the Lord. And as we do that, I believe things within you are going to activated.

Your faith is going to be built up.

Your thoughts are going to begin to change.

Your outlook is going to change.

You are going to start to hope again.

You are going to start dreaming again.

Confess His Word

Ok, so Pastor, help me with my confession.

I am so glad you asked.

When we are standing in confidence in Christ, we can stand in confidence in his word.

Within this book there are so many promises that God has declared over you.

Now, none of those promises are that you’ll be rich. None of those promises are that you’re going to drive a Rolls Royce. He doesn’t promise you a house with a view of the Pacific Ocean.

Nothing wrong with any of that, but our confessions must be rooted in the word of God.

So here’s some of the confessions that we have to make:

I am the light of the world! Matthew 5:14

I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ! 2 Corinthians 5:21

I am greatly loved by God! Ephesians 2:4

I am alive with Christ! Ephesians 2:5

I am created in Christ to do good works! Ephesians 2:10

Are you following with me Lighthouse?

We need to get back into our Bible and start to confess these scriptures over our lives. And when we do, there is going to be a swelling within you that is going to remind you of who you are, whose you are, and that there is a purpose for your life!

When your confidence is wavering, God didn’t leave you alone and without a cure. Stop listening to the world. Turn down the news. Log off of social media. Open up your bibles and begin to declare the promises of God, over and over again.

Give me That Hill

I want to close this message by briefly taking up back to a passage in the Old Testament. In the Book of Numbers we read that Moses sent 12 spies into the promise land to spy out the land and bring back a report. Of the 12, only 2 came back with a good report, Joshua and Caleb. I’ve never met a Joshua I don’t like. I’m just saying...

And so becuase of the unbelief of the 10, and seed of doubt that they effectively sowed into the rest of Israel, God said that they would all die in the wilderness, and an entire generation wouldn’t live to see the promised land. I know that’s heavy, and I know that’s alot so let me fast forward to the end.

When Israel finally enters the promised land they entered into a long season of war to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Once the land was secure, Joshua starts to give out parcels of land to the different tribes of Israel. Caleb, who is now 85 years old, looks over to Joshua and says, that nice piece of land over there, right up on that hill with the view, I want that land. Joshua told Caleb, you bougie old man of course you do! But we haven’t gotten up there yet to drive out the inhabitants, and truthfully, we’re a little tired of all of this war. Can it wait? Caleb looks at Joshua with all of the confidence in the world and tells him, I’ll go up to that hill, and my family alone will drive out those inhabitants. Then we’ll settle and it’ll be ours. Joshua tells Caleb, go on ahead with your bad self.

And off Caleb went and secured the land for himself, for his family and for generations to come.

I’m Getting My Confidence Back!

What in the world does that have to do with this message Pastor?

While we are on the subject of confidence, I wanted to encourage some of you to go and get your dream back! Maybe, before COVID, you had dreams to go to school, and since the world has changed, you’ve lost confidence in that dream. I want you to get that dream back!

Maybe you had a dream to launch a business, but setback after setback has depleted you from feeling energized about this venture, I want you to get your confidence back!

Maybe you felt God calling you to launch a ministry, but in this new world we are living in you’ve lost that fire; I want you to get your confidence back!