ARE YOU A FAILURE?
Justin Doyle - John 21:1-25
Today is a bit different as we are jumping to John 21. Nolan will be finishing John 20 next weekend. Kind of funky, I know. But for today, we find ourselves in John 21. And today we are Scripture heavy. Are we all okay with that? Even if you weren’t, I wouldn’t care. We are going to do it anyway.
Now this is the epilogue of John. This is the final section. This is the end of the Gospel. And if you are like me, it’s actually kind of sad. I love this Gospel. I love it because of how vivid and descriptive and pointed it is at displaying who Jesus is. The whole Bible does this, but for some reason, to me, John is crystal clear on the holiness and deity of Christ.
LET’S PRAY. (It is not my job to make people believe Your Word. You do that on your own.)
If you remember the opening chapter of John, we saw the Holy Spirit set forth what Christ was before He came from the Father, to do His redemptive work. And now in John 21, we see the finished work…who Christ is following His redemptive work as he prepares to return to the Father.
I want to point out that in this chapter, it is clearly emphasized that Christ has risen. He is alive.
In fact, at the end of the first section, which is verse 14, it says this is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. We’ll get to that verse in a bit. But it reminds us that this is the focus of this chapter, that Jesus is alive from the dead, and it is manifestly Jesus and no other, and the details of the narrative make that crystal clear. This is the final proof, if you will, that John gives us, that Jesus came back to life after His death.
And what does He do here?
He restores.
He lifts up.
He commissions.
Unanswered Questions:
What is the relationship of Jesus to the disciples post resurrection? (v. 1-14)
What happens to the coward Peter? (v. 15-17)
I think these two questions have a direct relation to us. These aren’t just answered by Jesus for the disciples, but they are answered for you and and for I.
So let’s look at our first question:
What is the relationship of Jesus to the disciples after the resurrection?
Something we have to remember here is that Jesus was their everything, prior to the resurrection. Prior to the resurrection He provided all of their needs. And for the disciples, they were extremely concerned about where he was going. That really wanted to know, “Jesus, how do we follow you to where we are going?”
In the upper room the night before His death, He had promised them that He would continue to do that. He had promised them that whatever they asked He would provide, that all of heaven’s resources would be made available to them. But they were still fearful of:
What was to come
When He was leaving and if they would be able to find Him
Of what their relationship to Him would look like in the future
And what is so encouraging about these first 14 verses is that it reminds us that even in the post resurrected Jesus, even after He is glorified, He still takes a very personal interest in meeting all of their needs. And He takes a personal interest in meeting all of your needs.
He is still illuminating His character filled with tenderheartedness, compassion, encouragement, love and sympathy for them. He is still providing all of their needs. And for you and I today, this brings encouragement because His post resurrection character was not only for the disciples but it has extended to all of those who would be called to belief in Him. It is for you and for me.
Now in verses 1-14, it is super clear that there are two things happening. We see disobedience and obedience. You don’t have to dig very deeply to see the difference between what happens when you disobey the Lord and what happens when you obey Him.
Read v.1-5
First, you know what is interesting about this list of disciples. Have you ever noticed that they are all doubters?
You have Peter…we have heard this story the last few weeks and His denial of Jesus
Nathaniel…doubted Jesus underneath the fig tree earlier in John…this is the only other time he is mentioned in the Gospel
Thomas…doubted Jesus on His return from the dead
Not only this, but these are the original disciples, minus Thomas, that were the first disciples Jesus called to follow Him.
Secondly, they aren’t even supposed to be here. They are on the lake, returning to what they know, fishing. But if you were to do a little bit of digging, in correlation with the other gospels, you see that the disciples were never told to go back to fishing. They were called to go back to Galilee, but not to go fishing. Specifically in Matthew 28, we see that they are supposed to be on the mountain in Galilee. Yet, you have these few disciples that decide they can’t trust it.
And they end up back doing what they did three years prior. Back to doing what they did before. Back to their past life. If you recall, those three years prior, Jesus had called them to drop their nets.
(Paraphrase beginning of Luke 5)
Jesus is on the edge of the lake
Crowds everywhere
Pressing in around Him
And He steps into the boat of fishermen who were cleaning their nets
It’s the boat of Simon
This is where He taught the people. From Simons boat
Luke 5:4-11, “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
Now fast forward three years, and these disciples are back in the boats. Fishing for fish. It’s kind of wild isn’t it because Jesus is already back from the dead, and they end up back here, catching nothing.
Jump to verse 15 and we will get more into it in a minute…Jesus asks Simon, “Do You love me more than these?”
These what? These men? These others?
No, these nets…these boats…these fish…these things you have gone back to. Do you love me Peter more than your life…your desires…your comforts…your will?
Peter had fallen into disobedience.
So here’s the picture for us: if you step away from the calling God that has placed on your life and go in the opposite direction, if you go the path of self-will and self-effort, you may think you can accomplish a lot, but you may end up a failure.
Disobedience leads to failure, it’s just a simple principle. When God calls you and gifts you and prepares you and places you into a ministry, a career field, and opportunity in His kingdom, whether it’s professionally or as a lay person, when you look at these opportunities and you turn your back and walk away from it and forget the calling, you will fail at what you do; and that’s exactly what happened here. The Lord does not reward disobedience.
And if you are like me, we find ourselves here. Like Peter. Disobedient more often than not. And maybe you aren’t running from Gods plan for you. Maybe you are right where you are supposed to be. But there are other areas of disobedience.
As a parent (example of anger and impatience)
As a husband (example of selfishness and laziness)
Allowing sin in your life to run rampant without handling it
This is disobedience. This is contrary to the way God would want us to be living.
We also find here that there is this acknowledgement of failure.
Read v. 4 and 5 again.
So this is their situation, failure, and they have to admit it. They don’t know who He is, and He talks kind of points out to them, “Hey you have nothing.” Life can go this way pretty commonly. Even us today, even in this congregation, you have been gifted, you have been called, you’ve been given spiritual opportunity; but instead of doing it, instead of obediently following what the Lord has laid before you to do, you turn away from it, you go back to other things.
The Lord isn’t going to bless that, there’s going to be a measure of failure, and you’re going to lose that intimacy with Christ.
As you step into the kingdom and the work of the kingdom and the things that He puts before you to do, whatever service that might be within His kingdom, whatever it might involve, as you do that, you find that He empowers and provides for your success, and you enjoy the sweet intimacy of fellowship.
You might be wasting all of your energies on things that pass away that are temporal, that are earthly, that have no eternal use at all. If that’s the case, it’s time for you to get involved in the business of fishing for men, kingdom business, whatever it is.
Maybe you found yourself too busy to read your Bible, too busy to be a part of Sundays serving here in a ministry that has a need,too busy to pray, too busy to share in other people’s lives, too busy to use your spiritual gifts.
You’re going to find yourself going down a path of failure and losing the joy of your intimacy with the Lord.
That’s what happened to the disciples. They had lost the intimacy and had allowed the unknown and uncomfortability to lead them down a path away from the Lord.
But now we come to the later half of this opening scene. Staring in verse 6,
“He said to them, “Cast your 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.”
I think if I were in that boat, my initial thought would be…
What does that guy know?
He hasn't been out here all night trying, exhausted.
How could he possibly know where the fish are?
What a fool to tell us this
But they listen to the command, they obey the call, and are immediately met with a supernatural abundance.
This is really the exact same thing, again, that happened in Luke 5. Christ has told them, it seems, to do the irrational, but it works out, greater than they expected.
And this really is common since, and not even worth saying, but there is fruit when we obey the Lord. When we obey the Lord, He empowers success.
He enriches
He multiplies
He blesses
He supplies
The Lord didn’t say, “Okay, all you fish jump in the boat.” No, the Lord doesn’t do that. God does His work by His power but through His people.
The Lord’s involved, but so are we. He always chooses means. God supplies our needs, but He also does it through our faithful work.
So, there are all these fish in the boat, and IMMEDIATELY they know who it is.
Scripture tells us right here…John said “It is the Lord”. And Peter, without hesitation, straight into the water. 100 yards away from shore, not a thought to row the boat, or get the fish hauled in. Leave the rest of them to figure it out. It was a direct, immediate, without any thought, all out sprint to Christ.
There is something so wonderful about Peter’s eagerness to be near the Lord; it was like he was glad to be found out. He’s in the water and he’s swimming with his tunic on, and then he’s wading to the shore.
He did love the Lord.
He knew his own weakness
He knew his own frailty
And he couldn’t get back to the Lord fast enough. He wanted forgiveness, he wanted restoration, and he got it.
Can I ask you? When you fail, and land short, in disobedience with sin, where do you turn? What is your initial reaction?
Shame
Guilt
Some sort of stress relief
Addiction
Isolation
Psalm 103:12 says “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 86:5 says “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Hebrews 8:12 says “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
Micah 7:18 says “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.”
Our Lord is the great comforter, tender hearted and compassionate, full of grace and mercy. He is the one who restores us like nothing else can. Don’t hide from Him. Don’t run from Him. Accept His embrace and remember that even in our sin, what, Christ died for us, so that we might experience a true relationship with Him. Where there is true love, we don’t run in fear.
Peter could care less about the boat. He could care less about the catch.
***He couldn’t care less about what happened when they were disobedient. He couldn’t care less about anything but being with the Lord and being restored, and convincing the Lord that he loved Him, being with Him.
So they are now on shore, the other disciples are there now, eating the best breakfast they have ever had. Out all night, famished, fatigued, and the other disciples row up on shore to this.
V. 9-12, “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 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.”
This answers question one for us, that I mentioned earlier. What is the relationship going to look like for the disciples?
He’s going to be there to provide. He’s going to be there to meet their needs. Even the simplest needs of their hunger, He’s going to care for them; that’s not going to change. Even though it’s after the resurrection, even though He’s in a glorified form, He will have the same compassion and care, and make the same provisions for them that they’ve known Him to make.
And I especially love verse 10 that we just read,
“Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”
This is how the Lord works, isn’t it? There are things that He does, there are things that we do.
Philippians 2:12-13 says “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
It’s the Lord working in us, and it’s us working the work of God in us out. Beautiful picture. He had made breakfast, but they were going to participate with what they had as well. The Lord will meet our needs, even our physical needs.
And this is the scene. All of them are here, on the beach, eating breakfast.
V.13 states “Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.”
He was their waiter. They’re sitting down eating and He’s waiting on them. You want to know what His relationship is going to be to His disciples in the future? He’s going to provide everything they need and serve them. He’s going to be the one who waits on them.
Yeah, we have plain proof of the risen Christ, but the risen Christ is not some detached ethereal being. The risen Christ can sit down and have breakfast with His disciples; and more importantly, He’s not all of a sudden disinterested in them, because He’s back in His heavenly mode and they don’t matter anymore. He makes sure they have breakfast and he serves it to them.
So when somebody asks you, “What is the current relationship of the Lord to His people, to you and to me?” here it is.
You can live your life either way – disobedience, failure, and loss of fellowship; or obedience, success, and the richness of fellowship. Our Lord will meet all your needs if you’re faithful to obey His Word, and you’ll enjoy the fellowship with Him.
That’s the model here. When they obeyed, they were successful, and they communed with Christ in a personal way, the most blessed breakfast I’m sure they could ever have had.
Okay. Part one done.
Question 2 that we have to answer:
2. What happens to the coward Peter?
So we pick up in verse 15:
READ VERSE 15-17
Do you know why I think we are all drawn to Peter? Because he is like us. He has all the failures that we are so familiar with in our own lives. He overestimates himself and underestimates temptation. He thinks he’s more committed than he is. He thinks he loves the Lord more than he does. He thinks he can face any trial victoriously; finds out he can’t. By the time we get to this point, even though he has seen the risen Christ, he is really a broken man.
He is relatable.
Now what’s interesting about this here is that in the Gospel John, if you haven’t picked up on it yet, I certainly had not until this week, was that for the entire Gospel, Peter is called Peter, except for two times. Once in John 1 and once here.
That had to have gotten his attention. Since meeting Jesus three years prior, he had been called Peter. Jesus changed his name the moment he met him way back in John 1. Jesus said, “You are Simon the son of John, you shall be called Cephas (which is Peter).” Peter was the Lord’s name for Him. And here Peter is back to his old ways, and Jesus chooses this name. What a shock to hear that.
And it’s here that Peter is called out three times. For three separate denials. Peter is being given three chances here to be restored.
And here is the restoration, it’s as simple as this:
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
That’s the question. That’s always the question to ask a disobedient believer, because what is being manifest in any act of disobedience is love. And when you act disobediently, you’re declaring love for something other than Christ, and Peter had done that.
Now we hit this earlier, but Jesus says “Do you love me more than these?"
He isn’t talking about the others there is He? No he is talking about all the stuff…the career…the old life that he had…the boat…the nets.
It’s like Jesus is saying:
“Do you love Me more than these things that go with your former life? Are you prepared to give this up, to abandon all your successes, your chosen career? Are you willing to give it all up? Do you love me enough to do that?”
And Jesus doesn’t just do this once…but three times. Jesus presses the issue with Peter. He wants Peter to understand.
And the word He uses is agapaó. That’s that high love – the noblest, purest, best; the love of the will. It is love in its fullest sense, love in its deepest sense, love in its greatest sense, love in its purest form – divine love.
“Do you really love Me, Peter, at the highest level?” That is the critical question. And that is the key to commitment.
It was John Calvin who said, “No man will steadily persevere in the discharge of his ministry unless the love of Christ shall reign in his heart.”
“Do you love Me enough to live for Me? Do you love Me enough to walk away from this? Are you constrained by loving Me? Do you have a love for Me” Paul writes it like this in his finishing statements to the church in Ephesus,
Ephesians 6:24, “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible"
Do you really love me in the fullest sense?”
So Peter replies, “He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’” But he changed the word. Peter used the word phileó. Now, phileó is a kind of brotherly love, a kind of warm affection, a friendship love. They are not the same. Why?
Peter knows he can’t claim that love. After disobedience. After doubt. After turning his back on the Lord, how could he say “Yes, Lord you know that I agapao you?” He couldn't bring himself to do it. But, even in that, the Lord says what…
“Feed my lambs.”
With your imperfect love, feed my sheep.
With your imperfect love, look after my flock.
With your imperfect love, love my people well.
With your imperfect love, care for those of mine I put in your care.
This is so personal for Jesus. He doesn’t say your sheep…but his says my sheep. There is such a huge, important truth here. Peter actually writes of this in 1 Peter 5.
V.2-4 says “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”
If you’re in ministry, if you’re caring for any other believers in any way, you are shepherding His sheep, not yours. No congregation belongs to a pastor or an elder. No Sunday School class belongs to a teacher. No believers in a family belong, in a spiritual sense, to parents. They’re His. It’s a stewardship that in some ways is really frightening. That’s why in Matthew the Lord tells us to be careful how we treat each other, because not only do they belong to Christ, but Christ is in them. So many people don’t understand pastoral ministry as caring for His sheep.
Jesus is saying “Peter, pasture My lambs. The most vulnerable, the most weak, the most prone to wander, the most delicate – I turn them over to you. Care for them. If you love Me, then give your life to shepherding My lambs – the most vulnerable, the most dangerous, the weakest.”
That’s what pastoral ministry is. It’s not about the world, it’s not about how you handle a culture, it’s how you handle His sheep. And this isn’t just for the pastor. It’s for you. This is a direct order for you.
I always think about my kids in this. Gosh, I want the best for my kids. I want them to thrive. I want them to know Jesus. I want them to be filled with His joy and peace and comfort. I want them to grow in obedience to Him. But at the end of the day, they are not mine. They are His. And he wants it even more than I do. What an opportunity I have to care for my kids for the 18 years that God places them under my roof.
What is that for you?
Your family?
Your spouse?
Your classroom?
Your work place?
Do you trust that God wants redemption and restoration more than you do?
And with that He chooses to use you there.
So, Jesus does this three times with Peter, but the last time it's different. Jesus actually changes his pronunciation of the word from agapao to phileo. And it grieves Peter, tells us right there in 17. Jesus has dropped the word he chose for love to Peter's level. Jesus is even questioning that.
Jesus cuts deep into Peter. This is corrective surgery. It cuts deep, it’s painful, but it can be healed. Peter isn’t grieved because He said it three times; there were three denials. He’s grieved, because the third time he says, “Do you phileó Me?” and even questions that love.
And Peter says it again, I can imagine with a discouraged spirit, “‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed My sheep, tend My sheep, pasture My sheep. Your job is My little lambs, My sheep.’”
It’s funny, I am here preaching again on sheep. I worked through this with you back in John 10 and we saw Jesus explicitly express His love for His sheep. That He would die for His sheep. He knows them by name, and they hear His voice and run to Him. And now we have here Jesus giving those sheep to Peter. Entrusts them to Peter. And rather than discarding Peter, casting him aside, he says to him,
“Pasture My sheep.”
And Jesus says to us,
“Pasture My sheep.”
This is the answer to that second question. Peter is restored.
The coward
The disobedient
The doubtful
He is restored and made new. And the same is true for you and I. What happens to us in times of failure? We are restored.
Brothers and sisters, you have been loved by Jesus. He demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners — deniers, faithless, foolish — he died for us. And you love him — not perfectly, and not apart from the daily help of his Spirit. But it is genuine love. Real love. You love him and want to love him more.
Do you love him? Feed his lambs.
Do you love him? Tend his sheep.
Do you love him? Are you grieved to hear that a third time? Feed his sheep.
Love him; feed them. Receive from him; give to them. First feel; then feed. If you love him who first loved you, then in that love seek to be his tool of grace in the feeding and loving of others.
Can I be so bold to ask how you are doing with that? Do you have love for Christ that is abounding and sacrificial?
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 says “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.”
This is where all Christian commitment starts: “Do you love Christ more than” – fill in the blank, whatever it is.
“Do you love Him more? Then serve Him.” I can tell what you love by what you serve, what you do, what the priorities of your life are. A committed Christian is compelled, driven by love for Christ, and that shows up in his or her life, a life given to His flock.
Secondly – and this is equally important and builds on the first – a committed lives a life compelled by love for Christ, and secondly, characterized by sacrifice for Christ. This is costly love.
Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross”
And here it is, the end of the chapter. I truly love the way John ends his Gospel. The final glimpse he gives us of the glories of Jesus is this: we have only begun to tase and see the glories of Jesus.
John 21:25, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
And that’s the end of one of the greatest books ever written. There are 21 chapters of Glory and John finishes with, “Oh there is so much more.”
There are 21 chapters full of glory and three more Gospels full of glory. And there are 39 old-covenant books preparing the way for his glory. And there are 23 other new-covenant writings telling the story of his ongoing work through his Spirit in the early church, and teaching us to observe all that he commanded, and celebrating his glory now in heaven on the throne of the universe and awaiting the glory that is to come. The glories of Christ are endless.
Christians in the room who hope to enjoy him and feed your own hungry soul on him for the rest of your life, the glories of Christ are endless. You will never run out of glories to enjoy and tell about Jesus. We will never tire of his glories. We will never be bored with his glories. His riches are unsearchable.
You know, we’ve been to the heights. We’ve been through the cross, through the resurrection. The glory of Christ has been demonstrated.
Looking to John 20:31, that culminating statement: “These things have been written that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing might have life in His name,” – this great gospel reality.
And in this final chapter, we just come back down to earth and we meet these two guys. That is such a fitting ending, because the glory of the gospel eventually ends up with us, right? It ends up with us and whether or not we’re going to love Christ, sacrifice for Him, and be content to follow Him.