"The Jesus Who Welcomes You Home" by Glen Hitchcock

April 21, 2024 - Sunday 9:30AM MPR 1 Speaker

 

Speaker: Glen Hitchcock

 

The Jesus Who Welcomes You Home - John 21:9-19

• Unique Insights
  • There are unique insights into the thinking of the disciples in that unusual period between the resurrection and establishment of the church in Acts.
  • No one, not even the disciples of Jesus, understood what God had accomplished in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
  • There was a period of 50 days when God’s greatest success seemed a failure from the human viewpoint.
  • Passover and the days of unleavened bread being completed, the disciples had no need to stay in Jerusalem – they went home.
• GOOD NEWS, JESUS WELCOMES YOU HOME!
• JESUS WELCOMES US WHEN
  • Overtaken By Separation & Loneliness, 1-2.
  • Our Best Efforts Result In Emptiness, 3-5.
  • Our Vision Is Not Always Clear, 5-14.
  • Our Failure Is Undeniable, 15-19.
• When Overtaken by Separation & Loneliness, 1-2.
  
  • • The disciples were greatly discouraged after the crucifixion, and despite several post-resurrection appearances there seemed to be lingering doubts among some.
    • The anxiety of separation & loneliness did not force them to quit.
    • They came in Galilee in obedience to Jesus’s command (Matt. 28:10)… “to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
    • Question? Do You Think the Disciples Were Being Tested?
• When Our Best Efforts Result In Emptiness, 3-4
  • These men were fishermen, and perhaps they needed food and money to provide for their living expenses. Their night labors apart from Jesus proved to be unproductive.
  • Truth: “Until one can clearly see Jesus, our labors are in vain” (John 15:4-5).
  • Jesus Welcomes The Weary and Heavy Laden, (Matt. 11:28-30) in contrast to the Wicked and Lazy (Prov. 13:4; Matt. 25:26).
• When Our Vision is Unclear, 5-13
  • The disciples come in before dawn with no fish, Jesus--whom they do not recognize--directs them to cast on the right side - they catch 153 large fish.
  • The catch is large enough to make John identify the Man on the shore, and he tells Peter, v-7.
  • Peter, dressed in his undergarments alone, jumps in and immediately heads to shore, v-7.
  • There, Jesus has cooked a meal for them and welcomes them to break their fast and eat, v-12.
  • These 7 disciples know who Jesus is; the dawn breaks, and they eat breakfast with Jesus, vs. 12-13.
• When Failure is Undeniable, 15-19

  • “Character is built on the debris of our despair.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Painful Conversation, 15-19

  • Perfecting Of Character

  • Present Concern

  • Plan Of Christ  

• Four Basic Realities Concerning Failure
  • Decisive. There are a hundred ways in which one can be declared a failure, but few in which one can be called a success.
  • Distortive. A feeling of failure in one area of endeavor often distorts meaning in all other areas.
  • Depressive. Societal stress on the significance of failure is so powerful that any failure produces a sense of defeatism which can lead one to unquestionably define one’s whole life as a failure.
  • Diminishing. The common result of failure in any endeavor is the disconnect of personal initiative, drive, self-confidence, and determination.
• PAINFUL CONVERSATION, 15-19

  • To appreciate the awkwardness and painfulness of the moment for Peter, remember a few facts:

    • The night of the betrayal Peter had emphatically declared that even if everyone else deserted Jesus, he would not desert Jesus. He then did desert Jesus at the arrest.
    • Later, as he returned to the Jewish proceedings, 3 times he denied Jesus. Luke 22:61 states that upon the third denial that Jesus looked at him, he remembered Jesus' prediction, and he went into the night weeping bitterly.
    • Luke 24:34 states that the Lord soon after the resurrection appeared to Peter, but no information is given regarding this appearance and what was said.
    • The first recorded interaction between the risen Jesus and Peter, following the resurrection, is John 21.
• PAINFUL CONVERSATION

  • 1.On the betrayal night, Peter before all the disciples had emphatically declared that he would not desert Jesus. In John 21, before 6 of those same disciples, Jesus begins to question Peter concerning his devotion.

    2.Three times Peter denied the Lord; three times the Lord now asks Peter if Peter loves Him.

    • Can you sense the pain, and the awkwardness Peter must have felt?
    • Jesus is not being cruel; Jesus knows that Peter must find his open commitment and resolve again.
    • Peter must face what he has done, and he must face how he feels about Jesus!
    • Jesus in essence, asked Peter, “Peter, where are you in OUR relationship?” (He made Peter state where he was).
• PERFECTING OF CHARACTER

  • HERE IS A PROCESS RARELY EVIDENCED BY SOCIETY

    While Peter is fishing in the debris of failure and despair, Jesus is pruning his character for faithfulness and devotion!

    • Jesus is totally unconcerned about what Peter has done; Jesus is only concerned about where Peter is in his feelings for and devotion to Jesus!
    • Jesus did not question Peter about the denial.
    • He did not ask him if he had learned his lesson.
    • He did not ask him how he felt about what he had done
    • He did not ask for some statement of repentance.
    • He did not lecture Peter on what he had done.
    • Jesus did not say, “Peter, I told you so.”
    • He did not tell Peter that from now on, you better believe anything I say!
    • He did not dwell on how weak Peter was or how badly it hurt to hear Peter’s denials.

  • Jesus wanted to know one thing and one thing alone — “Peter, do you love me?”

    • How it hurts for someone you have loved dearly to have reason to question your love!
    • How it must have hurt for Jesus to even feel the need to ask.
    • Lesson to remember, “We are never defeated unless we give up on God.” (Ronald Reagan). Jesus didn’t give up on Peter & Peter didn’t on God!

    Jesus had the same job for Peter to do in John 21 that He had for Peter before that last night. Jesus planned on using Peter to do the work He originally committed to Peter.

  • The Fact That Peter Had Failed Had No Bearing On Jesus’ Plans For Peter.

    • If Peter still loved Jesus, his failure had changed nothing.

    Jesus was completely unconcerned about past failure; he was concerned only about future service and unselfishness. “A series of failures may culminate in the best possible result.” (Gisela Richter)

    • Peter’s failures in his denials had not destroyed his ability to accomplish the Lord’s purpose in his life.
    • Jesus wanted to make an apostle out of a man who had failed.
    • Jesus wanted to use this man who failed to preach the first gospel sermon to the Gentiles.

  • There was no reason for those divine plans not to come to pass if Peter still loved Jesus and was not ashamed to admit it publicly. For this to happen:

    • Peter had to accept his failure. He could not offer excuses for his failure.
    • He had to accept responsibility for his failure.
    • He had to put his failure in the past.
    • Peter had to accept forgiveness. He needed forgiveness for what he’d done.
    • He had to be open to the forgiveness and to welcome the forgiveness.
    • Peter had to accept the task the Lord wanted him to do. He could not let feelings of unworthiness keep him from doing the work.
    • He could not let feelings of embarrassment or shame keep him from it.
    • He had to believe he could do what the Lord wanted done.
    • Peter had to have enough faith and love to recover his commitment and devotion – and try!
• PRESENT CONCERN

  • Peter Underscores A Truth We Need To Freely Admit.

    • It hurts to submit to the Lord’s use after we fail. Why? The realities of failure cause us to fish in our own despair! Satan feeds us the bait and we can’t get off the hook!
    • When we make a bad mistake, when we really blow it, it is much easier to hide; to build a big, defensive wall of elaborate excuses; or to pretend nothing really happened.
    • Everyone finds it humiliating to face unnecessary failure. We believe before the failure that we were better persons than that.[Fishing in our despair]
    • We were confident we were good enough people that we would not do something like that.
    • We had respect for ourselves. Then to make a mistake which we knew we should not make truly humiliates us.
    • In that humiliation, we feel like we ought to fade into the background rather than getting involved in God’s service.

  • IT IS HUMBLING TO FAIL

    • We are not as strong as we surely were. We cannot trust our own strength as much as we thought we could. [The first problem of Self, not sin]
    • We become keenly aware of OUR total dependence on the Lord.
    • It hurts to serve after failure because it is hard for us to take our eyes off the mistake.
    • Commitment after failure often does draw others attention. There will be some who are skeptical. Yet, no one will be as aware of our mistakes as we are.
• THE PLAN OF CHRIST

  • Take Careful Note Of What He Did

    • Three times He asked Peter if Peter loved Him, and every time He asked Peter to do the work the Lord had planned for him. [This Pointed to the Future NOT the Failure]
    • Jesus had said, “Peter, if you love Me, I want you to do the work I have prepared for you.”
    • Loving Jesus means putting the failure behind and getting on with the Lord’s work. Learn from failure but move on to faithfulness – “Welcome” to the future.
    • The whole situation was so painful to Peter, he could not stand it. He confessed he loved Jesus, but that was not enough.
    • It was as though Peter was saying, “Lord, please don’t ask me anymore; You know me--in fact, You know all things, so You must know I love you!

  • The 3rd time grieved Peter so much he resorted to the oldest tactic of man; he asked, “What about him?” talking of John. Vs. 20-21.

    • Jesus reply in essence was this: “My plans for him are of not real concern to you.” - “Right now, he is not the issue,” vs. 22.
    • “I expect you to do what I know you can do,” v-22 “follow me”
• A POWERFUL LESSON FOR US “WELCOME”
  • • Our failures have no bearing on the Lord’s plans to use our lives if we have love enough for Him to recover from the failure.
    • For the Lord to achieve His will after our failure, We Must:
• The Jesus Who “Welcomes” Us
  • We All Fail, Remember: Our failures do not mean an end to the Lord’s plans to make use of us!
  • Let us not be defined by our failures but by our faithful devotion to serve the Risen Savior Who Welcomes us!
  • The only time you can’t afford to fail is the very last time you try!
  • So quit taking Satan’s bait while making Jesus wait! Commit to the cause of Christ now! Matt. 11:28-30.

 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU_TWtlSDKc

 

Duration 41:04