4/21/24 John 21:15-19 “Nourishment, Jesus Style”

17 Apr 4/21/24 John 21:15-19 “Nourishment, Jesus Style”

4/21/24    John 21:15-19              “Nourishment, Jesus Style”

Many times, I have wondered at this time of year, will we get another snow storm or will warm weather come.  Will we get enough rain or will the rain ever quit. Then the question that comes to our minds is, “Will this winter ever be over?”  “Will this finally be summer?”  Well, I couldn’t agree with you more.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, we are not in charge of these decisions.  This got me to thinking about how some people are quick to point out that God is punishing us for something when events like this happen.  I hope that most of you know that God isn’t punishing you by giving you more winter or spring.  We could have summer by next week.  Years ago, we heard that God is punishing us by giving us the AIDS virus.  He is punishing us by giving us more earthquakes and tornados and the list goes on.  I don’t think that this is the case.  God isn’t punishing us.  He is just letting things happen that will normally occur.  I think that when God punishes you, you know that you are being punished and you know why.  You don’t have to speculate.  You may not want to admit it, but deep down you know.  If you don’t know, then there would be no reason to punish you.  Most often, when God punishes you, He withdraws His love and you are on your own.  Other ways are possible but this is the usual case.  Today, we are going to look at a very famous passage from John where Jesus asks three questions of Peter.  Let’s see if any of this applies to our lives.

Garrison Keillor is a writer and radio program personality who has made up an imaginary world called Lake Wobegon.  Some of you might be familiar with his work and appreciate his very subtle humor.  In this town called Lake Wobegon, there is a man who comes to church every Sunday and confesses all his sin at every altar call.  I mean he does this every Sunday.  He does this so much that even the fundamentalists are tired of him.  Anyway, this man shows us a problem that is in many people.  This man confessed to Jesus but he was unable to forgive himself.  How many people do we have today who are unable to forgive themselves for some event?  This is quite common.  By being unable to forgive ourselves, we are in effect saying that we don’t trust Jesus with all of our lives.  Think about that a little.

I want to begin this by looking at Peter.  He is probably one of the best-known disciples.  I think that he was the disciple that most people can identify with because he was brash yet loving.  He was the disciple that was most like us.  Peter was the one who was going to set up a tent for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  He was the one who actually walked on water but then sank as he took his eyes off of Jesus.  He was the one who said he would never abandon Jesus and a few moments later he denied Jesus three times.

This is the last denial for Peter and I want to ask you, ‘How do you think he felt about denying his best friend 3 times?’  Here is what I think.  I think that Peter felt terrible.  He was crushed.  Luke tells us that he wept bitterly after this.  We don’t really hear about Peter again until this episode.  Peter and the others decide that they will go back and do what they used to do best.  They would go fishing.  Then Jesus appears to them.  Much of this discourse is centered on Jesus talking to Peter.  Jesus is making sure that Peter is out of his funk.

Often times, we find ourselves is some sort of mild depression or funk.  I know this happens because once in a while it happens to me and I am one of those people who just don’t go negative very often.  But once in a while it happens.  I know that when I meet people who are always upbeat, that they do have some down time.  We all have times when we are down.  Unfortunately, some of us or maybe you know people who have more down time than up.

There may be good reasons for some of our times in the blues.  Maybe we have lost our job.  Maybe our marriage is on the rocks.  Maybe every creditor in the world is chasing us.  Maybe it just won’t quit snowing or raining so we can get on with the planting.  There are a lot of good reasons to be down once in a while.  However, many times the reasons we use for the blues have little to do with reality.  We think people are watching us.  We think that our job performance is substandard.  But whatever the reason for these down times, there is an answer. There is hope!

Jesus came looking for Peter because He had a job for Peter to do.  For Jesus, it doesn’t matter if he denied Him 3 times.  It doesn’t matter about all the other mistakes that Peter made.  Jesus still loves him.

The same thing can be said of us, you.  I want you to do a little soul searching for a minute.  When was the last time you denied someone to the point where they were put to death?  When?  I would guess that there is not a person here today that has ever done this.  I would guess that there is not a person here today who has ever thought about this.  But this is exactly what Peter did to Jesus and still Jesus comes.  Jesus never left Peter but Peter felt that Jesus was gone.  But Jesus was always there even when it killed Jesus.

The point I’m trying to make here is that no matter what you have done or what you will do, Jesus will always be there for you.  This is the love He has for you.  There is no one in the world that is quite like you and Jesus loves you just as you are.  You aren’t nearly as bad as Peter although you might show some of his tendencies.  And yet Jesus still loves Peter and He still loves you.  When you are down in the dumps, go to Jesus for help.  He will always be there at your side no matter what and that is His promise.

So, what does Jesus do when He comes to the heartbroken disciples and especially Peter.  Why He cooks them breakfast, of course.  What could be a better Christian way of doing things than having a meal?  Jesus knows that to begin comforting, you have to feed the people.  This is basic Christianity, 101.  This is why we feed people who have no food.  They have to have something in their bellies before their ears and heart work.  So, Jesus prepares a good meal for them even though the fishing had been bad, but that is a sermon for another time.

Finally, we get back to Peter when Jesus asks, “Do you truly love me more than these?”  One of the problems we have with these three questions that Jesus asks is that we don’t understand them because our language is a hindrance.  We only have one word for love and that is love.  Often times we use context to discover what we mean by love.  I love my country.  I love ice cream.  I love my wife.  I love Jesus.  These all mean different things but all use the same word and that is love.

In the Greek language there are three words meaning love and two of them are used here.  Jesus asks, “Do you truly love me?” and he is using the word agape which means an unconditional love.  There are no strings attached.  Jesus loves us with agape love.  Peter on the other hand, answers using the word ‘philos’ which means brotherly love.  They are talking two different things.  In the last question Jesus uses philos also.  If we don’t know this, then this passage doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The experts cannot agree on really why this is taking place.  Many dismiss these 3 questions as not being relevant.  I’m not sure that I agree with this.  I think that maybe we just don’t know why Jesus repeats this three times.  It is like the 153 fish in the previous verses where we don’t have a clue as to what this number represents.  Being we don’t know; we dismiss it as irrelevant.  I think that when Jesus repeats something 3 times, it is important even if we don’t understand it yet.

Jesus is asking you this now, “Do you love me?”  He is asking you with the deepest kind of love that there is.  Do you answer that you love Him back like an ice cream cone?  Do you love Him like you love your country or do you love Him with the very depths of your soul?  Be careful how you answer this because it is important.

It is important because Jesus has three things that He wants you to do.  The first is ‘feed my lambs.’  Jesus makes three responses here that are very similar and once again the experts dismiss this is not that important.  If you know Jesus then you know that is how He answers us sometimes.  Sometimes we just have to figure out the answers.

Who are His lambs?  We are all His lambs.   I mean that all people are His lambs.  All, I mean all people in the world were made to have a relationship with Jesus.  John tells us in another place that we have a special place in our hearts, made by God, for Jesus.  Every human being is made with this special place in their hearts.  What Jesus is trying to say here is that we are to minister the word of God to all people we meet.  This is why all believers have been given at least one spiritual gift.  We are to use this gift or gifts to feed the lambs of Jesus.

I think that the special lambs of God are those who have just come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior.  We need to take extra care that we minister to these people in special ways.  We are to slowly nurture these people into full grown faith.  Often times I steer away from saying things like ‘the blood of the cross,’ ‘born again’ and ‘sanctification’ just to mention a few phrases, because these phrases mean nothing to the unsaved or new believer.  I think it is much better to talk about knowing Jesus on a personal basis on our spiritual journey with Him.  I try to use phrases that are easier to understand rather than religious phrases that might be confusing.  You all know that I will mention these other phrases once in a while but I try to be careful when and where I use them.  I want to feed the lambs in a language they understand.

We are told to take care of the sheep of Jesus. Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean that our lives are all perfect and everything is rosy.  Life happens to all of us and many times it isn’t very nice.  We have divorces, lost jobs, crop failures and just plain bad decisions.  We need to be here for each other in times of need and in good times.  We need each other.  We need to take care of each other.  We need each other in church or at this broadcast every Sunday or week.  When one of us gets in trouble, go to them.  One of the things that many Christians don’t really understand is how much we need each other.  You can’t go into a forest and be a hermit and be a good Christian.  We need each other.  You folks do a pretty good job of this but there is always room for improvement.

We are not only to feed His lambs and take care of His sheep, but also feed His sheep.  His sheep are most of the people here today.  We are called to feed each other.  This is what we do here every week.  We try to feed you through worship and the message.  We try to feed each other during our times of fellowship with each other.  We have Bible studies where we try to feed you some more.  This is one of the passages where we know that we are supposed to come to church so that we may be fed, and we all need this, but also so that we can feed others, our fellow believers.  As important as it is to come to be fed, it is just as if not more important to feed others around us.   So, if you come here every Sunday just to be fed, you are only getting a part of the blessing from God.  Feed the people around you at home and in cyberspace.  Please!

Jesus Christ knew He had to get His disciples rolling again so He feeds them.  He nourished their bodies and then He nourished their souls.  He restores Peter and the rest of the disciples.  This is what Jesus does for our lives.  He restores us to a right relationship with Him so that we can live good lives.  Most of the time, I have no explanation for the bad things that happen to us.  Sometimes there is an obvious reason but most of the time not.  All I can tell you is to hang onto Jesus and things will get better.  And for those of us, who are on the top of the mountain, go to those of us who are struggling.  Go to these people with love.  That is the ingredient that is most likely missing.  If you give love to your neighbor, things may change for them.  Our society wants us to hate each other but that is wrong.  Love each other!  It is the only way.

If we fast forward a little in our story and pick up Peter and the others again at Pentecost, we find a remarkable scene.  In today’s reading Peter is a broken man.  He feels he has done terrible things.  Yet, Jesus not only forgives him but He reinstates Peter to the head of the class.  In just a short time, Peter will take the lead in evangelizing the world.  He will lead many, many people to come to know Jesus.

There is no one here that has done all the bad things that Peter did.  There is no one here who is beyond the repairing work of Jesus Christ.  There is no one here who is in a situation that is hopeless in the eyes of the Lord.  It doesn’t matter what you have done or what you will do, Jesus is there to feed you and feed you and feed you.  And when you think that you have had plenty, He will feed you some more.

One of the great things about Jesus is that He doesn’t give up on you.  We give up on ourselves but Jesus is always there.  If you want the most out of life, give yourself totally to Jesus.  Let Him do the work and just do as He asks.  This is the way to a better life.  This is the way to a happier life.  That is a guarantee.  I praise the Lord that He loves you so much.  Let’s pray.