Restoration and Purpose After the Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus didn't just happen so we could see the power of God. He rose from the dead so that we could also rise above our sin and experience new life in him. So he restores what was broken, and he gives us this mission to go forward. You see, after the resurrection, things didn't just go back to normal. Instead, the disciples went forward with their purpose. And can I tell you this morning that this is what God is calling Family Worship Center to do today. He is calling us to move forward with purpose, to reach the lost for Christ, to grow in our relationship with God. [00:47:58]

So if we can step back for just a moment and remember some things about Peter, we just want to highlight these real quick if we can. And they'll be up on the screen, and the scripture reference will be there as well. We're not going to read each one right now. But you are welcome to write that down and look it up later. But to remind you who we're talking about this morning, Peter was the disciple who a lot of us have probably heard, he walks on the water. Anybody ever heard that story before? He's the disciple who walks on the water, and he takes his eyes off of Jesus, and he begins to sink. And that's found in Matthew chapter 14. Peter was also the disciple who declared, he was the first disciple to declare that Jesus was the Messiah. [00:52:57]

And he mans up, and he does his defensive thing, right? And he grabs a sword, and he cuts off a soldier's ear trying to protect Jesus. And that's found in Luke chapter 20, or John chapter 18. And then of course, probably what's one of the most famous things about Peter, and he would probably hope and pray that we would see other things. But as we know, and we talked about a little bit last week, Peter was the one who denied Jesus three times in public. Remember that story? In Luke chapter 22. And that's kind of where we want to start. [00:53:59]

Remembering who Peter was, and what was happening with him going into the Easter and Resurrection Sunday? What had been going on with him? And what goes next for Peter? What happens next for Peter? And so with all these things, it looks like after he denies Jesus three times, that maybe Jesus would give up on Peter. It looks like Peter, after realizing what he did, after Jesus told him that he was going to deny him three times, and the rooster was going to crow, and then it actually happened. Just like Jesus told him, Peter probably felt like giving up on himself as well. Amen? [00:54:45]

Now, if you read the scripture, the disciples gather, and Jesus appears to them, and doubting Thomas does his thing where he says, I want to see him for myself. I want to touch him for myself. I want to see that he has resurrected, and then Jesus appears, and they do that. But the next thing that scripture says is that Peter goes fishing. Now, maybe it's because that's where he met Jesus in Matthew chapter 4. We see Jesus was walking by, and Peter and Andrew were fishing, and Jesus calls out to them, come and follow me. And the scripture says that Peter and Andrew dropped everything. They dropped their nets. They stopped fishing, and they followed Christ. [00:56:13]

But what we do know is that Peter, when he denied Christ, not once, not twice, not three times, it was three times that he denied, and then the rooster crowed. Peter knew. Here's what he knew. He knew what he had done, and if you put yourself in his shoes, you could only imagine how that made him feel. So maybe Peter goes back to fishing because he's ashamed of what he has done, and he feels like he's not worthy of being a follower of Christ anymore. We don't really know exactly, but we can kind of think about that and just, you know, wonder as sort of a personUM Prayer, but as a person Do you want to play out and go over one another, but what he was going through. [00:57:08]

And so I can't help but think and I can't help but relate this morning to Peter. Sure, I haven't walked with Christ and I haven't maybe publicly, you know, denied him like Peter did in front of a crowd and there was a rooster crow and things like that. But every day before I came to Christ, I struggled with sin. Can anybody relate with that this morning? Every day we all struggle with something. That doesn't mean we always give into it, but we all face temptations and thoughts and struggles because we're human. [00:57:49]

And every day we play this tug of war back and forth with living for ourselves and living for Christ. Because we're not perfect, the struggle continues with sin, but how many of you know greater is he that is in me than he that's in the world. Amen? And so all I can do is think and try to relate to Peter after all these things have happened. He is doubting himself. I'm sure of that. He is doubting where he stands with Christ and he goes back to what he knows. He goes back to fishing. [00:58:25]

And so our first point this morning is this, as we're talking about restoration, as we're talking about what now, our first point is this, Jesus finds us where we are. Amen? He finds us where we are. In John chapter 21 verse 3, the Bible says Peter went back to fishing, back to the familiar. And Jesus doesn't wait for Peter to get around to figuring himself out and to come to him and figure all these things out. Instead, Jesus goes to Peter. [00:59:04]

We're going to start in verse number four and we're going to read through verse 17. So hang with me while we read the word of God this morning. This is what it says. At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was. He called out, fellows, have you caught any fish? No, they replied. And then he said, throw out your net on the right hand side of the boat and you'll get some. So they did this and they couldn't haul in the net because of how many fish were in it. Then the disciple Jesus, then the disciple that Jesus loved said to Peter, it's the Lord. And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, when he heard it was Jesus, he put on his tunic for he had taken it off for work and he jumped into the water, the word says, and he headed to shore. You could say he was excited. Amen. That Jesus was there, that he was talking to them and he reminded them of miracles immediately because he told them where to cast their net. And the net was so full, they couldn't even take it in. When Peter figured this out, he jumped out of the boat. He wasn't waiting on that boat to get to shore. He jumped out of that boat and he made his way to Jesus. [00:59:44]

Verse eight says this, the others stayed with the boat, pulled in the loaded net to the shore for they were about a hundred yards from the shore. And when they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them, fish cooking over a charcoal fire and some bread. Bring some of the fish you've just caught, Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore and there were 153 large fish and yet the net hadn't torn. Now come and have some breakfast, Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and fish. And you can only just stop for a second and begin to think about what was going through their minds. They were probably thinking about the little boy with the fish and the bread that Jesus broke the bread and the fish and it multiplied and he fed 5 ,000. You can only think as they're standing, standing there, sitting there, beginning to eat breakfast and they're looking on the resurrection of the savior, Jesus Christ. You can only think about all these things that are maybe triggering their mind and all these memories and things as they're looking at him, probably in awe. That's what I would be doing. I would be in awe of him standing there before me and him feeding me fish and bread. So let's get back to the word here. In verse 16 it says, Jesus, hold on, I'm sorry, let's go to 15. [01:01:06]

After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, Peter replied. You know I love you. Then feed my lambs, Jesus told him. Verse 16 says, Jesus repeated the question, Simon son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord, Peter said, you know I love you. Then take care of my sheep. Jesus said a third time he asked him, Simon son of John, do you love me? And Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said, then feed my sheep. [01:02:32]

In this scripture, Jesus said, finds Peter in the same place where he originally called him fishing and Jesus doesn't just rise and call it good he doesn't let Peter think it's up to him what happens next instead Jesus goes to him and he doesn't just stop there but Jesus restores Peter he recommissions him he reinstates Peter you see Peter had publicly denied Jesus three times and now the risen Savior meets him again not to shame him but to restore him and recommission him he says to him in that scripture there in verse 17 and 19 feed my sheep follow me so what does this mean this is what it means this morning church and this is what you can take from this even when we feel like we've failed or we've drifted too far from him Jesus still shows up and he still shows us grace go ahead give him a hand clap of praise hallelujah I like the way that one of the translations puts it John chapter 1 verse 16 it puts it like this that he shows us grace upon grace upon grace [01:03:26]

how many are thankful for his grace this morning amen and can I tell you this today that as I was preparing this message as I was praying and asking the Holy Spirit to lead me and to guide me God put it in my heart that there would be some here today who feel just like Peter you feel as maybe you've disappointed God you feel as if you have maybe missed the mark you feel like maybe you have failed him and but can I tell you this that there's grace upon grace upon grace for you today all you have to do is to come to him all you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved can I just say this today some of you just like Peter he's ready to restore you some of you he is ready to reinstate you some of you he is ready to recommission you and and I want to tell you this just because we fail and we fall it doesn't mean that God is finished with us amen his grace is greater than our mistakes his grace is greater than our mistakes and so that leads us to the second point if you're taking notes grace covers our greatest failures [01:04:52]

and I always find these things interesting and we'll get into this in just a second but Peter's three denials of Jesus last week we talked about looking at Easter and the resurrection through the eyes of Christ Peter's three denials may have been three failures but through the eyes of Jesus it was giving him three chances to reaffirm his love and grace for Peter you see we may see things one way but Christ sees them through the lens of eternity Jesus doesn't rub Peter's failure in he could have a lot of us as humans we that's what we think of doing right lecturing and and continuing to talk about what happened but Jesus doesn't rub it into Peter instead he writes over it with grace see grace doesn't ignore your past but it redeems it amen and so there's no sin that's too great for the Savior who died and rose again whatever your story is that you may be living whatever life looks like in your shoes can I tell you something I know the author and the finisher of my story [01:06:14]

just because you don't like maybe the chapter that you've been in can I tell you this that's not how the story is going to end he's making all things work together for our good and so this leads us to the next part of the scripture leads us to the next part of today's sermon and point number three is this the resurrection comes with a calling the resurrection comes with a calling I find it fascinating that in this scripture when in John chapter 21 Jesus is talking to Peter and we went through all of this scripture and we just talked about this but he asks him do you love me can you guess how many times Jesus asks Peter how many times he loves him three times [01:08:22]

to some extent, Jesus has kind of given Peter a hard time. Peter's over here ashamed. He's over here worrying about all these things and mistakes that he's done. And Jesus is kind of egging it on. He's kind of poking him with this humor. He's asking him, do you love me? Not just once, not twice, but three times, just like Peter denied him. And you kind of get that from this conversation. I wonder if Peter was thinking that same thing. You've got to be kidding me. You're seriously going to ask me this the third time. Not once, not twice, but three times he asks Peter, do you love me? [01:09:24]

And so every time Peter answers it, like he probably gets more and more serious because to him it's a failure. To him it's something that he's probably ashamed of. And so he's probably getting more serious as Jesus is kind of pushing that, asking him again and again and again. And what does Jesus say? Then if you love me, feed my sheep. What does that mean? God, do something with what we've received. What it means is we should go share the gospel. Go share this grace that he has given us. Go restore people. Go reinstate people. Go share mercy and love. Share the resurrection. Go and spiritually feed people the bread of life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what it's meaning. [01:09:47]

Church, he is saying the same thing to us today. The resurrection, listen to me because this is really important and if you don't catch it the first time you could misinterpret it, but the resurrection loses its power if it begins and ends with us. Let me go a little bit further. The gospel can lose its significance if we never share it with the lost. So if you look around at the world that we live in today, I don't know if you're a person who watches the news. Sometimes I watch the news and then I have to turn it off pretty quick because there's just so much on there. It can be overwhelming. But if you look at the world that we live in, you can see more than ever before he is calling us to feed the sheep. [01:10:40]

See, the cross is not just about what Jesus did for us. It's about what he wants to do through us. We're not saved to sit. We're saved to serve. And so this leads us to our last point, and we're going to pray and do a few things here. So don't get in a hurry because then Bishop's going to come and we're going to do some stuff here at the end. But just hang with me for a few minutes. Our last point that we're going to make here is this. Following Jesus means moving forward. [01:11:30]

And can I just stop right there and get real with you today? I don't know about you, but I've had some things in my life that have happened that completely stopped me in my tracks. And I think that this is one of the ways we can kind of relate with Peter. Peter, here he was, one of the top disciples. He cut off a soldier's ear trying to help Jesus. He's thinking, man, Jesus told me on my name, I'm going to be the rock he builds his church. Like he's feeling pretty confident about himself. And then he denies Jesus. Jesus goes to the cross. Something happened to Peter and it stopped him in his tracks. [01:12:09]

I can relate with this because I've had some life circumstances, some things that have stopped me in my tracks, that completely froze me and took me off guard. I've experienced some moments where if I wanted to, I could have just stopped right there and lived in whatever it was that I was facing and never moved on. When my father had pneumonia and his lungs collapsed and he lost the blood flow and oxygen to his brain for a short amount of time and he would eventually have to be put on life support, I could have got stuck in that moment where he began to pass away. And 24 hours after that happened, we had to remove him from life support and he did pass on. [01:12:34]

In 2021, when my mother passed away from COVID, a week after her doctor told her she was one of the healthiest 60 -year -olds that he had ever examined, that could have and almost did stop me in my tracks. When we lost our child in 2021, I almost gave up on God. I almost gave up on ministry and life in general. And sometimes we experience things in our life that grab us and hold on to us and if it impacts us hard enough, we can find ourselves stuck in the middle of whatever is going on. But can I tell you that following Jesus, Jesus doesn't mean you just stop and get stuck where you are, but it means you have to move forward. [01:13:54]

And one of the reasons that I'm so proud, and you might say, well, why has this guy, his first two Sundays being our new pastor, he keeps getting in that pulpit and he keeps crying. He keeps getting emotional. He keeps talking about being overwhelmed. One of the reasons that I'm so proud to be your pastor, and I know my wife feels the same way, I understand the weight of this calling. I understand where we are as a church right now. And can I tell you this? It would have been really easy as a church to allow some of the things that have happened to get you stuck where you are. [01:14:30]

Can I tell you that not only am I proud of you, but can I tell you that Christ is proud of this body of believers, because we have chosen the middle of adversity, in the middle of a loss, in the middle of discouragement, to not let the enemy win, but instead to get more passionate. Amen. But instead to get more passionate about the lost, to push forward, to make a decision that we're going to reach the lost and continue to move forward in what God has called us to. And even though it might be hard at times, even though we might experience some growing pains, we're going to move forward into the things of God. [01:15:30]

But can I tell you this this morning, that God is trying to do a new thing in our lives and in this church and in this community. And he's going to bless this church, and he's going to bless everyone as individuals. And so I think that we should just take a moment and give the Lord a hand clap of praise for what he is doing. And Peter was the same way. He could have got stuck in this moment where he was ashamed of himself or where he was trying to get Jesus to forgive him and talk about what happened. [01:16:01]

And so at the end of this set of scriptures, I love how Jesus concludes this part of the conversation with Peter. In verse 19 of John chapter 21, Jesus ends with two words. Follow me. See, it's not about perfection. It's about direction. Let's not live as if the resurrection is the end of the story. Let's live as it's just the beginning of the church. Yes, we've all messed up. We've all sinned. For some of us, it's in our past. For some of us, it may have been recent. [01:17:14]

Maybe for some of us, we're holding on to a grudge or unforgiveness. Maybe you're carrying around bitterness in your heart. Whatever it is, the Lord knows that. I don't have to know those things. But maybe even you've made some poor choices and you've done some things. Maybe privately or publicly this morning, you can relate to Peter and you can say, I've done these things and it feels like I've denied him. It feels like I've turned my back on God. Can I tell you that he still loves you today? Can I tell you it's not about perfection, but it's about direction. [01:17:50]

Instead of trying to elevate ourselves, clean ourselves up so that we're good enough for Christ, sometimes we just need to realize that we need to fall to our knees and ask him to forgive us. Ask him to show us that grace upon grace upon grace. And can I tell you, church, this morning, no matter where you're at, can I tell you this? God is still in the restoration business. Amen. Hallelujah. It doesn't matter what you've done. In just one moment, when you call on him, when you give him your life, he can make all things new. [01:18:28]