THE BREAKFAST OF CLEANSING
SERIES: JESUS, SAVIOR OF THE LOST
by Ron Ritchie
Every two years PBC's elders undertake a series of personal evaluations
of the staff, beginning with themselves and following with the pastoral
and support staff. These evaluations are necessary because none of us can
really see ourselves as well as we think we do. They are times of encouraging,
strengthening, and spiritual cleansing. I was recently evaluated by my brothers,
and I was greatly encouraged by their love for me. They were able to point
out many of my strengths and weaknesses. I was thankful to the Lord for
my strengths, because they bring a lot of encouragement to other people
and because most of them grow out of the spiritual gifts the Lord has given
me. It's exciting to know not only that you are given spiritual gifts, but
that your life is being used with those gifts by the strength of the Lord.
After my fellow elders helped me see my weaknesses, they encouraged me to
go to the Lord and others within the body of Christ for help in dealing
with them.
For example, I have had a passion for the Lord and for ministry that they
helped me evaluate, and some of that passion amounts to being a "workaholic."
They wanted me to think through the motive behind my drivenness to see if
it was of the Spirit or of the flesh. They also pointed out that my past
brokenness has motivated many of my ministries, but at times it has also
held me emotionally captive, causing me to break out in anger and impatience
toward others. They felt that this impatience might indicate times when
I was not trusting the Lord for my life or your lives, and because of it
I hurt myself as well as some of you. (If I have hurt you in some manner,
please come and see me personally and give me the opportunity to ask for
your forgiveness.) As a result of this personal evaluation by my brothers
I have presented their encouragements as well as their insight into my weaknesses
to our risen Lord and good Shepherd, and I have been praying in the spirit
of David:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way."
(Psalm 139:23-24.)
Well, what I and my fellow under-shepherds are going through is a season
of spiritual cleansing initiated by our risen Lord and good Shepherd in
order that his flock be tenderly cared for until he comes again. In John
21:1-19 we will see how he gathered his disciples around a charcoal fire
and served them breakfast in a time of spiritual cleansing and restoration
of ministry for them. Not only did he encourage Peter and the other disciples,
but in this passage he will challenge our own love for him and the motives
of our own hearts. This story takes place between the events of Luke 24:43
and 44.
Preparation for cleansing
John 21:1-6
After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias [or the Sea of Galilee], and He manifested Himself
in this way. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus,
and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others
of His disciples. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."
They said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out,
and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. But when the
day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not
know that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them, "Children, you
do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No." And
He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat,
and you will find a catch." They cast therefore, and then they were
not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
According to A Harmony of the Gospel (Moody Press), Jesus made eleven
post-resurrection appearances over a period of forty days before he ascended
to his Father ten days before the Feast of Pentecost. Jesus appeared first
to Mary Magdalene, then to the women who had been to the garden and had
reported the good news of the empty tomb to the disciples. He told them,
"Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee,
and there they shall see Me." (Matthew 28:9-10.) (This was the same
word he had given his disciples as he approached the garden of Gethsemane
after the Passover meal: "...after I have been raised, I will go before
you to Galilee.") (Matthew 26:32.) He then appeared privately to Peter
on Easter morning (see Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5), followed by an appearance
to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. On Easter evening he appeared to
all the disciples except Thomas, and then eight days later he appeared to
all of them including Thomas. Now our story opens with Jesus' seventh appearance
on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which was the third appearance to a
group of disciples together.
Our risen Lord was preparing the disciples for another "teachable moment"
by asking them to meet him on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was in
this very same area that Jesus had walked along the shoreline in his humanity
some three years earlier and saw Peter and Andrew. "And Jesus said
to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.' And they
immediately left the nets and followed Him. And going on a little farther,
He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in
the boat mending the nets. And immediately He called them; and they left
their father Zebedee...to follow Him." (Mark 1:17-20.)
Now Peter and the other six disciples had been sitting on the shore until
sunset, waiting for their risen Lord to show up. Finally Peter said in what
appears to be a bit of impatience, I'm going fishing." Peter was still
in the "process of becoming a fisher of men," but he was not a
finished product at this moment. He had lots of emotional struggles that
he would have to deal with in the days ahead. It was the arrogant Peter
who rebuked the Lord for saying he was going to suffer and die only to have
Jesus tell him, "Get behind me Stan, for you don't know the mind of
God." And it was the prideful Peter who said to Jesus in the upper
room, "Never shall you wash my feet," and the boastful Peter who
told the Lord, "even though all may fall away because of you I will
never fall away." And fianlly it was the frightened Peter who cut off
the ear of the servant of the High priest in the garden the night the emotional
struggles that still needed to be dealt with for you recall that it was
the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus. yet, within hours after our lord's
arrest he had denied he knew Jesus during his trial. However, on that first
Easter morning I believe that our Risen Lord appeared to Peter, broken and
full of shame and offered him the opportunity to confess his sins and be
restored to fellowship with Jesus (Luke 24:34) But having his sins forgiven
and eliminating his emotional characteristics are two different subjects.
However, the sin issue had been real but now our Lord wanted to bring some
"cleansing" to Peter's heart when it came to their relationship.
The Lord was going to solve that problem on the shores of Galilee.
I am sure that while Peter was waiting for the Lord to appear he was doing
some personal evaluation of himself and dealing with his internal reality
that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." He certainly
was still feeling the humiliation of being the one who had denied his master
at his trial. Now he had come back to where their relationship had begun,
back to his roots...fishing in the Sea of Galilee.
If you walk along the shore of the Sea of Galilee today, you can still see
fishermen in almost the same kind of boats, casting the same kind of nets
into the water, letting them sink to the bottom of the lake, and then drawing
them in, hopeful that they will be filled with what they now call Peter's
fish. The disciples knew what they were doing; they had been fishing since
they were children. They knew the lake, the tides, and the seasons; but
for some reason that particular night they caught nothing. They were a hundred
yards off shore at dawn when a stranger walked to the water's edge. He looked
at the boat filled with seven of the eleven disciples and called out, his
voice carrying clearly across the still waters of the morning: "Children,
you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered, "No!" Then
Jesus said, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you
will find a catch." In obedience, still not knowing it was Jesus, but
in humility accepting any help they could get, the disciples "...cast
therefore, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great
number of fish."
The Lord Jesus was reviewing some spiritual principles for them here: (1)
Our risen Lord wanted to remind his disciples once again of the same spiritual
principle he had taught them on their walk through a vineyard on the way
to the garden of Gethsemane: "I am the vine, you are the branches;
he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me
you can do nothing." (John 15:5.) (2) Our risen Lord loved them just
the same as he had loved them in his humanity, even though all of them had
fled from him in the garden at the time of his arrest, and one of them had
denied him at his trial. He was demonstrating his eternal love once again
by providing for their daily needs (see Luke 5:1-7). (3) The full net of
fish was a symbol of the ministry they would have once the Holy Spirit came
upon them on the day of Pentecost. When they were willing to submit to him
(even though they thought he was a stranger) their nets were filled with
fish. This physical experience would become a spiritual symbol for each
of them after the coming of the Holy Spirit; they would find themselves
throwing their spiritual nets into the sea of humanity and having their
risen Lord fill them up with the lives of men, women, and children who would
place their faith in him as their Lord and Savior.
Our risen Lord was gently but firmly preparing the way so that he could
search the heart of Peter in such a way that this disciple would see clearly
his weaknesses, confess them, and be restored to ministry as a shepherd
of God's flock.
Preparation for truth
John 21:7-14
That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It
is the Lord." And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he
put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself
into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they
were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the
net full of fish. And so when they got out upon the land, they saw a charcoal
fire already laid, and fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said to them,
"Bring some of the fish which you have now caught." Simon Peter
went up, and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three;
and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them,
"Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples ventured to question
Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and
took the bread, and gave them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third
time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from
the dead.
John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved," recognized it was the Lord
in the same way that Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Lord in the garden
after his resurrection. His body and facial features had changed to a glorified
state (as on the Mount of Transfiguration, Luke 9:29) so that he was not
recognizable by sight, but when Jesus said, "Mary," his personality
and the inflection of his voice were the same, and she recognized him as
her Rabboni (Teacher). When John heard the Lord's voice over the water;
there was something in his tone that clicked in John's heart, and in time
he realized, "It's the Lord!" The second thing that clicked for
John was that he had not only seen the movie Empty Nets---Full Nets,
but he as well as some of the other disciples had also starred in that movie
some three years earlier when they had first met Jesus on these shores (see
Luke 5:1-11).
Our risen Lord prepared breakfast for them: one having denied him at his
trial, the others having fled, and all having doubted his resurrection when
the women told them he had risen. But Peter, who had tried to hide from
him after the trial, now swam toward him knowing that he had been forgiven
and that forgiveness was about to be confirmed around this breakfast time.
As the boat came to shore dragging the net full of fish, they saw that Jesus
had already built a charcoal fire and had placed a fish that they did not
catch on it, and he had also provided some bread. Then Jesus asked them
to bring some of the fish out of their catch and put them on the fire also.
Peter dragged the net with one hundred fifty-three large fish onto the beach,
took a few, and handed them to Jesus. (It strikes me as humorous that in
the excitement of that profound moment someone still took time to count
those fish. Some things never change!) Then our risen Lord said to the seven
disciples, who were weary from the night of empty nets, "Come and have
breakfast." This beautiful Servant who had once washed their feet in
the upper room not only provided a full net of fish for them, but then he
also took time to build a fire, provide his own fish and bread, and serve
each one of them. And they looked at him, knowing that the outer body was
different but everything else was the same: the love as he cared for them,
and the servant heart as he said, "Come and have breakfast," offering
them renewed fellowship and encouragement.
Our risen Lord so loved Peter that now he gently and firmly moved in on
his heart with truth so that cleansing would result in...
Preparation for ministry
John 21:15-19
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said
to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him,
"Tend My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon,
son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You
know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep."
He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?"
Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love
me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep. Truly, truly,
I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and walk
wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go."
Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow me!"
Peter and the other six disciples were sitting around the charcoal fire
eating the fish and bread and looking at Jesus. As I have already mentioned,
I believe Peter confessed his sin of denial to Jesus during their first
private encounter after our Lord's resurrection. And Jesus had dealt with
Thomas' sin of doubt during his sixth appearance, which was in the upper
room in the presence of the other ten disciples eight days after the resurrection.
So the forgiveness of Peter's sins was not the issue at this moment, but
rather the cleansing of his heart concerning the degree of love he had for
the Lord. The disciples understood the "Royal Law" as recorded
in Deuteronomy 6, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind..."
Jesus wanted his followers to be willing to begin the process of loving
him with their whole heart, mind and soul before he would trust them to
shepherd his flock. The bottom line between Jesus and Peter was "Peter
when you say you love me just exactly what is your definition of "love?"
Peter's love for his Lord had been tested around charcoal fires and found
wanting during the trial of Jesus: (1) He had been standing by a charcoal
fire in Annas' courtyard (see John 18:17-18) when he first denied Jesus.
(2) Then when Jesus was taken to stand before Caiaphas the high priest,
Peter was sitting at a charcoal fire warming himself when one of the servant
girls pointed him out to the others as a follower of Jesus, and he responded,
"Woman, I do not know Him" (Luke 22:57). (3) Then Peter went out
on the porch, and once more the maid saw him and told the others that he
was a follower of Jesus, but Peter "again...was denying it" (Mark
14:69-70). (4) And finally, a relative of the slave whose ear Peter had
cut off in the garden said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?"
And Peter denied it again, and immediately a cock crowed. (John 18:26-27;
see Message No. 4277). "And he went out and wept bitterly" (Luke
22:62).
Our Lord already knew the spiritual condition of Peter's heart, but he wanted
Peter to be able to articulate his own heart before he would commission
him for a lifelong responsibility of shepherding his spiritual flock.
When Jesus first met this disciple his name was Simon, but soon after their
relationship grew Jesus called him Peter,which means a stone, signifying
that he would become part of the foundation of the church (see Matthew 16:18).
By calling Peter Simon again, he cut him to the quick, for that is who he
was in the flesh. Our Lord may have been suggesting his actions at the trial
were those of one who was not a true follower.
"...Do you love Me more than these?" Some Bible students think
that Jesus may have been referring to Peter's loving him more than he loved
the boats, nets, and occupation of a fisherman. But the Lord is speaking
of Peter's loving him more than the other disciples loved him. He was saying,
"Peter, there was a time when you said you loved me more than the other
disciples loved me. You said in the power of your flesh that you would even
die for me [see Matthew 26:35], but you are the only one who denied me when
the going got tough. Do you really love me more than the other disciples
love me? Do you agapas me? Are you truly willing to give up your
life for me? Do you have a self-sacrificing, wholehearted devotion to me?
Can I depend on you to lead the new flock of believers into the age of the
Spirit and remain faithful until I come again?"
Peter answered Jesus, "Lord, you know [oidas, you have divine
or full knowledge] that I don't agapao you, but I have a heart filled
with philia; I have tremendous affection for you. Peter knew that
implicit in the word agapao was the willingness to lay down one's
life for another, and he had already had to eat his words when he denied
Christ at the trial. So he was saying, "Lord, I'm not going to put
my foot in my mouth again." Jesus responded, "Then Peter, I am
commissioning you to tend my spiritual lambs. Within a few days after the
coming of the Holy Spirit there is going to be a large flock of new ones
that I want you to protect and feed. They will be young, weak, and scared.
Tend to their needs so that they will grow and become strong in my spiritual
kingdom."
A second time Jesus asked, "Simon, son of John, do you love me? Do
you agapas me?" Peter answered, "Lord, you know [oidas]
that I phileo you; I have affection for you, and that is as much
as I am willing to say after all my boasting." Jesus replied, "Then
shepherd my sheep by guiding them into green pastures." The disciples
all knew about the good Shepherd of Psalm 23, which would become their model
as now seen in Jesus relationship to them:
"The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows...."
Peter and the disciples also knew how God felt about wicked shepherds as
recorded in Ezekiel 34:2-16: "'Should not the shepherds feed the flock?...Those
who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed,
the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back,
nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have
dominated them...Behold I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them
out...I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,' declares the Lord
God. 'I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken,
and strengthen the sick....'"
Finally, Peter and the disciples also remembered that Jesus had taught them
that he was the good Shepherd, and that the good Shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep: "I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and
My own know Me." (John 10:14.)
Jesus had in effect said to Simon, "You're not willing to lay down
your life for me, and now you're finally saying it. Now, Simon, son of John,
do you love me?" And at this point Jesus used the Greek term for love
that Simon had been using, phileis. "Do you phileis me?
Do you really have a tender affection for me?" At this point Peter
was grieved because the risen Lord and good Shepherd was even challenging
Peter's philia love. He was humbled by this question and responded,
"Lord, you know [oidas] all things; you know [ginoskeis,
you understand completely] everything that is, and one of the things you
know is my heart and the degree of my love as well as my motives. I can't
hide anything from you, and I really don't want to." You can almost
hear Peter quoting from Psalm 139:23-24, as I mentioned I myself have been
praying:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way."
"Lord, you fully understand that I phileo you, and that is as
far as I am going to commit myself. I cannot at this moment say to you honestly,
'I agapao you.' I'm not ready to say that I have self-sacrificing
love for you. I'm in the process of learning my lesson." Jesus said
to Peter, based on that transparent statement, "Then tend my sheep."
But the final words of our Lord would also ring in Peter's ears: "'Truly,
truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and
walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your
hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish
to go.' Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify
God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, 'Follow Me!'" During
the next thirty years, Peter continued in this process of humbling his heart
and life to the good Shepherd. He struggled from time to time, as recorded
in the book of Acts, yet he remained a faithful shepherd of the Lord's sheep
until the end of his life. Under Nero's reign he was finally required to
demonstrate his loyal agape love by giving up his life on a Roman
cross because of his commitment to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Our risen Lord lovingly and firmly moved in on the heart of Simon in order
cleanse the motives of his heart and to replace pride with humility. As
a result of that painful but meaningful spiritual cleansing over breakfast,
Peter was restored to ministry as an under-shepherd of our Lord's flock
and proved faithful in his agape love by willingly laying down his
life on behalf of Jesus and his sheep.
Two thousand years later our risen Lord continues to lovingly and firmly
move in on the hearts of your under-shepherds here at PBC in order to cleanse
the motives of our hearts and to replace our pride with humility, so that
we can remain among you, faithfully ministering with hearts filled with
agape love for each one of you, willing to daily lay down our lives
so that you might have life.
The breakfast of cleansing should challenge all of us to allow our risen
Lord to evaluate our motives in relationship to him. When we told him we
were willing to follow him, were our hearts filled with philia love
or agape love? We can know in a moment if we are willing to pray
together this prayer of David, which we have already seen beautifully articulates
a heart ready to be cleansed:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way."
(Psalm 139:23-24)
Catalog No. 4283
John 21:1-19
68th Message
Ron Ritchie
November 22, 1992
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