church

INI
Misericordias Domini, The Second Sunday After Easter
April 14, 2013
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

POWER BREAKFAST
BY THE SEA OF GALILEE
John 21:1-14

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, Amen. Our text for this Sunday After Easter
is found in the 21st chapter of John, beginning with the first verse, as follows:

After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of
Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the
Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His
disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They
said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got
into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning had
now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was
Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They
answered Him, "No." 6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of
the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were not able to
draw it in because of the multitude of fish. 7 Therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it
was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged
into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not
far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. 9
Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish
laid on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you
have just caught." 11 Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of
large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the
net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." Yet none
of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?" -- knowing that it was the
Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise
the fish. 14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples
after He was raised from the dead. Here ends our text.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Who was dead and is alive, Dear Fellow
Redeemed,

You've no doubt heard the term, power lunch. A power lunch is where
businessmen get together with their clients, their employees, or with each other,
over lunch. But the purpose isn't just to put food in their stomachs -- far from
it! At this kind of meal power is wielded. Orders are given and taken. Decisions
are made, action items are assigned, and things get done. At a power lunch
there's a lot more going on than just eating and drinking!

Our text for today describes a similar meal, one that took place one early
morning along the shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. You might
almost call it a power breakfast. Here the risen Lord Jesus was meeting with His
employees - the Apostles, the men whose job it would be to spread the Good
News to every part of the globe. They weren't quite ready yet, though; at this
point they were still rather slow to believe, impatient and somewhat confused.
Maybe you've felt that way from time to time yourself: a little confused about
what God's will is for your life, a little impatient, harboring a few doubts about
whether the Lord will really be there when you need Him in your life. If so, then
you'll find the account of this episode especially encouraging. Our theme is --

POWER BREAKFAST
BY THE SEA OF GALILEE

I. It was a reminder of the disciples' powerlessness.
II. It was a demonstration of Jesus' almighty power.
III. It was a promise of powerful results in their work.

The events of our text took place along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was
an area that Jesus and His disciples were familiar with, having spent much of
their time there during Christ's ministry. Now it was a place where Peter and his
friends could go when they didn't know what else to do.

The disciples were at loose ends. They were upset and confused about what
had happened to their Master. Not many days before they'd seen Him put to
death on Calvary. It's true that He had twice appeared to them alive after that.
But still it was hard to believe. The dead don't just rise from their graves.
Maybe they had just imagined it all! They didn't know what to think. Well, one
thing Peter DID know - he knew fishing. So Simon Peter said to the other
disciples, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also."
They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught
nothing. Jesus arrives on the scene to help. But the first thing He does is to
gently remind the disciples that they are powerless to help themselves. When
the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not
know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any
food?" They answered Him, "No."

For generations, Christian parents have taught their children the familiar cradle
song,

Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong -
They are weak, but He is strong!

You know, that doesn't just apply to children. In fact, we grown-up Christians
are often far weaker in faith than our children! But our Lord Jesus is strong.
When we've been struggling in vain with some difficulty in our life, He comes
to us as He did to those disciples. He gently asks us, "Children, have you any
food? Where have all your efforts to solve your own problems gotten you?
Nowhere? Just as I thought!" But Christ also reassures us, just as He reassured
those disciples: "Never fear, I am with you. I am your powerful Lord Jesus, and
I have a plan for your life. Just turn the situation over to ME, and you will see
how I can bless you!"

-- It worked for the disciples. This episode was powerful, in the second place,
because it was a demonstration of Jesus' almighty power.

Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him,
"No." 6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and
you will find some." Notice the simplicity of Jesus' command. He didn't tell
them to go to a different part of the lake. He didn't give them complicated
instructions. What Jesus told them to do didn't require any talent -- just
obedience. All He asked them to do was trust His Word!

And that's what they did. The disciples decided to take Him at His word, and
were they ever rewarded! They cast the net over the other side of the boat, ...
and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. The
whole night long they'd thrown the net out again and again and brought it back
empty. But now, with one cast, the net was full to bursting with fish! So many,
in fact, that they couldn't get it into the boat; they just had to let it hang over
the side.

Well, if the disciples were unsure about Jesus' identity up till now, then at this
point all their uncertainty disappeared. With this miracle Jesus demonstrated
His almighty power, and made it crystal clear exactly who He was. The Man
standing on shore was the Son of God. Had to be! No one but Jesus, they knew,
could command the forces of nature to do His bidding. This had to be Jesus,
risen from the dead, presenting Himself once again before their eyes! With
excitement in his voice, John said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Peter, impulsive as
usual, immediately wrapped his outer garment around him and jumped into the
water to go to his Lord.

Let’s pause here for just a moment. About now you may be thinking, "How
slow they were! They should have known it was Jesus long before that. They
should have been expecting Him!" And you're right, of course - they should
have. But even though they were uncertain, even though their faith was weak,
Jesus knew what they needed. He led them slowly, strengthening their faith
gradually. He knew they'd never take His resurrection in with one visit, so He
appeared to them again and again, strengthening them a little more each time.

Thankfully, the same thing's true for us. Our Lord deals graciously with our
doubts, our uncertainties, our weaknesses, our lack of faith. He strengthens us
by demonstrating His almighty power in our lives.

Isn't it true? Look back at the experience of your own life! -When you've had a
problem or a need, and you exhausted all your own efforts to try and solve it,
and you finally turned to the Lord (which you should have done in the first
place), hasn't the Lord always come through? Of course He has! Once again,
the instructions are simple. God tells us in the Psalms, "Call upon Me in the day
of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me." He always comes to our
rescue, sometimes with a downright miracle. Just as with those disciples on the
Sea of Galilee, He doesn't require extraordinary talent of us, only trust.
"Commit your way unto the Lord," the Bible says, "trust also in Him, and He
shall bring it to pass."

Like the disciples, you may also have experienced the fact that God is not
stingy when He blesses us. The Lord didn't put a few fish in the disciples' net --
He filled it to bursting with 153 large fish. They couldn't have jammed another
one in there! Likewise, you may have noticed that the Lord tends to satisfy our
wants and needs in an extremely generous way. Jesus said, "I have come that
they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." -- Jn 10:10.
Again, look back at your own experience. Has God put you on a subsistence
diet? Has He given you just enough money and goods to get by? I'd be very
surprised if that were true! If your life is anything like mine, then the Lord has
demonstrated His power by giving you much more than you need. In fact, He
tends to pour blessings into your life until you can hardly hold another one!

And then there's the most important blessing of all that we have from our Lord.
It's the forgiveness of sins. You know, those post-resurrection appearances of
Jesus are just as important to us as they were to those disciples. You recall we
talked about this last Sunday. Those appearances were the evidence that our
Lord Jesus really did come out of the grave - come back from the dead! - on the
third day. And if Jesus really did rise from the dead, that means that His
atonement for our sins really was carried out successfully. For you see, the
reason Jesus gave Himself up on the cross was to offer His heavenly Father a
sacrifice to pay for our sins. Easter Sunday was proof that that sacrifice was
accepted by God! The empty tomb proclaims to the world that Jesus took our
place, that He paid for our sins, and that He finished the job that He was sent
to earth to do. He rescued us sinners from hell, and earned a place in heaven for
every one of us. Easter leaves no room for doubt about that! Easter is the
reason Paul could say, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus."

Yes, it certainly was a "power breakfast by the Sea of Galilee." And by the way
-- it's also important that we notice the symbolic nature of what happened there
that day. Because this episode wasn't just meant to strengthen their faith and
convince them of the resurrection. There was something else here, too: Jesus
was giving them a special promise for the future. It was a promise of powerful
results in their work.

Christ sometimes used symbols to show His disciples what they should expect
to happen in the future. For instance, a little later in this chapter we read about
how Jesus wrapped Peter's belt around his wrists; it was to show Peter how he
would one day be taken prisoner and put to death for preaching the Gospel.
Well, this whole episode by the sea was meant to be symbolic, too. Remember,
Jesus had once told His disciples that He would make them "fishers of men;"
they would be His representatives, who would carry the Gospel to the four
corners of the world. But the empty nets of their fruitless night's work were
meant to remind them of something: to remind them of how useless it would be
to try and carry out their Apostolic mission using their own power and
ingenuity.

No, Jesus WORD was what was needed to make their mission work effective!
When they put their trust in Jesus' Word, the results were powerful. The
full-to-bursting nets were meant to symbolize the powerful success that their
efforts would enjoy if they simply put their trust in God's Word to do the work.
And history has shown this symbol to be true: the Gospel has now gone into all
the world. Using the power of His Word, God has caused the work of His
disciples to bear abundant fruit. And it really couldn't be otherwise, for the Lord
promised in Isaiah, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It
shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall
prosper in the thing for which I sent it." --Is 55:11.

God makes the same promise to you and me: the promise of powerful results in
our work for the Lord. For after all, you too have been commissioned by God to
carry the Gospel to others! When you support our outreach here in the South
Puget Sound area, you're helping to carry that Good News to the desperately
underchurched and spiritually needy of this area. Who's to say that the Lord
won't bless our efforts as he did those disciples', with a bountiful and
overflowing catch of souls for the Lord? When you support our CLC missions in
India and Nepal and Africa, you're not wasting your money. For as long as
God's Word is being used, you know we're going to get results in those mission
fields. When you take the time to share a Bible passage with a friend or a
relative - someone you know, perhaps, who is ill, or grieving, or going through a
particularly stressful time in their life - well, that's when YOU are God's
missionary! And as long as you use God's Word, you KNOW you're going to be
successful! That's why you need to hear and study God's Word regularly -- so
you can prepare for those mission opportunities. In that way you will "always be
ready to give a defense, to anyone who asks you, a reason for the hope that is in
you, with meekness and fear." Your Lord Jesus has already rescued you from
drowning in your sins; He's brought you into the ship of salvation. What better
way to show your thanks that to give someone else a hand up into the boat!

You’ve seen those advertisements for Carnation Instant Breakfast: "A healthful
and well-balanced meal," they call it. I've always been a little skeptical. It
doesn't seem to me that a glass of milky liquid could provide as much energy for
your morning as a regular breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast and juice! But it
may be true, for all I know. One thing I am sure of, though - Jesus' breakfast by
the Sea of Galilee is no fake. This episode holds tremendous energy for us
Christians. It gives us everything we need, not just for a morning, but for our
whole lives. It shows us our powerlessness, it demonstrates Jesus' power, and it
promises us powerful results when we use our Savior's powerful Word. God
grant that we may ever do so, AMEN.