"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