The Road of Restoration John 21:1-25 Pastor Josh Black April 22, 2018 Now what? One question that has busied scholars for centuries is why John 21 is in our Bibles. At the end of John 20, John seems to be finished writing. He says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (vv. 30-31). That sounds like a conclusion to me. John has established that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. John has established that Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead to provide forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And John has called his readers to believe. And in verse 28 we hear Thomas cry out that he believes. John’s purpose has been accomplished. More importantly Jesus’ mission has been accomplished. So why do we need John 21? Chapter 20 is the conclusion to the John’s gospel. Chapter 21 is like an epilogue. John 20 shows us that Jesus’ mission has been accomplished. John 21 reminds us that we now have a mission to accomplish as well. I think John 21 asks and answers the question “now what?” Now that Jesus is risen, what are his disciples called to do? And as usual, we learn what we’re called to do through Peter. Peter dominates John 21.1 And it’s important to remember that when we come to John 21, Peter’s story is still open-ended. Earlier Jesus told the disciples he would be struck down, but then he would be raised up. And he told them he would go before them to Galilee, after he was raised (Mk. 14:26-28). Now, Peter and the other disciples are waiting for Jesus in Galilee; waiting to learn the “now what.” When Jesus told the disciples that he would be struck down and raised up, Peter responded in his usual bold way. He said, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” And Jesus said to him, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (Jn. 13:37-38). And that’s what happened. While Jesus was on trial, Peter was standing outside warming himself by a charcoal fire. And there he denied Jesus three times (Jn. 18:25-27). When we come to John 21, this part of Peter’s story is still open-ended. What will happen between Jesus and Peter? It’s interesting. At the center of John 21, we find another charcoal fire.2 Jesus is cooking fish on it. But at this charcoal fire, Peter doesn’t deny Jesus. Peter affirms his love for Jesus. And he’s then sent to make disciples and establish the church. But before Peter is sent by Jesus, Peter must be restored by Jesus. And through Peter’s story we learn that we too are sent by Jesus. But before we are sent, we too must be restored. Peter’s life was a road of restoration. And our life should also be a road of restoration. As we read this chapter, listen for these themes.

1 Michaels, J. Ramsey. The Gospel of John. New international commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2015. 2 Michaels 2

John 21:1-253 1After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. 9When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 15When 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, “Feed my lambs.” 16He said to him 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, “Tend my sheep.” 17He 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 everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” 20Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 23So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” 24This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. 25Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. This is the Word of the Lord. Earlier I said that Peter’s story in John 21 is a road of restoration. He teaches us what we’re called to do now that Jesus is raised. We’re sent on mission. But before we’re sent, we must be restored.

3 Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® unless otherwise noted.

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What’s involved in the road of restoration? I see three important signposts on the road of restoration. RECEIVING JESUS’ LOVE (1-17)

First, the road of restoration requires receiving Jesus’ love. Receive his forgiveness. In John 18, we see Peter deny Jesus three times. So it’s no accident when Jesus restores Peter, he asks him three times, “Simon, do you love me?”4 He’s extending forgiveness to Peter. So the first way we receive Jesus’ love is through receiving his forgiveness. Actually the first time Jesus asks him if he loves him, he says, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (v. 15). Peter has been proud up to this point. He’s implied that he loves Jesus more than the other disciples.5 He’s said that he will go with Jesus to death (Jn. 13:37). He’s said that if all others fall away, he won’t fall away (Mk. 14:29). But now he’s failed to follow Jesus to death. Now he has fallen away, just like the others. So Jesus asks him, “Simon, do you still think you love me more than all the other disciples?” Part of being restored to Jesus involves acknowledging our sin and our need for forgiveness. Jesus loves Peter by helping Peter see that he has sinned. He’s sinned in his pride. He’s sinned in his three- fold denial. But now he’s being forgiven. Jesus is showing his love for him by asking him three times if he loves him. It would have been humiliating for Peter to be asked in front of the other disciples to reaffirm his love for Jesus after his fall. But where there is public sin, there needs to be public acknowledgment of sin and restoration.6 Peter says three times, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you” (v. 15, 16). Actually on the third time, he says, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (v. 17). That to me is the most remarkable line in the whole dialogue. When Peter says, “Lord, you know all things,” he’s saying, you know I love you. But I also think he’s saying, I know you love me. There’s comfort in knowing that Jesus knows all things.7 Even though Jesus knows everything that we’ve ever done wrong, he still loves us. It’s not like he only loves us for the good things. He loves us with full knowledge of all the bad things too. This is the way J.I. Packer puts it in his classic, Knowing God. What matters supremely, therefore, is not in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. This is momentous knowledge… There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery

4 Kostenberger,̈ Andreas. John. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2004. 5 Cf. Carson, D. A. The Gospel According to John. The Pillar New Testament commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1991. 6 Köestenberger 7 Boice, James Montgomery. The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary, Volume 5, John 18:1-21:25. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 1980.

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now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see, and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself. There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.8 We see the love of Jesus in that he knows all things about us and yet still loves us and calls us to receive his love and respond to his love. Receive his power, provision, and presence. So the first way we receive Jesus’ love is to receive his forgiveness and restoration. The second way is to receive his power, provision, and presence. This is drawn out in the miraculous catch of fish in verses 1-14. For the sake of time, I’m not going to dwell on these verses. I simply want to say that the miraculous catch of fish is a sign. And with all signs in the Gospel of John, the sign has significance.9 Up until this point, Peter has been trying to love Jesus with his own strength. But now he needs to learn that he can’t follow Jesus in his own strength. He can’t be loyal to Jesus in his own strength. He needs Jesus’ power.10 The catch of fish illustrates that Jesus has power and Peter doesn’t. Peter is the professional fisherman. And once more, Peter is going fishing. But it’s interesting. This professional fisherman never catches a single fish in all of the Gospels without Jesus’ help.11 That doesn’t mean that he never caught a fish without Jesus’ help. I’m sure he did. But in the Gospels, we see that without Jesus’ power, Peter won’t catch any fish. And if that’s true with fishing for fish, how much more in fishing for men or in shepherding sheep? Jesus shows up and causes the catch of fish. He’s powerful. Then he feeds his disciples fish. He provides for them. Then he sits and eats with them. He’s present with them. Jesus is powerful, he provides, and he is present. That’s one way that he loves his people. And if we want to be restored and then sent on mission we have to receive his power, and his provision, and his presence through the Holy Spirit. Earlier, Jesus said, “apart from me, you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). The miraculous catch of fish is proving this point. If we want to walk on the road of restoration, we have to receive Jesus’ love. We have to receive his forgiveness, before we can go and share of his love. And we have to receive his power, provision, and presence as well. SHARING JESUS’ LOVE (15-17)

And that leads me to the second signpost on the road of restoration. The road of restoration requires sharing Jesus’ love.

8 Packer, J. I. Knowing God. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1993. 9 Taylor, William. Read, Mark, Learn: John., Christian Focus, 2013; and Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003. 10 Köestenberger 11 Köestenberger

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Feed my lambs. Each time Peter says he loves Jesus, Jesus says to him, “feed my lambs,” or “tend my sheep.” Earlier in the gospel Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey my commands” (Jn. 14:15). So, when he asks Peter if he loves him, we should expect Jesus to give him a command.12 To love Jesus is to obey him. The other thing Jesus says repeatedly is that if you love him you will love one another in the family of God (Jn. 13:34). And that’s basically what Jesus is calling Peter to do, when he commands him to feed his sheep. To love Jesus is to obey him and to build up the body in love (cf. Eph. 4:16). The way Peter was called to build up the body is by feeding the flock of God. In Luke 5, Jesus told Peter that he would fish for men. That was a call to evangelism. Here he’s calling him to shepherd the sheep. This is more of a call to discipleship. The specific way Peter is called to make disciples is through being an apostle and a pastor. Jesus wants his church to be fed with the apostles’ teaching (cf. Acts 2:42).13 The apostles had a unique role. They were witnesses to Christ’s death and resurrection. Then they were given the task of explaining the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection. They were entrusted with the gospel (2 Tim. 1:12) and then established the church through teaching the gospel. They were the first shepherds. They fed the early church with the gospel so that she would be nourished. Now, in the church age, pastors and elders are called to shepherd the flock. In fact, in Peter’s first letter he gives one of the clearest commands to pastors. “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd to the flock of God that is among you…” (1 Pt. 5:1-2). And the main way pastors and elders shepherd the flock is through teaching and preaching the gospel (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2). It’s through feeding the flock. Speak the truth in love. But it’s not just the apostles and pastors who should care about feeding the flock. We should all care about being fed and seeing to it that others are fed. If we have received Christ’s love, we should share Christ’s love. We should all speak the gospel to one another. In Ephesians 4, Paul commands the church to “speak the truth in love, so that we can grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (v. 15). The truth being spoken of here is the truth of the gospel. Here’s the point of application. You don’t have to be a teacher or a preacher to speak the gospel to one another. Every person in the body of Christ has a role to play in building up the body in love. And we do that by speaking the truth of the gospel in love to one another. If we want to grow in Christ, as his disciples, we have to receive the Word ourselves. We need to be fed. We need to read the Word. We need to listen to the Word being taught and preached. We also need to have hearts of submission to the Word. If you love Jesus, you will obey him as he has revealed himself to you in his Word.

12 Michaels 13 Taylor

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And if we love Jesus, we will not only obey the Word ourselves. We will share it with one another. What are you doing to share the Word of Christ with one another in the church and in your home? Who are you encouraging with the truth of the Word? Can you identify someone you could meet with on a regular basis to read or memorize the Bible together? And what about your family? If you are a parent, are you making space in your week to read the Bible with your kids and feed them on the truths of Scripture? In Judy’s Faith Talk section of the kids’ book, she gives a suggestion of spending time in God’s Word during meals together. I think that’s a great idea. That’s what our family does. And I like the imagery of it. As we eat food together, we are also feeding on the Word together. There are many suggestions I could give, but I don’t want to be too prescriptive. Peter’s restoration shows us that Jesus wants his church to be fed on the apostle’s teaching. What that means for us today is that Jesus wants us to speak the gospel to one another. Jesus has given you his love to share it with others. How are you doing that? SHOWING JESUS’ LOVE (18-25)

Let’s look now at the last signpost on the road of restoration. The road of restoration requires showing Jesus’ love. Sacrificial Service Remember how this whole road of restoration began? Peter had said that he would follow Jesus to death, but he didn’t. But now, as Peter is being restored and sent on mission for Jesus, Jesus tells him that his ministry will involve suffering. Peter will eventually follow Jesus in his death. In verse 18, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” John goes on to tell us that this was to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God (v. 19). Then Jesus says to Peter, “Follow me.” Earlier Peter said he would follow Jesus to death, but he didn’t. Now Jesus is saying that Peter will follow Jesus in death. He will be crucified just like Jesus was. And that’s exactly what happened according to church history. Tradition teaches us that eventually Peter’s ministry took him to Rome. And during Nero’s reign, Peter was captured and sentenced to crucifixion. But Peter didn’t consider himself worthy to suffer just like Jesus. So he asked to be crucified upside down. Jesus predicted this would happen. And it did. Peter was crucified like Jesus. And through his death, he brought glory to God. Why does Jesus say that Peter’s death would glorify God? I think it’s because through his suffering, he reflects the love of God. God loved us so much that he sent his Son to suffer and die for our sins. It’s in the death of Christ that we see the love of God and the glory of God. So when we suffer for Jesus we also show the love of God and glorify God. We’re not only called to share the love of Jesus with our words. We’re also called to show the love of Jesus with our lives. None of us are Peter. And I doubt any of us will be crucified for our faith. But we’re all called to take up our cross and follow Jesus. We’re all called to live lives of sacrificial service to the Lord. And that will sometimes involve suffering. The Christian life is not supposed to be easy. It involves dying daily to sin and to self-interest. It involves sacrifice. We look not only to our own interests but to the

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interests of others (Phil. 2:4). When we do this, we show something of the love of Jesus in our lives. And then our lives bring glory to God. Stay in your lane. The tendency in our lives is to only care about ourselves. Or to compare ourselves with others. But part of what it means to live lives of sacrificial service is that we don’t compare ourselves with others. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We follow him. And then we’re called to look to the interest of others. When Peter heard that he would have to follow Jesus to death, he took his eyes off of Jesus and put them on his friend John. In verse 20, “Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them…When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!’” (vv. 21-22). There’s a sense in which we are all called to the same mission. We’re all called to be disciples that make disciples. We’re called to follow Jesus and to help others follow Jesus. But God has gifted each of us in different ways. And God has given us different ministries. There is a tendency in the church to compare our ministry and our life situation to other people. “I wish I had a testimony like hers.” “I wish I had a platform for ministry or gifts like his.” We also tend to see some ministries as more glamorous or prestigious than ours. But that’s the wrong attitude. All of our ministries should be about sacrificial service for God’s glory, not for our own. I was with a group of pastors this last week. And some of the guys started comparing different churches. In a rare moment of clarity, I said something to the pastors that has stuck with me. I said, “I think it’s important that we learn to stay in our own lane.” I’m an aggressive driver. I’m constantly switching lanes, trying to get ahead. That may work for getting to a lunch appointment on time. But that strategy has a negative effect on our ministries. As pastors, we need to learn contentment with the church that God has given us and the way he’s gifted us. We’ll accomplish more if we simply stay in our own lane at a steady pace than to constantly be thinking about switching lanes. I think that’s true in pastoral ministry. But I think it’s true in any ministry. You’ll accomplish more over the course of time if you simply give thanks to God for the ways he’s gifted you and for the ministry opportunities that are in front of you, than by comparing yourself to others. The main thing is to be faithful not flashy. Stay faithful over the long haul. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Follow him. And serve him and others sacrificially. When you do that, you will show the enduring love of God. And bring glory to God. That’s why you were created. That’s why you were restored to God. For the good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do (Eph. 2:10).