John 21:1-14 (Kris Cooper)

When the disciples realized that it was Jesus at the shore instructing them, providing for them, caring for them, they realized who he was in his resurrected state. Peter said, let me put something on. That man jumped into the sea and started swimming towards Jesus. The other disciples made sure that they were in the boat paddling towards him. Why? Because they understood that I have a father who loves me, who cares for me, who always has an open invitation so that I can get in his presence and feel safe.

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I'm grateful for the opportunity to come and break the bread of life with you this morning. You have a wonderful pastor, Jeff, and I'm grateful for him and his family and his guidance. I'm always grateful for Christ the King and their support of me at RUF at North Carolina Central University. You've always prayed for me. You've always invited me into your family and always encouraged me. So I just want to let you know I'm super grateful for that. That's not always the case, but I'm grateful that you're loving and you're inviting and you care for us well.

Let me get to the thing I'm supposed to do. Let us look to the word of God, and we'll be coming from Saint John, twenty-first chapter, starting at the first verse.

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm 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. Man, sounds like us at work sometime, right? Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish? They answered him, no. He said to them, cast a 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. That the 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. The 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. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So 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. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Now none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and he gave it to them. And so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. — John 21:1-14

The word of God tells us that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. — Matthew 4:4

Let us feast on his word today.

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Prayer

Father God, I'm grateful for the opportunity to come into this place and worship with you with such great people who you have called and you have chosen. Holy Spirit, do the work you always do. Lead us and guide us into all truth because many times walking in this world, there can be so many lies. There's so much false information that clouds our minds. We just need instruction from you. Be a light unto our pathway and a lamp unto our feet, Father God, because carrying our cross in this dark world, so many times we can be lost. Holy Spirit, soften the hearts of men so that the word of God can be firmly rooted in our hearts, producing a tree of fruitfulness, not for our glory, Father God, but for your glory alone. Put Chris Cooper behind the cross and allow your glory to show forth this morning. In Jesus's name, I pray. Amen.

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The Disciples' Journey

As we look at this particular text, what's great about this text is that we have to keep in mind that God's disciples have been through a lot. They have been walking with Christ for the past three and a half years, and they have been going on a multitude of journeys walking alongside Christ, seeing his miracles, seeing how he interacted with individuals, seeing how he has had meals with people. And they are there to imitate, to learn, to grow, and just be in awe. But guess what?

They also had an opportunity to see their savior be put on the cross to die for their sins and also had the amazing moment of finding out that the tomb was rolled away and that he was risen. And not only was he risen, but while Jesus was in his risen state, he still walks amongst men on earth showing himself to the chosen, to many witnesses, and allowing them to feast with him, to talk with him, to walk with him.

Could you imagine that life, the ups and downs, the way people flock to you, and the way people walked away from you for the hard teachings of Christ? Everything being provided for you because you rode with a savior who always gave provision and then losing him and not knowing what you're going to do. And then having him again as he reveals himself to his witnesses in a risen state.

And then here you see the disciples again just going through the normal drums of life. They're just sitting around and Peter is saying, I'm hungry. I have to go to work. Jesus is no longer just here with us providing. So guess what I'm going to do? I'm just going to go fishing.

Is that not our life as Christians as we go into the new year? How many times do we feel like we have a great relationship with Jesus Christ and we're sky high and it feels like he is walking with us through every day of life. But then we have those dull moments, those moments in our lives where we feel like we can't find him, we can't feel him, we can't see him, we just want to get close to him. And then we go to our everyday normal things in our life and it feels like he is so far away. But we know we have to work, we know we have to get meat to eat, we know we have to do everything as a parent for our children or even as a child. You have to go to school. You have to get your education. We all still have work to do.

Jesus Cares in Your Everyday Life

But I want you to know, as we look in this text, the first thing is that Jesus cares about you in your everyday life. He's not just there for the high moments, but he's there for the low moments. He's there for the medium moments where nothing is happening and it seems like we can be settled like water or a puddle where it's just still and nothing is happening at all. God still cares for you.

Think of Peter. Right? Peter and his disciples say, I'm going to go on the boat and I'm going to go fishing. I'm just going to go to work. They go to work. They do what they're supposed to do. They cast the net. And guess what? At the night's end, they get absolutely nothing.

Reminds us of us. Right? Sometimes we do the best we can. We go through our mundane little lives. Nothing amazing is happening. We cast our nets. We do our work and we don't see the production from it. Whether it's from parenting, whether it's even going to church and doing ministry sometimes, whether it is our children learning how to mature and grow, whether it's learning and modeling what is acceptable and what is not. Many times you don't get the credit. Many times people don't recognize you. Many times it just seems like it's for nothing. You cast your net and you don't get anything.

But even in that, we see the very next morning, Jesus is standing at the shore. That even though it doesn't feel like he is present, guess what? He is very much present even within those moments. And he lets us know that he is still guiding us, that he is still caring for us, and that he is still instructing us.

The first thing he does is say, hey, my children. Children is personal. Children is letting us know that we have a father who likes to bring us together, who likes to wrap his arm around us and even through everything that's going on, he still sees us. He says, hey, did you get anything? No, we didn't get anything. Cast your net on the right side so that you may get something. They do it and the net is full of fish.

One day, work seemed like it was worth nothing. Why? Because it seemed like Christ wasn't present. The next day, work was full of joy and exuberance. Why? Because Christ showed up and he provided and he cared and he loved on you enough to instruct you, to guide you, to keep you, to provide for you, which he even has been doing in those low moments.

It lets me know that even in our everyday life, when it seems like nothing is happening, God is at work and Christ is still there. And Christ is still there. Whether you're taking a test, whether you're doing customer service, whether you're teaching, whether you're sitting at home just doing devotion, thinking about the different things that's going on in your life, whether you're out in nature taking a nature walk, just trying to clear your mind. Guess who is right there, near the shore, instructing you, guiding you, and has you. You may not feel him sometime. You may feel like he's not there, but guess what? Jesus is at work.

I love this illustration of the disciples because many times we like the illustrations and the things in our lives that, oh God, it's gonna work a miracle. But here, Jesus is letting us know that he cares for us in our everyday life.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are still mindful of him? And the son of man that you care for him? — Psalms 8:3

We serve a God that has everything in his hands. He knows where the stars lay. He knows where each moon lays in each solar system, in each galaxy. He understands where things are in place, but guess what? He still comes to us personally as a body, a church, but also as individuals and he says, "Hi my children. I know it seems like you're not doing anything or you're not catching anything, but just keep casting the net. I still love you. I still provide for you. I still give provision for you, and I still care for you. Because he loves us. Because he loves us."

Here's the crazy thing. At first, the disciples don't even notice. Right? And many times, how many times God has done things for us and we don't even notice. We don't even slow down for a bit and just say thank you, Lord. We don't even slow down and recognize the multitude of things that happen every day, every second, every minute of our lives where Jesus has just guided us and provided for us and just loved on us and we just completely miss it as his children.

I don't know about you. If I did it with my regular parents, I'm sure enough going do it with my Father Jesus Christ. I don't know why it took me to turn the age of like 24 to realize how important my parents were. I mean, that's being honest. What really put it for me is when I had to go to the doctors by myself. They was like, "Give me your insurance card." Here you go. Here goes all your paperwork you have to fill out. What is this? I gave you my card. I called my mom. I was like, "Mom, I ain't never had to do this before." She was like, "You need to figure it out. I'm watching my stories." Amen. Right? Many times, we don't respond well to what Jesus is doing in our lives.

How We Should Respond

So the second thing we need to notice is how the disciples responded when they realized it was Jesus at the shore. It was Jesus the one protecting them. It was Jesus the one instructing them. It was Jesus coming back to see about them. How do we respond?

Let me tell you a story, man. I have a niece, her name is Ariana. We call her Aaron. And she loved my wife. Her aunt Tay Tay. That's what she called her. Aunt Tay Tay. That's all I hear. I mean, I'm her uncle and she will just run right past me to go see Aunt Tay Tay. But here's the crazy thing about how she responds to Aunt Tay Tay. Aunt Tay Tay gets phone calls for what she's going through or when she needs something. She always knows that the invitation to call her and to get a glimpse of her voice or even be in her presence is always open even though she lives in Delaware. But when she actually sees Aunt Tay Tay walk through the door and she is near her, my niece will run from wherever she is. I mean, running through people. Has no regard and she's not going to say sorry. And she's going to sprint full speed to Aunt Tay and give her this big hug almost knocking her on the ground. Because she understands that Aunt Tay Tay loves me. That she makes time for me. And when I need something, she will provide for me and she will also make sure that I'm okay. And Aerie feels safe with her. She feels loved by her. So how she responds is with full of emotion, full of ferocity, and all these different things. I'm gonna make sure my Aunt Tay Tay understands how important she is to me by moving towards her and hugging her.

And I see the exact same things when you read this text. When the disciples realized that it was Jesus at the shore instructing them, providing for them, caring for them, and they realized who he was in his resurrected state. Peter said, "Let me put something on." That man jumped into the sea and started swimming towards Jesus. The other disciples made sure that they were in the boat paddling towards him. Why? Because they understood that I have a Father who loves me, who cares for me, who always has an open invitation so that I can get in his presence and feel safe.

Our response to Jesus doing what he does in our life should be full of joy, should be full of love, should be some form of energy and veracity running towards him saying, "I love you, Father. And I am so grateful that you care for me. And I am so thankful that you continue to love me despite my shame, despite my issues, despite my forgetfulness of your glory and who you are in my life, despite the fact that I don't give you enough gratitude. But when I recognize it, I'm there."

The question is: do we respond the same way?

It can be hard, and everybody's not this person—I'm full of energy. I'm sorry. I didn't ask for it. It's just who I am. But we all have ways of showing our gratitude and love for someone. We all have ways of showing someone that we're moving forward towards them and showing a heart of humility and saying, "Man, I am so thankful you have been a good, good person in my life."

And because he still cares about us, we should take the same approach. Because Jesus never closed the door. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He always has the open invitation for the children that he loves to always come towards him, because he's always moving towards us.

I'm a parent. I make mistakes. Sometimes as a parent, guess what? I should be moving towards my children even though I don't recognize I should be. And sometimes I miss the mark. But we have a great Father who doesn't miss the mark, who's always merciful, who's always forgiving, and he's always with his steadfast love moving towards us.

He lets us know this in Psalm 118:28:

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God. I will extol you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

When I recognize the things Jesus is doing for me, I will be thankful. I will tell him how majestic he is. I will be joyful. I will come with a heart of gratitude. I will run towards him and let him know, "I love you." I will wrap my arms around him like he does with me daily. And I will say, "Oh, great God. How great you are to me."

We see the example of his disciples moving towards him, which teaches us how to respond for the things that God is doing for us and how he is providing for us and protecting us and guiding us.

Jesus Invites Us to Dine With Him

As the scripture continues around verses eight to nine, we see a savior who wants to dine with us. One of the greatest forms of hospitality is to prepare a meal for somebody, is it not? It's to invite somebody over to your house, whether it's for a special occasion or not. Like my man said—I don't know his name—he said, "Hey, come through, we're gonna have tea after service and before service." He's saying I'm giving you an open invitation to dine with me, to show my hospitality, and to let you know that I love the fact that I can walk life with you, and I care for you that way, and I love the fact that you're gonna come over and spend some time with me. Man, it is an open invitation.

When you get invited, you feel loved. "Hey, thank you for allowing me to come to your house. Thank you for inviting me to come to dinner. Thank you for opening up your family to me. I got to meet your kids. I got to meet your significant other, or I just got to know you better. Thank you for the food that you prepared for me, because guess what? As a visitor, I didn't prepare anything. I just came with a hungry stomach."

When they come to the shore, Jesus has a fire already waiting with the fish. One of the greatest things is to have a fire pit in your backyard. And it feels so good when you invite somebody into your backyard to sit amongst the fire pit with the warmth, and you might have some cookies, some hot chocolate. You know, I'm thinking up north. We down south, it's 70 degrees outside. You gotta maybe have soda or some LaCroix. And you're relaxing, right? And you're just enjoying each other's company.

Jesus invites us to dine with him. He died on a cross for our sins and for our salvation. He bled and died for us. He was put in a tomb. Three days, he rose again. And I always tell people, he could have easily just sat on the right hand of God the Father Almighty and be distant, but he decided to show up to some witnesses of those who he loved to show himself.

He took the time to go to the disciples, not only go to them, but be personal with them to actually cook for them after dying for their sins. He laid it out for them and he says, "Come sit with me because I want to have relationship with you. Let me encourage you. Allow me to love on you. Why? Because I need you to be my witnesses as I empower you by the Holy Spirit to go be my witness. I need you to feel assured. I need you to know that I am still caring for you and that I am still right here with you."

Not only in the big moments where you feel like you're present with me and walking beside me, but even when I go to the Father, guess what? He is still there. He is assuring them and letting them know that he's still present. He's present in the everyday little things.

You don't have to worry. You don't have to fret. You don't have to second-guess. You don't have to wonder. Continue to walk and know I am walking with you. Continue to work and know that I am walking with you.

Continue to do your everyday job or hobby, whatever it may be, and know that I continue to walk with you. And guess what? You can dine with me each and every day. I love the fact that I can break bread with you, that I can eat fish with you, and that I continue to love on you.

As you continue to move forward towards me, by my grace, through faith, I'm merciful. I love you. And here's the catch. We'll be dining with Christ from now until eternity. It will never stop, and we will be in his presence.

And as my grandmom says to me, no more crying, no more sickness, no more dying, no more worrying, no more feeling like I've got a little weight on my shoulders. None of that. But they say I'll be walking the streets of gold and then they be shouting. I know we don't shout, but they said they're gonna be shouting and dancing. Why? Because they'll get to dine and continue to be in the presence of a king who is majestic, who is loving, and who has invited them and chosen them to be with him forever, and he loves them.

The Call to Recognition and Response

So I end with this. I know that everyday life can be hard, can be mundane, and you can be doing things and you feel like, man, why am I doing it? What is going on? It's just this normal cycle. Just realize even when it feels like it's not producing nothing, guess what? Jesus on the shore, and he's there. He's guiding you. He's protecting you. He's instructing you. He's providing for you, and he is loving on you. He cares for you.

And the way we respond when we recognize it, we respond like the disciples. We see him. We move towards him because the invitation is always open to move towards him with a great energy, with a great love, with a great joy, with a heart of thankfulness, with a heart of humility.

And guess what? Jesus has already prepared the supper, and he says, come dine with me. Come have a meal with me. Why? Because guess what? I am mindful of you, and I love having relationship with you. And it's going to be like that from now to eternity. Amen? Amen.

Prayer

Let us pray. Father God, thank you. Thank you for your word. We're truly grateful for who you are in our lives. Give us a heart of gratitude, of thankfulness, Father God. In knowing, Father God, in all things, Father God, you deserve the glory, and you deserve the praise. You provide for us. You protect us. You guide us. You love on us. You care for us, Father God, and you always invite us to continue to know you daily, Father God.

Let us recognize this and always have a heart kneeled down in expression of just giving you praise and hugging on you and loving on you, knowing that we are humble and grateful for what you are doing. We love you, and we need you. In Jesus' name, amen.

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