Jesus meets Peter by the Seashore
Introduction
- Continuing the series: people Jesus met
- How Jesus met with Peter by Galilee
- We have returned back to Jesus meeting the disciple
- Completing the series
- A favourite passage
- It shows something of the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ to individuals
- Here we have a similar miracle
- Why did Jesus perform this same miracle again?
- Overview:
- Was it wrong for the disciples to go back fishing?
- Why was this a repeated miracle?
- What do we learn about Peter?
- How does Jesus restore Peter?
Was it wrong for the disciples to go back fishing?
- Had Jesus not said they would be fishers of men?
- Was it wrong to go back to fishing?
- Were they so dejected (even after seeing Jesus twice) that they returned to fishing?
- Was Peter encouraging them down a bad path?
- These are possible answers but incongruous with the facts - John 20:21
- They had been given the Holy Spirit in order to perform their task
- Peter and the men needed to eat and to work
- They are diligent and hard working
- It is easy to judge and misjudge people
- It is better to be gracious to people
- Example
Why was this a repeated miracle?
- Luke 5 tells us that Jesus had met the disciples but they had not yet been commissioned
- A miracle - 'Cast your nets on the other side of the boat'
- The four disciples were commissioned at this miracle
- Jesus is repeating this miracle
- There are a few differences
- 'Cast your nets on the other side of the boat'
- A statement: The commission has not changed, you are still being called to do the same task
- Trust me that you will do great things
- A reminder of their original calling
- Sometimes as Christians we need a reminder of what we are about: salt and light of the world, servants of Christ, to shine light stars
- A reminder that Jesus is Lord
- A great miracle - 153 large fish
- Jesus is Lord of nature
- They must do the work His way - at His word, then the blessing comes
- Not their technique, ability or wisdom
- 1 Cor 2:3-4
- A reminder of God's grace
- How tired and dejected must these men have been?
- The Lord was encouraging them
- The net was not broken
- The net was preserved
- He was kind to them
- He was cooking food and including them
- They eat together - how precious would this have been
- Acts 10:41 - Peter remembers that they ate and drank with the Lord Jesus
- He is the same God who comes to dejected people
What do we learn about Peter?
- Peter and the disciple did not recognise Jesus
- They converse with Him
- They still obey His word
- It seems that it was hidden from them by God
- Consider the two on the road to Emmaus
- John recognised Jesus
- Peter responds by putting on his garment, then plunges into the sea, he is coming to the Lord Jesus with tremendous desire
- He does not wait for the others (v8)
- Peter was always part of the inner circle: Peter, James and John
- Who went to the courtyard?
- He really does love Jesus
- This is a Martha/Mary situation
- He is not doing anything wrong - He just wants to be with His Lord
- Peter has privately been restored
- Luke 24:33-34
- He will now be publicly restored
- Example of betrayal - Wang Ming-Dao
- It must have been a terrible experience when he betrayed Jesus
How does Jesus restore Peter?
Wait for next week
Closing Remarks