Text: Psalm 85:7-13; John 14:25-27; Romans 5:1-2

Sermon by: Jim Hinton (elder)

Text not available

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TEXT: Ephesians 1:3-8; 2:4-8

Today we are beginning a summer series entitled “Words Matter.” Over the course of the summer I want to look at twelve or so key words from the pages of scripture, words that for the foundation of the story of God and our theology as Christians. About half of the words are Hebrew words from the Old Testament and about half are Greek words from the New Testament. Many will sound familiar and some will be new to your ears. These are words like shalom, hallelujah, sabbath, hesed, agape, logos, and amen. Some are left in their original form in our Bibles, like hallelujah and amen. Others are translated into English, but it’s easy to miss the riches and depth of the original word. But this won’t just be a series of fancy word studies. Each week we’ll look at the word of the week in the context of a passage of scripture, to better understand how it fits into the big story of God’s Word. And my hope is that you’ll come through the summer with an enriched vocabulary of faith, words woven into your life of faith and obedience as followers of Jesus Christ.

Today’s word is charis, which is a Greek word often translated as ‘grace’. It also serves as a bridge from our study of Galatians, since grace was the opening and recurring theme of that book. Eric did a great job last week not only teaching through Galatians 6, but also reviewing the whole series. Grace is God’s gift of love and salvation, given through Christ to us. It stood in contrast to the strains of legalism and “me-freedom” making the rounds in the early church. A true understanding of grace leads to the freedom to trust and do what God says is best, because God knows us best and loves us most.

Today we’ll look at Ephesians to unpack the concept of charis, or grace, a little bit more.

Word Study

First I will share a bit of word study. This is what charis looks like in Greek: χάρις 

The ‘x’ looking thing is a chi, pronounced with a ‘k’ sound like the ‘ch’ in Christ. The middle letter (that looks like a ‘p’) is a rho, pronounced with an ‘r’ sound. The other letters look similar to our letters.

This Greek word appears approximately 160x in the New Testament and has a range of meaning that includes the following: to show kindness, graciousness, grace, favor, goodwill, or gift.

We don’t have the word charis in English, but we do have several derivative words like charity and charisma. Charity is a gift or act of kindness, not looking for something in return (except maybe a tax deduction?). Charisma describes personality traits or mannerisms that win people over, that create a favorable impression on others. So maybe you can see some of the connections to the original word.

As with almost all the words you find in the original biblical languages, they have a secular meaning and then often some additional theological meaning. We do the same thing in English. We use the word ‘grace’ in an everyday kind of way… someone can be graceful and it simply means they have poise or balance or a pleasant way of moving around. It doesn’t have to mean “God’s unmerited favor.” But in the biblical context, charis or grace can take on an elevated meaning with respect to God. It’s similar to the way I sometimes talk about little ‘t’ truth and big ‘T’ Truth. God’s grace is like the big ‘G’ version of something we’ve experienced day to day. Or perhaps better to say that the graces we experience day to day are a reflection of God’s original Grace.

But the important thing is that charis or grace describes something very important about God and the way God relates to humanity. God does not trade salvation for human works or create a series of increasingly difficult challenges for us to overcome in order to reach Heaven. God created us in His image, loves us with an expansive love, and pursues us in love in order to make things right and invite us home and into His presence. That generous and love-motivated redeeming action and character of God is c

TEXT: Galatians 6

Two weeks ago Pastor Robert taught us about Galatians chapter 4 and spoke about the freedom that the grace of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection brings to people who receive and accept this gift freely.  The Galatians were a church established on this principle. They were a people of Grace. We learned that the churches in Galatia were  becoming confused and fractured because a person or people from Jerusalem – whom we call Judaizers – were polluting this Gospel of Grace by insisting that in order for people to truly follow Christ they first needed to become a Jew – in other words –  become circumcised and follow Jewish festivals and celebrations. When Paul learned of this He was disappointed, angry, and heartbroken over this. He can’t believe they’ve thrown off one set of chains for another! You were free! Now you are enslaving yourselves all over again. 

Pastor Robert then showed us the two ways of living that Paul outlined in Galatians 5: Me-Freedom that shows itself two ways: as slavery to self/sin or slavery to the Law (known as Legalism).  The other way to live is God-freedom. 

Paul reminds the Galatians that as people freed from self/sin by grace they are now able to live by the Spirit and do not have to live by any of the Mosaic law’s demands – including circumcision. Since Jesus set them free from chains of sin they are now able to live Holy Spirit powered lives. They are free and able to obey the fullest extent of the law – as it says in vs 14 – For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Last week on Pentecost Sunday – the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit entering into the lives of the disciples – three of our youth said they received the gift of grace from Jesus. This was a reminder for all of us who’ve accepted this gift that because we now walk with the Holy Spirit we may now choose to love others and to serve others with humility. Pastor Robert ended the message last week with these self-reflection questions: How do I define freedom? Me-freedom or God-freedom? How might I more and more welcome God’s help into my daily life and walk with the Spirit? 

I want to begin today’s passage by starting with the end of chapter 5:25-26: You’ll notice that the first verse is in a green box and the second is in a red box. As we go through our text you will typically find the words in either a green or red box. The green box will be a fruit of the Spirit. In the red box will be a command to avoid something that is a part of Me-freedom. Please read these two verses with me. (read together)   

25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

The Holy Spirit is definitely part of the God-freedom life when we accept Jesus’ gift of grace so I placed that in the green box. Let’s move on to the red box. 

I’m asking here for some participation from all of you. What’s another word for conceit? (pride). Pride is just about the root of most sin. It is self-centered thinking and it’s in all of us to some degree or another. In fact provoking and envying are a form of pride: the New American Standard Bible translates the word as “challenge.” If you are one that continually challenges brothers and sisters could it possibly be because you believe you know better? Sounds like pride. Envy says, “I want that or I could do that. Why can’t I? I think I need that.” You hear all the “I” statements there? That’s wounded pride talking. Now, Paul mentions these things because they are a part of Me-Freedom not God-Freedom, and pride with all of its variations leads to the breakdown of community: and these three things in vs 26 (among others) tear down a community of faith, and it seems that’s what was happening in the Galatian churches.

Most people think this was a result of the influence of the Judaizers; but, it is possible there were other issues in the church as wel

TEXT: Galatians 5; Acts 2:16-18,21

Today we celebrate Pentecost and the confirmation/baptism of three of our students. We’ve had those two events on the same Sunday in previous years and I can think of no better convergence of themes, as Pentecost is about God sending the Holy Spirit to empower the followers of Christ to live out their faith in the world. On top of that, our text in Galatians 5 is about the same thing! Paul has been telling the believers in Galatia that God has given them freedom in Christ – freedom from the burdens of the Law and freedom from sin. And he frames it all in terms of “walking by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

So today’s sermon is about the Holy Spirit empowering us to live out the freedom God designed and desires for us. It is not “me-freedom” to do whatever I want, but the true freedom of following Jesus Christ and experiencing his presence and power in our lives. It’s a sermon for the Confirmation students; it’s a sermon for you; and it’s a sermon for me! 

The Promised Spirit (Acts 2)

I want to start with the scripture you heard in the Call to Worship from Acts 2. It is part of Peter’s sermon at the event of Pentecost, when the Apostles were filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Peter is quoting from the prophet Joel in the Old Testament, which he understood to be describing this event:

17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,And your young men shall see visions,And your old men shall dream dreams;18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women,I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. 21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

God had not only promised a Savior and Redeemer, God had promised the Spirit! It was part of the great blessing of the nations promised to Abraham, and God would accomplish it through His Spirit. It would reach the nations – “all mankind”; men and women, young and old, slave and free would all be a part of God’s movement in the world. It sounds a lot like the language in Galatians that in Christ there is no longer distinction between Jew/Greek, male/female, slave/free. God is on the move!

Indeed this is the same Spirit that Paul describes in Galatians 5. The topic is freedom – living free; but Paul will come to the Holy Spirit as God’s help for us to experience what God has for us.

Me-Freedom vs. God-Freedom

Let’s talk first about freedom. Last week in the music illustration by Ron Block, I described legalism, license, and Gospel freedom. Paul has mostly focused on legalism thus far in Galatians because one presenting issue for the Galatians was the group pushing for adherence to the Mosaic Law, especially around circumcision. Last week I mentioned ‘license’ which is the opposite problem. It’s freedom, but a sinful and selfish kind of freedom that I defined as “me-freedom.” It’s doing what I want, which Paul says is no freedom at all. He’s spoken much to bondage to the Law, but in chapter 5 he also describes bondage to sin, which can sometimes be confused with freedom. I just want to do what I want to do. How many of us didn’t say that as children or teenagers (or adults?!). The problem is our inclination to sin. So being “me-free” leads to things like Paul’s list in vv. 19-21: “Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” That’s not an exhaustive list, but it gets the point across. If my understanding of freedom is getting and doing what I want, I can quickly bring harm to myself and others.

Very briefly I want to speak to the challenging phrase: “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” We want to make that into something like “will go to Hell”; but the sense of it is much more present. I think of the para

TEXT: Galatians 4:7-31

As we continue in the Letter to the Galatians this week, we are going to look at the topic of freedom. This isn’t just any freedom; it’s a particular freedom that comes from trusting and receiving God’s promises and living out the blessing of God’s grace in our lives. This whole letter is written to caution the young Christian movement in Galatia that their salvation and life is not a system of rules and behaviors, but freedom rooted in trusting God’s promises.

Paul has cautioned against the influence of some who are peddling a “wooden nickel” religion, an add-on that says salvation is Jesus plus something… in this case, adherence to the Jewish religious law. Paul makes it clear, with the agreement of the Apostles in Jerusalem, that it’s only Jesus, not Jesus plus the Law. Yet we saw last week that the Law is good, it has good uses of restraining evil, showing us our need for God, and guiding us toward Christ. It just can’t save us. If we look to it for that purpose, we are not free, but living under a heavy burden.

In today’s text Paul is going to remind his readers again of the better way of trusting God. He is going to remind them of their early experience of faith in Christ. And he is going to offer an extended illustration from Genesis. Finally, I want to offer a real-life application to try to better explain the importance of understanding the freedom of grace.

Why Go Back? (vv.7-11)

I went back to pick up verse 7, which we ended on last week. It really is the starting point for today’s text. Paul writes, “Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a child; and if a child, then an heir through God.” We are no longer slaves to sin nor children being tutored by the Law. Rather, in trusting God’s promises in Christ, we have been adopted into God’s family as children and God has declared us heirs to all the riches of God’s grace.

So in vv. 7-11 Paul invites his readers to recall the time before they knew God. They were slaves to sin and other “weak and worthless elemental things.” (v.9) He asks how it is that they now keep returning to those things now that they know and are known by God. What are these other things? He mentions observing days and months and seasons and years. Given the context of his teaching on Jewish Law, this is probably a reference to the various feasts and festivals, perhaps being additional requirements being put on Gentile believers in addition to circumcision and kosher food laws. Again, Paul’s argument isn’t that the Law is bad; it has good purposes. But it cannot save or give life.

The ready modern application for us is missing the singular importance of trusting Jesus Christ and equating our faith and salvation with being a good church member. The “stuff” of active membership is not bad unless it serves as a substitute or required add-on for trusting God.

Remember the Blessing (vv.12-20)

In verses 12-20 Paul goes on to remind them that this is not new news to them. He was present among the Galatians when their faith was new and alive with trust in God. He personally experienced the fruit of their faith and ministry when they tended to him during a time of sickness. Though he was sick when he first brought the Good News to them, they tended him and received the message joyfully and faithfully.

But now? He asks, “Where then is that sense of blessing you had?” (v.15) It reminds me of one of the letters in Revelation where the Ephesian church is confronted about losing their first love. Paul is pleading with the Galatians not to let a mis-guided view of the Law burden them and lead them away from freedom and into a spiritual slavery. Again, Paul has noted the good uses of the Law, but what he is seeing is not it!

And so he turns to a story from scripture that they all should know. Again he goes back to God’s promise to Abraham, which came 430 years BEFORE the Law. But as I noted a few weeks ago, even faithful trusting Abraham struggled with trusti

TEXT: Galatians 3:15-4:7

Amazing grace – that’s been on the Apostle Paul’s mind thus far in Galatians as we’ve looked at it these past few weeks. Paul is very concerned that people not add onto the work of Christ to require “Jesus PLUS something” to be a Christian. He’s introduced the topic, shared several stories where Grace and Works have collided, and he has launched into teaching mode. To this point you might think, “Grace good; Law bad!” After all Paul has just talked about the “curse of the Law” (Gal 3:10). But the Law is not bad. He is talking about the curse of thinking the Law (or good works) can save us. Rather, the Law has another purpose, which is a good one!

If you noticed in our Call to Worship today, the Law is described in multiple positive ways. In today’s text Paul spends some time talking about the good uses of the Law. I want to make sure I don’t send you away with a negative view of God’s laws and commandments, but with a right understanding of their purpose.

NOT SALVATION; WHY THEN? (vv.18-19)

If the Law is not for salvation, what is its purpose? That’s exactly what Paul asks in v.18: “What is the point, then, of the law? … It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham.”

Last week we looked at how Paul emphasized that Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith, his trust in God’s covenant promises. And Abraham came 430 years before Moses received the Law! So Paul is going to explain in some detail what he means by “a thoughtful addition” and he’ll name three different good uses of the Law (that aren’t salvation!).

You may even recognize these from our children’s sermon!

#1 CURB/RESTRAINT (vv.19-20)

The first good use of the Law is spelled out in verses 19-20: “The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came.” I like that phrase, “the way of salvation.” It wasn’t salvation, but pointed God’s people toward the descendant of Abraham who would inherit the promises and distribute them to us.

On the way to that destination of Christ, the Law CURBS or RESTRAINS evil. Think of the “thou shalt nots”… heeding the commandment not to steal doesn’t save us, but it sure helps keep us out of trouble. The Ten Commandments (and other biblical laws) don’t remove sin or reconcile us to God, but they restrain the consequences of sin and disobedience somewhat… kind of like a seatbelt. God’s law is good protection to help keep us safe, given in love like the household rules of loving parents who want the best for their children.

#2 MIRROR (vv.21-22)

In vv.21-22 Paul goes on to name a second good use of the Law: “Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God.” God’s Laws are helpful to us, but because we keep falling short of keeping them perfectly they also serve as a MIRROR, holding up God’s holiness to us so that we at once see what God intends us to be and how far we fall short of that.

It’s like the seatbelt reminding me both that it is protecting me and that I am a very fragile creature if my car is moving at 60mph. Yet Paul is also careful to note that the keeping the Law does not have the power to create life in us, otherwise “we would certainly have gotten it by this time.” That’s simply not its purpose. But in showing me myself and my human limitations, it does point me towards the one who can and does create life.

#3 TUTOR/GUIDE (vv.23-24)

Finally, in vv. 23-24, Paul offers a third good use of the Law using an analogy which would have been familiar to his audience. He compares it to “those Greek TUTORS who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure they children will really get to the place they set out for.” What a great analogy, and even if we aren’t super-familiar with ancient Greek tutors, Paul spells it out pretty clearly here. Kind of like nanny-bodyguards, these Greek

TEXT: Galatians 3:1-14

Last week we looked at two encounters in Galatians 2 where Paul’s teaching on grace was put to the test. First he met with the group of Apostles who led the new Christian movement in Jerusalem to confirm that they all shared the same MESSAGE of grace and MISSION to Jews and Gentiles. They did. Then he ran into Peter in Antioch. At first Peter was eating among the Gentile Christians, but when a certain group pushing the requirement of circumcision came into town, he started acting contrary to his own beliefs and the agreed-upon message and mission and separated from the Gentile believers. Paul challenged this behavior, pointing to God’s grace alone as the measure of salvation and belonging.

Paul recounted these two encounters to the Galatians because apparently they are dealing with similar issues. So now in Galatians 3 he turns his focus to them directly, asking who has fooled them into accepting a counterfeit message. He fires off a series of six questions before turning to Abraham himself as an example of God’s grace over works. We’ll look at that and then look at some application for us.

SIX QUESTIONS

Here are the six questions. They are all rhetorical, not seeking information as an answer, but reflection upon the implied answer.

What happened to my thoughtful friends? (v.1) – Having just finished ch. 2 with “if righteousness is through the Law, then Christ died needlessly” Paul is incredulous. Don’t they know of the crucifixion and its necessity? (Paul has told them, if nothing else!) This is not “foolish” like he’s calling them stupid; rather it is so out of character (they have a reputation for being smart!). He goes on to ask if they’ve been ‘bewitched’.Did you receive the Spirit by works or faith? (v.2) – Paul appeals to their own experience: they did not begin with works and Law, but by responding to the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. They did not ‘earn’ the Spirit, but experienced it as God’s gift to them.Again, where did my friends go!? (v.3a) – Paul, still incredulous.If by faith, why would that change now? (v.3b) – If it all began by receiving a gift through hearing with faith, why would it change now to works of Law. Aren’t they already saved? Haven’t they already received the Holy Spirit? There is not “another level” of perfection to attain. (Maturity is a better way to understand Christian growth, and one he will introduce in chapter 4, where he will actually equate legalism with immaturity.)Did you suffer in vain? (v.4) – This word could be ‘suffer’ or ‘experience’. It is not clear to what it refers, but either persecution over their initial conversion or perhaps experience of the Spirit and miracles in v.5. In either case the sense is “isn’t all that you’ve come through by grace to this point validating to you?” In other words, God would not bait and switch, bringing you in with a gift and then holding you with a requirement.Again, is God’s Spirit and miracles a gift or a reward? (v.5) – One last run through the same argument… are you with me, yet? God provides and you hear and believe; it is not a reward for your good behavior. Right? Let me remind you of how God works….

THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM

Paul exits the rhetorical questions and turns to a direct and positive example of how God has worked. And it’s no random example, but Abraham, the father of the faith and the original receiver of God’s covenant. Paul introduces this approach in verse 6, then goes on to ‘unpack’ God’s gift and Abraham’s faith: “Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Paul is quoting Hebrew scripture, from Genesis 15:6. It is in that chapter, which we heard in our Call to Worship, that God promises Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars. Abraham did not have to perform righteous deeds to earn this blessing, it was God’s gift, promised by covenant to Abraham. That covenant is first presented in Genesis 12, which we also heard in the Call to Wo

TEXT: Galatians 2

Last week we began Galatians with a simple illustration to help understand what is going on: wooden nickels! Out of a personal encounter with the risen Christ, Paul has been charged with taking the Good News of God’s grace to the Gentile or non-Jewish world. And grace is not just part of the message; it IS the message. Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of God’s Law on behalf of those who could not and has fulfilled the promise God made to Abraham to not only bless his descendants but all the nations of the world. And Paul is concerned that those who are already Christian, particularly Jewish Christians, not accept a version of the Gospel that is anything less than the real deal. No wooden nickels!

In today’s text in Galatians 2 we see Paul’s concern played out in two main interactions. The first is with the Jewish Christian leadership in Jerusalem, that is, the Apostles like Peter and James. The second interaction is with Peter, who on a particular occasion did not act in accordance with the Gospel of Grace. I want to look with you at Paul’s approach and message in both interactions, then consider application for us today.

Unity of the Spirit (vv.1-10)

Last week I mentioned that Galatians shows us Paul acting out some of the theology he writes about elsewhere. In Ephesians he writes about “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (4:3) This seems to be exactly what he was describing in the first half of Galatians 2. Some fourteen years had passed since his first visit to see Peter and James (described in ch. 1). In the intervening time he has been traveling through the Gentile/Greek world sharing the message about Jesus Christ. But he comes again to Jerusalem with a Gentile Christian named Titus to meet privately with the Jerusalem Christian leadership, including Peter, James, and John.

Paul made it clear in chapter one that he does not need approval from the other Apostles for what he is teaching and doing because Jesus revealed the message and mission to him directly. Yet he does not disregard the other Apostles because he also understands the importance of unity. The whole letter of Ephesians is centered around the theme of unity. And we see it played out in these meetings with the Jerusalem Apostles. In verse two he writes about this private meeting that it was “for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.”

While this sounds like Paul might be doubting his mission and message, he was not, as the subsequent verses make clear. Rather, he wanted to make sure that he and the other Apostolic leaders were unified because there were some factions emerging in the early Jewish Christian community that were anti-Gentile. Paul did not want this faction undermining the Christian movement whether in Jerusalem or beyond. In his Message translation-paraphrase of v. 3, Eugene Peterson draws out the underlying issue for Paul:

At that time I placed before them exactly what I was preaching to the non-Jews. I did this in private with the leaders, those held in esteem by the church, so that our concern would not become a controversial public issue, marred by ethnic tensions, exposing my years of work to denigration and endangering my present ministry.

There were those in the early Jewish Christian community that wanted to insist on Gentile converts adhering to the Torah in order to be accepted in the Christian community. It was “follow Jesus AND keep the Torah” – and this specifically was brought to bear over the issue of circumcision. They were trying to influence the Apostles in this direction. In fact, in verse 4 our translation uses words like “secretly brought in” and “sneaked in to spy.”

Nonetheless, Paul and the Jerusalem leadership are able to agree on the MESSAGE and MISSION of the Gospel – that it is by the grace of God in Christ and for both Jew and Gentile, with Paul specially sent to the Gentile world. Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile Greek C

Text: Galatians 1

I remember being a little boy and my grandfather telling me, “Don’t take any wooden nickels!” I think he might have even given me one. I had to look up the origin of “wooden nickels.” They were used in a few places during the Great Depression as a stand-in for money, redeemable for specific things at participating stores. The Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 issued them as souvenirs. But the phrase “Don’t take any wooden nickels” pre-dates both those things and has a specific meaning. It means something like “Don’t be fooled” or “Don’t fall for any counterfeits.”

For the next six weeks we are going to go through the New Testament book of Galatians. And in a very significant way, “Don’t be fooled” and “Don’t fall for any counterfeits” is the theme of Galatians, or at least one side of the coin (ha!). The Apostle Paul is teaching and living the real thing and he is running into Christians who have fallen for a counterfeit. It may be called the same thing and look very similar, but it’s like a wooden nickel. So in Galatians Paul is focused on what is real, what is from God, and calling out the counterfeit wherever he sees it. In the process he lives out many of the teachings he writes about at length in other letters. In Romans he talks about God not playing favorites. In Ephesians he writes about unity. But here is where all that has to be lived out and figured out. In the first chapter of Galatians he puts the counterfeits on notice and declares what is really real: the grace of God.

When You’ve Seen the Real Thing…

Paul begins with a summary of the great theme he will take up for the whole letter: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us…” (vv.3-4) That’s the real thing and at the core not only of what Paul has to say, but who Paul is, because Christ rescued him.

Paul pretty quickly names the problem of a counterfeit gospel, but he won’t get to the details of it until chapter two and following. He writes in verse 6, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel….” It’s like he has said, “Don’t take any wooden nickels; hey, let me show you what a real nickel looks like!”

And so for the rest of chapter one he focuses on the “real thing” – and begins by sharing his own experience of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And he has quite a story to tell!

He makes a point to say that Jesus is the ultimate authority who determines what the real thing, the real gospel is. He warns against anyone deviating from or distorting the gospel of Christ: another person, an angel from Heaven, or even Paul himself. Any message, any teaching, any claim to be the Good News, needs to be measured against the very person and teaching of Jesus Christ.

And that’s where Paul begins his story, by describing how he received that Good News from Jesus Christ himself, through “a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (v.12) He goes on to say, “You have heard of my former manner of life.” Yes indeed; Paul was the enemy! He “Used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it…” (v.13). The detailed version of his story, as Saul, begins in Acts 7:58 where he is noted as standing over the robes of those who killed Stephen, one of the early Christians. Acts 8 continues, describing his zeal for persecuting the early Christians: “Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.” (Acts 8:3) He was certainly known and feared in those early days.

But God had a plan! Echoing themes he’d write more about in Ephesians 1, Paul says that God “had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.” (v.15) God was “pleased to reveal His Son” (vv.15-16). Acts 9 describes the Saul’s encounter with Jesus while on the road leading to Damascus. A great light appeared and a voice said, “

Text: John 21:1-17

Today we conclude our “Journey to Easter in John” in chapter 21. I realize we are past Easter and past the resurrection, but this is a kind of epilogue to the story we’ve been following.

Last Sunday – Easter Sunday – we looked at several of those who interacted with the empty tomb and then the risen Jesus. They weren’t looking for resurrection; it found them. JESUS found them, coming to Mary, then the disciples, and then again to Thomas. And he appeared to others as well.

And today he appears to a group of the disciples and specifically interacts with Peter. I want to look at that appearance and interaction and then, since it is such a personal encounter, I want to share a personal story of how Jesus found me.

Finding Peter

In John 21, in that strange post-Easter time, we find seven of the disciples together. Peter announces, “I am going fishing” and the whole group decides to go with him. Now that’s not too strange because many or all of them had grown up as fishermen and it was natural for them to go together to handle the nets. Nonetheless, it must have been a frustrating night for them, because they did not catch any fish; no one likes to fish and catch nothing.

And then, as the sun was rising, they experienced an amazing event that Luke tells us at least four of them had experienced three years earlier. Luke (ch. 5) records that Andrew, Peter, James, and John also had a failed night of fishing that ended with a miraculous catch and Jesus saying, “Follow me.”

The young disciple, John, turned to Peter and said, “It is the Lord.” Peter put his outer garment back on and dove in the water to swim to shore. The others were left to haul in the fish and bring the boats to shore. By the time they got to the shore, Jesus had a fire going with fish cooking, and bread ready to eat. Jesus invites the disciples to “Come and have breakfast.” Come, sit with Him; come, worship Him; come love Him and be loved by Him; come enjoy God’s provision and the result of God at work in your life. The disciples did not need to ask who this was. They knew him as their Lord and friend. Jesus had come to them yet again, in love and with grace.

We don’t really know why these disciples went fishing that day. What seems apparent in the scene that follows is that Peter was feeling cut off from Jesus. He had betrayed Jesus and denied every knowing him, and resurrection or not, Peter probably felt like his discipling days were over.

Jesus’ conversation with Peter flows right out of the encounter with the larger group. Peter, who had done all the other disciples have and more in terms of giving up, running away, and denying him, now must confront his own failures and see what the Lord has in store for him. Jesus came and found him in the Upper Room. Jesus has come and found him fishing with the other disciples. And now Jesus comes even further in to speak with him personally, to find him in his particular lostness.

Three times, matching each time Peter denied knowing him, Jesus asks Peter some variation of “Do you love me?” Three times Peter has the opportunity to respond. And three times, Jesus answers with some variation of “tend my sheep.” Three times, “Peter, will you turn to me and love me?… Then I have work for you to do – to share in my own work.”

Jesus’ words to Peter do not end there, but with the same words with which he began three years earlier. On that day, after telling Peter and others to push back out and throw their nets back in, Jesus invited them to “Follow me.” So also, on this day of second chances and new starts, Jesus calls Peter (and then John!) once again, saying, “Follow me.”

That part of God’s grace – God’s GIFT to us – is always so striking. God doesn’t just forgive and restore us, but calls us again to share in His work in the world. That’s complete forgiveness; that’s resurrection and new life. “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

Finding Me