Wednesday, August 5, 2015

"A Matter of Purpose" - Doug Rehberg

It was one of the first sermons I ever preached. It was entitled, “If You Ain’t Hangin; You Ain’t Fishin”, and it was based on Sunday’s text, John 21:1-22.

In this sermon I remember telling at least two stories. The first was about an old man in Alabama named Dorman Beane. Dorman’s claim to fame was that he was one of the best fly fishermen in the Southeast. In fact, he was so good that he was regularly called on to teach others the art of fly fishing.

What one quickly discovers in learning to fly fish is that it’s hard to master. The rod, the fly, and the line don’t easily cooperate. Therefore, in the beginning, many fly fishermen spend more time untangling their line from over-hanging limbs than they do learning how to move the fly along the surface of the water. And no one knew this any better than Dorman. Whenever he’d sense frustration on the part of a novice fisherman, he’d look them in the eye, wink, and say, “Well, if you ain’t hanging, you ain’t fishin.” In other words, getting all tangled up is just part of the process. It’s part of the joy of fly fishing.

The second story followed the same theme. One time I read about a movie theater owner in Charlottesville, Virginia, who ran the same film every finals week. He didn’t just show it once, he ran it over and over again. The movie? “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart.

And the reason he’d run that movie repeatedly throughout every finals week is because he knew that there was no more intense time of self-doubt and despair than finals week. He knew that it’s a time when many students can feel overwhelmed and insignificant. It’s a time when they can feel like a failure and that their life doesn’t matter. It’s a time when many can identify perfectly with George Bailey and his need for the bigger picture that only Clarence can provide.

Thirty-five years ago when I came to this text that’s what I saw – pure, unadulterated hope in the midst of haunting failure. Think of it. The Risen Lord takes time to come to that beach that morning and do something He never does anywhere else in the gospels, cooks breakfast and then restore an unfaithful failure named Simon Peter.

But that’s only one way into the text. There are a number of themes that run through the economy of words John uses to relate this story.

This Sunday I want to focus on another of those themes – the reiteration of Jesus’ call to Peter. It’s uncanny the similarities between Luke 5:1-10 and John 21. In fact, what Jesus could never have conveyed to Peter in Luke 5, He now coveys in the final moments before His ascension. What Peter and the others could never have understood at the beginning of their walk with Christ, they now can understand in vivid detail. What does it mean to follow Jesus? John lays it out fully in the last chapter of his gospel. So, that’s where we will be on Sunday as we study Jesus on the beach.

In preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to consider the following:

  1. Review the meals that Jesus is a part of in the gospels. At every meal Jesus gives us a glimpse of His power and purpose. What’s He showing us here?
  2. Why does He point to their fishing failure in verse 5?
  3. What do you make of their repeated poor performance at fishing (Luke 5 and John 21)?
  4.  Why does Jesus ask Peter 3 times if he loves Him?
  5.  What does Jesus mean in verse 16 when He talks about Peter’s dress?
  6.  What’s Jesus’ point in verse 22?
  7.  How does this encounter with Jesus provide us an answer to the question, “What’s my purpose in this world?”

See you Sunday!