The Resurrected Jesus Provides Breakfast for His Disciples

In John chapter 21 we are given a beautiful passage about Jesus showing himself to His disciples on the shore. They'd been fishing all night and had caught nothing. (An entire message could be preached on this alone, about how our self-efforts are fruitless apart from God's grace.)

In the morning Jesus, standing on the shore, asks 'Children, have you any food?'

The disciples reply in the negative. So Jesus tells them to cast their net on the right side of the boat (the right side--I'm sure there's another message in there.) They obey, and are not able to pull the net up for the abundance of fish. So John realizes this is Jesus. Peter, ever the impulsive one, leaps overboard and swims to Jesus.

Read the rest of the chapter. It is such a moving scene between Master and disciples. Jesus prepare a meal of fish for them, as the Good Shepherd who always provides. His simple words, 'Come and have breakfast,' are arresting. Think about it; you have the Savior who was brutally crucified, and who had just risen from the grave! You might expect some noble and lofty words, but instead we get 'Come and have breakfast' and the Savior of the world cooks morning fish for His followers.

Imagine their inner rejoicing, seeing their Lord again!

The chapter goes on to describe how Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Three times Jesus asks this, finishing with the command to 'Feed My sheep.'

It is a simple command--simple, but profound, and it is the great mission He has given each of us. Feed the sheep. Love your neighbor. You are Christian first and foremost. This fact should guide your every decision and relationship. Meditate, if you will, on John 21. There is much to learn of our Lord therein. As Jesus says in Matthew 11:30, 'For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.'

Feeding the sheep, sharing the gospel of love and peace, is not burdensome; it is a privilege and it is the purpose of all our lives. Whatever may be happening in you life, don't forget the message of John 21. Peace be with you!

The Circle of Grace

2 Corinthians 4:15 declares ‘For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to about to the glory of God.’

Sometimes it is beneficial to the believer (and therefore good for everyone the believer encounters) to sit down and study a single passage from Scripture. In this verse we are being taught a method that creates a beautiful circle of grace when put into action. (But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was’ James 1:22-24.)

We need to acknowledge that everything God does (or allows to happen) in our lives is for our benefit. This is a hard thing to accept. When tragedy strikes or things just don’t go our way, we are prone to thinking that God isn’t doing His job, or that He just doesn’t care. That’s the devil at work. But when mature Christians reach the point in their spiritual journey where they can accept that God is always at work, they realize—to their delight—that everything He does is for them.

Armed with this joyous truth, this grace He has given will then spread to others, causing them to also give thanks for all things. All of this brings glory to God. Glorifying His name is, after all, the purpose of His creation.

Those who have received the joyous grace and given thanks after observing the same in us (as doers of the Word), will then share this grace with others. And there is the beautiful circle of grace.

When you accept that God is in control and that what He does and allows is righteous, you will slip into perfect peace with him. That’s the issue today; people, even believers, are at war with God. When you question Him, when you suffer from anxiety and doubts, you are rejecting His grace, thereby rejecting peace.

There is nothing so joyful as the peace of our Messiah, and no place so content as in His everlasting arms.

Throughout this 4^th chapter of 2 Corinthians, we are shown that God’s grace brings light to our lives. Though we are hard-press on every side, yet we are not crushed; though we are perplexed, we are not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed. Throughout it all God is our guiding light, and the power to overcome all circumstances resides in His grace. We do not have the power to save ourselves, but God does, Verse 7. So rest easy, fellow believers, knowing that all your sufferings are working in you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory—a crown in heaven (Verse 17).

Here and now, today, you are called simply to trust and obey. His grace will come and give you peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). He has the power to save. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. It is all in His loving hands, so be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).