Self-Effort of Spiritual Power?
John 21:1-14
If you have your Bible, we'd ask you to turn to the twenty-first chapter of John. It's almost kind of a sad note, this morning, as we come to the last chapter in John's gospel. This gospel has been our constant companion for over two years and we still have a few weeks to go, but it's winding down, to say the least, only in a chronological sense, in a sense of biblical truth it's peaking out and it's a great chapter, it's a classic chapter in many, many ways.
In order for us to understand chapter 21, we must take a background look at it, allow the Spirit of God to reveal to us some of the purposes of John so that we can interpret it. In interpreting Scripture, just a little footnote, something for you to put in your file. In interpreting Scripture, you always interpret Scripture according to the context. I remember one man who had a particular scripture that he was going to speak upon and he said...he read the scripture and then he said this, "Now I want to tell you my experience so we have a basis upon which to interpret this." Now you never interpret Scripture on the basis of your experience. You interpret your experience on the basis of Scripture. Scripture interprets itself by its context. If you take the scripture out of context, you get into all kinds of problems. For example, the Bible says, "Judas went out an hanged himself, go thou and so likewise, what thou doest, do quickly." The only thing is, not in that context. And that's pulling it from everywhere. So when you study the Bible, you must be well aware that you are considering the text in its context, that is in the surrounding areas.
And so, as we come to chapter 21, unless we understand everything that's gone before, we will have no idea what's happening and the purpose of chapter 21. Now chapter 21 verses 1 to 14 which we will consider this morning, gives to us the distinction between self-effort and spiritual effort...self-effort and spiritual effort. And it becomes thus to us a very basic study. Now many of you are brand-new Christians and this can be a very, very basic study for you to really build your Christian life on. For those of us who have been Christians for some time, this is not new truth, it's just truth that we need to be reminded of and we need to be reminded of it desperately week in and week out. But it's simple, it's basic, it's practical and yet in its format here it's extremely unique in the presentation.
Now in coming to chapter 21, before we look at that in specifics, let me give you the general context. We find in chapter 21 what we call an appendix or an epilogue. We found at the beginning of John's gospel a prologue in John 1:1 to 18, way back 20 chapters ago. John began with a little introduction. Then he got into the body of his gospel, and now he closes with a little epilogue or an appendix. It's tacked on to the end to put together the loose ends, to pick up the pieces left untied, unrelated. Now you'll remember that in the prologue of John, he presents Christ before He began His work and here in the epilogue he presents Him after He's finished His redemptive work.
Now all the main features of John's gospel have already ended in the sense of completing Christ's redemptive work because at the end of chapter 20 we had that climactic statement in verse 30 and 31, "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written...and here's the purpose of all that he's written...that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ...which means Messiah...the Son of God and that believing you might have life through His name." That's the wrap up of the formal aspects of the gospel. And the whole thing was written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is God and that by believing you might have life through that faith. That's the purpose and everything sort of sums up in the great resurrection climax of chapter 20. But were John to end at chapter 20, there would be a lot of questions that would be unanswered. And so because the Holy Spirit never leaves us with any dangling ends, because the Holy Spirit always ties everything perfectly together, chapter 21 picks up the loose ends and puts the knot on them. Very important.
Now let me show you what I mean by loose ends. There are at least five things that I find unanswered at the end of chapter 20. And so knowing what these five things are, then we begin to look at chapter 21 and we find out that chapter 21 answers every single one of those five things. And they're kind of picked random because they're important.
First question that I had at the end of chapter 20 was this, now when Jesus came out of the grave, you remember, Mary Magdalene fell at His feet and grabbed Him and hung on to Him and Jesus said, "Don't hold on to Me, I must go to My Father. We're no longer going to have that kind of relationship." From now on it's not going to be a physical communion, I'm going to be gone. The natural question that comes into your mind is does that mean that Jesus no longer will directly provide for His own? Is He going to develop a new technique so that He's no longer closely related to empowering them and providing for their needs? That's a very important question. It's especially important for these disciples who by this time are saying to themselves, "Well, Jesus is going back to the Father, and we don't have that same relationship anymore. He kind of appears and disappears in His glorified body and what about us? Who's carrying for us? Who's going to empower us? Who's going to show us what to do? Who's going to provide for us?" And so it's important that that be answered. Verses 1 to 14 give the answer.
The second question that I find unanswered at the end of chapter 20 is the chapter...is the question, what ever happens to Peter? By the time you get to the end of chapter 20, Peter has been on a serious fade. He started out really strong, but all of a sudden toward the end he just really wound down. First he denied Christ three times. Then he fled, ran away. Then even when he saw the open tomb it says John believed and Peter did...what?...he wondered, he just didn't know. And at this point, Peter who is supposed to be the great leader and the great number one among the Apostles, the dynamic force of the whole thing is kind of hanging a little bit. And we're not too sure about Peter and so we'd like to know what happens to Peter. So just to make sure we do, the Holy Spirit adds verses 15 to 17 and that answers that question.
The third question that's in my mind at the end of chapter 20 is this question, what about the future of the disciples now that they're at the mercy of the world? Does God still control that? Is Jesus still their protector? Is Jesus still going to take care of them to make sure they live as long as He needs them to live? The answer to that is in verses 18 and 19.
Another question that evidently arose was the question about whether John was going to die. And so Jesus answers that question in verses 20 to 23.
Then another question that's left unanswered that you immediately have if you read chapter 20 verse 30 is this, it says, "Many other signs did Jesus, they're not written." And the question is, why? If they are important why weren't they written? The answer is in verses 24 and 25.
So, you see, in moving through the chapter, the Holy Spirit picks out every specific unanswered question and answers it so that the gospel when done is complete. And this is the mastermind of the Holy Spirit leaving no dangling ends. Now for our study, we're going to consider the first 14 verses which answer that first question and that is this, now that Christ is risen, He's the risen Lord, He's back to running the universe in His deity sense, is no longer in humility, He's glorified, He's got His hetera morphe, hetera morphe, His new form, His new body, glorified body. And we're not going to know that human physical relationship anymore because He's going to the Father. Is He still our provider? Is He still caring for our needs? Is He still the one who's going to give us the power to do things? Or are we going to find some new source? Is He done with us?
And this was a legitimate question, because, you see, they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. You understand, they didn't receive the Holy Spirit till the day of Pentecost. So all those days that kept going by when Jesus was coming here and there and wasn't with them all the time, they were having to fend for themselves. For the first time in three years they were having to get their own food, they were having to do their own daily tasks. They were having to just wait for Jesus here, there and everywhere. And they were impatient. And they were misunderstanding. And they weren't sure what was going to go on and they were a little bit confused. And so they were beginning to wonder whether Jesus was still their provider. And it was legitimate. And so chapter 21:1 to 14 gives us a classic, graphic, vivid answer to that question and the answer is "Yes, He is still their provider, He is still their power." And he answers the question in a living illustration.
Now many times in Scripture when the Bible teaches, it teaches by direct word from the mouth of God. That's primary. It also teaches from the Word of God in prophets and apostles. But God also teaches in living illustrations, doesn't He? Throughout the Old Testament there were great symbolic types of the New Testament truths revealed in Christ and His work. And many times Jesus spoke in parables, did He not? And in paroimias and Jesus often expressed Himself in illustrations rather than direct statements. And here we have such an occasion. Jesus doesn't tell an illustration, He acts one out. Here is a vivid, historical event that teaches a profound spiritual truth about the provision of Christ for His own and the empowerment of His own. And it shows us by vivid, living illustration that Jesus does care, that He is loving, that He is sympathetic, that He continues to minister to His own, even in His post resurrection glory. And you're going to see what is a thrilling, thrilling insight in these verses.
Now I want to show you two contrasting things. There is, first of all, here a contrast between fleshly effort and spiritual effort, or spiritual power. Now this is what the whole Christian life really boils down to. As a Christian, you can go two ways. I'll try to give you a vivid illustration just visually. As a Christian, you're here, you can go down, you can go up, it's your choice. The road down proceeds on this basis, self-effort is step one; disobedience immediately follows and is involved, step two; failure, step three; loss of intimate fellowship, step four. As soon as you go your own way, do your own thing, it's a decline. You start out: self-effort, disobedience, failure, loss of intimate fellowship. The other option, divine effort, obedience, success, intimate fellowship. And every Christian goes one of those two ways and most of us jump back and forth. And the mature Christian is the one who has the increased frequency on the upswing. You see, the Christian life is a matter of frequency. It's not a matter of perfection, it's a matter of frequency. And the more you grow in Christ, the more frequently you're on the up. It's as you grow in Christ that obedience begins to outweigh disobedience. And so you see what happens here is you can go two ways...you either go down and the road down is self-effort, disobedience, failure, loss of intimate fellowship, or, God's effort, divine effort, supernatural effort, spiritual effort, whatever you want to call it, obedience, success, intimacy. And this is what I want to show you.
Notice all...first of all, how fleshly effort works. And in this illustration, Jesus is showing them how He's going to provide for them. Hang on to this, it's really got some rich basic truth. First, verses 1 to 5, show us fleshly effort. And Jesus wants to show them that He's going to provide for them by, first of all, showing them they can't provide for themselves. Notice verse 1, "After these things," now that indicates there's a break here and that's one of the indications, that formula in the Greek, that there is an appendix here and that the formal message really ends in verse 31. This is kind of an afterthought, not in the sense of importance, but in the sense of the pattern of the book. So, "After these things, Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias and in this manner showed He Himself."
Now you'll notice that it says twice there that Jesus showed Himself. Jesus revealed Himself. Jesus manifested Himself. Why? Because it does not say the disciples saw Jesus, the disciples saw Jesus...no. After His resurrection, He was not recognizable unless He manifested Himself to them. Do you see? In His new glorified form they could stand and look at Him face-to-face and not know who He was unless He revealed Himself to them. That's part of the glory of His new body. And that's why even today, no man can say that Jesus is Lord except the Spirit of God is within him declaring it to be so. We cannot know Christ by human mind, can we? Human recognition does not know Christ. The natural man doesn't know Christ at all. And the post-resurrected Christ was invisible though perceptible by the human eye, invisible to the soul unless He manifested Himself by direct will on His part, as indicated in Mary Magdalene who stood there and looked at Him and didn't know who He was until He said, "Miriam." As indicated by the disciples in the room, they weren't too sure who He was, whether a phantom or a ghost until He held out His hands and said, "See who it is." Jesus then showed Himself to them. By a direct act of His will, He made Himself manifest. And that's the way it's been ever since. No man will ever know Jesus Christ until Jesus Himself manifests Himself to that individual. That's why the Bible says, "No man seeks after God." Did you ever read that in Romans 3? And we always say, "The world is seeking for God." Don't you believe it. The world is seeking for happiness, peace, money, success, not God. If God's in on the bargain, that's a good deal. The Bible says this, "The Son of Man is come to...do what?...seek." Because it's a self-disclosure on God's part that reveals Christ, not a finding on the part of man. And so, Jesus then manifests Himself to His disciples.
Now it's a very interesting thing that they're at the Sea of Tiberias, which is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias is the Roman name. It's also called the Lake of Gennesaret. Today it's sometimes called Chinneroth. It's all the Sea of Galilee up in the northern part where Galilee is. Now the interesting part is that they probably had no business being there. Jesus had appeared to them in Jerusalem. And according to Matthew 28 verse 16 it says this, "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them." Jesus said, "Men, I'll meet you in Galilee," right? Remember that? Now He said, "I'm going to meet you in Galilee in a mountain." Now we arrive in Galilee and where are they? They're not in a mountain, they're down at the Sea of Galilee. Now you say, "What are they doing down there?" Well it's very hard to know what exactly and totally was their motive. But let's try to construct it as best we can. Jesus said, "Meet Me in the mountain." So let's assume they went to the mountain and they were hanging around the mountain for a long time. And they're waiting many days in the mountain and Jesus has not s