Between Two Fires

Transcript

First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

— John 18

(ESV)

Now turn with me to John 21, verses 1 through 17.

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

— John 21

(ESV)

This family is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we thank you for your word. We do pray that you would be our help this morning. We posture ourselves in complete dependence, without you we are hopeless. We need you. So we pray, oh God, that you would give us the help of the Holy Spirit to keep us dependent and to open our eyes to the truth of your word, so that as we peer into this word, we might be changed by it. We might be comforted by it. This is such a wonderful text for us to hear this morning. We pray that you would plant this truth deep into our hearts. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.

The Fire of Failure

Three years ago during Christmas, I was walking through Macy’s with my boys. We were on a mission in Macy’s - the boys wanted to pick out a Christmas gift for Heather, and I was managing the perfect price point. They picked out some crazy stuff that we had to say no to. But then, out of nowhere, it happened. I was caught by a very specific scent that stopped me in my tracks. Something about the smell was strangely familiar. It cut through the noise of the store, the crowds, and even the moment I was in, and then it hit me - that’s my mom’s perfume.

Now I can’t tell you exactly the name of the perfume, but I knew with absolute certainty that scent. My mom was not a fancy woman, but she had a very particular taste when it came to the perfume she wore. And in many years of her life, for whatever reason, she never deviated from that one perfume. And in that moment, in the middle of Macy’s, I was pulled back, not just to some vague memory of her scent, but to specific moments, especially my last moments with her. It’s funny how a scent can do that to you - overwhelm and overload your senses, capture a memory and pull you back into places you thought were long gone, almost teleporting you back into the moment.

I bring all of this up because in our passage this morning, we see something similar with the sensory of scent. There is this small detail in both of our texts that most people tend to skip right over - a Greek word, “Thracia,” which means “charcoal fire.” This word appears only twice in the entire New Testament, and both times it’s referenced, Peter is said to be next to it.

So this mention of a charcoal fire becomes a kind of sensory moment in the story for Peter, a familiar setting and a smell in the air that serves as a means to pull Peter back to the night he wishes he could forget, back to his moment of failure. And it’s almost as if John, the Gospel writer, understands exactly what Jesus is doing in this moment with Peter and records it so that we might remember something about how Jesus deals with us in our moments of failure.

He doesn’t just simply sweep our sin under the rug, but instead uses whatever instrument to pull us into our failure, not to condemn us, but to help us through it. And you can see this clearly in our two texts this morning - two stories side by side, connected by this one word “charcoal fire,” which is the very instrument God uses to help Peter not only come to his senses, but to recover from his sin.

:::pullquote Jesus is anti-cancel culture. This story puts on display Christ’s correction and restoration that meets us so that our worst moments don’t have the last word.:::

Now, if you’ve been tracking with us throughout this series in John’s Gospel, then you know that there has been a whole lot of tension building up to this scene. From chapter 13 to chapter 16, Jesus has done everything necessary to prepare his disciples through this one long, heavy and emotional conversation. By the end of the discussion, the disciples were left afraid, confused, stressed out because their world was immediately beginning to unravel. And then the worst happens - Jesus is arrested in the garden, and Peter, of all people, the most outspoken disciple, cuts off a dude’s ear and then eventually collapses under pressure and denies his Lord at the worst possible time.

The question hanging in the air in this section of John’s Gospel, after we witnessed this failure before our eyes, is how does Jesus deal with people who profess to love him, but fail him? The answer, family, unfolds between these two fires. And to help us along, we’re going to walk through these connected moments in three scenes: the fire of failure, the fire of grace, and the fire of restoration.

The Fire of Grace

Now, if this were our culture, that’s where this story would end with Peter. Alone in the dark, in the thick of his failure forever. But John isn’t finished with Peter, and more importantly, Jesus is not finished with Peter, which brings us to scene two. The fire of grace.

So John leaves Peter in the courtyard with no resolution, just smoke and the reverb of the rooster in the distance. But the story keeps moving and we’ll see this story unfold over the next few weeks. But this morning, you’re going to get just a quick little preview. The cross happens. The burial happens. The silence of Saturday happens and then comes Sunday morning, the resurrection. And before Peter ever makes his way back to Jesus, listen, Jesus makes his way back to Peter. And this scene here, I think, is one of the great surprises of the gospel. Jesus does not wait for sinners to clean themselves up or come to him. Jesus goes after them.

:::pullquote Before Peter repents publicly, before he explains himself, before he proves anything, Jesus makes sure he knows Peter, you are still mine.:::

This is what grace is. Before restoration, before conviction, long before any fixing, it is Jesus initiating. Grace pursues and then repentance responds. And even with the empty tomb, even with the appearance, there is still something unresolved. Peter has not yet faced the specific wounds of his failure. The denial has not yet been brought into the light.

The Fire of Restoration

After breakfast, Jesus does finally turn toward the wound. Not to reopen it and you know, leave it bleeding, but to heal it all the way through, from moving from the fire of grace to the fire of restoration which brings us to scene three.

Jesus refers to Peter’s old name, Simon. The name before his calling, the name before his bold confession, the name before his bold promise before his epic fall, as if to say we are going all the way back, Simon, to fix what is broken in you. Because we need to rebuild this whole thing from the ground up.

:::pullquote The world says, prove yourself and then you can come to me, fix yourself and then you can come to me. Jesus says come to me because I’ve already decided to love you.:::

Go and Serve

Not are you a good person? Not have you repaired all the wrongs you’ve done to fix your reputation? Not have you promised that you’ll never do all those things again, but do you love me? Because, family, Christianity is not about self-repair. It’s about loving surrender to Jesus in faith. That is the Christian message. And the truth of the gospel is that if you want this, you can have it today. You can come to Jesus by faith, trusting that He saved you for your sins. And you can become a Christian. And if you have questions about that, you can ask anyone in this room. And if they’re a Christian, they would lovingly help you to know what it means to follow Jesus.

Family, in closing, my pastoral application for this text is actually really simple. :::pullquote Christianity is not about self-repair. It’s about loving surrender to Jesus in faith.::: If you fail, you are not canceled. You will be corrected by grace, but then you will be recommissioned by grace back into the work of ministry. You are not damaged goods. So go and do good works for given saints. Family, our love for Jesus is fleshed out by the way we love our brothers and sisters. Did you know that? The way that we practically demonstrate our love for Jesus is how we love our brothers and sisters in the faith. This is why Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” and then immediately follows it up with “Feed my sheep.” In other words, if you love me, you will love my people well. My application to you this morning is if you love him, then receive his forgiveness and go and serve God’s people. Amen?

Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you that you did not leave us on our own. That you use whatever instrument necessary to crack our hearts and our pride and our self-sufficiency and bend our will to the promises of Jesus. I pray, oh God, that when we feel like our failure is speaking louder than your grace that your spirit would remind us we are forgiven. We are restored and we are recommissioned back into gospel work. God, would you make that the anthem of this church? Forgiven saints, ready to serve saints because we serve a gracious Savior. Lord, help us to revel in the goodness of your forgiveness and…

Restoration

We so desperately need restoration. This world cancels us, but only Christ redeems us, and for that we are infinitely and eternally grateful. We love you, Lord. You know everything about us. We love you. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.