MORE THAN JUST A FISH FRY

Sermon Notes, May 5, 2019

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry’s sermon was titled “And Then This Happened: More than Just a Fish Fry.”  The scriptural basis was John 21:1-14, the story of the disciples that went fishing after Jesus’ crucifixion.  They didn’t know what to do.  They’d followed Jesus for 3 years, and though they’d seen Him a couple of times after His resurrection, they didn’t know what to do.  So they went back to what they knew.

Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”  The others said, “We’ll go with you.”  But that night, they caught nothing.  Early in the morning they saw a man on the shore, but they didn’t recognize him.  The man called out, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”  They replied, “No.” The man said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”  When they did, they were unable to haul in the net because of the large number of fish.  When they recognized the man on the shore as Jesus, Peter jumped out of the boat and swam ashore.  Does that remind you of the time he got out of the boat during the storm?  The others stayed in the boat and towed the net full of 153 large fish to shore.

There are several things we could emphasize about this passage of scripture.  It’s one of those onion scriptures: the more you read, the more you layers you find.  The disciples went back to what they knew when they didn’t know what to do next.  They’d fished all night and caught nothing, so they took a chance on doing something unusual and threw the net on the other side of the boat.  We will look at two things in this scripture today.

We can do more WITH Jesus than we can do without Him.  When they got to shore, they saw a fire of burning coals with fish on it, and some bread.  Jesus told them, “Bring some of the fish you’ve caught.”  So Peter, who’d just swum ashore and run up the beach to Jesus, went back to the boat and dragged the net (that had been too heavy to tow earlier) ashore.  When Peter recognized Jesus and was obedient, he was able to do more than he could on his own.  Do you ever feel inadequate?  Unable to do what you’ve been called to do?  Don’t try to do it on your own—trust Jesus to help you.  We also can do more with Jesus than we ever can without Him.  We’re nothing without Him.

He will provide all we need when we are obedient to Him.  Think of creation— the beauty of the wildflowers, the greening of everything in the spring.  He even provides for the turkey vultures and the weeds!  Obedience is hard for us.  Our natural instinct is to rebel—if somebody tells us not to do something, that’s what do we want to do.

Jesus told them to go get some of the fish they’d caught and invited them to eat breakfast.  They were obedient when He told them to fish in an unusual way—throwing their net on the right side instead of the usual way, on the left.  Peter went back to the boat and brought the fish to Jesus.

If you stop and think about it, all our success comes from Him.  We may dress up for the interview, but He helps us to say and do the right thing.  He expects us to be obedient with what He has given us.  For example, the Bible tells us to give back some of what God has given us, and He will bless us. (Malachi 3:10)  If we aren’t obedient with what God gives us, He can’t bless us.  If we hold it in the boat, it will stay in the boat, and pretty soon it will stink and be good for nothing but fertilizer.  We can do more WITH Him than without Him, and He will provide all we need when we are obedient to Him.