1. Please pray with me. Sanctify us in the truth, O Lord, Your Word
is truth. In the name of our crucified
and risen Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen. We live in a broken world. The deck is
stacked against us. The “unholy trinity,” made up of Satan, the world, and our
sinful nature, often overwhelms us. We live in a world where large populations
are constantly under the threat of earthquakes and tsunamis. A world where
police suggest that we should put our bodies between the gas dispenser and our
car so that a sniper doesn’t get a clear shot when we fill up at the gas
station. A world where somebody in our neighborhood could be that next serial
killer or pedophile, while we store up water and duct tape in readiness for the
next major act of terror. In this kind of complicated, harsh world, Christ Teaches Us Simply to Feed the Sheep. The message is taken from John 21:1-19, (READ
THE TEXT) let he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
2. On March 11, 2006, at around 2:30 a.m.,
outside her home in Atlanta, Ashley Smith felt a gun at her side. Maybe she
thought, this is it. Perhaps her mind raced with thoughts about her
five-year-old daughter, who was already without a father. Maybe she thought
about her salvation. Her attacker, Brian Nichols, who would later be convicted
for a killing spree, asked if he could stay at her home for a few days. He said
that he wanted to “eat some real food and
watch TV and sleep and just do normal things.” As time passed during the early morning hours
at Smith’s apartment, Nichols and Smith talked about God, family, and life experiences.
As Nichols became more comfortable with his hostage, he allowed her to take a
more leading role in the conversation. Smith began to help the gunman consider
the feelings of the families of his victims. She led him to arrive at the
conclusion that he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. This was important, because
there’s no one more dangerous than a serial killer who’s already a suspect.
3. When Nichols became hungry, Smith fed him. She
made pancakes for him, and they talked more about God. She also read parts of
the Bible to him. When Nichols said that his life was over and that he was
already dead, Smith argued to the contrary that he wasn’t dead and that he
might have a purpose left. Smith urged him to submit to the authorities and go
to prison and share the Word of God, the Gospel, with prisoners. That Gospel is the Good News of salvation
through Jesus Christ. In John 21, we see Jesus motivating, teaching, and
equipping the disciples to share this Good News.
4. When Jesus appears to his disciples, he first
feeds them bodily. His concern is for their daily bread. He supports them also
in their work, giving advice to professional fisherman. This turns out to be
great advice, as we learn in v 11 that they catch 153 fish, and large ones to
boot. Jesus prepares a fire of burning coals with fish on it. He has bread
ready for them and invites them to come and have breakfast.
5. We also see Christ working through Ashley
Smith to feed Brian Nichols, just as simply as pulling out a packet of pancakes
from the freezer, taking out a skillet, and preparing the table. Many have said
that if someone had been kind or kinder to Brian Nichols, as Ashley Smith was,
he wouldn’t have gone on that crime spree. Maybe that’s true. Hindsight is
nice, but what is remarkable is the work of Christ done in the present, which
is so apparent in the midst of this story.
6. We see the leadership, the composure, and the
perspective Christ gives to Ashley Smith in the feeding and the sharing of the
Gospel with Brian Nichols. We see and hear the words Christ has given her to
speak and the Word of God he’s taught her to share, the Good News in the face
of awful sin, death, and despair. Brothers
and sisters, we don’t need to convince each other of the need for Gospel
outreach in this area. The people all around you, like all sinners, have fallen
short of the glory of God and need Christ desperately, as does Brian Nichols. There
are many unchurched and unevangelized people here in this community. They’re longing
to be fed. Dear friends, Christ laid down his own life for these people, and he’s
appointed you to tend to these sheep. He’s appointed you to help them in their
daily lives, something as simple as inviting them over to dinner. There’s
nothing as universal as providing a meal to be shared. What does mom, a loving
parent, say to her children, even adult children? Have you eaten? Are you
hungry? In the same tender way, Christ says to his disciples in v 5, “Children, do you have any fish?”
Therefore, we feed our neighbors. We care for them. We show that we love them.
7. Now when they ask the source of our love, we
point them to Christ. Once a relationship has been established, you will feed
them by sharing the eternal bread of life with them. There was a young man from China in the early
1900s. He came as an international student to study, and then he worked here in
North America for many years. Eventually, he went back to China and launched a
political career. Many years later, in the late 1900s, after this Chinese man
became famous, an American journalist interviewed him. One of the questions
posed to him was “Mr. Chairman, when you
lived in the United States, did anyone invite you to a church or talk about
Jesus Christ with you?” The leader of China, Chairman Mao Tse-tung,
answered, “No. No one ever in my five
years in America talked to me about this Jesus.”
8. Imagine the impact a man like this could’ve
had here as well as overseas if one Christian had shared with him the Good
News. We Christians here in Randolph County are being given many more
opportunities to share the basis of our hope. We share Christ because we know
what Christ has done for us. He died for us. He rose again for us. He lives to
forgive us all our sins—including our failures to speak to our own neighbors. He
gives us eternity to live in heaven with him and with all who come to believe
in him. And the recent immigrants you and I reach, by the grace of God, will
have an impact on the extension of the Gospel throughout the world.
9. Your work here among the many unchurched people
won’t be easy. It’ll be challenging. It certainly was for the disciples. In v
18 of our text, Christ says to Peter, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk
wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” How
appropriate for us here today. How appropriate for St. John’s Lutheran Church
right now. We’ve got challenges in maintaining our buildings, challenges with
our church budget, challenges to reach out beyond our culture to the changing
community around us. Isn’t it so much easier not to reach out to the unchurched?
Not to befriend, love, and invest time, effort, and money in this? It’s tough
enough trying to reach cousin Joe.
10. Christ tells us today instead not to be overly
protective of ourselves. He tells us to go where he leads us. This may be against
our human will. It may not make practical sense. But, Christ says to Simon
Peter in v 15, “Do you love me more than
these?” He asks us in the same way today if we truly love him more than our
will, our reason, and our desire to do things we want to do, rather than to
feed his sheep.
11. Christ simply says to us today to tend to his
sheep. These challenges we have before us seem small when considering real-life
stories of broken people such as Brian Nichols and Mao Tse-tung, who weren’t
fed or tended to with care. Christ says to us today, in v 19, “Follow me.” Do as he has done. As the Father
has sent him, he now sends us (Jn 20:21). “As I have fed you,” says Christ,
“feed others.”
12. He simply says to us today to feed his sheep
and be fishers of people. Prepare to feed them, and when you are ready, simply
offer. Come. All is now ready. Come and share this meal with us. Christ has
already given us his professional opinion about where to throw down the net:
here in Randolph County.
13.
Christ urges you simply to feed his sheep. Tend
to them with diligence. Worry not so much about budgets and numbers. Feed. Make
contacts with the unchurched. Build relationships with them. Become a part of
their lives. Stretch out your hands, become vulnerable, and allow them to
become a part of your lives. When the opportunity arises and the Holy Spirit
moves their hearts, share with them the good news about Jesus that he was
crucified on the cross for our sins and raised from the dead for our
justification and bring them to our church for worship. Eventually, they can be
fed there by the Word and the Sacraments.
May the Lord empower us with the Holy Spirit so that we can be feeders
of sheep. Amen.
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