The Gospel of John – Part Fifteen
Peter was supposed to be Jesus’ right hand man. He was supposed to be the leader of the Jesus movement; but he failed. And, he failed Jesus at the moment when he was needed most. Still, Jesus could see the man Peter was capable of becoming and God still intended to use Peter to lead his people. But, before any of that could happen, Jesus would have to help Peter move past his failure.
In 2 Corinthians 7:10, Paul speaks of Godly sorrow and Worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow, what I will call guilt, is a temporary, negative but helpful experience, which God uses to drive us back into the arms of Jesus. Worldly sorrow, which I will call shame, is a negative and unhelpful experience, which the enemy uses to drive us away from Jesus. We will be looking at both.
Head – Helpful Information
Verse 2 tells us that several of the disciples returned to fishing. Peter went back to fishing because he was washed-up. He was “has been.” The last time Peter saw Jesus was just crucifixion. And Peter’s denial of Jesus was a part of that story. It was not yet clear that Peter would have another chance to get things right. From his perspective, his run was over.
They had fished all night, but had caught nothing. Verses 4-5 say that Jesus was standing on the beach, but the men did not recognize him. “Throw out your net on the right hand side,” he said. When they did, their nets began to fill with fish. “It’s the Lord,” John cried, as the men recognized Jesus.
Peter could barely contain himself. He jumped from the boat and swam to the shore. “Bring some of the fish,” Jesus said, as he prepared to make breakfast for the men.
After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Why? Because Peter would have to overcome his sense of failure if he were going to become the godly leader Jesus could see in him. He would have to let go of the past, if he were going to follow Jesus into the future. Peter had failed three times. Jesus would help Peter address each failure.
Heart – the Personal Connection
On the night before Jesus’ death, nearly all of his disciples abandoned him. But two of them betrayed him. Judas conspired to have Jesus arrested, and Peter denied he ever knew Jesus. But the outcome for the two men could not have been more different.
Judas, overcome by shame and despair, committed suicide. Peter, crushed as he was in spirit, hung on, and was restored to his place at Jesus’ side. What might have happened if Judas had held on for one more day?
2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow/guilt brings repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret. But worldly sorrow/shame leads to death.”
Here we see the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is a objective reality that we have sinned. Guilt is the blunt fact that we have done something wrong, or that we have left something we should have done undone. It is the realization that we have failed and it can be quite painful to experience guilt. But the Holy Spirit uses guilt to drive us to Jesus, where we can find ourselves restored. Guilt is a temporary experience, that, once we have repented and confessed our sin, is no longer useful or necessary.
Shame, on the other hand, is the mistaken conclusion that says, “Because I have sinned, I am a bad person. There is something profoundly wrong with me. It cannot be changed, because it is part of who I am. Shame is not something God has any desire to use, because shame says that we are of no worth to God. Shame is a permanent thing, because it is attaches itself to our sense of self. Shame is a bondage from which God seeks to rescue us.
Peter experienced a sense of guilt because he sinned, betraying his Lord. Peter had a right and a need to feel guilt, because he did something wrong. And God used that sense of guilt to drive him back to Jesus.
Judas experienced shame. After his great sin of betrayal, he could not longer believe that Jesus would ever have something to do with him. This sense of shame drove him away from Jesus.
Hands – What do we do with guilt and shame? When we experience guilt, the next step is to confess our sin, to confess what we have done or left undone. Confession means to tell the truth about our sin, to enter into agreement with God that our sin is indeed sin. The very next thing to do is called repentance, which means to turn and run into the arms of Jesus, where we can be restored and renewed.
When we experience shame, we are not experiencing something from God. We are experience something from the Satan, who is called to accuser. He is is trying to convince us that we are so defective, so bad, so sinful, God could never again have something to do with us. When this happens, we must recognize this as a lie from hell. We must reject it and claim the promises of God.
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Isaiah 1:18 “ Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as bright as snow; though they are red as crimson, they call be as white as wool.”
Romans 8 “What, then, shall we say in response to all of these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all – how will he not also graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God is justifies. Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus, who died – more than that. Who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. No, in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demos, neither the present nor the future, more any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, Weill be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 8 – 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Peter had denied Jesus three times, so Jesus brings him back to the question, three times. “Do you love me?” For each failure, Jesus offers a redemption. For each failure, he offers Peter a chance to get it right the next time. He must teach Peter that he is more than his failures, that the sins of the past are not definitive of his future.
Joel chapter two:
19 The Lord replied[a] to them:
“I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.
20
“I will drive the northern horde far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things!
21
Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things!
22
Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23
Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24
The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm[b]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27
Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the Lord your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.