THE BEAT e145 When You Feel Purposeless (Jesus has a prayer and 153 fish for you)

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 2 Episode 145 

THE BEAT | When You Feel Purposeless (Jesus has a prayer and 153 fish for you)

Quick Take 

Hey human, here’s the measure of his love for today, that we consider how Jesus always returns to us to close the spiritual loop, bring our purpose to fruition, over and over again. If you need encouragement right now, a lift out of the mindset that comes with a hard-fought struggle that has you lost and adrift, listen to e145. Jesus is returning to help you today. An astounding prayer, and 153 fish. Thanks for listening.

How would you describe your purpose for Jesus today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

Shortly before Jesus was arrested, he prayed for the disciples to be protected by the Father. He prayed for them to be sanctified to do the work he started. Before we consider his final time with them at the shore of Galilee, I think it is important to know the prayer that comes before he dies for them. How he appeals to his Father to prepare their hearts for the purpose that will soon be theirs to do.

John 17:6-19

 

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

 

6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

 

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

 

Jesus specifically tells us he is saying these things while he is still with them, so they may have the full measure of his joy within them. Now that is divine encouragement. Because they are no longer of the world either.

But they must continue to live in it.

Jesus Begins and Ends on the Shore, with a Net Full of Fish

It’s pretty amazing to me that Jesus begins and ends at the shore of the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. First, he calls his first four disciples – Peter, Andrew, James and John – then finally, his third appearance after his resurrection to all of them, before his ascension.

He returns to what we are familiar with, the rhythms we hear each day, like the water lapping against our lifeboat. It is always Jesus who comes to us.

John 21

 

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

 

21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

 

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

 

5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

 

“No,” they answered.

 

6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

 

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

 

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

 

Jesus goes on to close the loop for Peter in a big way. Three opportunities for Peter to tell Jesus he loves him. To bring redemption and Peter’s personal charge to step forward out of his three-time denial and into the future Jesus has planned for him.

It won’t end well physically, but oh the impact of Peter’s life on the early church.

And this is Jesus witnessing to his disciples through a dialogue with one of them. The one who could handle the public discourse, in all his boldness, his inability to be anything but honest, except for when he denied knowing Jesus three times. This was his redemption moment tied to his purpose.

Continuing with verse 15:

Jesus Reinstates Peter

 

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

 

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

 

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

 

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

 

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

 

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

 

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

 

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

 

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

 

I don’t even know where to start and end with this: that Jesus is telling Peter and everyone that to love him is to tend his sheep. Of all the parables he told, documented as 35, he returns to being the shepherd.

When You are Feeling Purposeless

This brings me to something I don’t do often, in fact, I avoid creating the kind of tone that is always speaking to the struggles in earthly life. To constantly bring my witness to you through encouraging words for the hard times you are facing. I should do it more. So many do. I do this with calculated measure because I don’t want you to live there, human. Because to deeply grow spiritually is to be transformed by seeking God’s glory.  Not seeking delivery from earth’s hardships.

I have a powerful joyspring welling up inside because I know this is one of those convictions that Jesus is gifting to my purpose in new ways. So briefly here, just picture what the last week has been for the disciples. They have experienced such closeness to their teacher through the last supper, and all the tender, timeless words Jesus shared in John chapter 14,15, 16 and 17. They have experienced his arrest, death, and burial and the deepest feelings of being alone. Left behind. And now, he has come to them, they are with him again for a few times, before he ascends.

Isn’t that what brings us down? When we feel left behind in this earthly journey?

When you are feeling purposeless?

Maybe that somehow, much to your discontent, you have drifted away from Holy Spirit in your heart, and it is hard to imagine that Jesus is right there.

Just like the disciples who I am sure, even though he had returned to them in a resurrected body, found it hard to imagine that he was right there. And they didn’t know what to do. They hadn’t known what to do all night. They caught no fish.

But Jesus told them to cast the net to the right side of their boat. And fish.

And he told Peter, with every disciple’s ears turned toward him. You love me, Peter, then feed my lambs.

Jesus is the shepherd. Feed the shepherd’s lambs.

Jesus always closes the loop for you, human. How? He returns. With an exacting 153-fish purpose for your life. For your next step.

And that next step, like Peter’s, serves the body of Christ and those who do not yet believe.

Jesus will tell you which side of the boat to cast your net.