The Message We Proclaim | A Sermon on Luke 24:44-49

Introduction
Ann Barnes passed away this morning as I was writing this message.  Her friends and family are shocked and grieved--myself included.  And many of us are struggling to process it.  Our hearts go out to Rusty and their family.  

At times of lose like this, our hearts hurt and we have many questions. We wonder about hope as we suffer and see people we love suffer.

And providentially, our Scripture today gives hope as it asks a very important question:  What is the message Christians proclaim to the world?  I hope you will listen with especially attentive ears.  Let us begin with the Scripture.

Luke 24:44-49
⁴⁴ Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. ⁴⁷ It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations,^[a] beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of all these things.

⁴⁹ “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

The Core Message
Jesus gives us the core message of Christian hope in verse 47.  We are to preach to the whole world: “There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.”
Moments like this—when we come face to face with the death of someone we love, who left this world too early and so unexpectedly—remind us that life is fragile.  The message of forgiveness is incredibly important.

Ann Barnes was a sweet, sweet soul.  I have not known her as long as most of you, but I have known her long enough to know she was a true follower of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was her Lord and Savior.  She loved Him and served Him. And He welcomed her Home today.  He saved by His grace through faith when she repented of her sins followed Him.

And so today I do not need to fear for Ann, because I know she is in Heaven with Jesus.
Her body is made whole.  The health issues she struggled with over the past few years are gone.
She no longer has to suffer the brokenness and evil of this world (no more pollical ads…).

Suffering
Jesus showed His Disciples from Scripture how the Old Testament clearly foretold how Jesus must suffer, be killed and rise from the dead on the third day.  This was part of God’s plan.  Jesus had to suffer.  He suffered for our sakes.

We suffer too.  We suffer because of sin.  Sometimes it is because of our own sin, but more often it is just because of sin in general.  The world is broken because of sin.  And this sin sickness infects everything we experience.  Yet our suffering would be worse if it had not been for our Savior—the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the Old Testament, in Isaiah 53:5-6, it says of Jesus, “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.  He was beaten so we could be whole.  He was whipped so we could be healed.  All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.  We have left God’s paths to follow our own.  Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”

Jesus suffered for us to lessen our suffering.  Were it not for Him, the suffering we experience—as unbearable as it already is—would be completely unbearable.  We would utterly collapse and be crushed under the weight of it.  Yet Jesus took the greater part of our suffering on His own shoulders.  He has given us enough space to hear God’s call for repentance.

Repentance
From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus preached:  “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  Those who follow Jesus make their start when they choose to repent of their sins and follow Him.  To repent literally means to turn away. 

We repent by turning away from our sin and turning toward Jesus.  We turn aside from a following the path of sin to follow the path of Christ.  No longer do we choose to live for ourselves and our own plans.  Instead, we follow Christ.
We give Jesus control of our destiny, realizing His plans are better than our own.

So, we are faced with two real choices.  We can continue to live our lives as we please.  Or we can surrender control to God, repent of our sin, and follow Jesus.  There is no middle ground.  Jesus is either your Lord or He is not.  We all have to decide.

There are real consequences to the choice we make.  If you continue to live as you please, you will eventually be separated from God forever in the fires of hell, tormented for eternity.  You may enjoy some pleasures in this life (though I would argue they are an illusion), but you will ultimately pay for all your sin with eternal suffering.  

But you don’t have to.  God offers you forgiveness and peace through Jesus Christ.  If you repent of your sin and follow Jesus, you can be saved.  You will suffer some in this life, but you will ultimately spend eternity with God—the source of life—in the Kingdom of Heaven where there is no more sin or suffering or death.  And so, you must choose: will you continue in sin or repent and follow Christ.  

I pray today you will choose Jesus if you have not done so already!

Our Part
Those who choose Jesus as Lord have work to do.  Jesus has done His part.  Now, it is time for us to do ours.  And what is that?

Our part is to preach Jesus’ message of repentance for the forgiveness of sin to the whole world.  This is our most important task.  It is our mission.  It is why we are a church.  

You can take away everything else we do as a church and we will still be a church if we are faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ who preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  But if we do everything else—River of Life, preaching, teaching, music, Sunday school, Acorn Circle, etc.—but do not preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, then we cease to be a legitimate Christian church. 

And it is not just for the pastor to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  It is for every follower of Christ.  You may never stand in a pulpit and preach a sermon, but you will preach by every word you say or don’t say and by every thing you do or don’t do.  God has laid before every Christian a congregation to hear the message we preach.  For me, it is in the pulpit (and also on social media and on the internet and wherever else I can use my witness to spread the Gospel).

But for you, it may be as a mother talking to your children.  Or as a Father.  
Or it maybe as a teacher by the way you interact with your students in a school.  
Or as a nurse tending to patients and talking with co-workers.  
Or as a grandparent grandparenting.

You can fill in the blank with whatever roles God has given you.  He has put you there for a reason.
Every Christian is to influence their own circle of influence with the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And we should not feel overwhelmed with the task.  For Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to do it.  It is the same Holy Spirit who enabled the Peter to preach and win 3,000 to Christ.  It is the same Holy Spirit that in Acts enabled believers to speak foreign languages and perform other miracles and caused the Church to grow exponentially, though it was sorely persecuted.  The some Holy Spirit empowers you to be a witness for Christ. 

Closing
So, in closing, I want to implore you with two things.

1. If you are not yet a Christian, won’t you choose to be one today?  Repent of your sins and turn to Jesus.  None of us know how long we have in this world.  And once you leave it, it will be too late to repent.  So repent and turn to Jesus today.
2. If you are a Christian, dedicate yourself to the main calling of every follower of Christ—to be His faithful witnesses who preach the message:  “There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.”

Breakfast with Jesus | A Sermon on John 21:1-14

Introduction
When I think back on my life, I’ve spent a lot of time around water.  I was born in North Beach, Maryland, and lived two blocks from the Chesapeake Bay.  Some of my earliest memories are of my family walking down to the beach to swim.  I can still remember the smell of the water-soaked creosote beams of the wooden pier that extended out into the bay where people would catch fish and blue crab. 

Later we moved to Macon, Georgia where my dad ran the concession stands at Lake Tobesofkee.  Part of his business was a small marina with a dock and 2 gas pumps where boats would fill their tanks for day out on the lake.  

My dad needed something to occupy me while he ran the marina.  So he taught me how to catch brim off the dock with a cane pole by using stale bread.  I would roll up a little do ball and stick in on the hook.  It would only stay on a few seconds, but that's all you needed to catch the hundreds of small, hungry brim that congregated around the dock.

I tell you all this because today we have a lake story for our Scripture reading. 

John 21:1-14
¹ Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee.^[a] This is how it happened. ² Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),^[b] Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

³ Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”

“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

⁴ At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. ⁵ He called out, “Fellows,^[c] have you caught any fish?”

“No,” they replied.

⁶ Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

⁷ Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. ⁸ The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards^[d] from shore. ⁹ When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

¹⁰ “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.

¹² “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. ¹⁴ This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.

A Lesson About Mission (Making Disciples)
Over the centuries, the meaning of this passage has been interpreted many ways.  But today, the Lord has given me 4 primary lessons to share with you.  

The first lesson is about what followers of Jesus are supposed to do.  Peter was a fisherman.  When Jesus first found Peter, he was in a boat & hadn’t caught any fish.  Jesus performed a miracle and Peter caught so many fish it almost sank the boat.  Then, Jesus said “Come follow me and I’ll teach you to “fish for people”.

In our story today, Jesus reenacted Peter’s calling.  Again, the Disciples are in the boat and haven’t caught anything all night.  The resurrected Christ comes along and  says, “He fellas!  Have you caught anything?”  “Nope.”  “Well, throw your nets on the other side!”   And when they do, they have miraculous success, just like they did the first time Jesus called them to follow Him and be fishers of men. 

Through this miracle, Jesus reminds the Disciples and us what we’re supposed to do.  Jesus called us to fish for people.  What are you known for?  Are you a fisherman?  Are you a lake person?  Are you a teacher, a nurse, an electrician, a mother, a father?  You may be all these and more, but if you are a follower of Jesus, you are called to invite people to follow Jesus.

Stark Methodist is known for a lot of things:  chicken stew, River of Life, Lovin’ Lunches, and so many other caring ministries.  But all these wonderful ministries are meant to be avenues for us to fulfill our true mission:  to make Disciples of Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.

A Lesson in Dependence
Another important lesson this story teaches is a lesson in dependence.  Peter, James, and John were experienced fishermen.  But even the best fishermen can get skunked.  But when Jesus shows up, an unlucky night for the Disciples turns into a net full of abundance.  Jesus presence ensured miraculously abundance.

When it comes to the mission of the Church—to fish for people/to make disciples—we cannot do it on our own.  We need Jesus.  Walking closely with Him brings success.

Sometimes, we focus so much on what we do and how we do it.  We’re like the fishermen who master all the right fishing techniques but still come up with empty nets.  Then Jesus comes along—a carpenter, not a fisherman—and He says something really annoying like:  “throw your nets on the other side of the boat”.  (What does a carpenter know about fishing?)  But when we listen, all of a sudden our nets are so full we can’t pull them in.

If you spend more time recognizing the presence of Jesus, listening to His voice, and staying in tune with Him, then you will experience more of the miraculous abundance that comes when you  walk closely with Him.

Fellowship with the Risen Christ
But don’t think following Christ only about work.  Walking with Jesus is a joy!

And that’s why I love another aspect of this story.  It gives us a picture of Jesus and the Disciples simply enjoying breakfast together.  The Disciples have lost their way of life.  They know Jesus is still alive (they’ve already seen Him twice), but they don’t know what to do with themselves because their lives and routines have changed after the resurrection.

Isn’t that the way it feels sometimes when you lose some close to you?  You know they are alive in heaven, but you miss them and you miss living life with them. I bet the Disciples felt like that.  They know Jesus is alive, but it doesn’t feel like He’s there with them telling them what to do. 

Then Jesus comes along and they know it’s Him, and He says, “Come, eat some breakfast.”  And He reminds them that He is with them.  And He reminds them of what they’ve always done.  They enjoy life together.  They eat, they laugh, they live a joyful life together.

Oh!  What would you give to just eat some breakfast again with someone you love who’s gone?  This, in some way, is the glory of living in the Kingdom of Heaven.  It’s not just a place we go to when we die.  It’s a Kingdom we start living in now the moment we say yes to Jesus.

Jesus is with us now—walking with us, eating breakfast with us, living life with us.  And we believe in the “communion of saints”—that we are in fellowship with all the saints who have gone on to be with the Lord.  Hebrews 12:1 says we are surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses” of the saints who’ve gone before us.  And you get the picture of a crowd of people cheering us on as we run our race of Christ.

So, this story in John 21 reminds us, we are not alone.  Jesus is with us.  The saints are with us.
And there can be joyful fellowship—even as we do the ordinary things of life, like eat breakfast.

Physical Resurrection
Finally, John's story shows us something powerful about what happens after we die.  We have physical and live in physical world.  This story is full of physical elements.  Imagine the sights and sounds of it. 

The disciples are in a boat, fishing.  Can you hear the water lapping against the hull?  Can you feel the chill on the air as the first rays of sunrise break through?  How about the smell of the charcoal fire burning on the beach as Jesus cooks fish for breakfast?  Imagine how the cool sand felt between Peter’s toes as he walked up to join Jesus.  

And Jesus and all the Disciples eat together.  Now that may seem insignificant, but it tells us that after we die, we aren’t just spirits floating around playing harps.  Jesus had a physical body—He cooked, ate, wore clothes, spoke and was heard by the people He loved.  And He knew them and they recognized Him.

If you want to know what eternal life is like, this story of the resurrected Jesus is a clue.  Jesus, resurrected, represents what we will all experience when we rise to eternal life like He did.  There will be eating, dancing, fishing, and we will have a body to experience it all.

But not a broken, corrupted body like the one we have now.  It will be perfect.  John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed our resurrected bodies would be real, recognizable, and physical—but no longer weak, broken, or dying.  You’ll no longer have get tired.  You’ll have ears that hear perfectly and eyes that see everything with full clarity.  We will have an increased ability to experience pleasure, beauty, and delight and live in a world more vivid because it is no longer broken. 

Closing Invitation
So, if you want to experience this glorious resurrection to eternal life promised to Christ’s followers, then I pray you will make a decision to follow Jesus.  Surrender your life to Him.

Not just part of your life—all of it.  Your plans, your identity, your future—place it in His hands.

Because this story reminds us of something very important:  Jesus isn’t just preparing a place for you someday, He’s inviting you into a relationship with Him today.

He’s standing on the shore of your life right now calling out to you: 
“Come… and have breakfast.”  Come and know Me.  Come and walk with Me.
Come and trust Me.  Come and live life with Me.

And for those of you who already follow Jesus, maybe you’ve been out in the boat for a while, working hard, doing your best.  But if you’re honest, the nets have felt empty.  Maybe you’ve been trying to do life—or even ministry—on your own strength.  This morning, Jesus is calling you back too.  Listen for His voice.  Trust His direction.  Walk closely with Him again.  Because when Jesus is there, empty nets don’t stay empty.

The same Jesus who cooked breakfast on the shore… is inviting you to walk with Him today—and dine with Him forever.

 

Two Very Different Stories | A Sermon from Matthew 28:11-20

Introduction
Today is Mother’s Day — and I think we all know, when it comes to parenting, moms just do it better. They’ve got that mix of patience, wisdom, and unconditional love that’s hard to match.
They’re the ones who bandage scraped knees, remember every permission slip, and somehow manage to find your lost shoe when you're already late.

Now, dads—we try. But let’s be honest, our parenting instincts don’t always hit the mark like a mother’s does.  In fact, that reminds me of a story… 

Little Billy was always getting into trouble — at home and at school.
His mom was at her wit’s end.  One day, the school called.
The voice on the line said, “Mrs. Johnson, your son’s been telling lies.”
She hung her head in frustration, not knowing what to say.
Her husband calmly took the phone and said, “Who is this?”
The school repeated, “Your son’s been telling lies.”
The dad paused and said, “Well, tell him he’s doing a great job—because we don’t even have kids!”

Now that’s one way to tell a story—but it’s not exactly the truth, is it?
And in today’s Scripture, we’re going to look at two very different stories that came out of the same event—the resurrection of Jesus.
One story is rooted in lies and fear.  The other is grounded in truth and faith.
And the question for all of us this morning is:  Which story are we living?

Matthew 28:11-20
¹¹ As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. ¹² A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. ¹³ They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ ¹⁴ If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” ¹⁵ So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,^[b] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Two Very Different Stories
I’m struck right off the bat in this passage by the clear contrast between these two stories.

The Soldiers:	The Disciples:
Lived to spread a lie	Died to tell with truth
Were paid to cover up	Were commissioned to go proclaim
Acted out of fear and greed	Responded with worship and obedience
Story was bought and empty	Story was costly and full of hope

How do we know the soldiers’ story was a lie?  One reason is: In the Roman military, falling asleep on duty or failing a guard assignment was often punishable by death. This was a well-known and strict rule to ensure discipline and accountability. If the soldiers had actually allowed the body to be stolen, they would have faced execution — yet they remained alive.  Why?  Because someone had to live to tell the lie.  If they were executed, there would have been no supposed "eyewitnesses" to tell the lie that the body was stolen.

Now contrast that to the Disciples experience.  They died to tell the Truth.  While the soldiers were paid money to tell the lie, the disciples gave their lives to tell the truth.

Peter was crucified upside down in Rome.
James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded by sword in Jerusalem.
Andrew was on an X-shaped cross in Greece.
Philip was crucified or possibly stoned in Phrygia.
Bartholomew was flayed alive and beheaded in Armenia.
Matthew was stabbed with a spear in Ethiopia.
Thomas was speared to death in India.
James was stoned to death in Jerusalem.
Thaddaeus was clubbed to death in Persia.
Simon the Zealot was sawed in half in Persia.
John was the only disciple to die a natural death. He was exiled to Patmos, then later died in Ephesus.

Each one paid for telling the truth with their lives. People don’t give their lives willingly for a lie.
They are much more likely to lie in order to save their lives—like the soldiers at the tomb.

Cover Up or Boldly Proclaim
The story of Jesus’ resurrection was a threat to the religious leaders and the Roman authorities.
Christ’s ultimate miracle showed His Heavenly Kingdom was more powerful than any kingdom or authority on earth.  If this news got out, people would turn against the Romans and the religion of Jerusalem.

So they had to cover it up.  It must’ve really burned them up—having to hand over hush money to soldiers they would’ve rather executed them on the spot.

In contrast, Jesus commissioned the disciples to go and boldly proclaim the truth to the world. It wasn’t easy—and it cost them dearly. But there’s peace in telling the truth. Truth carries its own reward: a clear conscience, a steady heart, and the joy of walking in step with God. 
And there’s the reward of belonging to the eternal, unshakable Kingdom of God—knowing that nothing this world offers can compare, and nothing it throws at you can truly harm you, because your life is secure in Jesus Christ.

Fear or Faith
The soldiers acted out of fear.   Their lives were at stake and Roman executions were brutal (just look what they did to Jesus).  When faced with the choice to tell the truth and be tortured and killed or to take a bribe to spread a lie, they took the easy road. I wonder what happened to them?  The Bible doesn’t say (and there are no strong, widely accepted church traditions about their fate either).
Matthew makes sure to say their lie was still circulating at the time he wrote his Gospel (several decades after the fact), showing how persistent and powerful misinformation can be.

But their lies could not overcome the power of God’s truth, because the disciples acted in faith.
They believed that Jesus had truly risen from the grave, and they courageously devoted their lives to obeying His commission to spread the Good News.  And history reveals this simple yet powerful reality: faith conquers fear, truth outlasts deception, and the light of the resurrection continues to shine—generation after generation—through those who dare to believe and obey.

Which is Your Story?
At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, we see two very different stories.  One was bought—a lie crafted to hide the truth. It was cheap in value, but costly in consequence.  It was a story rooted in fear, told to preserve power, and it ultimately led nowhere.

The other story was costly—not just in gold, but in obedience, sacrifice, and faith.  The disciples didn’t gain wealth or and easy life from their story.  What they gained was purpose, peace, and the promise of eternal life.  Their story is still being told, because it’s filled with hope—the kind that changes lives and lights up a dark world.

So what do we do with that?  Because every one of us will face the same kind of choice:
Will we cling to what’s easy, safe, and self-serving,
or will we step into the truth, even when it costs us something?

We live in a world full of false stories—stories that tell us to compromise, to cut corners, to live for ourselves.  But Jesus calls us to something better.  He calls us to live in the light, to walk in the truth, to be people of integrity, courage, and hope.

So here’s the challenge:  Which story are you living? 
Is your life being shaped by what’s bought and empty,
or by what’s costly and full of eternal hope?

Choose the story that lasts.  Choose the story that’s true.
Choose to follow Jesus—the Risen One—wherever He leads.