Resurrection and Fellowship

1960 Sometime late February

California

Pastor Theodore Thompson's Sermon

Blogged by his grandson, Theodore Nance

One of the great enjoyments of life is fishing. It is a great thrill to sit on some quiet lake up in Northern Minnesota and pull in the big ones. As you sit on a lake towards evening, sometimes you will hear the call of the loon or you will see a deer come down to the water for its evening drink. And then as you steer towards you cabin for the evening meal you can smell fresh fish frying. Their is nothing quite like sitting down to a platter of fried walleyes after a day of fishing and the sit back for a good evening of conversation with fishing buddies as you hear the crickets outside and you see the fireflies dance in the dark. It is great fellowship to go fishing with friends you have known for years.

Our text for today also tells something about fishing. The time is shortly after the Resurrection. Peter and the other disciples were waiting the coming of the Holy Spirit before they went forth as world conquering disciples. You remember Christ had commanded the disciples to wait until the comforter, the Holy Spirit should come upon them. So in the meantime some of the disciples decided to try a night of fishing on Lake Galilee. The night time was the best time for fishing. It said to be a beautiful sight to watch the fishermen at night on Lake Galilee. They carried lighted torches and as boat glided over the water, the fisherman waited until the prey was sighted and quick as lightening they cast their net into the water, But sometimes there was disappointment. Sometimes the fishermen would toil in the darkness all night, casting out their nets and dragging them in with no fish, and the fishermen would come to land in morning sullen and disappointed. This is what happened to some of the disciples the night. They had toiled all night at this backbreaking work of throwing out and pulling in the nets with no results: the text reads: "But that night they got nothing."

It was towards daylight and as the sun was breaking through the haze, they saw a man on the beach who they could not recognize, The man then called out if they had any fish and their answer was no, and then the stranger called out to them to cast their net in another spot and they brough in a net full of fish. Instantly they recognized Jesus and they hurried to beach their boat and talk to Jesus.

There then follows a very beautiful setting as Jesus and the disciples sit in the early morning looking out over Lake Galilee and hey partake of a good breakfast of cooked fish. This was fellowship at its highest as the risen Lord Jesus Christ sat in communion with the disciples. I think all of us would have liked to have been there. Its great to have breakfast together, with a bunch of fishing buddies when you’re out on some camping trip, but imaging having breakfast beside beautiful lake Galilee and listening to our loving Savior imparting His words.

Now a question arises, Why does John bother to tell what you might call a fishing story in such an important time as this? Jesus Christ of Nazareth has risen from the dead; the greatest event in all of history had taken place! And here John spends 14 longs verses describing how disciples went fishing, caught nothing, and then Christ enabled them to catch many fish and they all sat down for a good meal.

There are three reasons why John includes this incident, I believe. One is the simple fact that this is one of the appearances of Christ after the Resurrection and thus John would want to include it. Secondly John wrote his Gospel approximately about 100 A.D. and stories were arising "over years". John is trying to without a doubt pin down the reality of the resurrection. The world to which John was writing believed in spirits and communication with spirits. Many people were probably saying that Jesus was simply a spirit coming back from the dead. But John says, Jesus is not simply a spirit or a product of men's imagination. Many were probably saying that the appearances of Jesus was mass hypnosis. Many were saying that the disciple wanted to see Jesus so badly that they actually believed that Jesus appeared even though he did not.

To this type of talk John says NO! John says Jesus is no mere spirit or product of man's imagination. John maintains that Jesus arose not only in spirit but also in body. John does not give us any clear picture of the resurrection of Jesus, but he does say it is something like our bodies. Thomas felt the actual flesh of Jesus. And here in our text for today John shows the risen Jesus cooking a meal and feeding the "clise", beside Lake Galilee. This picture that John presents of the risen Jesus with the disciples is meant to be another proof of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth from the grave.

In our churches it sometimes seems to me that we spend too much time thinking about the cross and not enough time thinking about the resurrection. We sign such songs as "Int eh Cross of Christ I Glory" and we seem to forget that Christ "rose" from the cross. I remember a visit I once had to a Greek Orthodox Church. I was very much impressed by painting on the dome of the church which emphasized the Risen Christ. The Greek Orthodox church never "correct" in carrying more stress onto he Resurrection then do man denominations.

The cross is indeed central in our faith for it was on the cross that Christ paid for the sins of mankind. But if Christ had no risen, the forces of evil would have been victorious over Christ and thus the cross would have no meaning without the Resurrection. The Resurrection is supreme in our faith for it was the beginning of the end. In the resurrection, Christ defeated the forces of evil and the position of the devil today is like the position of a chess player who knows he is defeated but merely plays because he has a few moves left before defeat.

As we said last week, the Resurrection was the supreme event in the early church. It was the fact of the resurrection and the power of the resurrection that sent man like Peter and Paul and thousands of others into the face of death, and finally to death itself.

You have heard much about life adjustment religion in the last few years. We have read such books as "A Guide to Confident Living" and many others. The general idea of much of this thought goes "Think positively. God is the only force in the universe. If you think positively you can be victorious at any time and you will get what you want?" I include a quote here: "God is the only presence and the only power. What we call evil or error is a false belief which we form. It has no power apart form the power we give it by believing in it."

The people of the early church were also positive thinkers. True, they did recognize the presence of evil in the would, but they believed that as long as they remained in Christ, all was well. The early Christians were such positive thinkers that they were willing to die for Christ because they knew that if they died, they would be with Christ. They knew that because Christ was raised from the dead. we to have eternal life. Thud you see, the Christian Gospel is positive thinking. The Christian Gospel holds that no matter what defeats or setbacks Christians face in this world, they have eternity with GOd.

It is only because of the resurrection that our faith has any meaning and thus John, here in our text tells about Jesus appearing to his disciples because John wants to prove the reality of the Resurrection. John is saying, Look here, Jesus is no pantomime in our minds! HE made a fire and food to us.

And now, back to fishing. Many writers claim that one of mans basic needs is fellowship and the companionship of other humans. In many of the prisons they have what is called solitary confinement. None of us would like to be in solitary for a very long period of time.

We all want to belong. We do not want to be left out. It is interesting to watch a group of teenagers get together. They stand off and eye each other. They talk to no one else, and yet they all expect others to fall all over them. The same thing even happens with adults. At church programs whether they be Guild or Brotherhood or League, we will get rather irritated if we fell that we are being left out.. Many complain that churches are too cold or that people aren’t friendly enough to them. When we go to church we expect t people to be friendly, and we want to feel we belong. Many people say they stay away from church just because of they feel churches are not friendly enough. Many say, "Well on Sunday Ill go fishing or hunting with some of my buddies. They are great guys with whom you can have fellowship."

I think that a third lesson that John gives us here in our text is a lesson in fellowship. Here are the disciples people just life you and I, gathered together with Christ for a time of real fellowship as they sit beside Lake Galilee on a beautiful morning and partake of a meal together. Here, we might say are real fishing buddies and all belong!

This should be the nature of the church, all should belong/There should be a real sense of fellowship in the Christian Church. There are many types of fellowships or brotherhoods in the world. There is a fellowship of occupation. If you are a doctor or a carpenter, you feel a certain amount of fellowship with other doctors or carpenters. Your friends off of the job are doctors or carpenters. There is also the fellowship of lodges. Masons feel a certain warmth and friendliness towards other masons whenever they meet. Teenagers even have a certain type of fellowship in their hot-rod clubs. Essentially fellowship means to have a share in something with someone and their hot-rod clubs or tradesmen have a share in hot rods or their respective trade. There are even nationality fellowships. People from the Middle-West come on to California and they are very happy to meet people similar to themselves. Scandinavians for instance will say "Your name is Olson or Johnson. You must be Swede." And then the other will say "Ya! I bin Swede!" and right away you will see smiling faces and talk of Lutefisk and Leftse. We here at St. Olaf know the truth of this.

There is one fellowship however, which should far transcend all other fellowships, be there fellowships of tradesmen, lodges, political groups or nationality. This is the fellowship of the Christian Church. I said one meaning of this word fellowship is to have a share in something with someone and another meaning is to bind or join together. Communion also is another word that can be used instead of fellowship. Christians are a communion, a brotherhood of people who should be bound together as comrades or brothers with a common concern for one another because of common loyalty to Christ.

Christ is binding force of the Christian Church. Common allegiances to Christ is the reason for our being and if it were not for Christ, the church would be just another social group with a bunch of meetings. 1 John 1:7 reads "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin " Christ is our reason for being as a church. In order to partake of Christian fellowship, you have to be in the light, you have to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior, and then you can share in the fellowship that Christian should have.

During the week many things happen. The boss may chew you out on the job all week or you may work with some person who constantly aggravates you. Or maybe you neighbor plays his radio loud at night so you cant sleep. You have to fight the freeway day after day and this causes frayed nerves. Perhaps the neighbors kids trample your flowers out. Maybe the wife has the house in a mess when you come home from work so this gets you down. Many things can happen in daily life that can cause you to be offended and irritated. Be you man or woman.

It is here that the church should be able to help. When you come to church meetings, you should feel you are coming into the presence of what we might say of fishing buddies. St. John writes: "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." St. Paul writes in Gal 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." And Jesus Christ said: "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you."

You see we have a vertical relationship of love to Christ because of His love for us, and this should express itself in a horizontal relationship of love for one another. And as Christ says in John 13:14, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."

As I said, coming to church should help take the rawness out of life. If we really practice the commandment of love as the Bible admonishes, we should feel that we are coming to a spiritual oasis when we come to church. We should feel that we are in the presence of people who are concerned and want to help in our personal problems. Fellowship with other Christians should help take the jagged corners off of some of our problems.

But there is a catch to all of this. You expect other to welcome you; you expect other to be concerned with your problems, but remember other people are just like you. They also want friendliness and concern. How many of you came here this morning with the thought in mind of who you could help? Everybody is involved. All are to through love be servants of one another If everybody retires to their own cocoon, nothing gets accomplished.

Emily was a rather drab girl with a plain face, a plain hairdo, and plain clothes. One day she went to a psychologist who happened to be a Christian. She told him, "You can't do anything about me. I'm a mess and I know it." The psychologist had other ideas. He ordered her to go and get a new dress, and a new hairdo, and he told her to have the people that worked at these placed decide which dress and hairdo she should have. He then told her to come to a party he was having and he had assignments. She as to go around and help people. If it was too warm, she was to offer to open the window. If someone was without refreshments, she was told to get some. The result was of course, that Emily became a changed person by helping and talking to others. Of the more thank one hundred people at the church social, three young men asked to take her home, and she finally married one of them. She did not become lovely, but she became loveable.

This is the way it works with us as a Christian fellowship. As we try to help others, we receive and so do the others. Don’t expect others to wait on you. You also have to become a servant, and then the church will truly be a fellowship and a communion of saints. We have much good fellowship at St. Olaf, I do not think we have even begun to touch the hem of His garment in this matter of fellowship and love for one another. There is supposed to be enough energy in a teaspoon of water to heat a large apartment house all winter, and enough power in a railroad ticket to speed a train across the country. Spiritually also there are great stories of love and fellowship which we have not even begun to practice. If you really want to follow positive thinking, follow the commandments of love and service with which the New Testament is filled.

We began by exploring two reasons for the inclusion of the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples while they were fishing. We gave two primary reasons. One was that John wanted to prove without a doubt that Jesus Christ of Nazareth rose from the dead. And another reason we gave is that John is here including a picture of the fellowship that Christians have with one another through Christ.

We in the church can get so tied up in organizations and meetings that it all can get to be pure machinery without the love and the concern Christ meant. When this happens it is well to read the words of Paul in 1 Cor. 13. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." We don’t want to be noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. Rather

that the picture of noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. Rather than the picture of the Resurrected Christ and the "clise" beside Lake Galilee where I am certain real love and concern were present.

The Resurrection is the greatest event in all of history for through the power of the Resurrection we receive life here and no and life eternal. If we want, the Resurrected Christ can give us the power to shake a newcomers hand in church, or to smile at someone you haven't yet met even though you both have gone here for two years. Or to invite someone to Guild or Brotherhood, or to listen to and sympathize with someone's problems.

It's great to be fishing with old friends and in the backwoods of the North Country. Its great to fish with old friends and see ducks overhead and hear the look in the distance. This is great fellowship But the greatest fellowship of all should be the fellowship that Christian’s have one with another through the power of the Resurrected Christ. "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ."

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.