“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’
‘No,’ they answered. 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. 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. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish” (John 21:4-14, NIV).
The account described a unique and interesting description of the quality of Jesus Christ who manifested God in the flesh – who reflected the description of God Himself.
Let’s us note first, as we read in the NIV, when Jesus appeared to His disciples, He told them: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” For Jesus or God, the disciples would just find “some” fish. Yet, the net later was filled with so many large fish!
How God measures is indeed so different from the way we, human beings, measure things!
Now, let’s proceed to learn more the quality of God that makes Him so different from us.
Jesus asked them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” But when the disciples landed on the shore, they already “saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread” -- not only fish was prepared for them, but also with “some bread.”
And then Jesus invited them, “Come and have breakfast.”
They knew it was their Master who was already telling them to come, did they come? The passage says, “Jesus came…” And He proceeded to serve them – He “took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish”!
What a God we have! When His people hesitates to come, He comes to serve them. Or, He draws them to Him.
Human beings with all their sincerity may believe that they could just work their way to come to Jesus. But He said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” (John 6:44, NIV.)
We think that on our own we can just believe and have faith in Him. But it is actually God who grants us the privilege to believe (Phil. 1:29; Eph. 2:8).
We read in John 6:28-29, “Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” (NIV). God’s Word Translation of the Bible renders verse 29 this way: “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one whom he has sent.”
It is God who wants to do something for us. He works so that we may believe in Jesus Christ. He even caused John to write “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
We try also to repent, but we read in the Bible that it is God who grants repentance (Acts. 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:25).
There are those who are teaching we need to qualify ourselves to be in the Kingdom of God. But we read in Col. 1:12, “…the Father… has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (NIV).
We are also striving to endure to be saved. We fail to realize it is God who gives the endurance (Rom. 15:5).
We also struggle to be blameless, but we read in 1 Thess. 5:23-24, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and HE WILL DO IT” (NIV, also Jude 24).
We are encouraged to call on the Lord, but it is God who is actually calling us (Luke 5:32; Rom. 11:29). And “those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30, NIV).
We believe it is our own choice that matters. But we read in Isa. 43:10, “’You are my witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he’” (NIV). Jesus also said in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I CHOSE YOU and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last” (NIV, also in verse 19).
We also struggle to turn away from our offenses. We read, however, in Acts 3:26, “When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways" (NIV). It is God’s blessing “by turning” us from our wicked ways.
We are in great problem how we can “circumcise” our hearts. But the Bible says, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live” (Deut 30:6, NIV).
We do not know also how or where to “get a new heart and new spirit.” But God said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek 36:25-27; 11:19-20, NIV).
When we read Eph. 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast" (NIV), we thought that we enjoy our salvation, not by our own works, but it is by our own choice, by our own desire, by our own willing acceptance!
But God’s grace is not like that.
Our salvation is a gift of God. It is the Work of God – not our own works! It is His choice – not our own choice! It is not just our own desire – it is God’s desire..! It is not by our own acceptance – it is God’s grant!
It is the Sovereign Worker who is seeking us and wanting us to see and enjoy His glory. He came to seek and save us.
No, we are not working for our salvation. What we need to do is to work out – to work or behave in accordance with the salvation He granted to us. For God’s Word declares, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phi. 2:13, NIV).
PRAYER: Our Merciful Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace. We thank You for unveiling Yourself, as a Sovereign Worker who works for the benefit of Your people and for the Glory of Your Name. Help us not to rely on our own selves, but on what You can do in and through us. We praise and thank You for the wonderful and powerful work You have been displaying before us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
