May 1, 2022 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ Sermon & Zoom Video Worship Link

This is the link for Worship:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Gy30wuDWJmaDj1E2K7Q2Iv3QZjgFbKOjLBbYyALW1O6zU-gsK_wpYjNAaagCE-08.OyPpeaYLZ7-mcWPT

Communion                                                                            05/01/22—Highland—Meute

“The Breakfast of Disciples”

Acts 9: 1-20; John 21: 1-19

Pearl: The love of Jesus and commitment to his Way is the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of disciples.

Function: To empower listeners to consider the level of their love for and devotion to Jesus and his Way as the bedrock for disciples/followers of Jesus Christ.

What do you usually eat for breakfast? Do you like breakfast? I don’t do much of anything in the morning before I eat breakfast.

1. Wheaties cereal boasts itself to be “the breakfast of Champions.” And they are celebrating their 100^th anniversary, believe it or not! As a kid, we all thought it was the most nutritious cereal. We loved to see our favorite athletes get their picture on the front of a Wheaties box.
   1. I believe I saved a box with some Steelers on the front after a Super Bowl victory.
2. Well, Jesus liked meals too and he cooked up quite the breakfast one morning, along the Sea of Galilee, aka. The Sea of Tiberias.
   1. It was a fresh fish breakfast. The disciples brought in a huge haul of fish, thanks to Jesus once again acting as their guide.
   1. It was a breakfast they never forgot. They had it with Jesus shortly before he left them.
   1. It was a strategic meal, once again (like the “Last Supper”). It turns out Jesus did some of his most important work while gathered with his followers at meals.
3. I am not saying that freshly caught, fire-grilled fish make the “breakfast of Champions,” but I am saying that something took place at this particular breakfast which is a strong clue to what is the “breakfast of disciples.”

The “breakfast of disciples” is the love of Jesus and devotion to his way. They go hand in hand. You cannot love Jesus without also loving his philosophy, his world view, his way-of-living.

As I said, Jesus did some of his most important work at meals. Consider two of those meals, in particular: the “last supper,” and the “last breakfast.”

1. Holy week was only a few weeks ago and we gathered together to remember Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. This was of course the meal we remember each time that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
   1. That was a very strategic meal for Jesus. It was the celebration of the Passover—very significant for that reason alone.
      1. At that meal he suggested that he was giving his life as an ultimate Passover through which God’s saving, redeeming plan would be advanced.
      1. He also did something that really was the focal point of the meal. Humbling himself, he washed the feet of the disciples. By doing so, he showed them a key aspect of his way: that of humble service to others. He showed them that serving others is preeminent.
      1. After washing the feet of his disciples, he told them to “wash one another’s feet.” Here is the account once again:
         1. “…if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15).
      1. This way of serving others is the hallmark of disciples of Jesus. It was so important that Jesus made it the main climax of his last supper before he suffered and was killed.
         1. We don’t emphasize this foot-washing aspect of the Lord’s “Last Supper” as much as we should. It was a pre-meditated, planned action on the part of Jesus. It should get the most attention.
         1. It is a large clue to the Lord’s Way.
   1. And this brings us to the Lord’s “last breakfast.” This was another very strategic meal that Jesus hosted.
      1. It was strategic in that it was intended to encourage and motivate his disciples to carry on what he started and to carry it on without him in the flesh.
         1. I say it was meant to encourage because there was at least one disciple who was very discouraged and heart-broken: Peter.
            1. He was downcast because he denied Jesus three times just as Jesus predicted.
            1. Knowing this, Jesus especially wanted to meet with Peter.
            1. Peter was so joyful in seeing Jesus that he jumped out of the boat and into the water, after first throwing on a bit of clothing. He got to Jesus as fast as he could. Maybe he planned to apologize and seek forgiveness.
               1. Nonetheless, Jesus also seized the moment.
            1. With forgiveness in his heart, Jesus wanted to extend grace to Peter and he wanted to shore up Peter’s resolve as one of his disciples.
            1. Jesus asked Peter point blank, “Do you love me?” Peter assured Jesus that he loved him. Then Jesus asked him again, “Do you love me?” He asked this of Peter three times! Peter became frustrated that he asked him a third time.
               1. But the repetition of three times was in order to emphasize and stress that the true breakfast of disciples is loving Jesus and committing to his way.
2. In this “last breakfast” Jesus showed and taught that his followers are called to love him. Love Jesus. You may say that surely you love Jesus. You might think that you love Jesus. But if you do not also love his ways and commit to living them out in your own life then you have to question if you really love Jesus.
3. Jesus loved his disciples. As flawed as they were, he loved them. Even though they abandoned him and betrayed him, he loved them still.
   1. Jesus loves us even with all of our flaws.
   1. He loves us even when we don’t love him.
   1. He loves us when we stray from his ways, even for decades.
   1. He does not stop loving us.
      1. He asks that we love him in like manner and that we follow his example, living out his ethic and establishing his realm on earth, now.
4. Jesus asks us to love him and that includes loving his way, committing to his worldview and to his practice.
   1. There are actually similar goals at play in the two meals: Love Jesus and commit to his way by following his example.

Note that these important meals of Jesus and his disciples emphasize for the generations that disciples interact with Jesus. That is the all-important factor. Disciples have established a relationship with Christ.

1. Many speak of their interaction with Jesus as some kind of conversion experience. There was a time in your life when you consciously and intentionally declared your love for Jesus and your allegiance to Christ. You made a commitment to him. You converted to him. You became a Christian.
   1. There are dramatic conversions and nurtured conversions. Most of us here today have had “nurtured conversions.”
      1. We grew up in the church, were always happy in the church and have continued this into adulthood. You worship most Sundays, and you serve your church in some way. You likely had a nurtured conversion, but it was a conversion to Jesus, nonetheless.
   1. The story of Saul who became the Apostle Paul is the story of his own encounter with the risen Jesus. He was persecuting followers of Jesus and Jesus Way so Jesus confronted him on that momentous day on the road to Damascus. Saul was riding on his horse when he was knocked off of it and heard the voice of Jesus ask him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
      1. So Saul became the great Apostle Paul because he was converted into a lover of Jesus.
      1. He somehow came to an awareness that he was very much misdirected in opposing Jesus and his cause. So much so that he completely changed into a follower.
         1. It was all due to his unique interaction with Jesus.
   1. Saul’s conversion was a dramatic conversion in which he became a lover of Jesus and his way.
2. When you become a lover of Jesus you also become a lover of his ways. You cannot be converted into a lover of Jesus and not also accept his philosophy and his way of living. You cannot have one without the other. They go hand in hand.
   1. Love of Jesus means love of his ways.
   1. Love of Jesus means commitment to Jesus as well.
      1. This is conversion to being a disciple, a follower of Jesus.

Followers of Jesus continually assess within ourselves whether we love Jesus. Our lives flow from our love of Jesus and our commitment to his ways.

Our love for Jesus and our dedication to his Way is our breakfast, it is our lunch, and it is our dinner. This is why we remember him at every meal. Every time we sit at the table together we remember our Lord and his way.

We have two sacraments. One is a meal.

This reminds us that our food, our fuel for life is our love for Jesus and our commitment to living in his Way.