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After the Easter Parade

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX

A. Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, a very special day to us as we celebrated once again the resurrection of Jesus, our Savior & our Lord.

But if Easter Sunday is special to us, the world has made Easter Sunday a rather special day, too.

ILL. Those of us who are old enough to feel waves of nostalgia probably can remember that old song about "The Easter Parade." Part of its refrain goes like this, "In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade." It also says, "On the Avenue, 5th Avenue, the photographers will snap us, & you’ll find that you are in the rotogravure. Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet...I’ll be the proudest feller in the Easter Parade."

The Easter Parade on 5th Ave. is really something to see, too. Maybe you saw a little part of it on TV last Sunday. Men & women were adorned in the most lavish & elaborate of clothing. Some were wearing hats & dresses that must have cost thousands of dollars. One lady said that she had spent nearly a full year making the dress that she was wearing.

But there is something that bothers me. Even though all of this was going on outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral on an Easter Sunday morning, it was obvious that most of the crowd had come to parade, & not to worship.

ILL. For some churches, though, Easter Sunday is the biggest day in the year. I get a number of church papers from all across the country, & it is amazing to note the attendance in some churches last Sunday.

One church that usually has around 400 present, had 861 last Sunday. Another one that usually has around 1000, had over 2000. One that usually has around 1500, had over 3300 in attendance. And one of our churches in our state that normally has around 2100, had 4774! As far as the attendance in some congregations goes, Easter is obviously a very special day!

B. Now let’s go back to that first Easter, the day Jesus rose from the dead. It certainly was a very special day!

ILL. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of David & Goliath. The odds are overwhelmingly lop-sided. Here’s Goliath, 9 feet tall, wearing his helmet, his breastplate, his shield & sword. He is chomping at the bit, eager & spoiling for a fight.

There stands David, with no armor, no sword, no shield. All he has is this little rawhide sling & a few rocks in his hand.

Now if you were taking bets on that, what kind of odds would you give? At least 100 to 1 in favor of Goliath, right? Only fools are going to bet on David. And yet, wonder of wonders, David wins the victory!

APPL. Like David, Jesus didn’t stand a chance. The powers of the world were all against Him. The Roman Empire was against Him. The Jewish religious system was against Him. The citizens of Jerusalem were against Him. Hundreds, maybe thousands of voices were crying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

They whipped Him & put a crown of thorns on His head. They mocked Him & spit upon Him. Then they nailed him to a cross, & He hung between heaven & earth until He died! He didn’t stand a chance, did He?

But 3 days later God raised Jesus from the dead. Angels announced, "He is not here. He is risen, even as He said." The stone had been rolled away, & the victory had been won!

C. But as far as the world was concerned, nothing had changed. Tiberius was still the emperor in Rome. Pontius Pilate was still the governor of Judea. The Sadducees & the Pharisees were still squabbling among themselves. Jerusalem was still Jerusalem. As far as the world knew, nothing had changed, everything was exactly the same.

But the world was wrong, because the resurrection of Jesus made a difference. It made a difference in the lives of the disciples of Jesus. The men & women who followed the resurrected Christ would never be the same again.

The world might look the same, but the way in which they lived in that world would never be the same again, for Jesus was alive! He had won the victory over sin & death. Paul could write, "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord."

ILL. I can remember in high school some exciting football & basketball games. In the closing moments of the game, if our team was ahead, & victory seemed assured, our cheer leaders would stand up & shout at the top of their voices, "Let’s yell `Victory!’" And we would all begin to shout together, "Victory, Victory, that’s our cry. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Are we winning? Well, I guess. McKinney High School, yes, yes, yes!"

We were excited. We’d hug each other. Everybody knew that our school was the greatest, & we had just proven it again, because we had defeated our foe.

APPL. That same kind of spirit ought to permeate the church. There ought to be a spirit of excitement & joy. Jesus Christ has won! No more do we have to fear death as the great unknown. No more do we have to live our lives feeling all alone, frustrated, unsure, with no one to guide us. Jesus is alive!

I. JESUS & THE MIRACULOUS CATCH ON THE SEA OF GALILEE

A. With that in mind, turn with me to John 21:1-14 where the apostle John tells about one of the resurrection appearances. Listen as I read:

"Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, & two other disciples were together.

"`I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, & they said, `We’ll go with you.’ So they went out & got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing."

"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 & 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) & 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, & some bread.

"Jesus said to them, `Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter climbed aboard & 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 & have breakfast.’

"None of the disciples dared ask Him, `Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread & gave it to them, & did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead."

II. FIVE CONCLUSIONS FROM THIS STORY

Now this is a great story, & there are 5 conclusions that I want to draw from it just very quickly, things that we need to learn from this story.

A. The first one is the importance of obedience. I’m a preacher, & I’m constantly trying to evaluate in my mind the church of today. Sometimes I get myself all psyched up, & I think, "I know how to get crowds to come to church. The church needs bigger & better programs. The church needs to project itself in a better way in the community. The church needs to be more polished & refined. The church needs to be doing more in different ways."

I come up with all these great ideas. Then I go back & read this story, & realize that the only thing God requires of us is obedience. He doesn’t ask us to be good fishermen, or skillful in throwing out the net. He just says, "Obey me, & make sure that you’re on the right side of the boat. And I’ll put the fish in the net."

Easter has come & gone, & we have almost broken our arms patting ourselves on the back, telling ourselves how wonderful we are. But God says, "Just make sure that the net is on the right side of the boat. Just obey me. Do it the way that I ask you to do it, & I’ll bless that every time."

B. The second lesson that comes from this story is God’s great provision. I don’t know about you, but I imagine that if I had been throwing a net out in the sea all night long, my stomach would have been ready to rebel, because I would have been literally famished, ravenous for something to eat.

The Lord is always aware of our physical needs. Even after the wonder of the resurrection, the crowds & throngs of people, there were seven men on a boat on the Sea of Galilee who were hungry, & Jesus knew they were hungry. And He took time to feed them.

Doesn’t that tell us that whenever we’re hungry, or whenever we hurt, or whenever we’re cold or in need, whenever we’re lonely, whenever we’re sad - whatever emotion we’re experiencing in life - that the risen Lord is there to reach into our lives & to minister & to soothe & to help us?

C. Then the third lesson that comes from this great story is this, God doesn’t give up.

The story that follows in vs’s 15 to the end of the chapter is a beautiful story of restoration as Jesus asks Peter the question, "Do you love me?" time & time again. God didn’t give up on Peter. God just kept reminding Peter of His great love for him, & encouraging him to love in return, & then to serve.

Sometimes I think that as Christians we get the impression that we’re all walking on eggshells, & that sometime along the way, if we don’t say the right things or do the right things, that God is going to kick us out of the boat.

That is not true. God is always there, & when we stumble & fall & when we fail, He is there to pick us up & brush us off, & send us on our way again to serve Him further & even greater than before, if only we will let Him.

D. The fourth lesson that comes through is direction. God is anxious to give us direction in our life. Here we are with our neat little plans. We know where the fish are. We know how to fish for them. We’ve got it all figured out. We know exactly how we’re going to do it, step 1, 2, 3, & 4.

Then God comes & says, "But have you listened to my plans? Do you know what my direction is for your life? Have you been sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He strives to speak & to minister to you?"

God has a very special direction for your life & for mine. And when we’re sensitive to that, our lives will be lived in harmony with Him.

E. The fifth lesson is this, God wants us to start fishing for men. In the 5th chapter of the gospel of Luke there is a similar story. Jesus has just taught the multitudes from the boat of Simon Peter. After He had finished teaching them, He turned to Peter & said, "Cast the boat out into the sea & let’s go fishing."

Peter answers, "But Lord, we fished all night & we didn’t catch anything." Then Jesus said, "Try one more time." So they go out to sea, & you remember that on that occasion, they threw out the nets & they caught so many fish that the nets began to break. There were so many fish that when they started gathering them in, the boat started to sink.

After that wonderful experience, Peter said to the Lord, "Lord, I’m not going to fish for fish any more. I’m going to start fishing for men."

CONCL. We have come through the glory of the resurrection one more time. We have stood & sung together that He is alive. We have celebrated the fact that Jesus Christ has conquered sin & death, & that He is alive & by our side, giving us power & strength even today.

We know that these things are true, & we rejoice in them & we rejoice in the throngs of people who come. But now the dust settles.

And the Lord’s message is this, "Start fishing for men. There are a lot of folks out there who don’t know that I am alive. There are a lot of folks out there who don’t know the joy of living for me, & giving their lives to me. That’s your job."

So I hope that you can see another sea today, a sea of people. People who are lonely & lost & hurting. People who will never know the joy that you & I know as Christians unless somebody takes the time to tell them, & show them.

The crowds of Easter have gone back home, but there are still fish to be caught. So the Lord commissions us to go & fish some more, for men, for women, for young people, for hearts & lives who desperately need the Lord.

That is our challenge on this Sunday after Easter, "Go out into the world & tell the world about the risen Christ so that they, too, will know."

We’re inviting you this morning to make that decision that you need to make for Him as we come & as we sing.