Illuminators Foster Restoration

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

Today, we wrap up our series, Illuminate, by looking at a story about Jesus restoring the disciples at the end of John in chapter 21. My main, main idea for you is this, is that illuminators foster restoration. You see, you and I, as we move through our life, we will fall down and we will need a hand back up.

It's also true that we will disappoint. and not show up for others. And all of that requires restoration. As people, we need to be restored in our identity, restored in relationships, restored in our belief, all different kinds of ways, because life can be hard. And you and I are not perfect, and so restoration is key.

And the people that understand this operate in such a way where we feel seen and heard. Because what they do is they restore others. Now, in this scene with Jesus, he has called to the disciples, and they're out on their fishing boats, and he invites them in for breakfast. He says, come on in, I got some fish and some bread on the fire, let's get together.

And so they come in, and then after that, he asks Peter three times, Do you love me? And you can see as Peter walks through, it's a hurtful experience for him, but ultimately, Jesus says, feed my sheep. So what's this all about? Well, I think sometimes we forget that the disciples really let Jesus down.

Whenever we let someone down, we're in this place in which we probably feel a lot of shame and disappointment. And so this needs to be restored. And that's what we see in Jesus action. He invites the disciples in and restores relationship with the ones that deserted him. And he does that, and then he envisions them to participate in the ministry moving forward.

Go feed my sheep, he says. Three lessons for us to learn from this. One, it's a reminder that God is in the business of restoration. How fascinating it is that the way Jesus chooses people to send out into the world to begin announcing the good news of his kingdom, that not only has God come to earth, but has died and resurrected and conquered death.

And there's a future of restoration that waits. He uses people that need to be restored themselves. So Peter and the other disciples had let Jesus down. And Jesus restores them, says to them that he loves them, and sends them out. What a great message. And so what we learn is that God is in the business of restoration.

We see this in Jesus ministry throughout, where he sees people who are often unseen and unheard and feel disconnected from the rest of the world, and he sees them, and he offers them grace and respect and dignity. And that's what Jesus ministry is about, certainly what he did with the disciples. And then, of course, the grand story of the scriptures is the story of restoration.

That the world is broken, but that God has not abandoned it, or that God has come to restore it. Okay, so, as illuminators, we want to foster restoration. And why can we even do that? Because that's the business that God is in. Secondly, we learn a little bit about what it looks like to be human. And to be human is to pursue restoration.

How do we do that? By giving and receiving grace. That's the engine that drives restoration. So, Jesus invites them in. And what happens there is he offers grace. He offers grace to Peter and the other disciples. And then they have to receive that. Now, I think a lot of times we think that grace is really just about forgiveness.

And forgiveness is certainly part of grace. When the scriptures talk about grace, it's a much bigger concept. Grace is the power to reshape the past. Grace restores relationship. Grace helps people find their identity and know who they are. And grace ultimately opens up possibility in the future. That's grace in its biggest way.

But what we see in the way that Jesus interacts by inviting the disciples in and sharing some food with them and asking them to join him in his work is that grace often manifests itself in the small things. Grace can be an encouraging text message that we send someone. Grace can be sharing a meal with someone.

Grace can be another opportunity that somebody offered us. Grace could be, hey, let's just get together. These are all different forms of grace. And so, as human beings, what we learn is that we want to be a people who get really skilled at both giving and receiving grace. Now, to receive grace, we have to accept that we need help.

We have to accept, perhaps, that we've done something wrong in order to have that full restoration. And so, being human is about giving and receiving grace. And so my question for you might be, where are you inhibiting grace? Are you not receiving grace that someone's offered you? Or does someone need grace from you and you're refusing to offer it?

Take a step, whether it's at work, in your home, in your neighborhood, by extending grace. By saying, hey let's grab a meal together. By telling someone you appreciate them. Maybe a long talk of repair is required, where you really hash things out in the same way that Jesus and Peter did. Whatever it is, if you want to foster restoration, it's going to happen because you are choosing to lean into giving and receiving grace.

Finally, the last thing we see Jesus do is we see Jesus operate as a repair artist. So they've done studies around divorce and what they discover with couples who stay together, it's not really how they fight, it's how they repair their relationship that makes the long term difference of them staying together.

And the way we repair a relationship is often smaller than you think. It's through making a joke. It's through letting go of something and moving on. It's saying, Hey, let's get coffee together, or, Hey, I'm looking forward to our date Friday, whatever it might be. And so people who are really good at repair know how to send relational bids, know how to offer some humor as a joke.

And we see Jesus do these same things. So Jesus says, Come on in, bring some of your fish. Come join me. Hey, I already have some fish and bread on the fire. Let me take care of you. And so we watch Jesus act out these small gestures of repair by drawing connection and pulling people in. And so if we want to be people who foster restoration in our homes and our neighborhoods and workplaces, we need to be the same kind of people.

We need to be the kind of people that pull people together for a meal, make a joke, send the encouraging note, whatever that might be. In order to help others feel seen and heard, all of us fall down. All of us need a hand up and all of us need restoration and forgiveness. And what we want to be as a people is we want to be a people who illuminate, help others feel seen and heard just as Jesus did.

I hope this series has been great for you. It's been fun for me to share it with you. So go out there this week. and foster restoration. And know that when you're doing it, you're participating in God's business, that the how you should live is through giving and receiving grace. And look and learn about how you can be a repair artist in your relational maneuvers.

Have a great week.