The Breakfast Club | Jay Hubbard | City Light Church

We're gonna go to the book of John. And my prayer is that at the end of this, we've woven a beautiful tapestry of God's grace. So we're gonna go to John 18. We're gonna start reading in verse 15. It says, Simon Peter followed Jesus as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest. So he was allowed to enter the high priest's courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who the high priest spoke to, the woman watching at the gate, she let Peter in. Then the woman asked Peter, you're not one of the man's disciples, are you? No, he said, I am not. Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it warming themselves and Peter stood with them warming himself. We'll now skip to verse 25. Verse 25 says, meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, you are not one of the disciples, are you? He denied it saying, no, I am not. But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked, didn't I see you there in the olive grove with Jesus?

Again, Peter denied it and immediately a rooster crowed. I wanna preach a message to you today titled, The Breakfast Club, The Breakfast Club. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to preach your word. It's my prayer that in these next few moments that you'd have your way. Let it not be my words, let it be your words. Would you do heart surgery on people? Would you lead people to Jesus? And would you abolish the mindset of shame for once and for all? In Jesus' mighty name and everybody said, amen. And amen. Peter has now denied Jesus three times and he is filled with immense shame and immense guilt. All of these events unfold shortly after Jesus' going away party, as I like to call it, AKA the Last Supper that happens in John 13. And one of the key themes of the Last Supper is Jesus is attempting to serve the disciples by washing the disciples' feet. Now customarily in this time, culturally, you washed your feet before entering the home, before going to dinner, practically speaking, because they wore leather sandals, they walked on dirt roads in a very balmy Mediterranean climate. My friends, that is a perfect storm

for a very nasty situation happening down in between your toes, okay? Everybody got the picture? I digress. So this foot washing thing was reserved for the lowest of society, the lowest on the totem pole. The slaves were usually the ones that washed your feet upon entering into the home. So Peter is actually repulsed at the fact that Jesus is stooping down to the level of a slave to wash his feet. As much so, Peter says, Jesus, you will have nothing to do with me unless I first wash your feet. And Jesus responds back to that, Peter, I don't think you quite understand grace yet. And I wonder if some of us in the room today have a misunderstanding of what Jesus's grace really means to us. Jesus is looking at Peter going, Peter, I know exactly what you are going to do. You're gonna deny me three times and then you're gonna retreat, but regardless of what you decide to do, I've already made up my mind of what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take this cross. I'm gonna walk up to Calvary. I'm gonna take nails in my hand and in my feet. I'm gonna don a crown of thorns

and I'm gonna die for every mistake you've ever made now and present. He said, Peter, you don't understand this new covenant that I'm about to institute here on earth. You're no longer gonna just have your feet washed with water but I'm gonna wash you with the blood of Jesus. I'm gonna spill my blood for you because his blood covers a multitude of sins. Come on, oh, how precious is his flow that makes me white as snow. There's no other felt I know. There's nothing but the blood of Jesus. Is anybody in the room today grateful for the blood of Jesus? I know I am. So we move forward in the story here. The cross is behind us. The grave is empty. Death has been defeated and Peter, the one who swore he would never leave Jesus, filled with immense guilt and immense shame is back to doing the very thing he was doing in the first place. He goes back to fishing. He goes back to the very thing that he is really comfortable with. Point number one, shame sends us back. Real sets you free. And so Peter talks to all the disciples and they find their way back out on a boat

on the Sea of Galilee because this is what shame actually does to you. It takes you away from the calling that God has on your life and puts you right back in your cages of comfortability. And so this is what shame does. It cages us. So you go back. to what makes you comfortable. You go back to the alcohol because at least now you can sleep a little better, so you think. You go back to the weed or the marijuana. You go back to the vape pen. You go back to the overtime over family time. You go back to the late-night uber eating. I just wanted a snack. It's 12 o'clock at night. You don't need a snack. You need to go to sleep. That Taco Bell burrito that's $2 is now gonna be $20 and then you're gonna be like wow that was so expensive and then you don't leave a tip and now your uber driver's mad. Sorry, I digress. You're in your cage. It's comfortability. You take it everywhere with you. You're like because at least if I'm in here you feel like they can't see you, so you move on. Hey, public service announcement. The enemy does not want you in a small group. He wants you caged in your comfortability because it takes a big leap of faith to get out of your comfort zone and go I think I'm gonna join a small group but I can't because I don't I don't want them to see me. Public service announcement. The enemy does not want iron sharpening iron, so if he can keep you here then you can't be sharpened because the enemy wants dull Christians. That's what he wants and see here's the thing. I'll tell you where the keys at to get out of these cages of comfortability but it's gonna require you to look inward because the the key is not doing more. It's never about doing more. It's always about looking inward and getting real with the you and guess what? Jesus loves the real you. He loves the real you, so the key to get out of these cages of comfortability is actually honesty. It's getting honest with yourself. It's getting honest with the real you. Can we talk about the real

us for a second? I want to talk about the real us. In May, me and my wife will celebrate 13 years of marriage. We're gonna be a teenager, praise God, and here's the thing. We like to post things and highs but we never really post the lows, right? Like we're in Cabo. I love Cabo. Cabo girls trip. Disneyland. Yeah, I did it this last weekend. I was like, Dodger game. This is the best day ever. LA. You know what I didn't post? The awful four-hour drive at 12 o'clock at night. I didn't post that because that was a low. Now if I would have taken a JXX private jet, I probably would have been like, going home. Why? Because we live for the highs, not the lows. 13 years in May and to this day I still hide stuff. Every service got really quiet when I said that. Not secrets. Stop judging me. We're not. It's not. No, no, no. Not secrets. Let's clarify. I'm talking about physical things. I'd be hiding stuff. Physical things. Little things. Like the car keys. See, you guys will call, people will call, okay can we come over for dinner tonight? And I'm like, I'm a seven. So when we get that phone call that's like, hey can we come over for dinner? I'm like, yeah. I love people. Let's talk. Let's hang out. But then I got to clean up because we have two kids who don't know how to clean up. So I start running around the house. I'm removing things off the counter. I'm throwing them in the closet. I'm just, I'm like ramsacking my own house. I said grab it as much as I can. Finding a place to put it. I take all 100 of Nadia's water bottles. I take her Stanley. Her Stanley wide mouth. Her Stanley with no handle. Her Stanley with a handle. Her Stanley 40 ounce. Her Stanley 20 ounce. Her Stanley 16 ounce. The kid's hydro jug. The kid's other hydro jug. That hydro jug. Why did you need a bigger hydro jug? And then all of a sudden last week there's another. Why'd you get that one? It's olive green. Somebody said it's olive green. I guess. It's a vessel that holds water and I'm still trying to comprehend it in my head but I digress. So I take those water bottles and I'm just like, you know, I gotta find a place downstairs bedroom. That's how I would open the downstairs bedroom if I, my hands are full. I just toss them in there, shut the door. Because for me, if it's out of sight, it's out of mind. So they

You come over and you're like, wow, this place is nice. This place is nice. The floors are mopped. The counters are wiped off. The pillows on the couch are all perfect. Everything looks amazing. Why? Because I'm a professional. I'm a professional surface cleaner. I'm a professional. Surface cleaning pros, LLC. That is me. I know. I know how to get it done and get it done quickly. I took all that stuff off. I threw it all away. And then the next morning I get a text message. Where are my keys? And I'm like, frightened, frightened in the moment. I'm like, oh my gosh. And my brain goes to like CSI moment. It's like an investigation, like 10, 47 PM. The subject, dang it, I'm the subject. The subject was wiping down the counters and he was wiping them down with a method cleaning spray. I smell grapefruit and he was perfectly doing everything and putting all this stuff away. And then he saw car keys and he grabbed those car keys. And he said, I know the best place for these car keys. In this drawer right here. And I shut the drawer.

And you know what drawer it is. You all have one. It's called a junk drawer. And here I am retracing my steps. And then it dawned on me, I'm not chasing it to be clean. I'm chasing perfection. And perfection is a trap set by the enemy disguised as obedience all the while feeding fear and shame. That's all it is. It sounds a lot like Genesis three when the enemy, the devil says, eat from the fruit of this tree and you'll be just like him. Because the enemy always wants you striving for perfection. Perfection is sneaky. It's a sneaky little snake. Perfection has you up at 11 o'clock at night trying to fix all your mistakes. It has you up all night long trying to make sure everything in your life is perfect. When in reality, Jesus never intended for you to be perfect. He's perfect. So we're striving for something that we weren't even created to do. You know why the law was created? To show me and you that we could never do it on our own. That's why he had to come. That's why he had to die on a cross.

That's why we had to have a good Friday. That's why he rose from the dead. Not just for your sin, but also for your shame. Point number two, Jesus restores you. Jesus restores you. We're gonna go to John 21 and we're gonna pick up the story here. You know, I wanna say this before we read John 21. Next week is Easter. And you know why people don't wanna come to church? Because they think they have to have it all figured out. They think they gotta dot their I's and cross their T's. And so they retreat, they withhold because they're like, I'm not ready to go. You know why a lot of you don't invite people to church? Because you don't want your family and your friends to see the real you mixing with the Sunday you. I tell people this all the time. You are one social media post away from the ultimate accountability. When all 5,000 of your followers see you at church on a Sunday, invite them to church. Easter's next week. Take the card, hand it to somebody. Don't put it on people's cars. That's annoying. Because then I get in the car and I sit down and I crank the car and then I'm like, oh, I gotta get out of the car now.

I get it out of the car and then I grab the card and I'm like, no, I don't want a car wash. Don't do that. Take the card, walk up to that person that lives right next door to you and say, hey, we have a plethora of services to choose from. I would love for you to attend with me on Sunday. Just please don't come to the 1045. And then you smile. That's what you do. And guess what? 82% of those people will say yes. They'll say yes. These people are open to the gospel. And we're gonna preach a message on the gospel where you can come as you are, where you can take off the mask and where you can receive Jesus Christ in his fullness. So take out your phone. Send the text message. Share the post. Pass out the card. Let's pack this place out next week for the glory of God. Amen. We're gonna go to John 21. Point number two, Jesus restores you. Let's read the scripture and then I'll talk. Let's talk about at dawn, starting in verse four. At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach,

but the disciples couldn't see who he was. He called out, fellows. I grew up in Southern California. I struggle with fellows. It sounds very proper. It's fellas. Fellas, have you caught any fish? And just like a group of men, they responded with one word, no. Then he said, throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat and you'll get some. So they did, and they couldn't haul it in because there were so many fish. Then the disciple Jesus loved, who is John, looked at Peter and he said this, it is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic, jumped into the water, and headed to shore. This is now the fourth time Jesus has appeared to Peter post-resurrection. The first time was a private encounter. The second time was back in the upper room where he washed the disciples' feet. The third time he appears with Thomas behind locked doors. And I can imagine Peter going, man, if Thomas denied you, and if Thomas doubted you and I denied you, then surely, surely you really must love us. And now we're here at the fourth encounter in John 21, and it so happens to be the exact same place that Jesus had first called Peter off the boat

and commissioned him into ministry in Luke 5. They're on the Sea of Galilee, they're back on the boat. Peter is back to doing the very thing Jesus called him out of. And I've come to tell somebody today, even in the midst of your retreat, Jesus will still find you exactly where you are, find you exactly where you are. You can try to run as fast as you can. He'll catch up, he will catch up. And Peter does something so interesting that caught my eye in the text. He grabs his tunic, he grabs some clothing, because fishermen back then fished practically naked, if not naked. And most of the time when I'd read this, I'd go, he's covering himself because he's filled with shame. But if you actually study it out, if you actually read the commentaries, the Tyndale commentary tells you he is not covering himself out of shame. Because if my theology serves me correctly, Jesus just died on the cross. Why did he die on the cross? For your sins. So here's Peter covering himself. It kind of reminds me of Genesis 3. What did Adam and Eve do? They covered themselves. And then what did they do?

They hid. Peter doesn't do this. He covers himself, and then he jumps in the water. And then he pursues Jesus. It's totally different. I've come to tell you today, Jesus is pleased with your pursuit. A lot of people preach it. They go, and then Peter swam to the shore to meet Jesus. I actually can't find that really anywhere supported in the text. None of the original text, the Amplified Bible says he swam. It's in brackets, which is not a part of the original text. So I don't know if he swam. I don't know if he jumped in and he was knee deep. All I do know is he was about 100 yards away from the shore, the Bible said. I don't know if he jumped in and it was ankle high and he was able to walk to the shore. I don't really know. But what I do know is this, Peter had an epiphany. I just have to get to Jesus. Because if I can get to Jesus, then everything will be okay. He's having a reality and an understanding that God's grace can find you wherever you are. And so he gets to the shore and Jesus does what only Jesus can do. He says, come and have breakfast with me. There's a seat here at my table

and there's a charcoal fire here too. Kind of sounds and smells and feels like a week ago when I denied you three times by the charcoal fire. I hear the flames crackling. I denied you once. I feel the warmth on my skin and I denied you twice. I smell the smoke from the charcoal and I denied you three times. And then the rooster crowed. Jesus is about to do something so powerful. He's gonna take one moment of trauma and he's gonna reframe his shame and he's gonna call him into a new level with a new memory. This is the grace of God, friend. It's restoration. And so Jesus starts talking to Peter. He says, Peter, do you love me? Peter says, yes, Lord, I love you. He goes, then feed my sheep. What an honor for a fisherman to feed sheep. Jesus doubles down because he's Jesus, he can do that. Peter, do you love me? He's like, yes, Lord, I love you. He goes, then feed my sheep. What an amazing honor and privilege for a shepherd, for a pastor. So he's calling him from fisherman, to shepherd, to pastor. And then he triples down on him one more time. And he says, hey, Peter, do you love me?

And he says, Lord, only you know how much I love you. And he says, Peter, then feed my sheep. What an incredible honor for the Apostle Peter to have to feed the sheep of Jesus' people. I've come to tell somebody today, Jesus chose Peter, and he also chose you. There is no amount of shame that could ever separate you from the love of God. He cast his sin as far as the east is from the west. He has called you, and I've come today to flip the script on shame. I've come today to tell you that for every ounce of guilt you have, there's the shed blood of Jesus Christ that covers a multitude of sins, and he is here for you today. That is the grace of God, that nothing could ever separate you from the grace of God. Man, all of you in correctional facilities, there is nothing that you could ever do that will ever separate you from the love of God. There is no sin that is too strong for the blood of Jesus, and when you get out, there's a place for you here to experience the love of God and the grace of God. Glory. Glory. Glory. Hallelujah. That's grace, friends.

It's turning from my old life, and it's turning towards him. That's repentance, and the farther you get away, the smaller that gets, and the bigger he gets. That's repentance. That's repentance.