If anyone has any questions about what salvation is, then you need to read this final chapter of the Gospel books. John could not make it more clear that it is completely based on your relationship with Jesus. That salvation requires faith when stepping out into the supernatural world to have a relationship with God that just can't exist, but it does.
Jesus came to the apostles one final time before his ascension. He made them special one more time to have specific and personal good byes until they met again on the other side of the veil of death. They all needed different levels of forgiveness for random things, but specifically what happened the night that he was taken. They all still struggled with those event, but none more than Peter.
They still stuck together like their lives depended on it. Maybe they did. If they were together they would be a lot harder to attack or snatch and do what was done to Jesus in secret. This day there were five or six of them fishing (Peter, Doubting Thomas, Nathaniel, Zebedee's sons, and two others). They had not caught anything all night. The morning was waking up the world a man standing on the shore looking at them called out: Friend. This was a message of good will, even among strangers.
The man told them to throw their net to the other side (the right side) of the boat. They did as the man told them and all of a sudden they had so many fish that their net was bulging. It was outrageous. They ended up with 153 fish. It is a miracle that the net did not break. This is when John realized the man was Jesus and told Peter.
It was the third time they had seen him since his resurrection. Peter could not contain himself. He dove into the sea to swim to Jesus. The boat would have taken too long. He needed to be near Jesus immediately. It was only about a 100 yard swim. When they all made it ashore, Jesus welcomed them with a fire to cook the fish and warm them. They had breakfast together after Jesus blessed it.
He had a lesson to teach all of them and he needed the fish to get the point across. They needed to be fishers of men. That will take supernatural help. They could go out into the world proclaiming the good news, but until they had received restoration that only comes from salvation, their ministry held no power. They could not bring people in. However, once people do it Jesus' way, then the numbers can be beyond count.
We can't rely on tradition, training, or education. Bringing people to Jesus requires being empowered by the holy spirit. Each person is different. Each person has their own history, culture, genetics, education, and so many more things that make them unique.
We can't be cookie cutter when we reach out. We have to make it about them and Jesus. Our job it to listen to the ques from the Holy Spirit and genuinely care about the person. You have to be willing to be different, an outcast, or weird. You have to be willing to risk it all for a complete stranger because Jesus did.
Jesus understood the agony that Peter was going through. He had it buried, but Jesus knew that Peter could not move forward until it was dealt with. We all have this just in different aspects of life. We just have to be brave enough to face it.
Peter had denied Jesus three times. That means that now he had to proclaim and accept Jesus' love three time to be completely restored. It is a heart melting moment as Peter accepts what he did and that Jesus' love covers it. It is an unimageable experience that is life altering. When you experience it, you take in the air differently. It is more vibrant, less heavy. The burdens in life are less extreme. The hard part is maintaining that after the spiritual high goes away. You have to remember that you are worthy no matter what because Jesus said you were.
Jesus warned Peter that Peter would die for Jesus' name, but that it would glorify God. Jesus told him that he would be a martyr, but still told Peter to follow him. I think after experiencing the restoration that Peter had experienced, that he was willing even if he may not have understood completely. He understood enough to follow Jesus no matter what. Once you are saved, you can be restored. You just have to allow Jesus to heal you like he did Peter. Once you are restored, then you can do anything that he directs you to do.
You can be a Christian without this type of restoration, but your reach to other people will be very limited. You have to experience freedom to show other people how to experience freedom. Once saved, you are always saved. That does not mean that you get to live however you want. When you sin you still have to seek restoration for cleansing and a pure relationship with Jesus. If salvation was not eternal, then we would be back to it being about works. No one is a pure as Jesus, but we can work daily to be a pure light of his.
We get salvation, then restoration, then commissioned by the Holy Spirit (aka Jesus). It doesn't have to be a long drawn out process, but you do need to take time to build your relationship with Jesus before starting a full blown ministry. The apostles had two to three years, then they still needed time during the transition. Once they were ready, then the Holy Spirit said go. We will learn about the go in Acts.
John 21
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