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One of the most important questions we will ever answer is the question, who is Jesus?
Our answer is important because what we say and believe about Jesus along with the intensity of
our belief determines a lot about who we are as people.
Its a hard question because how do we adequately describe in language, the Son of God.
Ever since Jesus entered the world people have wrestled with this question, who is
Jesus.
We have all sorts of titles for JesusJesus is Lord, Jesus is Savior, Jesus is Messiah,
Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is Suffering Servant, Jesus is King, Jesus is the Son of God. These
titles are true. But unless we can get underneath the title and be clear about what they mean the
title is really not that significant.
On occasion Jesus asked his followers, who do you say that I am? He wanted to know
how people viewed him. He wants to know how we view him.
Today Im going to share an answer to the question, who is Jesus. By the end of this
sermon Im going to give you two things. Im going to give you a one word response to the
question, who is Jesus? and Im going to show how this response can impact the world.
With that introduction let me share that Im completing a four week sermon series today
called, My Favorite Story. A while ago I asked you to share your favorite Bible Story. Many
of you did. For the past four weeks weve gone deep into each of the four stories. The AIM of
this series is simplewe want every person to have a grasp of the story and go deep into its
meaning.
We started the series by looking at the story of Mary and Martha. This was a story that
Lena Truong chose
We continued by looking at the story of Ruth. This was a story that Paula Blair chose

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Last Sunday Pastor Kate preached about Esther.

Today were going to look at the story of Jesus and Peter on the beach. This is Chris
Audets favorite story.
To help us go deep into the story were sharing video interviews of each person who
chose the story.
Ive written a devotion for you that revolves around the theme of friendship. I encourage
you to use it this week. I think youll be blessed as you use it each day. In the middle is a place
to take notes. I believe God might say something to you in this sermon that youll want to write
down. On the back is our congregations prayer requests.
Lets review the story of Jesus and Peter on the beach. We only find the story in Johns
gospel. The story took place a few weeks after Jesus resurrection. Seven disciples were
gathered together. Peter told the group he wanted to go fishing. So the seven got into a boat and
went fishing. They fished all night and caught nothing.
Just after daybreak Jesus stood on a beach. As they were in the boat the disciples didnt
know that the man who was standing on the beach was Jesus. Jesus yelled to the guys, You
dont have any fish, do you? They yelled back, No. Jesus told them to put the net on the
other side of the boat. They did. The net became full of fish.
The disciple who was described later as the beloved disciple recognized that the man
standing on the beach was Jesus. He told Peter. Peter was either naked or had some
undergarments on. When Peter saw Jesus he put on some clothes and jumped in the water to
swim to shore.
When the seven disciples got to shore they saw a charcoal fire. It had fish and bread.
Jesus told the disciples to bring some of the fish that they had caught. The disciples had caught a

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large amount of fish153. Jesus told the disciples, come have breakfast with me. Jesus gave
them the bread, and he gave them the fish.
A few weeks ago I interviewed Chris Audet about the story. I started out by asking him
what he liked about the story. He shared this clip. Its about ninety seconds.
for me it kind of captures a sort of a poignant and fleeting moment. Jesus has come back from the dead.
Youve had the big reveal. Mary Magdalene has seen him, his mother has seen him, the disciples, Peter,
and even Thomas has seen himhes touched his side. Theres been a lot of that initial interaction.
This is prior to him ascending. And leaving them and then the Holy Spirit coming down. Kind of the last
moment of them having a normallike, the guys are out fishing. They are excited. Peter sees Jesus
coming and sayswait a minute. Thats Jesus. Im going to jump off the boat and go up to him
Paul:

Kind of like this poignant moment

Chris:
and then. Just the fact of them coming together and. Jesus made breakfast for them on
the beach. Kind of like. its such a beautiful picture of just their relationship as friends. Yes--hell
ascend to heaven. Theyll go out and be persecuted. All of these things that will happen afterwards.
They even hinted at that. At what might be coming or what to expect. That moment. Its such a
beautiful moment of friendship

I loved what Chris said. Its a beautiful picture of their relationship as friends. Its such a
beautiful moment of friendship.
I think the story helps us with the question, who is Jesus. Jesus is our friend.
I would encourage you to write this down. Jesus is our friend.
This idea that Jesus is our friend is certainly not a new idea and on the surface it might
not seem that significant of an idea. But if we push into it, I think we can see its a powerful
idea.
It wouldnt surprise me if many of us question, how can I be a friend with God?
How can we be friends with something as big and awesome and impersonal as the
Creator of the Universe. How can we be friends with perfection? the holy?
If youre like me you know that we havent led a life that is perfect. Weve made
mistakes and sins. Weve done things that were not proud of.

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Perhaps some of us feel weve been casual or even apathetic about God. For some of us
perhaps coming to worship depends on how we feel when we wake up on a Sunday morning.
Or perhaps when we come to church and if were honest we have to admit that the
importance of Jesus isnt that high.
Whats so cool about God is even though weve made mistakes, even though sometimes
were apathetic, and even though we dont value Jesus as much as we couldJesus still wants to
be our friend.
Whats so beautiful about this story is how Jesus embraced Peter. Rember Peter denied
knowing Jesus three times. The night before Jesus was crucified Peter denied knowing Jesus.
He denied that Jesus was his friend, he denied that Jesus was his Lord, he denied even knowing
Jesus. Jesus was still willing to say to Peter, come have breakfast with me.
The point is we dont have to wonder whether we can be a friend with God. Our
friendship starts with Gods desire to be friends with us. Even if weve messed up, or were at a
point where were casual about our faith, or we know our motivations are not quite right, Jesus
still wants to be our friend
When I interviewed Chris I discovered that he understood this dynamic of friendship. I
asked him how this story has inspired him. This is what he said:
I had a really interesting experience about a year ago that involved that story. I was really struggling
with, you know, where I was in my relationship with God and what was going on with my life at the
time. One of the things that always bothered me about the story at the same time that I liked it so well
is that it was something that seemed so fleeting. It was going to end so soon. The word I got or the
impression I got is it doesnt have to end. We can be in that intimate relationship with Jesus and have
breakfast with him. Its a quiet moment among friends. Not this (you know) ongoing burden or
pressure to fit an expectation. Its just, come have breakfast with me. That was really precious to me.

Jesus wants to be our friend. Its as if he asks us all the time, come have breakfast with
me.

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Having breakfast with friends is so much fun. I remember last month I had breakfast
with a friendDavid Maghakian. David just retired as pastor at New Life Presbyterian Church.
We hadnt seen each other in a while, so we set up breakfast at Keys. This breakfast was on a
weekday. And I had so much work to do that I wasnt sure that I had time. But when I got to
Keys it became clear to me that this is where I needed to be. David and I got caught up on our
lives, we laughed a lot, we had fun with our waitress. It was a beautiful moment of joy and fun
and friendship. Both of us were in the presence of something special. When I reflect on that
breakfast now I think, Id like to have a breakfast like that every day. We can have that
breakfast every day.
In the interview I asked Chris about this invitation of come have breakfast with me. I
asked him if this was a constant invitation from Jesus to us. Chris was definitive in his answer.
Yes. Its that he is Emmanuel. He is God with us. So in the midst of whatever were going throughthe
good, the bad, the busy, the freneticall the things that were dealing with on a day to day basis or
even the extreme tragedies that happen. Hes saying, come away with me. And have this time even in
the midst of all this. We can still sit down. Im not here toI am here to change the world, but Im not
here to fix you. Im here to be with you.

I love what Chris said about Jesus. Jesus is not here to fix us. Hes here to be present
with us. By experiencing that presence we can be inspired to become who we want to be and
who God wants us to be.
To say Jesus is our friend isnt quite enough. Lets push into what an impact this can
have on us and on the world.
How does saying Jesus is our friend make an impact on the world? Ive thought about
this as Ive thought about the horrible tragedy that took place in South Carolina
This has been a really hard week for our country. On Wednesday night Dylan Roof
attended a Bible Study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South

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Carolina. A hour into the Bible Study he started shooting people. Nine people died and all of
the victims were black.
This was a hate crime. Certainly Dylan Roof was targeting African-Americans.
Emmanuel AME Church is known in Charleston has a history of standing up for the AfricanAmerican community. Dylan Roof was intentional about the race of the people he murdered.
Id like for us to reflect on this tragedy for a moment through the lens of friendship. Ive
done a lot of reading since Wednesday about Dylan Roof. He didnt have a lot of friends. One
article said that he had African-American friends, but its hard for me to imagine that he had
many deep conversations about race with them. Over the past few months hes become a
lonerhes discarded his friends. Dylan Roof didnt have the type of friends who steered him in
a better direction.
Whats so amazing about this story is how many of the families of the victims responded
to Dylan Roof. Did you see what many of them said to Dylan Roof at a pre-trial hearing on
Friday? They forgave him. Its as if they said, Im willing to be your friendyou who
murdered my family.
When I first read about this I have to admit there is a part of me that thought, they didnt
really mean that. They are just saying that. I think it was authentic because of their faith.
These angelsand at that moment these people were messengers of God. These people couldnt
have said something like that unless they knew at a very deep level that Jesus was their friend.
What they did was a supernatural act. People just dont naturally forgive the murderer of their
family. People cant do that unless at the core of their being they can say that Jesus is my
friend.
(Whoathis is very heavy)

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One final point. Our friends reveal a lot about us.

I want to encourage us to do something. I have a challenge. Make a list of your closest
friends. Put five people on the list. After you have the list ask yourself, How many have a
different skin color than you; how many will vote for a different Presidential candidate in the
next election; how many dont believe in God. Do these people look like me and act like me
and think like me? Or do I have some diversity in my friends.
In the age of Social Media it seems that we live in an Echo Chamber. We make
comments and then many people just echo our comments. If our friends are only an extension of
our own identity, then we need some more friends.
I love the people of Chain of Lakes. One reason I love you is I come into contact with
people who are very different than me. Were not trying to create an echo chamber at Chain of
Lakes. Let me give an example.
Two weeks ago Jonathan and Judith Tse celebrated the high school graduation of their
son, Fon. It was a really busy day for my family. Amy and Hannah were going one direction
and I was going another direction. I decided to drive to Forest Lake for Fons graduation party.
SLIDE

Heres a picture of Jonathan and Judith and Fon.

I got there a bit early. Fon and his friends were celebrating in the lower level of his home. They
were dancing and playing loud music. Jonathan was sitting in the garage. I hadnt had the
opportunity to talk to Jonathan for a while. I went to the garage and we talked.
We had a wonderful conversation. Jonathan is one of the smartest people that I know.
He has a passion for the people Cameroon, his native country. And he has ideas about how to
help them. The evening before he and many other Cameroonians had partcicipated in a

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fundraiser in St. Paul for a school in Cameroon. It was fascinating to listen to Jonathan talk
about this school and what a difference it was making in the lives of children.
That 45 minute conversation was one of the best conversations of my week.
I thanked Jonathan for the conversation. But I want to thank youthe people of Chain of
Lakes for the conversation. I would have never had that conversation if Chain of Lakes Church
didnt exist. Our faith community has led Jonathan and me to be in relationship with each other.
Were not always going to be a small church. But today were a small church. But even
in our small church we have people from many different countriesCameroon, Mexico, Ghana,
Haiti.
We need this diversity. We need communities where people will cross lineswhether
its racial or political or class linesto develop friendships. The church is not called to be an
echo chamber. We are a community where strangers become friends.
Friends, our friendships have resulted because Jesus was willing to say on a beach
come have breakfast with me. That invitation has changed everything.