Jim's Sermon from Sunday August 31st

ESV Luke 5:1-11
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 5 And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

“The Journey of Discipleship”

For Peter, it had been a very long shift. All night long, he had fished the waters of the Sea of Galilee, hoping for a substantial catch. It was his livelihood. He had worked throughout the cool night - the optimal time for fishing - in the most profitable portion of the lake, at the end of his shift: nothing.

You’ve probably had times like this in your work, no matter where you work; long hours, good instincts, no short-cuts, but also nothing to show for it. If so, you can appreciate how Peter must have felt.

Jesus said, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing.” In other words I’m tired leave us alone. Here is a man whose life is fishing, and out of nowhere comes a stranger and He is telling them to try what years of experience is telling them is hopeless and fruitless. What Jesus is asking them to do boggles the mind. They had finished for the night and were already cleaning and repairing their nets and ready to get some much needed sleep. To listen to Jesus would have them undo all the preparation that was made for the next nights work.

Now how would we react if we were on a job that we had been experienced in for many years and some stranger comes and tries to tell us how to do our job. We could limit God’s possibilities because of our stubbornness. This is an example of trust and faith taking over from logic and experience, an example of being pushed beyond the temporal and into the spiritual.

We all receive direction from the Holy Spirit and there probably aren’t too many of us that haven’t ignored that advice at one time or another. These fishermen have probably followed the same routine all their lives. They learned their routine from their fathers and probably had all intentions of passing this trade on to their sons. What made the difference in this situation was the fact that there was faith in following Jesus’ command to go out and try again. This account goes on to tell of the surprising results. The catch was so great that it required another boat to bring in the fish and even with that other vessel they began to sink due to the magnitude of the abundance of fish. They listened to the command of Jesus and they were blessed beyond the capabilities of their mortal imagination.

What was the end result of this unexpected blessing? Are we to view this as the expected end result of our obedience? I’m afraid there are many who have equated serving and listening to Jesus with earthly gratification and rewards. The prosperity gospel preached by so many on TV is a good example. A person following this flawed theology would have stopped and sold the large catch and gone home happy. What happened instead? We read in verse 8, but when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" The result of witnessing this phenomenon, beyond human expectation showed Simon Peter the futility of dependence upon self. Here was Jesus, who was clearly beyond humanity and here is Simon Peter surveying the gulf that separates man from God. He realizes who is to be followed.

In the end the fishermen left everything and followed Jesus. They didn’t wait to sell their boats. They didn’t sell this awe-inspiring catch of fish. They didn’t gather their belongings and make sure that things were all going to pan out first. They left everything and followed Jesus.

Peter’s response to this miracle is the response of one who has come into the very presence of God. In contrast to our somewhat easy familiarity today with the sacred and the casual way we tend to seek and treat religious experience and the "presence" of God, Simon’s response was much closer to encounters with God seen throughout the Old Testament. The realization that one is in the presence of God calls for a response, not of happiness, but of fear and dread and reverence. Isaiah, when he encountered God in a significant way while worshipping in the Temple, responded by crying, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!" (Isa 6:5).

Jesus had confronted Peter with his own inadequacies in the very area that defined who he was as a person, his vocation. The distance between the power of the one who stood before him contrasted with his own inadequacies pushed Peter to self-examination and confession. Again, this picks up a recurring theme from the Old Testament. Moses confessed his impotence, especially his inability to speak well, as he stood before the burning bush (Ex 3:11-4:17, esp. 4:10). As God came to Solomon in a dream, he admitted that he was not wise enough to govern God’s people (1 King 3:7-9). And at God’s call Jeremiah recognized the inadequacy of his youth (Jer 1:6).

Peter was humbled here in the one area of life where he should be in control. "Go away from me Lord!" It is always easier to push away those who bring us face to face with ourselves than it is to face the truth of who we are. This reminds me of the reaction that the people of Nazareth had to Jesus and foreshadows not only the path of Jesus to the crucifixion but also of the persecution the disciples experience in Acts. Yet in this moment of truth, Peter is able to come face to face with himself and confess, "I am a sinful man." It is this confession that marks a turning point in Simon’s life, and becomes the definition of faithful response to Jesus.

Jesus responded, not with condemnation, but the assurance "Don’t be afraid" (v. 10). As Peter lay at Jesus’ feet, reduced to the humility of a child, Jesus responded with the grace and love of a parent reassuring a child who has lost all confidence in themselves that they still have value and worth. In that moment Jesus redefined who Peter was. He would no longer be the fisherman on the Sea of Galilee catching fish for a living, but he would now be living to fish for men. The event here was far more than a miracle of fish; it was nothing less than an encounter with God that forever changed who Peter and the other men in the boats would be. And it became symbolic of the mission of God’s people in the new world of the church. Their value and worth would no longer be defined by their own efforts and success at their vocation, but would be defined by the power of God at work in their lives and in carrying out God’s work in the world.

We can do God’s business in our daily lives. Martin Luther wrote, "The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship." Whatever you do in word or deed do it in the name of the Lord.

It’s when we realize our own sinfulness, and experience God’s grace, that we can begin our Christian vocation. This suggests that theologically, confession of sin should move us into Christian vocation. That means, our journey of discipleship does not end with our confession of sin and acceptance of grace, but that transformation begins our journey; discipleship is defined in terms of obedience, mission and service. Of course, that doesn’t just mean going to other countries as our friend John has recently done. It means that that our encounters with God lead us as servants to share the labor of the Kingdom of God so that the nets won’t break and the boats won’t sink. Finally, it is God who gives the catch of fish. But the vocation of Christians, anchored in that worshipful encounter with God, is to respond to God’s work by hauling in the catch. It’s our job to be where God calls us to be obediently following his directions.