Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #20: Jesus and the Four Fishermen - Luke 5:1-11

 

Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #20: Jesus and the Four Fishermen - Luke 5:1-11

Introduction: 

Joke: A forest ranger was sure that LeRoy was not fishing according to the rules and regulations of the state of Texas and he decided to try and find out.  Yet no matter how much he spied and pried he could never figure out what ol’ LeRoy was doing. He would just see him at the end of the day with a boatload of the biggest fish in the lake and couldn’t say nothing.

Finally, he just decides to just ask ol’ LeRoy how he was catching all those fish when no one else was. LeRoy said, “Well if ya wants, I can just shows ya hows I does it.”

The ranger agreed, and LeRoy and the ranger went fishing. They took out Leroy’s tiny little John boat. The ranger said, “LeRoy you can’t catch that many fish in that little boat.” LeRoy didn’t say anything. They trolled out to the middle of the lake in the hottest part of the day. The ranger said, “LeRoy you can’t be catchin no fish here, in this boat at this time of day.” LeRoy didn’t say nothing. LeRoy then reached into his tackle box, pulled out a stick of dynamite and lit it. The ranger shouted. “LeRoy, you can’t fish with dynamite! If you throw that stick into this lake I’m going to arrest you.” LeRoy smiled handed the lit stick of dynamite to the ranger and said, “You gonna keep talkin, or ya gonna start fishin?”

The moral of that story is, “Sometimes you have to make a decision and it better be the right one.” That is also the moral of our passage today found in Luke chapter 5.

When it comes to knowing, following and surrendering to Jesus and those rarely happen at the same time, you need to make a decision and it better be the right one. These kinds of decisions or commitments will challenge us. The Lord through his word will present us with crossroads of our will, our future, our goals and dreams. At that crossroad, our response to the Lord will be not be seen by our thoughts or intentions but by our obedience, our actions.

Luke 5:1-11 is a calling to four fishermen at the Sea of Galilee or as Luke, a Gentile, non-native of the area called it, the Lake of Gennesaret. It is not their first call to follow the Lord, no, that is recorded in John 1:35-42; nor is it even their second, what was in Matt 4:18-22, but this call the final call where Simon, Andrew, John and James stand at the crossroad of decision and choose the path that changes everything for them and for the world.

Two sets of brothers who earned their living by fishing on the Sea of Galilee. They have already they already believe that Jesus is the Messiah. For they were followers of John the Baptist. He had baptized them and one day when John saw Jesus he told them, “Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!” and they began to follow Jesus.

So, what makes this calling the final one? It is after this call that the four fishermen will forsake their nets, their jobs, their way of life, their past, their future and follow Jesus completely and fully, ultimately they will be not be just disciples but the apostles, not just believers but workers, not just learners but teachers.

What made this call the final one? I believe it was the command of Christ to launch out into the deep. I believe it was a test of faith and a show of power by Jesus Christ that took these believers and changed them into followers, disciples and apostles. This event started them on the process of becoming the core group of “sent ones”, who with the gospel of Christ as their message and the hope of eternity as their burden, would turn the world upside down.

Command and Challenge - Luke5. 1-4

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,  And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

Launch Out

Jesus came to the Lake of Gennesaret that day to preach. He was already well known in the area around Galilee for a multitude of people were crowding Him. Interestingly, the word means to put pressure. The crowd was crowding Jesus so closely that he could not do anything for the pressure, the closeness of the people wanting to hear and see Him.

I don’t believe it was an accident that he was at the Lake, at this time of day. This was the time when the fishermen came back from night fishing, pulled out their nets, washed them, mended them and dried them. Jesus came looking for these fishermen on this day. It was his plan to change them from part-time followers to full time apostles.

The crowd is crowding and Jesus is looking for Peter and his partners. He finds them cleaning their nets and asks Peter who is the leader of this enterprise, to let Him use his boat for a pulpit. So they put out a little way from the shore and Jesus sits down and speaks with the people. The water stopped the crowd and at the same time amplified what Jesus’ message. This was usually the way Jesus taught, no shouting, no theatrics, but teaching, listening and quite learning. We see how Jesus dealt the crowds I wonder how he would have dealt with smartphones? Because the noise of a crowd is noting compared to the noise of the world through the internet, is it?

When he finishes teaching, Jesus tells Peter to “Launch Out into the deep water and drop your nets for a catch of fish. The word draught is agra and we would say a “haul” of fishes or if you were Leroy and he ranger “ a big ol boatload.”

Jesus has three objectives in commanding Peter.

First, a test of obedience.

Second, He is offering him a return for the use of his time and ship. Jesus always give back more than he ask for. Always.

Third, He is going to teach another lesson, one that can’t be taught in words alone. It is a lesson of faith seen in action, a lesson of reward and risk, a lesson of a God’s gifts and guidance.

Doubt But Do

Jesus is still in the business of calling people. He calls the ignorant to become learned. He calls sinners to become saints. He call believers to become disciples and sometimes as we seen in our passage today, He calls disciples to become those sent by Him as preachers and missionaries.

The only question we must consider is this one, is He doing that to me? Is He doing it today?   Am I hearing Jesus say, “Trust me, and launch out into the deep.”

Jesus still has the same objective for us that he did for Peter.

First, he is testing our obedience. John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Second, he is offering us rewards and blessings in return for obeying and serving Him. Jeremiah 7:23 Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Third he is trying to teach us a spiritual, eternal lesson that can’t be learned with words alone. Psalms 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

I am absolutely sure that Jesus still tells us today to launch out into the deep.

I first heard that call when I was 7 years old. A little bitty boy in a little Spanish mission in the dying copper mining town of Miami, Az. I felt and heard His call and I stepped out into that black and white checkerboard tiled aisle and Jesus to save my wicked, vile, black, dirty, sinful 7-year-old soul. I know, I know at 7 years old, I hadn’t murdered anybody…yet, and I doubt I even knew the word vile. But I did know this. Jesus was calling and I needed to answer.

Later as a 14- or 15-year teen, I heard a different call and I walked a different aisle in a different church, but once again with tears in my eyes and a different calling from the Lord,  calling me to tell people about the love of God. I heard the call, oh, but I held back. I didn’t launch out. I prayed at the altar with Bro. Jack Elam and I sat back down.

Then when I was 21, after years of running from that second call I heard as a teenager, I heard it loud and clear again. Now, I had my wife, LeeOra and a newborn baby boy, Jason and my own little business, but I was tired of running and so this, my third calling I answered, “Yes, Lord. I’m going to get in the boat, and launch out wherever you tell me..”

I’ve heard Jesus call many times,  after each heartbreak, after each defeat, after each desertion or betrayal and still He says, “Launch out into the deep again.”  He has sent me to places where I felt afraid and failed but still, even when I feel it’s time to pull up my nets and go home for good, he points away off across that sea of doubt and uncertainty and says, “Launch out, for there is still work to be done over there in the deep.”

His voice is always strong, and His assurance unmistakable. He is still telling all of us, everyone in this auditorium, everyone who hears the Gospel, to “Launch out into the deep.”

Notice the response of Peter to the Lord’s command of launch out in vs. 5

 Cynicism and Compliance Luke 5:5

And Simon answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.

Toiling and Taking Nothing

Peter’s response, “Master, We have toiled all night and taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” The word translated “Master” here is used only by Luke and only 7 times in the New Testament, ἐπιστάτης epistatēs; it speaks of authority: the chief commander, the boss. Peter was willing to submit to the authority of Jesus, because He was the boss, He was the Messiah, but Peter wasn’t sure “the boss” knew what He was asking. Nevertheless, at thy word, because you’re the authority, I will do what you command.

Don’t you know that this kind of response is one of the reasons why the Lord chose Peter to be an Apostle? He is so much more like you and I than Paul or even John. Peter more than any other New Testament Bible character speaks, and I hear my words, coming out of his mouth.

Peter is blunt but truthful. (I think he must have some East Texas in Him.) “Boss, you know we fished all night, right.”

For real Galilean fishermen, men who made their living catching and selling fish, nighttime was the time to work. The fishermen would take torches and hold them close to the surface of the water where the fish would have risen after staying in the depths of the water during the heat of the day.

The fish would by attracted to the light and the insects drawn by the torches and they would swim near the boat and the men would cast a net and catch their fish.

Peter knew this, he was a lifetime fisherman. He was the expert; Jesus was a just carpenter and now a Rabbi or teacher. Neither qualified him to tell Peter how to fish.

Peter was also tired he says, we have fished all night. They started at sunset and fished until sun up.

Finally, it just wasn’t a good day for fishing. They hadn’t caught a thing. There just weren’t any fish in that lake. (When I fish, its always like this. I never catch anything. I have real fishermen tell me, I need the right equipment or the right time of day or time of year. But I know that when it comes to me and fish, even a stick of dynamite wouldn’t help. Peter didn’t have any dynamite back then. And now he’s tired and he wants to go home and sleep.)

But Peter didn’t just say, “We’ve toiled all night and taken nothing.” This wasn’t the first time Jesus has called Peter, Andrew, James and John to be His followers. Peter knows this in not just another Preacher who doesn’t know a spinner from stink bait.  No, Peter goes on and says, “Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down my net.”

It didn’t make sense. It was contrary to experience. It was unfair to ask of men who were at the end of the strength to do anything else, but because Jesus said it, Peter responded, I’m going to do it because you, Lord, have asked it. “At they word.”

Do you see why Peter was the leader of this group both as fishers of fish and later as fishers of men? He saw the world of reality and doubt, even expressed those doubts but he still believed in Jesus, he still acted, he still stepped out in faith even when he couldn’t see where he was going or how it could work out.  

If Jesus said, it then, even if Peter didn’t understand how it would or could work, still he was going to do it, because Jesus said it. That is submission, that is obedience and that is faith!

Determined Despite

There are a lot of similarities between us and Peter, but you know what the difference is? We have the same doubts about what the Lord is telling us, calling us to do but instead of expressing those doubts and then doing it anyway, we don’t say anything and then we don’t do anything. As if our silence and our inaction will make the command null and void. “I’ll just pretend that wasn’t the Lord, speaking to me.”

The Lord through His word and Holy Spirit says, “Launch out into the deep with your finances. Launch out into the deep with your family. Launch out into the deep with your career.” Most challenging of all the Lord says, “Launch out into the deep, into the unknown, with your soul.” And yes, he is talking to you and me.

We know what God is telling us to do but we say nothing and then we do nothing. It would be better if we stood up in the middle of Church shouted that God doesn’t make any sense, this can’t possibly work and then said, “To prove it I’m going to try it anyway just to show you.”

But instead, we sit there in our cocoons of silence and our coffins of inactivity and refuse to act at all. Refuse to even try or to test God and His promises.

But God says, “I am bigger than the doubts and greater than the tests. Try me!”

Listen to Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

God is greater than your tests.

Gideon tested God. Zechariah the father of John the Baptist tested God. Hannah the mother of Samuel tested God. They and many, many others stepped out, in spite of their doubts, in spite of their fears, and said, “Lord I can’t see how this is going to work but I’m going to do it anyway.”

We need to have faith enough to express our doubts and then like Peter, Zechariah, or Hannah, put God to the test by obeying Him anyway. “Nevertheless at thy Word, I will…”

Send the Communion Set we will surely need it.

An incident from the lives of Robert and Mary Moffat underscores this truth in an interesting way. For 10 years these two missionaries faithfully pursued their endeavors in Bechuanaland without one ray of encouragement brightening their way. Not a single person was converted to Christ. Finally, the directors of their mission board began to question the wisdom of continuing the work. The very thought of leaving their post, however, brought grief to the devoted couple who felt sure that eventually they would see the fruits of their labors. They stayed on, and for two more years the forces of darkness reigned. Then a friend in England wrote to Mrs. Moffat that she wanted to send her a gift, and asked for a suggestion. In her reply she requested nothing for herself, although she could have used many things. Rather she pleaded, "Send us a communion set; I'm sure we will need one soon." God honored her faith, for the Holy Spirit began to work in hearts, and a short time later six people accepted the Savior. Soon a small group had united to form a church for fellowship and to study the Bible. The communion set from England was delayed en route; but on the very day before the Lord's Supper was to be observed, the gift arrived. That’s faith, that’s doing what the Lord commands despite the doubts I may have.

Back in Luke 5 and verse 6 we see the conclusion of Peter’s doubting but doing…

Completion and Confession - Luke 5:6-10a

And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.

Risk, Repentance and Reward

Peter does what the Lord says. It seems he had taken Jesus into the boat, probably to show him this wasn’t go to work. He then launches out into the deep and lets down his net.

In my mind, I see it. No sooner had the net hit the water and sunk down that it must have felt like the boat hit a rock. Peter and his brother Andrew begin to try and draw the net in and so huge is the catch that the nest begin to break.

He calls out to his partners. He is out in the deep and James and John are in another boat, probably still on shore. So, he is trying to hold the net with one hand and waving with the other hand trying to get someone to launch out into the deep with him and help him draw in these fish.

John and James arrive and they probably put another net under Peter’s net and then they all lift the net and pull it into the boats, The haul of fishes was so great that both boats sink down to just inches above the water line.

Don’t you imagine that the Lord was smiling, maybe even laughing to himself at what was happening? Because after all He knew what was going to happen all along.

When Peter sees what has happened, he falls down at the feet of Jesus and repents. He confesses his doubts, his fear and his pride. “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, Oh Lord.” Here Peter calls Jesus Lord, this is the word most often used in the New Testament, it is κύριος kyrios; it means supreme in authority, the one to whom a person belongs.  

Peter sees Jesus, in a way that he had never seen Him before, he sees him now as his Lord, the one he belongs to and in comparison Peter can only see himself as a sinner, unworthy to be in the same place as Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, The creator, ruler and Lord of all, even the Lord of fishermen and fish.

The Bible says, “For he was amazed.” Literally that means, For a wonder held him round. He was surrounded by the miracle that is Jesus. The wonder of what they had seen surrounded and held Peter fast with all the others.

Isn’t it amazing, Peter had cast a net that caught fish, but Jesus had cast a miracle that caught Peter’s complete surrender and submission.

Ready to Risk and Repent?

Peter would never have come to this place, never come to the feet of Jesus, never seen Jesus as much more than the Messiah, had he not obeyed Jesus and launched out into the deep.

He risked much to obey the Lord.

He risked embarrassment from all those people and other fishermen on shore. “Look at Peter he’s going back out to fish at the wrong time and in the wrong place.”

He risked all that he owned. His nets began to break and his ship begins to sink. If he lost these things he would lose everything he had in this world.

He even risked his life. We know from the story of Peter walking on the water that he probably can’t swim. If the boat goes down Peter could die.

Yet because he risked it all in obedience to Christ that he was able to truly see Jesus as Master and Lord.

It comes down to this for us all, where is our obedience? Where is our risk? And where is our repentance?

When have you obeyed the Lord in spite of your doubts and fears? When have you risked anything much less everything you have and are in obedience to him? When have you been confronted by Jesus and realized, “I shouldn’t be loved my Him. I shouldn’t have been forgiven by Him. I shouldn’t share heaven with the One who is the Creator, Ruler and Lord of All. No, He shouldn’t love me, but He does. All I can do is fall at the feet of my Creator, Savior, Lord, and King, Jesus.

Have you heard Jesus’ invitation to trust Him, are you willing to risk it, willing to test Him and see of this salvation thing is real? You’ll never know the amazement, the “wonder holding you round about,” of salvation,  until you launch out in the deep of your doubts and fears and let down your net and trust Jesus.

Eight times in the NT Jesus says, “Come unto Me.” Eight times He is saying, trust me. Eight times he is saying try me. Eight times He is saying, Launch out into the deep with Me.”

The story doesn’t end here in fact this is the only the end of the beginning of the story for Peter and the apostles.  But it is the end of my sermon.

Conclusion; Forsaking and Following - Luke 5:10b-11

Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him.

Peter, Andrew, James and John forsake all and follow Christ.

After this, the third time, Jesus has called his disciples, the Bible says, “They forsook all and followed Him.”

Why this 3rd time? I believe it was because they saw Him as they had never seen him before. Because they had obeyed Him as they had never obeyed him before. Because they risked as they had never risked before. Now, they were ready to be Apostles, ready to take the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth and ready to carry the burden of eternity on their shoulders.

What about you and me? Are you ready this morning?  I can’t think of anything worse than one day looking back to a time and a place where I could have made a choice to obey God, to trust Jesus, to launch out into the deep, but instead did nothing. I can’t imagine realizing that because of my refusal to obey, I missed seeing Jesus Christ as I had never seen him before. I missed the opportunity of serving Him. Or worst of all I missed the joy and hope of eternity because I did nothing.