Christ In Emptiness

“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.”[a] 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him”.

The entry of one person into another person’s life is not a small thing. It can change the entire life. The person may be a friend, a colleague, a relative, a lover, a life-partner, or a stranger. One person can change our life for good or bad. It may lead to either joy and success or sadness and disaster. We ourselves willingly allow some persons to enter our lives. Others enter into our lives even if we don’t want them to enter. We may want some persons to enter our lives, but they may not. We may not want some persons to enter our lives but they may. What happens when Jesus enters into a person’s life? Today, I am going to talk to you from the Word of God on the theme “The Entry of Jesus into a Person’s Life”. What is the method of the entry of Jesus into a person’s life? What happens when Jesus enters into a person’s life?

Illustration

Albert Einstein was taking a train to an out of town engagement. The conductor stopped by to punch his ticket, but the scientist – preoccupied with his work, explained that he couldn't find his ticket. He couldn’t find it in his coat pockets, in his briefcase, anywhere!!

The conductor finally said, “We all know who you are, Dr. Einstein. I'm sure you bought ticket. Don't worry about it.”

As the conductor moved along, he looked back to see Einstein on his hands and knees he was searching under the seats for his ticket.

The conductor walked back, "Dr. Einstein, please, don't worry about it. I know who you are."

Exasperated, Einstein looked up and said, “I, too, know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going.”

Our question for this morning is this:

Do you know WHERE you are going?

Do you have a goal in life?

1. He invited Jesus: (Luke: 5:1-3)

Jesus asked Peter to lend him his boat and a little bit of time. Most of us are willing for that; most of us already do that. We come to church, put something in the offering plate and try to live a decent life.

It was a small thing for Peter to let Jesus use his boat to speak to the crowd; it actually felt good, something Peter could do for Jesus. He gave him the boat; even rowed it out a little bit and stood by to watch the sermon.

Joining a church is a little like giving Jesus the boat…we are told to tithe, give our singing voice or teaching ability, sit in the nursery or sweep the floor while cooking a casserole.

Illustration

One day a Chinese poor man met the head of his family in the street. "Come and dine with us tonight," the mandarin said graciously. "Thank you," said the poor relation. "But wouldn't tomorrow night do just as well?" "Yes, certainly. But where are you dining tonight?" asked the mandarin curiously. "At your house. You see, your estimable wife was good enough to give me tonight's invitation."

2. He Obeyed Jesus: (Luke. 5:4)

When Jesus asked Peter to go a little deeper and let down the nets again – after they’d been up all night during prime fishing time – Peter, the experienced, professional fisherman didn’t see why. In the normal scheme of things he would look kind of dorky to his colleagues fishing at this time of day in a fished-out hole; nobody wants to be laughed-at. But Peter loved Jesus, so he decided to go along with the goofy request.