For The Sake Of The Call

I have entitled our message this morning, “For the Sake of the Call,” and we are going to look at how Jesus called a bunch of smelly fishermen to share in His ministry. Allow me to get started with a joke: “Why did Jesus call so many fishermen to become apostles? He was always looking for a ‘net prophet’.”(1) So, why would Jesus call so many fishermen to His side? Well, “consider the fact that fishermen generally have the qualities that make for success in serving the Lord. It takes courage and daring, patience and determination to work on the seas, and it also takes a great deal of faith. Fishermen must be willing to work together and help one another; [and] they must develop the skills necessary to get the job done quickly and efficiently.”(2) So, when Jesus comes-a-knocking, it means He sees great potential in us.

It is one thing to hear the call, or sense the Lord’s calling; but it is another thing altogether to respond! And our passage of Scripture deals primarily with the response. When Jesus extends a call – whether it be to surrender to Him as Savior and Lord; or perhaps, as a Christian, follow Him on mission – what does His call (or calling) look like? What does it entail? What might He ask us to do? Or, what might we have to let go of in order to serve Him? These are a few questions for which we will seek an answer, as we look at our primary text. Now, since we have been doing a series on Matthew, I want to provide you a reference to go back and read sometime; which is Matthew 4:18-22. So, let us all stand at this time in honor of God’s Word, as we read Luke 5:1-10.

Luke’s Account of the Calling (Luke 5:1-10)

1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So 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 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 which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”

The scene that unfolds here took place at “the Lake of Gennesaret” (Luke 5:1). Matthew called it “the Sea of Galilee” (Matthew 4:18). This body of water “is called by three names – the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesaret. It was thirteen miles long by eight miles wide. It lies . . . 680 feet below sea level. Nowadays, it is almost deserted, but in the days of Jesus it had nine townships clustered around its shores, none of them with fewer than 15,000 people.”(3) Luke’s account is more descriptive than Matthew’s, in that he tells us why Jesus was “by the Sea of Galilee.” He was there to preach to a multitude of people from one of the fishermen’s boats – specifically, Simon Peter’s boat (Luke 5:3).

Right away, you will notice some differences between Matthew’s and Luke’s account. One is how Matthew’s telling is concise, whereas Luke’s was much more elaborate. Another difference concerns what the fishermen were doing when Jesus arrived on the scene. Matthew said that Jesus saw two brothers “casting a net into the sea” (Matthew 4:18), whereas Luke said the fishermen were “washing their nets” (Luke 5:2). These details might seem to contradict one another, but in addition to casting their nets into the sea in order to catch fish; fishermen would also cast their nets into the sea in order to wash them.(4) They did not wash them on the shore, but in the water away from the boats.