Obedience Always Brings Blessings

OBEDIENCE ALWAYS BRINGS BLESSINGS

Luke 5:1-11

The Outcome of Obedience to God will always bring blessing!

The Lord’s simple requests often serve as stepping-stones to life’s most wonderful blessings.

-Simon Peter illustrates what can happen when we say yes to God.

The Lord wanted to use Peter’s boat as a floating platform from which to address the multitude, so He asked the future apostle to push the vessel out a little way from shore (v. 3)—

-not in itself a particularly remarkable request.

- But Peter’s compliance to His request paved the way for a life-changing blessing.

From his example, we also learn how essential it is to obey God in even the smallest matters.

The noisy crowd received the first blessing of Peter’s obedience; the people could now clearly hear Jesus’ words.

At the conclusion, the Lord said to Peter,

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch” (5:4)

—a second opportunity to say yes or no.

But this time, Peter may have felt tempted to decline.

After all, he was a seasoned fisherman. He had worked the entire night for a catch but had returned empty-handed.

Now this young teacher—a carpenter, by the way, not a fisherman—was asking him to go fishing again?

"MASTER, WE WORKED HARD ALL NIGHT AND CAUGHT NOTHING, BUT I WILL DO AS YOU SAY AND LET DOWN THE NETS" (LUKE 5:5).

Peter’s reply demonstrates the beginning of a lifetime of faith in God.

He said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets” (5:5, emphasis added).

The soon-to-be disciple chose to obey the Lord and to leave the consequences of his decision to Him.

-But notice what happened as a result of Peter’s obedience—Jesus demonstrated His power and sovereignty.

-Peter and his partners may have started the day off thinking their efforts had yielded nothing. But they ended it in complete amazement because they pulled in not one but twooverflowing boatloads of fish (5:7).

Saying yes to the Lord’s request resulted in a miracle that transformed not only one fisherman’s life but the lives of the entire group.

Consider three reasons why obedience is critical to the successful Christian life:

1. Obeying God (in small matters) is an essential step in receiving God’s greatest blessings.

Suppose Peter had said, “Look, I’m busy cleaning my nets right now. I can’t help You because I’m going to fish again tonight.”

Or he could have said, “Why don’t You ask to use that other boat, over there?”

Or, “I’ve already been fishing today; it would be a waste of time to go again.”

If Peter had said anything other than YES, he would have missed the greatest fishing experience of his life.

-But because of Peter’s obedience, the Lord arranged a miracle that he would never forget.

Often, God’s greatest blessings come as a result of our WILLINGNESS to OBEY something DESPITE IT appears very INsignificant.

-So ask yourself, “Has God been challenging me to do something seemingly unimportant that I have not yet made an effort to accomplish?

- Is there anything I have rationalized by saying, ‘It’s too difficult,’ ‘I don’t want to,’ or ‘I have to pray about it first’”?

In Gen 22:15-18

15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

The Lord tells Abraham that He will surely bless him because of his obedience and faith.

-Because of his blessings will come.

-This indicates not just blessings, but abundant blessings will be showered on Abraham.

-The Lord is waiting to surely bless you as well.

He is waiting for your absolute surrender to Him, and your obedience to His Word, Way, and Will for your life.

There are many general commands that we need to do:

-Obedience in Finding mates

-Obedience in serving God “Seek ye first”

-Obedience in Finding his will”

2. Our obedience always benefits others.

Think of how many people were blessed by Peter’s obedience.

-Not only could the crowd see the Lord and hear His lesson, but Jesus Himself also benefited—preaching from the boat enabled him to sit down in comfort while He spoke (5:3).

-Then, of course, Peter’s friends had a very profitable day—they took in two vessels so full of fish that both began to sink.