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Title: The Kind of People Christ Chooses to Use
Text: Luke 5:1-11
Thesis: Christ may choose to use unlikely people, busy people in the midst of other things, who have no thought of taking Christ into their world.
#1 in the Series: Bringing Christ to Your World…
Introduction:
I am fascinated a bit by the way we put words together… by shifting or rearranging the same words we can nuance the implications of what it is we are attempting to communicate. The danger of nuancing and tweaking language is that the result is nothing more than much ado about nothing. However, I do believe there is something of a difference between saying, “I want to bring my world to Christ,” and saying, “I want to bring Christ to my world.”
I always read those guru cartoons in the newspaper… those cartoons where there is a whiskered and white-robed master sitting on the top of a mountain and someone is clinging to the mountainside seeking his wisdom.
Sometimes the lines are amusing, like the one where the guru responds:
• “The meaning of life is on the next mountain. I teach helpful household tips.” Or,
• “If I knew how to get rich quick, would I be sitting on this mountain?” Or,
• “Boy, I wish I had brought a magazine.” Or,
• “Don’t patronize me. Nobody cares what I think anymore. Go ask Dr. Phil.”
If I think of Christ in that way, I imagine a Jesus who removes himself from society and perches himself high on some remote mountain… waiting for seekers to wind their ways up the mountainside to reach him. I am more inclined to think of Jesus immersing himself in society. I am more inclined to see Christ as the seeker, rather than the one being sought. Jesus himself said, “I have come to seek and to save the lost.” And, on the occasion when he said, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him,” the implication is that even when we feel drawn to Christ, it is God who has sought us and God who is drawing us to Christ.
In our story today, we see Christ surrounded by people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He sees two boats on the waters edge and he sees fishermen washing their nets after a night of fishing. He asks one of the fishermen to let him sit in one of his boats while he spoke to the people gathered along the shoreline.
So, the first thought that emerges from the text is that Jesus seeks all people and sometimes chooses to use unlikely people.
I. Jesus may choose to work through unlikely people.
“One day as Jesus was preaching, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the Words of God. And he noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge [so] Jesus stepped into a boat and asked the owner to push out…” Luke 5:1-3
A. The first truth that leaps from the text is that Jesus wants to reach everyone. He is no respecter of persons. Jesus is not willing that any should perish, but that everyone should come to repentance (II Peter 3:8-10).
I am intrigued by the ambiguous nature of the large, gathered crowd. There is no indication of who they were or what they did. There is no word as to their ethnicity. There is no word as to their social status, age, or gender. It may be assumed that they were representative of the people who lived in the area… it would be like the mix of people who:
• Walk Flat Irons Mall this weekend, or
• the crowd that packs out the Garden and Home Show at the Colorado Convention Center this weekend or those who attend the Stock Show at the Denver Coliseum every year, or like
• the crowd that will wander through Civic Center Park during the Taste of Colorado next Labor Day Weekend.
Jesus made it his custom to be where people were… all kinds of people. Anyone one of us in this room could have been in that crowd.
B. The second thing about these verses that strikes me is that he chose to use or work through an unlikely person.
He is identified as Simon. We know him as Simon Peter. He was the one who jumped out of the boat and attempted to walk on water. He is the one who took his sword and sliced off the ear of one of the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus on the night of his betrayal. He is the one who denied Jesus three times while he when he was brought before the High Priest. But his is also the one who preached the powerful sermon on the Day of Pentecost that resulted in three thousand people becoming followers of Jesus Christ.
Peter was a fisherman. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states that the fishermen of Jesus’ day were a distinctive class of people known for the strenuousness of their work, which ruled out the weak and indolent. They were crude in manner, rough in speech and in their treatment of others. Jesus referred to two fisherman brothers as, “Sons of Thunder.” The implication is that they were a hotheaded lot. They were hardy, fearless men who sometimes worked long hours without success, but were always ready to try it once more. (A characteristic born out by our text…) I say Peter and his companions were unlikely for obvious reasons… other than the fact that he had an old boat, there were no other indications that he would become a key figure in the early days of the Christian faith.
And, if that were not enough to establish Peter as an unlikely candidate for disciple of the year, Peter described himself to Jesus as “too much of a sinner” to be in Christ’s presence in Luke 5:9.
Peter could have been an over-the road truck driver. He could have been an Associate at Wal-Mart. He could have worked for Coors. Peter could have been employed by Adams County School District. Peter could have worked for RTD. He could have been any one of us… or maybe we could say, any one of us could have been a Peter.
My intent is not to denigrate Peter. My hope is that we might see that while Peter may not have been a person Governor Ritter would choose for his inner circle… he was the kind of person Jesus Christ chose to call and do his work through. My intent is not to denigrate those who have apparent gifts or to suggest that God does not choose and use gifted people. My hope is that we will all see that any one of us in this room is the kind of person Jesus Christ calls and through whom chooses to do his work.
The second thing I notice from our story is that Jesus Christ chooses to use busy people…
II. Jesus Christ chooses to work through busy people… people who are immersed in the thick of life.
“…the fishermen were washing their nets.” Luke 5:2
I’m sure you have heard the old saw, “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person.”
Busyness is generally thought to be a good thing (when not taken to excess…).
• They say, “Grass doesn’t grow on a busy street.”
• We admire people who are, “as busy as a bee.”
• The ambitious say, “Don’t tell me I’m burning the candle on both ends. Tell me where to get more wax>”
• Margaret Thatcher said, “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”
• Have you ever noticed that the busiest people are never too busy to tell you how busy they are?
Peter and his companions were busy people… they had been out fishing all night and were cleaning their nets. They were undoubtedly thinking about stopping by Gunther Toody’s Diner or Perkins on their way home and then hitting the sack for some shut-eye.
Jesus is not likely to involve a lazy, loll-about, indolent, slacker type person in making him know in the world. No one in our culture thinks much of a slacker.
A company, feeling it was time for a shake-up, hires a new CEO. This new boss is determined to rid the company of all slackers. On a tour of the facilities, the CEO notices a guy leaning on a wall. The room is full of workers and he thinks this is his chance to show everyone he means business!
The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, “And how much do you make a week?
Undaunted, the young man looked back at him and said, “About $200 a week. Why do you ask?”
The CEO reached into his pocket and pulled out $200 and yells, “Here’s a weeks pay, not get out and don’t come back.”
Feeling very good about his first firing he asked, “What did that guy do when he worked here?”
“Well,” replied the foreman, “He was the pizza delivery guy.”
Jesus does not typically choose to get his agenda done in the world by people who are unwilling to roll up their sleeves and get involved in the world around them.
Any busy person in this room is a perfect candidate for being in a position to serve Jesus Christ and his church in the world.
Unlikely as they may seem… he chooses to use busy people.
The third thing that jumps out of this text is this:
III. Following Christ is often not even on the radar screens of those Christ chooses to do his work.
Despite the fact that Peter clearly deemed himself unworthy of being in the presence of Christ… much less of being of any use to God and others, Jesus said, “Peter, don’t be afraid. From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed him. Luke 5:110-11
In our story, it is in the context of the fishermen fishing for and catching fish that Jesus called them to become fishers of people.
A. Fishermen fish for fish where there are fish.
Fishermen are known for many things:
• They may dangle a night crawler from their rear-view mirrow because they think it makes a good air freshener.
• They may think MEGABYTES means a great day fishing.
• They may keep bait in their refrigerator and video tape fishing shows.
• They may use their fishing license as a form of I.D.
But they know where to go to catch fish.
In Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, the aging Cuban fisherman drifted far out into the Gult Stream to catch the Marlin of a lifetime. Here in Colorado, fly fishermen work the mountain lakes and streams. Cat fishermen lay out weighted bait on the bottom of rivers, lakes and ponds. Bass fishermen work the edges of farm ponds and lakes for largemouth or the rills of rocky streams for white bass. Kids fish off the banks of farm ponds for bullheads and blue gills. In the northern states fishermen drift for Walleye, and in the south, “noodlers” wade and swim in murky, muddy river water, reaching into submerged auto bodies and under rocks and into holes and tangled root systems to hand catch catfish… fishermen know where to fish for fish.
B. Fishers for people know where there are people.
It is implied that when Jesus called Peter to be a fisher of people… that Peter would go where there are people. The implication is not that Peter goes and gets people and drags them up the mountian so they can meet Jesus. The implication is that Peter goes into the world so people can meet Jesus through Peter, right where they are.
Everyone in this room, everyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ… takes Christ into his or her world each and every day. Everyone in this room is called to take Christ into his or her world.
Your world is your home and community. Your world may be the school lunch room or playground. Your world may be your child’s play date gathering or the soccer field on Saturday morning. Your world may be the HOA meeting. Your world may be the grocery store or the restaurant. Your world may be the classroom or the market place. Where ever you are is your world and where ever you are present, Christ is present in and through you. Every day you and I take Jesus Christ into our worlds.
Conclusion:
The slogan for the United States Marine Corp says, “We are looking for a few good men… and women.” When Jesus started his ministry, he too was looking for a few good people. And, has been his custom over the centuries, he still is looking for a few good people.
• Christ chooses unlikely people,
• Christ chooses busy people,
• Christ chooses people who aren’t even thinking of being chosen,
• Christ chooses people like you and me to take him into our world.
