Stretched and Strengthened
Luke 5
The spiritual journey of the Apostle Peter has often motivated me:
• A down to earth-regular guy- so much so his friends probably called
him Pete… ‘Peter’ would have been too formal for him
• A commercial fisherman
• An ‘ear’ for authentic spiritual truth tho sometimes he struggled
with follow through
• A Jewish believer who appreciated his spiritual roots…but I sense he
was a man who was longing for more of God than his traditions pointed
out to him
Luke 5:1-11
• Pete was challenge - able and changeable
• He was stretchable
I want us to think about, be challenged by and respond to the scriptural principle of Stretching so we can be Strengthened.
Isaiah 54:2 says, “Enlarge the place of your tent, Stretch your tent curtains wide, Do not hold back; Lengthen your cords, Strengthen your stakes.”
This OT verse & passage refers to the future of the Nation of Israel – there were and are many promises that are yet to be fulfilled for Abraham’s family. But this verse can be applied to us as well for in Galatians 4:27 Paul takes verse 1 in chapter 54 & applies it to the NT church...
So by application God is saying to us STRETCH – REACH – BE PREPARED to run the spiritual race – Receive what God gives – STRETCH, GROW AND BE STRENGTHENED.
The Bible details story after story of men and women who learned to Stretch spiritually and in doing so set the example for us:
Abraham - Moses - Daniel - Job - Esther –
Mary the mother of Jesus and... Simon Pete the Fishermen!
When I think of stretching I naturally think of sports…
There are basically 2 kinds of Athletes:
The Pro and the Weekend Warrior
The Pro – no matter the sport, they always stretch their muscles – it keeps injuries to a minimum. After all, they have to stretch to catch or jump, stretch to reach or dunk, stretch to tackle or block, throw, run, serve, and a dozen other things that requires stretching…
The Weekend Warrior – some stretch adequately, but most don’t. Those who are 18 to 29 are the Studs & those 30 & up are the Duds – like me…
The older we get the more important it is to STRETCH – but few do!
The Value of Stretching, both physically and Spiritually is obvious:
1. You can reach farther
2. Keep injuries to a minimum
3. With a little pain, you can avoid big pain.
The goal of stretching is clear: the desire to stretch is hard to maintain.
• When Jesus first called Pete to follow Him, the big fisherman got
excited
• He liked what he saw but didn’t always understand what he heard
• He learned new truth and tried his best to walk in it. Some days he
did great. Other days he failed miserably & got frustrated and
discouraged!
Thru it all he was being Stretched – Changed –
Matured – Strengthened! But it wasn’t easy…
I. The Biblical Pattern of Stretching
a. Life is full of Problems and Challenges – think about O.T. Joseph - (ad lib)
We also face frustrations, crises, sickness, poverty, spiritual warfare, consequences of sin, unhealthy relationships…
b. God gives us Promises and Choices – think about Job – blessed in greater ways after the testing than he had been before…
God gives to us Hope that there are answers and solutions to our aches and pains. Pete faced all of these types of problems and he learned to respond to Gods Promises by making right choices.
Remember when he:
• Walked on the water toward Jesus - what a miracle - ever tried that?
been successful?
But then the fisherman began to sink…why? Because he got sidetracked by the high waves & wind – the sheer danger of it all.
Remember the time he…
• Bragged with Pride and Arrogance as he blurted out that he would
never deny the Lord?
• Denied Jesus 3 times while our Savior was being tried and beaten?
• Was so discouraged about the denials that he couldn’t even tell
Jesus whether he loved Him completely or not
Jesus wanted Peter to grow spiritually, to Stretch, to be changed into His image…So he Taught and Trained him, Discipled and Developed him, Stretched and Strengthened him! And friends that’s what the Lord wants to do with us. And you know, he eventually relied on God’s Promises and made the right choices. He became a great leader in the NT Church – but not until he was Stretched and Strengthened.
II. Some Truth about Stretching
a. Most people don’t stretch until they are forced to do so.
b. Most people who have stretched in the past don’t stretch daily.
c. Most people need to feel motivated before they stretch.
d. Most people feel uncomfortable when they stretch.
The American brand of Christianity tends to seek Comfort. I do - air conditioning, comfortable seats, etc – but Jesus came to Afflict the Comfortable and Comfort the Afflicted – Jesus confronted most of the religious leaders of his day & reached out in ministry to those who were hurting…
e. Catch this: The few people who stretch all their lives
inspire future generations.
III. Being Stretched by God
Turn to II Peter 1
a. God wants to stretch us into His Image (this deals with how we survive)
And that’s not easy – because we kind of like the way we are or at least many Christians are too lazy to change and mature and be remade in the image of Jesus!
Stretching isn’t easy – think about those blue jeans you can’t get into any more! Stretching them isn’t easy either. You know years ago there was only one kind of Levi’s – you bought ‘em and you wore ‘em for ever almost… shopping for a pair was easy because there was only 1 kind.
I was in the store the other day looking at some Levi’s – they’ve got at least 7 different styles now:
1. The Original 2. Shrink to Fit 3. Pre-Shrunk 4. “Loose Straight” – what is that? 5. Relaxed Fit 6. Comfort Fit and the 7. “You’ve got to be kidding” fit…
Jeans are comfortable - feel good – look good… ‘well maybe’ they look good – But then comes the day when you’re just got to wash ‘em – and what they do? Shrink like crazy!!
And what do we do? Stretch ‘em! We pull, wiggle, scoot into them, tuck ourselves in, yank on ‘em ‘til they’re Stretched back onto our image!
That’s what God wants to do with us – stretch us into His image!!
And He does that so we will act like him, talk like him, love and minister like Him!
b. God wants to Stretch our Vision ((how we view life)
That’s what Jesus did with our fisherman friend – Jesus wanted him to ‘see’ beyond his boat and nets – He wanted him to have Vision that looked beyond the Sea of Galilee - He wanted him to have the kind of Vision that made him a man of God!
Someone asked Helen Keller what could be worse than being blind – and she replied, “Having sight without Vision.”
In II Peter chapter 1 we can discover the kind of Vision Peter had Read 1:1-4
c. God wants to Stretch our hearts - (how we process life)
Proverbs tells us that from the heart comes the issues of life – are we self centered? Do we allow the heart-aches of life to make us bitter? rebellious? Or do we turn those heartaches and pains over to God and ask him to Stretch us and Strengthen us so we can respond the way He wants us to even though we have been run over by some of our trials? Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit help us so we can get up and go again and do what Jesus would want us to do. Like He did after his crucifixion, like Paul did after he was almost stoned to death, like the prophets who were beaten and yet still ministered for God. Are we willing to allow God to stretch us so we won’t break when beaten down but rather are made stronger by the experience of trusting Him?
1:5- 9
d. God wants to Stretch our Abilities (how we function)
I Peter 4:7-11
God not only gives us talents, gifts, abilities for ministry and for work, but his power and spirit enables us to do it better than we ever could on our own!!
e. God wants to Stretch our Influence (how we minister to others)
II Peter 1:10-11
How we respond to people when we are under pressure – lovingly, patiently, with wisdom or stupidity says a lot about how we are letting God stretch us into the image of Christ.
How we witness to non-Christians –by our example, through our concern and with our words, says a lot about how we submit to the stretching that God wants us to go through to better serve him.
Sometimes our influence as Christians on non-Christians is ineffective. What we say and how we say what needs to be said to non-Christians is incredibly important…In I Peter 3:15 we are told…(read)
The Apostle Peter was a man like a lot of us - not perfect, a little rough around the edges, but he was a man who learned lessons well, a man who allowed himself to be stretched into shape so God could use him.
How about us?
Pray
