February 7th, 2010 – Fishing for a living
Jesus is born, Jesus grows up, Jesus is baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit and He is tempted by Satan for 40 days in the desert…what a beginning to Jesus’ ministry here on earth, preaching that people need to repent, as the kingdom of heaven is near.
Jesus goes home to Nazareth, to speak in the synagogue. While there He reads from the prophet Isaiah (wouldn’t you love to hear Jesus read scripture?). The people are amazed at his ‘gracious words’. Then he spoke against them, and their ignorance about the fact that the message of the Lord’s favour is for all people, not just the Jews, in fact, they would end up rejecting him…they didn’t like that message, it was not so ‘gracious’ they felt…read Luke 4 when you get home to see how they treated Jesus then!
Today, we are going to look at a section of scripture that really hits home with me. Why does it? Because it speaks of fishing…and I love fishing! Let’s turn to Luke 5, verses 1-11. I’m reading from the New International Version.
The Calling of the First Disciples
1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down[b] the nets for a catch."
5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
I think we’ve all seen the images of famous people, like Hollywood celebrities, being hounded by crowds of eager followers and the paparazzi; and it’s all they can do to try and get from their front door to their car sometimes. The crowd presses in closer and closer in order to get a glimpse or a picture of the person they’ve come to see (or harass, whatever the case may be??) I can picture Jesus, who has been working some amazing miracles of healing the sick and casting out evil spirits in the local towns…he’s probably got a pretty big following of the curious, the sceptics, the scoffers, the sinners, and the saints…and all these people want to get close to Jesus. ‘what is He saying, what is He doing? I need to get closer…’
Wouldn’t we want to get close to Jesus, if we knew HE was within our grasp? If we heard that the sick were being healed and the suffering were being set free, wouldn’t we want to be close to Jesus? I would!
At the Sea of Galilee (Gennesaret as it’s called here), Jesus drew people to hear him preach the Word of God, what did he do…he preached the word of God. What do we preach? Good life, easy living, that we have all the answers? No…it must be the WORD, God’s Word that we preach teach and live out every day of our lives! The Word is life, it is a shining light in a dark world, it is truth, it is unchanging, it is history and the future, it is exciting and challenging, it is God’s word to God’s creation for our benefit and His glory…why WOULDN’T we want to share it with everyone we can, wherever we are, in whatever circumstance?!
Years ago, a much higher % of people went to church, listened to the word, learned the word, and even memorized some of it; today, not so much. The bible has been banned from most public school distribution. Do you remember getting a new testament in grade 5 from the Gideon’s? ALL children in Canada used to…not anymore! The Word is being restricted and so we must know it, learn from it and share it! …I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1)
Point to remember here is that the WORD attracts the WORLD! If it worked for Jesus, it should work for us today
Now we get to the fish part of this message. Jesus, with the crowd pressing in around him, sees an opportunity to use one of creations greatest natural amphitheatres, water. Jesus gets into the boat of some fishermen that are nearby cleaning their nets. He knows that sound travels so very well over water, that the people will hear him much better from just offshore then buried in the crowd. So he asks Simon, the owner of the boat, to put out a little from the shore, and then Jesus sits in the boat and continues to teach. I wonder how Jesus’ voice must have sounded as He shared about the scriptures and God’s love for His creation? It must have been absolutely captivating!
Jesus is interested in teaching the crowd! Remember that. He wants everyone to hear the good news about the kingdom of God. And Jesus is also very interested in teaching individuals. And the people he’s reaching out to in this passage are Simon, the fisherman, and a few of his fishing buddies.
Fishermen NEED to fish. They love to fish, and if it is a person’s livelihood, they HAVE to fish! Simon was a fisherman, making his living by having a boat, nets, probably having a place on shore to sell the fish that he caught there on the Sea of Galilee. They would fish from the middle of the night to the break of day, bring in their catch and sell them in order to make a living. It was a tough life, requiring hard work, knowledge of where to find fish at different times of the year, knowing how to manage a boat, make and keep the nets in good order, and all the other things that come with running a business. Simon was a hard-working man.
And Jesus asks this guy, who he’s never met, to go out in his boat with him. Boats, especially small fishing boats, are a place where conversation can roam all over the place, particularly when the fish aren’t biting (or being netted in this case). I have spent many hours with folks in my little boat while fishing the local lakes. Sometimes we chat a lot about a lot of things, other times we are quiet and only talk about a few things, and for some time, we sit silently with no words to say…it’s all good. Sometimes…the conversations go a little deeper. And we see in this passage a conversation between two men that changes Simon’s life forever. And it begins with a great opening thought from the Lord. ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’
Simon, in the kindest, most gentle way he knows, says in essence to the Lord…ARE YOU NUTS? We’ve been at it all night long, we’re tired, we just cleaned our nets, which didn’t catch any fish by the way, you realize we don’t have an outboard motor on this thing, we’re going to have to ROW out there…again, drop the nets, do some trolling, haul them up, and you think we’re going to have a bit of luck now? I can hear the sarcasm coming from his lips…
BUT, because you say so (you’re this ‘great teacher’ after all), we’ll do it. And they do; Simon convinces his crew to load the nets, row the boat out to the deep end and drop in the nets…and you know what happens next. Boatloads of fish, enough to cause two vessels to almost sink…And Simon drops to his knees and tells Jesus to keep clear, because Simon knows that he’s a sinner, he’s got problems, and he does not feel worthy to be close to the Lord Jesus. But Jesus has other plans for Simon, plans that involve fishing of a different kind.
What Jesus is doing here is painting a beautiful picture of evangelism, that’s a big word for sharing the good news about God’s love with people who don’t know about it. He’s talking about 3 truths that we need to realize as we sit here today reading this story from 2000 years ago. It’s about trust, it’s about tools and it’s about taking people out of the world’s grasp
Simon had a trust issue with Jesus…Simon thought that he knew it all when it came to fishing. He’s done it all his life, it’s likely his father was a fisherman, and his father before him. And here comes this carpenter/preacher telling him to go NOW and catch fish WHERE? He didn’t trust Jesus. But look what happened when he obeyed…
Do WE trust Jesus? Do we trust Him when He tells us, ‘try this, do that, trust me.’? Do we trust his word when it says, “trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov.3:5,6)
Jesus says, go into the deep water. Deep water is so much different than the shallows. In shallow water, you can jump out of the boat and walk to shore, not so in the deep water, it’s sink or swim if you jump. I feel better in the boat. Deep water is colder and less comfortable for us. I remember snorkelling for the first time, and being the over-confident type, thought nothing of what it would be like to be able to see into the deep water and breathe through the plastic tube stuck in my mouth…well let me tell you, was I ever wrong. The moment I jumped in and stuck my face in the water and realized there was 50 ft from me to the bottom…I panicked. I began to hyperventilate, and through I was going to throw up I was so scared. It took a lot of reassurance from Stephanie to get me to calm down, breathe easily and slowly, and go slow. Once I did, it was much better, and I really enjoyed the freedom to see so much of the beauty in the coral reefs of Hawaii.
When we think of going out of this safe sanctuary into the world where it’s not always cool to praise the Lord in song, or pray out loud, or share our deepest needs with others or (here’s the scary part) share our testimony with someone…do we get scared? Are we nervous about being ‘out there’ in the deep water of the world? Why would God ask us to go and do such a ridiculous thing like share the gospel with some stranger, or harder yet even, our family? Who does He think we are? I’m no evangelist!
But he does tell us to go. “GO into ALL the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them everything I have commanded you…(and here’s the reassurance) And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matt. 29:19,20 (NIV)
Where is God telling you to go? What ‘deep water’ do we need to get into? Is there a place where we feel we are being called, but are afraid to go to, or doubt God’s leading? TRUST HIM…go and see what happens, go with simple, child-like faith that God is in control.
TOOLS. We can have all the tools for catching fish. I have lots. I have 3 tackle boxes full of all sorts of things that are supposed to catch all sorts of fish. And I’m sure they all can catch fish. The thing is to know which things to use in what kinds of circumstances for different kinds of fish. Trolling or bottom fishing, fly-fishing or spin-casting, green eggs or yellow and pink…all these can work, but not all will work for all fish, at all times, in all places.
Simon figured his skills of being a fisherman were pretty good, and they didn’t produce anything that night. Then Jesus comes in the boat, and the same nets caught more fish than they could handle.
We may think that we know a lot about what it is to share our faith, and somehow lead people to Christ. But that may be the problem. If we think it’s about US, then we’re off to a bad start. Simon realized it when he said, ‘get away from me Lord, my life is full of sin, you don’t want me as your disciple…’ And we are all sinners, aren’t we? Or have we forgotten that we all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory? The one thing we must always do is point people not to us, but to Jesus. He has made great changes in people’s lives, but no one is the example to look to except Him.
The cool thing about this picture of letting down the nets, is that it wasn’t a new net or different net that they used to catch all those fish. It was the same nets, used by the same people that were used. The DIFFERENCE was that Jesus told them where and when to use the tools they had. Jesus was in the boat, he was calling the shots. We must let Him do the same in our lives; using the tools we have, our unique abilities and skills as individuals and a church, to reach out to people with His love. We just need to learn how to hear His voice and follow His instruction.
To that end, I am inviting Les Goertz to come and share a seminar on evangelism that will encourage us ALL to share our faith, with the tools we have, to the people in our families and communities. It will be a 3-day event here at the hall in the coming months…watch for it, come to it, learn from it.
Finally, we need to remember that one of the greatest things God does is TAKE PEOPLE OUT OF THE DEEP WATER THEY’RE IN. Let’s not ever forget, that without Christ as our saviour, without God’s forgiveness of our sin, with no faith in God, people will spend eternity separated from him in Hell when they die. That’s terrible! But there is a way out of that deep pit. It is to be caught by the love of Christ, the gospel message of God’s forgiveness, and the new life that is found in the Lord Jesus. There are tons of ‘fish’ in the ocean of this world who need to be caught for Christ. As much as I love to fish for trout and bass, I am so much more enthralled with the idea of God using me to reach out with His love and pull someone out of darkness into his glorious light!
How would Simon have felt having Jesus tell him to his face, don’t be afraid, you’re going to catch men from now on…? How did he feel, how did they all feel? THEY LEFT EVERYTHING…after catching 2 boat-loads of fish, worth a lot of money, the fishing group of Simon, James and John left it, their boats, their nets, all of it, behind in order to follow Jesus.
There would have been enough fish to buy all new boats, new clothes, new tunics and sandals…but they left it…all of it, in order to follow Jesus. Fishing, great…fish for men…WOW!
And so I ask the question to all of us today, ‘what do I need to leave behind in order to follow the call of Christ to be his disciple?’ We can all try to hang on to some part of our life and keep that aside for us…that thing there, that’s not God’s, that’s mine. My hobbies, my indulgences, my money, my possessions, my relationships with friends, my career, my social status, my…you fill in the blank. If there’s something that you need to let go of, and leave behind in order that Jesus may truly be Lord of your life, then by all means, leave it. What is more important, a little bit of earthly pleasure, or a life lived for the glory of God?
Jesus took simple fishermen, a tax collector, and other simple people, and he turned the world upside-down through their willingness to follow Him…what will Jesus do through you?
