All right, turn in your Bibles to Luke Chapter 5, Luke Chapter 5. We’re continuing to look at the Book of Luke. And I really feel like--I was praying this week actually, I was talking to someone--we might be in the book of Luke until the Fall. We might just stay camped out here for a while because every time I read every chapter--you know, I’m in Chapter 5 right now--there’s about nine different things in Chapter 5 that I think we should discuss.
We’re not going to probably stay in Chapter 5 that long. But I really want us to dive down deep into the books of the Bible and really understand what God, what Christ was saying to us in these beautiful books: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are just beautiful writings. And we know that Luke was a guy who was an outsider, someone who was looking from the outside, wanting to be a part of the family. He was not one of the disciples. In fact, most of his writings about Jesus were stories that he heard after the fact. Luke was probably not present for many of these stories that he talks to us about.
So this morning we’re going to talk about a fascinating story of Jesus, who finds himself on the Sea of Galilee, the Lake of Gennesaret, the Sea of Tiberias: there’s lots of different names for this lake, but it’s one lake and it’s in the beautiful part of Israel. How many of you have been to Israel? You know, Jesus did not spend much time in Jerusalem proper. He was crucified there obviously. He spent some time in Jerusalem proper. Most of his ministry though was done out here, out into the Sea of Galilee, which is a long way away, a long distance away. It’s the beautiful part of Israel. It’s very green. It’s very lush; rolling hills, just beautiful terrain there. That’s where Jesus hung out.
He hung out on the shores of the Sea of Galilee among common fishermen. And so Jesus now has gone to the wilderness, and been tempted. He has been filled with the Holy Spirit. He has come back now into public ministry. And Pastor Erin last week talked about him opening the scrolls and quoting Isaiah, announcing the coming of his ministry. He is now cast out some demons. He has healed some of the sick. Now he’s about to call a group of men, a radical group of men, into following him with all of their lives. And I want to talk to you this morning about radical obedience, a life of radical obedience.
Now at the first of the year, I shared what I felt was a prophetic word for our church, for our fellowship. And I gave you three words that I felt like God was going to implant in our hearts throughout this year. Now if you can’t remember them, I’m not going to be disappointed. You’re not in trouble. But I do want to remind you of these three words that I shared with you. They were three very simple words. They were awe, adventure, and advocacy. I want you to write those down. God is returning to us a sense of awe, an awareness of his presence. An awareness of his miraculous nature is going to be more and more present among us. That’s what awe means. It’s out of Acts Chapter 2.
God’s also bringing us back to a place of adventure, of taking risks, of risking things, of living a life that is not necessarily safe or predictable, but calling us into a life of radical faith of adventure where we’re going to have to say “yes” to things that we cannot understand and cannot figure out right off the bat.
And he is calling us to a season of advocacy; a season of standing alongside those who cannot defend themselves; of being a help; of standing alongside the widows, the orphans, the poor, the military families in our city who need someone to advocate for them; to stand alongside of them and to be love and support. That’s who we are as a body of believers.
So this is exactly what he’s calling these men into here in Luke Chapter 5. Let’s pick it up in verse 1: “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret …” That’s again the Sea of Tiberius. It’s also the Sea of Galilee. It’s the one body of water there in Israel. … “with the people crowding around Him and listening to the Word of God, He saw at the water’s edge, two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats.” Now notice there were two boats, right? How many boats? Two. He gets into the boat that is owned by Simon Peter.
Now I don’t know if He knew—obviously He’s God. He knew which boat was Simon Peter’s. But I want you to understand something. There was purpose in everything that Jesus did. He had a choice to get into the other boat. He purposely got into the boat of Simon Peter. Now notice this. Okay let’s keep going. And he says they were washing their nets. “He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore.”
Now if you’ve been to the Sea of Galilee, the natural terrain—there’s a beautiful lake there and then as soon as you get off the banks of the river, the rolling hills kind of go up like this. So there’s a natural amphitheater that nature has provided, right there. So people were standing on the hillside, looking down into the water’s edge, and there’s Jesus.
If you know this, I grew up on lakes. Especially in the still of the morning, your voice carries really well out on the water. So Jesus was simply taking advantage of the natural terrain. He needed to back up on the water, get out onto the water a little bit. The people were crowded up on the hillside in front of him, a natural amphitheater there. And Jesus’ voice: He didn’t have to yell because now he’s out on the water. His voice is projecting toward the hills, and the people can hear Him clearly.
I want you understand something: Jesus is a God of the practical. Sometimes we think, you know, everything about Jesus is mystical, everything about Jesus is supernatural. And by the way, he is mystical and supernatural. But there are a lot of things that Jesus did that were just practical. He didn’t want to yell. He wanted people to hear the teaching so he takes advantage of the natural terrain and backs up onto the water, in a boat where he can speak, and so that people can listen and he doesn’t lose his voice after talking for several hours. All right? So notice that. Let’s keep reading here.
I forgot where I left off, but I think we’ll start at verse 5. All right, verse 4: “When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water now and let down the nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, no offense but we’ve worked hard all night.’” Now the best fishing in the Sea of Galilee is at night. And that’s still today; the best fishing happens at night. The fish move more, the fish come out of the deep more often during the night. So even now, the best fishing on the Sea of Galilee is in the middle of the night. So, these fishermen have been out there all night long.
Listen to what he says: He says, “We worked hard all night and we haven’t caught anything.” Now I don’t know about you but every time we read about Peter and fishing, he never catches anything. That sounds a lot like me. I can relate to Peter. Everybody else is catching all these fish. I go out I never catch anything. It also makes me wonder, “How did he stay in business?” He never catches fish.
All right, let’s keep reading: “He says, ‘But because You say so, I will let down the nets.’ And when he had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” Note that. They throw the nets out; the nets begin to break. “So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’”
What he’s really saying is, “Oh God, I could have never done this without your help. I recognize that you have miraculous powers, and I recognize your Lordship.” It says, “For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. And then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on, you will catch men.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed Him.”
God, that’s a radical call. This guy had a business. This guy owned the boat. And Peter was, by the way, not an ignorant man. Peter was an educated man. Sometimes I’ve heard pastors say that Peter was the blue-collar man of his age. But listen, Peter had memorized the first five books of the Bible. Peter had memorized the Torah. This is not a common uneducated man that we’re talking about here. Peter was a smart guy. Peter owned the boats. This was his business. He was a businessman, an entrepreneur. He was a provider for his family. And he had extended family that he took care of because in Luke 4 it says that when Jesus went to Simon’s house, his mother-in-law was living there with him, which is a problem. Let’s keep reading.
So what caused this guy—what caused Peter, James, John and the other nine, to just somehow say “yes” to such a radical life? “Leave everything, pull your boats up on the shore and come follow Me.” Lay it all down for Christ. I think all of us here in the room: If I were to ask you, “How many of you want to do something great for God?” I mean how many of you want at the end of your life to say to God, “God I gave everything I had to you: all of the gifts, the skills, the talents, the abilities, the resources. Everything you put into my life, I gave it all back to you, and it multiplied. It increased your kingdom. My life had a purpose. My life had a meaning.”
We all say “yes” to that, right? I mean, most of us would say “yes” to that. I want to say “yes” to that. But that doesn’t just happen accidentally. It doesn’t happen without something else happening in our heart. I know people who’ve given all their lives away for the sake of the kingdom. And it just doesn’t happen like one morning they wake up and say, “Okay, all of my life for God.” No, it starts as a process that God takes us through to create that kind of human being.
I’m going to show you some small steps and all of us in this room can start taking today if you want to live a life of radical obedience. If you want to be a person that God can look at and say, “If I say anything to them, they will obey me. If I ask anything of them, they’ll say ‘yes.’” The default answer in their heart is “Yes, Lord, use me.” Now by the way, it doesn’t take very many of those people to change the world. Do you know that? And we’re a church of thousands of people, and I’m grateful for that.
I know this: I doubt ten thousand people are all going to immediately say that kind of “yes” to God. But my desire in the next 15 or 20 years if we live life together: that more and more of us begin to live this life of radical obedience. But it starts with small steps. Let me tell you how it happens. Number one: We have to do something that seems insignificant. Peter is in a boat. Peter’s been working all night long. And by the way, fishing is hard work. They didn’t have the motorized nets that went out into the water. No, they threw the nets into the water with their own hands, and they pulled the nets back with their own hands.
These men were men of great strength. They had powerful hands and arms, but it was brutal work. It was real work. It wasn’t like being a pastor. It was a real job. I mean, you worked. You physically worked all day long. And so they’d been up all night long. And to add to their misery, they had not caught any fish. At least at the end of the night if you had a boat full of fish, you could go home thinking, “Well you know that was a good night spent out in the water. At least I have fish to show for it.”
But on this morning--and I don’t think it was any accident that Jesus chose this morning to do it--they had not caught any fish. They had worked hard all night with nothing to show for it. And then Jesus shows up with his fancy sermon. And he wants to give a talk to a big crowd. And he needs somebody to row the boat out into the water so he can talk for a couple of hours. And guess whose boat he picked? Simon Peter’s: He says, “Peter, will you row the boat out a little bit into the water and let me talk?”
Now Peter could’ve said, “You know, Jesus, I own the boat. I’m kind of the boss. And Jesus, you may not know it, but I’m kind of a big deal. I have people who have people who row boats. I don’t row boats. I own boats.” Let me tell you something: That spirit is deep in most churches. The sense of entitlement, the sense of I’ve been here a long time; I’ve earned the right to have others serve me. Instead, we don’t hear any argument from Peter.
Peter says, “All right, get in the boat. I’ll row you out.” Something that seems so insignificant, so small. Nobody probably even paid attention to who was rowing the boat because they were all so fascinated by what Jesus was about to say. But it was Peter who rowed the boat out into the water; something that seemed really insignificant. And I think Peter was willing to do it because Peter was aware of who was about to teach. I mean, Peter had already witnessed some of the miracles of Jesus. You know that. I mean, it is in Chapter 4. Read Chapter 4.
It was in Simon’s house, that Jesus went into Simon’s house and healed Simon’s mother-in-law, which is probably another reason Peter was in no hurry to go home. “Absolutely, I’ll row the boat. I am not going back to the house. Not only is my mother-in-law living there, she is now in good health. Thank you, Jesus. She talks a lot when she feels good.”
So here’s Peter rowing the boat back out, something that seemed insignificant. I was thinking about these Dream Centers. We’re about to open the Dream Center in just a few weeks. We are right now remodeling the Dream Center to get it ready for the medical clinic. And just in a few weeks, we’ll open the doors. And we’ll have people coming into that receiving free medical care. And I’m so thankful for that. My heart is so full of anticipation for what God’s going to do not only in that Dream Center, but in all the Dream Centers that we open around our city in the next few years. My heart is so full. I can’t wait to see the kingdom of Heaven come through us and through those Dream Centers.
But that didn’t start in my heart by accident. I was thinking about, “Why did I even care about the poor in the city? How did that ever happen in my heart?” And I remembered one morning, Pam and I had just been married. We were living in Shreveport, Louisiana, and I was 22 years old. We were this young, married couple, poor as dirt, you know, just trying to get by, survive as a young married couple. And we started attending this church, and I loved the Pastor because he was probably the best communicator I’ve ever heard in my life.
So I just walked up to him after church one Sunday randomly. It was a big church--two to three thousand people--and I said, “Hey …” I introduced myself, and he knew who I was because at that time I was a broadcaster in a local radio station so he knew who I was because he listened to the radio station, listened to me do news reports. So I said, “Can I just have some breakfast with you?” He said, “Yes.”
I’ll never forget: It was on King’s Highway at this hole-in-the-wall breakfast spot, I met with him. And I walked into this place and we sat down, and I said, “Hey, Pam and I are part of this local fellowship now. I’d just like to know how I can serve. I just want to get involved in—I want to serve and—what do you need? Tell me something that I can do for you.” He said, “Well, Brady, I believe we have a unique opportunity to help our city.” Because at that time, Shreveport, Louisiana had the highest per capita murder rate in the country. Gang violence was unbelievable; crack, gang violence, everything was out of control in that city. It’s much better now, but back then it was a very dangerous city to live in. It’s a small city, but very dangerous.
He pulled out this napkin--you know, one of those little metal napkin dispensers that on those old restaurant tables--he pulled it out, put it down, he wrote down five or six things. He said, “This is what God has spoken to me. I just need somebody to help me.” He said that, “I’m not administrative and I need somebody to do some typing and some administrative things. So I don’t know if you like doing that, but I just need some help.”
Listen, I’m not the administrative type either. I got some administrative abilities, but I don’t sit around typing all day. That’s just not who I am. It didn’t immediately resonate with me. I mean it was—he needed some menial task done. I found myself saying, “Okay I’ll do it, all right.” I said, “I’ll do it. I’ll find some volunteers and I’ll just get it done.” He said, “Really?” I said, “I’ll get it done. When do you need it?” He said, “I need it in about 90 days.” I said, “It’ll be done.”
So I rounded up a group of ladies that I’ve never met and said, “Hey, we need to do some typing.” So I found some typewriters, and I set up a little area there in the church. And we met every day. And I worked the 3:00 p.m. to midnight shift. I’d get up and I’d spend my mornings there, and then I’d go to work. And it was just menial. It was just insignificant. But in the midst of that, God began to do something in my heart for the city, to help the poor of the city.
Pam and I started going out to this neighborhood. And every Saturday for about four years, Pam and I were in this neighborhood: one block of people, about 20 families. I did their funerals. I did their weddings. I prayed for them when they were sick. I visited them when they were in the hospital. I just began to pastor this very poor neighborhood for about four years. And it was because I started out typing: doing something that seemed really insignificant. In the process of doing the insignificant thing, God did something in my heart.
And here we are; it’s 22 years later. I’m really passionate about helping the poor in the city, but it started at a little restaurant. In fact, I still have the napkin. I meant to bring it this morning to show you the napkin. Twenty-two years ago; I still have the napkin that he wrote down those five things on. It’s in our family Bible at home, and I pull it out. And that’s where it started. That’s how it happened.
Let me ask you a question: Are you waiting around for God to give you some big assignment? One of the big questions--I have two questions that I get asked all the time from people. The first question is, “Hey Brady, how do you hear the voice of God?” And that’s a valid question. Another question that I get very often is, “How do I know the will of God for my life?” And here’s a very simple answer to that question: just wake up every morning and say to God, “God I am here to cooperate with what you’re doing on the Earth. Show me what you’re doing; show me how I can cooperate.”
I need to tell you this: If you wake up every morning, you say that to God and you mean it, you do it. Twenty years from now, you’ll find that you’re in the middle of the sweet spot of your life. I find that most Christians are waiting around for the big thing and they never say “yes” to the insignificant thing. And so they never end up doing the big thing because they were never willing to do the insignificant thing. Just serve. Just find a place that needs serving. “Well Pastor Brady, it’s not my gifting. I’m not gifted to do that.”
Hey, let me have breaking news flash here for you, okay? We’re all called to serve. And along the way if you will show that you are a servant, if you will show that you are humble, that you are broken, that you are willing to do whatever God calls you to do, let me tell you, at some point along the way as you are busy just serving, you’ll hear a knock at your door from God. Pump…pump…pump. “Hey, I’ve got an assignment for you now.” The reason God does not put his hand on many of us and call us into the big thing that God wants us to do is that we were never willing to do the insignificant thing.
And that’s a hard issue to God. And God will not trust you; trust us with any kind of measurable influence if we’re not first willing to prove to God that our hearts are broken, that we’re servants. “Just show me where to serve. Show me where the need is God, and I’ll get busy filling the need even if it’s not my gifting, even if it’s insignificant, even if Pastor Brady never says anything about it from the pulpit, even if nobody gives me a plaque, even if I don’t get any kind of spot on the website. I’ll just serve. I’ll just serve. I’ll row the boat. I’ll row the boat that I own. I own the boat. I don’t row boats; I own boats, but I’ll row the boat. I’ll do it. I’ll do it.”
Along the way, God will tap you on the shoulder and give you more and more influence if you’re willing to do the insignificant. Second thing that happens is you have to do something that’s inconvenient. Here’s the problem; we’re all busy. One of the reasons why the church has remained so dormant and has not been the salt and the light, the hands and the feet of God in most cities is because we’re so busy. We’re inconvenienced. We can’t fit it into our schedule. Now notice that Peter—it’s time to go home—Peter has worked all night. Peter is certainly not at his best. It’s not the prime of his day, and yet he says (verse 5) When Jesus says, “Let down you net.” Verse 5 he says, “But because You say so, I’ll do it. I’ll let down the nets.”
As a pastor — I’ve been a pastor now for about 16 years—and I’ve just discovered that funerals and hospitals visits rarely come at convenient times. Can I just say that if any of you go to the hospital, can you do it Monday through Friday, nine to five? It would really be helpful to me if I can pastor you, if you would only go in the hospital Monday through Friday, nine to five. Can you all just make that pledge to me: if you’re going to go to any kind of hospital? If you’re going to have a baby, by the way, that would be really convenient for me. If you’re going to go into labor: Monday to Friday, nine to five; it would be really helpful to us. Okay, can you all make that pledge for us? Just try, all right. Just try.
But here’s what happens: that doesn’t happen that way. On our day off, middle of the night, you just get phone calls. People, emergencies are emergencies. It just happens. And so as Christ followers, are we willing to be inconvenienced? Are we willing at all to say, “God if it fits into my comfort zone I’ll do it. If it fits into my normal flow of life, I’ll do it. Or can I just be inconvenienced?”
God is looking for some people who are willing to be a little inconvenienced. You guys know—I have spoken on this many, many times. I believe in the Sabbath. I believe in a balanced life. I believe in not saying “yes” to everything. In fact, I say “no” to more things than I say “yes” to just so I can keep my sanity. I can stay home and stay married to a wonderful girl who really loves me and I can really, really be a good dad to Abraham and Calleigh. So I do say “no” to things.
I cannot say “yes” to everything, but that does not mean I can’t be inconvenienced. And don’t think any of us can’t be inconvenienced. We have to be willing to be inconvenienced. In fact, rarely does anybody do anything great for God who’s not first willing to be inconvenienced and do something that’s insignificant because here’s what happens next: if you’re willing to do something that’s insignificant and you’re willing to be inconvenienced, let me show you the glorious life that God is about to lead you into.
The next step is you’re about to be asked to do something that’s radically obedient. So this is the test for Peter, right? This is all a test. “Will you row the boat right back out there for me; do something insignificant? Hey, Peter, I know it’s time for you to go home, but are you willing to be inconvenienced?” And now Peter has passed the test. Now Jesus looks at these men, and he’s about to give them something that’s radically obedient. It’s going to require radical obedience.
Look at verse 6: “When they had done so…” So Jesus looks at these men and says, “Okay, guys, listen, let down your net and when you do…” He didn’t give them any promises, did he? He just said, “Let down your net.” And when they had done so, when they obeyed, God put so many fish into those nets that they not only sunk Peter’s boat, they almost sunk the partner’s boat and all the nets tore to pieces. The boats are sinking, nets are torn. Fish are everywhere. And they had fished all night and the prime of their fishing—the best fishing is at night, remember? The best fishing is not during the day. But they’d had fished all night, caught nothing. Then in the time when they thought nothing good can happen, they get more fish than they could possibly imagine—the catch of a lifetime.
Here’s what I believe. I believe many of us sitting in the crowd, listening today by on the line or listening to this by podcast, you’re saying, “God, I had it all figured out, and You didn’t cooperate with me. God, I had my life figured out. I had it all in a box, and God, You didn’t cooperate with my plan.” You ever been there with God? Do you argue with God about him not cooperating with you? And when God was whispering back, “Hey, my ways are better than your ways? My thoughts are better than your thoughts. And maybe the question should be, “God, did I cooperate with you along the way? Did I obey when you asked, when you nudged, when you whispered?”
I believe sometimes we have this world of work, and we have this world of church. And notice in this story that Jesus starts out by talking about spiritual things—church things—then he starts kind of nosing into their work. Can I ask you a question this morning? How many of you allowed God into your world of work? Do you have God put in a little box, and, you know, you’ll show up here two or three Sundays out of the month. You might come to a small group, and that’s your world of church.
And listen, men. All the men listen to me. Men, this is very common among men. Men are like waffles, little squares. Women are like spaghetti: it’s all mixed up; it’s all the same. Men are like waffles. We have our little squares. “I’m coming to church, number one, so my wife will not bother me about church again. I get a whole week of reprieve if I’ll come with her this morning. But listen, you know God is busy building steeples and temples. He’s not really interested in my business so on Monday morning I’m going to put the world of work over here. I’ll come back to you maybe in the small group later this week. Maybe next Sunday I’ll come back to the world of church. Now God, here’s my world of work. I know you’re really not interested in this, but this is my world of work and I’ll take care of this part. God you take care of the church part. You’re really good at the church part. God, I’m going over here and do my business part now. I’ll let you know if I need you. If I start panicking, I’ll let you know. But don’t bother me. This is work. God, this is work. You don’t want to be over here, right God? God, you’re over here.”
So Peter had that figured out. Peter said, “You know I’ll go here, God, do the great talk. But I got a fishing business to run.” And yet here’s what Jesus said, “If you’ll listen to me, I’ll bless your business. Peter, if you’ll listen to me and be obedient, I’ll lead you in the path of righteousness for my name’s sake. I’ll put my hand on you in the world of work the same way that you feel God’s presence here on Sunday morning when you gather in the world of church.
He’ll say, “I’ll put my hand on you Monday through Saturday in the world of work and you’ll feel the leading of the Holy Spirit there, the same way you feel the leading of the Holy Spirit on Sunday morning when you come to New Life.” He’ll say, “I’ll put my hand on you over here too. And I’ll put the hand on you on the world of work. And I’ll make it about the kingdom, about my kingdom. I’ll bless you abundantly. I’ll lead you in the path of righteousness. I’ll make you lie down in green pastures; even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil.”
No bad economy will cause any fear because you’ve allowed God into the world of work. A lot of the panic I see on people’s face when the economy goes up or down, and listen, the economy is always going to be cyclical—up down up down. And the panic that I see on people faces when it goes down is because they never allowed God into the world of work in the first place. So they pray these panicked prayers, “Oh God where are you?” And God says, “You never invited me into the world of work. Now the world of work is going south, you suddenly want me to show up and visit.” I didn’t think I’d get a big cheer from that. I was right. I knew it would get awfully quiet. Have you invited God into the world of work or not?
All right notice now, listen, this is very fascinating to me. Peter figured this out. Peter says, “Oh you mean God wants it all?” Oh God wants everything. God wants every minute of every day to be focused on Him. “Oh God wants all of my worship. Oh…” All right fast forward, three years later, there was only two times that Jesus Peter to lower his nets. The first time, we just read it Luke Chapter 5. When He did, nets tore up, boats started sinking, and Peter was fixated on the fish that he was trying to haul into his boat. That’s typical for most of us in this room.
All right now, three years later, Peter had had a revelation, though. Something had happened in Peter’s heart that was different. Let’s go to the book of John verse 21. It says, “Jesus now has gone to the grave. He’s resurrected.” This is probably not the first time Peter has seen post-resurrection Jesus, but notice the story.
“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore…” Remember again the disciples had been fishing all night because the best fishing was at night. “Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore….” But the disciples really didn’t realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” Notice again, “No.” Now they haven’t caught a thing. Every time Peter fishes, he doesn’t catch anything.
All right, know the answer: He said, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you’ll find some.” Now I don’t want to be Captain Obvious or anything, but chances are they had fished from the right side of the boat at some point during the night. Do you believe that? “God, whoever you are on the shore, we have fished from both sides of the boat.” Well, you won’t hear any argument from him. He said, “All right.” He says, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you’ll find something.” And when they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
And then by the way, John who wrote this says this about himself, “Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter…” He’s talking about himself. By the way, I do believe that Jesus loves me. John gets a lot of grief for that, but I think that’s actually a pretty good thing for him to say about himself. And by the way, it would probably set most of us free in this room if we really believe God loved us. So that’s another sermon, but that was free of charge what I just gave you.
So John said—I think it’s great revelation that John had. He was convinced God loves me. “So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say “it is the Lord,” then notice: in the first story, all Peter can think about is, “Help me find these fish. They’re sinking my boat. They’re ripping my nets.” Three years later, he’s not fixated on the fish anymore. As soon as he heard it, he says, “It is the Lord.” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say it, “he wrapped his outer garment around him for he had taken it off, and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.”
Then notice this: the nets didn’t break. The ship didn’t sink. But Peter’s focus was on something totally different than it was three years earlier. Listen guys, ladies, men, women, if all you’re fixed on is dollars, economy, dollars, dollars, economy, this is a big story. This is a big idea I’m bringing up this morning.
If you’ll lift your head up from the newspaper every once in a while and turn your eyes toward heaven, quit worrying about the Dow, quit worrying about all the bad news that comes and goes. If you just lift your head up, you’ll find that the things in this world will grow strangely dim. It just will. It’s not that it will become less important, it is important and I know it’s important. It just won’t capture your heart like it is right now.
Notice what Peter does. This is a big haul of fish. This is probably a month’s worth of wages that Peter is talking—this is a lot of money that’s coming into his boat right now. But Peter doesn’t even think about the fish. He jumps into the water and heads toward God. He doesn’t wait on the boat to take him to shore. He has his passion for the presence of Jesus. Jesus is on the shore. You guys are going to slow. I’m going to swim faster than you can row. I’m going to Jesus.
Listen to what he says in verse 9: “And when they landed they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it.” Now notice this, Jesus already has fish. He doesn’t need our fish. The same thing is with your money. God does not need your money. God has always wanted our heart. He had fish. Where’d he get the fish? Doesn’t say, but he already had fish. He’s like, “You guys are bringing me a net full of fish, listen I already have fish. I have fish. That’s not what I want. I want Peter’s abandon—reckless abandon. I want to see Peter jumping off the boat, swimming toward me.” He wants our worship. He doesn’t care about our fish. He had fish and some bread by the way.
Verse 10: Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught. And Simon Peter climbed aboard, dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, a hundred and fifty three large fish—keepers. But even with so many, the net was not torn.” Isn’t that amazing. When our focus is not on the fish, when our focus is on just being radically obedient, we get the fish. But our heart is not about the fish anymore. Our heart is not about the big catch. Our heart was, “Jesus, can we just have some time with you? Can we have some breakfast together today? Thanks for the fish. That will pay our bills for the next month. It will give us the ability now to do ministry for the next month. But Lord we don’t really care about that. Can we just have some breakfast together?”
They were willing to be insignificant. They were willing to be inconvenienced, and these were men of radical obedience. And that’s why two thousand years later, we’re talking about them. Two thousand years later, we’re talking about Peter when he should’ve been a nameless, faceless person that drifted away. When they buried him, they probably would never have remembered him 20 years after he’s dead. Instead two thousand years later, we’re talking about Peter. And when you get to heaven, you are going to be totally unimpressed I believe.
I believe we’re just going to be totally unimpressed. “We’re talking about you for two thousand years? You were the topic of all those sermons? You?”
“Yes. “Mind blowing to me too every time I hear you all talking about me down there. I can’t believe it. What are you all talking about me for?”
Because he was willing to be insignificant. I’ll row the boat when nobody else was willing to row. I’m willing to be inconvenienced, and God I’ll just obey.
Back in Luke 5; listen to verse 11 one more time. This is how we’re going to end this morning. “So they pulled their boats up on the shore. They left everything, and they followed him.” They left everything, and they followed him. Now I’m not saying today that we’re all going to leave our jobs and wander around looking for Jesus. That’s not what we’re talking about this morning.
Every time we hear these stories, the thesis statement that God is wanting to get at, the bottom line to this, this morning—and it’s the bottom line of most stories that Jesus talks about—was if all of you belonged to all of him or not? What, is there anything other than God getting our worship, our devotion, our infatuation? Or have we left everything to follow him?
Awe, adventure and advocacy requires just a small group of people sitting here among us, a handful of us. It may only start with a handful of us. And I hope over time it’s thousands of us that say “yes” to this, but I suspect only a few of us will say “yes” immediately to something like this, where we say, “God, I’m just going to give everything to you. My worship is going to be on Christ and Christ alone.”
And even Jesus said, “You cannot worship God and mammon,” you cannot worship God and money. You’ve got to pick one or the other. And so I’m going to lift my head up this morning, and I’m going to worship him, trust him. I suspect over time, we’re going to look up; we’re going to have plenty of fish. We’ll just look up and go, “Where’d the fish come from?” We’ll have a net full of fish, our net’s never broken, the ships never sank. New Life somehow always had just enough to do the work of God that he called us to do. I doubt we’ll ever have an abundance, but that’s not the point, is it?
We might have an abundance, we might not. We don’t have an abundance now, but it just seems like God keeps providing just enough to do whatever we say “yes” to, whatever he speaks to us to do. Wouldn’t that be a fascinating life to live like that the next 30-40 years? Just trusting God, just obeying God: that he would provide. Anyway 30 years from now we can all sit around and tell the stories. Do you remember when we didn’t think we’d ever have enough? And then suddenly we just had fish for that day. Give us today our daily bread. Somehow we managed to walk through that dark place and somehow we ended up with all net full of fish. Somehow we just kind of ended up with enough. And we can just all give God the glory and the praise for that at the end, right?
Let’s pray together this morning. I’m challenged by it. I’m standing up here talking. I’m talking, and I’m challenged. By the way, the most convicted person on Sunday morning is always me. I’m telling you. I sometimes sit up here and talk and go, “My gosh! I shouldn’t have said that because I got to live that now.” I want to live—I don’t want to say anything I’m not willing to live, and I’m convicted this morning.
Have I been willing to be inconvenienced? Have I so carefully managed my schedule that I’m never inconvenienced for anything? I don’t want to live like that. Am I willing to do something when nobody sees it, insignificant? Am I willing to serve when nobody sees, nobody gives me any kind of credit? I think I am. I want to be. I think you are. I think you want to be. Let’s pray. Let’s just ask God to make that clear to us this morning.
Let’s really ask God to put that in our heart. “Lord I want to be a servant. I want my rewards to be in Heaven not always on the Earth. I’m willing to do something in obscurity, God. If you ask me to do something that’s insignificant, in obscurity, I’m willing to do that.” Can you just say that to yourself if you mean it? You say, “Lord I’m willing to be obscure, insignificant. Father, I’m willing to be inconvenienced.”
Not everything’s going to happen nine to five, Monday through Friday. Not everything’s going to happen when I have time to do it. Sometimes it’s going to require me to say “no” to good things so I can say “yes” to God things. I know that. Sometimes when I have to say to my family, “We’re not going to do that today; we’re going to do something else because God is leading us as a family to do this.”
“Some of you will have to say to your friends, “Hey, I can’t go do that with you today even though we planned it, because I really feel that God told me to go do this today. I just want us to be a people when God whispers to us, the default answer is, “Yes, Lord.” Yes? Yes? What did you say God, because the answer is yes. Will you tell me one more time what you told me to do because the answer is ‘yes.’”
It’s just the default answer is going to be “yes.” We’re not going to argue with you. We’re not going to wrestle with you, God. We’re going to be a people that’s easy to lead. We’re going to be like the sheep, the good sheep in your pasture that when you just whisper or make any kind of movement, we’re going to be aware of it. We’re going to move with you. We’re going to be sheep of your pasture. You’re the shepherd of our souls; we’re the sheep of your pasture. We’re just going to be easy to lead. We’re going to be those kind of sheep, not difficult, easy to lead.”
Father, we pray now for our hearts. We pray our hearts, honest and true before you. We pray we have the heart, the same heart that you were working in Peter, in James in John, and these stories that we read in the Bible. We pray Lord that we catch the heart of those men as they heard your voice. They heard you and they responded well. I pray today that we would be a people that hear your voice and that respond well. That we’d be people that say “yes,” people who serve, people who are willing to be inconvenienced. In Jesus’s name, Amen. Amen.”
You staying with me this morning, I want our altar ministry team to step out and come down and be ready to pray. Now I really feel this, this morning and sometimes you know when you have a weather Sunday, you never know what’s going to happen. I really felt, there are some of you who have never said “yes” to Jesus. You know that there are people getting saved almost every day at New Life right now? Just an amazing, amazing thing happening right now. And I really—and the reason is, it’s because the Holy Spirit is drawing people to Christ right now, not to church, not to a building, not to an organization.
The Holy Spirit has spoken to some of you today. You’re away from God, you’re not following God, and you’ve never really radically obeyed his call. You know God’s calling you. If you’re here today and never said “yes” to Jesus, all of you have—it’s the easiest thing you’ve ever done in your life. In fact it’ll seem too good to be true. It’ll seem so easy because Christ has already done it. All you have to do is say, “yes” and believe.
So if you’re here today and you just want somebody to pray with you, we’re here to pray, all right? If you’re sick, if you need prayer in your body, there’s an issue in your family in your home, or your business, anything at all. There’s not one thing we won’t pray for you for. If you come down, there’s not a list we’ve made of things we don’t pray for people for. We’ll pray for anything, okay? Anything. You just let us pray for you, all right?
Guest Central is right through those doors, kind of to the left, that way. We’d love to see you, okay? All right let’s pray one more time. Drive super safely getting home; have fun today with family and friends. And by the way if you should be wandering out here today and you see somebody, maybe God would whisper to you to invite them to your super bowl gathering. Could you just—maybe that’s a radical thing to say “yes” to that today, but we want a family to form here and one of the great things to do is to have fun together, eat together, and football together is a great way to make friends, all right?
So if you’re a Packer fan and you see a Steeler fan and God whispers to you to invite them to your party, what’s the default answer? “Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.” What’s that? Oh yes, we have some free … coffee , cider, hot chocolate. Take one on your way home so you can stay warm. Our compliments: just take all of it and enjoy that today, okay?
All right, pray, “Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit. We welcome you into our hearts. Let us be an obedient people, in Jesus’s name, Amen. God bless. Have a great Sunday. If you need prayer, let us pray for you.
