TITLE: JUST TRYING TO DO MY JOB
SCRIPTURE: ST. LUKE 5:1-11
Have you ever found yourself in the position, where it seemed like no matter what you did, it just was NOT GOOD ENOUGH? Have you ever found yourself in the position that no matter how hard you worked, seemed like you just could not get the job done? Have you ever heard yourself DECLARING – JUST TRYING TO DO MY JOB! Ever heard yourself say - What's the use? I tried, I work very hard, what's the point? Have you ever felt DISGUSTED – DISCOURAGED – DEPRESSED - all in the same moment?
• Sure, we all have
• Your best efforts didn't make it
• Your boss didn't appreciate all the work that you did
• Not only didn't they appreciate it, they told you that you could find another job
There are times where it seems as though no matter how hard we work, we don’t make any headway. People look at you crazy, wonder what in the world are you doing, and all you can say is – Just Trying To Do My Job. That's where Peter was. And, in fact, in this text, Jesus is actually preaching the word of God and Peter is within earshot but, HE’S NOT LISTENING. The very answer to his frustration and discouragement is right there; but he can't hear. He was working, busy - WASHING HIS NETS. This is important because it means that he was CALLING IT A DAY. When a fisherman washed his nets they washed off the brine, they laid them out, they were done. They'd had it. The day was over.
I'll give you four reasons very quickly why Simon Peter's day was going so badly that he couldn't hear what Jesus was trying to tell him, and he couldn't see how the Lord would help him.
--NUMBER ONE - he was BONE TIRED. He had just labored too hard, and one of the great problems of today that everybody faces who seeks to be CONSTRUCTIVE and INDUSTRIOUS is Tiredness and Stress. He was just exhausted, he could not hear. You know, maybe the greatest word that God could tell you today is you need to rest, you've been working too hard, but that was one reason Peter couldn't hear.
• I was so tired when I left office Thursday evening around 7:40 p.m.
• Worked all day
• Langston University to teach course
• Back to office for Business Meeting
• All I could do when I arrived home was fall out in the Recliner
--SECONDLY - he LABORED ALL NIGHT. He'd worked 8-10 hours straight without anything to show for it. He was DISCOURAGED. You ever work so hard after while look around seems like nothing to show for your hard work but DISCOURAGEMENT. When discouragement sets in, your view becomes cloudy.
--THIRDLY - Jesus told Peter he needed to TRY AGAIN and that didn't make sense because to cast out into the deep water at the beginning of the day is just not the way it's done. So when we think about what God's trying to tell us and it doesn't make sense from our human perspective, we kind of shut it out.
• Michelle will tell you I’m the KING of Shutting Down
• I have to work hard at not shutting down
• When things don’t make sense – Annoyed – I Shut Down
--And LASTLY - PRIDE. I can imagine when Jesus told Peter, "We're going to try again, Peter," that he might have said something like, under his breath, of course, "Now just who's the fisherman here anyway? I think He was a carpenter, wasn't He?" One of those sort of things. We let our Pride get in the way of hearing from the Lord.
Have you ever worked hard at something and a family member, after you've been working hard at it for hours, looks over your shoulder and criticizes? Maybe you're in the car driving, you've lost your way and they're telling you, hopefully constructively, which way to turn, and there's an attitude that you have of "Thank you very much." You know, that's what I think happens in VS. 5.
• Jesus recommends Peter re-cast – set sail and catch some fish
• "Uh Lord, okay, if You say so," and I think that's where Peter was, completely
• "Thanks Lord for the suggestion but I really don't think this is going to happen"
I believe that many of us today are just like Peter. We spend so much time DEBATING WITH GOD that we miss out on our blessings. God is trying to take us out of the NORM and we fight the Lord because we are comfortable and satisfied where we are. I know we will not admit it but in essence that is exactly what we are saying to the Lord.
• He says Go Left, we say moving to the Right looks so much better
• He says Stop, we say well I am already in Motion may as well continue at this point
• He says Quiet, we say after I cuss them out then I will be quiet Lord
• He says Stand Still Let the Lord Fight Your Battle, we say that’s Okay Lord, I got this one
• He says Sit Down we would rather Stand Up
• He says Love your Neighbors – we say, Lord, you Know I’m Not There Yet
Simon had been washing and mending his nets, while keeping one ear listening to what Jesus was teaching. After all, he had other responsibilities and duties to perform. He had to fish to make a living for his family. Remember, Peter was married and most likely had children. Jesus’ call for Simon Peter to launch out into deeper water is an analogy of what He wants to do in Simon’s life. Jesus is going to take Simon Peter to deeper, more personal commitment to Himself.
But when we hear the call to LAUNCH OUT DEEPER in our lives, we are tempted to compromise our obedience. We are tempted to be GUIDED AND INFLUENCED BY OUR FRIENDS - instead of what God says. Undoubtedly the advice of Peters friends, the OTHER VETERAN FISHERMEN who overheard what Jesus said would be, “Peter don’t do it.
• You have your nets all cleaned and stored
• If you go back out you will have to do it all over again, for nothing
• If you listen to some of your friends they would say, “Sure, go to church if want to but don’t get fanatical about it?”
• If you listen to some of your friends they would say, “Sure, go to church if want to but - Make sure they don’t get all your money”
We are also tempted to be GUIDED BY OUR EXPERIENCES - instead of what God says. The Lord asks Peter to do something contrary to his own expertise in fishing. According to everything that he knows about fishing, and he is a professional, he can’t see any way at all that what Jesus asks is going to work. The best fishing on the Sea of Galilee was at night close to shore. But Jesus had asked him to launch out into the deep in the middle of the day. This was asking a great deal of Peter. He was asking him to trust His Word. He was in effect asking Simon to try again even though he had failed in the past. This of course would be an important lesson for Peter in the future, not to allow past failure to keep him from serving. I can hear Peter saying – Just Trying To Do My Job.
Peter looks at Jesus and says “MASTER WE WORKED HARD ALL NIGHT AND CAUGHT NOTHING, BUT I WILL DO AS YOU SAY AND LET DOWN THE NETS.” Peter had indeed worked hard. Luke used the word KOPIAO = “to grow weary.” Peter had worked all night. Luke used the word HOLOS = meaning “whole or complete.” Peter had worked to the point of exhaustion all night long and had come up empty-handed.
• Have you ever felt that way?
• After your best efforts, you have come up empty-handed
• Not just after one day but after years of trying, you have still come up short, with not much to show for all the effort you have invested
• Jesus knows and is issuing the same call to you and me as He did to Peter
I can identify really well with his first statement. “Oh, it’s all been for nothing…(been out all night and took in nothing)” Life can feel so meaningless. Daily life can seem unsatisfying and unproductive and to make matters worse we may have to face the same tasks and persons again tomorrow! So how was it that Simon risked stepping out of the conventional
wisdom of the fishing village to – in the middle of the morning- to “launch out into the deep and to let down his nets?” Fish were best caught at night!
Peter said, “AT YOUR WORD, I WILL TRY AGAIN.” Luke used the word “RHEMA” - Rhema is a fresh, powerful, anointed word from God to help us meet a specific challenge that we are facing. It is a statement of command to propel us over the obstacles that we are facing. We will never grow to this point in our lives until we reach that crossroad in our life and say – Just Trying To Do My Job. Look at your neighbor this morning and say NEIGHBOR, Just Trying To Do My Job.
Can I try to help you at this point? When I go to my office during the Week, I think that I do my job very well. When I teach at the local University, I believe that I do my job very well. I am sure that most of you feel the same way about your particular job. I am sure that you would say that you do your job well. Take much pride in your performance and if you are retired you look back over your years and know that you did your job well.
I want you to understand when we enter into the Sanctuary every week, we also have a job to do. How we handle our Job here determines how high God takes us out there. Ok, Ok, I know some of you are still not with me this morning. When I come to church every week and throughout the week, I come in understanding that I have a job to do….NO I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT TEACHING OR PREACHING - I AM TALKING ABOUT PRAISING!
• I don’t come in attempting to Cut God Short on My Praise – He’s been too good to me
• I don’t come in attempting to Sit Down on the Lord – He’s been too good to me
• I don’t come in trying to hurry along the worship service – He’s been too good to me
• I don’t come in trying to Sit Down on My Praise – He’s been too good to me
I come into the sanctuary every week with the understanding that I’m - Just Trying To Do My Job! And my job is to PRAISE HIM!
• Just tell your neighbor excuse me – Just Trying To Do My Job
• Just tell them, let me step over you – Just Trying To Do My Job
• I know you will look at me funny
• I know you think it does not take all that
• But you don’t know what I been through
• Excuse Me – Just Trying To Do My Job
One of the things that distinguishes the people of God from all others is praise. We who have been born again, filled and baptized with the Spirit posses a burning and blazing desire to praise the Lord.
• Praise is an instinctive behavior for the true child of God
• The true child of God has a severe and critical case of intensive and instinctive praise
• Every morning it’s thank you Lord, during the day it’s nobody but you Lord, In the evening its glory to your name
• It’s thank you for another days Journey
• Praise is an innate and instinctive part of fiber and fabric of the genetic construction of a true child of God
When Peter learned how to be obedient and Praise the Lord – the Lord blessed him with the INCREASE. Peter grew to the point where he said, “Although I don’t understand, NEVERTHELESS, At Thy Word.” All too often we never grew to this level in our life. We come to church with the attitude that depending on how things go, I Might Praise the Lord today. Depending upon how I feel, I Might Praise the Lord. We must come in understanding “THAT I WILL.”
• I may, I might and I should - leave cracks and crevasses for doubt, and speculation to sneak in
• I will slams the door emphatically with a kind of dogmatic emphasis
• I will says I thought about, but I have come to full resolve and now I have no reservations, hesitations or procrastinations about the matter
• I may not understand but I will Praise the Lord
• I come in with the attitude – Just Trying To Do My Job
Even the SONGWRITER tried to help us out -- “WHEN I THINK OF THE GOODNESS OF JESUS AND ALL HE HAS DONE FOR ME, MY SOUL CRIES OUT, HALLELUJAH, THANK GOD…”
• We praise Him because we thought about it (deep meditation)
• And we came to the realization that He is the same yesterday today and forever more
• Praise is the results of deep mediation about who God is
I know that we are saved, but most of us don’t give God more than a Glance every day. We don’t spend time thinking about the goodness of God.
• We think about our job
• We think about our bank account
• We think about our children, grandchildren
• We think about our boyfriend, girlfriend
• Some of us right now are thinking about where we partied last night
• We think about everything else
• We need to spend time thinking and meditating about who God is to us
This morning we have come to Praise The Lord. This is our whole reason for our being here. Yes, we come for other things:
• We need encouragement
• We need direction
• And we need prayers answered
• But, let us not forget, the real reason we are here is to praise the Lord
• That’s why I say this morning – Just Trying To Do My Job
Don’t misunderstand me this morning. Not everyone will show an overly exciting, outward expression of praise all the time. We are not all the same, neither do we all respond to things in the same manner. And I don’t need a preacher telling me every two or three minutes to HIGH-FIVE SOMEBODY or to TURN TO MY NEIGHBOR and give some expression. No, that’s not what I’m talking about.
But I am saying that if you really know this God you say you serve:
• If you really have had a personal experience with Him
• If Jesus is real in your life and you have seen His handiwork in your affairs
• If the sacrifice of the cross has significance for you
• If you really remember what He did when you receive the Lord’s Supper
• Then sometimes you ought to show a little sign that He’s real in your soul
• Every now and then you ought to excuse yourself from the pew and say – Just Trying To Do My Job
--Don’t know why you’re here this morning - but I’m Just Trying To Do My Job
--You may have come just to frown and fault – but I’m Just Trying To Do My Job
--May be waiting for your neighbor to get happy first – but I’m Just Trying To Do My Job
--If He’s been good to you – Praise Him
--If, He has blessed you – Praise Him
--If He’s made a way for you – Praise Him
