Annual Sermons: Vol. 12 Sermon 9
Bob Marcaurelle Mt. 4:18-20, Lk. 5:1-11
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LAUNCHING OUT INTO THE DEEP
This miracle is not about fishing - it is about evangelism - fishing for men, as Jesus put it (Mt. 4:19; Lk. 5:10). The church’s great commission is to preach the gospel in the pulpit and talk the gospel between Sundays so the Holy Spirit can win the people we witness to, to Christ (Mt. 28:18-20). The sad fact about churches entering the year 2000 is that we are not reaching out. What we call evangelism is really winning our own - the children of members and swapping sheep - taking in other church’s members. And in our text Jesus not only tells us that we are to be fishers (Mt. 4:19) and catchers (Lk. 5:10), but illustrates with His miracles how we are to do it. He gives several great principles of effective evangelism that the church must give itself to. Thank God, the Jesus who enlists also empowers.
I. MAKE EVANGELISM PRIMARY
Jesus had ministered with these Galilean fishermen for a year. They were, with many others, His disciples, but now they would become His apostles. This was their call to full time ministry - to leave their homes, their families and their fishing for fish ministry. And right at the beginning, in the context of fishing, Jesus set their priority for ministry. He said, “Come follow me. . .and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19). He told Peter, “. . .from now on you will catch men” (Lk. 5:10).
We are to worship, to pray, teach, to fellowship, support missions and to minister to the needs of others, but most of all we are to evangelize the lost, to reach out with the gospel. Evangelism is why Jesus came. He said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10). Evangelism is why Jesus died on the cross. He said, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” And John added, “He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die (Jn. 12:32, 33). Evangelism is why the Holy spirit came. Jesus told His church, “. . .you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses. . .to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
We look at the Word of God and see the priority of evangelism but we look at the church and see the poverty of evangelism. We do everything but this. What we do is good but when we substitute the good for the best, for the priority God has given us, the good actually becomes evil because it keeps us from doing our duty.
A church will never drift toward evangelism. It will always drift away from it. The internal demands of the church will cry out, will demand attention and will fill our schedules to the breaking point. Committees must meet, choir numbers must be rehearsed, the Sunday School must teach, worship services must be planned, sermons must be prepared, the sick must be prayed for and visited, world missions must be funded, children and youth and adults and seniors must be furnished Christian activities and fellowship. The unsaved man or woman or boy or girl will not reach out and demand our time and thus, all of us, including the ministerial staff, gives them almost none of our time. We must make the time and take the time. And we will never do this until we make reaching the lost the priority that God makes it.
II. HAVE FAITH IN GOD
These professional fishermen “worked hard all night” and caught nothing? (Lk. 5:5). Because God was showing them and us that we cannot win anyone to Christ. If we try our power, our personality, our wisdom - we will fail miserably. But what we cannot do, God can and will do. These fish were not caught, they were called by the Son of God. And don’t you love the faith of Simon Peter? There was a little doubt and pessimism in his response when Jesus said, “Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch” (Lk. 5:5). But there was also a flicker of faith. He said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Lk. 5:5).
And they caught so many fish that the nets almost broke, helpers had to be called in and the boats were so full that they almost sunk. That, my friends, is the power of God behind evangelism. And it requires men and women of faith, like Peter’s, who, in spite of pessimism and doubt, trusted Christ and obeyed. Oh, God, give us more like Simon Peter. Give us men of faith. Men who would plunge into hell itself simply because you asked it. There is no place for a pessimist in a revival. We don’t need any more men to tell us what won’t work, we need more who will say, “With God, all things are possible.”
Spurgeon preaching to his church on revival said every revival in history was characterized by men of faith. Another man, who has been called America’s Spurgeon, T. DeWitt Talmadge, said he admired individual soul winners who go out with a hook and a line and catch men for the Lord one at a time. But, he said, he also liked churches, God’s boats, that hurl huge nets into the sea, expecting such a work from God that they expected the nets to break.
III. BE WILLING TO WORK
When it comes to evangelism, God can do it, but He won’t do it without us. The answer to the old question, “Are revivals prayed down or worked up? Do they come from God or man?” is both. These rough boats and huge oars and nets and the current and the moving of thousands of fish, required all the effort these strong men could muster. Winning people to Christ is the hardest task God asks us to do. It is hard psychologically. It is not our nature to intrude into someone else’s life, especially when it comes to religion. We feel judgmental and even proud when we even suggest that someone is not a Christian and we are. It is hard socially. Lost people do not want a word from us or a visit from us. They don’t want to hear what we say, to go to our church or to turn down the television while we visit.
It is hard spiritually. If you want to really know there is a devil, then give yourself to prayer or to soul winning. Either one will wake up hell and you will find home problems, health problems, work problems, mind problems, spiritual problems, like you never knew. Satan will oppose you every step of the way when you step out to witness. Here, only the strong survive.
What about us? Can God count on us to work for him? I hear a voice from heaven speaking to me in this hour - “Preacher, what about you? Will you work? Will you do all that is in your power to guide this church in lowering its nets this next year? Will you stand there and pull with them? Will you study harder and go deeper into my word and then preach more effectively? Will you train others to witness? Will you be an administrator who gives the time, study and prayer to build an evangelistic organization? Will you go all up and down these roads in a regular, systematic program of visitation?”
Deacon. will you live up to your name - servants, and do God’s will? What about you Sunday School teachers? Did you simply take a class this year or did you take a task? Are you prepared to do some hard work? Oh, listen, the teaching of the lesson is only one small part. Will you come to our training classes so that you might be a better teacher? Will you visit? Will you seek to get your members to visit? Will you be a pastor to your class and prospects?
What about you, class members? Will you work for God this year? Your teacher cannot do it all? If every attending member of every adult and youth class, worked hard, really hard at reaching one of their friends and getting them into Sunday School, so they can hear the gospel and see it in the lives of Christians, our Sunday School would double in one year.
IV. USE THE OLD FUNDAMENTALS
These fishermen caught these fish with the tools and methods they had always used - boats, nets and hard work. I know our evangelistic methods today have far more potential than those of our ancestors - television, web sites, printed materials, etc. But I also know there are some unchanging, ancient fundamentals we must practice no matter what our method. Almost 100 years ago Arthur Flake gave the fundamentals of church growth.
1. Provide Space. There is no substitute for church buildings in the community where people can congregate with Christian people. They can be taught the gospel, worship the God who made and redeemed them and be saved. Southern Baptists grew to the world’s largest non-Catholic denomination by putting churches where the people are.
2. Enlarge the Organization. As a church grows it must break up into smaller units so people can be known, feel needed and make friends for life. That’s where the Sunday School comes in. The Sunday School class is like a little church inside the church. Here you are known, taught, challenged, ministered to, matured and equipped for your ministry.
3. Go Find the People. Nowhere in the New Testament are lost people commanded to go to church. Church people are to go to the lost and bring them in. Jesus said go to the world (Mt. 28:18-20); go to the highways and hedgerows (Lk. 14:23); go from the ninety-nine sheep in the fold to the lost sheep out in the world (Lk. 15:4-7). The ways to go are countless - start a bus ministry to your gym on Saturdays; organize ball teams throughout the city with Christian coaches; put someone in an apartment complex or mobile home park and let them use it for Bible study and ministry; start a backyard Bible study; go door to door sharing the gospel.
4. Give People Something When They Come. If you take an empty pan and rattle it, chickens will flock to you. But if you keep doing it and never feed them from it, they’ll quit coming. It’s the same with people.
Preachers must preach Bible based relevant sermons. Our task is not to teach the Bible. Our task is to teach people the Bible and there is a world of difference. One man said his new Pastor was answering more questions nobody was asking than any preacher they ever had. And above all else, keep preaching the gospel. We have too many pulpits given over to prophecy, or the family, or victory over problems or church growth or bragging over church growth, etc. The old time gospel of ruin, regeneration and righteous living is tacked on from time to time. Someone told Spurgeon all his sermons were alike. He said, “I know it. I take my text and take off for the cross.
Sunday School Teachers. The same task is yours. Fail to study, fail to pray, fail to know the hearts, hopes and hurts of your class members and get up on Sunday and ramble and your class will dwindle down to just you and the “frozen chosen.” (We erroneously call them the faithful few.) The final fundamental is.
5. Love People. We must care enough to get our hands dirty and our hearts broken in the hurts of others. God’s word to Corinth, the loveless church was, “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels and have not love, I am only a resounding gong cymbal. . . If I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. . .” (1 Cor. 13:1-2). In other words, without love our sermons and songs and Sunday School lessons are just noise to God and to those we get to come to our churches. And if we do not love them, they won’t come back, and I don’t blame them, do you?
