This past Wednesday marked the beginning of the season of Lent. Many people give something up for Lent. I’m not always sure people understand why they do it. It just seems like the thing to do because that is what others are doing. For some reason this is not something that growing up that my family really ever got into. Many people give up things like sweets, soda(pop), alcohol. This if fine but I want to warn against something if you have decided to give something up for Lent.
Are you doing this for you or are you doing it so that you can draw closer to the Lord? If you are giving something up then what are you replacing it with? Maybe you should be focusing on adding something. Adding more time in scripture. Committing to read scripture every day. I’m just throwing out some food for thought.
During this time of Lent where we begin to prepare ourselves for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter morning I thought we would take a look at one of his closest followers, Peter.
We are going to look at Peter’s early contact with Jesus and his subsequent decision to follow him. So open your bibles with me this morning to Luke 5:1-11. Put a finger in that passage and then turn over to John 1:35-43. Let’s look at God’s Word together this morning.
Read John 1:35-43 and then Luke 5:1-11
We know that Peter was a fisherman but what else do we know about him? We know that he was an outspoken guy. We know that he was impulsive. He often seemed to put his foot in him mouth. He was Andrew’s brother. He was in business with James and John and their father Zebedee.
We can maybe draw some assumptions about him. Since he was a Jewish male he would have been educated to a certain extent about the Old Testament laws and prophets. He may have been a fairly successful at his business. They were in business with James and John and had at least two boats in their fleet.
At this time in history the Jews were waiting for the Messiah. They knew the prophecies and they had been praying for God to deliver them from Roman oppression. There were different self-proclaimed Messiah’s that had come and gone. John the Baptist was now making quite a noise. People were beginning to pay attention and he had his own disciples that were following him and attending to him.
Andrew must have been one of those who was spending time with John the Baptist. John had witnessed Jesus coming and declared him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Andrew was now interested in Jesus and he then went to find his brother Peter and introduced him to Jesus. Jesus was leaving for Galilee and he asked them to follow.
I have concluded a couple of things from this. John did his baptizing in the Jordan River probably more down towards Jerusalem in the region of Judea. When Jesus asked them to follow one of two things happened. When they decided to go with him they moved their fishing operation from the river up to the Sea of Galilee. They all decided that they wanted to keep an eye on Jesus and be around him but at this point they weren’t giving up their livelihood.
Or they lived and fished on the Sea of Galilee and Andrew was following John at this time and either other siblings were taking up the slack or they had hired men to take the place of the boys.
If they decided to move their operation it definitely shoes that they were already beginning to believe that there might be something special happening here. Andrew stated it to Peter when he said we have found the Messiah.
What did you do when you found the Jesus? These guys were pretty excited about it and they went and told their family members about it. Maybe they were just trying to get in on the ground floor first with John as he built up his base of followers and then with Jesus has he began his rise? Maybe they were just so enamored with who Jesus was that they just could keep it inside.
In our small group we were just talking about how we are at an advantage now having the bible and knowing the whole story. We have things explained to us about what it means to follow Jesus. We have Jesus ministry explained to us where they were just left to try to figure things out on the fly.
But on the flip side they had an advantage on us in that they were looking for Jesus or the Messiah. They wanted him to come. They were eagerly searching for him and when offered the chance or that this might be the guy, they were ready to check it out and take it.
I think for much of our world they aren’t looking. They don’t know about the promised return of Jesus. They don’t know about his grace and mercy. They don’t know that they are living a sinful life away from the Savior, Jesus Christ. They need us to be their Andrew. They need us to come and bring them to Jesus.
As we approach Easter, what better time could there be to bring them to Jesus?!? Is there someone you know that needs to know about Jesus? A co-worker, a teammate, a family member or a neighbor??? If you keep going through the rest of this chapter Jesus also said to Philip to follow and Philip goes to get Nathanael. Nathanael is skeptical because he doesn’t believe anything good can come from Nazareth but Jesus takes care of the rest. It isn’t your job to save someone, we simply need to bring them to Jesus and let him do the rest.
Now turn over to Luke 5. One of the pastor’s I listened to this week suggested that at least six months had passed from the account in John to where we pick things up in Luke. Whatever the case the guys have returned back to their professions as fisherman.
Previous to this account in Luke Jesus is out in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Maybe having nothing to do they have gone back to the profession they know? It is also possible that they never quit fishing but followed Jesus whenever they could.
At the end of chapter four Jesus goes into Peter’s home and heals his mother-in-law. Others are brought to him and he heals them and casts out demons. Jesus is now getting quite a following from the people in the area.
As we begin chapter 5 we see that Jesus is teaching again. People are all crowding around Jesus. They want to get close enough so they can hear him. There are probably those who also want to get close enough to Jesus so that they can touch him or at least get in his presence so that he can heal them or a loved one. You can only imagine everyone crowding around Jesus and getting into his space. He continues to retreat and they continue to press in more and more.
Pretty soon Jesus is at the water’s edge and maybe even in the water as people continue to push in closer and closer. He sees Peter’s boat along the shore and gets in and asks Peter to push off from shore. “Take me out a little bit, I want to use your boat as a pulpit.”
Now understand what is all going on here. Peter knows Jesus. He has been following him from time to time. He has witnessed Jesus do miracles. Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Peter had probably heard him preach.
Peter and the guys had been out all night fishing. You would fish all night and during day you would have to prepare your catch for sale as well as clean all the silt out of your nets and repair any damage or holes that they might have.
Peter was probably pretty tired and most likely still had other duties to do. Although if he was done cleaning the nets he wouldn’t have to worry about preparing the catch because there wasn’t any. So when Jesus gets in his boat he goes ahead and does what he asks.
When Jesus is done preaching he says to Peter, “hey lets go out to the deep water and do some fishing.” The carpenter telling the fisherman how to fish. How ridiculous! Is that what Peter says to him though?? Not exactly. He might have been thinking that in his head but that is not what he says.
His response to Jesus is, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. Remember Jesus had just finished preaching/teaching. It must have been pretty incredible what he said. Peter believed in him and respected Jesus and even though this request sounded utterly ridiculous, he would honor the request and do what Jesus wanted. It’s not like he had anything else to do.
What happens next is amazing. I’m sure Peter thought they’d be in and out pretty quick and he could still get back for a little rest before they would have to push off for the night again. How shocked was he when the nets were full. They catch was like nothing he had ever seen before. There nets are straining under the weight of all of the fish. They and the nets can’t handle this by themselves so they signal their partners, James and John, to come and help.
The boats are full of fish. The floor of the fish are full of flopping fish. In the middle of all of this Peter falls to his knees in the middle of all of the fish before Jesus. It has just become real to Peter. Jesus is the real deal. Peter feels unworthy to be in the midst of Jesus. He feels unworthy to have gotten this catch and so he tells Jesus to go away. Like where is Jesus going to go, they are on the lake!
Have you ever been so overwhelmed by Jesus that you just don’t feel worthy enough? Have you ever been around someone who is just so awesome that you don’t even feel comfortable being in their presence? This is where Peter is at.
Notice Jesus response, “Don’t be afraid.” Heard this before? Whenever someone comes in contact with God or an angel, the response is to not be afraid. And then he says, “From now on you will catch men” and they got into shore and left everything. If they had been following Jesus part time up to this point that was now changing as they left everything to follow Jesus.
As we get into this Lenten season has Jesus introduced himself to you? Have you been watching him from the shore? Do you know the power of Jesus? Have you been overwhelmed by him?
Jesus says to all of us, leave what you’re doing and follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Does this mean that you should all quit your jobs and become ministers, evangelists or missionaries? NO it does not. While there is a need for all of those God doesn’t call everyone into full time ministry as a profession but he does call us all into full time ministry
He wants to make you a fisher of men in your place of work, in your family, in your school. We need good Christian men and women in all aspects of life leading others to Jesus Christ. If you don’t quite see the need for this then I suggest that you step back and look at the haul in your life and be in awe of your heavenly father.
As we journey to Easter we will watch Peter’s different interactions with Jesus. We will witness him as he struggles to serve alongside his master. As we journey to Easter, set you heart on Jesus Christ. Make sure you are in touch with him and that you leave the world behind to follow him.
Jesus left his home in heaven and sacrificed his life for yours and he says now follow me you are fishers of men. Amen.
