Fishers of Men
Luke 5:1-11
Introduction-
When we gather and we begin talking about the things of God- a lot of times, we assume people know more than what they actually do.
When I use the word sin, it means different things to different people, but as Christians, we should be understanding the word. Sin is an offense against God. It is doing something that God has told us not to do.
When I say good and evil, even these words carry different meaning to different people.
So, I say that to tell each of us if we are to be fishers of men, to be God’s disciples… which God calls each of us as believers, we need to be on the same page. God’s page.
Turn to Luke chapter 5
Prayer
We will be looking at the ministry of Jesus this, to those who would eventually become His first disciples. The great catch of fish and the great call of God to follow Him and be his disciples.
Luke chapter 5:1-11 read from Bible
The call of Jesus begins with Jesus being a teacher and teaching a crowd of people gathered around a lake the word of God. God’s word is the starting point of teachings that we should be living in our lives. If we hear the word of God taught, it should be applied to our lives in the areas of our life where it applies.
These were fishermen in a surrounding very familiar to them and they were not out of their elements, there were actually in their comfort zone.
The gospels all record the miracle of the catch and the direction to follow as a disciple.
After Jesus seeing the crowd of people, eyes a boat at the water’s edge and gets in and pushes out a ways to use the lake as his microphone and continues to teach and talk to the crowd and His disciples.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “put out into the deep water, and let down your net.”
These seasoned fishermen, who had been out all night had come up empty, they were washing their nets and getting ready for the next night of fishing and were cleaning up and calling it a day so to speak.
When Jesus the Nazarene, I love to say that! tells them to unpack what they had packed up and try again.
Those fishermen were challenged in three areas of their life that morning. And so are we.
Faith-
It took faith to go back out and try again. The dreaded idea of having your nets clean and get back out there your first instinct would be to say no! I am a professional and I did the best I knew how and I came up empty. Zero, nada, zilch!
Obedience-
They had to be operating on the fact that Jesus Himself had requested they try again. Go back out where you came from and throw your net out in deeper water-
Trust-
Trust is what makes you do the unknown and trust for a determined outcome. That you would work towards accomplishing something that does not come natural or doing something that may be a little out of your wheelhouse.
He calls them to deep water- not to stay on the shallow shore but launch into the deep. Sounds like another teaching moment Jesus had with his disciples.
The Lord desires to bless us! Amen.
It was for this reason that He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
The deep is where you will find a whole lot of fish.
You won’t find them near the shore in shallow waters. But to launch out into the deep is to move away from the comfort of the shoreline.
You cannot get to new ground if you don’t leave the shoreline of where you are at.
God wants you to break away from your comfort zone and step out in faith to do what He has put in your heart.
Now, our Lord Jesus who said, “Launch out into the deep…” also said, “…let down your nets for a catch.”
Notice that He used the plural “nets” and not the singular “net.”
God wants to give you more than what you need.
His dream for you is bigger than anything you can ever dream of. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT
Dream big- Ephesians 3:20-“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
God wants to bless you beyond your wildest dreams. He did it for Simon who was astonished at the size of the catch of fish. But it was not until Simon launched out into the deep that he ended up with the net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fish.
Matthew 4:19
“Come follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people.”
What qualities did these fishermen have?
Patience-
They had to wait until the fish take the bait.
Once fishing with my grandparents as a kid. I kept reeling the line in and out casting and throwing out. My grandfather became irritated and told me to throw the line in and wait. Just as he was telling me that and I cast one more time and jerked and reeled, I caught a fish. When I got it to shore, it was a small perch and I had hooked it in the back. That fish never knew what hit him. The next thing he knew he was being jerked to shore.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
Perseverance-
They must learn to persevere.
Key word being learn.
It is easy to get discouraged. It is easy to give up. It is easy to say no more, I have had enough!
Preachers, teachers, those that want to be fishers of men need to know that God gives the increase, we need to be the tool that He uses.
This preacher should take his own advice sometimes, it is so easy to impatient and not want to wait until God brings that blessing, that increase, that answer to prayer.
Courage-
It takes courage to see what is not there-
It takes courage to row against the tide of what society is doing and thinking and do what the Lord commands us.
Courage is being scared and still do what is needed.
Old Greek saying “My boat is so small and the sea is so large.”
Use the right bait-
Using the same bait does not catch all fish. To catch some unless Jesus commands them to get in your net will take different kinds of bait and different people reaching different people to accomplish what God wants of us.
Paul 1 Corinthians 9:22- “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all means I might save some.”
Wise preachers know that the same approach will not work to touch all people.
If your smart, you will realize that you are not the one that will reach all people- you need help. You need to know your limitations.
Where God has you, you may be the one to reach those around you.
Jerking your line in the water, splashing around scares the fish! They can even see your shadow if you are having the sun behind you. You have to know what your doing and what you want to accomplish.
And eye for the moment-
Experience is beneficial if used properly.
There is a time to be silent and there is a time to speak up.
Churches today, they keep quiet and no one is speaking up! No one is sharing their experiences with God with those around them.
Most people fish from shore
It is easy
It is convenient
It is their comfort zone.
They look around the shallow water and think the great spiritual harvest of souls will just swim at their feet.
Most people don’t launch, they wad out
Jesus said launch! Explode to the deep end of the pool where you cannot touch bottom and float on your tippy toes!
That is where the fish are!
Preachers with tickle me messages and all feel good messages.
People not hearing Jesus words to follow me and do as I do.
Most people are not creative
The million dollar question for me is why would they give up everything and go follow Jesus?
Especially after Jesus gave them the catch of their life!
“Then Jesus said to Simon, Don’t be afraid, from now on you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
They believed what Jesus had said.
They believed people souls were more important than stuff.
Ann Frank wrote in her “dairy of Ann ‘Frank,” The problem with me is I am two people.”
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the battle between good and evil in us- We want to do good but we struggle inside to do it!
Long before the movie- apostle Paul wrote “I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do, no, the evil I do not want to do this I keep doing.”
The ones that leave everything and truly follow Jesus are the ones that settled in their mind that for them to be doing what God called them too, God has to be first.
3 kinds of fishing went on during Jesus time-
Line
Casting a net
Dragging a net
Line fishing, you will occasionally catch a fish-
Casting a net- you threw out and the catch is better and you need a few people to help you.
Dragging a net-
You take two boats out and you stretch out your net where the Lord has told you to throw out and you believe that the harvest brought in is not yours but God’s.
I believe those fishermen tithed on that catch because they knew everything they had came from God including that catch.
Jesus said to them “follow me” and they followed!
They did not ask him if the road would be easy.
They did not ask him if they could build up their 401 k first.
Will the road be tough? Yes! They settled it.
The only thing they needed to know for sure was that Jesus was going with them.
“For I am convinced that neither death not life, neither angels or demons, neither present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Closing,
Ask yourself some honest questions this morning-
If you died right now, would you know where you would spend eternity? You can know.
Do you know where you are headed and would Jesus be pleased with your decision? You can know.
Is there anything that God gave you, that you would not give back to him if he asked you for it?
If someone asked you is this all there is. Would you be able to answer them?
Illustration
Charles Duke was only one of twelve men to step on the moon. He asked the question, is this all there is?
The man left his foot print on the moon!
“After walking on the moon, I was bored. Fame, fortune, a spot in history. I had it all. But if you were a fly on the wall in my home, you would have seen that I wasn’t so hot. I was failing miserably as a husband and father. My business succeeded, and the money rolled in, but I was bored.”
Maybe those first disciples just got sick and tired of business as usual. Maybe they realized the goodness of God and His blessings and decided they were not going to risk it all for this life but wanted all that God had to offer.
The crowd pressed into Jesus and He spoke to them all, but not all of them were listening.
How about you this morning? You listening?
Sometimes letting your net down one more time does not make sense!
Going to the deep end when you feel like your drowning… don’t make sense.
The net breaking, boat sinking blessings are not on shore but in the deep.
Come on church! I believe that God wants to do something amazing this morning! In your life! Your not here by accident.
