Introduction
It’s been a while since I’ve been on a fishing trip. I used to use fishing as a means of getting away and having some time of quiet. I also used to go fishing with my grand-pap on the Delaware Bay. We’d pull in stripers, croakers, and my favorite fish, fresh flounder. Out on the boat, there is a sense of liberty from the stresses of life. All the work, early mornings, rigging, boat maintenance, baiting, and so on just added to the experience.
A young boy went fishing with a cane pole in a stream, soon a few teenagers arrived with nice rods & reels and expensive lures. Those boys began to laugh and play as they cast their lines and reeled them in over and over again; after a couple of hours, they had not caught a single fish. However, the little boy patiently watched the tip of his pole and periodically he would catch a fish. One of the teenagers yelled over to where he was and said "how are you catching all these fish? We have reels and lures and we haven't had a bite! " He replied "well, it could be because I am fishing for fish and you are fishing for fun." (Credit: Kevin Jones)
Someone once said that “a bad day fishing is better than a good day of work.” I would have to agree with that. Unless, of course, you are a fisherman by trade. The Sea of Galilee is a marvelous freshwater lake in Northern Israel. It is teeming with fish and so it was a popular trade in Jesus’ day. Peter was one of those fishermen who lived in Capernaum and depended on the lake for his livelihood.
What Peter didn’t realize is that Jesus was going to call Peter, his brother Andrew, James, and John to leave a profitable trade of fishing to a more urgent and eternal matter of people’s souls, but it was going to cost him everything.
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1–11 ESV)
1. The Message of Jesus is a Call for Surrender and Trust
As Jesus traditionally did, he was preaching to crowds. Jesus’ ministry was primarily a preaching ministry. On this day, Jesus was on the shores of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum. We don’t know how much attention Peter was paying to Jesus’ message, but if he was listening, he was likely only catching bits and pieces of the message because he was preoccupied with taking care of these nets. The previous night was a bad night of fishing and a bad night of work for the crew. They had been skunked.
As Jesus is preaching the intensity of the crowd is growing. From the time of his first message in Nazareth to the time of the demonic in Capernaum, to Peter’s mother-in-law is healed, and the many in Capernaum being healed Jesus’ popularity is growing. Now Jesus is being literally pressed by the crowds and so he commandeers Peter’s boat to continue his preaching ministry.
The Sea of Galilee has unique acoustical characteristics that when you are on the shore, or just offshore, a person’s voice will travel up the hill, much like an amphitheater. So after Jesus finishes teaching, he now is going to provide Simon-Peter an object lesson of his own. “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Lk 5:4).
Peter’s protest is reasonable and adding his brash nature, I’m sure there is sarcasm in his words to Jesus. If you have ever fished with a pro or with a guide, you know that there are best-case scenarios for catching fish. Temperature, time of day, bait, and so on. They will also tell you that 100% of the fish are in 10% of the water. On the Sea of Galilee, it was best to fish at night instead of the heat of the day. So there could have also been a sigh of exasperation as he says, “But at your word, I will let down my nets.” Not to mention that he had just finish mending all these nets.
If Peter was yawning and rubbing his eyes as he dropped the nets over the side, he was soon shocked into being wide-awake: “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began 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 that they began to sink” (vv. 6, 7). Peter could hardly hang on to his dragnet as an incredible catch of fish filled the nets and the boat was pulled toward the fish. Frantically, he nodded to his friends on shore, and a second boat was quickly launched. As they harvested their catch, the two boats, each seven and a half feet wide and over twenty-seven feet long, filled to the gunwales and began sinking. (Hughes)
Here is the critical element we must understand: First, what God calls us to do is typically going to be things that will transcend human reasoning. It was a reasonable request for Jesus to use Peter’s boat. That cost Peter nothing; maybe even gave Peter a little credibility or notoriety for helping Jesus. But it seemed to Peter that Jesus lacked his level of fishing experience. We tend to do the same thing with our own life. Jesus couldn’t possibly understand the significance of what we’re facing in our marriage, our children, our jobs, and our lives.
Secondly, we must be willing participants with Jesus. Jesus sent Peter into the deep water because that is where the fish were. In the same way, Jesus wants us to go where the fish are. If we will trust Him, we can see a "great catch" of souls. But in order for this to happen, we must be willing to get in the boat with Jesus. Are you in the boat? Have you put your faith and trust in Him?
Third, we must come to the same place as Peter. Peter immediately fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” No longer did Peter use the respectful term epistates as in v. 5, but Kurios, by which he means, “God.” (MacArthur). The reason Jesus knew where the fish were was that He is omniscient and omnipotent. He demonstrated this to Peter and it was necessary for Peter to leave behind the world and follow Jesus.
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And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 ESV)
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Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. (Ezekiel 1:28 ESV)
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When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, (Revelation 1:17 ESV)
The realization of the authority and divinity of Jesus should change us. It should push us out of the realization of our position in this world and turning away from sin and toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Message of Jesus is a Call to Abandon Our Own Nets
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“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:10b-11)
Do you realize that you are here today if you are a believer because someone invested in you? Someone stopped, listened to Jesus, and cast their nets into the sea of your eternity. Just for a second think about that person, that fished, for you. Who was that person, just for a second, put a name with a face behind the pole. Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher, maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a youth leader. Maybe it was someone you met in college or someone you met in jail or prison. Who was that person that led you to Jesus?
Jesus is the master caster. So whenever you have Jesus doing something that’s supernatural, you have Satan doing something in the natural. You know a lot of people who have not received the gospel. They’re just souls aimlessly swimming around. For us to be fishers of men we must know how to fish and we must know the habits of fish. We must know that we are in competition with the devil who wants nothing more than to keep us and the world out of God’s nets. How do you explain child pornography? millions killed in wars? racism? Violence, pride, lust, envy? How do you explain our government, the corrupt calling the corrupt, corrupt.
Jesus said the devil comes to kill, to steal, and destroy. In the 36 months of Jesus’ ministry, he met one-on-one 132 times with people in the four gospels. One-on-one casting. So that should tip you and me off. The church is great. But it’s an incredible fishing boat, a tackle store, a fishing center. However, we have the opportunity to fish for people one-on-one. So when Jesus started his ministry he said, “Fish!” and when he ended his ministry on earth he said, “Fish!”
The way Jesus described Peter’s evangelistic work is significant. He told his new disciple that he would be catching men “from now on.” This was a new calling, a decisive new direction for Peter’s life. From this time forward he would be an evangelist. Furthermore, this would be his full-time job, because the word used here for catching (zogron) is a participle that implies continuous action. There is something else important about this word. It is formed by joining the verb “to catch” (agreuo) with the word for life (zoon). Thus it means “to catch alive,” which conveys the idea of rescue from danger. This is not what most fishermen have in mind. When a fisherman catches fish, he is usually hoping to eat them, not save them! But Jesus was calling Peter to be a new kind of fisherman—one who rescued people from the deep sea of their sin and brought them safely to the shore of salvation. People who fish for sport would probably call this “catch and release,” because people who get “caught” by the gospel are released from their sins. (Ryken)
Jesus was calling people to be his disciples, and each step seemed more difficult than the last. It is one thing to listen to Jesus, which many people do, but another thing to repent for sin. It’s one thing to let Jesus into the boat, it’s another thing to let Jesus into your heart. It is one thing to turn away from sin, but another thing to share with others. But that is not all: a disciple leaves everything behind to follow Jesus—absolutely everything.
There, by the Sea of Galilee Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be his disciples. When he called, they answered, leaving everything behind. This is what it means to be a disciple: it means leaving everything behind—everything—to follow Jesus. Many people say they want to follow Jesus, but instead of leaving everything behind, they try to take it all with them. They call themselves Christians, but they are not willing to give up their selfish ambitions, sinful pleasures, comfortable surroundings, bitter grudges, precious idols, or simply the right to live the way they want to live. True discipleship is always costly because it means giving up what we want for us so that we can have what Jesus wants for us.
We’re closing today with a song that I used to sing. It’s an old spiritual hymn about the way of discipleship and following Christ. I want you to use this time to check-in with God. What nets do you need to abandon? Who is it that God is calling you to lead to Him?
“I have decided to follow Jesus”
