“I’m a Sinful Person”
Luke 5:1-11
It’s been said that “Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans.”
The disciples didn’t get their call from Jesus when they were looking for it.
Rather, it was at the end of a long, sweaty night, when they were discouraged and ready to pack it up and go home for the day.
They weren’t doing anything unusual—for them.
They were just washing their nets.
And this is when Jesus comes along, enters into their normal, mundane lives and changes everything.
(pause)
At this point, Jesus has been healing people and He now has a crowd of people following His every move.
It’s teaching time, and because of the large crowd…and because there were no microphones available in that day…and sound carries on water…
…Jesus got into Simon’s boat, and asked him to put that boat back into the water.
And Simon made, perhaps, the most important decision of his life.
Even though he was tired, even though he was frustrated, even though he didn’t feel like it—he listened to Jesus and served Jesus by putting his boat out to shore and letting this stranger teach this crowd of people from his boat.
Then, after Jesus gets finished teaching, He says the strangest thing.
He tells Simon, this professional fisherman who hasn’t caught a thing all night to take his boat “out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
What do you suppose was going through Simon’s mind at that moment?
Did he think Jesus was crazy?
Did he feel a twinge of frustration since the nets were already clean and he knew, deep down inside, that he wasn’t gonna catch a single thing…
…that it was going to be an effort in futility?
What do you think?
In any event, “Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.
But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
It does sound like he’s just doing it to placate Jesus or humor Him…
…doesn’t it?
Or, maybe he’s doing it so he can prove to Jesus how foolish an idea this is.
Like, “I’ll show him. I’ll go ahead and do it and when the nets come up empty, He will see what a ridiculous request this is.”
“Then, maybe, I can get this guy off my back and go home.”
We don’t know, but I suspect that thought might be in there somewhere.
Have you ever felt like Jesus was asking you to do something, calling you to do something but you didn’t believe it would work…you didn’t think it was possible?
I remember when we had the idea for the food pantry, there were some people who thought it wouldn’t work.
Or when, at my last church, we decided to house the homeless people who had been kicked out of the Superior Creek Lodge.
Everyone got involved though.
God’s Spirit moved and worked.
And folks in the community and other churches donated $85,000.
We were able to find stable housing for 70 displaced families.
When we step out with Jesus, into the deep waters, doing what He calls us to do—even if it seems an impossible task—miracles happen.
And there is nothing like living inside of a miracle.
It changes you somehow.
And when Simon Peter, James and John took the leap of faith—took the chance, did what Jesus asked them to do even though they didn’t think it was possible or didn’t think it would accomplish anything “they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.”
It was a record haul!!!
They filled both boats with the fish, and when they did so, the boats started to sink.
How would you react to something like that?
I think I’d do just about what Simon Peter did.
I’d fall on my knees in utter terror and say: “Get away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
In other words, this is something only God can accomplish.
And to be in the presence of the Holy God, especially in the Jewish religion, was a scary thing.
You had to make sacrifices first.
You had to confess your sins.
You had to be clean before you could be in God’s presence.
And Peter knew he was not clean.
But this passage of Scripture gives us new insight as to how God works.
We don’t have to have cleaned up our act before Christ comes knocking on our door and calling us to action.
We don’t have to have it all together in order for God to use us.
We don’t have to be perfect, to be sinless for God to love us and invite us to be His disciples.
We don’t have to be anything.
We just have to be receptive.
That’s all.
God loves us just the way we are.
Do you know that right now, this morning?
How have you been feeling about yourself this week or this morning or perhaps your entire life?
You have been struggling with temptations and sins for as long as you can remember, have you not?
Perhaps, this week, you have been especially sinful.
Maybe you are feeling really bad about yourself and very disconnected from God and anything holy.
Perhaps you think there is no hope—kind of like Simon Peter, James and John after a full night of fishing and catching nothing!
Maybe you think you are beyond redemption, beyond forgiveness, beyond God’s reach.
I’ve felt like that before.
And sometimes I still feel like that, and have to remind myself that God loves me and is more than ready to forgive me—no matter what stupid thing I’ve done.
Can you relate?
And so, I return to the Throne of Grace.
I return to the Cross of Christ.
And I ask God to forgive me for what I have done.
And I ask God to change me.
I ask God to help me to overcome whatever temptation I am dealing with, and then, Lord willing, I continue on—following Jesus…
…trusting in His forgiveness—His grace…
…trusting that He has made me clean…
…trusting that He wants to do beautiful and wonderful things through my life, despite myself.
What did Jesus say to Simon Peter, as Simon shuttered in fear at Jesus’ feet?
“I am a sinful man!” Simon cried.
He was afraid he would die on the spot due to his sins and Jesus’ holiness.
But instead, Jesus has pity and compassion on him.
Jesus doesn’t condemn him.
He doesn’t beat him over the head about whatever sins he has done.
Instead, Jesus says calmly, gently and with great confidence: “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
“Do not be afraid.”
These are the Words that God uses to speak to people who are gripped by God’s overwhelming mystery and presence.
And then God calls us to do something for Him.
And this doing, this following, this decision on our part whether to heed His call or not changes our lives forever.
And it is a decision.
God calls; God calls every single one of us.
When we hear Him the choice of staying wherever we are or leaving everything and following, of moving through that transformation moment to the fullness of life, when our ears and hearts and eyes are truly opened and we cannot turn back the clock—that choice is ours to make.
And if and when we make the choice to follow Jesus…
…hearing it is not enough—we must act upon it—our lives are altered forever.
Have you made that choice?
Have you heard God calling you to follow Him?
And if so, have you acted on it?
Are you following Him?
You know, just like Simon Peter, James and John God finds us wherever we are, whatever we are doing, and shows us something—often with the very things of our everyday lives.
God uses the details of our unique and particular situations to catch our attention and throw us a life-line.
We may think we are just humming along, doing what we always do, and suddenly we see something that causes us to wonder: “What in my life would need to change in order to be the new person God is calling me to be?”
This sounds good, but it might not always be obvious.
Like the disciples, we have to be open to the voice of the Stranger.
He may come to us in the form of an inner voice we might prefer to turn away and not acknowledge, or a part of ourselves that we have silenced in order to try and fit in and keep peace with ourselves and others, but at the expense of not doing what we are called to do with our lives.
We must pay attention because surprising messages really do come to us, virtually every day.
When I was pastor at East Ridge United Methodist Church, we had a very small closet we used to store a few canned goods here and there that church members would bring with them on Sundays.
And we had a lot of people knocking on our doors, asking to get food from that small closet.
It got to the point where it became obvious that some folks were literally living off of the cans of tuna and boxes of macaroni and cheese I would give them each week.
One day, a stranger came to the door with needs that I couldn’t help him with.
As I watched him through the window walking away from the church this sudden passion-filled thought came into my head: “I didn’t get into the ministry to say ‘no’ to people looking for help.”
And so, I heard the call from God to start a full-service community food pantry.
I had no idea what I was doing or how or if it would even work or happen.
But I went for it.
And I began living within that miracle…
…sinner that I am.
God has a job for you to do.
It’s a job that involves helping other people, showing them the love of Christ and maybe, just maybe changing their lives and your life as well.
“Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people,” Jesus told the astonished disciples.
And so, they pulled their boats up on shore and left everything, including this record catch of fish—worth a fortune—and followed Him on their way to change the world.
They never would have dreamed nor believed the miracles they would see, live in and how they would be used to start the Church of Jesus Christ.
Three years down the road, Jesus had been crucified.
He rose again.
And on Pentecost, Simon Peter gave the first Christian sermon ever recorded.
And through the words God supplied him with 3,000 people became Jesus’ followers on that very first day.
What has God called you to do?
Have you heard His voice calling you to come, follow Him and do whatever it is He has planned for you that will involve bringing His love and message to the world?
If you have sin in your life.
Ask Jesus to forgive you.
Make you clean.
Don’t be afraid.
Come.
Leave whatever you need to leave behind.
Follow Him.
Don’t miss out on the reason you were born, created, and dreamed about from the beginning of the world.
Let us Pray:
Lord, like the disciples, we too may become afraid when confronted with your call on our lives.
We might just think we aren’t up to the task.
But, the call is from You to us.
And You wouldn’t call us to do something that You won’t do and accomplish through us.
May we not shrink before the mystery of your call.
May we not choose the mundane over the sacred…just because it seems easier.
Help us make the decision to follow You wherever You lead.
We are here.
We are ready.
We are Your’s.
You are more than able.
Let it be.
Amen.
