Do you remember the day that you surrendered your life to Jesus and accepted him as Lord of your life? Can you remember how strong your faith was at that moment? Is your faith as strong now as it was then, or is it maybe even stronger?
The Bible defines faith as “the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” But it seems like the longer we go without seeing things that we hope for, the weaker our faith grows. God is with us today to show us and to encourage us to be strong in our faith because faith can change our lives. Prayer.
When I was a student at Texas tech University in Lubbock, Texas, I had a friend that had a huge aquarium in his living room and it was stocked with piranha. He would take little pieces of ground meat and drop in the tank and the fish went wild. I always thought it wouldn't be very hard to bait a hook and catch one of those.
When I thought of that, I thought, I wish faith was as easy as fishing for piranhas. Sometimes faith can seem as elusive as fishing on a bad day. As long as we're catching, we're excited. But when we go for a long period of time without even a nibble, it gets kind of boring. Our faith can be like that. Sometimes we feel fragile and inadequate as followers of Jesus. But the good news is that God has given us more than one example in Scripture of life-changing faith.
I'm going to begin today in the Gospel of Luke 5. Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. It's believed that Luke wrote both the book of Luke and the book of Acts. Both of these books are quite long. But Luke's goal was to give readers confidence in their faith. Faith is more than just positive thinking. God wants a personal relationship with us and is constantly trying to change our hearts. Jesus invites us to live a life of faith that's beyond our current situation.
Luke 5:1-3 – “As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.”
Jesus was standing on the shoreline teaching and the crowds became larger and larger and began pressing in on him. So, Jesus got into Peter's boat to teach the crowd that had gathered to hear Him speak. We might ask, “Did Peter even know Jesus? Simon Peter had experienced Jesus's power when Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. Peter heard from his brother, Andrew, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Despite what Peter had seen and heard, he hadn't responded in faith and become a follower of Jesus. Not yet anyway.
Now Peter had a front row seat to listen to Jesus as He preached. Peter was already a religious and observant Jew. As he listened to Jesus teach, he heard about living by faith instead of religious observance and rituals. He then began to understand that Jesus wanted Peter to trust Him. Jesus was calling Peter out of religion and into a relationship founded on faith.
I wonder sometimes if we come to church more as an obligation to religion instead of a relationship with Jesus. I think that is common in churches around the world. People can get so caught up in religion that they don't even realize that they even come close to having a relationship with Jesus. But isn't that relationship with Jesus what is most important?
Luke 5:4-7 – “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.”
Jesus tells Peter to let down his nets into the water. bYou might notice that Peter was a little hesitant because they had worked all night and had caught nothing. It seemed like a waste of time to go out and try again just because Jesus asked him to do it. He could have denied Jesus's request. After all, what does a carpenter from Nazareth know about fishing? And yet, Peter obeyed Jesus, and the nets filled to the brim with fish.
We need to take note that because Peter obeyed Jesus, he saw a miracle. He didn't know what would happen when he let down the nets, but he acted in faith that Jesus was worthy of obedience. And as a result, he experienced first-hand God's power.
Peter started to make an excuse not to put down the nets. He said, “We've worked hard all night and caught nothing.” But because of his obedience, he saw a miracle. And I wonder how many miracles we miss because we try to make excuses or to explain our way out of something. What excuses or explanations keep you from obeying Jesus? If Jesus called you to act right now, would you be willing to follow through on what the Lord called you to do?
Faith in Jesus is following Him one step at a time. By following Jesus's request, Peter took a step into a new season of his life.
Luke 5:8-10 – “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” 9 For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”
So many fish were caught that the boat began to sink. Their fishing partners arrived to rescue them, but soon both boats were so full of fish that they were about to sink. Everyone was amazed. Peter was afraid. It was then that Peter recognized who Jesus truly was, he became especially mindful of his own sinfulness. Jesus invited Peter to leave his fear behind and accept a new calling as His disciple. Peter and his friends left everything behind to follow Jesus. That was a huge leap of faith. It changed their lives forever. Faith is a life of trusting in God. It's leaving our fear, past, and sin behind, and trusting Jesus with our future.
I think there are times in our lives that we experience fear in the presence of Jesus as well. We know our past. We know our weaknesses. And sometimes we are overwhelmed that Jesus even wants to be a part of our lives. Jesus responded to Peter's fear with a command to not be afraid. When Jesus told Peter not to be afraid, it wasn't a suggestion. It was a command! Jesus saw Peter's fear and called him to faith. Jesus looked at Peter's life and yet he still loved him. Jesus invited Peter to more.
You might be sitting there and thinking the same thing that you are not really worthy of Jesus loving you. Everyone has something they're afraid of losing if they follow Jesus. We're afraid of losing control of our lives. We're afraid that Jesus may call us to move to another country as a missionary. We're afraid we'll have to give up our lifestyle choices and define ourselves on Jesus's terms. What it really gets down to is that we want to design our life and then have God bless our choices. Giving up control is terrifying, I will admit. And following Jesus is giving up that control. It's trusting that Jesus knows best.
The reason we can move past our fear is because of Jesus. We can trust Him. He cares about us, and He won't abandon us. He has our best interest in mind. He can provide beyond what we can imagine. He invites us to leave our fears behind and follow Him. That’s what He did with Peter.
What is your next step or maybe I should say what step is Jesus asking you to take? Where is he asking you to leave your fear behind, give up your desire to control, and step into faith in Him instead?
So faith comes in steps. The first step of faith Jesus called Peter to was letting down his nets. Then Jesus called Peter to leave behind his old way of doing things and try something new. Is God speaking to your heart this morning? Placing our faith in Jesus and giving Him control is a big step for many of us. But God spoke through the prophet Isaiah in the OT and said this:
Isaiah 43:19 – “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
Trying new things may sometimes scare us to death. Most of the time we won't God to explain all of our steps before we follow Him. If we're really honest, what we really want is to take one giant step from the place we are, to the fulfillment of our personal dreams.
But hear this, the first step is the next step. God usually doesn't call us to take massive leaps forward when we follow Him. He calls us to take small steps of obedience. Most of us know what the next step is, but we don't look any farther than that.
But, believe me, God will trust you with that second step after you follow Him in the decision that's right in front of you. God rewards obedience. Jesus told Peter to lower his nets, not to fill them with fish. Jesus was the one who filled the boats with fish. In the same way, God calls us to follow Him in our next step. Faith is acting on what He calls us to do.
Do you want to experience God's presence and power in your life? Then follow Him in faith. Peter wasn't the only one in the NT who heard Jesus speak and followed His voice. After persecution broke out in Jerusalem, Philip, a disciple of Jesus, left and traveled to Samaria. Remember that the Samaritans were despised by the Jews because they were a mixed race and had a different theology. Philip began to preach, and a massive revival began in Samaria
At the height of Phillip's success, the Holy Spirit told him to leave everything behind and travel south to the road that went from Jerusalem to Gaza. In Acts 8:26, Scripture describes it as a desert road, far away from the excitement of the spiritual revival in Samaria. Why would God lead Philip away from the revival. Philip may have been uncertain about God's plan, but Scripture tells us that he left immediately.
It was then that Philip came upon a chariot carrying a high-ranking Ethiopian political official. The official was reading a prophecy about Jesus from the scroll of Isaiah. The Holy Spirit spoke to Philip a second time and told Philip to approach the chariot. Through a conversation with the official, Philip explained what he was reading and led the man to a saving faith in Jesus. Philip heard God's voice and obeyed what God called him to do. As a result, in that instance Philip was not only able to lead the official to a saving faith, but he also baptized the Ethiopian official as a response to his newfound belief in God.
How about you? Is God calling you to do something? Your desert road journey will probably look different from that of others, and it may take you places that you don't expect to go. But I can assure you that when you follow Jesus in faith, you'll experience God's presence and power in a wonderful way. Faith is a life-changing experience.
Maybe God called you to do something earlier in life but you never carried it out. There's always another chance to hear God's voice and take action. Another example of a life-changing faith is found in the Gospel of John 21. This took place again in the life of Peter after Jesus's resurrection.
Peter felt like he was broken and unlovable after Jesus's death. After all, he was the one that betrayed Jesus's friendship when he denied Jesus. Peter acted like he had never met Jesus. But Peter went back to what he knew. He returned to Galilee and went fishing with James and John because he wasn't sure Jesus would still accept him.
You may feel the same way about your journey. You heard God invite you to follow him in the past, but you didn't leave your boat behind. You just continued to fish. Or maybe you started following Jesus, but things got a little difficult and so you went back to fishing.
This was after Jesus's resurrection. Peter and his friends fished all night, but again they caught nothing. In the morning, a man that they didn't realize was Jesus ask them if they had caught anything. Much like before Jesus told them to put their nets in the water again and in an instant their nets were filled with fish and they all realized then that it was Jesus.
When Peter got to the shore, he found a surprising reception. Instead of being ridiculed and rebuked and blamed, Peter found that Jesus had prepared breakfast. Instead of punishment, Jesus offered him a meal. In ancient near East culture, a meal was an intimate experience, offered only to close friends. So, Peter knew what this meal meant. This simple interaction between Peter and Jesus is a living picture of life changing faith. Jesus is the God of second chances. He knows our worst moments and yet He loves us anyway. You may feel disqualified but God hasn't given up on you. Your chance to hear God's voice and respond is still available. Lastly, and very simply, faith means following Jesus.
Luke 5:11 – “Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.”
Jesus called Peter to leave everything behind and follow Him, to catch men now instead of fish. The Bible tells us that they beached their boats, left everything, and followed Jesus. When Peter decided to leave everything, he left behind his identity as a fisherman on the beach of Galilee.
You see, our identity is how we define ourselves. Peter was defined by his work as a fisherman. God had a bigger story for Peter and for us as well. We may define ourselves by what we do or what we have, but those identities will ultimately fail. Instead, God wants us to live from our identity as His children.
But change is difficult for most people. We hang on to the status quo because change will change us. We're not really sure if we'll like who we become if we accept Christ. It's easier to stay where we are. Jesus calls us to leave everything behind because He loves us too much to let us stay the same. Jesus has a better story for us. He has a better story for you.
So I say it again. Faith means following Jesus. It means stepping away from what we can control and allowing Him to set our new path. Peter followed Jesus from the nets all the way to confronting emperor Nero. He blazed a path through the world that left a lasting impact.
In the western church, we've made following Jesus too easy. We've boiled Christianity down to praying a prayer and attending a worship service. But Jesus wants more than that. Jesus wants more of you. Jesus wants everything. Being His followers means laying down our strengths and pursuing Him. It means finding our identity in Christ.
But the Gospel is good news, and the good news in this is that when we finally decide to step out in faith, God meets us with His presence. Our faith becomes real when we really follow Him. And when we really follow Him, our lives will be changed, changed by our faith.
If God is calling you at this moment either to accept Jesus as your very own or maybe to obey Him in what he wants you to do, then come. Now is the time to let your faith change your life.
