“Going Fishing with Jesus” ~ Luke 5:1-11 May 25, 2013 ~ New City Church Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson

Intro: When the late co-founder & CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, wanted to lure Pepsi’s top executive to Apple, he asked him one simple question: “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

• What a great quote! Whether you are a fan of Apple Products or not, something in that question resonates with you b/c we all have a deep desire for significance. We all want our lives to count for something, to make a huge impact.

Important: It’s possible to invest our lives in all sorts of trivialities and miss the opportunity to invest in what’s most important.

• Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after the wind.”

When you begin to study the life of Jesus, you begin to realize that he scratches that itch. He invites us into something much bigger than our own little kingdoms, our own little stories, our own little lives. He extends to us the opportunity and privilege of joining him to literally changing the world.

• In the text before us, we’re going to see one of the early followers of Jesus named Simon Peter take a huge step forward in his understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And how it became a defining moment for him, & for history.

• The text invites us to put ourselves into Peter’s shoes, as we listen to Jesus’ teaching….

1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing upon 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.

• Jesus’ fame is spreading as a teacher, as a prophet, as the person that many people

are hoping is the Messiah to come. • T. Wright, “Along the lakeshore close to Capernaum there is a sequence of steep inlets,

a zigzagging shoreline with each inlet forming a natural amphitheatre. To this day, if you get in a boat and push out a little from the shore, you can talk in quite a natural voice, and anyone on the slopes of the inlet can hear you clearly, more clearly, in fact, than if you were right there on the shore with them.”

• The “Jesus Boat”: a first century boat unearthed from the Sea of Galilee 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let

down your nets for a catch.”

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• How do you feel when someone offers you advice on how to do something that you have already mastered?

• Imagine giving Tiger Woods advice on his golf swing; Michael Jordan advice on jump shots; Steve Jobs advice on building computers; Martha Stewart advice on home decorating?

5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your

word I will let down the nets.”

• Possibility #1: Peter’s words are filled with exasperation and condescension. After all, Jesus is a carpenter; Peter an expert fisherman.

• Possibility #2: Peter’s first reaction is reticence, but then he remembers that there is something special about Jesus.

6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets

were breaking.

• Illus: Chris Smith’s fishing pond. 7 They signaled to their partners in another boat to come and help them. And they

came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

• Imagine the emotions! Laughter, the astonishment, the questions, the happiness. • What would be your reaction? • If I’m Peter, I’m wanting Jesus to go into business with me.

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.”

• Peter knows he’s in the presence of “the other,” someone totally unlike himself. Someone glorious, someone majestic, someone sovereign.

o David Gooding, “Here was the Lord of fish and fishermen, the Lord of nature, the Lord of men and their daily work.”

• The great turning point for Peter & for everyone who becomes a disciple of Jesus. 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and also 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.”

• Jesus does not say to Simon, “You’re right, you unclean, foul, wretched beast. Away from me!” ***NO*** but rather, “Do not be afraid.”

• Now that you see me rightly, you can see yourself rightly. That’s why you need me. • Peter, I’m going to go into business with you. Or rather, you are going to go into

business with me. And instead of catching fish, we are going to catch people instead. o Normally, y’all catch fish to kill them, to sell them, to eat them, not to save them.

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o Peter, I’m calling you to be a new kind of fisherman. You are going to join me in saving people from the sea of their sin and bring them to life and salvation in my kingdom.

11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed

him.

• Here’s a key to what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus: we leave whatever he asks us to leave, and we follow him.

o For some, that may be a career. o For some, that may be a relationship. o For some, that may mean popularity. o For some, that may mean your comfort zone, your home, your country, your life.

• The call to discipleship is a call to join Jesus in his great mission of fishing for people, of

seeking to save that which was lost, of bringing healing and wholeness to this world, of telling the story of Jesus and his love.

So, why did Luke record this story in his historical biography of Jesus?

• Luke is telling us who Jesus is & what he has done, and he does it so that we will take seriously the invitation to follow him as our Lord and our God.

• Luke is pressing us to make a decision to “leave everything” and “follow Jesus.” • Luke wants us to join Jesus in his Kingdom mission.

Following Jesus looks like moving out of our comfort zones and joining him in mission.

Application:

1. Being curious is a prerequisite to knowing Jesus.

• Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. • You don’t even have to believe the Bible, just start reading it.

2. Being a sinner is a prerequisite to following Jesus.

• It doesn’t disqualify you. “But you don’t know what I’ve done.” • Everyone who followed Jesus was and is a sinner. • That means, we come just as we are.

• Peter in John 21 post-resurrection!

3. Being willing is a prerequisite to joining Jesus.

• It means saying “No” to fear. • It means saying “No” to your past, your sin, your failures defining you. • Lord, where you lead, I will follow.

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• Anonymous: “Jesus doesn’t ask about our abilities or inabilities, but only our availability.”

Homework: 1. Examine: What is holding me back?

• What is getting in your way of following Jesus? What are you unwilling to give up? • What do you need to leave behind? What are you insisting on dragging along?

Keller, King Cross, “If you say, ‘I’ll obey you, Jesus, if my career thrives, if my health is good, if my family is together,’ then the thing that’s on the other side of that if is your real master, your real goal. If he calls you to follow him, he must be the goal.”

Jesus says, “Come, follow me.”

2. Dream: How could the future be different?

• What would it look like for you to join Jesus by moving out of your comfort zones and following Jesus in his mission? o NT Wright, Luke for Everyone, “When Jesus calls, he certainly does demand

everything, but only because he has already given everything himself, and has plans in store, for us and the world, that we would never have dreamed of.”

• What if Peter didn’t follow Jesus?

o Acts 2:41, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

• We’re not all called to be preachers / apostles like Peter was. But we are all called to follow Jesus & to join him in mission.

o We are all called to use our time, our talents, and our treasures to promoting the Gospel of the Kingdom of God; to do what we can to let other people know about Jesus.

o How is Jesus challenging you to live big for him? o Lord, where you lead, I will follow.

Jesus says, “Come with me. Let’s go fishing & change the world.”