“Forsaking All to Follow”
(Luke 5:1-11)
Series: Certainty in Uncertain Times
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson KY
(6-27-10) (AM)
- Take God’s Word and open to Luke, chapter 5.
We’re preaching our way through the Gospel of Luke in a series of messages called, “Certainty in Uncertain Times.” The series comes from the prologue of the Gospel, the opening five verses, where Luke says to a man named Theophilus that he is writing this book the he “may know the certainty” of the things in which he was instructed. What is true for Theophilus is true for us. Our study of Luke’s Gospel is a study in certainty, a study of truth, that we may be certain in these uncertain days. Jesus has begun His earthly ministry and what we read this morning is His calling forth of His first disciples, His first followers.
- Stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.
1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,
2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.
3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
7 So 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 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 which they had taken;
10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
- Pray.
Introduction:
Recently I came across in internet blog whose author imagined what a job description for followers of Jesus Christ would look like. It was entitled, “Job Vacancy—Disciple.” The job description was based upon things Jesus said or did in the Bible. I’ll share from some of it with you:
Job title: Disciple
Employer: Jesus of Nazareth
Location: Flexible. You will essentially be a field worker fulfilling the requirements of the role in your local community. You will be prepared to leave the security of home behind at certain times.
Role and purpose: You are to live as Jesus taught, and follow his example.
The successful candidate must be available to start immediately with no exceptions for family emergencies or sensitivities.
You may be required at times to undertake public relations exercises to senior officials hostile to the organization. Specific instructions for these exchanges will be supplied in the field.
You will pray always and not give up.
You will love God and others as you love yourself.
You will be clear about your priorities—loving your family must come second to loving your employer.
You will be prepared to undertake suffering as and when it is required of the job, taking up your cross each day.
The ideal candidate won’t be a worrier, particularly about food, security, and clothing.
While not paying a salary in the conventional sense you will undertake your position with the following understanding:
Be prepared to sell all your possessions and give to the poor.
When travelling do not take money, a bag, spare clothes, or shoes.
Whoever follows Jesus, will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
(Abridgement from rejesus.co.uk)
Those of us familiar with our bibles will know that that job description is consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ. And the passage before us, these 11 verses we read earlier, is one such passage that helps us understand what followers of Jesus Christ look like. I am going to assume that there is a majority present this morning who wish to be followers of Jesus Christ. Not all of us listening may be interested, but many of you are here because you want to grow in your walk with the Lord and be the man or woman God designed you to be. To this end our passage helps greatly as it answers the question, “What do we see in true, Christ-followers?” And we will note that there are a few defining characteristics of those who wish to follow Jesus. What do we see in true, Christ-followers? First:
I. We see Willingness
We see a spirit of willingness, a willingness to obey Jesus Christ no matter what He asks us to do. Let’s see that in the Word. Is your Bible open? Look again at the opening verses of chapter 5. Luke first gives us the background of the situation. He says in verse 1 that the crowds are pressing about Him to Hear the Word of God as He stands teaching by the Lake of Gennesaret. As a preacher, I’ve never had this problem of crowd control! They are pressing about, pushing, shoving, trying to hear Jesus so Jesus decides to do something about this. Verse 2 says He sees a couple of boats there by the lake. Verse 2 also says that “the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.” Later verses and the greater context reveal to us that these boats belong to Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus is eyeing these boats because He plans to use one of them as a floating pulpit. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you can’t preach to a crowd of people because you cannot see them and they cannot see nor hear you, then you get yourself in a position that improves the situation. So verse 3 says that Jesus “got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.”
So this is the background for what happens next. Look again at verses 4-5:
4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
Stop with me for just a moment and imagine how absurd this request must have sounded to Simon. He and at least three other men; his brother Andrew, and James and John, had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Nighttime was the time to fish on Gennesaret Lake, not daytime. And the men had been out all night. Earlier, when Jesus began preaching to the crowd, the men were gone, verse 2 told us, “washing their nets.” These were huge, dragnets that were cast into the waters by these strong and burly men. Great strength was required to cast the net again and draw it up, and then cast it again and draw it up, over and over again. The arms quickly tired and the back began to hurt from bending over for such long periods of time. These men had not even caught a single fish.
They had returned the evening before tired, exhausted, and empty-handed. The next morning they took these heavy, water-logged nets and they were washing them and carefully untangling and mending them. Then they set them out to dry under the hot sun. So Jesus says, “I want you to gather up those nets again and take this boat out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Now what do you think was the first thing to go through Simon Peter’s mind? I suppose had I been Simon Peter I might have thought, “You obviously know nothing about fishing. You don’t do this thing in the daylight hours under the hot, eastern sun. Furthermore, we’ve been fishing all night in this lake and we have not caught so much as a single, solitary, sorry carp. Launch out into the deep and let down our nets for a catch? We’ll let down our nets, but there’ll be no catch. Jesus, you’re a carpenter. What do you know about fishing?”
Is that what you would say? “Jesus, your area of expertise is biblical teaching and Bible study and smiling and bouncing children on your knee, what could you possibly know about accounting? You’re a Bible teacher, Jesus, so what could you know about banking, about sales, about machinery, medicine, welding, profit and loss statements, and inventory and end-of-the-month reports? Jesus, what could you know about social services and teaching unwilling students in public school? What could you know, Jesus, about laundry and housework?
If Peter thought way—and he may have at first—he was willing nevertheless to do what Jesus asked. Verse 5 indicates a spirit of willingness. Look at it again, “But Simon answered and said to Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.’” That was a statement of fact. They had fished all night and were unsuccessful, but don’t read that without quickly moving on to what Peter says next. He says, last part of verse 5, perhaps with a congenial smile, “Nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.”
Here is a man with a willing spirit. Here is a man who obeys Jesus even when there’s an inner struggle with what Jesus says to do. Peter obeys Jesus even when everything within him screams, “This cannot be! This will never work! This doesn’t make sense!”
It’s a bit like Genesis 12 where God says to Abram, “Look, I want you to pick up everything and move. Go away from your country, from your family, and from your father’s house.” Where? God says, “To a land that I will show you (Genesis 12:1).” Now does that make sense? Would you be willing to quit your job, pack up your family and your personal belongings and, when someone asks, “Where are you going?” You say, “God’s going to show me.” “Oh…” A faithful follower of Jesus Christ has a willingness to do what he’s asked even if it doesn’t seem to make sense. A faithful follower of Jesus has a willingness to do what he’s asked even if it seems out of step with the world.
When Peter obeys the Master’s command God honors that obedience and shows Himself strong in Peter’s life. The power of God is evident in the catching of a huge number of fish so that, verse 6, “their net was breaking.” Verse 7, “So 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.”
It’s difficult to read these verses without asking ourselves some soul-searching questions. Could it be that the reason I do not experience a great sense of God’s power is because I am unwilling to do all that He asks? I mean, I know what the Bible says about witnessing, about trusting, about praying, attending church, about tithing, and about trusting and obeying, but some of the things He asks me to do are so out of step with the world!” Could it be that the reason you don’t experience power and victory in your life is because you never do anything radical. You just wade in the shallow waters by the shore. You’re safe there. You’re secure there. You’re comfortable there. “I like to go to church once a week. It feels good. I’m comfortable. It works well into my schedule.” We never wade out into the waters. We just float around living a safe, secure, life. Jesus calls us to more than that.
He says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). I’m calling you to something bigger and better and greater than your safety and your security and your comfortable lifestyle. I’m calling you to a soul-saving, disciple-making, world-changing kind life. Are you in or out?” Willingness. What else do we see in true, Christ-followers?
II. We see Brokenness
True, Christ-followers maintain a humble, spirit of brokenness before the Lord. They are aware of their sins and their constant need for the grace of God. We see this in Peter as he is simply overwhelmed at the great catch of fish. Verse 8 and following:
8 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 which they had taken;
10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
That phrase again in verse 8, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’”
Maybe we’ve read this event so many times that we have forgotten how strange this reaction seemed to us when we first read it. I mean, we might have expected something different. Jesus performs this great miracle, demonstrating that He is Lord over all creation, including the little fishes in the lake, you know, He just thinks it and all the fish in the lake swim into the nets, and had we been there, we would have been like, “Wow! This is great! Jesus come again tomorrow and we’ll catch some more fish! We’ll make a killing!” But that’s not how Simon Peter responds. I sense that there is a long period of silence, Peter’s face frozen in shock, staring at Jesus, trying to process everything that has been happening since he first met Jesus of Nazareth and, after what seems an eternity, he falls down at Jesus’ knees, falling down headfirst into the mass of smelly fish and cries, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O lord!”
Peter recognizes that this Jesus is more than a moral teacher, a good man who says good things. He had already been gathering this from Jesus’ teachings and healings in the previous chapter. Peter had seen Jesus heal his own mother-in-law how, in a moment; she went from a high fever to serving them a meal. And while he may not have yet been ready to say, “You are the Christ, the Son of God,” he realizes that there’s something uniquely divine about this Jesus of Nazareth. You note Peter’s growing understanding in the progression from verse 5 to verse 8. In verse 5 he calls Jesus “Master.” In verse 8 he calls Him “Lord.”
This is the natural response when a sinful man finds himself in the presence of a holy God. When sinfulness meets holiness, the result is brokenness. When sinfulness meets holiness, the result is brokenness. True, Christ-followers maintain a spirit of brokenness before the Lord.
True, Christ-followers understand the feeling of Peter much as we understand the feeling of Job who said to God, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6).” True Christ followers understand the feeling of Isaiah when he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5).” True, Christ-followers understand the feeling of the Roman Centurion who said to Jesus, “I am not worthy for you to enter my house (Luke 7:6).” When sinfulness meets holiness, the result is brokenness.
And the more the Christian grows in Christ, the more aware he becomes of his sin. The more the Christian grows in Christ, the more sensitive she is of her sin. We sing, “I need Thee, O I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee.” We grow in our awareness of sin and the great need, therefore, for a continual Mediator, a constant “Go Between,” to stand between God and us, forever taking care of our sins through and granting to us His righteousness.
There is no room in the Christian experience for prideful boasting. We sang this earlier in the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
Forbid it Lord that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ my God.
The vain things which charm me most
I sacrfice them to His Blood.
True Christ-followers maintain a spirit of brokenness. So we see willingness, we see brokenness, and finally:
III. We see Devotedness
Peter is broken and on his knees before the Lord. Not only he, but all with him, verse 9, “were astonished” at what had happened. So, verse 10, latter part:
And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
I like that little phrase, “from now on.” That phrase sums up the Christian experience, doesn’t it? “You may have lived a guilty distance from Me,” says the Lord, “Do not be afraid, from now on things will be different. From now on you will walk in strength. From now on you will have power. From now on your life will have purpose. From now on you will be forgiven.”
From now on “you will catch men.” True, Christ-followers are catchers of men. Christians are persons who share the Gospel with men and women. We do so in the “4 Cs” of Acts 1:8, our community, our commonwealth, the country, and the continents. We are devoted to the task of “catching men.” We are called to a lifestyle of catching men. Some of us will do this in a full-time vocational sense of missionary work across the seas. Others of us will remain in our jobs and positions in the community, but will be no less devoted to this mission of sharing the Gospel this week with co-workers, friends, and neighbors. Devotedness.
You cannot miss the sense of utter and complete devotedness to Christ in verse 11. Look at it again:
11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
They forsook all and followed Him. They just left everything right where it was and they followed Jesus. He was now “Number 1” in their lives. He was “first place.” He was “Lord.”
So not every one of us is a true, Christ-follower. Not every one of us can truthfully sing:
“I have decided to follow Jesus; no turning back, no turning back; though none go with me, still I will follow; the world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back.”
Are you a true, Christ-follower? Do have a constant sense of willingness, a constant sense of brokenness, and a constant sense of devotedness? What is our Master and Lord, Jesus, asking you to do right now in your life? Come and surrender your life to Christ, being saved from sin, death, and hell? Come and surrender your life to missional work among a waiting unreached people group? Come in some other way? Will you do it? Will you forsake all and follow Him?
- Stand for prayer.
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