One Day...In The Boat Edited

Announcements:

Trunk or Treat is Saturday, October 22nd from 3PM-5PM; set up is from 2PM-2:30PM

-we know this time of year many families have different views but as a church we are asking that everything be wholesome for this outreach. So please no witches, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, grim reapers, etc.

Worship:

Rest on Us

See A Victory

Goodness of God

Introduction:

Our lives consist of a series of moments. Many of them may seem insignificant, mundane, forgettable, but when strung together, they tell tremendous stories of triumph and failure, of laughter and tears, of great blessing and great loss. But then our lives are also punctuated by days. Many of them we never even saw coming, but those days that mark us, shape us, define us and change us.

Turn in your Bibles to Luke 5 but before I start reading that, I want to set up what we are going to be talking about and why. We are going to look at a story of a man by the name of Simon. Jesus nicknamed him Peter so we know him better by that name and I will probably refer to him that way, but let me explain a little bit about who Peter was, why we should care and why his one day should make any difference in our lives.

Background:

Peter was a fisherman who lived in the town of Capernaum in the 1st Century. Obviously, his fishing business was doing pretty well because it wasn’t just him in his own little boat with one line. He actually had a whole business. We are told in Scripture that James and John were his partners. Peter was very opinionated and he was a natural leader and sometimes his attitude got him into trouble. But it was because of his strong personality that Jesus nicknamed him Peter. Peter owned a house. He was married. Obviously his house was large enough to contain his family, his mother-in-law, his brother Andrew and even Jesus because it appears from Scripture that Jesus lived with Peter from time to time when He was in Capernaum. So Peter is basically this normal guy, ordinary guy with a normal job at the period of time with a normal family. He had a little bit of an attitude but otherwise just a normal guy.

In Luke 4, we learn that several days before this account we are about to read, Jesus came to his home to heal his mother-in-law. And it says that after that happened, at sunset, all the people from the town that needed healing came to Peter’s house and Jesus spent the entire night healing people. In fact, so much so, it says that at daybreak, Jesus had to go find a solitary place to hang out for a while. So Peter saw Jesus working miracles right in his own home.

Then fast forward several years later and this ordinary guy, Peter becomes the leader of the church. Peter becomes this guy who was so bold, his zeal takes him on missionary journeys and lands him in prison. He is also the guy who took the gospel, the message of Jesus, outside the walls of religious and cultural and social Judaism and out to the ends of the world. He had this vision from God that tells him to take the message of Jesus to Cornelius, a Roman officer, and all of a sudden, the message of God goes to the ends of the earth, and outside this small little circle of Jewish culture.

So I would argue today that the reason Peter’s story matters to us is that it is at least partially due to Peter, if not significantly due to Peter, that any of us are here this morning paying any attention to the teachings of a Jewish man that lived 2,000 years ago.

So, we pick up Peter’s story in Luke 5:1. I’m just going to make some observations after we read through the passage together.

Luke 5:1–11 NLT

One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,* great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,* its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Transition: The first observation we see this morning is:

Body:

I. One days begin as normal days (v. 1)

Luke 5:1 NLT

1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.

We find Jesus, this new Rabbi, this new teacher has come into town telling parables and stories, entertaining crowds and helping people understand who God is. This was just a normal day. I don’t think anybody woke up that morning thinking that anything life-changing or history-altering was going to happen.

Don’t let “normal days” be written off as days God can’t move or work!

Transition: Next, we see that:

II. Jesus wants to be in your world (vv. 2-3)

Luke 5:2–3 NLT

2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

This is Simon, who Jesus will nickname Peter later on. It is interesting to see that Jesus just steps into one of the boats! Peter could have said “What are you doing? I’m working here!”

Jesus didn’t just sit in the synagogue and wait for people to come to Him. He went out and got into the lives of others! In this case, He got into Simon’s ordinary life and stepped right into his business!

Jesus isn’t just concerned about our little piece of life over here (Sundays and Wednesdays or whatever areas we give Him). He wants to get into our boat; right in the mess of our ordinary, everyday life!

Illustration: when I was a youth pastor, I attended sports events that my teens were involved in because it helped me get into their world and understand them more. It also helped them know I wasn’t just there for them on Sundays.

Jesus is wanting the same relationship with us! So for some of us this morning it is a matter of just saying, ‘Hey Jesus, I’m going to let You come on my boat so I can see what You have to say and so I can see who You are about and what You are about in every area of my life.’

Transition: Not only are normal, ordinary days opportunities for God to move and work, and that Jesus wants to get into your life/boat, but:

III. Obedience is the key (vv. 4-5)

Luke 5:4–5 NLT

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”

This scene is hilarious! Jesus doesn’t know the first thing about fishing!

Yes, He is fully God and fully man, and in His full divinity He knows about fishing, but He was known as a carpenter by the crowds. In that culture, that means He is a stonemason and He built houses for people!

So, it’s like Jesus is saying to Peter, “Thanks for letting me use your boat. Now you can go to work. Head on out and catch some fish.”

Jesus doesn’t know the first thing about fishing as He tells them to do what every fisherman knows not to do and that’s to fish in the daytime because in the Sea of Galilee you fished in the middle of the night in the shallow waters.

Jesus was telling them to fish in the deep waters in the middle of the day!

I don’t know what’s the bigger miracle here?

The catch of fish or that Peter said “ok”?

Maybe Peter said “ok” because of what he saw Jesus do at his house healing his mother-in-law and many other people? He saw Jesus do what no one else could do.

Sometimes following Christ is logical and sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But if we know Jesus (who He is and what He can do) we should be willing to be obedient to what He says whether it makes sense or not!

Transition: So, on this normal “one day”, Jesus gets in Simon’s business and tells him to do the opposite of what he knows to do and Simon does what Jesus says. Simon Peter then learns that:

IV. Jesus always delivers (vv. 6-10)

Luke 5:6–10 NLT

6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”

First of all, Jesus doesn’t just meet Peter’s expectations, He exceeds them significantly.

Secondly, I think it is interesting that they had to call another boat over to help because the catch was so extreme, and Peter couldn’t handle the blessing of Jesus all for himself. He had to call other boats, his other boats, his partners, over to help.

One of the things we have to understand about this is that when Jesus really shows up in our lives, when we have a real encounter with Jesus, it is going to spill over into the lives of people around us.

A lot of times we say things like I believe in having a personal relationship with Christ. Then we will try to hide behind that so that we don’t have to bother anybody else. But what this shows me is that a relationship with Jesus is always personal, but it is never private. If we truly have been encountered with the life-changing power of Jesus, it is going to spill over to the people around us.

Then Peter falls on his knees, recognizing his own inadequacy. He comes face to face with Jesus and realizes that he is completely nothing. He comes to this place where he realizes that it doesn’t matter how good we are or how much we know or how talented we are. When we see ourselves in light of Jesus, we realize it is all nothing. Jesus steps into our boats and He shakes up our world. He defies our logic and He challenges every deeply held conviction we have and He changes our world view.

Transition: Lastly,

V. Simon Peter had to respond to the Jesus encounter he had on this normal “one day.” (v. 11)

Luke 5:11 NLT

11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Peter had a choice to make:

He could either offer Jesus a job with his fishing business to tell them when and where to fish.

But instead, he recognized his own inadequacies in light of who Jesus is and confessed who Jesus is. (v. 8)

Jesus didn’t change Peter’s identity, but He reframes it. He doesn’t leave Simon Peter as a simple fisherman but tells Simon Peter who he will become: a fisher of men.

Peter chose to leave what he had and what he was doing to follow Christ instead of asking Jesus to keep being a part of what Simon was doing.

For us the same is true. Being associated with Jesus comes with great blessings. My faith has served me well and helped me to figure out why I am here, where am I going, what am I supposed to do. The Bible is full of truth that can help us live fruitful lives if we not only read it but also follow its principles to our daily life.

But if we only see Jesus as a commodity to make our lives better and give us good lives, then we are only a consumer of Jesus.

There will come a time that Jesus will ask us to do something that won’t feel good and may cause us to sacrifice something or leave something behind. If we are a consumer of Jesus only then we won’t move if it costs us something or doesn’t feel good.

Salvation is free and costs us absolutely nothing.

But following Jesus, being His disciple, will always cost us something and sometimes may cost us everything.

It’s not just about associating with Jesus but identifying with Him.

What can this look like? I’m going to play a video here about the time Jason Crabb went to the Grammy’s and won an award. He tells a story about what happened after the Grammys were over and they were hanging around town for a couple of days.

Play Jason Crabb video

Conclusion:

As we allow Jesus to be in our world, He can make normal “one days” turn into divine appointments. But we need to:

1. Expect the unexpected especially on normal days (Everyday is a day God can move!)

2. Allow Jesus to be in every area of our life (in our boat) (Salvation: Ask Jesus to get into your boat!)

3. Be obedient to what He is telling us to do even when it doesn’t make sense because we know who Jesus is and that He always delivers above and beyond what we can ask or think (be willing to trust Him and leave anything behind to follow Him whether it costs you a little or everything)

4. Always be prepared to respond to the divine encounter and follow the voice of the Holy Spirit