Because you said so

Luke 5:4–5 ESV

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

When I was growing up my dad was a man that was a teacher and everything he did had some kind of life application connected to it. But then there were sometimes, me being that inquisitive sometimes overbearingly nosy young man, he would simply say because I said so.I could not understand that at that time but as time went on and I had children of my own, I understood. He would say because I said so because at that part of my mental and physical maturation I would have never understood what he was trying to say or the message he was trying to convey. And instead of confusing me with details beyond my maturity level, he would just utter the words that helped me learn just like everything else he taught us. In today’s cultural climate we do not want to tell our children that anymore. and I get it. I know that this is the age of information and everyone wants to be in the know, and want to know it right now. And because of the internet and social media we know things, that would usually take weeks for everyone to know, in seconds. But how many remember the time when you could sit down with a child and talk about children stuff. But now when you talk to a child you have to talk about grown up stuff or we are just flabbergasted at how much grown folk stuff they know. Why? Because we tell our children everything and the reason behind everything because we think that we are equipping them for life but in reality we are not, we are giving them the illusion that there will always be a immediate or logical answer. We are showing them that there will always be a black and white answer to every question. And when they hit the real world where mamma and daddy or grandma and granddaddy is not there it will be a culture shock to know and they will not understand. That is why our younger generation cannot hold onto a job. Because they feel that the person in the position of authority owes them an explanation about why they have to do what they have to do. And because the boss does not have to explain every move he makes to the employees, our younger generation quits the job because they could not understand why they could not do what mamma and daddy used to do.

If I could use my daddy’s words as the title of my text as Peter said it “Because you said so”. Such is the tenor of the text today. Simon Peter was a professional fisherman that allowed Jesus to use his boat as a pulpit to preach. Simon was not a disciple yet but he still allowed Jesus to use his boat. And then after preaching Jesus told Peter to launch out into the deep and throw the nets down to catch some fish. Now Peter was confused because he was the professional and had been fishing all night. They had tried every trick in the book but still had no fortune in catching any fish. One translation says that they did not catch a minnow. So, because Peter proved to be a man of professionalism and some wisdom realized that I have no fish anyway and if this man of God tells me to throw my nets into the deep and catch some fish, well what do I have to lose. So he said because you said so, I will do it. And look at the the outcome. Peter moved because Jesus said so. He did not move solely because of his “strong” faith in Jesus or his newly erected ministry but because He said so. If we look at it Peter could have said this man is too bold to say this and not know what he is talking about. Peter could have also said maybe this man knows something I do not.

If I could press pause here for a moment? What if we would just sometimes slow down and realize that we do not have all the right answers, we do not know everything about everything and sometimes just say, I may not understand it but because he said so, I will move. Be obedient and just move in faith because He said so. We just do like our children should be taught to do sometimes. Just move because He said so. And if we are mindful of what happens when we tell our children “because I said so” they may not like it or understand it but they move. Why? Because they trust your judgement, they trust your wisdom, and they understand deep down that you would not tell them something that would hurt them. This is the same attitude we should have when it comes to the things of God. We must trust His judgement, we can trust His wisdom, we can know that He will not do anything that will put you in danger. We can just be obedient. It was A.W. Tozer, who was an American pastor of the early 20th century who wrote many books about Christianity, He said and I quote:

… obedience is taught throughout the entire Bible… true obedience is one of the toughest requirements of the Christian life. Apart from obedience, there can be no salvation, for salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory impossibility.8

A. W. Tozer

Obedience like submission has been give a bad name. In this culture of everyone being woke, or everybody has their own truth. I have to humbly disagree with some of the tenets of the “woke” movement and I completely disagree with everyone having their “truth”. The woke movement has given us the idea that everything must be explained and must be explainable but if we have lived for at least two minutes on this earth, everything is not going to be explainable. And another problem with this movement is that if the explanation doesn't suit our case then it must be a lie. It is great to know who you are and it is also good to know where you come from but we should not put our trust so much in that knowledge that if we do not know we feel less than. I don’t care who you were born to and in what country or continent but if God be for you He is greater than the whole world against you. And the speak “my” truth rhetoric. If something is true that is what it is and it must be true in every context, today and tomorrow. What they are really saying is that no matter what the truth is, i would rather believe my interpretation or what I want at the time. But i digress. Obedience is important in any culture. If we have a culture without any kind of obedience we wil have a society of calamity and chaos. Look at this. The grown folks would not get anything done at work because “I know what’s best”, children would not get anything done at school because “i know what’s best”, and children would not do anything their parents tell them because although they haven’t lived through nothing, “I know what’s best.” This is where so many people try to say that Christianity is a “slave’ religion because it teaches that being obedient and being submissive is being weak. But look at the history. If we need an example Jesus was submissive to the father in everything He did. In John 5:19 “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” He was teaching obedience. Let’s move on.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2. Jesus’ Demonstration of His Authority by Calling His First Disciples (5:1–11) (Matt. 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20)

The incident recorded here is obviously not the first time Jesus had been in contact with the men whom He called to be His disciples. Luke already had stated that Jesus had healed Simon’s mother-in-law which denotes previous contact with Simon and Andrew. This seems to be at least the third time Jesus had contact with these men

Could this be another reason why Peter said I will do this because you said so. Because he had spent some time with Jesus and began to trust Him. Jesus had healed his mother-in-law and had been a compassionate man. Just like the story of me and my dad. I learned to trust him because of his compassion toward me and his ever teaching of life lessons, so when he came up with something that he did not want to give me the entire picture yet and said because I said so. I could just trust that what he was doing was for my best interest. We should do the same when God speaks. Sometimes he gives us the entire picture but oftentimes He just want us to move by faith. The faith that cannot be seen in the physical but is more real than anything we have ever experienced. Look at Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” We have gotten away from allowing God’s purpose to be first and foremost. In Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” look at what Peter did. he helped Jesus and His purpose by giving Him a platform to teach the Word of God but at the end Jesus blessed him with enough fish for himself and some for someone else. Do we give Jesus the platform or do we try to get the platform for ourselves? We want the glory instead of letting God get it but if we would just realize that if we allow God to get the glory, he will give us the residue and the residue from the glory of God is more than we could ever muster up ourselves. More than we could ask or think.

Another thing about this text is that Peter used the word Master. Because Peter had witnessed some miraculous thing Jesus had done, he used the term master. This term was different from teacher of rabbi, this was a term of intimacy a term that he felt comfortable using because he knew him. And because in his mind, he was going to obey. Oftentimes we use the word teacher because when the teaches it is up to us to use it or not but we shy away from Master because when that word is used it is understood that whatever you tell me to do I will do, wherever you tell me to go, I will go, whatever you want me to say, I will say. Can someone help me say Lord I want you to be my master. Lord I want to obey you, not because I understand your every decision but because you said so, not because I can see you move, but because you said so. We must get to the point where we can trust God when we can’t trace Him. coming into this new year, this new season is a great time to make a conscious decision to trust God in everything. Trust His word. And do not be deterred by what others think about your walk. Because believe it or not, you came here by yourself and will leave by yourself.

Another reason he used the term master could have been because Peter had witnessed some miraculous thing Jesus had done. Let me say that another way. He may have been of the mindset that if He did it before He will do it again. I try the Lord and He’s alright.

There are three things that the text is tailored to teach us about how God often operates to get us to realize what He is trying to do in our lives.

(1) the first thing is he often does things at the wrong time.

Look at Peter and his cohorts. They had been fishing all night and had not caught anything. See firstly we must look at this through 1st century eyes. The paradox would be heightened for readers who knew that fishing in deep water was unlikely to produce a good catch during daytime. When experts, fishing at the right time, had caught nothing, it was useless logically to try at the request of a carpenter. Jesus called for overtime labor in the least productive time of day. Let me say it another way. In the eyes of the professional fishermen, this would have been illogical, unwise, and wasteful to fish in the middle of the day because their were no fish there because the best fishing was at night when the fish were feeding and in the cool. Let’s do it another way. Oftentimes, we think we have something figured out. We have done the research, we have made provisions, and plans but then God send word that He wants it done another way. We are hesitant because of all the work we have put into it, but God gives a word. this is where we should say Lord I'm doing this simply because you say so. My research and my knowledge is telling me this is the time or this is not the time but because you say so I will do it. The Master’s word takes precedence over human experience and human knowledge. Tough, experienced fishermen let Jesus show them when and where to fish.

(2) This statement shows us our second point . He often instructs us to go to the wrong place.

Look at Peter. First Jesus takes him out at the wrong time to catch fish but then He tells him to do something out of sorts and cast the nets in water. Now if you have ever fished at all, and not pond fishing but deep water fishing, you would know that because it was approximately noon or after, the fish were so deep that no one could reach them. They are hiding from the sun and its heat. So Jesus took them and told them to cast their nets out in the middle of the day to catch fish. Now, we must understand, that these were professional fisherman and did it for a living and they did not want to catch one or two stragglers. But again we see Peter said I will do it because you said so. Somebody here is thinking the same thing. This is place where I should be, this where I can do great things, this is where mamma them want me or daddy them told me to be, but maybe God is trying to move you into that seemingly wrong place so he can bless your business. Oftentimes we talk about location, location, location, and them we talk about timing. But this text today shows us that when God wants to bless you the location nor does the time matter-He can go against the grain of the operational norm and bless you anyhow. He may be trying to move you into that place where no one, not even yourself, thought you would be. And I know what the experts said, I know what the research says, but what about what he said- just tell the Lord I will do this even though I don’t understand but because you said so.

(3) Our third and final point is God will use something that you failed at before to bless you. Now this was exciting to me. Peter and his workers had worked all night. They had toiled all night. They did everything right, they followed all the rules of fishing. They went out at night to catch the fish feeding, they went to the right place to catch the mother load, but they failed. Somebody here has done that. You followed all the rules of the people that know what they are talking about, the money was right, the education was right , you had the right people surrounding you, but you failed. And oftentimes we blame God and say why did this not work. It worked for so and so. What wrong with me? But God is just saying it was the money was right, you had the right people, the research was good, and the preparation was proper and according to the world the time was right, but it was not my time. Then God says its time now and we will say something like I tried that before and it did not work, last time I failed miserable. but if I could just give a little wisdom on success. Before you can ever experience success, you have to first fail. Michael Jordan has famously taken 24,537 shots in his career and of those he missed 9,000 and 26 of them were game winning shots but he is more well known for the 50 game winning shots he made. But what if he had quit because he failed? He would have never been the greatest player that has ever played the game. Just because you failed the first time, try again, and again, and again. Because God will use that failure to strengthen our weaknesses and turn us into humble winners. If we won all the time we would be arrogant and selfish but losing gives a humility that is priceless. Another thing about failure is that, failure will allow us the opportunity to really enjoy success and share it with others. Look at Peter and his crew. They appreciated this load of fish and did not try to keep it all to themselves, they shared the wealth. That is what failure will do. Because they could have said, we have got to share this because we could have been stuck with the nothing that we had before but now we have more than enough.

Conclusion

But to enjoy this level of God, we have to be willing to say I will do this because you said so. I know this seems like the wrong time, but because you said so, it feels like the wrong place but because you said so, and I failed at this the last time but I will try it again, because you said so. There is another instance where Jesus was humbled and he was humbles to death. He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and his physical side was weary, worried, and depressed about what he was getting ready to endure so He went to prayer and three times he said nevertheless which is the same thing as to say because you said so. He went to the cross and He died.