The Drag Net Gospel

For so many people, the concept of Peterbeing “called” by Jesus to fish for men is terrifying. Now right off the bat let me just say this; you are not Peter. Peter played a very unique role in God’s revelation to the world. He was an apostle and you are not. He wrote parts of the N.T., preached the first sermon after Pentecost, played a massive roll in God’s revelation to the world, and was the leader of the apostles both before and after the resurrection. Peter’s call is not your call. God does not demand or expect you to leave your job to become a pastor or teacher or preacher, let alone to become apostle extraordinaire. In fact, He doesn’t want you to. He has laid his calling upon all of you in various different ways. Some have been called to be mothers, fathers, teachers, mechanics, policemen, hospital workers, and so on. You are not all called to preach. Especially not in the way that Peter was called to. That being said as I’m sure you are aware as you simply walk through life as a Christian you will have opportunities to witness to others and tell them the good news of Christ Jesus. You will be called upon not by God but by your neighbors to give a defense for the faith that you believe. And so even though this is Peter’s call and not yours. There is much here for us to claim along with him, if not in callings, then in promises.

To fish for men, commonly taken to mean “to Evangelize.”That is, to – well… I suppose that’s the first reason that this text scares people; many of us don’t really know what it means to Evangelize. And so our imaginations get the best of us, conjuring up the most terrifying possibilities of what it could be.That I, with my own skills and understanding have to convince another person, command another person (?), to what… to believe? To Submit? Commit? To Jesus? His Kingdom? To His morals?We aren’t really sure about any of these things, sooften because we aren’t really sure what the gospel isin the first place. So let’s go back there first.

1 Cor 15: “Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, says Paul; of the GOOD NEWSthat I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved,

Here all fear around the concept of evangelism ought to be absolutely erased. What is it is that Paul says saved us? The proclamation of news, nothing more. It is not eloquence in speech, rhetorical style, it isn't even personability or relationships that save people but it is simply, plainly the good news preached bysinners, forsinners, tosinners, that saves sinners. Amen?

But perhaps we still have some fear over the matter. After all, Paul didn’t say what that good news is. Maybe I’ll say it wrong, maybe I don’t have the right news?

SO, what is this news? In short, it is this:

that Christ died for our sins and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third.

It’s nothing fancy. It’s nothing confusing. It’s nothing complicated. It is simply the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ Jesus for you. That itself is the whole gospel message. Everything else, everything else either flows from or points back to that message of the person and work of Christ for you. Everything.

In the Lutheran church, we have a saying; the cross alone is our theology. That’s not to the exclusion of other truths, like the divinity of Christ, or the humanity of Christ, but it is to hang those two natures in one person, upon that tree. This is not to the exclusion of Baptism or the Lord’s Supper; but it is to recognize that the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion come from nowhere other than the pierced side of Jesus on that cross which poured forth blood and water in John 19:34. It is to affirm with Paul in Romans 6, that Baptism buries us with Christ in that tomb, and raises us up to new life in Him by faith. It is to proclaim that the Body and Blood that we eat in the Supper are the very body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins on the cross. It is not to the exclusion of the doctrine of the ministry, but rightly orients that ministry around the proclamation of our redemption bought not by gold or silver but with the precious blood, and the innocent suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not to ignore good works and the life lived in love toward others, but it is show us what that looks like; to lay one’s life down for those who sin against us. It is not to reject the hope of the end times and the last days but to root that hope in the fullness of time; when God sent His Son to be born under a woman, to suffer under the Law, and to die for our sins that He might redeem those under to the Law.

Everything, everything must ultimately come back to the footof the cross or it must be tossed away like useless dross.

Remain here. Find your lives here. Fix your reality here, to this text, to this verse, to this truth. This is all we must have if we want to know all things. This is where all things find their substance. Baptism, the supper, Confession and absolution bring us nowhere if they do not yoke us too, envelop us in, and root us down to the gospel of the crucified one. For as Paul says; I am resolved to know nothing but Christ and Him Crucified!

That simple proclamation of the crucified God is what saved Paul; it’s what saved you, it’s what conquered the world and what will continue to do so, no matter who speaks it. No matter how small, no matter how old or young, no matter how sinful or holy, it is not you that saves, but the proclamation of the good news that saves. As Paul himself says;

I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

And not just Paul; but this is just what Peter said too; as he fell down onto his knees and cried to Jesus; Lord depart from me, for I am a sinful man!And not just Peter – but Isaiah too; Woe is me he said, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

Each of these men, Peter, Paul,Isaiah, they alldespaired of their unworthiness under a holy and righteous God. And yet each of these men were used by God in mighty ways; not out of their own worthiness, but by His grace, by the power of God’spromise these men were made into preachers of the promise. For as that burning coal from the altar touched Isaiah’s lips his guilt was burned away, and his sin was blotted out. As Paul; the persecutor of the church was blinded after seeing Jesus on the road to demascus; so it was the forgiveness and promise of Ananias which greeted Paul not as persecutor, but as “brother,” which healed his blindness and filled him with the holy Spirit.

But for Peter, things are a little bit different. See as we read this gospel text; many of us, not just here at St. Matthew’s but in churches all around the world will be struck by fear at Peter’s being called to fish for men. But for Peter, the fear comes earlier; it comes from the realization that the Jesus that stands before Him is more powerful than Peter could have ever imagined. That there is something miraculous about Jesus, maybe He is an angel, maybe He is the messiah, maybe He is God in the flesh Peter might have thought; depart from me Lord for I am a sinner! The fear was not brought on by Jesus’ call for Peter to take up his fishing nets, but by Jesus’ promise that Peter could now finally lay them down. Do not be afraid; from now on, you will be catching people. That’s a promise. He did not say Peter now I would like you to go and evangelize. Nor did He command him saying Peter, thou shalt go and evangelize, but He promised Him saying do not be afraid Peter, for from now on you will be CATCHING people (that is, successfully).

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me (us) has not been in vain.

And just so by the grace of God Isaiah was cleansed of His sins and made to speak the purifying words of God to the Israelites.And just so in the same way; Peter was freed from His fear of Jesus’ power, and invited to become an instrument for its use. Those who were afraid, those who cowered under the holiness of God because of their sin had been redeemed by the His gracethrough the promise of the forgiveness of sinsand that, not without fruit. Isaiah was made the foremost prophet of the O.T. Foretelling of Christ’s ministry all the way from His birth in Isaiah to His death in Isaiah 53. Paul was later inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the vast majority of the New Testament. He would become the apostle to the gentiles; it was his ministry that birthed the church at large in Europe and all along the mediteranean. And Peter; Peter would not just become the catcher of men but the leader of the apostles; the preacher of the first sermon after Pentecost, and a minister of grace. All three men were what they were by the grace of God, and that grace toward them was not in vain. So why then do some of usstill fear the call of Christ to proclaim His grace?

Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

So we proclaim that your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ, and so you have come to believe by the power of the Holy Spirit working through our proclamation. For faith comes by hearing. And hearing – the good news of Christ Jesus; that for youHe lived, for youHe died, andfor youHe rose!Friend, your sins are forgiven you. You have been caught by the gospel. And so it is that you are to go fishing. Not with bait on a hook to entice unbelievers into making a decision for Jesus as one might say, not to coerce them into the faith, or convince them of it by reason, butto drag them in by proclamation. Friends; your sins are forgiven. That is the proclamation. I am not asking. I am not inviting. I am not offering. I am tellingyou. Your sins died with Christ on that cross; and you were risen with Him in righteousness and purity forever. For the gospel does not go out as bait on a hook; but as a great drag net. And just as you could not by your own power or strength or will or understanding or decision believe in Christ or come to Him, so too are you now going to be sent out to fish also with that same drag net gospel, to make captive all sinners who hear your words. So what are you to do then? One thing. One thing only. It is not to convince, it is not to to command or persuade or prove, or suggest – it is simply, to proclaim. It is simply to throw that net, that gospel deep into the waters. Into the deep waters of your neighbors ear where you can’t see the fish, so deep that you lose any kind of imagined control over the catch,that is where Christ will have you serve Him.Trust that Gospel to do what God has promised that it will do. As Paul says; “so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.” And so it will be with you, as you throw that proclamation into the deep waters of the world beyond these walls to neighbors, to family, to friends, towhoever it is, wherever it is, whenever it is. It will be as Christ said that it is. Friend; your sins are forgiven you.

Amen.