Gospel Personages: Peter the Fisherman

INTRO

Gospel personages: Peter

Peter (132x); Simon (27x); Simon Peter (18x); Cephas (9x)

Luke 5:1-11 Peter Called to Catch Men

An urgent need to hear God’s Word (Lk 5:1)

Press: act of pushing press around, press upon, be urgent (BDAG)

Word has spread about Jesus (Lk 4:37)

People want to hear

There are people who still want to hear.

Sometimes we still hang around the boat

Points of contact prior to Luke 5. Jn 1:41-42; Mk 1:16-20; Lk 4:38-39)

Appears to be a second time where Peter and others forsake all and follow Him.

He had gone back to the boat.

God is calling us to follow Him, and He graciously gives us the time and opportunity to do so

Jesus tell them to “Launch out” (Lk 5:4)

Go into the deep water. Deepest part of the Sea if 141 ft deep

Fishing in the deep part indicates the kind of net that would have been used

The net was a trammel net—a long net that sinks to the bottom. Fisherman would splash their oars to drive the fish into the net. “the deep”—deep water. Effective at night when fish could not see the net. A trammel could result in 100-200 lbs of fish on a good night.

We need to have Peter’s kind of faith (Lk 5:5)

They had a caught nothing. Typically lower this net 10-12x in a night. They had toiled

What would be the point of lowering this net again during the day?

“At thy Word” (Rom 10:17)

Man hearing, Man obeying

We need to be willing to “launch out” (Lk 5:6-7)

Despite the unlikelihood of success, their fatigue, they launched out.

We may think the likelihood of success in reaching out to our neighbors or friends is small, but we might be surprised

Go and leave the results to God

Greatness of Jesus should drive us to our knees (Lk 5:8-10)

Clearly a miracle to catch this amount in the day time

Peter recognized this as no ordinary catch; not worthy to be in the Lord’s presence (Is 6:5)

1 Pet 5:6 Peter lived this out

We’re called to catch men too

Peter used a trammel net, a fishing pole (Mt 17:27), other kinds of nets used

Different means to catch men

Jn 21:5-13 Another Great Catch

Post-resurrection appearance

The disciples went back to fishing (Jn 21:1-3)

They do not recognize Jesus (Jn 21:4-6)

Upon hearing the Lord’s instruction, Peter recognizes Him and swims to Him (Jn 21:7)

Some nets were only retrieved by diving in the water; hence the reason he was without his outer garments

About 100 yards from shore; explains why they couldn’t identify Christ

The breakfast meal was already prepared (Jn 21:9)