Jesus Calls His First Disciples

Introduction

Read Luke 5:1-11.

As Patty Sue was sharing today, I thought of God’s calling on her life. Her ministry is a representation of God’s divine call on our lives to spend our lives loving, serving, and spreading the gospel with others.

When God calls us to Himself, he calls us to the people around us for the sake of the gospel.

In today’s passage, we will see God’s calling on the disciples lives.

Explanation

Luke 5:3-5 “Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 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.””

Jesus asks Peter to trust Him.

To follow and obey Jesus is to trust Jesus.

With what do we trust Him.

We trust Him with our souls, our salvation, and our redemption.

Because He is a safe place to trust with our redemption, we can trust Him with everything else.

I trust Jesus with my salvation, but I don’t trust Him with my friends, my struggles, or my

“Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down my nets.”

Based on my circumstances, what you are asking me to do doesn’t make sense. But because of your word, I will do it.

God often asks us to do thinks that defy our best judgment.

Common sense is really great, but you know what common sense isn’t? A fear of the Lord.

May we never think we are so smart, wise, or put together that we would disobey the Lord and cite our own merits. He is the one full of wisdom and knowledge. We follow Him.

Luke 5:6-7 “And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 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.”

Jesus proves Himself to Peter and the disciples.

When it comes to the events of our lives, we trust God in the small things, AND we trust God in the big things.

Some of us are good at trusting God with the big things, but we fail to trust Him in the small things. Some of us are good at trusting God with the small things, but we fail to trust Him in the big things.

When we are in the hospital or making a job change or going through some life changing event, we give it to God, but we fail to give him the everyday - the breakfast with our family, the Bible reading, the drive to and from work.

The Lord shows Himself in powerful ways in both the large ways and the small.

In the same way, some of us seem to obey God quietly and steadily day by day, but when the big, hard moments come, our faith falls apart.

Never in any way, in any day, at any time has Jesus ever failed you.

To trust and obey is to believe that God is going to show up.

Somewhere along the walk of faith, we start forgetting that God is going to show up.

Luke 5:8-11 “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

Peter says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Peter’s response is a sharp contrast to the people in Capernaum. It is no mistake that these accounts are placed besides each other by Luke.

The people, “Come and Stay.” Peter, “Depart from me.”

Peter was aware of His unworthiness before the Lord.

Why did Jesus leave the ones who ask Him to stay and stay with the one who asked Him to leave?

Because the one who asked Him to leave did so because He understood, who Jesus actually was.

Theophany is a theological term that refers to the revealing of God to man in the Scriptures.

Peter’s response is very similar to other theophanies:

Isaiah - “Behold, I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.”

John the Disciple in Revelation - “I fell on the ground as though I was dead.”

The people in Capernaum wanted to use Jesus to get something else.

Peter sees who Jesus is, and as a result, sees his own sin.

To follow Jesus is to have your identity changed.

The Matthew account says, “You will be fishers of men.”

“You have been catching fish, but you will now catch people.”

Your life has been spent catching fish.

However, people will now be your primary concern.

Their lives were changed completely.

Family ties mean that they possibly had centuries of knowledge about catching fish. Family affair.

Their lives were set. Some of them were probably married at this point.

Catching men just sounds a little weird. Jesus rocks their world.

To follow Jesus is synonymous with a trajectory towards others.

You cannot claim to follow Jesus and have no concern for the lost.

In the New Testament, to be a Christian meant to be concerned for those who were not.

I am going to say this with as much poise as I can. I want to baptise your children. I love to baptize your children. But I want to see people who have never walked with God a day in their lives give themselves to Jesus.

We ought to baptise our children and teenagers.

We ought to also baptise people in this community who have come to know Jesus.

And if we aren’t… there is a problem.

The problem isn’t them. The problem isn’t that God doesn’t want to save. The problem is us and our hearts.

Invitation

Trust Jesus with your soul.

Trust Jesus with your life.

Trust Jesus with your mission.