Let Down Your Nets Again

Luke 5:1–6 ESV

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 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.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.

Introduction

Second chances are a great thing, aren’t they?

How many of you have taken full advantage of a second chance at some point in your life?

One of the memories that comes to mind for me when it comes to a second chance was a wrestling match in high school. I just started wrestling my junior year and I wrestled my last two years of high school. When you go up against guys who have been wrestling for all of high school, or in some cases more than that, you’re just going to be an average wrestler. That was me. I lost as many matches as I won.

One time I stepped onto the wrestling mat and the match was over before I even know what happened. My teammates told me he did a fireman on me, but I honestly don’t remember what move he did.

What I do remember was knowing that I could do much better than that. I really wanted another chance at this kid.

A tournament rolled around and that’s exactly what happened. I had the chance to wrestle this kid once again and I was going to make the most of my second chance.

The whistle blew and I was pinned in less time… no I’m kidding…

I took this kid who so easily disposed of me the first time into not one but TWO overtime’s.

I honestly didn’t even know what the rules were for overtime. I was learning as I went.

But when the ref blew the whistle after the second overtime, I had redeemed myself.

I won that match and I made the most of my second chance.

Transition

Today, as we turn to the text, we are going to see a story of a second chance. We are going to read about Jesus’ encounter with Peter, James and John.

Text

Here in Luke’s gospel we read about a moment early in Jesus’ teaching ministry.

Last week we established that Jesus was unlike any other Rabbi in his day. He was a prodigy when it came to the the understanding, interpreting and teaching of the Old Testament. At the time of that encounter, Jesus is not yet believed to be the Messiah. People are still trying to figure out who this carpenter’s son is.

How is it that such an ordinary person would have so much authority when it came to not just the proclamation of the scriptures, but miracles are following him.

And here in the text he uses an opportune time of an empty boat, dirty nets, and tired individuals to work a miracle.

Don’t miss the fact that the disciples disappointment was the set up for an encounter with Jesus.

Let me weave for you all this morning the text with our application.

The Pain of Empty Boats

Peter, James and John had a long night at sea and did not catch any fish. For a fisherman to work all night, and yet not catch any fish there is only one word to describe how they are feeling - disappointed.

What does not escape Jesus as he is walking by that fateful morning was how they were feeling. As a matter of fact, Luke writes here that Jesus saw their empty boats. He saw them washing their nets.

But what does Jesus not see?

Fish.

He doesn’t see any fish.

It does not take a forensics expert to piece together what is happening in this moment.

Peter, James and John have taken an ‘L’.

They were unsuccessful.

They invested time, energy and resources that night hoping to catch fish, so that they could sell it to the market so that they could make money for themselves and whoever else they supported, but they knew that they were on their way home empty handed.

Although I’m sure that no one here today has had to make their money by being a fisherman, we can relate to the feeling of coming home empty handed.

What do I mean by that?

You come home and you feel like no matter what you did that day, you didn’t move ahead in life.

Sure, you showed up to work. You clocked in and you clocked out. You did what you had to do based on the responsibilities that are on your plate. But, when you got home, you still felt empty handed.

You still came home with a knot in your stomach and a pain in your thoughts as you ask yourself, “Am I even making a difference?”

If you have ever felt this way, then you know what Peter, James and John were feeling that morning when they returned from fishing.

The Midlife Midlife Crisis

I’ve seen this both in my own life, and in the life of others that I have had the opportunity to work with.

When I worked at Northrop Grumman as a Subcontracts Manager I had the task of training and acclimating the recent college graduates into the work place. I would mentor young men and women who were finding their place in a company with over 100,000 employees.

One thing that I wrestled to the ground, and one thing that I eventually saw in others, was a midlife midlife crisis.

You heard me right… it was a midlife midlife crisis.

It was the moment when aspirational college graduates came to the realization that in six months, they would not be the Company Vice President.

They looked around and realized that some of the people that were in the positions that they wanted were not going anywhere any time soon.

It was the moment that they discovered that it was going to take time… perhaps a long time… to accomplish the goals that they had for themselves...

I would sit with them when they would slump over in their chairs and say to me, “I just don’t know if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life...”

Typically, after some time of listening to them, and offering them advise, they would ask me what I was doing to stay upbeat. If I was happy with what I was doing, and where my career was going.

And these were the moments that I shared with them what I am going to share with you now.

Even though I was working and earning a paycheck while I was working at Northrop Grumman, I learned that the key to overcoming an empty boat was to stop looking at the natural and start looking at the supernatural.

I shared with you last week that the world around us is temporary. It’s here today, but it will all be gone one day.

This world is not my home, and I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. I do not have to wait until I pass away to enter into heaven, but when I made Jesus my Lord and King, I supernaturally changed citizenship from that of this world, to that of His world, and that is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Said more basically, if you are only living for the rewards of this life, you will miss out on the rewards of our next life.

Let me bring this full circle now...

How do we overcome disappointment in this life?

We understand that this world will one day pass away… I cannot get overly attached to something that I cannot bring with me into the next life.

Some of you right now are feeling the sting of my words because things around you aren’t working out.

You are facing money trouble, and you are trying to figure that out.

You are facing relationship trouble, and you are trying to figure that out.

Life has hit you hard, and you feel empty inside.

Can I just point to this text and tell you that many times it is not until you are dealing with empty expectations that you can encounter the Master?

Could it be that as long as your boat is full you can’t see Jesus calling out to you.

Maybe the emptiness that you are feeling is the evidence that you need a savior?

And here is the good news for everyone today… Jesus is here and he still steps into empty boats.

The Second Lesson

The Bible records that Jesus taught a message to the crowd, but it was his second message, the one he taught to Peter, that had the greater impact.

Let’s read verse 4 together once more.

Luke 5:4 ESV

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

Let’s unpack this together.

Peter is done washing his nets. He’s ready to go home. He knows that this was not a successful day. He just wants to go home, grab a cold... brew coffee, and binge watch his favorite Netflix show.

But here is this Rabbi who is telling him to get back into the boat, go out a littler deeper, and get these nets that he just finished washing dirty again.

Lighthouse, don’t let it escape you that the religious leader is telling the fisherman how to fish.

Peter is probably thinking, “Listen Jesus… I know you went to school to be a Rabbi, and you are great. You are fantastic. I think you might be the best teacher that I have ever heard. But this here is fishing. And I do fishing. My Dad was a fisherman and he taught me everything I know. And do you want to know what his daddy was, Jesus? A fisherman too. You see Jesus, fishing is what WE DO. So I’ll leave the preaching to you, and you leave the fishing to me. Sounds good?”

Now he didn’t say that, but I’m sure that he THOUGHT THAT.

What he did say was, “We worked all night and didn’t catch a thing, but if you say so.”

[Inflection Point]

This is so good I’m going to give you first and then seconds.

[Inflection Point]

The first thing Jesus said to Peter, and what he says to us when we are feeling empty is this… go deeper.

Look at your neighbor and tell them go deeper.

What is deeper?

I’ll tell you what deeper is. It is the place that is outside of your comfort zone, but it is also the place where change happens.

Could the emptiness of your life be because every time Jesus calls you out to the deep you want to play it safe?

Could it be that the emptiness of your life is because every time Jesus called you to the deep you want to stay in the shallow?

Join a Connect Group - No, I’m good. I don’t like people.

Sign up for Growth Track - I already know what my purpose is.

Get on the Dream Team - Yea, I just come to be served on Sundays, not to serve others.

Prioritize prayer and devotion in the mornings - I’m not a morning person.

Can I make it anymore simple?

Jesus is calling you to the deep. Jesus is calling you to step outside what is convenient and comfortable for you.

Today, that’s exactly the opportunity we are giving you.

Today, you get to go deeper with your church and go outside your comfort zone.

If you’ve never discovered your purpose, then get in Growth Track so we can help you unpack your design and launch you into deeper.

If you want to experience transformation in your life you have to be willing to go beyond your comfort zone.

You ready for seconds? I promised you seconds… here we go...

Peter said to Jesus, “if you say so...”

Those 4 words radically changed the trajectory of Peter’s life.

And let me teach you something about Jesus, this little test of Peter’s obedience was a part of Jesus’ DNA.

All throughout the scriptures we read about Jesus telling people to do things that leave us with that same response; “but if you say so...”

Jesus said go gather all the water pots so I can turn them into wine... “If you say so...”

Bring that little boys lunch of bread and fish so I can feed these five thousand people… “If you say so...”

Let me rub this mud that I just created with my spit on the ground so you can see again… “if you say so...”

Peter, I’m going to come pray for your mother-in-law so she can be healed… “if you say so...”

What’s my point?

Jesus doesn’t always need your faith, but he always needs your obedience.

He wants to do things through you that you don’t even have faith for. All he needs for you to do is turn left when he says turn left. All he needs for you to do is to turn right when he says turn right.

Jesus will start orchestrating things in your life that are beyond all that you can ask, think or imagine, and what he is looking for is your yes.

There are times when obedience follows faith, but there are other times when faith follows obedience.

Some of you are waiting for an explanation and Jesus just wants you to trust him and obey.

Some of you are looking at numbers that don’t add up and Jesus just wants you to trust him and obey.

Some of you are looking at situations that don’t look good right now, but Jesus is just looking for you to obey him.

And when you do… he will open up doors that have been closed, he will do the impossible, and he will make a way for you!

Conclusion - He Did That

Now let’s bring this story to a close because there is so much more that you need to get from it.

Yes, Peter, James and John caught a huge haul of fish, but that wasn’t the point of the miracle.

Let’s read this together.

Luke 5:8–11 ESV

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.

The gospels of Matthew and Mark record a very similar story to the one we read here from Luke.

The difference however is that the timeline of events is different. Luke’s story here doesn’t sync up with Matthew and Mark’s telling of events, and in Matthew and Mark’s telling of events it’s much less dramatic. Jesus walks by the sea shore, he sees Peter, and he tells him, “follow me...” The Bible records that Peter left his nets and followed Jesus.

Then what do we make of Luke’s story? Why is it later? Why is Jesus on a boat and why is Peter fishing again?

A closer examination of Luke’s story reveals to us that it is a separate event.

Peter decided to follow Jesus before this happened. However, Peter was following Jesus and he was also still fishing. He was committed to Jesus, but he wasn’t ready to leave everything behind.

So when we get to Luke’s story, Peters response is overwhelming. He had been following Jesus, but also holding on to what was familiar.

Jesus wanted to do more through Peter, and that wouldn’t happen until Peter surrendered everything to Jesus.

That’s why he said, “I am a sinful man.”

But more importantly, this is why Jesus told him from now on, you’ll be catching men.

Said differently, “from now on you will be loving and serving people.”

This story tells me two things. Here is the first one… we cannot say we have responded to God if we have not responded to people.

Jesus did this entire miracle just to point Peter to love and serve others.

Last week we talked about placing God first by being reminded of the importance of prioritizing His Kingdom.

Let me now take you to the your next step… We serve God by serving people.

When we serve people, do you want to know what we are doing? We are letting down our nets.

We are being fishers of men.

Every time we serve someone we are letting down our nets in obedience to what God asks of us, and in alignment with what God is already doing here on earth.

We partner with Him.

We do the natural while He does the supernatural.

When you join the Dream Team, you do the natural. So we encourage all of you today, step outside your comfort zone. Go a little deeper.

[Inflection Point]

Here’s the second thing. This was Peter’s second chance. This was the second time that Jesus is calling out to Peter.

And for some of you, I am telling you, let down your nets again.

Maybe you’ve been hurt by the church, or maybe you walked away from the calling on your life. There’s grace here for you. God’s not done with you.

Let down your nets again, and find your place once again in His Kingdom.