Following Jesus

Just to catch us up to speed, this is what we’ve looked at the last few weeks through our study of Luke.

First, we read about Jesus’ baptism.

There he was declared the Son of God.

Then, that title was challenged by the Devil in the Temptation of Jesus.

After the Temptation Jesus went and preached his first public message in Luke’s Gospel.

And after being run out of town, Jesus made his way to Capernaum where he cast out demons and Healed Peter’s Mother-in-Law and other people in Capernaum.

From the beginning of Chapter five til 6:16, one of the main themes of Luke’s Gospel is the calling of the Disciples.

In fact, though Luke’s Gospel primarily highlights the teaching and miracles of Jesus, Jesus’ ministry also centers on his disciples.

The text we are going to look at this morning focus’ on Jesus calling what will eventually become his inner circle of Disciples.

Those would be Peter, James, and John.

Though Jesus spent time with all 12 of his disciples, he was most closely connected to these three.

At this point in the story we know that Jesus and Peter had already met in some capacity.

Jesus had healed his Mother-in-Law of the extreme fever so there was some connection.

But the question that Luke is really asking in Luke 5:1-11 is

What does it look like to be a disciple of Jesus?

What are the steps to following Jesus?

And in this vignette we get to see how to become a follower of Jesus.

I want us to begin with a framework of what a disciple looks like.

It’s not unusual that Jesus would gather for himself some disciples.

Many rabbis would take on students and teach them the Scriptures.

And a student is exactly what a disciple is.

A disciple learns and gleans from his or her teacher.

In fact, a disciple would want to imitate his teacher.

This wasn’t simply an information dump from the teacher to the disciple.

Rather there would be a radical lifestyle change.

The world around the disciple would know who trained and taught him.

How?

By the way that the disciple lived, spoke, and imitated the teacher.

This speaks volume for us who claim to be followers of Jesus.

Is our life evidence of who we claim we serve.

Do we look like Jesus.

If we are true disciples of his, then we will imitate the way he lived.

One of the key differences between Jesus and the other Rabbis is the type of students he took on.

He didn’t look for the theologically elite.

He sought out the regular people.

Fishermen, Tax Collectors, a religious zealot.

These are the men that Jesus wanted to follow him.

This is comforting b/c it means that you don’t have to be a theology professor, a pastor, or high up in ministry to follow Jesus.

If you are retired, work in the oil field or at a plant, if you’re a stay at home mom.

It doesn’t matter Jesus wants all kinds of people to be his disciples.

Now there are some steps to becoming a disciple of Jesus.

And that’s what is laid out here in this account.

How does one become a disciple of Jesus.

As outlined here in Luke 5:1-11, it’s seems to be a four step process.

I’m not saying this is the only way that someone can become Jesus’ disciples, but it is the formula that Jesus uses for Peter, James, and John.

Step 1: Hear the Word of God

Step 2: Submitting to Jesus

Step 3: Confess/Repent of your Sin

Step 4: Start following Him

Now before we get into it, let’s pray and ask the Lord to bless the study of his word.

Luke 5:1–3 CSB

1 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

Hear the Word of God

We see here that Jesus was causing a stir in the area.

People were coming to hear him speak

And what was Jesus speaking about?

The Word of God.

Jesus wasn’t teaching, preaching, and talking about anything other than God’s Word.

And people were drawn to him.

And this is the first step in becoming a disciple of Jesus.

We have to listen to the word of God.

The word of God reveals who Jesus is.

Now as we know, just hearing the word of God is not the only step to becoming a disciple.

It is, however, the first step.

We each know plenty of people who have heard, read, and studied the Scriptures and yet aren’t disciples of Jesus.

We also know that there are those self proclaimed Christians that simply go to Church on Sundays and live however they want to during the Week.

Hearing isn’t enough, but it is the first step.

Now here in Luke’s gospel there’s a great crowd gathering to hear Jesus.

Their on the shore of Lake Gennesaret and Jesus is getting crowded.

He saw two boats near the shoreline.

He gets in one.

Notice, He didn’t ask for permission.

He didn’t make sure it was okay, he simply stepped in and then asked Simon Peter, to move him out away from the Shore so that he could better speak to the crowd.

Now this is the last thing in the world that Peter would have wanted to do.

He had been out fishing all night as was getting ready to clean his nets and go home.

And the fact that Peter would have obliged Jesus at this request demonstrates humility and sacrifice.

Until relatively recently, we had no idea what these boats would have looked like.

Most people assumed they were smaller boats.

Kinda like your typical Jon boat.

However, archaeologist have found the remains of a fishing boat in the Sea of Galilee.

This find shows that the boat is actually larger than expected.

Roughly 25.5 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.5 deep.

had 4 oars and could sit up to 10 people.

So it would have taken some effort to move this boat away from the shore.

This was no small task.

Now, Luke doesn’t give us the content of Jesus’ preaching at this point.

We just know that he’s talking about the Word of God.

Not only the crowds though.

B/c Peter is on the boat with Jesus he is hearing Jesus’ teaching too.

Peter is listening to God’s Word from the rabbi himself.

As amazing as Jesus’ miracles are.

Jesus was sent proclaim the Kingdom of God through the Word of God.

Jesus was sent to preach and teach.

That’s even what Jesus says when he begins his ministry in Luke 4.

He was sent to proclaim the good news.

Since the beginning of Christianity, even in Jesus’ ministry.

People were more interested in the miracles than they were the message.

That same thing is true today.

We want to see the hand of God move.

We want healings.

We want the miraculous.

And those aren’t bad things.

However, the main thing is the message.

That’s how people’s lives are transformed.

And we as his disciples have to hear the word of God so that we are transformed by the word of God.

Miracles are great, but they can’t sustain.

The Word of God is the bread that we dine on an consume to live the life of a disciple.

People are saved not through the miracles, but through the message of the gospel.

Just as Paul says in Romans 10:17 “17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.”

Now that doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t perform miracles.

In fact, in our congregation alone we have walking miracles.

But the Miracles don’t save.

It’s the message that Saves.

Now, sometimes Jesus pairs the miracle with the message.

That’s what he does here for Peter and his gang.

Luke 5:4–7 CSB

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” 6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Listen to Jesus

So Jesus has presented the message of God’s Word, then he looks at Peter and tells him to put down his nets.

It’s time for the miracle.

Now here’s the thing, we don’t know how much Jesus knew about fishing.

But what we do know is that Peter knew a lot about Fishing.

It was his families lively hood.

Probably passed on to Peter from his Father.

So Peter knew that fishing during the daytime doesn’t work.

That’s why they would fish at night.

They would go out when the water was cooler and the fish came closer to the surface.

And besides this, it wasn’t as simple as casting a line.

He didn’t have a fishing pole.

He used a net.

The net that he had just started cleaning.

Not only that, but they had been out all night without one fish.

They were tired, frustrated and ready to go home.

Then this non-fisherman comes to these fishermen and tells them to cast the nets out.

This would have seemed ludicrous to Peter and the others.

The conditions weren’t right.

The timing wasn’t right.

Failure Seemed immanent.

It’s not impossible for Peter to think that Jesus is simply meddling at this point.

How and why should he listen to this non-fisherman.

Peter even voices his concern.

Luke 5:5a “5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing.

Nevertheless, Peter is obedient

5b...But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.””

Peter let down his nets.

Why would Peter listen and obey?

Why would this experienced fisherman step out on faith and trust this traveling preacher?

Peter had heard the preaching and teaching of the word of God.

Peter had witnessed Jesus heal his M-I-L

He had seen demon’s cast out and other healed.

From afar, Peter had seen Jesus as a miracle worker.

So he trusted him.

Even when he doubted.

Even when it didn’t make sense, Peter obeyed.

And guess what a miracle happens.

The fish are almost leaping to get into the net.

There are so many fish caught that it is nothing short of a Miracle.

Being a disciple of Jesus means believing and trusting him even when it doesn’t make sense.

Sometimes trusting God means obeying him in your skepticism.

Allowing your trust in God overcome your doubts.

But how can we know and trust God?

How can we know and believe that he is able?

Primarily by listening to his word.

That is foundational.

He’s the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

But we can only know that if we have listened to him.

Peter had to move out of the way to listen and obey Jesus.

He had to set aside his own agenda.

He had to lay aside his own pride.

He had to believe and trust that Jesus knew what he was talking about.

And If we’re honest, this is sometimes the hardest thing for us as followers of Jesus to do.

We want to trust our own expertise.

We want to trust the knowledge base we have.

We don’t want to walk on faith knowing that it will cost us something.

In fact, there are times that each one of us in this room have believed that we know better than Jesus.

That we know better than God.

And I can say that with confidence knowing that each one of us has sinned.

Every time we ignore God’s design.

Every time we abandon his instruction.

Every time we ignore what he said, we are saying with our actions that we know better than him.

I can tell you want some examples.

Whenever you say, this is my hard earned money and I’m going to spend it how I see fit.

Rather than living generously with it, you are sinning.

It’s not your money, it’s God’s blessing.

If we decided to live with our girlfriend or boyfriend before getting married.

We are saying that God’s wisdom is less than the world’s wisdom.

Come on it’s the 21st century things are different now.

Don’t you know how much rent is God?

Your life isn’t your own. If you are his follower, it’s his.

If you neglect gathering together with God’s people because you’re busy.

Or you’ve had a rough week.

Or b/c your kids basketball, dance, cheer-leading, or under water basket-weaving happens at the same time.

You are neglecting God’s instruction to gather together with other believers.

It’s important for us as followers of Jesus to trust that what he says is good for us.

It may be hard for us to see, but he doesn’t give us instructions to control our lives.

He gives them to benefit our lives.

He designed this life, so he knows how we can best live it.

Even when we are skeptics we need to obey.

That’s what Peter does here.

He lays aside all his previous knowledge and trust that Jesus knows what he’s doing.

And the nets get so full that the boats begins to sink.

Remember these are little dinghys they are pretty large fishing vessels and there are so many fish that both boats begin to sink.

This is a supernatural event.

Jesus here is revealing that not only is he a good, wise, and knowledgeable teacher, but that he has been given control over the creatures of the earth.

This is the revelation that Jesus isn’t simply a prophet or teacher.

There is something more to him.

And Peter’s response to this event shows us that obedience to God reveals the grandeur and power of God.

Now be sure, obedience to God will not always manifest in physical blessing.

In fact, Jesus is going to use this specific event to tie Peter’s belief to a spiritual truth.

But the benefit of obedience is that we get a clearer picture of who God is and who we are.

Now there’s something that happens when we get the proper picture of who we are in light of who God is.

We can’t help but see our wretched state.

We can’t help but realize how broken we truly are.

And this is what happens to Peter after he hears Jesus preach and see’s his true power.

Luke 5:8–10a (CSB)

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

9 For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken,

10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.

Confession of Sin

Peter’s has heard the Word of God, he has seen the power of Jesus and now he understands how holy Jesus is and how unholy he is.

Peter can’t even bare to be in the presence of Jesus.

This is another mark of being a disciple.

A disciple must realize that they are sinful.

We must humbly submit our whole life to Jesus if we want to follow him.

And we can’t do that if we believe that we are better than we think we are.

Look at what Peter does.

As his boat is sinking.

After he just had the catch of a lifetime.

He falls down and worships Jesus.

Amidst all the fish in the boat, Peter’s focus is on Jesus.

And Peter recognizes that Jesus is holy and that he isn’t.

So much so that Peter wants Jesus to depart from him.

Now we know that Peter still doesn’t understand the fullness of who Jesus is.

He doesn’t make the declaration of Jesus as Messiah until later in Luke’s Gospel after following Jesus for a few years.

But he does recognize that God has worked through Jesus.

He does recognize that there is something distinctly different about Jesus.

He does recognize that there is no one like Jesus.

And I want to take a pause and say that this is a way to become a follower of Jesus.

For some of us, following Jesus is incremental in nature.

Not everyone has a distinct “AHA” moment of believing in Jesus.

Some of us recognize who he is, that’s he’s different from everyone else.

We become, for lack of a better phrase, Jesus curious.

Maybe we witnessed his transforming power in a friend or family member.

Maybe there was a miraculous healing that we heard about.

Maybe there was a kind word or presentation of the true gospel that sparked our interest.

Then We start to listen to his words.

Obey his teachings and then next thing we know we are disciples of Jesus.

I don’t want to discount this type of coming to faith.

It’s real.

It happens.

Not everyone needs an in-your-face come to Jesus meeting to become a believer.

Peter starts to follow Jesus before he truly grasps the gravity of who Jesus truly is.

But notice in order to rightly view Jesus, we do need to understand that we are sinners.

To truly be a disciple of Jesus we have to know our own faults, failures, and brokenness.

And we have to see his holiness.

Seeing God in his holiness makes us aware of our sinfulness.

John Calvin, “Man never attains to a true knowledge of himself until he has contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself”

What sin does is drive a wedge between us and God.

That’s one of the reasons that Jesus came.

He came to build a bridge between those who believe and God.

Sin was a deep chasm that we couldn’t cross.

It was immeasurable.

We tend to like to downplay sin.

We feel somewhat comfortable doing this b/c we don’t see the immensity of our sin.

But the reality is our sin is worthy of death.

That’s what we earned in our sinful state.

Death. The wages of sin is death.

And sin can never be freely forgiven. Hear me out

B/c the price for sin has already been charged.

Someone needs to pay that price.

And outside of recognizing your own sinfulness and asking for forgiveness you will pay the price.

Or, you can become a disciple of Jesus.

Knowing that he paid the price for your sin.

That the Lord stepped in and paid your tab of debt that was owed.

So the debt of Sin is either paid by us or by Jesus.

If you believe in Jesus as Lord then you will be saved.

But the first step is that you recognize your sinful nature.

You recognize how holy Jesus is.

Peter’s response reminds us of Isaiah’s response to being in the presence of God.

Isaiah stood in the presence of the Lord and was overcome by his own sin and uncleanliness.

Isaiah 6:5 “5 Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.”

The only way that we can get to the point of truly understanding how horrible our sin is, is when we see the beauty, majesty, glory, and holiness of God.

Now here’s the good news, this is only the beginning of the Journey with Jesus.

It doesn’t stop at the realization that we are sinful.

That’s where Jesus can begin to heal us and give our lives meaning and purpose.

That’s what happens here with Peter.

Luke 5:10b–11 (CSB)

10 ...“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”

11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

Calling to Follow Jesus

Here’s the Good News of the Gospel message.

Jesus Saves Sinners.

And each of us was, is, and will be sinners.

So therefore we can be saved by Jesus.

Now in the steps of discipleship that we have read about here.

This is the final one.

We begin by hearing the word of God.

Witnessing the power of Jesus

Confessing our sin

And then following Jesus.

I want you to notice that upon Peter’s confession of sin

Jesus didn’t reject him.

Jesus didn’t leave

Rather, Jesus responded with don’t be afraid.

Which seems kind of weird.

But again, we have to know that the reason that Peter confessed his sin is b/c he understood that God casts judgment on sin.

And that’s something to be afraid of.

But upon the recognition of our our sin and humility at the feet of Jesus, our sins can be forgiven.

There’s no need to fear the wrath of God if Jesus has paid the price for our sin.

The Debt has been paid.

It’s done.

And b/c of Peter’s humility and confession Jesus doesn’t pour out wrath, but rather invites him to become a disciple.

In addition, Jesus tells them that their vocation is going to change.

No longer will they be fishing for fish.

But rather they will be fishing for men.

They are going to be the light in the darkness.

They are going to go and tell others about the beauty of the kingdom.

They are going to participate in the mission of Jesus.

Not because they are inherently worthy, but b/c Jesus has invited them Along.

This is something that many Christians miss when it comes to following Jesus.

Following Jesus is not just about avoiding Hell.

It’s about Following Jesus.

There is a mission that we have been called on as followers of Jesus.

We have been called to imitate and continue the mission that Jesus began.

We are to demonstrate and cultivate the kingdom of God in the world around us.

And to circle back to what I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what your history, training, and vocation is.

We are, each one of us, called to live our lives on mission with God.

Jesus used unlearned fishermen to begin the early church.

A foundation that we are built upon today.

Each of us has the opportunity to be used by God for his Glory.

It’s easy to think that we can’t have an impact b/c we don’t know enough, haven’t studied enough, or have a ton of other excuses.

But the reality is, we need to learn from Jesus, Follow Jesus, and continue the work of Jesus.

The gospel of Jesus is so simple a child can understand it.

That means that all of us are without excuse when it comes to catching people.

Our faith in Jesus is personal but it isn’t private.

People should know that we serve the living King.

We should be sharing about the goodness of God in all the places we live, work, and play.

This isn’t optional for the disciple of Jesus.

We should be disciples making disciples.

We should be multiplying the kingdom of God through obedience to his calling.

This is the direct edict that Jesus gives all his followers at the end of Matthew.

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Now here’s the thing, following Jesus is going to cost us something.

We have to leave our old life behind.

We have to abandon the things that we used to have as our identities.

Look at what these first disciples left behind.

Their boats.

This was their job and lively hood.

This was how they put food on the table.

And they walked away from it to follow Jesus.

They also walked away from the miracle.

They left everything.

That means that they left behind the catch of a lifetime to follow after Jesus.

This is important for us to remember too.

As amazing as a miracle of God is, it is nothing compared to following after him for the rest of your life.

There are those in the gospels that experience the miracles of Jesus and yet don’t follow after Jesus.

They are missing out of the greatest miracle of all.

That Jesus saves sinners and invites them to follow after him.

That sinners are invited into the work and mission of Jesus so that we can bring him Glory, honor, and praise is an amazing miracle.

Now, I’m not saying that we have to walk away from our jobs.

Or that we have to abandon the blessings of God to follow him.

But what I am saying is that if we truly want to be a disciple of Jesus, then we must be willing to leave everything behind.

Anything that we hold on tighter to than Jesus needs to be let go of.

Any sin, relationship, desires, or wants need to be laid at the feet of Jesus so that we can follow him unburdened and whole heartedly.

Only when we are willing leave those things behind do we truly become disciples of Jesus.

Following him will cost us something.

Jesus has to have complete priority over our possessions, our relationships, and our lives. He has to be the number one priority for any who call him Master and Lord.

There is a cost to discipleship.

During World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced a serious decision about the cost of discipleship. As a Christian pastor, he refused to stand by silently while the Nazis committed atrocities. Bonhoeffer realized that true discipleship could mean sacrificing his own life for the sake of the gospel. He said, 'When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.'

So what should we take away from this morning?

If we want to be a disciple of Jesus:

We must first Listen to the Word of God.

This is a crucial step. If we don’t know what he’s said then we won’t be able to understand his calling.

We must trust Jesus.

This means listening to his commands and trusting that he is who he said he is.

This includes trusting him when we think we know better.

When we think that what he’s asking is crazy.

Remembering that if Jesus is Lord, then he knows exactly what he’s doing.

We must recognize our sinfulness

We must then confess our sins to the Lord.

We can’t try to hide behind our own self-righteousness.

We must recognize just how sinful we truly are.

And we must not forget that Jesus Saves Sinners.

He isn’t looking for perfect people.

He’s looking for humility. The proud will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven.

Lastly, we must follow after him.

Imitating him and doing what he has called us to do.

Tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ.

that though they too are sinners, they can be forgiven.

They can be made righteous if they repent and believe.

So ask yourself this question:

Are you a true disciple of Jesus?

Have you given him your all or are you holding back?

Have you ever even recognized that you are a sinner in need of grace?

It doesn’t matter how great you think you are, if you aren’t perfect then you are a sinner.

And Christ died for sinners.

If you haven’t given your life to Jesus, I pray that today you will.

I pray that your heart will be transformed into a loving devotion of Jesus.

If you are his follower, I pray that you would let him rule over every part of your life.

That you will give him everything.

Holding nothing back.

Let’s pray.