Jesus' First Disciples: Steps to Calling Men

Luke 5:1-11

Today’s message centers around Jesus’ calling His first disciples. Jesus had a purpose in mind for these men and for any person who would forsake all and follow Him—EVANGELISM, to share the message of redemption with lost people, creating disciples who make disciples.

Evangelism can be an intimidating word for a lot of believers; lots of questions and fears surround Christ’s command to “go and make disciples.” Two things I think believers struggle to understand:

One: ALL believers are called to evangelize. There is only ONE qualifier—being born again

Second: Evangelism is a spiritual discipline and like all disciplines, we must give ourselves over to the work of the Holy Spirit, so we might be a more effective witness for Jesus Christ.

The first we must understand about evangelism is where it’s centered:

(TELL OF THE LITTLE CAESAR’S INCIDENT)

My problem wasn’t that I didn’t know the “how;” the problem was I didn’t have the right heart. We can learn the “steps to discipleship,” or the “how to’s” of sharing the gospel, and these are important; but more important than the “how’s,” is the posture of a person’s heart—the “how” of being a disciple reflects a heart for being a disciple.

Let’s dig in:

I. (v.1) First—we must be around people and recognize their need

Luke 5:1a “So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God...”

(CONTEXT)

“…pressed about...” this means “to rest upon, to impose, or to insist,”

What was happening

People were pressing in, imposing on Jesus, insisting upon Him; clamoring around Jesus, wanting to catch a glimpse of Him, heal them, and hear from Him.

What we see and learn about Jesus?

Jesus love and care for the people, looked beyond the number of the people and saw the need of the people.

Jesus held deep concern for the welfare of the people

Jesus understood, in order for Him to reach people, He had to be around people

Further, Jesus, knew that He would be unable to catch everyone by Himself and in being around other people:

He could see who the leaders would be,

He could see who stood out and was moldable, formable, and teachable.

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION—WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES?)

Believers must be around people

Reaching the lost for Christ cannot mean that believers live

In isolation or seclusion from others, cannot mean

Ignoring or neglecting other people, cannot mean

Keeping our “head in the sand”

Reaching the lost for Christ must mean

Live being around people, must mean

Live, investing in and fostering relationships with people; must mean

Living out our faith visibly and unfiltered with others, must mean

Living out our faith with eyes wide open to other people and their needs, must mean

Living with our heads “out of the sand” understands that many times ministry is messy:

A believer who keeps their “head in the sand,” may not experience the brokenness and mess of others and the world, but they will stand to miss seeing God’s work of redemption and restoration in another’s life

Coming alongside a person and their brokenness—ministering to them, and seeing God redeem and restore them, to see Him take them out of their mess, is a blessing and a reminder of the work He’s doing in our own lives.

Living engaging people “one at a time” (EXPLAIN)

Believers must moldable, formable, and teachable; it requires,

A hearts of “good soil.” Just as it is easier for the farmer to plant seeds in the good soft soil of the ground, so are the seeds of the Spirit more easily planted in hearts are softened to His Word.

Mark 4:20 “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.””

Good soil produces good fruit (Spiritual fruit); and Spiritual fruits provide a testimony of Jesus Christ in your life

Spiritual fruits (good fruit) are also to be visible fruits, that others might partake of them

*CAUTION*—the visible fruits in our lives—that others see and partake of—are directly related to the seeds we allow to be planted in our hearts

Have worldly seeds (fleshly seeds) produced wordly fruit (fruits of the flesh) others see and partake of?

Have spiritual seeds (Spiritual seeds) produced Spiritual fruit (fruits of the Holy Spirit) others see and partake of?

Spiritual fruits are developed thru:

Obedient faith

Self-denial

Allowing the Holy Sprint the opportunity to work in/on your life

Galatians 5:16-17 (NLT describes it well) So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

A heart like that of moldable clay Jeremiah 18:4–6 “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!”

Clay must contain the qualities of clay in order the work of the Potter not be hindered.

Clay must be dependent on the wisdom of the Potter to be formed and shaped.

Clay must be dependent on the strength of the Potters hand to be formed and shaped

Clay must allow the Potter to mold broken/weak areas in order to be strong and serve it’s purpose.

Believers must be around others, but we must also recognize the need of others, “…to hear the word of God…”

The great hope for the lost is the gospel;

How many are aimlessly searching for the treasure we’ve been given?

How many are aimlessly searching for the joy and hope we’ve been given?

How many are aimlessly walking to a life of eternal separation from God’s grace, while believers are too busy “playing church” instead of being the church?

The great drive of our evangelism is what drove Jesus’ evangelism…compassion. Jesus is well aware people’s sinfulness/struggle/and shortcomings...He’s concerned about those things. But He’s more concerned with the origin of these things…a person’s heart, and compassion’s perspective is the heart:

Mark 1:41 “Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.””

Mark 6:34 “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.”

Mark 8:2–3 ““I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.””

Luke 7:13 “When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.””

Matthew 20:34 “So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.”

Compassion sees people as sheep needing a shepherd

People wander—they stray—aimlessly seeking after things only the true Shepherd can provide

Compassion goes beyond sympathy. How? Compassion acts

In every place the Bible tells of the compassion of Jesus, we find Jesus acting upon it

Jesus had compassion and then he fed 5000

Jesus had compassion and then he cleansed the leper

Jesus had compassion and then he gave the blind man sight

Jesus’ compassion towards people always directed them to healing only He could provide—and it must be for us; in order for our compassion to be Christ-like, we must be directing others to Jesus—to the cross.

Compassion has the same heart for people as God does

Listen to what Paul tells the church in Philippi:

Philippians 3:18 “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:”

Listen to what God entrusts Ezekiel to declare to the nation of Israel:

Ezekiel 18:23 “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?”

Believer—does your heart break for the lost—does your sould weep for those who are “enemies of the cross?”

Compassion gives not quarter—no room—for partiality & prejudice

James 2:1 “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.”

James 2:8–9 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

If we cannot see others thru the lens of Christ-like compassion, then we risk sharing a gospel of legalism. Why? The gospel CANNOT be a gospel of transactional living, where salvation is a list of do’s and don’ts.

The gospel MUST be a gospel of God’s grace & mercy, and love; it’s here the lost find genuine salvation and where believers give up transactional sanctification in favor of grace-driven sanctification***

II. (V.2-3) We hang out with people, we share with compassion and we use the resources around us

Luke 5:2–3 “and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.”

(CONTEXT)

The present problem:

The needs of the crowd were just as large as the crowd itself

The scene was disorderly and chaotic

What Jesus knew:

There needed to be a way to handle the issue both then and later

What did Jesus do:

He dealt with the present situation by using a boat

He would deal with the future situation by using man

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION—WHAT DOES THIS TEACH YOU AND ME)

Believers must realize that

The Lord’s desire for people to hear and respond to His Word is just as strong today as it was on this seashore

Jesus Christ Himself, gave believers the charge to carry His Word forth and make disciples;

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

Jesus Christ has not and will not abandoned us to accomplish this on our own

Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

John 17:6-19 teaches us how Jesus prayed for His disciples then,

John 17:20-26 teaches us how Jesus prayed for those who would be His disciples

Believers, then, must engage in compassionate and engaging evangelism & disciple making:

What are some resources?

First—we have the whole of God’s Word which tells of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Second-we have our own testimonies which serve as resources

Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Third-the local church is a resource for evangelism

Why we need to be aware of these resources?

Evangelistic opportunities can present themselves at times “outside of the norm,” and believers must be ready in season and out of season

2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

Evangelistic opportunities can present themselves in the most abstract of places

Acts 16:25-34 (Paul & Silas in prison)

Evangelistic opportunities can present themselves when you least expect it

Acts 8:26-40 (Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

The opportunity for evangelism can take place any place we go, in our home, close to home, or far from home

The opportunities for evangelism are endless—and if we’re attentive, God will give us those opportunities

III. (v.4-7) We must remove reluctant obedience from our hearts

Luke 5:4–5 “When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.””

Luke 5:6–7 “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So 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.”

(CONTEXT) Verses 4-7 reveal a temptation all believers face and a truth all believers must recognize:

The temptation: Reluctant obedience

The truth: In Biblical obedience we see God begin to work in us (sanctification) and through us (make us evangelical)

In order to get Peter to understand this truth, Jesus started where He always starts when HE calls a person—humility.

Here’s what happened:

Jesus commands Peter to set out to sea and go fishing”

Peter counters with reluctance, “Master, we have toiled all night caught nothing…”

Note some things about Peter here

Peter would have been exhausted—he expended all his efforts and energy, toiling in his own strength

Peter would have been disappointed— b/c his “toiling”—his self-dependency/self-sufficiency produced nothing

Peter desired to be anywhere but where he was; in bed, defeated, and dejected

(WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT YOU AND ME)

Let me start by reminding us of a few things when it comes to Biblical obedience:

Reluctance breeds hesitation and hesitation, and hesitation creates a gap b/t the command and the obedient step—-and the enemy loves to live in the gap. When we allow the enemy to live in the gap, a lack of obedience is the result

Partial obedience is not obedience, it’s the excuse we use to make ourselves feel better about our lack of obedience

God will convict you of both (ACTS 9)

Peter’s initial response to Jesus speaks to the excuses we too often make as believers when God calls us into obedience

We may be like Peter and tell God, I’ve tried to hard in the past, but it’s produced nothing. Jesus wanted Peter to know and desires believers to know that it’s abiding in Him and Him in you that produces fruit

John 15:4–5 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

We may be like Peter and say, “Lord, I am so weak and weary, I have no strength, I cannot do what you are asking me to do.” Jesus wanted Peter to know and He desires us to know that His grace is what is sufficient:

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

We may be like so many others in our reluctance, telling God, “I can’t speak well enough, I don’t know what to say, I’m not smart enough.” To this, God through His Word teaches us the value of the simple gospel

1 Corinthians 2:1–2 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

We may be as Ananias when the Lord told Him to disciple Saul/Paul. “Lord, this is out of my comfort zone, look at who they are or what they’ve done.” The Bible reminds us that it’s NEVER written that making disciples would be comfortable, but stepping out into discomfort is where the fruit is

Acts 9:17 “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.””

Acts 9:19–20 “So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.”

We also see reluctance in other disciplines in our lives

We become reluctant in our personal devotion

We become reluctant obedience to his word

Perhaps the most dangerous? We become reluctant to deal with her own personal sin

So many people allow shame and guilt of their sin to prevent them from humbly falling to their knees in confession

So many people don’t think there’s a way out of the sins they’ve committed, and just resolve themselves to continue on order to fight the battle themselves

So many people are reluctant to deal with sin, because they haven’t yet got caught. This is the epitome of a believers pride.

3. Note what Peter does next, which leads us to the truth about obedience:

Peter reverses, “nevertheless, at Your Word I will let down the net.”

Peter was well convinced that Jesus was Who He said He was—the Messiah—the Christ

John 1:41–42“He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).”

Peter, felt the prick of conviction on his heart:

He stopped thinking about no fish

He stopped thinking about doing it his way

He stopped thinking about doing this in his strength

Peter then followed what he knew of Christ in his hear

IV. We must have hearts that recognize that God works through obedience

REMINDER of Luke 5:6–7“And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So 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.”

(CONTEXT)—Remember, Jesus needed Peter’s 100% loyalty and discipleship—his undivided attention; what Jesus did, produced just that:

Note what happened

No fish became a great number of fish

Empty boats becaming sinking boats

Empty nets became breaking nets

Note a small amount of humor (possibly)

In a sense, Jesus was laying it on Peter—it could have been a normal amount of fish

If Peter thought he was tired from an overnight of fishing, he needed to think again

The Lord must have smiling—He loved Peter

Note the result of all of this

Jesus has His man

What was Peter supposed to do? He was broken with humility and this is when both he and the Lord knew He was ready

(BIBLICAL APPLICATION—WHAT WE NEED TO LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES)

Humility brings obedience and obedience provides results (this is a Biblical absolute)

Produces Spiritual fruit

Trust

Strong & resolute faith

Closer knit relationship with Christ

V. (v.8-9) We must have hearts eager to confess

Luke 5:8–9 “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 which they had taken;”

The work of Christ illicited a the response of Peter

Peter recognized that against the holiness of Christ, his sin was great

Peter recognized the Lordship of Jesus Christ—that He was the

The work of Christ illicited the discipleship of Peter

From this point on Peter would follow Christ

VI. (v.9) We must have a desire to catch others for Christ

Luke 5:10 “and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.””

VII. (v.11) We must have a desire to forsake all

Luke 5:11 “So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.”

In order to see others the way Christ does, we see God through the right lens—we must know God’s heart towards us:

Living with unfiltered faith, which engages with other people, displays Christ-like compassion, which lays down reluctant obedience, and challenges others to forsake all as we must, starts with seeing God through the right lens

(TURN TO PSALM 103:1-19)

However, the beauty of obedience is that we see God begin to work in us and through us