First Miraculous Catch of Fish on the Lake of Gennesaret

Conditions don’t have to be perfect to serve

Peter and the other soon-to-be disciples served the Lord even when the circumstances weren’t ideal. Jesus asked them a question. The word “prayed” is used here. The word means to make a request but not forcefully. It’s more intimate and less self-serving. So when Jesus is asking to use the boat, He’s not asking for himself so he can go on a harbor cruise. He’s asking so that He can better minister to others. I think if the disciples said no, we’re busy, Jesus would have left and that would be it. It wasn’t a forceful request.

Work was interrupted but they still served - In our story Jesus interrupts Peter while he and his friends are working. Don’t you hate disturbing people when they are working? I know I hate being disturbed when I’m working. It throws me off and takes me a minute to get my focus back.

In our day in age, we hold in high regards the work that we do. Yet here, we find Jesus disturbing the disciples while they were working and He proceeds to ask them to launch their boat out into the deep even though they were working. Work should have a high priority in our life, but it shouldn’t supersede what God wants us to do.

It really comes down to our heart. We should be willing to drop even the important things in our lives to serve the Lord. What plans have we changed recently, so we can serve the Lord?

Weariness had set in, but they still served - Vs 5.

Jesus knew they were tired. Did He not? He understood their weakness. He understood they had been toiling all night. And yet, He still asked them to get in the boat and push out from the shore. So now not only was he interrupting them, now he wanted them to do something entirely different.

Does it ever occur to us that God created us with built in weaknesses? He created us to need sleep, to need food, to grow weary, to thirst. But what people don’t realize is God created us with spiritual needs as well. We were created to serve others. to be the hands and feet of Jesus. The soon-to-be disciples greatest need was to join Jesus in serving others. to help and assist in getting the message of Jesus to the people.

No look, there has to be a balance that can only be attained from listening to the Holy Spirit. If all you did was serve the Lord instead of sleep or rest, you would come to a screeching halt in just a few days. So the principle here is not to reject your physical needs. The principle here is listen to the Holy Spirit. If He wants us to do something, that should be the highest priority. Work, sleep, those can come later.

They were disheartened, but they still served - vs 5 How many of us feel like helping someone out when we are discouraged ourselves? Our flesh doesn’t want to, that’s for sure. But have you noticed that when you start to serve others, it resets our focus. It feels good to help someone out and to meet a need.

Dont let imperfect circumstances be the reason we don’t serve others.

If we want the imperfect circumstances to change, serve others. The disciples worked so they could have a reward. What happens at the end of this story, they had two boatloads of fish. Do you think they were tired after that big haul of fish? The Bible does say they slept after, they went and followed Jesus. They had the energy that rest would have brought them. Do you think they were still disheartened? No, they were astonished.

When Jesus wants us to do something, drop everything and throw yourself wholeheartedly into service.

There’s risk involved with faith

Who here likes to play it safe? Who here likes to roll the dice? Whenever you act in faith, you’re taking a risk.

WORK -Peter was asked to launch into the deep. That meant there was going to be alot more work involved than if they went to the shallow part where most fishing took place. They had already concluded their night, which meant they were going to have to get their nets - that they had just washed - back out and would have to clean them again - Without any assurance there would be any fish.

Jesus didn’t tell them they were going to catch alot of fish. If they didn’t catch any fish, they would have to do alot more work with nothing to show for it. Exactly what they had just gone through. If you were in this situation, wouldn’t you be a little hesitant?

They also had to DENY THEIR UNDERSTANDING. These were professional fisherman and they knew when and where to fish. Now Jesus, a teacher, was telling them to go fishing at a time when the fish aren’t usually caught, and in a place where fish aren’t usually caught. It’s almost like some beginner fisherman was making a suggestion to some experienced fishermen

It be like me telling Jeff to leave his paint brushes out overnight. He’s going to look at me and think, “this guy has never painted in his life. Does he not know basic painting skills? You clean your brushes out if you’re not going to use them for a while. or wrap them up at the least.

They also had to do all this while being WATCHED by a multitude of people. I hate it when people are watching what I do. I’d much rather do it by myself with nobody watching. If they didn’t catch anything, it wouldn’t just be embarrassing and humiliating, it would be publicly embarrassing and humiliating.

APPLICATION: Following Jesus is the least risky and most rewarding. Why do we take risks in the first place? It’s because there’s an opportunity for reward at the end. Why did we all get in a car and travel through space at 60 mph while cars going the opposite direction at the same speed are whizzing past us on our way to church? Why do we go to work based on a promise of wages by someone who isn’t perfect? Because there’s an opportunity for reward at the end of the risk. We all have a certain level of risk that we are comfortable with. Some of us more than others.

Draw Graph to show risk vs reward ratio. Demonstrate that Jesus is low risk/high reward.

There’s more risk in trusting myself than trusting Christ

Peter is such an interesting character in the Bible. I feel like we all can relate to Peter so many times in the Bible. He says some of the most profound things to come out of the disciples mouths. But then on the other end of the spectrum he denies Christ 3x, chops off an ear of one of the roman guards, unknowingly tries to put Christ and Moses and Elijah on the same level, and to top it all off He tries to stop Christ from going to the cross, to which Jesus responds, “get thee behind me satan” 🫣 embarasing. That wasn’t one of Peter’s best weeks.

But in our parable, we have one of the first interactions between Peter and Jesus. One defining characteristic of Peter is that he’s always the first disciples to take the risk. Later he’s going to be the first to get out of the boat and the only disciple to walk on water. He’s the first one to speak up. Here he is going to be the only disciple to launch into the deep and catch the fish, even though he doesn’t really believe Jesus completely. James and John are going to join him once they see all the fish.

Lets look at this interaction with Jesus a bit closer. What does Jesus ask Peter to do? “Let down your netS” is what Jesus says. And what does Peter do? He lets down a single net. Jesus knew He was going to need more than one net, and it’s made evident by the nets beginning to break and later the ships beginning to sink.

Peter trusted Jesus, but not completely. He trusts Jesus, but he still trusted himself. He was going to place a bet on Jesus, but he was also going to place a bet on himself. Peter had a faith complex that we are going to see throughout his life. Even in Acts 10, he’s still telling Jesus he’s not going to eat things that are unclean, even though Jesus said He wants him to.

Going back to this risk vs reward graph, the more of me i put into the equation, the more risky the decision becomes. My goal, should be to have more of Christ, and less of me in every decision. Peter thought he wouldn’t need more than one net, he thought he wasn’t going to need more than one ship. I trust Jesus, but there’s no way he could give me so many fish that I’d need all my resources just to handle this drought of fish.

The least risky decision would have been to trust Jesus completely. Forget myself, and my idea, and my understanding, and my experiences. None of those compare to what Christ knows.

When my wife and I first acquired that Anytime Fitness we now have, we had to refinance both of our paid off vehicles and take out a second mortgage on our house in order to get a business loan for that purchase. That was risky. But we only did that because we knew that God wanted us to take a step of faith and purchase that business. We had prayed many times and put down fleeces and asked for very specific requests that God answered. By the world’s standpoint, we took some huge risks. But you know what would have been even riskier? Staying where we were at and trusting our own understanding about what was risky and what was not.

What decisions do we face where we are trying to ride the fence? What decisions do we face where we aren’t trusting Christ completely? What decisions are we still trying to insert our own understanding into?

It’s impossible to please Christ without humility

Look at verse 8 and see what happens after this great catch of fish. Peter sees the blunder of his misplaced trust in himself. He bows before the master, And what does he say to Jesus. . . depart from me. He felt unworthy to even be close to Jesus. Peter’s actions (he falls down at Jesus’ knees) and his words (depart from me) show Peter’s humility. I think that’s one of the signs of true humility. We don’t feel worthy of even the lowest of positions.

If I am ever going to please the one that I want to live for, I need to abandon my own self-sufficiency.

Humility is a feeling of complete unworthiness. When I began to think myself worthy of anything, I start to let pride seep into my life. “I’m worthy of people’s kindness,” and while people should be kind to me, it’s not because of me they should be kind, it’s because of Christ. “I’m worthy of people treating me fairly,” and while we should be fair to one another, it’s not because of me they should treat me fairly, it’s because of Christ.

Humility comes from being astonished. Have we lost our astonishment of God? Have we become used to His workings in our life? Have we gotten used to his friendship with us? Peter sees this great catch of fish, by far the largest catch of fish he’s ever seen. Nothing short of a miracle. Peter and everyone there witnessing this miracles, is astonished. They were astonished because this miracle was so fresh in front of their eyes. Peter was going to see so many more miracles, even greater than this one. But even seeing all these miracles, he is still going to deny Christ and question Jesus’s calling on his life when he goes fishing. At some point he stopped being astonished at what Jesus was doing in his life.

2 Peter 3:1 “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:”

Humility takes remembering. Sometimes what we need, is to just be still, to stop and think of what God has done in our lives and what’s he’s doing. That’s why these testimonies are important for us, they remind us what God is doing in our life. We leave a little more humbled by remembering what God has done in our life.

Christ wants me

Peter told Jesus, “depart from me.” But is that what Jesus wanted? No, Jesus wanted Peter to be his friend and to have a relationship with Him. He was a sinner, he had publicly displayed a misplaced trust in himself rather than Christ. Why would Christ want that kind of friendship? Especially after Peter already knew of Jesus’ power when he healed his mother-in-law. It wasn’t like this was the first time Jesus had showed Peter that He could be trusted. And yet Peter was still trusting himself.

I relate with Peter so much on this issue. Why does God want a friendship with someone who is so fickle and constantly doubts and constantly sins and lets his flesh rule in his life? AND YET . . . AND YET God still says come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden. He still invites us to come to Him and find rest and solace for not just the burdens that have been placed on our shoulders, but for the burdens we’ve placed on our own shoulders. Jesus wanted Peter. . . just as He wants Malerie, and Adam, and Jeff, and Abby, and Malixa. . .

Christ is our great reward

Peter and his partners had just recieved the greatest catch they had ever recieved. They were about to get one of the greatest payday’s they every would experience. But what was that when compared to Jesus? Why be content with the creation, when you could have the creator? Why be content with the healing, when you can have the healer? Why be content with anything other than Jesus?

There was only one obvious answer to his great catch of fish, leave it all behind. Who cared about the stupid fish when the creator of the universe was wanting to use Peter to catch men. There is no thing and no body worth holding onto more than Christ.

Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”

Abraham had riches, and land, and cattle, and everything he could ever want. But that wasn’t his reward for leaving Ur. His exceeding great reward, was a relationship with God.

Here’s the clincher, the same God who Abraham had, we can have. There’s nothing different between those two people. They are one in the same.