Follow God (2)

We are spending the next few weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent having the Gospel of Luke help us look at what it means for us to “Follow God.”

It is true that God loves us as we are. But he also wants us to decide that we want to become more like him. He wants us to choose to follow him.

Our scripture comes from Luke 5:1-11.

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Please pray with me…

I am guessing that many of us here and online have read scripture. You possibly know the stories. You might have read the book of Acts and have heard of the amazing things that the disciples of Jesus did after Jesus left the earth and gave them and us the Holy Spirit

These miraculous and amazing stories can end up causing us to forget that these are ordinary men who have been changed by God due to their willingness to follow God.

Today’ scripture is a part of the disciples’ story leading them to deciding that they want to follow the man who asks for them to follow him. This story is really about ordinary people, making a decision to follow who they will eventually recognize as their Lord and Savior.

They are not yet those followers we look towards in scripture. They are in our story fishermen returning back to shore after an unsuccessful night of fishing. How unsuccessful? They didn’t catch a thing.

Not only would they have been unhappy when they returned to shore, but they see a crowd has gathered listening to a Rabbi. In this crowd there would most likely have been people that they knew.

They now would be embarrassed as they would have to exit their boat in front of this crowd with nothing in their nets. They would end up being near these people mending these nets that didn’t catch any fish.

They would have been listening to what Jesus is saying to the crowd and  because they are working, they are a captive audience. Suddenly he talks to them. He asks Simon if he wouldn’t mind pushing the boat a little way into the water. Simon agrees, Jesus continues teaching.

(Transition)

I want to briefly stop the story here. Did you notice that Jesus initiates the interaction? Jesus doesn’t wait for someone to offer to push the boat off the shore. Jesus is the one that asks a favor of these failed, miserable, embarrassed fishermen.  

Jesus had a need and knew who to ask to help him out. We may find times that we need help in some area of our lives, and it may be someone we don’t know at all or not very well that can help us.

It may be someone that lives in the neighborhood. It may be a friend of a friend. We can ask them to help us. We can ask them to use their skills to serve us.

I admit that this can be difficult for us to do. We are the ones that will have to be vulnerable. We are the ones that have to admit we don’t have all the answers. But it can be through this vulnerability that can lead someone to be willing to begin a relationship with us.

(Transition)

I want to emphasize we are not attempting to build relationships to get someone to go to church or to become a follower of Jesus. Jesus wanted to build a relationship so that if the opportunity presented itself, he would be able to have a conversation.

Jesus most likely had many people he interacted with that didn’t end up following him. He didn’t heal or eat a meal or hang out with someone only because he wanted to tell them about God. Jesus did what he did because he wanted to get to know the people around him.

We are following God when we do the same. God will place people in our lives. They may be there only to help us become the person that God desires for us to be.

It may have nothing to do with them. When we feel called by God to speak to someone, we should do so with no agenda except to get to know that person, build a relationship.

(Transition)

After Jesus finished speaking, he decides to do a favor for the fishermen. He tells them to take their cleaned and mended nets and go back into the water to fish. What do you think Simon is thinking at this point? Been there, done that, failed.

We can tell from the interaction that Simon did not want to have any part of this. He didn’t want to go back out there. He was most likely tired, hungry and sore. He wanted to go home, have a meal and go to bed.

But because he had heard Jesus speak, and he believed Jesus to be a Rabbi, and because he had respect for Jesus and his position Simon basically says “I don’t want to but because it is you that is asking I will go back out there.”

There may be times in our lives that God will set up a situation for us that trust is built this quickly and a person will respond right away. But let’s admit it, most of the time that will not be the case. Most of the time there will have to be additional interactions before someone is willing to trust us.

(Transition)

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we are in what is being called a “loneliness epidemic.” We have people who need and desire friendships and conversations, but they don’t know how to build them or the worth that these relationships can have in their lives.

We have a gift for them called the church. We have a place where they can be who they are and learn about the one that will never leave them. That will never fail them. That will always be there with them not only during the good times but also during their times of struggle.

But we will often have to make the first move. We will have to be willing to help break down the walls that they have put up because of previous pain and hurt that they most likely have faced.

Sometimes that might be quick but many times it will mean being willing to listen and taking time to get to know those around us. What did Jesus tell his disciples?

They will spread the word about him in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” What he didn’t tell them was that these discussions will not always be quick and easy. They will have to build relationships to get some of the people to be willing to respond.

(Transition)

What happened when the disciples made the decision to follow the directions given to them by Jesus? They ended up with a boat load full of fish. Actually, it was more than a boat load as they had to bring in another boat to handle all the fish they received.

We have a God that abundantly provides. We have a God that when we are willing to follow him will give us more than we expect or desire. The best way to explain it, is that we follow an awesome God.

We have to first be willing to believe that the miraculous is possible and then be willing to take the steps to allow the miraculous to occur. We need to have the faith to believe that God is with us and that God is who has called us to do what he desires for us to do.

(Transition)

Many times, I think that it is not us doubting God. Most of the time it is us not believing that we are good enough to do what God desires for us to do. We are afraid that we lack the ability or we are afraid of the reaction we will receive if we follow the will of God.

Back to the story, I am assuming that all of the crowd didn’t just walk away. There were most likely some of the crowd still hanging around. This would mean that it was possible that Simon heads back out into the water again and once again finds nothing in his net.

He would have to head back onto shore empty handed with a crowd watching his failure once again. That could have been reason enough not to follow through.

But Simon makes the decision he is not going to let possible failure and embarrassment keep him from doing what Jesus has asked for him to do.

We need to have the willingness to be like Simon. We need to decide we will step up, follow God, and do what God desires for us to do. One way I often state it is that we need to allow our “faith factor’ to be greater than our “fear factor”.

This is not only true of us as individuals but also as a church. We have a mission to fulfill. We have people around us that don’t know about us and about God. I believe God has a plan for the Church of the Good Shepherd. We will most likely have to step out of our comfort zone to fulfill that plan.

(Transition)

Speaking of the church, a few weeks ago I laid out what a journey with Jesus looks like for The Church of the Good Shepherd. I am sure that all of you remember the phases of faith that I laid out at that time. But for those that weren’t here they are discover, decide, develop, and discern.

We see within this story the first two lived out. We can begin with the discover phase. In the case of Simon, along with James and John, they were a captive audience. Jesus happened to be where they landed their boat and were mending their nets.

They would have listened to Jesus and may have also heard of his healing ministry. This allowed them to believe in Jesus enough to decide to listen to him and go back out fishing when he had finished talking.

This leads them to having discovered enough information to then be willing to walk away from their profession  and follow Jesus.

(Transition)

Our first reading lays out for us what these early followers that became Christian after Jesus ascended into Heaven believed. Jesus died, Jesus was raised from the dead, and Jesus appeared to more than 500 people before he ascended into Heaven.

Paul lays out the proof for us. What we have to also remember is that there would have been people alive during that time that could refute what Paul is saying. There seems to be no one denying the death of Jesus and no one refuting that some stated he arose from the dead.

We have discovered our own reasons why we believe. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism gave us a few essentials for us to believe: Jesus came, Jesus died for our sins, Jesus conquered death and arose again.

These are the basics, but it will often be through our own reflection and sometimes the stories we receive from others that lead us into a willingness to decide that we are going to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

Those that are here that believe “what was your discover phase like?” or were you like me and you can’t come up with just one moment that led you to decide you wanted to be in a relationship with God through Jesus. No matter the case, there is another phase that we should decide to enter.

(Transition)

It was when Peter, James, and John discovered enough about Jesus to believe in him that they would have to decide if they would commit to the next phase. They had to decide if they were ready to be followers of Jesus.

We can believe but are we willing to do more than have a superficial belief. Are we going to be willing to give God control of our lives? We find this being the decision made by these three men. The scripture tells us that they left everything and followed him.

That is what the “decide phase” is focused on. A willingness to do more than just believe. It is having enough faith that we are going to follow God. We are going to be willing to become the hands, feet and voice of Jesus to our communities.

(Transition)

Just a reminder that decision leads to the “develop phase”. We find the disciples living through this phase during Jesus’ time on earth. They are developing the skills and faith to allow for them to live out the calling given to them by Jesus.

They asked questions. They learned from Jesus the actions that God would desire for them to take. They allowed Jesus to lead and guide them to how he desired for them to live out their lives.

We may not have Jesus physically walking with us, but we have the scriptures to help us and we have the Holy Spirit, God within us to guide us. God does not leave us alone He prepares us for what he has called us to do.

This is true both individually and as a church. We have a mission, and we are in our own develop stage as a church of learning the ways that God wants us to connect with those around us, show love to all people, and grow in faith together.

We need to stay connected with God individually and as a church to allow for us to develop into who God desires for us to be. That leads to the last phase, “discern”.

The disciples would have entered this phase after Jesus had left. They had been called to be his disciples, they now had to live out that calling without Jesus in physical form in their lives. They became like us, having to figure out how to rely on the Holy Spirit.

This leads us back to the “decide phase” because after we discern what God desires for us to do next, we have to decide if we are going to do what God desires for us to do.

We have a God that does not force us to follow him. He wants us to decide if we are willing to put enough faith in him to help us do what he desires for us to do.

The question becomes, are you willing to follow God? Do you have enough faith to believe that he will help you develop into the person that he needs you to be to do what he desires for us to do.

Let us be willing to trust God individually and as a church to the point that we are willing to follow him.

Let us pray…