Being Useful to God

INTRODUCTION

Brief message recap

Last couple of weeks, we’ve put a strong emphasis on being a true disciple of Jesus — following him.

There’s a core concept that we’ve touched on several times — being used by God.

If I were to ask the question this morning, how many of you want to be used by God…

Have a desire to see God use me, and work in and through my life….

I would venture to guess almost every hand in this room would go up.

On the other hand, if we were to be honest this morning, I would venture that many of us have a notion that God only uses certain kinds of people to accomplish his plans.

Pastors, elders, deacons, leaders, missionaries, etc.

People we tend to put on a pedestal.

This morning, we’ll see how Jesus uses some unlikely characters to display his power and authority.

Here’s the good news for us this morning: God still invites unassuming, unlikely people to be his tools for his glory.

Turn in your Bibles this morning to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5.

CONTEXT

Story of Scripture

Jesus has been baptized, spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and being tempted, has reemerged, and begun his earthly ministry.

By this time, word about miracle worker from Galilee is beginning to spread.

He’s healed people, he’s driven out unclean spirits, but most of all, he’s been teaching the Scriptures like people have never heard before.

So, by the time we get to Luke 5, Jesus is drawing a crowd. People are coming from all over to hear him teach and see him perform miracles.

This is where we pick up this morning — Jesus is being pressed by a crowd on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

READ: Luke 5:1-11.

PRAY

Here we see Jesus use some ordinary men to perform an extraordinary miracle.

In it, we see some principles that we can apply to our own lives, if we want the Lord to use us as well.

1. GOD USES THE AVAILABLE.

To be available, we have to be at his disposal.

Surrendered to him to use however he pleases.

This is a no-strings-attached availability.

We don’t get to dictate what he uses, when he uses it, or how he chooses to use it.

Living with open hands vs. closed fists

We like to keep a tight grip on things.

“I’ll surrender to you, but don’t touch this.”

Finances

Family

Job

Addiciton

Pride

Fear of failure

If we’re going to be useful in the kingdom, we have to learn to live with open hands.

Open in surrender — everything I have is yours

Sometimes God doesn’t use the “best” tool for the job, or what would make the most sense in our minds.

What he does use, it’s what’s 100% surrendered to him for him to use however he wants.

ILLUS: Mouse in Somerset

Saturday night, bedtime. Well after dark.

Dog starts going crazy in the laundry room. Lauren rushes in there to see what’s happening.

A mouse was half stuck to a glue trap, and had made its way out from under the door of the utility closet.

Lauren screams, I come in the rom to find her petrified, the dog losing his mind, and this mouse spinning in a circle on the floor trying to get off the trap.

Had to dispatch the mouse, but there was a problem. I had nothing effectI’ve to kill a mouse.

I threw the trap out the door, and grabbed what was handy — a pistol.

Was it the best tool for the job? Absolutely not — but it was there, and it was at my disposal.

Look at what happens in the passage — Jesus uses what’s available to him to accomplish his purpose…

THE BOAT

In our minds, a boat probably isn’t what we would choose to teach from. I certainly wouldn’t.

Stage/platform, amphitheater, any number of possibilities.

We don’t think like the mind of Christ.

His purpose was greater than just teaching, it was demonstrating his power and authority.

The boat was there and empty, and belonged to one of his disciples.

Think even about the position the boat has been put in — if the disciples had caught fish the night before, the boat would have either been full, or the disciples would have been off selling fish.

Instead, it was empty and at his disposal to use how he saw fit.

To be available, we not only have to be at his disposal, but we must be ready to be used.

Notice what Peter and the other fishermen are doing when Jesus sees them: WASHING THEIR NETS.

Context: 1st Century Commercial Fishing.

Difficult life — hard work.

Not like fishing we’re used to.

They would fish with huge cast nets with weighs around the edge.

Throw in the water, and it would close around the fish as it sank.

They would pull the net in, dragging with it whatever it came in contact with.

Trash, rocks, debris, etc.

Because of the method of fishing, they would fish at night so the fish couldn’t See the neat.

They would fish all night, then in the morning they would collect and sort the fish, and try to sell them in the marketplace.

They would go home to get a few precious hours of rest, before going out to do it again.

But before they could rest, they had to finish The important task of maintenance.

They would have to wash and mend their nets — those words are used somewhat synonymously.

Wash off all the debris/trash.

Mend any holes/tear/lost weights.

This was their livelihood — they invested a lot of money into their equipment.

Just like any other job, they had to take care of their investment so that it would be ready for the next day.

They had to prepare the nets to be used for their intended purpose –- they had to be

washed

mended

fixed

repaired

equipped

ILLUS: Painting

I hate painting. It’s one of my least favorite jobs around the house.

If you’ve spent any time painting at all, you know the job isn’t just painting.

You have to prep the room.

Move out furniture

Cover floors

Tape off walls/trim

Clean/sand walls to remove debris

THEN you can start painting. But then once you’re done, the clean up starts.

Everything to prep, but in reverse order, and now you have to wash out rollers brushes, and paint trays.

The prep work takes as long as the job itself!

The same is true in Christian life — for us to be available and useful to the Lord, we have to spend the time preparing.

We need to be washed, mended, repaired, fixed and equipped.

Spiritually, we have to be in a position to be ready to be used by God — open handed, and in tune with him.

Reality is simple: God uses who and what is made available to him, and ready for him.

2. GOD USES THE OBEDIENT.

We can be available, but our availability is only as useful as our obedience.

Look at how the disciples respond…

Jesus tells them to put out into the deep and let their nets now to catch some fish.

Don’t forget the context here…

These are professional fisherman. Most likely, their fathers were fishermen.

They been around fishing their entire lives, and probably working in the industry since they were age 10— we’ll talk a little more about that in a minute.

They knew how to catch fish!

They were washing their nets — why? Because they were quitting for the day.

They were exhausted — they’d fished all night, and caught nothing. Now, it’s daylight.

Remember, they fished at night. Why? Because fishing in the daylight was pointless — the fish could see the net and avoid it.

Nothing about this situation causes Jesus’ command to make sense. It seems to contradict everything they know.

But watch Peter’s response in v. 5….

He balks a bit, ultimately, he obeys.

Response could have easily been different. Could have been reasons why this was a bad idea.

“We know what we’re doing.”

“This is never going to work.”

“We’re exhausted — we don’t have the time or the energy.”

“We can’t afford that.”

“We’ve never done it that way before.”

“Everybody else does it this way.”

Instead, Peter’s obedient to what Jesus commands.

We get to see some of Peter’s personality in the NT. I don’t want to read too much into the text here, but look at exactly how he answers Jesus…

“We’ve been at this all night, and not caught anything. I don’t think letting a net down in the middle of the day is going to fit that, but fine. We’ll give it a shot.”

I think Peter fully intends on rowing a little way out into the lake, making one cast of the net, and saying “I told you so.”

But instead, what happens? When surrenders and is obedient, he finds himself in the middle of a miracle.

Notice something else here though — there are no coincidences in Scripture. The words are divinely inspired, but so are the actions.

Why does Jesus have them catch fish?

Because it was the very thing they failed to do under their own power.

He could have just as easily done any number of things —

healed someone

fed people

He could have told the fish to grow Legs and walk onto the shore.

Put yourself in the shoes of the fishermen for just a minute. They labored all night to catch fish. They tried every trick in the book, and got nothing.

For us, that’s a bad Day of fishing.

For them, they just failed at their livelihood.

They have no fish to sell that day, which means they have nothing to show for their hours of work. They’re exhausted, they’re discouraged, and they’re probably wondering how they’re going to feed their family that day.

Under their own power, they couldn’t come up with a catch of fish. There’s no way they could manufacture fish in the boat. They tried every way possible except God’s way.

What happens the minute they surrender and obey? They’ve got more fish in the boat than they know what to do with.

ILLUS: Chuck Lawless Story

Chuck Lawless tells a story about his neighbor’s young son Charlie.

One day, Charlie knocked on the door. Lawless’s wife answered to find little Charlie ask, “Can Mr. Chuck come out and play?”

Lawless had some time, so he put on his tennis shoes and goes out into the yard.

Charlie had just gotten a new whiffle ball set, so he excitedly tells Lawless, “Here’s what we’ll do — I’ll stand over here with the bat, you stand over there and throw it to me, and I’ll hit it.”

Lawless throws the first pitch, Charlie swings and misses the ball by a foot. The second pitch was worse, and the third worse still.

By this point, little Charlie was exasperated — at Lawless! He picked the ball up and fired it back to Lawless, and yelled in his young voice, “Mr. Chuck, you’re doin it wrong!”

“What do you mean I’m doing it wrong, Charlie?”

“Mr. Chuck, you’re supposed to be throwing the ball where I’m swinging the bat!”

How easy would it have been for Peter to expect God to throw the ball where he was swinging the bat?

Had he been like so many of us, look at what he would have missed out on…

So often, we try to limit how God moves — we expect him to use certain people, or certain churches.

Maybe we expect him to move in our lives through a particular job or promotion, or maybe even through a certain relationship.

The good news for us is that God doesn’t always move in the ways we expect, or using the people/things we expect.

3. GOD USES THE ORDINARY.

Throughout Scripture, and throughout history, God uses unlikely means to accomplish and extraordinary purpose.

Moses’ staff

Gideon’s fleece

Water at the wedding in Cana

The loaves/fish to feed 5k.

Jesus heals the blind man with mud made from spit in Jn 9.

There’s nothing special about the boat, or the nets, other than that’s what Jesus chose to use.

Not only are the objects ordinary, so are the people.

I’ll prove it to you — to that we need to back up a little bit in the life of the disciples seen on this day by the Sea of Galilee.

Keep a finger here in Luke 5, and turn with me to Matthew 4.

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE DISCIPLES ARE CALLED TO FOLLOW JESUS.

For one reason or another, Luke skips this story in favor of the account we’ve already read.

However, most scholars agree that by the term Jesus is teaching by the Sea of Galilee in Luke 5, Peter and the others had already been following him for at least a short time.

READ: MATT 4:18-22.

ILLUS: JEWISH EDUCATION SYSTEM.

To understand why this call to follow Jesus was so impactful to these men, we really need to understand a little bit about the Jewish education system at the time.

BET SEFER — HOUSE OF THE BOOK

Age 5, both boys and girls would enter the first stage of schooling — like a primary school.

Called Bet (house) Sefer (Book) — House of the Book.

They studied the Torah — first 5 books of the Bible.

They didn’t learn anything else. Math, spelling, grammar, nothing.

Why? Believed everything they needed for life, relationships, success, and intimacy with the Father was found in God’s Law.

They didn’t need anything else!

Studied for about 5 years.

At age 10, most of the boys and all of the girls returned home. The girls would work in the home, and the boys would learn the family business.

HOWEVER, a select few — 1-2% — would advance to the next level of education.

These weren’t average students. They were the best of the best.

They had to show a real passion for the Word.

Many of them would do so by memorizing the Torah.

If they were chosen to be good enough, they would enter the Bet Talmud — House of Learning.

BREAK 1: BET TALMUD — HOUSE OF LEARNING

At this stage, they would go on to study the rest of the Old Testament — another 39 books.

They learned how to read and understand Hebrew.

They learned interpretations of the prophets, and how to study the text.

Then at age 15, another major break would happen.

Of the best of the best that entered the Bet Talmud, 98% of them would return home at this point, where they would go into the family business.

But the BEST of those in the Bet Talmud would enter a sort of graduate level of study.

Bet Midrash — House of Study.

BREAK 2: BET MIDRASH — HOUSE OF STUDY

The best and brightest students would approach a well-known rabbi in the community and ask, “Can I study under you?”

UNDERSTAND: Following a rabbi was considered one of the highest honors in the Jewish culture. It was what every young man would have aspired to.

Much like young boys/men today dream of playing professional sports.

Why? It means you’re the best of the best. Cream of the crop.

The rabbi would ask himself, Is he good enough? Does he have what it takes? Is he passionate enough?

The rabbi would give the young man the equivalent to an oral exam for entrance into PhD program.

Would ask questions about all the things he would have learned in the Bet Sefer and Bet Talmud.

If he thought the young man was good enough — the best of the best — he would tell him the 3 greatest words any Jewish ear could ever hear: COME FOLLOW ME.

Greatest honor a Jew could experience was to be approved to follow a Rabbi.

They would follow that rabbi until about age 30, when they would be released to begin their own ministry as a Rabbi.

By the way, when did Jesus begin his ministry? Age 30

How old were the disciples when Jesus called them? Many scholars think they were in the middle of their teenage years…15-16

CONCLUSION

Don’t miss this….

Here in Matthew, we’re introduced to a 30yo Galilean rabbi who’s beginning his ministry, and he extends an invitation to these 4 disciples who if they wanted to know their future, all they had to do was look at their father. If they wanted to know what tomorrow looked like, all they had to do was look to yesterday.

Jesus extends a call to these fishermen — watch this, we’re about to see how Jesus takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary.

Why were they fishing?

Because they weren’t good enough.

There was nothing special about them.

They didn’t have what it took by the world’s standards.

The religious leaders looked at them and said they’d never make It.

They had been looked over and overlooked their entire life, and yet Jesus walked by them that morning and gave the greatest invitation they could have heard: COME FOLLOW ME.

It’s as if he says:

“Peter, Andrew, James, John, you’re not overlooked in my book! You’re not useless, you’re use-ful. In fact I’m going to use you to change the world!”

Don’t miss this:

Jesus always calls the ordinary and overlooked to do extraordinary things.

Why? Because that’s how he gets the credit!

Friends the good news for us this morning is that none of us have been overlooked in Jesus’ book.

You may have spent your whole life being told you’d never amount to anything — maybe you even believed that.

The truth is, Jesus is extending the same call to us this morning that he was to those disciples by the Sea of Galilee: COME FOLLOW ME.

See we talk about things like obedience and being used by God, and I think sometimes there’s a danger of thinking that the only call God extends is some extraordinary thing — if we don’t sense him calling us to ministry, or missions, or even to a particular place of service in the church, we feel like he’s not calling us at all.

The reality is that he’s calling ordinary people like you and me to simply follow him. To walk with him step by step.

Here’s the thing — if we’re obedient to that calling, he’ll do extraordinary things in your life.

I don’t know your situation this morning.

Maybe you’ve never heard his voice before — you’ve never put your faith in Jesus Christ.

Your future could look radically different this morning.

CR — Testimony. Abused as a child. 30 years in active addiction. Jesus radically changed his life. Now clean and sober and passionately following Jesus, and helping lead others to do the same.

Will you choose to follow him?

Maybe like the disciples, it seems like you’ve fished all night and come up empty. You’re exhausted — you’ve worked and worked and done all you know to do, and have all but given up.

Meanwhile, Jesus is inviting you to have more fish than you can imagine. Will you follow him?

Maybe he is calling you to something specific — he’s told you exactly which side of the boat to cast the net to, and you’ve put it off and put it off. You’ve given excuse after excuse. You’re living with a closed fist instead of open hands.

Will you be obedient and follow him?