Follow Me

Here Fishy Fishy!

Anybody have a friend or a family member that seems to live for the sole purpose of aggravating you or picking at you?

If you remember the old sesame street, that’s exactly what Ernie is to Bert. Bert is so high strung that it takes just the littlest thing for Ernie to get him frustrated.

There’s one episode where they are fishing and Bert is frustrated because he can’t catch any fish. Ernie says it’s actually really easy. I just call the fish up. Bert can’t wait to see this. “Go ahead and call one up.”

“Here fishy fishy” one fish two fish.

Bert is stunned, do that again. Here fishy fishy fishy, 3, 4, 5,…

Now Bert has to try, and after a few tries and he really hollers and a small shark jumps into the boat. Bert can’t believe it and he passes out.

Anybody ever given you advice that doesn’t make sense?

That’s exactly what happened to Peter when Jesus called Peter to follow Him.

Luke 5:1–11 ESV

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

This doesn’t make any sense to Peter.

Jesus is a rabbi, not a fisherman. Stick to teaching.

It was day time. The fish would’ve started to swim down to deeper waters.

Deep was not a place where they could fish. The typical net was stretched between two boats or let down from one and they fished in shallow waters.

Drop your nets in the deep water in the day time after you couldn’t catch anything all night which would’ve been the prime time to catch fish.

Luke 5:1–11 ESV

And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

“Master” - Peter already knew Jesus. Andrew had introduced them probably only a few days earlier.

So not only had Peter met Jesus, but he had heard Andrew talk about Him. So even though it didn’t make sense, Peter obey Jesus out of respect for Him.

Luke 5:1–11 ESV

And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 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. But 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 that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

The call to follow Jesus always begins with conviction.

No one follows Jesus without first being convicted by their sin.

“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

How is this the response to catching a bunch of fish?

Peter had heard about Jesus. He had met Jesus. But maybe he was on the fence about Jesus.

After this great miracle, Peter knows that Jesus is from God. Jesus is holy. And Peter is immediately made aware of just how unholy he is.

Peter doesn’t want to be in the boat anymore. This is the natural response when people enter into God’s presence.

Job after finally hearing from God said, “I despise myself.”

Isaiah after seeing God said, “I’m undone—coming apart.”

Conviction comes when Jesus gets close to us and we realize how holy He is and how sinful we are.

It’s like navy and black. You’ll think you have a pair of black pants or black socks, until you hold them up next to a real pair of black pants and socks and you realize. They’re a dark navy blue.

When you read the Bible and see what Jesus’s standard is, which is Who He is, then you will realize just how far off the mark you are.

Peter realized that holiness was in the boat with him, and when he did, he also realized that he was not worthy to be that close to Jesus.

This is the same reason why people don’t like to be told that they’re sinful. It’s the same feeling. They’re exposed and they hate it.

Grace is realizing that Jesus knows how sinful we are, and He calls us to follow Him anyways.

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Matthew 4:19 “And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.””

It wasn’t just the catch of fish that convinced Peter to answer the call of Jesus. It was the realization that Jesus knew who he was and still Jesus wanted him.

“Follow me.”

Peter was a fisherman, not a good student. Peter had moved into the family business because he was not selected to move on in the Hebrew schools.

Bet Sefer (6 Years Old) — Learning and Memorizing the Tenach or the First Five Books of Moses.

Bet Talmud (10 Years Old) — Studying Mishnah, oral tradition and interpretation of the Law.

Bet Midrash (12-15 Years Old) — Legal Discussions, Debates, this is why the Rabbis were impressed with Jesus when He was holding His own at 12 years old.

If you showed promise, you could ask permission to follow a Rabbi, on a rare occasion, a Rabbi would call you to follow him.

NO ONE WAS GOING OUT TO THE SEA OF GALILEE TO CALL FISHERMEN.

Following Jesus means leaving one place to move towards another.

Peter, Andrew, James, and John all left their jobs with no promise of money or wealth or fame. They left a family business to follow a Rabbi.

Now following a Rabbi was a great and honorable thing to do, but it still doesn’t negate the discomfort.

They didn’t know the Bible like the other students of Rabbis. They probably weren’t very eloquent. They had no idea how they would make ends meet.

But still they followed. They left behind the life they knew for a life they knew little about. All they knew is that they were following Jesus.

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Denying yourself means you are turning away from what you want in life. Whatever you are pursuing in life for yourself, you are giving that up for what God wants in your life.

All the different pleasures and desires and goals that you are chasing after because society or your parents or your heart tells you to, you’re denying yourself the satisfaction that you think will be found in those things.

Take up a cross, an emblem of shame, pain, curse, etc… This sounds great. To Jesus though, it was a mission. Taking up the cross does mean that we will face worldly shame and pain, but it also means that we are on a mission to bring the message of salvation to the people of this world.

Jesus came to take up the cross and die to bring us salvation. We take up the cross to die to our own selfish desires to bring the message of salvation to those who are lost.

Do you feel the convicting presence of God close to you this morning?

Christian are you denying yourself daily as you seek to follow Christ?