Is it Worth the Price
Is it Worth the Price?
Big Idea: God’s saving grace is free but there is a price to being a disciple of Jesus. Be willing to pay the temporary price of discipleship in order to receive God’s eternal rewards.
We will find today’s text in the Gospel of Luke, chapter five, verses 1 through 11. I’ll give you a bit of time to locate that in your Bibles, then we are going to stand and read the Word of God.
I want us to focus on the price of following Jesus today, the price associated with being a disciple of Jesus. We are fortunate that God’s saving grace is free to us. I want to be crystal clear; there is no price for us to pay for salvation. Jesus has paid that price, once and for all.
A few years back, I was at a weekend retreat. That retreat included a fairly nice sit-down dinner on Saturday night. We sat at tables of eight guys and we were served a nice dinner by those working at the retreat. After we had finished eating, each waiter took a bill to his table. Just like in a real restaurant, each table received a small black tray with a bill on it. And just like a real restaurant, we all looked at each other with that “you should take care of that look.” Well, my Scottish heritage took over and I waited for one of the other guys at our table to pick-up the bill. Luckily there was someone at our table who was not Scottish or Dutch, and he grabbed the tray and looked at the bill. As he read the bill he let out an audible huh! and his eyes got teary. The bill made its way around the table, with the same response by each of us. That bill read “Paid in Full by Jesus.” And that is the deal when we accept God’s saving grace, Jesus paid the price for me, and you, in full, once and for all. Amen!?
But receiving that saving grace is only the beginning. It is the beginning of a life of following Jesus, of being His disciple, and that is what we are called to be; disciples not just “saved people.” And there is a price to pay for following Jesus. That’s what we will be looking at this morning: what is that price and is following Jesus worth it.
Let’s all stand and follow along as I read today’s text. Luke 5:1-11:
Luke 5:1-11
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and 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 way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning 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 that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
You may be seated. Thank you for standing and honoring God through the reading of His word.
Well this text needs some background so we can really understand what is going on here.
Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee; specifically it tends to refer to the northwest edge of the sea where a small fertile plain borders it. Jesus is in a familiar area, Galilee. He is standing beside the sea, which is really a lake on the Jordan River. It is a decent sized lake 13 by 7 miles, which equals about 91 square miles of water surface. That is more than ten times the size of Pueblo Reservoir but which is like a puddle compared to Lake Michigan which is more than 22,000 square miles of water surface.
So Jesus is standing by this lake and it is morning. We know it is morning since the fishermen are out of their boats and tending to their nets. You fish on the Sea of Galilee during the night because the heat of the day forces the fish to the bottom of the lake and in the cool of the night the fish come to the surface, in the shallow water, to eat. Since the fishermen are tending to their nets it means that they have just finished a nights worth of fishing. Fish nets, just like any tool need to be cleaned immediately after being used to protect them. When you fish with nets you collect a lot of stuff in the nets besides edible fish. All of this extra stuff needs to be cleaned from the nets. If you wait until the next morning to clean them, they are going to be a mess and they will start to rot from being unclean and sitting in the sunlight. Then your nets will not have a very long useful life.
So Jesus is standing by this lake in the morning preaching the word of God. Preaching the word of God is a reference to preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And the crowd is growing and pressing towards Jesus. So he hops into one of the boats on the shore, the boat that just happens to be Simon’s boat, and tells Simon to take him out into the water a bit.
This is the first point of assessing the price. Simon probably had an idea who this guy was. Jesus had been hanging around the synagogue in Galilee, generally being a nuisance to the rabbis, and then he had taken to preaching in public. If you read the end of chapter four, just before our text for today, Luke tells us that that is what Jesus had been doing. It is hard to imagine that Simon has not at least heard of Jesus. It is most likely that he has seen him at the synagogue before since Simon is a good Jewish boy.
Can you imagine Simon’s reaction when he sees Jesus and this crowd gathering around him? My oldest daughter and I communicate a lot with instant messaging and text messages. For those of you who are not familiar with instant messaging and texting, they are sending typed messages back and forth on your computer, or cell phone, in real time with the person or persons with whom you are “talking.” I prefer instant messaging over texting because instant messaging is free.
Now to make this somewhat efficient you develop an “instant message language” that is like a short hand way of typing. If you’ve seen that cell phone commercial where the teenage girl is talking to her mom about her text messaging bill, its that same language; the letters “idk” for I don’t know, the letter “u” for you, and so on. Take a look at this video clip.
So I have this response to my daughter whenever she asks me for something that I view as an inconvenience or imposition: ugh! I can just see Simon saying ugh! in his mind, if not out loud, when he sees this Jesus guy come over and hop in his boat.
So here is Simon’s first decision: do I associate myself with this guy whose behavior is at a minimum out of the ordinary? If I do something as simple as just giving him a ride in my boat, will people associate me with him and not buy my fish? Is it worth the personal price to me to risk this? ugh! Is it worth the personal price to you to be associated with Jesus?
The second assessment of price follows right on the first. I’ve been fishing all night, caught nothing (translated I worked all night for no pay), I need to get my equipment cleaned and in order for tonight, and I need some sleep or I’ll be behind the eight ball all day and night, and on top of all of that my partners will think I’m nuts. Second decision: is it worth the personal price to me to risk going without enough sleep, or not getting all my gear stowed away properly to give this guy a ride? ugh! Is it worth the personal price to you to be inconvenienced by following Jesus?
Simon gets past the price of the first two decisions and takes Jesus out from the shore a little way into the lake. So Jesus is sitting in this boat with Simon and preaching to the crowd on the shore. Simon just sits there while Jesus teaches the crowd. Can you imagine how Simon spends this time? Of course we could give him the benefit of the doubt and expect that he is actively listening to Jesus’ teaching, but he could be busy making a list in his mind of what this is costing him; the time he is loosing towards his sleep, all the things he still needs to do once they are back on shore, and whatever else is an issue for him that day. If he had a watch he’d be taping it and giving Jesus that ‘can we wrap this thing up” look and sweating in the morning sun.
Jesus finally finishes up and Simon is all “Amen brother lets get going” and starts reaching for the oars. And Jesus says to Simon, let’s go fishing! ugh!
Here we have the third assessment of price: Wait a minute! I’m the fisherman here; I know how this job works. You’re this carpenter guy I’ve seen around. I don’t tell you how to make tables and chairs do I? And besides that, you’ve taken to preaching now. And all those people on the shore, your crowd and my partners, my brothers and my dad, all know that you fish at night, not during the day, and real fishermen fish in the shallow waters not the deep. Third decision: is it worth me swallowing my pride, possibly being embarrassed in front of all of these people and following your direction? ugh! Is it worth the personal price to you to let Jesus direct your life?
Simon even protests, “We fished all night and caught nothing (translated as: there is no way we will catch anything during the light). But if you insist, let’s go.” Simon swallows his pride, throws social caution to the wind and rows out to the deep water. He throws his net into the lake; I suspect that Jesus might have needed to help him with that, and the net fills to over flowing. It is so full that it starts to break! Even an inconvenienced, tired, irritated Simon knows that something special is happening.
Simon has to call his brother and partners, the same ones he had to decide to risk being embarrassed in front of, to come help with the catch. Can you imagine this scene? Simon is trying to get the attention of these guys, without capsizing the boat, and with out loosing this catch. He can’t let go of the nets with even one hand, he can’t really jump up and down, but he has to let them know he needs a little help. Of course, it might not have been that difficult to get their attention since they have probably been standing on the shore, hands on their hips watching ever since Simon started rowing out to the deep water and asking each other if they could believe what this crazy Simon was doing, violating all of the fishing rules when he was suppose to be getting things stowed away so all of them could get home to bed.
Andrew, James, and John finally see that Simon needs help and get the other boat out there. They get all the fish in the two boats and they both start to sink! They are in the midst of a miracle. No fish last night following the “fishing rules.” More fish than they can handle this morning breaking the “fishing rules.”
Simon senses immediately what has happened. Maybe he really was paying attention while Jesus was teaching earlier. Simon begins to worship Jesus. This really is the Messiah; this is God come to earth.
Jesus reassures Simon with the greatest reassurance available to mankind. “Do not be afraid,” which means I’ve got your sin covered no cost to you. And since you were willing to risk paying the price for following me, let’s go tell others not to be afraid!
Just an interesting note here. The text that I read says “they caught so many fish.” A better translation is that they caught a large number of fish. In fact you will find that language in the NIV translation that most of you probably use. Even the King James Version captures it better, and this is one of the few times I will tell you that a King James translation is better, by saying that a large multitude of fish were caught. To find the significance of all of this we need to look at the book of Acts.
Throughout Acts this same language is used when the Gospel is preached and people are saved, large numbers or multitudes of people are “caught” each time. We don’t have the time this morning to look-up those references, so sometime this week, look through the book of Acts and see how many times you can identify that language, “so many,” “large number,” or “large multitude” used in conjunction with people being “caught” by the Gospel message.
Back to our scripture for today. Then we see a really interesting response. They come ashore and leave everything. Boats, nets, ALL of those fish, a huge payday, everything! This was a significant act since fishermen made better than average incomes in the first century. These guys were not just walking away from minimum wage jobs. They were leaving high paying family businesses. They understood that the price to follow Jesus, to spread the Good News, was well worth paying.
Now we have the benefit of knowing how this story ends-up. In fact we can read about the second time that this happens to Simon. Some three years down the road, at the conclusion of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Listen to the account in John 21:1-11 after Jesus has been crucified and raised from the dead:
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE?
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. SO MANY FISH AGAIN!
7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. SO AS NOT TO FREAK ANYONE OUT HERE, PETER WASN’T SITTTING IN THE BOAT STARK NAKED. THIS IS REALLY A REFERENCE TO HIM JUST WEARING AN UNDERGARMENT. THINK OF IT AS A UNITARD.
8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Did you catch the cool symbolism in this text? Simon Peter fishing with his partners, now fellow disciples, on the Sea of Galilee again, there is a bit of a reversal with Jesus standing on shore and his audience in the boat, Simon Peter has struck-out fishing again, Jesus tells them to cast the net, another miraculous catch, and again Simon Peter realizes that it is Jesus, the Messiah this time on the shore, and Simon Peter jumps out of the boat to go worship Jesus.
Another really cool thing in this passage is the number of fish and the fact that the net was not torn. Throughout the ages theologians have postulated about the significance of the number 153 and there are a number of ideas about that. The one that I like the best comes from Jerome writing during the 5th century and noting that 153 represented all the know species of fish found in the Sea of Galilee at that time, and thereby represents all the peoples of the world, the meaning: Jesus is for everyone.
There is also speculation that that many fish weighed between 500 and 700 pounds, so it is astonishing that the net was not torn. We have a really cool picture of there being plenty of room for all whom Jesus calls.
Well, we can easily say that the price for Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the rest of the disciples was well worth paying. And we can thank God that they were willing to pay that price since we can trace our spiritual heritage right back to that day on the Sea of Galilee. But what about us? What is the upside of paying the price?
Jesus gives us a great promise if we will truly follow him. Do you remember the story of the rich young ruler? You can translate that to the average American for our context. This is the story of a wealthy young man who approached Jesus and asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. We pick-up that story in Mark 10, verse 21:
21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
Jesus gives us a great promise if we will pay the price and truly follow him! A hundredfold blessing now and in eternity.
But first things first, if you are here today and have not received that free gift of saving grace, now is the time. Jesus paid the price in full for each of us. Salvation and an eternity with God are freely available. You just have to say yes to that gift. You simply need to say yes Jesus thank you for paying the price for my sinfulness, I want to follow you. If you need to take care of that bit of business today, when we finish-up here you can see me or any staff or board member, or any of our prayer team members located at the back of the sanctuary. We will gladly help you get that taken care of today.
But that is just the first step. We all need to assess the price of truly following Jesus. Is it worth the price to my pride, to my possible embarrassment in front of a world that has different priorities, to obey what Jesus tells me?
Is it worth the price to say, “Jesus, your ways are better than my ways, better than the world’s ways. I’m going to truly follow you.”
Is it worth the price to say, “Jesus all I have is yours, you are my provider. I am going to trust and follow you?”
It WAS worth the price to all of those people in your life who were there to plant seeds, water and cultivate those seeds, and who were there for the harvest when you said yes to that gift of salvation. Can you think of those people? I can. They were the Sunday School teachers at the First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, Illinois; Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Holland, and all of the rest. And I am so thankful that it was worth the price to them to be there every Sunday morning and to faithfully proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom to me, and to show me what it meant to be a follower of Jesus.
Is it worth the price to you to be Jesus for your neighbors, your co-workers, your classmates, your friends, your family members, whoever God has put you around to plant, cultivate, and water? Is it worth the price to some of the children at SCC for you to pay the price and be a Sunday School teacher for a year or two? Is it worth the price to our youth for you to pay the price and be involved in ministering to them for a year or two? Is it worth the price to someone younger than you who could use a Christ-like mentor in their life? And what about the kids that attend Royal Family Kids Camp? Is it worth the price to them to have you minister to them one week out of the year? You plug in the person or the group with a need. Maybe it’s those who attend the Street Church downtown, or those who depend on the Soup Kitchen for food, whoever it is; it is worth it for them, it has to be worth it for you.
In a couple of weeks we are going to begin a series titled “Just Walk Across the Room.” The point of that series will be to show you how simple all of this is. Paying the price doesn’t require some grand academic degree, or years and years of preparation. It doesn’t require a certain personality type or any degree of wealth. It simply requires responding to the Holy Spirit’s prompting.
It is time to start paying the price; say yes to truly being a disciple of Jesus. The price is temporary; the rewards of heaven are forever.