Calling Fishers of Men
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people 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 catch men.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Introduction
Introduction
We continue our look together at the Gospel of Luke. And Luke has begun to outline for his reader the works that Jesus was doing as he ministered in the world. Recall that Luke was writing to give certainty to Most Excellent Theophilus concerning the things that he had been taught. And so he writes to demonstrates the truthfulness and certainty of the claims of Jesus.
He’s demonstrating the power with which Jesus was preaching his Gospel message.
And he demonstrates also the miracles that Jesus was performing as He went about preaching the Gospel, which miracles served to confirm that authority and power of Jesus as He went about preaching.
This morning’s passage continues to demonstrate the work, the power and the authority of Jesus. But the the emphasis in this passage is directed towards the calling that Jesus placed upon the first of his officially chosen disciples. The focus of attention in this passage is on Simon Peter, but James and John are also involved, and called at the same time. And Andrew, Simon’s brother, would also have been called, although Luke doesn’t mention him specifically in this account.
We will see through this passage the profound and very moving impact that Jesus had on Simon, such that Simon was overawed by the power of Jesus. He humbled himself down on his knees when he witnessed and was confronted by the power of Christ. And I do trust that we will be greatly encouraged by the power of our Saviour. That we will be greatly encouraged through what happened in Peter’s life, and know that this same Saviour, Jesus Christ, is at work today, and works in and through His church to make disciples.
This should excite our hearts as we consider just who it is that we are serving!
Notice firstly with me from our passage...
1. An Extraordinary Crowd (vv.1-3)
1. An Extraordinary Crowd (vv.1-3)
As begin our consideration of this fascinating account of Jesus and that call that he placed on his first disciples, we see that the context and the example is set by the actions and the work of Jesus himself. In verse 1 of our text, we read...
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God,
…if we just pause at that point, we note, as has been previously emphasized, that Jesus was about the business of preaching the Gospel message with power and authority. Last week, as we considered those mirculous healings that Jesus performed for the entire city of Capernaum, it was noted at the end of the text that although Jesus performed very many great and wonderful miracles, his primary work was to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. That was always to be the focus of his ministry.
And so here, we find that Jesus was preaching to the crowd around him.
Just in order to better set the scene for us, we are told here that Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. This “Lake” is what we typically know to be the Sea of Galilee. It is the same body of water, but know by two very different names. Luke will always refer to this body of water as a Lake, rather than a sea. And the specific name “Gennesaret” means “princely garden.” It most likely referred to the beautiful and lush fertile plains that were around the area just to the South of Capernaum.
In fact, if you go across to Matthew’s Gospel, you find that Matthew refers to a place named Gennesaret, which was the place just to the South of Capernaum.
34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret.
So Luke simply refers to the Lake by another name that was familiar in that day.
But as Jesus is by the Lake, we know from our text that he is preaching the word of God to a large crowd of people. We see that at the end of verse 1, where we read that the crowd around him was “listening to the word of God.” This picture was not a unique one in the Gospels. There will be a number of accounts that record Jesus preaching by the Sea, and the crowds gathering around him.
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
The people had heard about the powerful working of Jesus, and so they were coming to him from all over the surrounding areas. And so Jesus tells his disciples to have a boat ready in order for him to be able to get a little way from the people crowding him.
1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.
So here was a common practice for Jesus. He would often be walking along the water’s edge, and there would be crowds of people following him, all eager to listen, and to experience something of the power of Christ.
Just to consider the extent of the crowds further, and the way in which they were pushing in around him, the phrase that is used here speaks of laying something upon something else. It has the sense of being incumbent upon something else.
The same word is used in John 11:38, where it speaks about a stone being laid across the entrance.
It’s also used in John 21:9 to describe a fish that was laid upon some burning coals.
The sense is that this crowd was pressing up against Jesus, every person trying to get to the front, to get as close as they possibly could as Jesus was preaching and teaching the Word. They were eager to hear and listen; certainly they would have been eager to get some kind of healing touch, if they were sick in any way.
Luke will record similar instances of the crowds pressing in around Jesus as he makes his way to the house of Jairus, and women that had been bleeding touched the hem of his cloak.
42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.
That is the extent to which the crowds wanted to get up close to Jesus even as he taught them.
But we must also see that Luke’s focus, and in fact Christ’s focus here is on the preaching of the powerful Word of God.
In this case, Luke records for us that they were listening to what Jesus was saying. At the end of verse 1, it says that the people were crowding around Him, and listening to the Word of God.
This Word of God was what Jesus said was to be proclaimed as he spoke that parable of the sower and the seed. The word of God is that same message that would be proclaimed by the disciples in the book of Acts in the early church.
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.
I think it’s quite an amazing thing to consider the powerful working of God by His Spirit to bring people to listen to Jesus and to be so eager to learn and listen to what the Word of God was teaching.
It’s also quite a profound thing to consider that we today are tasked with the proclamation of the Word of God. The same Word. That powerful Gospel word, that goes out and has effect on people’s hearts and lives, and transforms them - that’s the Word that we are called to proclaim. The very word of Almighty God.
It is these crowds that are pushing up against Christ and making the proclamation of this Word of God somewhat difficult that leads to what happens next. We read in verse 2…
2 he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.
Christ is being hard-pressed on every side by the crowds, as he walks alongside the Sea of Galilee, teaching and preaching the Gospel, and he sees at the waters edge these two fishing boats. And not too far away from the boats, he sees the owners of the boats. We will see soon that these very fishermen had been out the whole of the previous night trying to catch fish.
But in verse 3 we read...
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.
With all this pressure of the crows around him, Christ applies his wisdom and prudence to the situation, and decides to climb into the boat. And doing so, he proceeds to call the owner of the boat, Simon Peter, over to him in order to come and assist him so that he can get just a little way from the shore and so be relieved of some of the pressure of the crowds, and thus preach in a more suitable environment, without the disorder and chaos around him.
And so Christ, having gone just a little way from the shore, sits down in the boat and begins to preach. This was the normal teaching posture of those who taught in the synagogues. The teacher would sit, and the people around him would often stand. And so that is what takes place as Christ preaches here from the boat.
So, here we have the contex set for us. And Simon and the other disciples that were with him had the context set for them also. The context is an extraorindary crowd. And very soon, Jesus would giving the call to Simon and the disciples to be those who would reach out and proclaim the Gospel to crowds such as these, just as Christ himself was doing. Soon, Christ would be calling these men to become fishers of men.
Truly speaking, Christ was here setting the example of what would become the work of Simon and the other disciples. And so even as he’s about to call Simon, he’s giving him a picture of his calling.
But notice then secondly with me...
2. An Extraordinary Catch (vv.4-7)
2. An Extraordinary Catch (vv.4-7)
The crowd was large and great indeed, and Jesus shows his care and concern for the crowd by making a way to teach them and to instruct them, even from the boat. But as he prepares to make the call to Simon and his friends, he will begin by presenting them with a vivid and striking picture of the work that he was going to call them to do. It was a picture that would be well understood to them as fishermen. In verse 4 and 5 we read...
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.”
A few things are important to note from these verses.
Firstly, Christ gives a command to Simon with his voice of authority. He simply tells Simon what to do, and there is obedience. We see from these verses that already Simon had a deep respect for Christ. When Simon answers Jesus in verse 5, he calls him “Master.” This is a common name for Christ that is used by Luke. Christ is the one who is master, the one who is set in a place of authority. And clearly Simon knows this, even before the actual event of his calling.
We are not told all of the background details of Simon’s interactions with Jesus, but most likely he had seen Jesus teaching in Capernaum. This was his home town, where he conducted his business of fishing. Jesus had already caused quite a stir in the city as he lived there himself, and so Simon had by this time at the very least developed some respect for Jesus.
But we see further from these verses that Jesus proceeds to give some instructions to Simon, who was a seasoned fisherman. He tells him to go out and to let down his fishing nets in order to make a catch of fish. Now, we know that Simon had been working hard all night in order to bring in a catch, but in his own words, he had caught absolutely nothing.
Now, we should not let this fact evade us. When someone is a seasoned professional, as it were, in their work, there is little that you can teach them about what they do. Simon would have known all of the good spots for fishing. He would have known what the best times were for fishing. He would have known what the best methods and tricks of the trade were. He was a fisherman. That was his livelihood.
Jesus was not a fisherman. He was raised a carpenter in his earlier days in Nazareth. Here in Capernaum, he was known as a preacher / teacher. But He tells Simon to defy his seasoned logic and reasonable understanding of the fishing conditions on the Sea of Galilee, and to go out and put his net down.
In light of these facts, we must be struck by the trusting, humble response from Simon. He doesn’t have a long argument with Jesus. This clearly demonstrates his respect and honour for Christ. Simon tells Jesus very plainly the situation, and how they been fishing all night and caught nothing, but then humbly says, “...but because you say so, I will let down the nets…”
Let us pause for just a moment and ask ourselves if we have that same attitude as Simon has? When we think we know better about our circumstances in life, and why us going contrary to the instructions and revealed will of God in the Scriptures is the right thing to do, we are not acting in humility, and trusting in our Lord Jesus.
Just to give some more practical flesh on that… For example, when Christ teaches us to love our enemies, and to do good to those who persecute us, but we respond by saying to Him that He just doesn’t understand what this person has put us through, and how this person has hurt us. When Christ tells us to forgive our enemy, not once, not twice, but 70 times 7 times. And it just seems to not make any sense. We want to go with our own way of thinking, with what makes sense… what is obviously the best way to act. Let us not go against God’s revealed way of dealing with things.
There could be any number of situations where the Word of God in Scripture is clear in a matter, but we choose to not obey. We come with all sorts of reasons and excuses for not obeying. But when we do that, we are acting in foolishness in that moment. Simon could easily have argued against Jesus. But instead, he simply says that he will obey, because Jesus said so.
And friends, that is truly how we should seek to respond to circumstances in life under the instruction of the Word of God. Lord, this doesn’t appear to make sense, but because you say so, I will obey.
And so, in obedience to the Lord, Simon and his companions let down their nets, and then we read in verse 6 and 7...
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.
You can just picture the scene. After a long and wearisome night of trying hard, but not catching any fish, with this expectation that exactly the same thing is going to happen now, they end up catching such a massive load of fish that, by their response indicates that they had never before encountered such a catch in all their years of fishing. This is how big the catch was.
Their nets begin to break under the heavy load of fish. In desperation, they call another boat that is nearby to come out and help them, and so they tried lifting this load together onto the two boats. But again, so great was this catch that they filled both boats and both of these boats began to sink under the load.
Think of what must have been going through the mind of Simon in this moment...
Christ was no ordinary carpenter, and no ordinary preacher. Here was the Son of Almighty God instructing them on what to do, and then without even saying word, coordinating the movement of the fish in such a fashion that they were perfectly positioned at this particular moment in time, in this particular location on the Lake, so that they would catch such a great haul that it would cast fear into them. And all this in order to prepare their own hearts for the authoritative calling that he was going to place on their lives.
Before we move on, we need to remember that nothing is impossible for God to achieve. We can look back in the Scriptures to the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. We can consider them as a nation taking over powerful nations and conquering them. We can consider the conquest of Gideon, taking over a mighty army with just 300 men. We can consider the Israelites in Samaria as they were besieged by the Arameans, but the very next morning their great victory as God caused the Arameans to flee.
Now, we know that God does not always work such powerful miracles, but let us be sure that He is sovereign, and whenever the need arises, there is nothing too difficult for our God.
We must now move on to consider our third main point...
3. An Extraordinary Calling (vv.8-11)
3. An Extraordinary Calling (vv.8-11)
With this miraculous working of Jesus Christ, we find the response of that seasoned fisherman named Simon (vv.8-10a)
The New International Version (1984) The Calling of the First Disciples
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.
The attitude of all of the seasonsed fishermen is recroded in verse 9 and into v.10. All of these fishermen, including Simon and his companions, including James and John, every one of them were astonished at what had just happened. They’ve never seen anything like this in all their years of fishing.
But we must then consider the response from Simon Peter. We see through his response that he has a dramatically increased awareness of the greatness and the glory of Christ. In a sense, this was an awareness of the holiness, the separateness of Jesus Christ from ordinary man.
Now recall that Simon already had a high view of Christ. He had called him master when Christ had given him the instructions to let down the nets (Luke 5:5). He knew that Christ was a great man, in a sense, a man to be honoured. But in this moment, his view of Christ, his understanding of the authority and power and worthiness of Christ is taken to a whole new level. Christ has become to Him a figure of Holy Greatness. He is literally undone before Jesus, and he falls down before Jesus in reverent and holy fear.
Before we go on - What is your view of Jesus? Do you see him as a good person? A great teacher? A wonderful leader? A friend?
Or do you see Jesus as the Son of Almighty God. The King and Lord over all of creation?
Yes, Christ is a beautiful Saviour. Yes, he’s compassionate and gracious, merciful and loving. But He is also sovereign in power. He is holy beyond our understanding. He is glorious and majestic.
Look at the response of Simon...
“Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
Isn’t it amazing that as Simon obtains this glimpse of the glory of Jesus Christ, his own personal awareness is directly linked to his own sinfulness. He sees his sin. He knows that he’s unworthy of being in the presence of this great man, simply because of an awareness of his sinfulness.
We must recognise that such a recognition of sinfulness is always the starting point of the Gospel work within a person. Whenever a person is confronted with the holiness and glory of God, they must get a view of their own sinfulness and unworthiness before him.
Let me reverse that, and suggest that when people are failing to recognise their sinfulness, or when there is a very low view of sinfulness, it is flowing out of a low view of who God is and his holy character. And I would suggest that if we are going to keep growing as Christians, and if we are going to keep moving forward in terms of our own holiness and sanctification, that will be greatly helped and supported by a clear view of the nature and character of God. We must know God in all his glory, and the more we do that, the more we will grow in our own awareness of sin, and thus the greater will be our desire and striving towards godliness.
This is quite simply about a knowledge of God!
But notice the humble and kind response from Jesus.
The New International Version (1984) The Calling of the First Disciples
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
The first thing that Jesus says is, “Don’t be afraid.”
Now, we must understand these words of Jesus, and also when it is that Jesus speaks them to Peter. At this point, Peter had a great awareness of his sin. He was aware of his own unworthiness. He was aware that he needed to be away from Jesus because he was so utterly sinful, and he was broken by this fact. That’s why he cries out to Jesus what he does. And it’s in this context that Jesus says to him, don’t be afraid.
When a man has come to such an awareness of his own sinfulness before a holy God, and when he humbles himself before God and declares his own unworthiness, and acknowledges the worthiness and greatness of Jesus, that’s when they can come to know also of God’s compassion and kindness is a reality.
I make this point because very often people go about proclaim the love of God with no need for an awareness of sin. They declare that Jesus is compassionate and kind (which he is); they declare that Christ came to bring mercy (which he did); but they will not say that there is a required recognition of who Christ is and a necessary acknowledgment and response in order to receive this grace and mercy.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
But we must remember that verse 18 follows, which says...
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
The response needed is humble acknowledgement of your unworthiness, and Christ’s worthiness. Your sinfulness, Christ’s grace and mercy towards the repentant sinner.
But notice further that Jesus now goes on to issue that extraordinary call to Simon. He tells Simon, “from now on, you will catch men.” He set the example in front of an extraordinary crowd. He gave a picture, demonstrating even his own power and authority through that picture, through the extraordinary catch. And now he gives to Simon the extraordinary call.
You will no longer be catching fish, says Jesus, but you will be catching people. You will be one that will go out and proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Word of God, and through this you will bring them into the kingdom of God.
The phrase in the Greek means to take alive. 2 Timothy 2:26 speaks well of this task...
26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
This is the Gospel work. To present the Gospel as the Spirit of God works through the Word of God so that they may be taken out of captivity to the devil, and have their hearts captivated by Christ, the great and merciful redeemer.
What a high calling this was. Here was the very reason that Christ had come into the world. Here was the will of the Father, the word for which the Father had sent his Son.
Recall Christ’s words back in Luke 4:18...
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
And so Christ is about His work of making disciples, calling them out of darkness and into His kingdom of light.
And notice again the response here from Simon and the others...
11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
While for Simon, there was an initial respect for Jesus, there was by now a far deeper honour and reverence that had developed for Jesus. They could not, they would not question the authoritative call of Jesus upon their own lives. They willingly and humbly obeyed. They left everything that they owned. They left their livelihoods, their incomes. They followed Jesus.
Now remember, Simon was a married man. He had a wife. His mother-in-law lived, probably in the same homestead as him, and was healed by Jesus. But at this point, he simply leaves the work that he did to follow Christ.
Now, not every person is called in such dramatic fasion to leave everything and follow Jesus. But what we can take encouragement from is that this man willingly did this, and there were no regrets. Think down the line as Peter would eventually be uttlerly broken because of His own sin of forsaking Christ at His crucifixion. Think later on about the boldness of Peter as he would proclaim the Gospel in the early church. And how he would do that with no regrets whatsoever.
Friends, those who truly submit their lives to Christ will not live with regrets. He’s master, He’s Lord. He’s the sovereign ruler. A life of submission to Him is a life of joyful surrender, because in Christ is fullness of joy.
Now, this does not mean that every person has the same calling as Simon did upon his life. We are not all called to quit jobs and follow after Christ. But we should be willing to surrender our all to Him, and to follow Him wholeheartedly in the paths that he takes us.
If we truly understand the nature of Jesus Christ; if we truly comprehend his great sovereignty and his great power; if we truly understand that he does have all authority over our lives; but not only that, but that he is able to provide for us and supply our every need, then we will have little concern to obey such a call.
Again, Christ doesn’t call us all to full-time ministry, but he does place a call upon our lives to serve him first and foremost. In other words, there will be consequences, and there will be costs involved in following Jesus. We must be prepared to count the cost of following Christ.
That may mean giving up certain things in life that we otherwise may have enjoyed.
It may mean that we don’t take a promotion because that promotion would lead us to a place of drifting away from Christ in a new context. It may mean many different things in many different places.
The question that we must ask is, am I following Christ with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?
Application / Conclusion
Application / Conclusion
A.1. Deepen your understanding / recognition of who Christ is.
Pray about it… Ask God to show you who He truly is through His Word
A.2. Submit yourself fully to Christ.
Don’t be one who calls Him Master, but doesn’t recognise that He is master over all that you are.
He is Lord. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Are you joyfully submitted to the Saviour.
A.3. Take the Gospel forward.
In Luke 5:1, we find that Jesus was “preaching the Word of God.”
It is the same Word that will continue to be proclaimed by the church. We have this same ministry, to take the revelations of God to us through the Scripture, and to proclaim God’s word to a world that doesn’t know Him.
This is the very same Word of God that the church is called to preach today.
Let us be those who humbly proclaim the glories of Jesus Christ.