A Journey with Jesus: Leave

02/13/22

Dominant Thought: From now on those who believe leave death to catch life with the Master.

Objectives:

I want my listeners to see the story of Luke 5.1-11 from the perspective of Peter.

I want my listeners to see the connection of the miraculous catch of fish with the many people God desires in His Kingdom.

I want my listeners to leave what will not endure to embrace the life Jesus offers.

Today, I want to show you the story from Luke 5 from the perspective of Simon Peter. Do you know what it’s like to fish all night and catch nothing? My brother, Andrew, along with our partners, James and John, fished all night and caught nothing. We threw our nets out and waited. Then, we pulled them back up…nothing. We tried again…nothing. All night long, we cast our nets into the Lake of Gennesaret and each time the nets came up empty. As the night went by, we traced the moon in the sky and pulled up empty nets.

To make matters worse, as we moved to shore to repair and wash our nets, a crowd had gathered on the shore to here Jesus teaching the word of God. People crowded around Jesus to hear him teach. A few in the crowd looked our way and saw our empty nets. Some laughed. Others shook their heads in disappointment or sadness.

This day was not the first day that crowds had gathered around Jesus. Earlier in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus met a crowded synagogue on Sabbath. Jesus stood up to read from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and read.

Luke 4:18–19 NIV

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

After Jesus rolled up the scroll he said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4.21). All spoke well of Jesus. They were amazed at his gracious words. Then, Jesus redirected their attention. “Surely, you will quote this proverb, Physician, heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum” (Luke 4.23).

Jesus continued, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown. There were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, during a famine. Yet Elijah was not sent to a widow of Israel, but the widow of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many lepers in the time of Elisha, the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4.27). When they heard the words Sidon and Syria, rivals of Israel, the people rushed Jesus in fury. The took him to the brow of a mountain intent on throwing him down. “But he [Jesus] walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4.30).

Jesus received a better reception in Capernaum, my hometown. People were amazed at his teaching because He taught as one who had authority (Luke 4.32). A man at the synagogue possessed by a demon met Jesus. Jesus rebuked the demon sternly with the words, “Come out of him!” The demon came out without injuring the man (Luke 4.35). These works and words of Jesus amazed the people. He gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!

Then, Jesus came to my house. The master teacher and miracle worker in my home. My mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever. We asked Jesus, “Can you help her?” Jesus bent down over my mother-in-law and rebuked the fever and the fever went out of her. Almost in similar fashion to Jesus rebuking the demon, he rebuked the fever. And like the demon, the fever left also. The amazing thing was the quick recovery of my mother-in-law. Once the fever left, she served food to Jesus and us.

At sunset a crowd showed up bringing their sickness and demons. Jesus laid hands on each one of them, and he healed them.

The next morning, Jesus went off to a quiet place. Once again, crowds started looking for Jesus. They wanted him to stay. Quite a different response from Nazareth. Jesus said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns also because that is why I was sent. And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea, a preaching tour of the southern kingdom.

On his return to our area, a crowd joined around him to hear the word of God. There we were washing and mending our nets after a meaningless night of fishing. Jesus looked at me. He entered my boat and asked if I could push a little way from from the shore. I pushed out and Jesus sat down and taught the people from my boat.

I must admit after hearing him for a while, my eyes got some droopy from our fishless night on the lake. Jesus told some stories. I don’t know if our empty nets triggered the story, but shared the following story.

Matthew 13:47–50 NIV

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That caught my attention. After Jesus finished speaking the word of God, he looked at me and said, “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5.4). I was spent after that empty night. I knew these water better than anyone. I answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5.5). I had seen how he sent the fever and the demons out. I heard his teaching with authority. I decided to let him captain my boat.

I let down the nets. We let down all the nets a waited for a while. Then, we felt a tug. The nets started lowering. We knew what that meant. Fish in the net. We started bringing up the nets. Andrew and I pulled so hard that the nets began to break from the weight of the fish. I knew that we didn’t have enough manpower to haul in this great number of fish. We called out to our partners, James and John, “Come over and help us!” They came and we filled both boats so full that that began to rock and take on water.

As I saw the great number of fish, and the boats starting to sink. I sank to the knees of Jesus. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “Get away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” You are holy and I am not. You work miracles and rule with authority. I don’t deserve to be in this boat with you. Please leave.

I couldn’t understand why the Master would show such kindness to me and my partners with this great catch of fish. I had fished on these waters my whole life and never had seen anything like this catch. I could see it in the eyes of Andrew and James and John. This catch was the greatest catch of fish in our lives.

I don’t know why I thought Jesus would leave. He did not honor my request to leave. He stayed and said, “Don’t be afraid” (Luke 5.10). Don’t be afraid. I had much to fear. How was I going to feed my family? How was I going to pay my debts? Would the Romans take my home? How could I survive this experience with a holy man? And yet Jesus assured me, “Don’t be afraid.” Don’t be afraid.

“From now on.” From now on life will be different. From now on life will never be the same. “From now on you will fish for people” (Luke 5.10). From now on you will catch people alive. You will use a different kind of net and catch a different type of catch. Instead of working all night with nets for fish that will eventually die, He invited me on a kingdom mission to catch people. As I looked at all those fish, I thought could those be people that we could bring to the Master. Could each one of those be a person who could receive healing and wholeness from the Master. From now on.

We brought our boats to the shore. I looked at the catch. I looked at the boats, our livelihood. I looked at my brother, Andrew, and my partners James and John. I looked at Jesus. I believed in Him. I had seen him heal my mother-in-law. I had seen him rebuke and send out demons and fevers. I heard him teach the word of God with authority. I saw with my own eyes a miraculous catch of fish that nearly sank our boats. I believed enough to leave what would not last catch something that would last forever. I left it all. Actually, we left it all and followed Jesus. It helped that I was not alone. It helped that my brothers and my business partners joined us in a new kingdom business. We left the boats, the nets, the fish. We left it all and followed the Master of all. My friends, From now on those who believe leave death to catch life with the Master.