Going Fishing

Luke 5:1–11
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Pastor Randy Smith

Any fishermen out there? I know we have at least one commercial fisherman in the church. Some enjoy everything about the sport. Whether or not they reel anything in, just sitting by a body of water with a pole in their hands is a pleasure.

I believe I’ve given fishing a fair shake. I’ve fished in remote Northern Minnesota lakes, on the beaches of the Jersey Shore and out at the deep-sea canyons for Tuna. Yet in all these situations, after about 10 minutes I get bored if I’m not pulling something in. Friends have reminded me that is why they call it “fishing” and not “catching.”

Today’s Bible lesson from Luke is about fishing. It is about a few professional fishermen who were unsuccessful, but made successful by a professional carpenter. Then that carpenter will teach them lesson about a more valuable type of fishing. This morning we will get our first real introduction to the Disciples of Jesus, be reminded of our Lord’s authority testified by miracles and examine the calling that has been committed to all those who claim to be His disciples. In a nutshell, Jesus commands all of us to be fishermen!

The Context

As you can see from the first point in your sermon notes, to rightly understand this Bible passage (or any Bible passage correctly) we must first understand the immediate context.

We are early in our Lord’s ministry and He is already reaching the height of His popularity. Verse 1 says “crowd[s] were pressing around Him.” Unfortunately, many followed Him for all the wrong reasons – entertained by His miracles, free healing and food, fascination with His speaking, intent on hearing, but no intention to obey.

We know from our last sermon that Jesus spoke with “authority.” And no doubt there were at least some in the crowd that respected what He had to say. It was directly from God, understandable, uplifting, practical, liberating. It was “Good News!” There had never been a teacher (nor will there ever be) one like this man from Nazareth.

Verse 1 says there crowds were “listening to the word of God.” The “word of God,” that is what Jesus taught. That is what we teach as well here at Grace Bible Church. Interestingly, Luke does not specially record for us what Jesus said. If we compare this account with Mark 4 and Matthew 13 it was most likely the “Parable of the Four Soils.” Yet Luke’s only concern is what Jesus is about to say to Peter.

Verse 2 informs us that the setting was the “Lake of Gennesaret.” That is Luke’s way to refer to the large fresh body of water in Israel 690 feet below sea level more commonly known as the Sea of Galilee.

With the crowds pressing around Him and His primary goal to have them hear the word of God; our Lord comes up with an ingenious plan. He’ll keep the crowds on the land and ask Simon (who is Peter), verse 3, to take Him “a little way” from the shore in his boat. Most on the banks could now see and hear Him as He sat amongst His floating pulpit in the water a few yards from the land, verse 3, “teaching the people from the boat.”

The Command

Let’s go to the second point, “The Command.” It says in verse 4 that Jesus “finished speaking” (the Bible lesson is over) and said to Simon (who was in the boat with Him) to “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

To us this command doesn’t sound like much, but we have to put ourselves in Simon’s shoes.

You see, by the time Jesus began speaking, the men had already concluded their fishing for the day. How do we know that? Two reasons: Usually they fished at night when the fish could not see the nets and often hung around in the shallow water and according to verse 2 they were presently “washing their nets.” The fishing was done. Even Simon said in verse 5, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing.”

There were four basic methods of fishing back then – hook and line, cast nets, drag nets and trammel nets. Here it was trammel net fishing. It was three nets that basically formed one net. There were two nets on the outside with large holes and one in the middle with smaller holes that would trap the fish. The net was stretched parallel to the shore, reaching the bottom, as it was let out by the boats. Then while the boats were in-between the net and the shore, the water was slapped frightening the fish to swim to deeper waters and thus get caught in the net. The nets were pulled in, the fish untangled and harvested.

It was a laborious effort. And in the morning, as verse 2 indicates the thousands of pounds of nets needed to be washed, mended, hung to dry, folded and placed back in the boat.

All of this was being done. The guys were up all night. No fish were caught. Physical exhaustion. Emotional discouragement. And Jesus (who was a carpenter) asks these professional fishermen to go out again and try for another catch. They caught nothing all night. It makes no sense to go out during the daylight hours, a less ideal time, when the fish would have all migrated to deeper waters.

Do you get this command? Do you ever feel as if our Lord’s commands make no sense? Something from Scripture? Something He’s placed on your conscience?

It’s like Tom Brady practicing his passing for hours, leaving disappointed in his performance, taking off his pads, showering, driving 45 minutes to his multi-million dollar home and then an 80 year old grandma living next door who never played football a minute of football in her life tells him at midnight to go back to the field because she has some pointers!

Verse 5, “Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.’”

So, how about you? The key word in verse 5 is “Master.” Is Jesus your Master? Is He your Lord? The answer for every human being is “yes” to that answer. The real question is do we acknowledge Him as such? He is God and when God commands we honor Him by trusting Him shown in our obedience to Him.

Often His commands are hard. Sometimes they may make no sense. Often, like Simon, there is some struggle along the way. Here there was no explanation given or guarantee of a reward. Yet we obey Him because we trust Him, because we love Him. Is He or is He not simply worthy to be followed regardless of the non-explanation or unknown result?

Is there anything the Lord is calling you to do and you are not honoring Him as your Master?

Furthermore, I can’t recall a time in my life that disobeying the Lord worked for my advantage. Moreover, I can’t recall a time in my life where I regretted obeying what He has commanded in the Bible. Disobedience is cosmic treason. But we must also understand that disobedience also hurts us because each and every command He provides is for our good. Sometimes we simply need to walk by faith in that promise. Yet sometimes we get to see for ourselves, like the disciples will shortly see the blessings of obedience.

Verses 6 and 7, “When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.”

I wonder how many blessings I have missed out on in life because I have refused to obey Him?

A greater command is about to come to Simon, but we can’t expect to do great things for God unless we are first faithful to obey the smaller commands. This is a test. “Can you simply go out fishing for Me one more time, Simon?”

The Conviction

Now, as we move to the third point you’d think everyone would be jumping for joy over such a massive catch. Remember the people at the end of chapter 4 who witnessed His healings and didn’t want Him to leave their town (4:42)? We’d expect the local fishermen in this case to do the same, right? Make Him a partner in the company! Keep this guy around!

Yet in verse 8 we see the opposite. “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” Verse 9 tells us why. “For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken.”

What’s going on here?

Our account says Jesus had “crowds” that followed Him. Yet we also know that many of these people were not genuine. They fell away once they realized who Jesus was not and the call to be His disciple. Even Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mt. 7:13-14).

True disciples do not have a neutral reaction toward Jesus. True disciples walk an almost paradoxical life of wanted to be around Him more than anyone or anything else, but also a fear that intensifies the more we are in His presence. It’s love and it’s respect. It’s intimacy and it’s reverence. It’s loyal friend and it’s holy God. Like Simon here, both clinging to His feet and asking Him to leave.

When people are confronted with the living God in the Bible it is one of radical fear. Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! …For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). John in Revelation “fell at His feet like a dead man” (Rev. 1:17).

A true confrontation with the living God is a direct confrontation with His holiness. And when we really understand His holiness we are never more convinced of our sinfulness. We instinctively know that sin cannot remain in His presence without being judged. And that is the most fearful thing we can ever imagine.

Simon saw the miracle. To what degree Simon fully understood Christ is debatable, but He knew there was something “God” about Him. Yet we all need to see verse 8 where Simon acknowledged that Jesus was “Lord” and he was “sinful.” That is a bad combination to have together. Known as a man that didn’t think much before he spoke, Simon’s words reflected his initial heart reaction, “Go away from me.” From Simon here all the way back to Adam and Eve hiding from God’s presence in the Garden, a true awareness of our sin should make us want to run from God.

Just before I prepared this sermon I was reading from Mark 2 in my morning devotional. I came across those amazing words from our Savior. “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk. 2:17). The point is not that anyone is righteous before God. The point is that most are self-righteous and think they are just fine in God’s presence. They miss out on salvation, but to the ones that understand they are sinners and thus see the need for a Savior, find great hope in Jesus.

You see, Jesus came to rescue those who are humble and honest enough to know they have no hope of ever standing in the presence of a holy God. Jesus came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus came to take away our sins through His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus and only Jesus came to bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. It’s the people like Simon that fear the presence of God that ironically will truly find comfort to be in His presence through Christ. This is the “Good News” that Jesus came to preach.

Let’s always remember that Jesus does not flee from those who acknowledge their sin, rather He seeks them out! That is why He came. Remember, He finds pleasure in, 4:18, delivering those in spiritual oppression and captivity.

And you know for those of us who love Him, as we grow in Christ, we become more aware of our sinfulness and then more thankful for His forgiveness. We feel more unworthy to be in His presence, at times wanting to run, but more assured of His eternal commitment, His promise to always hold us close to Himself in His arms of love. The Good Shepherd – we fall at His feet like Peter, but He doesn’t run away, judge us or permit us to run away if we are truly His sheep.

The Calling

As we go to the final point, look at how our Lord responds to Simon in verse 10. “And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.’”

First He calms Simon’s distress. “Do not fear.” There is assurance in the presence of Jesus. If we love Him, never should we feel safer in the presence of the One we should fear the most!

But it’s more than just feeling comfortable and loved. Listen, it’s about God in His love using us for the most important mission known to mankind. It’s about God including us in His plan to bring others to Himself so they can experience this. It’s last Friday’s Grace Quote: “The goal is not to disinfect Christians and separate them from the world but to disciple them and send them back into the world” (David Platt). Jesus doesn’t simply offer sinners forgiveness, but recruits them to gain other sinners.

This is the call for all of us. We all go from the lost on the mission field to being a missionary to reach the lost.

Jesus said to the fisherman, Simon, “From now on you will be catching men.”

You see, the great catch of the fish was symbolic for the souls that Peter, now called to be an apostle, would catch for the Lord. And the trammel net approach to fishing would also be symbolic of the work – labor intensive, work more than skill, often little results, persistence, full dependence on the Lord. And contrary to catching fish, killing them and cooking them over a fire, the call is to catch people alive, to save them from the fires of judgment so they can be with the Lord and truly live.

How did Simon and the others respond? After their best day of fishing, verse 11, “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.” It was full dedication. One author said, “The same power that prompted Simon to fall at Jesus’ knees now lifts him into God’s service” (Craddock).

Now of course none of us are being called to be an apostle of the Lord like Simon or his brother, Andrew or the sons of Zebedee, James and John, but we are all called to be His disciple. We recognize His holiness. We acknowledge our sin. We repent of our sin and trust by faith in the work of Jesus to forgive us. We follow Jesus. We submit to Him as Lord. We obey His commands. And of those commands we understand that we too are all called to be “fishers of men.”

So I leave you with two questions. First, has Jesus caught you to be a follower of His? And two, is Jesus using your obedience to catch others who will be His followers?