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.
- Luke 5:1-11, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
In 1678 an Englishman named John Bunyan wrote a book that to this day is considered a classic in the field of Christian literature. The title of that book is Pilgrim’s Progress.
Pilgrim’s Progress is the fictional account of a man named Christian. It traces his spiritual journey as he moves from the City of Destruction (earth) to the Celestial City (heaven). Along the way he meets many characters and comes to different places, some of which are helpful to his progress in the faith, others which are harmful.
The timeless point that Mr. Bunyan makes is that the Christian life on earth is like a journey. It begins with our entrance into the world through birth and ends with our entrance into heaven through death. In between lies a pilgrimage that each of us must make. And within that journey each of us is faced with a variety of life situations and experiences – all of which either strengthen or impede our progress in the faith.
I mention this because our text for today presents us with a spiritual journey, of sorts. The pilgrim in this case is the Apostle Peter. And what we’d like to do is track
PETER’S PROGRESS
as we see him move
1. From doubt. 2. To devotion. 3. To discipleship.
...always with an eye on how Peter’s journey mirrors our own progress in the faith.
The opening verses of our text take us to the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, which is another name for the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus is preaching. A large crowd has gathered around Him; so large that some may miss out on hearing what He has to say. To prevent this from happening, Jesus found a boat and got into it. It happened to belong to Peter, who willingly launched it out into the water according to Jesus’ request. From this offshore position Jesus continued to dispense the Word of God to the people.
What happens next is commonly referred to in Sunday School as "the miraculous catch (or draught) of fish." When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 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 couple of things to note here… First of all, humanly speaking Jesus’ order may have seemed strange to Peter for a number of reasons. To name just two: Wrong place and wrong time. Keeping in mind that Jesus had already addressed the people on shore twice and presumably at some length, if He began in the morning, it may now have been close to noon. In other words, the hottest part of the day when conventional wisdom says fish head for the coolness of deep water. If we also keep in mind that a net can only go so far down and was used to catch fish when they are close to the surface, it may not have sounded like too good of an idea to head toward the deepest part of the lake.
Now, it may be that Peter said what he said in the fullness and certitude of faith that Jesus, whom he refers to as "Master," knew exactly what He was doing. It may be that Peter said what he said with the intention of "setting up" or preparing the crowd for the miracle that was about to take place. That may be. But probably not.
It is probably more likely that Peter’s reply indicates a battle was going on inside of him: the battle between faith and doubt, between trust and uncertainty. As a fisherman, every fiber in his body is telling him that this doesn’t make sense. But as a believer, his conscience tells him to put reason aside and simply trust and obey. In the end, faith wins out, but, we might add, it appears to be faith with some misgivings…
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 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. In an unable-to-be-mistaken way, Jesus puts to rest any questions about His divine wisdom and power. The lesson is obviously not lost on Peter. We see his progress as he now moves from doubt to devotion…
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
At that moment Peter experiences his own personal epiphany as he is confronted with the holiness of God. Falling in front of the sinless Son of God in a spirit of reverence and devotion, Peter is keenly aware of is his own unworthiness and sinfulness (that’s why he asks Jesus to go away). But Jesus doesn’t go away. He is Immanuel – God with us. Rather, He calls Peter to be His own and gives him a special commissioning. And Peter’s progress goes forward again, as he moves from devotion to discipleship… Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
And a "fisher of men" is exactly what Peter became. Along with the other disciples, Peter now had a purpose in life: to spread the net of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and enlarge the Kingdom of God. And although, like every believer on this side of heaven, he had his ups and downs along the way, Peter stood firm in his love, devotion and discipleship to His Savior. Church history tells us that after years of mission work he willingly died a martyr’s death for the cause of Christ… thus triumphantly finishing a journey that may have begun with doubt, but moved to devotion, and ended in deep discipleship.
There is much in Peter’s spiritual journey that will find instructive for our own. Let’s take a look at the various stages he went through, and how he progressed.
Our text started with Peter being firmly entrenched in doubt about God’s wisdom and power in a given situation. Ever been there? I suspect most of us have. Perhaps we can illustrate the power of this temptation with a little story…
Once upon a time it was announced that the devil was going out of business and would sell all his equipment. On the day of the big sale, all his tools were attractively displayed. Lined up nicely in a row were envy, jealousy, hatred, pride and all kinds of similar implements that could cause pain and suffering and lead one away from God. Each of the tools was marked with its own price tag.
Over in the corner was a harmless looking wedge-shaped tool that was very much worn, but which still bore a higher price tag than any of the others. Someone asked the devil what it was. "That is doubt," he answered. The next question came quickly: "Why is it priced so high even though it is plain to see that it is more worn than the others?" "Because," replied the devil, "It is more useful to me than all the others combined. I can pry open and get into a person’s heart with that when I can’t get near him with any other tool. And once I can get a person doubting his or her Lord, I am well on the way to having them become mine."
The moral of the story: One of Satan’s best tactics is to create doubt in the minds of God’s people. In Peter’s case, he brought it to bear when Jesus asked him to do something that Peter couldn’t make any sense out of. And we saw how Peter wavered between faith and doubt…
Is it not true that, like Peter, we also are confronted with the temptation to doubt the wisdom of God in our lives? God may not speak to us directly as Jesus did to Peter and ask us to do something contrary to what we think is best, but God may allow something to come into our lives – or take something away from our lives – which to us just doesn’t add up with the loving, caring God we know Him to be...
Maybe it’s an illness or a financial reversal. Maybe we find ourselves suddenly expendable because our employer is downsizing and we still have bills to pay. Maybe it’s an extra burden to carry when the load seems heavy enough the way it is. And maybe it is at those times – when God doesn’t really seem to be "coming through" for us despite our fervent prayers -- that we are tempted to wonder how all this stuff squares with the God who claims to love us…
But you know what’s happening at those times, don’t you? Satan’s got the wedge out. He’s trying to crack open our hearts and infect us with doubt about God’s love for us or the wisdom of the direction He’s leading us in…
So how do we handle these situations? We follow Peter’s progress. We move from doubt to devotion. This happened to Peter when he understood who Jesus is and what Jesus can do. Jesus is the Holy One of God. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Peter found out that with Jesus in control things that seemingly make no sense may in reality bring great blessings. Wrongheaded fishing techniques yielded a ton of fish… because Jesus oversees everything in the interest and for the benefit of His own.
And that is an important and comforting lesson for us to know. Things which to us may not make sense or may not line up with what we think is right or good still come from the hand of a gracious God who loves us and cares for us. Regardless of our personal perception of things, Romans 8:28 still applies. Our role, in the beautiful words of Psalm 46, is to simply be still and know that He is God. And God is love…
Of course, the absolute sure-fire antidote to doubt and the certain way to rekindle the fire of devotion is to simply take a trip back to Calvary. There we see Christ crucified for sinners like us. There we understand that a need far greater than any with present-day temporal implications was met in the forgiveness of our sins. There we see God’s wisdom and love coming together in the person of His one and only Son. And God tells us that the same self-sacrificing love behind our eternal redemption forms the backdrop for whatever He allows to come into our lives today. Eyes fixed on the cross of Christ and His empty tomb, we cannot help but move from doubt to devotion…
Which then expresses itself in discipleship. To be a disciple means to willingly place oneself under a Master. Like Peter, Jesus is our Lord and Master, and, like Peter, living for Him gives us meaning and purpose in life. Jesus told Peter He’d make him a fisher of men, meaning He’d involve him in kingdom work. And so it is with all of Jesus’ followers, including us. Jesus involves us in His work and makes us fishers of men…
I believe it is important for all of us as modern day Christian disciples to realize that being "fishers of men" isn’t a role limited only to pastors or evangelists or missionaries. It’s a role God has given to all of His people. The question on each of our minds, then, isn’t whether we want the job or not; the question is how can we, out of love for Christ, be the most effective in carrying out this aspect of our life of Christian discipleship.
What’s the answer? I believe the answer to effective Christian witnessing is not found in trying to master Scriptural truths which can than be recited to others. Rather it is in letting Scriptural truths master us, which we will then gladly share with others…
To that end, perhaps I could pass along to you some down to earth advice given by an elderly Christian to a new convert. The key to being an effective witness, he said, can be found in following three simple rules. "Take 15 minutes each day to listen to God talking to you (Bible reading). Take 15 minutes each day to talk to God (prayer). Take fifteen minutes each day to talk to others about God." Do those things, he told the young convert, "and you will never have the word ‘Backslider’ written after your name." And, we could add, we will then without any effort or training simply become a fisher of men…
As did Peter. Who traveled the road from doubt to devotion to discipleship. Moved by the same Christ that touched Peter on the Sea of Galilee 2000 years ago, may it be that our spiritual lives mirror Peter’s progress. Amen.