At the word of the Lord, we follow Him.

 

Sermon for Trinity 5, July 4, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

Luke 5:1–11  One time, while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.  ²He saw two boats there along the lakeshore.  The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.  ³Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore.  He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat.  ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”  ⁵Simon answered him, “Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing.  But at your word I will let down the nets.”  ⁶When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were about to tear apart.  ⁷They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.  ⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.”  ⁹For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, ¹⁰and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.  Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear.  From now on you will be catching people.”  ¹¹After they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him. (EHV)

At the word of the Lord, we follow Him.

Dear fellow citizens in the kingdom of heaven,

            There is surprising controversy recently about what it means to be a citizen in our great country.  There are many contrasting opinions, and some people even claim that a definition of a real American isn’t possible.  Now, I have no intention of entering that political debate, but I likewise point out that there is much debate, also, about what it means to be a citizen in God’s kingdom.  This text shows that for citizens in Jesus’ everlasting kingdom, it means; At the word of the Lord, we follow Him.

Imagine for a moment the scene Luke describes: a huge crowd has gathered around Jesus to hear Him speak, and they are so excited to hear God’s Word that they are almost crowding Jesus into the Sea of Galilee.  Now, can you imagine a congregation in our fellowship so likewise excited to hear the word of our Lord that they crowd around the pastor in the pulpit?  Of course, we can make the excuse that today we have amplified sound so there is no need to crowd so close to the speaker to hear Jesus’ words.  Yet, at the same time, we must confess that we are not always so eager to hear.

Luke wrote, “One time, while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.”  With the crowd pressing in on Him, Jesus was being pushed against the edge of the water.  Naturally, Jesus immediately worked out the solution.  “He saw two boats there along the lakeshore.  The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.  Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore.  He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat.” 

A seeming problem is immediately rectified as Jesus turns the problem into a blessing.  With Jesus now seated in the boat, His words go out to the shoreline as a natural amphitheater.  Jesus could speak easily without being shoved into the sea, and far more people could hear Him speak as they gathered along the shoreline in all directions.

The point for us is to trust Jesus for the solution in whatever difficulty we might have.  Yet, even more so is the point that God’s Word must be proclaimed.  That was always Jesus’ priority as He walked this earth.  He wanted and needed to share the Good News that God’s Son has entered the world to rescue all troubled people from the curse of sin and death.  Everything Jesus did was to further that cause.  Therefore, Jesus taught the people, expounding what the prophets had written under the Holy Spirit’s guidance and inspiration. 

“When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.’  Simon answered him, ‘Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing.  But at your word I will let down the nets.’”  Here, we see the average Christian believer in real life.  Jesus was not a stranger to Simon.  Indeed, not long prior, Jesus had healed Simon’s mother-in-law when she lay sick in bed with a raging fever.  The disciples had already seen Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding.  They had heard Jesus proclaim God’s word on any number of occasions.  Yet, we see Peter a little hesitant to do as he is asked.  It’s not that he refused, but he mumbled just a bit about how long they had worked, the futility of those efforts, and underneath that is the skeptical guess that this too would be a fruitless waste of time. 

I have to ask; how often do we feel like we are wasting our time when it comes to following Jesus’ commands?  Remember the great commission, “Go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)  Do we feel like this is a fruitless endeavor when the pews don’t fill up on a Sunday morning?  Do we start to point fingers at our fellow congregants and pastors accusing them of not doing their jobs?  Do we selfishly wonder if the Holy Spirit is still doing His?  Or is the real problem that we aren’t so confident and excited about God’s Word?

It is easy for us to negligently assume that the great commission was Jesus’ command only for His apostles and the pastors, elders, and deacons they commissioned to follow them, but the truth is, this was Jesus’ instruction and encouragement for His whole Church which is made up of every person who believes in Him as Lord and Savior.  No, we will not all be pastors, teachers, or missionaries, but we are all living members of the body of Christ which is His Church, and we all need to keep faithfully doing whatever the Lord in His good will gives us to do. 

Everything we do out of faith in Christ, in line with the Ten Commandments, to serve God and our neighbor is part of this service to Christ Jesus.  So, do we sometimes complain about our jobs, about those we work with, about how hard life is, or how fruitless our witnessing might seem to be?

Never fear, Jesus is here.  Peter said, “‘At your word I will let down the nets.’  When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were about to tear apart.  They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.”  So much for Peter’s doubts, and so much for ours.  Here, Jesus demonstrated, for all to see, the power of His word.  That fishing trip was at the wrong time of day, in the wrong part of the lake, when no fisherman worth his salt would have expected a catch, but they filled both boats to the point of sinking with the bounty of listening to Jesus.  We need to remember that the whole world was created through the word of Christ.  If God made the sun, moon, and stars by simply speaking them into existence, He can certainly make true everything He says to me and you.

Now, we too would be amazed if suddenly people started crowding into our church to hear God’s Word, but Jesus never commanded us to make that happen.  Instead, He told us to be His witnesses to the world with His word and with our actions and lives.  In doing so, He will give the results.

We let down our nets when we simply trust His word without hesitation.  We are following our Lord when what we do in life honors His will for our lives.  That means we let the Ten Commandments be our guide for living.  It means we have complete trust in the promises God makes in His Word.  It means, especially, that Jesus has made us right with God.

“When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.’  For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.”  What was Peter confessing here?  His sin of doubt?  His lack of trust?  His total lack of worthiness to stand in God’s presence?  Or was it his realization of all that it means that Jesus is who He claims to be?  I think it is all those things. 

Like Peter that day, we too have been guilty of questioning our Savior’s wisdom.  I don’t know in what way you did that, personally, but I suspect we all have in one way or another.  Regardless, we all feel the guilt of our nature.  We all know we haven’t obeyed God as we should.

Notice, however, Jesus didn’t berate Peter that day.  He simply said, “Have no fear.  From now on you will be catching people.”  Peter, a rough and tumble fisherman who knew he had no right to stand before God, or to serve Him, was now officially one of Jesus’ chosen disciples and witnesses to the world.  Peter stood in the grace of God’s forgiveness as Jesus said, “Have no fear.” 

No fear.  That is life in Christ Jesus.  No matter what temptations the world may throw against us, no matter what troubles this sin-broken world brings our way, we really have no reason to fear our God.  The heathens tremble at the thought of how the gods will deal with them, but Christians have no need for that kind of terror, because God became our Savior when His Son came to earth to live as a Man in perfect holiness on our behalf, and to be the Lamb of God who would make the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world so that God could declare the whole world righteous.  “That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Luke reported, “After they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”  Simon Peter, and his partners had seen enough.  There was no longer any question in their minds that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah God had been promising since the time of Adam and Eve.  Likewise, they realized that their true treasure is not the things of this world.  The most precious thing we can ever have is the faith to follow Jesus.  Wherever He leads us, we will go.  No matter what trial or hardship might come, the believer in Christ Jesus will understand that we have riches in heaven that simply cannot be compared to what we might think we miss out on here.  Martin Luther wrote, “Take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, let these all be gone, they yet have nothing won; the kingdom ours remaineth.”  At the word of the Lord, we follow Him.

Dear friends, the main point of this text is that we can trust Jesus no matter how farfetched His instructions and requests might seem to our frail minds.  When we are terrorized by guilt, we can fall at Jesus’ feet in repentance and hear His comforting word, “Have no fear,” because He has taken all our sins away and paid the full penalty for all our guilt. 

If this world should seem unbearable at some point, and persecution, troubles and sorrows start to feel like too much for us to endure, we can rest confidently in Jesus’ promise, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am.” (John 14:2-3) 

Finally, if we should ever wonder, “how long, O Lord, until we see Your glory and righteousness?” we can be comforted and assured by His word, “And look: I am coming soon!  Blessed is the one who holds on to the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:7)  Jesus told those who followed Him, “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples.  You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)  At the word of the Lord, we follow Him.  Amen.

The one who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints.  Amen. (Revelation 22:20-21)