This sermon was preached from the perspective of Peter
Dear friends in Christ.
I have to say that it is such an honor to be given this opportunity to serve as a guest preacher and share the message of salvation with you, just as so many others have done in the past. For as I understand it, over the past few years you have had the opportunity to hear from such pillars as Adam, King David, The Prophets Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; and just a few weeks ago, you had the opportunity to hear from my dear friend John. Did he tell you about us? Did he tell you how we were good friends even before we met Jesus and how we worked together as partners in our own fishing company up in Galilee? Did he tell you how my brother Andrew ran to find me on the day that he and Andrew followed Jesus and spent the day with him? Did he tell you about the Wedding at Cana? I’m sure he did! After all, it was because of that pinnacle event that we all placed our faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But even though that event marked the beginning of my Christian faith, I did not become a professional follower of Jesus until much later. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I considered myself a disciple of Jesus from day one. I had followed Jesus to a number of different places, heard him preach on a number of different occasions, even seen him perform a number of different miracles, yet it wasn’t until that day by the Sea of Galilee that I left everything behind so that I could go fishing with Jesus.
That day, when James, John, Andrew and I left everything to go fishing with Jesus is a day that I will always remember. It was roughly a year after the wedding in Cana. Jesus had returned to Capernaum after preaching his way up from Jerusalem and after his own town’s people had attempted to push him off a cliff because they didn’t like what he was saying. We had finished a long night of fishing with nothing to show for it. We had pulled our boats up on shore, and we were washing our nets and getting them ready for the next night of fishing when I looked up and saw Jesus standing on the shore. He was standing there teaching the people the word of God, and they were listening. The problem, however, was that there were so many people crowding around Jesus that he wasn’t able to communicate effectively with them. So he came over. He stepped into my boat, and he asked me to put off a little ways form shore. When we had done so, Jesus was able to sit down and continue teaching the people certain that everyone would now be able to hear him, because by going out a little ways into the water, Jesus was able to use the natural properties of the water and the landscape as a type of amphitheater, which allowed his voice to clearly carry to everyone present.
I remember sitting and listening to what Jesus had to say. I remember being amazed at how he taught such truth with such simplicity and such authority. I remember how my faith grew on that day through the very words that he spoke. But the thing I remember the most was the test which he laid before me and my faith, as he finished speaking to the people. For as soon as he had finished teaching, he turned to me and said, “Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4 NIV) Essentially what Jesus said was, “Simon, let’s go fishing.” Now, I’m a fisherman by trait. There is nothing I liked better than putting forth the effort of casting the nets, hauling them in and seeing how many and what types of fish we caught, but what Jesus was suggesting was the exact opposite of what my family had learned from our many years of fishing on the Sea of Galilee. For the truth is, if you want to catch fish in the Sea of Galilee, you don’t go out to the deep water, and you don’t go out during the day! Those are ingredients for coming home empty handed. Instead, when you fish the Sea of Galilee you fish from the evening until the morning when the fish are most active, and you fish the shallows where the fish come to feed, which is the exact thing that Andrew and I had done the night before and caught nothing.
This was the test that Jesus laid before me! Do I listen to what I knew by experience and the aches and exhaustion of my body? Or, do I listen to what Jesus says because I know that he is the Messiah and so much more than a mere mortal? I can imagine the shock that must have crossed my face when Jesus suggested that we go fishing, yet I humbled myself and my ego to his wishes. “Master,” I said, “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 NIV) So we put down the nets and the rest is history! We caught so many fish that the nets began to break! So we signaled James and John to come out and help us and they arrived just as quickly as they could. When they got there, we filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Now, don’t think that we started to take on water or anything like that. But the truth is because of the weight of so many fish, we were riding so low in the water that it if we hadn’t been careful, the sea could have easily poured over the side as easily as bath water flows into a child’s play cup at bath time. When I saw this, I was so overwhelmed that I ran over to where Jesus was sitting, fell at his knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8 NIV)
It wasn’t that I wanted Jesus to leave, but it was in that moment that I realized all the more fully who he truly was. In that moment, I knew for a fact that this Jesus was the Lord God Almighty. He was the sinless Son of God whom the prophets had promised would come into the world as the Messiah. He was the Almighty Lord, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and he was calmly sitting in my boat, blessing me with the largest catch of fish I had ever seen. In that moment I was so overwhelmed by his holiness, his graciousness, his mercifulness, and his love, and by contrast all of my sins, that I did not fell worthy to be in the same boat with him, let alone on the same lake with him. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt completely unworthy of a blessing that the Lord has bestowed upon you? Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by the Lord’s gracious providence in blessing you with what you need? Have you come face to face with the seriousness of your sins, even as you felt the kind, loving, and forgiving hand of your Savior pulling you close to him and assuring you of forgiveness? Well then you know exactly how I felt. I didn’t want Jesus to leave me, but I knew that because of my sinfulness I was not worthy to stand or even kneel in his presence.
Yet, when Jesus looked at me he said the two most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. He said, “May Phobou” which simply means, “Don’t be afraid.” Or as a better translation might say, “You no longer have any reason to be afraid.” For you see, with those two simple Greek Words, Jesus was telling me that the reason for my fear, those sins that separated me from him, they were forgiven. Not only were they forgiven, but they were forgotten. I was in a right relationship with him, and any reason I had to be afraid had been removed so completely that there was no reason for me to be afraid ever again. Then he said to me, “Let’s go fishing, for people.” So James, John, Andrew and I we pulled our boats on shore. We left everything behind, and we followed him.
Well, Jesus is also saying the same thing to each and every one of you today. He is inviting each and every one of you to come fishing with him. Not that he’s planning to take us all down to the river or to some lake for a spot of ice fishing; instead he is inviting you to go fishing for people with the message of the gospel. For in the same way that fishermen used to cast nets out into the water to catch fish, you are now the ones who cast the net of the Word into the waters of the world in order to catch more and more people for the Lord and his kingdom. But unlike the fish whose lives are ended when they are pulled out of the water, those who are caught in the net of the Gospel are brought to life for the first time in Jesus Christ our Savior. Though I’m sure you feel just as unworthy of this task as I did and though you probably have no more experience in catching people with the gospel than I did when I started, the comfort we find is knowing that the catch does not rely on us or our abilities. Rather, it rests completely in the Lord and his Word. Though there will be times when you feel that you simply cannot accomplish this task, remember the miracle of the great catch of fish and how the Lord displayed the power of his Word in such a visual way. Though there will be times when you will feel afraid or unprepared to even say something about your Savior, remember that by gathering here each week you are regularly prepared to go out and do a little fishing for your Savior. For every time we gather to hear the Word of God we are built up in our faith and prepared to go out and do just what our Lord would have us do. We are prepared to cast the net of the Gospel into the streams and the ponds of our own communities. We are prepared to cast that net into the rivers of our county and the lakes of our state. We are even prepared to cast that net into the ocean of our country and of the world. For we who have heard and listened to the Word of God all our lives already know what we need to tell our friends, neighbors, family, and even strangers, all that they need to know about Jesus their Savior.
So now, as you leave this place, take up your favorite gospel fishing tool, whether it be the net, the cane pole, the graphite rod, or even the spear and regularly cast it into the waters of the world. Take time each day to do a little fishing for your Savior as you speak to your friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. Make the most of every opportunity given you express your Christian faith, invite people to come and worship with you so that they too might hear the gospel, and simply live with a Christian attitude. Though there may be times when you fish all night like we did in the boat and catch nothing, remember it is through the gospel message that the Lord changes hearts and calls people to faith at the proper time. For you see, it is only through the preaching and teaching of the Word that sinners are caught alive, brought to repentance and receive forgiveness for all of their sins through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is what happened on Pentecost when the Lord allowed me to stand up and proclaim his word to the crowds there, and through that word called over 3,000 people to faith in one day. It was through that same word that the Apostle Paul was converged from persecutor of the faith to professor of the faith. It was through that word that the heart of a murderer like Jeffery Damer, might well have been changed from unbeliever to believer, and it was only because of the Lord’s Word that our hearts have been changed, that we have been added to the congregation of all believers, and that we now marvel at all that the Lord’s Word has accomplished.
If you think about it, it is truly amazing that the Lord was able to take someone like me and change my heart from that of sinner to that of believer through the preaching of his word. But what is even more amazing is that the Lord was able to do the same thing with you! For you see, it was the Lord who fished for you and caught you alive with his gospel. It is the Lord who changed your heart from that of unbeliever to that of believer. It is the Lord who made you his own and has given you the assurance of the forgiveness of sins and salvation by his side forever in heaven. So now comes the question, if the Lord could do that for me and you through the hearing of his precious Word, what wouldn’t he be able to do for someone who doesn’t yet know him? What wouldn’t he be able to do for my brother, or sister, for my family or neighbor, for my friend or even my enemy through the preaching of his Word! There is nothing that our Lord’s Word cannot accomplish when people have the opportunity to listen to his Word, and now that we know the truth of that Word, we are the ones whom the Lord has commissioned to cast the net of that word into the waters of the world. So grab your gear and let’s go fishing.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
