Luke 5:1-11

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever felt like God was meddling in your business? Are we aware that He meets us at our most significant point of need but also in the places we feel the strongest and most capable? What are some areas of our lives that we think we have under control and know best how to handle? What would it look like to say, “…nevertheless at thy word I will” to Jesus? Do we fully grasp that leaving everything behind is to gain everything in Him?
2. Do we realize that God has our highest good in mind for life on earth and all eternity? How does this knowledge quicken our hearts to obedience even when it doesn’t always make sense?
3. How do we respond once we have encountered Jesus and our lives are radically changed? What does our “from now on” look like? Are we growing to resemble Him more each day, living lives that point others to Him?

Transcript

We do study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. And welcome, if this is your first time, this is a regular practice for us at TVC. If you’d like a paper copy, just lift up your hand, and someone will bring one along to you so you can follow along in the text. Also, we want to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online, whether you’re coming from Osaka, Japan, or Salt Lake City or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. May the grace of our Lord be with you as well. We’re continuing our study this morning of the Gospel According to Luke. If you’ve been with us for the past few weeks, we’ve been studying this gospel. In your own studies of the gospels of Matthew, of Mark, of Luke, or even in John, have you ever noticed the many in varied ways that Jesus interacts with people?

Rarely does He have the same kind of interaction with individuals and with different groups. For example, sometimes when Jesus is in His healing moments, He has a moment with somebody who has a skin disease, leprosy. With that skin disease of leprosy, Jesus reaches out and He touches the man to heal him. Not only healing him of his disease, but also meeting him, that man, at his greatest point of weakness, greatest point of shame. Sometimes Jesus simply says a word, and broken bodies are healed. Sometimes He simply says a word, and those who are dead come to life. Sometimes when Jesus interacts with people, He pursues them.

Think about the woman at the well. He goes out of his way to go to Samaria, and He meets this woman. Or think about Zacchaeus, who’s curious about Jesus, and he climbs up in this tree, and Jesus looks up into the tree and He sees Zacchaeus, and He says, “Hey, Zacchaeus, come on down. I’m coming to your house tonight for dinner.” Sometimes Jesus sees somebody walk away like the rich young ruler who was curious about who this Lord was, who this master was, this teacher was. But when Jesus pressed him on the thing that he most personally held dear, his wealth, he walks away, and we don’t know the rest of the story.

Jesus meets people in different ways, in varied ways, as we read the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This is a beautiful thing, and I think this is great comfort for you and for me. The way of Jesus in pursuing people, He meets us sometimes at our greatest point of need. Sometimes though, He meets us where we think we are strongest. We say it again, sometimes He meets us where we’re needy. Sometimes it’s where we think we’re the expert, and many of us in here have stories of Jesus meeting us in both of those places. The Lord’s redeeming work, Jesus’ redeeming work, is for all of creation, every tribe, and every tongue, but it comes to the hearts of individual men and women. If you believe that, say amen. Amen. If that’s been your story, say amen. It’s been mine.

I invite you to turn to Luke, Chapter 5 this morning. Allow me to pray for us, and we’ll begin our study: Father, open Your Word to us and open us to Your Word. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear the grace that You have for each of us today by Your Holy Spirit. Show us the glory of Jesus in whose name we all said amen.

Luke, Chapter 5, starting with verse 1, if you’ll follow along in the text. “On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’

“And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I’m a sinful man, O Lord.’ For he and all who are with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. From now on you’ll be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and they followed him.”

This is the reading of God’s Word. In this one small paragraph in our English Bibles, we’re given a window into how Jesus calls Simon Peter to follow him. Did you see it? It starts with the Word of God. We witness Jesus teaching the Word of God, and Simon Peter hears and trusts the Word of God. He obeys Him, and Peter’s eyes are open to see that Jesus is Lord. Simon Peter’s eyes are also open to see his own sinfulness, and then Simon receives a call from Jesus and immediately drops everything to follow that man. Simon Peter can go no other way than to follow after Jesus. From then on, the orbit of his life, if you will, is changed on that morning at the lake. We don’t know with certainty whether this particular story in our text here today follows chronologically from the previous text. But if you recall from our study last week, Peter had come to know Jesus already as a rabbi, as a teacher, as a healer.

If you look with me there at verse 5, he calls Him master. Simon Peter says to Jesus, “Master, here’s what we’ve already done. We’ve already set out our nets.” Master is a term of authority, of honor, but not divinity. So, Peter calls Jesus master here, so he knows Him a little bit. Peter is perhaps, at this point, a part-time follower of Jesus. He’s curious about Jesus. But if we do take it chronologically, like I said, we don’t know with certainty, the day before was the Sabbath day, and in the synagogue, Jesus had healed a demon-possessed man. After the worship service, Jesus heads over to Simon’s house for Sabbath dinner, and Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Later on, in that day into the evening, Jesus continues to do His healing ministry.

So, imagine that particular evening, Jesus goes on and He continues to preach and to teach and to heal, and Peter and his crew, James and John, go on to do their work. They go fishing. That’s when fishermen fish – at night, at least they did back then. So, Jesus is healing. Peter goes to work. The same rhythm they’d probably done most of their adult lives. Professional fish merchants knew that the night was when all the fish came, but that evening they caught nothing, and that’s where our story picks up in our text here this morning. Look with me at verse 1 if you would. “The crowd was pressing in on him…” That’s Jesus, “to hear the word of God.” He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, also known as Lake Tiberius or more commonly the sea of Galilee.

We’ll pause here for just a second to give you a sense of the surrounding. We’re going to put an image up here on the screen. This is the Sea of Galilee from one of our previous trips, our recent trips. This is right on the west side in the city of Tiberius, on the west side of the sea of Galilee, looking east. It’s a beautiful body of water, and it probably looked similar to this particular morning here in our text. Now it’s helpful to remember there were several individuals and groups in our story here today. People in Luke 5:1-11, there’s Jesus, of course, there’s the crowds, there’s Simon Peter, and there’s James and John, and probably not mentioned, but included there, is a whole crew of folks manning those boats.

Now here in verse 1, as we just read, this is the first time that Luke uses the term “word of God.” It says Jesus is preaching, teaching the word of God, and another way of translating it here is “the word spoken by God.” So, putting it another way, the people who had gathered around Jesus were hearing things from Him that had an authority and a power that they had never experienced before. This man was different. There was something other, something unique, about His teaching. His words were divinely sourced, and many, I think, were curious, and some, perhaps, were just leaning in, “What is He going to say next?” As we continue studying Luke’s gospel over the next several months, and I hope you’ll continue to join us, we’ll begin to see these crowds that are mentioned here grow and grow and grow.

You can see there in verse 1, the crowds are “pressing in” on Jesus, and a few verses later, the crowds are so big they have to lower someone in from the roof. Later on in Chapter 12, it says, there are thousands who have gathered around Jesus, so much so they were trampling on one another. The crowds grow and grow and grow because this man, Jesus, was unlike any in history, and some thought the greatest teacher they’d ever heard; some thought the greatest threat that they’d ever seen. Here is this man on a lake. Someone recognized Him. Some recognized Him as the Holy One, the divine Son of God. But on this particular morning, this pressing crowd around Jesus created a problem, and Jesus sees two boats that could solve this particular issue. Look with me at verse 2, “He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.”

Many of us grew up hearing this story in Sunday school. Anybody have flannel graph growing up or that equivalent? I’m not sure if it’s on TikTok or whatever they’re doing nowadays with the kids, but when I grew up in Sunday school, I’ve heard this story and the other story in John, the post-resurrection story, and it looks like these nets are little primitive tools. I don’t think so. From the evidence that we see from archeology, this was a professional enterprise. This was a business, and so it’s likely that these nets were very large. It required a crew, winches, and a couple of boats. Soaking wet, it’s estimated that some of these nets could have been 1,000 pounds or more.

So, when Luke tells us they were getting out of their boats and they were washing their nets, probably drying them as well, this was rough, backbreaking labor. These men were likely exhausted, and perhaps a little grumpy from an entire evening of work that was unproductive. From a business perspective, they had failed. As they were putting their work tools up for the day, Jesus…did you notice? He just simply steps into the boat. Jesus lifts up His leg, says, “Hey, Peter, can I use this boat as a pulpit? I have this problem. The crowd’s pressing in. Can you just push out a little bit into the water?” And so, this water now becomes a natural amphitheater so the people and the fishermen could hear the word of God preached.

So earlier, Jesus went to Simon’s home for Sabbath lunch. Now he’s stepping into Simon’s boat, the two places that are most personal to Simon. On that day, Simon, perhaps discouraged and probably weary from an evening of work, puts his boat to good use, but the Lord didn’t stop His pursuit of Simon at the house or at the boat. Look with me at verse 4, when Jesus had finished speaking. So, the sermon was over now. He said, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word, I’ll let down the nets.” So, let’s get the real gravity of this moment. First the house, then the boat. Now Jesus is meddling in Simon Peter’s business. He’s getting up into his grill, if you will. Is that what the kids say? I’m not sure.

He’s getting really personal. Fishing was Simon’s domain. He was the expert fisherman, and I don’t think you have to strain or read into the text to see that Simon probably had a bit of sarcasm in his response, maybe even a little bit of salty fisherman language, but perhaps Simon remembered the healing of his mother-in-law, the unusual authority of the teaching of this man, and Peter decided to trust Him. So, Peter pulls out all the tools, he unfolds the massive nets, he calls back his crew, and he sets out on this fishing expedition that would’ve seemed like nonsense to a first-century fisherman. You do not fish during the morning or during the day. You just don’t do it.

What we’re witnessing here, I think, is the burgeoning faith of Simon Peter, and actually, I don’t think our modern translations get at Peter’s response quite as well as the old King James Version. So, Jesus says, “Hey, put out.” And Peter says, “No, no, no. We’ve toiled all night.” And in the King James, it says,

“Nevertheless, at Thy word, I will let down the net.”
Luke 5:5 (KJV)

Ever since sin and rebellion entered into our world, into my own heart, our pride and the evil one will never cease to obscure, to twist, to question the ways and the word of God. Sometimes the clear teaching of God’s Word is at odds with what feels right to me in the moment, at odds with what seems like the obvious course of action based on the cultural waters that I swim in, that I grew up in, that I see around me.

It’s in those moments when obedience, I think, is a demonstration of faith, perhaps imperfect, but a demonstration of faith and trust in the One who knows all things. It’s a laying down of my attempts at trying to construct my own reality, my own kingdom, and a simple recognition that there may be, there just may be, someone with a higher authority than my own, a higher authority than the self. That’s precisely where the saving and sanctifying work of Jesus begins, setting us free to live into the goodness and the righteous ways of a God who loves us and has our highest good in mind for eternity.

Sometimes believers might ask me, “Why am I not making any spiritual progress in my walk with the Lord?” Often, we need patience. The work of the Holy Spirit sometimes can be slow. But sometimes we need to start at the beginning and ask whether we’re truly listening, hearing, and trusting the clear instruction of the Lord. Dallas Willard says it so well,

“The most powerful form of spiritual warfare is obedience.”
Dallas Willard

The most powerful form of spiritual warfare is obedience and acts of trust and acts of faith. Sometimes what the Lord asks of us seems impossible, even foolish, or even contradicts my expert opinion. “Nevertheless, at Thy word…” That phrase there is a mark of one who has put out the empty hands of faith and said, “I have come to the end of my rope, and I trust You.” Even the smallest imperfect faith. I think that’s what we’re seeing here from Simon Peter.

Jesus, of course, He knew where the fish were. He knows where every sparrow lands. He knows how many hairs are on the tops of our heads, more challenging for some than for others. He knows every tear. He knows your name. Kent Hughes said it this way.

“Peter had been brought personally into the sphere of Jesus’ mighty kingdom power… This was not his first exposure to Christ’s kingdom authority, but this time Jesus ministered in Peter’s personal universe – his sea, his boat, his nets – and so the significance came to him as never before.”
R. Kent Hughes

So, let’s look, for a minute, at the way Jesus pursued Peter into this sphere of His mighty kingdom power. Jesus’ pursuit of Peter looked like this: He dines in Simon’s home. He steps into Simon’s boat. He meddles in Simon’s business. By the way, I chose the word “meddle” there on purpose because it is kind of a negative word, but sometimes, I think, Peter needed a little bit of meddling. Sometimes I need the Lord to do a little bit of meddling. He reveals Simon’s need for a savior. We can see that in verse 8. And he calls Simon to follow Him from then on. Simon had a high view of Jesus. He called Him master. We see that in verse 5, but it wasn’t high enough. You can have a high view of Jesus and still have a wrong view of Jesus.

There may be some studying here today who are wrestling with who Jesus really was and is. The author of this book, Luke, makes every effort to give a careful account so that we might know with certainty who He was and who He is. On that particular morning on the lake, Jesus pursued Simon so that he might know who He was for Simon’s highest good – so that he might find life, so that he might find forgiveness and freedom, and so that many others would find life in the name of Jesus. So, who do you say Jesus is? That is a question worth considering. What you think about God, as Tozer said, is the most important thing about you.

Whether you’re curious about the faith or you’ve been a believer for many years and drifted, it’s a worthy question. Who do you say that Jesus is? Master? I have a pretty high view of Jesus, or is it Lord? See, Lord is not just a term of authority. It’s a term of divinity. The Lord is someone you bow before. You can have a high view of Jesus but still have a wrong view of Jesus. After Peter set out on this fishing expedition that must have seemed like madness to him, but can you imagine his crew all exhausted and tired getting out there into the water again? But the catch of fish that they bring in is so extraordinary. The massive nets are breaking. The boats begin to sink. Obedience, by the way, doesn’t always lead to dramatic and astonishing miracles. It did on that day, and it still does today, but it doesn’t always. So don’t miss the main point.

The point of the story is not the extraordinary catch of fish, but the way that that catch revealed the power and authority and divinity, holiness, purity, glory of Jesus there on that lake. Precisely because Simon was a fisherman, he knew this kind of power could only be divinely sourced, and it was in that moment, Peter came face to face with holiness, the otherness of Jesus Christ. And he could do nothing but fall to his knees like Isaiah before him, like Ezekiel before him, and later on, John in Revelation.

When one comes into the presence of the holiness of God, they can’t help but be undone. That’s what Isaiah said. Ezekiel fell face down when he was face to face with the holiness of God. When Isaiah came face to face, he said, “I am unclean.” And here, Simon Peter does the same. He comes face to face with the glory of Christ, and we can see that transformation in the language of Simon. Again, look at it. Verse 5, he calls Him “master.” Verse 8, he calls Him “Lord.” That’s a dramatic change in a few sentences in our English Bible. That’s a heart transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sproul puts it this way, R.C. Sproul said,

“When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute. When we meet the Infinite, we become acutely conscious that we are finite. When we meet the Eternal, we know we are temporal. To meet God as a powerful study in contrasts.”
R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

Simon and the others with him were in the presence of the holy but notice the mercy of Jesus. Peter says, “I’m a sinful man.” Jesus doesn’t lecture Peter about his sinfulness. There’s no stinging rebuke. He says, “Do not be afraid. From now on, here’s who you are. You know who I am now, and from now on, here’s who you are. What your mission is is to tell others about what’s been revealed to you, the good news of the kingdom that I’m establishing, the good news of forgiveness, the good news of salvation.”

That’s what Jesus means when He says, “From now on, you’ll be catching men.” Look there at verse 10. That’s kind of a funny phrase to our ears, I think, catching men. The word “catch” there is actually different. It’s a different word, “zogreo.” It’s different than when it was used before for catching fish. The word used here for catching actually means to catch for life, to catch something, to save it, to catch something, to spare it. So put differently, Jesus not only shows mercy, but He commissions Peter into the vocation that all believers, including you and me, share to show others where to find life, where to find mercy, and it’s in the person of Jesus.

Three powerful words of grace, “From now on.” There’s a certainty that I hear in those words. There’s an eternal hope found in those words. There’s a great comfort in those words to all who are prone to wander, as the hymn writer says. “From now on,” Jesus is saying, “You’re with Me. You’re going to do the things that I’m doing.” Offering sight to those who are spiritually blind, forgiveness to those mired in sin and shame, life to those who are spiritually dead. Peter was probably discouraged earlier that day, probably skeptical about fishing yet again, but from that day forward, I’m certain Peter was forever grateful that Jesus came to his home. He stepped into his boat, and He poked his nose into his business.

John Stott said it this way.

“We resent His intrusions into our privacy, His demand for our homage, His expectation of our obedience. Why can’t He mind His own business? To which He instantly replies that we are His business, and He will never leave us alone.”
John Stott, The Cross of Christ

Church, that is worth saying, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, we can do better than that. That is worth saying, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah simply means, “praise God.” There’s much to give thanks for in this great truth. By His Spirit, our Lord still works in the same way. Do you know that? Pursuing those who don’t know Him, calling home those who have strayed far from Him. We can see the reordering of Peter’s heart on the lake that day. It’s not perfect yet. We’re going to see it continue to grow and mature.

His progression of faith in Jesus begins with hearing the word. We’ll put it up on the screen. It begins with hearing the word of Jesus. He trusts the word of Jesus, perhaps reluctantly, imperfectly with a little bit of grumpiness, but then he recognizes the holiness of Jesus. He confesses his own sinfulness to Jesus, and he leaves everything to follow Jesus. Now, it’s worth noting that John’s gospel tells us that Simon’s brother Andrew first heard of Jesus through the preaching ministry of John the Baptist. Andrew tells Peter, “Come and see. We have found the Messiah.” The pursuit of Simon, Jesus’ pursuit of Simon, began long before this day at the lake. It came through the preaching of John the Baptist. It came through his brother Andrew, in the Spirit of God.

The from-now-on moment, if I can call it that, was certainly personal to Simon that day, but it was never meant to remain with Simon alone. He was called, as we are, to share this hope, to tell others where they can find life. That’s what that means to catch men, to catch men and women. To bring them into this kingdom of forgiveness, salvation, and mercy that’s on offer.

Peter’s faith continues to grow. We read this in the Gospel of John. Later on, several years later, Peter says,

“Lord, to whom shall we go? Only You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:68-69

Peter knew where life was after that day. The text tells us they left everything to follow Him, if you look at 11. They left everything to follow Him. The word “follow” there is not merely to walk behind somebody like on a path. The word is actually more like apprenticeship. It’s a getting up close. It’s a watching. It’s a listening. It’s orienting your entire life around someone. From then on, Peter would just do that imperfectly. But as we see the story unfolding, Jesus continues to pursue Simon his whole life, even when he wanders.

The text says they left everything, and I take that to mean they left literally. They left behind – the greatest catch they had ever made, because they saw a greater treasure in front of them. They didn’t lose everything. In fact, they gained everything because, in Jesus, they found all that they needed. The thrust of this text for us this morning is not that we must all leave here and where the Lord has planted us and pursue vocational ministry. That might be for some of you here today, but that’s not the thrust of this. The point is that we’re to leave everything behind that keeps us from bowing the knee to Jesus. I must bow the knee to His Word, not only at my greatest point of weakness, but also at the point where I think I am the strongest.

Perhaps that’s the harder one, and this is the logic of the kingdom of God, that I come to Him. It’s when I come to Him with the empty hands of faith. I’ve tried it my way. I’ve come up empty, and that’s when I begin to see the power of Jesus come alive. Richard Foster says this.

“To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.”
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Do you know who Jesus is? One of my favorite hymns is a spiritual. It’s so simple, but it reminds me of this truth. We’re going to sing it later. “You can have all this world but give me Jesus.”

So simple. But think about the weight of those words. You can have all this world, the greatest catch, they left it behind but give me Jesus. They saw a greater treasure, and that can only be said after standing before the Holy One of eternity and falling before Him. From now on, I will never be the same. Friends, Jesus – He pursues you. I hope you know that. He pursues you. For Simon, Jesus walked into his home, in his boat, meddled in his business, what he thought was his business. Is our Lord near you this morning? Is our Lord near you this morning, calling to you, revealing Himself to you?

Would you pray with me? Father, as Your Son did with Peter on that day, come near to us by Your Spirit and show us more of who Jesus is. Lord, we confess our need of You and more of Your Word in our life. May those who are worn out this morning from the failures around us or inside of us find rest, healing, wholeness, life, salvation, freedom, forgiveness. We come to You with nothing in our hands but need. We ask for a fresh measure of Your grace, a fresh measure of Your tender mercy in this place and in our households. May You receive all the honor and glory today and forevermore. We all said, church, amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs:

“I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)“ by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel
“Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus“ by William J. Kirkpatrick, John Andrew Schreiner, and Louisa R. Stead
“Anchor Of Hope“ by Brown Bannister and Ellie Holcomb
“Give Me Jesus“ by Fernando Ortega
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #200369

Call To Worship: How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place

LEADER: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
PEOPLE: Our souls long, yes faint for the courts of the Lord; Our hearts and flesh sing for joy To the living God.

LEADER: Who is like you, O Lord, Majestic in holiness, Awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
PEOPLE: It is good to be near God; Make the Lord God our refuge And tell of all his works.

LEADER: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who alone does wondrous things.
ALL: Blessed be his glorious name forever; May the whole earth be filled with his Glory! Amen and Amen!

Source: Excerpts from Psalm 84, 72, 73, and Ezekiel 15

Confession: This is Our Faith

Leader: Do you believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist?
All: We believe and trust in Him.

Leader: Do you believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again?
All: We believe and trust in Him.

Leader: Do you believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God, and makes Christ known in the world?
All: We believe and trust in Him.

Leader: This is the faith of the Church.
All: We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Source: Adapted from the Athanasian Creed

Classic Prayer: Dwight L. Moody, 1837–1899

Our Heavenly Father, we pray that thy blessing may rest on each one of us who profess to be Christians. O Lord, help us to love Christ more than we love ourselves: help us to be more like him in our way of life. Help us, O Lord, to walk humbly, prayerfully, consistently on, in the dust of our pilgrimage so that men may not stumble over us and say, “They profess only; they never do anything.” O God, help us to live up to what we profess, through thee, in Christ Jesus, and may it be shown in each one of us. O God of Adam and God of our Fathers, hear our cry and bring salvation; and may many this day receive the gift of God… May the Spirit of God be poured out on this church and on all thy churches; and may many be drawn to thee and love thee. May your work go on everywhere we pray thee, and Christ shall have the glory.

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