If fishing is one of your passions, you will love our scripture lesson for today. Though I prefer hunting to fishing, I have a soft spot in my heart for fishing because of a childhood experience. I was about 10 or 11 years old. One Wednesday afternoon Papa took me with him to a nearby pond to do a little fishing. I was just learning to use a rod and reel. Papa caught a little bass weighing about half a pound. Then he had to leave for prayer meeting. He asked me if I wanted to stay a bit longer and make a few casts. Of course I did. I remember to this day the top-water plug I was using. I tossed it over near some reeds and let it lie still for a few seconds. Then I just twitched it a couple of times. Then something exploded all over that plug, like an NFL linebacker demolishing a quarterback. I jerked hard and then hung on for dear life. I don’t know how long I fought that fish. Once or twice I thought it was going to pull me into the water. When I finally got him to the edge of the pond, I grabbed him by the gills and ran home. I couldn’t wait for Papa to return from prayer meeting and see my three and a half pound bass. Mama took a picture of us, Papa holding that puny little fish he caught beside my monster of the deep. I can show you the picture at home as living proof. Of course, I was hooked for life.
Luke’s fish story involved a lot more fish than mine. It happens on the Sea of Galilee. That beautiful body of water and is still full of fish today. It is really a fresh-water lake, 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. Because it is 680 feet below sea level, it has almost a tropical climate. Nowadays the area around the sea is sparsely populated, but in Jesus’ day, there were nine towns clustered around the Sea, none with less than 15,000 population. Jesus noticed two boats down by the shore, one owned by Simon Peter. Jesus asked if he could use a boat as a speaker’s platform from which to teach the crowds of people. Verse 4 tells us that when Jesus finished teaching and pronounced the benediction, he said to Simon, "Let’s go fishing." Jesus fished in the same clothes he preached in. From Jesus’ example one can extrapolate an eleventh commandment: Never go fishing on Sunday unless you have been in a worship service first. Look at verse five. Simon Peter protests, "Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing!" What he really wants to say is, "Look, Jesus, everybody knows that night-time is the best time for fishing. The morning is a terrible time. The sun’s rays spook the fish. Besides, we just finished cleaning the nets and we’re dog-tired." Simon Peter implies that while Jesus knows a lot about preaching, he—Simon Peter—is the expert on fishing. Have you ever felt that way? That Jesus knows about spiritual matters but when it comes to practical affairs, like running your business or investing in the stock market or rearing teenagers, that’s where you’re the expert. Notice that Simon refers to Jesus as "Master." That was a term denoting someone in authority. But what does a carpenter turned preacher know about fishing? Verse 5 includes a great word of faith. In the King James Version the word is "nevertheless." In the New International Version, which I am reading, it is rendered, "But because you say so, I will let down the nets." That’s a victory of obedience over preference. Simon Peter was really saying, "Master, I don’t believe there’s a fish within a half-mile of here, but if you say, ‘go fishing,’ I’m on my way." Verses 6 and 7 tell us what happened. The results were astounding. So many fish were netted that another boat had to be sent out to help gather them. This is one of the great fish stories of all time, and it really happened, which is more than I can say for many fish stories I have heard. I suspect that the Lord grants all fishermen a 20 percent flex of the truth before they actually get into lying. I think that is somewhere in the book of Calamities. Like the wife who went on a fishing trip with her husband. Describing it to a neighbor, she said, "I did everything wrong. I was too noisy, and used the wrong bait. I reeled in too soon, and….I caught more fish than he did."
Pastor Bruce Larson tells about a testimony offered by a layman in his church, the chief engineer in a laboratory. He said, "We produced 200 amplifiers for a custom order, and when they came off our assembly line not a single one of them worked. We checked all the blueprints and parts, and could find nothing wrong. I went back to my office, closed the door, got on my knees and prayed, "Lord, what’s wrong with those amplifiers?" Suddenly the idea came to me to cross two particular wires. It made no sense to do it but I went back and tried it. It worked. All those sets were delivered in perfect working order. It suddenly occurred to me that Jesus knew more about electronics than I did." (1) Then in verse 8, Simon Peter falls to his knees before Jesus and addresses him with a different title. No longer does he call Jesus "Master." Now he is "Lord." This was the term used consistently in the first five books of the Bible as a reference to God. Simon Peter could see clearly that this Jesus was in such close cahoots with God that he-Simon- felt unworthy to even be around him. In verse 10 Jesus says in effect, "Get on your feet, Simon. I’ve got much bigger plans for you than catching fish. From now on you’re going to be working for God, fishing for people." Now Simon Peter and his friends sense how great and capable Jesus is. They turn over their fishing business to friends and relatives, confident that Jesus will see that the business is viable enough to support their families. They "left everything and followed him." (Luke 5:11)
I. God Calls Us Into Deep Water
I find three life-lessons here that I feel called to apply to our hearts. The first is this: God Calls us into deep water. By deep water I mean areas outside our comfort zones, places where there is some risk, activities that are not easy. Just imagine that God sent you a pretty clear order to pack up and move to Newark, New Jersey. Now, if the Lord sent me that message, I would ask him to put it in writing. But the Lord sent just such a message to Father Abraham "The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’" (Genesis 12:1) God called Abraham into deep water. There is a physician in our congregation who started a medical clinic for Spanish-speaking people in our area. That was risky. I can think of much safer practices of medicine, but this doctor felt called into deep water. Our congregation is sending one of our own to live and work among the people of the Binghampton section of Memphis. That young man, Nathan Cook, fresh out of seminary, is engaged to be married. For a young couple to invest themselves in a low-income section of our city is a bit risky, but they feel called into deep water. Bill Hybels, the senior minister of the great Willow Creek Church near Chicago, is one of the most capable leaders in America. He heard God’s call when he was about twenty years old. He was a college student on staff in a Christian summer camp. His father was a prosperous owner of a business that Bill could inherit. But one day the camp director pulled Bill off to the side and asked a loaded question: "Bill, what are you doing with your life that will last forever?" That question shook Bill Hybels to his very foundations. He has been trying to answer it ever since. (2) Bill Hybel’s answer took him out of his comfort zones into deep water.
II. Don't Give God Instructions; Just Report for Duty
Here is the second life-lesson: Don't give God instructions; just report for duty. God delights in our obedience. As Jesus declared, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15) When I finished my theological training in 1965, I was bound and determined to go somewhere other than South Carolina to serve as a pastor. My father and grandfather, both having my same name, had been pastors in that state. I wanted to turn over a new leaf, to be really on my own. So, I interviewed with committees from North Carolina and Ohio. They offered much better starting salaries than did South Carolina.
But in my prayers, God kept saying, "Come back home." A thoughtful district superintendent from South Carolina kept writing to me, suggesting that he had a place in mind for me, which had great potential. I didn’t know it then but that word "potential" means, "There is not much going on there right now." Thank God, I obeyed his call and went back to South Carolina. And in my first church, there was a cute blonde coed who attracted my attention right away. Eighteen months later we married. I shudder to think what my life would have been without her. When God gives you a clear indication of what his will is for you, it pays to be obedient. We might not even have a Methodist Church today if our founder John Wesley had followed his preferences rather than God’s call. Wesley wrote in his diary one day in May, 1738, "I went quite unwillingly to divine services on Aldersgate Street." Well, that night on Aldersgate Street, John Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed and the Methodist movement was launched. When your "want-to’s" don’t agree with God’s directions, go with God.
III. God Doesn't Call the Qualified; He Qualifies the Called
Here is the third life-lesson: God doesn't call the qualified; he qualifies the called. If God sends you somewhere, he will equip you.
God sent Moses to demand freedom for the Hebrew people from an Egyptian Pharoah. But Moses said, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent." With remarkable patience the Lord replied, "Who gave man his mouth? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." (Exodus 4:10-12) God calls some of the most unlikely characters. The founder of Asbury Theological Seminary was a man named Henry Clay Morrison. As a rural teenager, Henry felt the call to preach in 1878. His local Methodist church granted him a license to preach. His older brother was shocked and disappointed. He wanted the boy to be a lawyer. He said, "Henry, you can’t preach. We don’t need another one-horse Methodist preacher dragging a woman and children around the country at the point of starvation." Henry replied, "But Tom, the Lord has called me to preach." In disgust Tom replied, "Well, the Lord must be hard up for material." (3) Henry Clay Morrison went on in the pwer of God to become a great spiritual leader of America. The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you. When God sends you orders, you can be sure that resources are on the way. God doesn’t want any of his people to live in a rut. He is forever nudging us out of our comfort zones. Excitement in Christ is seldom felt on the safe shores where the living is easy but out there in deep water where life is risky and faith is required. In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe "Pioneer 10." Its main mission was to reach Jupiter and send back information about that planet. It was a bold plan because at that time no satellite had gone beyond Mars. Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and so much more. It swung past Jupiter in November, 1973, then passed Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. By 1997, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. Despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to earth. The most remarkable thing was that those signals were powered by an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light. Not even the most optimistic scientist could have ever imagined what that little 8-watt transmitter could do. (4)
So it is when you and I offer ourselves to God in faithful obedience. It’s just incredible what God can do through little 8-watt transmitters like me and you, when we’re turned on for him.
1. Larson, Bruce, Luke, The Communicator’s Commentary, Lloyd J. Ogilvie, General Editor. (Word: Waco, 1983), p. 103.
2. Hybels, Bill, Descending Into Greatness, (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1993), p. 206.
3. Wesche, Percival A., Henry Clay Morrison, "Crusader Saint," (Herald Press: Berne, IN, 1963), p. 25.
4. Larson, Craig Brian, Pastoral Grit: the Strength to Stand and to Stay, (Bethany Press)