everything and followed him. Go. Make. Baptize. Teach. Luke 5:1-11 Extraordinary Call Robert E. Roulhac Jr. Jesus Calls the First Disciples 5 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, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And x he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. 5 And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets. 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 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 will be catching men. 1 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left Summary on the Authority of Jesus 1. Luke 4:14 And He returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about Him went out through all the surrounding country 2. We have the same Holy Spirit alive in us as Jesus had. 3. Which means we have the same power & authority as Jesus. 4. We must understand that we also have the same Mission that Jesus had! As we look at the text we will see that all of the events lead up to Jesus issuing a call to Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave everything, follow Jesus, and to be fishers of Men. Jesus calls ordinary men for His Extraordinary mission. We will look at three main items from the text: 1. The Cast 2. The Catch 3. The Call Before we get into looking at these three let s set the scene. We have Jesus who we know according to chapter 4 that had come out of the wilderness after being tempted by Satan in the power of the Spirit preaching and proclaiming the good news, healing the sick, and casting demons out of the possessed. Now we see him in chapter 5 of Luke surrounded by the masses all desiring to hear the word of God. So as Jesus standing beside this lake he sees two boats and to Him it makes sense to jump into one of the boats, push out a little bit from the shore, and teach from the boat so that all could hear. As we see in the text that Jesus does just that. Now the boat He got into was a boat that belong to Simon also known as Peter. This brings us to the first point that we will take a look at from the text which is The Cast.
THE CAST 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. 5 And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets. An Ordinary Request Robert Lee - Ok daddy Ok daddy I am going to catch a fish one more time I m going to catch a fish one more time Just one more time and then we can go Ok daddy? Ok? Rob Roulhac - Sure son One more time Robert Lee - OK daddy! You just watch me daddy Any fisherman understands the concept of the last cast. When setting out at the start of a fishing trip, every fisherman plans to catch fish. No fisherman sets out thinking or believing, I am not going to catch any fish. But it is going to be so much fun casting out and reeling in nothing every time! The expectation is to catch something. So, on those bad days when you have been casting out all day or all night and you have caught nothing, at some point you decide, Alright this is the last cast. If I don t catch anything with this, I am calling it a day Simon, Andrew, James, & John had already hit that point. They had reeled in the nets and were cleaning up. They had come back to shore and were calling it a night/morning (They fished throughout the night v. 5). This is where it gets interesting. Peter and the crew had already reached that point of being done. They had simply accepted the fact that they weren t going to catch anything. And yet they find themselves back in their boats and now Jesus is saying, Peter cast out one more time. An Ordinary Response Now let s think about Peter s response. While we look at the actual response I want to remember to think about what possibly could have been going through Peter s mind. Remembering this is Peter s job so being on the boat for some time fishing was not abnormal. Casting out one more time was not abnormal it was actually a pretty ordinary request. But who stood to be affected by Peter s Response? The crew? Peter s wife waiting back home? (Story of Karissa waiting for me ) Let s look at Peter s response. 5 And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets. I can imagine that after thinking through all that could be affected by his response (The Crew, his family waiting for him back home, etc.) Peter had a pretty tough choice to make. Never the less he made a choice. He says to Jesus, But at YOUR word I will let down the nets. In Peter s response, we see this implied statement that because You, Jesus, said to, I will let the nets down. Now why is this response such an ordinary response? For two reasons: There is always the hope of the last cast Out of all the people in the world to request one more cast it was Jesus. The one who just finished casting out a demon. So, Peter s response was not an outlandish response. It was pretty ordinary. An Ordinary man responding to an ordinary request. Jesus calls ordinary men for His Extraordinary mission.
So now let s take a look at what happened after the cast: The Catch. THE CATCH 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Peter and the crew had been fishing all night BUT when Jesus showed up something changed. (Rob s Basketball outfit for Ivey League) The only difference between what they had been doing all night and what they did that morning was the Power 7 Presence of Jesus. The reality here is when we bring our ordinary into alignment with and obedience to the Word of Jesus things begin to happen. Jesus takes our ordinary and will produce some extraordinary results! It was a matter of the heart. Although Peter had been fishing all night, at the word of Jesus, he was willing to fish a little while longer. So how does this apply to me and you? Although he had been trying to catch fish as an experienced fisherman all night it wasn't until his heart and mind were aligned to the command of Jesus that he was able to catch any fish. His hope was not in his ability to fish or his experience as a fisherman. His hope was in the Word of Jesus. His Hope was in Jesus. We know that we have been called to be disciples of Jesus and we know we have been called to make disciples of Jesus by preaching the good news to all. You may have been trying for much of your life to grow a disciple of Jesus. You may have even been trying for much of your walk to make more Disciples of Jesus. The reality is family that your hope can t be in your trying but in Jesus Himself. Our hope can t even be in the command of God, but our hope has to be in the God that issued the command. As we hear the Word of God, and at the Word of God we place our faith in the God of the Word, we can rest knowing that as we Obey His Word, HE will bring fruit. In light of this let us not grow weary. We all should be ready to press in to His Word a little while longer. We should be ready to fish a little while longer. And like Peter & the crew, we are fishing for men and women that would hear the word of God and completely trust in the God of the word. One interesting thing about Peter s response was that he didn t allow his own feelings nor his assumptions of how it would affect everyone else prevent his obedience to the word/request of Jesus. Family, what is it that God has requested of you that your personal feelings, or fear of man is keeping you from doing? Or a Better question WHO is it that God is calling you to pursue that your personal feelings and/or fear of man is preventing you from pursuing? Now let s look at the overall effect of this catch? 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 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 will be catching men. 1 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
All the people that we mentioned above that could be affected by Peter s response were drastically affected by Peter s submitting to the Command of Jesus to cast out just one more time. But no one affected more than Peter, Andrew, James, and John themselves. Let s put this into perspective. A couple things to note: We don t know how often the crew fished all night and caught nothing but we do know that this wasn t a onetime thing. In John 21:4-8 we see they had been fishing all night again with no fish to show for it. So, this quite possibly was a normal experience for the crew. Peter and the crew were fisherman by trade and this was their livelihood. This is how they provided for their families. They have quite possibly just caught the greatest catch of their fishing careers. When they caught this great catch three things happened: 1. The Confirmation: Peter s obedience leads to the confirmation of His Faith in who Jesus is. Peter request Jesus to depart form me because of his sinfulness and how he addresses Jesus as Lord shows us that the fruit of Peter s submitting to Jesus request affirms Peter s faith in who he thinks Jesus is. We aren t saved by obedience. We are saved by Grace through Faith, and that faith a gift from God. However, as we obey and He produces fruit, it affirms our faith. We see this with Peter s response. 2. The Consequence: Peter s obedience to the Word of Jesus impacted everyone that was on the shore that day. (Something happened to all of that fish) Our obedience to the Words of Jesus impact others. 3. The Cost: Peter and the crew on the cusp of the biggest breakthrough of their career, leave it all to follow Jesus! All those fish! Left behind to follow Jesus! They weren t captured by the catch! They were captured by the one who miraculously brought the catch. How often do you find yourself captured by results instead of being captured by a Good Father that gave the results? How often do you take the results as a confirmation of your own plans instead of a call to be a part of His mission? The Father doesn t give us gifts to accomplish our own agendas. He gives us gifts so that we might use them to glorify Him. He gives us results so that we can give them away for the sake of His mission to draw all men to Himself. He gives a bunch of ordinary folks His extraordinary gifts so that we can play our roll in His Extraordinary Mission. Jesus calls ordinary men for His Extraordinary mission. This leads us to the final focal point of this text: The Call. THE CALL Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. 1 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. A Disciple of the Day A Few Ordinary Men What do we see here from the context of the text? We see a few guys out on a boat most likely continuing on the family business of fishing to provide a living for themselves and their families. We know from history that most young men began working in the family business around 12 or 13 years old. This was after they had been marked by the rabbis of the day to not be worthy of being an understudy or a disciple of a rabbi. Those that didn t meet the qualifications, after having presented themselves as a potential disciple but not quite making the cut, would return home to their families and begin working with
their father in the family business. A Couple Things to Note: 1. Simon, Andrew, James, and John were the rejected ones that didn t make the cut. They were not at the top of their class. They were not straight A students. They were the sharpest knives in the drawer. They were not the elite of their peers. They were not the seminary graduates. They were not the MBAs and Doctors. They were simple ordinary men. Just trying to make a simple ordinary living. 2. The second thing to note is that Jesus comes on the scene and flips the script. Jesus had crowds coming to Him. Crowds of people desiring to sit at His feet. To be touched by Him. Jesus could have had the pick of the litter if He wanted. Instead of following the normal culture of the day Jesus chose those that were already rejected. (I Cor. 1:27 Foolish to confound wise) Jesus chose the least. Jesus saw past what every other rabbi in the town saw. Jesus accepted the few that just weren t good enough for popular culture. Jesus chose the ones that didn t quite have it all together. Jesus chose the ones that didn t really make anyone else s cut. Jesus looked at a few ordinary men and says, Come follow me. I will make you fishers of men. Jesus in so many words says come and follow me with your ordinary self so that I can take your ordinary and do something extraordinary with it. Jesus says, Bring me your 2 fish and 5 loaves, and watch me feed the masses. Jesus says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light Matt. 11:28-30 Jesus calls ordinary men for His Extraordinary mission Not Peter and the Crew s first Rodeo Mark 1:16-20 / Matthew 4:18-22 16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. 6 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. When we look at this account we have to understand that it is not a parallel account to what we see in Luke 5. This was an account that happened some time before our account in Luke 5. So, it is clear here that Jesus had called Peter, Andrew, James, and John before and to a certain extent they followed. But at some point, or another it is clear that they returned to their boats and their nets and their fishing. Not only that account but if we look a little farther up in Luke 4 we see that not only had Jesus called them before, but Jesus had actually been in Peter s home and even healed the sick mother in law of Peter. Let s take a look at the text: Luke 4:38-39 38 g And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon s house. Now h Simon s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and i rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now why is this important. If you had the privilege of walking with Jesus. Seeing Him perform miracle after miracle. And you had the choice of continuing to following Him or go back to your day job, which would you have chosen? Peter and the crew had heard Jesus teaching. They had seen His miracles first hand even. But yet they returned to what they knew. We can easily ask ourselves what we would have done and assume that if we had been there with Jesus as
He was teaching and performing miracles we would have simply stayed with Him. Forget going back to fishing. This is Jesus the Son of God we are talking about! The reality, family, is we have Holy Spirit living inside of us. He has done a miracle in our own hearts. We are or should be in community with a bunch of other folks that have been changed by Holy Spirit and the miracle of salvation worked in their life. The Father gives good gifts to His children daily and yet we daily maintain the status quo and return to our day jobs as if that is all there is in life! As if our sole purpose is to clock in and clock out. Go to work. Come Home. Eat a little dinner. Watch a little TV. Go to bed. Wake up. Do it again. We daily go right back to fishing as if catching fish is all we have been called to! No! God forbid! Family we have been called to more than just catching fish! We have been called to more than just clocking in and clocking out! We have been called to catch men and women and children with the Gospel Jesus for the Glory of Jesus! Don t go back to simply catching fish. What areas of life have you settled for just catching a few fish every now and then? I pray we repent and believe in the Gospel that caught us! I pray we answer the call to be on mission with Jesus. What is the mission? What is the mission? Jesus chose the least Only after becoming the least The disciples were done for the day Jesus knew the work was just beginning Peter was interested in catching fish Jesus knew the call was to catch men Peter had toiled all night on the boat Jesus would pray and sweat drops of blood all night in the garden Peter submitted to the word of Jesus Jesus submitted to the plan of the Father to the point of death The disciples left business & home Jesus left everything in heaven It cost Simon his biggest catch It would cost Jesus His Life The disciples answered the call and Jesus equipped and empowered them for the mission Jesus calls ordinary men for His extraordinary mission. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US? THREE THINGS: 1. First, we must Be Disciples a. Respond to His Call. Just in case you didn t catch this you are ordinary. I am ordinary. We are all Ordinary! b. When we look at Jesus the God man we pale in comparison. He is the only extraordinary man which makes all of us ordinary. Romans 12:3 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you g not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Ephesians 2:8-10 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; c it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 2. Then We Must Make Disciples a. Obey His Command i. Matthew 28:16-20 b. Trust in the Change c. Be amazed at the Catch! But be CAPTURED by Jesus!
John 17:17-21 17 Sanctify them 2 in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake p I consecrate myself, 3 that they also q may be sanctified 4 in truth. 20 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that u they also may be in v us, so that the world w may believe that you have sent me. d. Jesus has already prayed for all those that would be saved by the word of the 12! That includes you and I. And guess who else He prayed for: All those that would believe in Him by the word of your testimony! 3. Why do we do this? What is our motivation? a. He Loves Us b. We LOVE Him i. John 14:15 15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ii. Matthew 28:16-20 c. He Prayed for us For them We must Love & Pursue them He demonstrates this to us and has called us to be a part. If we truly believe that Holy Spirit has done a miracle and changed our hearts and continues to change our hearts, then we must believe that the very same Holy Spirit has the power to change the next heart. The question is family: Has HE changed your heart? Is HE changing your heart? Changed Hearts only live inside the chest of those that are disciples and strive to make disciples of the Lord Jesus the Christ - RR Go. Make. Baptize. Teach. Matthew 28:16-20