Click
hereafter starting sermon audio to bring up slides and visual aides which go along with the sermon. [A new
window will open and remain blank until fully loaded. It may take 1-5
minutes to open.] Once the first slide appears you can follow along
with the message and use the arrow keys to advance the slides.Help
RECOMMEND THIS
MINISTRY TO OTHERS:
Click here to
go to our feedback page at SermonCentral
[A new window will open. Scroll to the bottom to enter your comments, then close.]
Who are the fishermen here?How do you do it?What is
the secret?Have any of you ever
tried just posting a sign on your boat that reads, 'Fish welcome'?
Most churches today have
completely stopped actively evangelizing.It's like we just have services and put out a sign that says,
'Sinners welcome.'We are to be
fishers of men!It's what Jesus
said at the beginning of His ministry as he called His disciples, and it is
how he ended it in our text.He
is about to leave earth and He gives His great commission saying, This is
the main thing.Now make it YOUR
main thing.And the main thing
is keeping the main thing the main thing!
The setting of today’s
scripture takes place a week after the resurrection on the Sea of Tiberias
(the Roman name for the Sea of Galilee).
The disciples have gone to Galilee and
returned to what they knew best: fishing. They have to make a living and so
they spend the entire night out on the lake. Early the next morning they are
headed to land, but a voice calls to them from the shore, asking if they
have any fish. Perhaps moisture hangs in the air or thick fog makes it
difficult to see who is calling to them. Maybe they are ashamed to say that
they have not caught a single fish all night, but they admit the truth. The
voice calls back: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will
find some.” It seems dumb. They have been fishing all night and the fish are
just not there for whatever reason. They still have the nets in the water on
the left side of the boat and nothing is happening. What possible difference
could it make to put the net in on the right side? They are professional
fishermen, and they have no idea who this stranger is. But for some unknown
reason they unquestioningly take out the nets and throw them into the water
on the other side of their boat. And the Bible says, “When they did, they
were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.” They
are stunned at what has happened and it suddenly dawns on them who it is who
has been calling to them. It could be no one else. The Bible says, “Then the
disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’”
They
recognized Jesus not only because no one else could do this kind of miracle,
but because it had happened before. Luke tells the story which happens as
Jesus’ ministry is just beginning, before these men actually knew him. [Luke
5]
Jesus’ relationship with
the disciples begins and ends with a miraculous catch of fish. They meet him
in the miracle. There are several lessons to be learned from this story, and
the first is this: It is important to obey Jesus. I have a friend whose life
motto is: “Listen to Jesus, and do what he says.” Good advice. But in both
stories it must have been difficult for fishermen to listen to the
suggestions of a carpenter/stranger. After all, fishing was
their profession, not his. They
knew about fishing, and were perhaps some of the best fishermen on the
Sea of Galilee. Besides, what Jesus was suggesting did not make
any sense. What possible difference could it make to put the net on the
other side of the boat?
Sometimes God puts us in situations where it
seems like there is no answer. We have tried everything. We thought we knew
what needed to be done. It worked before, so we think we already know how to
do it, and now someone is telling us a simplistic answer that drives us up
the wall. Perhaps God is asking us to do something beyond what is
simplistic, it may even seem like something foolish. It is counterintuitive.
We’ve been fishing on the left side and now you think fishing on the right
side of the boat will make a difference? We have been working all night and
you think one more cast is going to change anything?
Besides, this
raises other questions. Couldn’t Jesus have made the fish swim into the net
while it was on the left side of the boat? Why go to the bother of having
them take the nets out and put them in on the other side? For that matter,
couldn’t Jesus have made the fish jump into the boat? That would have been
pretty spectacular! But it wouldn’t have involved the aspect of obedience.
Jesus did not do it all for them. He tested their obedience so that they
could learn that blessings follow obedience. In your relationship with God,
success follows obedience, even when what He is asking you to do seems
ridiculous to you. You are not smarter than God. You can’t keep doing the
same things and expect different results. You can’t rebel against God, go
against what He is telling you, and expect success. You can’t do all the
wrong things and expect good things to happen. It doesn’t happen that way.
Success comes as you are willing to listen to Jesus and do what He says.
This involves humility. The disciples were professional fishermen. They
knew all about fishing, so they had to be humble enough to do what Jesus
said rather than trusting what they had personally learned about fishing. It
was not just what they had learned through experience, it is what their
fathers and grandfathers before them had learned and taught them. What He
was asking them to do did not seem that different from what they had been
doing all night. It was not so much something different as more of the same.
But when it comes to following God, you can’t give up. And you can’t always
rely on your knowledge and training. Jesus wants us to have a teachable
spirit. I am convinced that having a teachable spirit is one of the most
important characteristics that you can have in life. There are some people
to whom you simply can’t tell anything, because they think they already know
it all. They don’t want your advice. They don’t want to hear it and so they
never learn. You have to have humility and a willing spirit.
The second lesson in
this story is: We meet God when we come to the end of our resources. The
disciples had been fishing all night. They had done all they could do. They
knew the best fishing holes. They knew how to use their tackle. They were
experts at their trade, but they still had no fish. They were at the end of
what they could do. Their resources were spent. That’s when God shows up. At
the point where we give up is often when God shows up.
Simon Peter
was certainly at the end of his resources. He had boasted that if everyone
else left Jesus, he would still be faithful, but he wasn’t. He had failed.
He played the coward. He fell when he boasted he would stand. He failed
Jesus. When he first met Jesus he was very aware of his sinful heart. Before
Peter had been called to be a disciple, at the first miraculous catch of
fish, the Bible says, “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees
and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8). At this
second miraculous catch Peter would have liked to have said the same thing,
but he was too ashamed to say anything.
It is interesting that the
Greek word for charcoal fire is found in only two places in the New
Testament. Here in this story where Jesus is cooking fish for the disciple’s
breakfast, and the other is when Peter stood warming himself after the
arrest of Jesus in the courtyard. It was there that Peter denied the Lord
and saw Jesus look at him as the cock crowed. As he smelled the charcoal
fire on the shore this day, he must have been taken back again to that shame
filled moment in the courtyard. Peter realized that he was at the end of his
resources. It was good for him to give up thinking that he was someone
special and realize that he could fail like everyone else, because that is
when he really began to understand his weakness, the forgiveness of God and
the power of a new life. It was in his brokenness that he experienced Jesus
in a new way.
It is good to come to the end of our resources and
realize our weakness, so that we give in to God. We just turn the control
completely over to him, and forget about personal success. We realize we
can’t do anything on our own anyway, so we ask him to completely take over,
and determine that we will do whatever it is He wants us to do. We stop
trying to make things happen and let Him have His way. And, amazingly, that
is when things begin to happen. When we come to the end of us, we come to
the beginning of God. When we come to the end of what we can do, that is
when we are ready to see what God can do.
When the disciples came to
the end of their resources, that is when they had a miraculous catch — 153
to be exact, and all large fish. Wait ‘til you hear their fish stories in
heaven!The catch was so large
that they could hardly get the net to shore. But in spite of the pressure on
the net, it did not break or tear. And when they arrived on shore, Jesus
already had breakfast for them on the beach. You have to wonder where Jesus
got the fish. They were already on the fire before the disciples came to
shore. And there was bread as well. Did Jesus go to the market, or did he
miraculously create the bread and fish as he did when he SUPERSIZED that
kid's little happy meal? Jesus was always making something out of nothing,
and He has not changed. He is still the same today. When everything you have
tried in life turns out to be nothing, He can make something out of it. He
creates fish and bread. He gives health where there was only sickness. He
gives strength when there was only weakness. He gives life where there was
only death. He gives hope where there was only despair. He gives forgiveness
where there was only shame. He is the God of new beginnings. When we reach
the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of Him.
The third
lesson we learn from this story is: You have to put the net in where the
fish are. The point is that the answer is often closer than you think. The
fish were not on the other side of the lake, they were just on the other
side of the boat. The answer is often as close as your willingness to obey
and do what God is asking.
ill.—Naaman the leper.The answer was closer than he realized. It was humbling, but it was
the thing he needed to do. It did not make sense at the time. He thought he
had better water where he lived in
Syria, but the answer was closer than that.
If you are going to fish,
you have to put down your net where the fish are. If you are going to
receive the answer God has for you, you are going to have to do what He
says, when He says it and where He says to do it. I have known many people
who have prayed for an answer to their problems, but when the answer came
they didn’t like it. They already had it fixed in their head how God should
do it. They did not want to humble themselves and would not accept what God
was asking them to do. They did not want to look foolish. They did not want
to do the difficult thing God was telling them to do. They wanted God to do
it all for them. They wanted Him to wave His hand and make it all go away.
They wanted a supernatural, exciting answer. They would do a great thing,
but not the small thing, the humble thing. But God is not asking you to do a
great thing that will get lots of attention, He is only asking you to do the
simple thing of obeying what He says, and do it consistently. Eugene
Peterson calls it “a long obedience in the same direction.”
Wade
Hughes, Sr. tells the story of a weak and sickly man. His condition grew
worse, but he could not afford a doctor. He lived in the deep back woods in
an old log cabin, and out in front of his cabin was a huge boulder. One
night he had a vision. God told him to go out and push the massive rock in
front of his home all day long, day after day, until he told him to stop.
The man got up early in the morning, and with great excitement, he pushed on
the rock as long as he could. After a rest he pushed some more. The night
vision was so real that it inspired the man as he pushed against the rock.
It gave him meaning. Each day he pushed a little harder and a little longer.
Day after day he pushed. Days rolled into weeks, and weeks into months, as
he faithfully pushed against the rock. After 8 months of pushing the rock,
the man was getting tired of pushing the rock so much, and in his tiredness
he started to doubt his dream. He measured from his porch to the rock, and
after pushing the rock, he would measure to see how much he had moved the
rock. After two months of pushing and measuring, he realized he had not
moved the boulder a fraction of an inch. As a matter of fact, the boulder
was in the same place as when he started. The man was so disappointed,
because he saw his work had accomplished nothing. He was tired and his dream
seemed dashed upon the rock. He sat on his porch and cried, because he had
invested so much time for nothing. But as the sun was setting in the west,
Jesus came and sat down next to the man as he was sitting on his porch. He
said, “Son, why are you so sad?” The man replied, “Lord, You know how sick
and weak I am, and then the vision you gave me built up a false hope. I have
pushed with all that was within me for many months, and that old rock is
right where it was when I started.” Jesus said to him, “I never told you to
move the rock, I told you to push against the rock.” Jesus told the man to
step in front of the mirror and look at himself. As an act of obedience the
man stepped in front of a mirror. He was amazed. How could he have missed
this? He had been so sickly and weak, and what he saw in the mirror was a
strong muscular man. He also realized that he had not been coughing all
night. It dawned on him that he had been feeling better for weeks, and it
was all because he had been pushing — not moving — the rock. Then the man
realized that the plan of God was not to change the position of the rock,
but to change him. God’s plan was not for the rock, but for him. Understand
the plan. Trust what he is saying to you. Listen to God. Do what he says. Do
the work of obedience. It is not nearly so important that the rock in your
life be moved as it is for you to push against the rock.
It is when
you push against the rock that you become strong — whether the rock moves or
not. It is when you obey and cast your net on the other side that the net is
filled, and a way is opened up for deeper fellowship with Jesus.
Cast the net for
souls...this is what Jesus told the disciples from the beginning of His time
with them to the end.Yes, we’ll
have more success when we obey Him and listen to Him, and when we rely on
Him more than on ourselves.And
certainly we’ll catch more when we fish in the right places and in the right
ways.But the big point is that
even when we don’t feel we’re successful at all...we actually are, if we’re
doing right...doing our job...and being faithful to cast the net!
No 'fish welcome' sign
needed.
We are to be fishers of
men!It's what Jesus said at the
beginning of His ministry as he called His disciples, and it is how he ended
it in our text.He is about to
leave earth and He gives His great commission saying, This is the main
thing.Now make it YOUR main
thing.And the main thing is
keeping the main thing the main thing!