The Church of Eleven22 - Lent Devo Episode 8: The First Draught of Fishes

Episode Date: March 10, 2020

Luke 5:1-11; Mark 1:16-20

What is it in some of the miracles of Jesus has all your. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Welcome to our Lent podcast. Good morning. My name is Ben Phillips and I'm the campus pastor at our Mandarin location. This Lent season, we are working through some of the miracles of Jesus shared with us across the gospel accounts. We're looking at how each of these miracles points us to the greatest of all miracles, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The miracle of Jesus we are focused on today

is found in Luke 5-1 through 11. It's also in Mark 1 and Matthew 4, but we're going to look just at Luke. Verse 1. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Ganeseret, 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 Simons, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and then 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 another boat to come and help them and they came and filled both the 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 am a sinful man o lord for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken and so also were james and john the sons of zebid who were partners with simon and jesus said to simon and jesus said to simon Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. And when they brought their boats to land,

they left everything and followed him. Here's what just happened. Jesus is in Copernum, a city on the northwest bank of the Sea of Galilee. He has previously already been there for a few days. He's encountered Peter, Andrew, James, John. And what we see right before this passage in script. is this. Jesus is entering the synagogue and teaching. And while he's teaching, he casts out a demon from a man possessed. Then shortly after that, he is going throughout the city and healing and all the sick are being

brought to him. And Peter and Andrew's mother is sick, so they come and implore him to come to their home and heal her, which he does. He goes to their home. He heals their mother and he stays with them. And people from all around are hearing about all that is happening and they are going. And they are gathering into Copernum. And so as he's in Copernum and he intends to preach, and so he's already preached in the synagogue, and he's preparing just to preach out in the open. And as he does that, a great crowd comes and gathers around him. And Jesus finds himself in an uncomfortable position, standing and being pressed on by the crowds. Now, this is not an optimal position or place or situation to preach. It will diminish the opportunity for those present to hear from him,

and it makes it hard for him to just preach. So Jesus sees Peter and Andrew and James and John with their boats on the shore, cleaning their nets. And Jesus asks them to use the boat to preach, and they allow it. He sits, and that's the rabbinical tradition in the synagogue, that the rabbi, as they were teaching, would sit. And so he sits, and he teaches the crowd. Having finished preaching, Jesus talks to Peter and says,

let's go out in the boat to the middle of the lake and put the nets down. Now, Peter, a professional fisherman, said they had been fishing during the whole night. And there's, listen, when you start to engage what it is to fish, I don't know if you fish. But when you fish, there are times when you go fishing and they're biting, and there's times when you don't. And Peter, in the most kind way that he can say it, says to Jesus, Jesus, we've been fishing all night at the best time and we haven't caught anything. and here it is the middle of the day. It's the worst time. And you're asking us to go out there?

You can sort of hear in his voice the response, listen, I have been fishing my whole life. I live on the sea. I've fished since I was a kid. My father's a fisherman. I know how this works. I've gone out onto this very lake over and over and over. It meant over a thousand times Peter had been on that lake in his life.

And that night, having toiled, all night at his job, there was no fruit. It was just a pointless exercise. Jesus comes along, who's a carpenter at best and a new rabbi in their minds, and asks them to do something different in how they fish. And their response is, this is never going to work. But because he had done something for their mother, they say, okay, we'll go out to the middle. And as they go to the middle and they drop their,

nets instantly and miraculously, the nets are overloided to the point of sinking their boat. John and James come over to help bring in the great amount of fish. By the divine power of God, these four men realize that they are dealing with far more than a man in Jesus. And more importantly than that, the divine power they realize is revealed to them in their day-to-day lives. See, they have been fishing their whole lives. They have lived on the sea.

fish since they were kids. Their fathers were fishermen. They know how this works. They've gone out over a thousand times. And they know how fishing goes. And this, this never happens. They know a miracle when they see one. And a miracle is the divine power of God working outside of the natural order of the world. It's beyond the natural order. It's a supernatural thing. A miracle from God. Peter's reaction is the normal response to what happens when we encounter the revealed presence of God. Just like Isaiah, just like Daniel, just like Joshua, just like everyone who truly sees Jesus for who he is. He falls on his face and confesses his sin. Go away from me, Lord, he says.

Not teacher, as he said before, but Lord, for I am a sinful man. Jesus' response to Peter is his response to all who see him for who he is and rightfully respond. See, the right and only response when you see Jesus for who he is is to fall down in worship of him and confession of who you are. Jesus' response is just this. Do not be afraid. Don't be afraid because you're a sinner. I didn't come for the holy. I came for the sinner to make them holy.

you are exactly who I'm looking for, Peter. And then he says the line that Peter will remember for all of his life. From now on, you will be catching men. The way Matthew 4 says it is the way we more commonly know it, which is follow me and I will make you fissures of men. And when they reached the shore, they left everything. It says they left everything and followed him. sometimes we find that astounding.

How could they possibly leave everything? But to me, if you hear this and you read this passage, you have to see what more could fishing offer them at that point. When would they ever be able to go out fishing again and ever experience anything close to as satisfying as what they had just experienced? When are they going to go out on a boat? When are they going to go back to their job and do it?

And not only and ever think of the amazing thing that happened when Jesus was in the boat with him. What more did fishing have to offer him? At the resurrection, Jesus changes everything. The miracle of life from death. And just like this miracle that was outside the natural order of things, the resurrection, in fact, isn't just outside the natural order of things. It breaks the natural worldly order of things. The world and its order says this. You will toil and at the best times and get nothing out of it. That you do what works, that you try harder, do more, be better, and your failure is on you, that when you die, you stay dead. The resurrection shouts that it isn't based on your work that God will make a way for you.

That the miracles happen in the mundane and day-to-day, that Christ did it all for you. Your life doesn't depend on your doing better, trying harder, being more, and that failure isn't final, and that dead things, they can come alive again. The resurrection says that if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. That it's possible to catch fish when you shouldn't catch them. That it's possible for fishermen to be fissures of men. That it's possible for common people to be history-changing people. That's not just possible, but unavoidable, that when you see that, when you see resurrected Jesus for who he really is, you give up everything and follow him. Would you pray with me?

Jesus, during this season of Lent, would you still our hearts and let your voices be all we hear? Will you fix our eyes on things we can't see? Holy Spirit, would you breathe and come have your way with us? Would you let us see the supernatural in our daily lives, where our eyes be open to see you Jesus for who you really are. And would we confess, turn to you, know that we don't have to be afraid, and give you everything, and follow you? Would you make us, fissures of men, in this length season? Thanks for listening. Our prayer is that this podcast will help you deepen your relationship with Jesus. For more resources, go to c-o-e-22.com forward-slash-lens.

Thank you.