Luke 5:1-11
February 7, 2010
"Deeper Water"
This sense of dread and fear is always present when Jesus calls us out into deeper water. But the deeper water is also the place where we can face our fears and grow in our faith and effectiveness for God.
In fact this story is Jesus’ call to us to launch out into our fears and go fishing with him. It is an invitation to face our fears with Jesus and conquer them and in this see the miracles of God present in our lives.
One of the themes in this story I want to explore today is that there are people of faith who overcome through obedience what seems like a hopeless situation. They launch out in faith into the deeper waters of life trusting not in their own abilities, or worthiness, but in Jesus’ call. We often, though, have to overcome our own excuses like Simon Peter did in our story today.
Simon lifted up three major objections to Jesus’ call to go fishing, which are very similar to our own objections and excuses today. His first excuse was “We’ve fished all night!” In other words we’re exhausted.
This is the first excuse we use, which is that we are exhausted! We don’t have the time or the energy or the whatever. You know we as a church here could say, “Well, we are just exhausted. You know half of us are over the age of 65 and we’ve been at this for 52 years here. How can we become ‘the church for families with children living at home?’ We don’t have any children at home. We have nothing in common with young families, what can we do?”
Sarah, Abraham’s wife laughed when the angel told her she was going to bear a son. Sarah was 90. Through her son Isaac, though, there were more children eventually born then there are stars in the sky. We could laugh too, or get ready to see a miracle of God occur in our midst. Now I am not saying all our 80 and 90 years olds need to go out and start looking for maternity clothes, but to get ready to help with a new rebirth in our midst today.
Last year we brought in 45 new members. This is the most new members here in years. This included 7 families and 13 children. Our goal is 25 new families this year. What will God do when launch our boat and let down our nets in deep water, when we face our fears and excuses and obey Jesus?
Simon’s second excuse was, “It’s the wrong time of day for fishing.” In fact if you look up the best time of day for fishing on Lake Gennesaret, or as it is most commonly called “Lake Galilee”, you will see that the best time for fishing is at night and Jesus was asking him to go fishing in the morning.
Some churches think, well we’ve missed our chance. Our culture and country has changed and is no longer as open to the Gospel. Less people are believers and church goers. This is a settled neighborhood and not as many new people are moving into it. The timing is all wrong.
Jesus response to Peter was, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” We don’t determine the best time to go fishing for people God does. We just need to fish.
Well Peter’s third excuse was “We’ve been fishing all night in the best part of the day and we have caught nothing.” Translated to today that would be “We’ve tried that before and it didn’t work so we won’t try it again.” Now there is such a thing as the AA definition of insanity, “trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. But with fishing to catch fish you just have to keep going out fishing.
In some of my fishing adventures I have used the same bait, at the same place at the same time of day and caught nothing, when the day before at the same time at the same place with the same bait I caught my limit. Persistence and patience matter when it comes to fishing! And that applies to fish as it does to people.
Now I have heard we tried Sidewalk Sunday School before and were involved, but there is our timing and God’s timing and I believe that God is calling us to use this technique to go fishing again. We’ve had Director’s of Children’s Ministries before and now we will have one again. The voice of God is calling us to go out into deeper waters and go fishing again.
Jesus Christ’s answer to all of Peter’s excuses was the same, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets.” Simon’s response, as exhausted, incredulous and doubt filled as he was, was obedience. He got into the boat, let down his nets and harvested a vast shoal of fish. Jesus met him in the midst of his daily occupation and proved to Simon his power. Simon then went from calling him “Master” to “Lord.”
Simon went from following, merely following him, to giving up his all to follow him. Peter took the risk, faced his fears and his excuses and obeyed and through his obedience Christ proved his power and called Simon into deeper water, deeper service.
The “message to the church (today) becomes, “Launch out into the deep and there cast the net of the Gospel.” Not merely (launch out) in shallow water of those who attend church but in the deep waters in the great masses of people where the need is so great.” Geldenhuys “Luke”
And this we as a church have been doing. We have been catching the vision. Here are some signs of our obedience. In the past year we went door to door putting up flyers in the neighborhood advertizing our Music Camp and Vacation Bible School. We have advertized to our community our Halloween Party, Starry Night program, Night in Bethlehem and special holiday music and worship services.
We have deliberately; beyond the comfort level of many reached and invited others into the life of our church.
Our Devon Gables worship has reached out to bring others in. This is a lay lead worship service that has born fruit in terms of membership for our congregation. And other committees and groups have started programs and projects to reach out to families from the Finance committee to the Trustees and our new “Holy Word Theater” is essentially done.
You as a church have provided funds for a Director of Children’s ministries to help provide for the children and their parents as they come into the life of our church. All we do needs to reach out and cast the net of the gospel and in most areas we have been doing this.
In John Wesley’s day the early Methodist Lay Preachers preached out of doors just like Jesus did in our scripture today from a boat. They preached and went and taught and invited.
As Wesley wrote, “Our societies were formed from those who were wandering upon the dark mountains, that belonged to no Christian church; but were awakened by the preaching of the Methodists, who had pursued them through the wilderness of the world to the High-ways and Hedges—to the Markets and Fairs—to the Hills and the Dales—who set up the Standard of the Cross in the Streets and Lanes of Cities, in the Villages, in the Barns, and Farmers’ Kitchens and all this done in such a way, and to such an extent, as never had been done before since the Apostolic age.” Barclay “Luke” p. 68
Our call, our deeper water will be to follow the lead of early Methodism, which indeed followed the early church and that is to go out through whatever means into our community to invite them in to the Kingdom. This is our heritage.
And we invite people in not to meet us, but to meet the Risen Lord. And for those who won’t come in we will meet them where they are at and share with them the love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Sidewalk Sunday School Program will require people from this church to push out into the deeper water of their faith. It will require people to step up to be worship leaders, organizers, teachers, prayer partners, promoters, shepherds, drivers, maintenance people etc.
When the new DCM person begins March 1st we will need more volunteers with the children’s program, not less, for the new DCM will be here not to do our ministry, but to help us do our ministry better.
I believe this is the call to CCUM. But it is our call as a church only as it is every individual’s call. In some way all of us can help with our project and our ministries whatever our age. All of us need to respond in some way to push off into deeper water to cast the net of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ’s call is still the same and we need to do what the disciples did. We need to listen to Jesus and obey.
We need to “fear not” as he said and seek to “catch people”. We need to cast our nets out into deep water and know that the Holy Spirit goes out before us to prepare the catch.
We simply need to obey and go out and catch them.
As sign in front of one church said, “Jesus says, “You catch em, I’’ll clean em!”
Amen!!!
