Time To Go Deeper (Luke 5.1-11)

Introduction

If you are a guest, or here for the first time today, I want to extend a special welcome to you. It is great to have you at All Saints’ today and I hope you feel at home.

Is there anyone here who likes fishing? I’ve never been particularly good at fishing. In fact, I’ve never been any good at fishing. At all...

When I was about 8, I used to go down to a pond with a little net on a bamboo pole, a jam jar and a few friends. We used to try and catch sticklebacks. They aren’t particularly clever fish that are especially hard to catch. I used to spend hours and hours trying to catch just one of them. But the only thing I ever came home with was gnat bites all over my arms and legs.

Well, maybe I just needed someone to train me and teach me to do it. Maybe then I would have been OK at catching fish.

But no. When I was a teenager, my mate Peter Bradford thought he would introduce me to rod fishing on holiday in Cornwall. I thought “this is my big chance. I will catch whoppers. My photo will be in the papers with a record-breaking haddock in my arms.” Peter Bradford had experience. He had expertise. He knew what he was doing. He took me down to a pier. He opened up a box of slimy ragworms wriggling around and he invited me to skewer one alive on a hook… I took one look at this box of overgrown maggots and said “Why don’t you do that bit while I pour the tea and open the sandwiches?” So that’s what happened. We cast our rods out into the teaming waters with high expectation. But needless to say we sat on the pier the whole rainy evening, got soaking wet and caught nothing.

Yes, I am rubbish at fishing. My angling abilities are absent. My piscatorial proficiencies are pants. If you ever need to get a fish out of the sea, don’t bother with me; I am not your man.

I say this because amongst his twelve followers Jesus chose four fishermen; their names were Andrew, James, John and Simon Peter. And all the evidence from the Gospels suggests that they were just as useless with a net as I am. As I have told you before, on other occasions, not once in the whole Bible do you ever hear of these four guys catching even one fish without Jesus having to do a miracle. If you can show me in the Bible where they caught as much as one sprat without Jesus doing something special - I’ll eat my Bible. And if you can show me anywhere in the Bible where they caught two I’ll eat yours as well.

In the story we had acted out just now, the miraculous catch of fish, can you imagine how elated Simon Peter, James and John must have felt that morning? They’d never seen anything like this! They’d never before had to call in reinforcements to gather in a catch because it was so heavy. They probably didn’t even know anybody who ever had. They probably didn’t even know anybody who knew anybody else who had. But here, the nets were tearing. The boat was sinking; it was so full of fish.

This is a story that tells us a lot about what Jesus is like. For example, Jesus is really good at fishing. Jesus is a lot of fun to be around.

But what I mean when I say that the story that tells us a lot about what Jesus is like is that it shows that he sees the huge potential in people. It shows that he accepts people just as they are. And it shows that he invites people into new adventures.

Jesus sees the potential in people

Let’s take those one by one. Firstly, Jesus sees the potential in people.

The story says, in v4, Jesus asked his soon-to-be followers to put out into deep water and let down the nets to catch some fish. That seems a straightforward enough request doesn’t it? How hard is it to say “OK then”, and put the nets down? But what was their first response to his request? 

How do they reply? “Look!” they say, (v5) “We’ve been fishing all night! We have worked hard,” he says. “And the bottom line is that we’ve caught … nothing!” I can relate to that. That’s exactly what I would have said. And, given their pathetic track record, it’s is not surprising that that’s what they said is it?

But what they’re kind of saying is this: “Just who do you think you are coming down here and telling us how to catch fish? This is our job. We’re the experts! (ahem) We were the ones who’ve been slogging it out all night at sea, while landlubbers like you were fast asleep in bed! We know what we’re doing. What makes you think that we should take a lesson from you about fishing?”

These four guys are hardly contenders for the Compliant Disciple of the Year award. They aren’t the most promising candidates to be included in the Messiah’s trusted inner circle. But that is who they become because Jesus sees what these guys could be like. He sees what no one else can see; their potential for greatness.

By nature, these guys are sceptical, doubtful, and honestly not that interested. But something in Simon Peter manages to rise above his initial response and he turns round and says to Jesus, “All right, fine! – Look, because you say so, I’ll do it.”

That’s the potential Jesus sees. Jesus sees someone who isn’t content to stay in the shallows and play safe. Jesus sees someone who doesn’t just fold his arms and say “Yeah, right.” Simon Peter takes the risk. He puts his oar in the water moves out to where it gets deeper. He gives it a try. He says “What have I got to lose?” And when he does, everything changes. If he stayed in the shallows, he’d have never known if miracles can happen. A sensational thing happens but it never would have if Simon Peter had not had the courage to have a go.

Jesus accepts you just as you are

Secondly, the story shows that Jesus accepts you just as you are. When Simon Peter looks down and starts to realise just how full the nets are, he says in v8 an unusual thing to Jesus.

He doesn’t say “Wow, how did you know there were going to be so many fish in that particular bit of the lake?” He doesn’t say “Why don’t you come and be a partner in my business, we could make some money.” He doesn’t say “Come here”, he says, “Go away.” “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man.” He was right about that. That’s what he was. I don’t mean he was worse than everyone else. People don’t use the word “sinful” very much in today’s English except maybe to talk about pink champagne and chocolate cake. It simply means anything I do that comes between me and God.

I’m sinful because I do things and say things that come between me and God. Sometimes I don’t mean to, but I do. That’s called sins of commission. But there are also sins of omission; things I should do - and don’t. I sin every day of every week. We all do.

Some people think of the whole concept of sin is repressive. “We don’t need all these guilt trips” they say. But that’s a bit like saying “I could drive a whole lot faster if I didn’t have these annoying things in my car called brakes.”

That’s why we need a solution for the problem of sin.

And the funny thing is this: when Simon Peter says “Go away from me, I am a sinful man” Jesus didn’t go away. He said “Come with me.” Jesus accepted him just as he is.

It’s too early for Daniel to be aware of any of this. He’s much too young to understand about sin now. But when he gets a little older, and more aware of spiritual things, he will have to make a spiritual decision for himself – just like we all do as adults. Because, as I never tire of saying, baptism doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to the butchers makes you a lamb chop. Daniel will one day become aware of sin in his life. When he does, will he talk with Jesus about it like Simon Peter did?

Your job as parents and godparents is to do all you can to help Daniel understand these spiritual truths. Pray for him, love him, tell him about Jesus, and keep bringing him along to church as you already are doing. And tell him that Jesus accepts him and loves him just as he is.

You may find that Alpha will help you think through some of the questions that will arise. Like “When the hamster died, did it go to heaven?” And “Why should I forgive and not hate that boy who isn’t nice to me?”

Alpha is a really good, user-friendly introductory course. Why don’t you sign up? If you think after week 1 that it’s not for you, you don’t have to come again and no one will phone you up and pester you. Is it time for you to go deeper?

Jesus invites you into new adventures

The third and final discovery here is that Jesus invites you into new adventures.

There’s nothing wrong with catching fish. I can’t speak from experience, but I would imagine it’s a lot of fun actually. But consider what Jesus says here in v10.

“Simon Peter. James. John. So far, you have spent all your lives as career fishermen. But what I’m inviting you to do - starting today - is this: Instead of investing your precious time and energy in catching six-inch tiddlers, come with me and we’ll go after the six-footers! I’m asking you to follow me, and you’ll see what real living is all about!”

Big fish versus small fry. What do you want to spend your life doing?

In 2010, the BBC made a programme called “Big Silence.” It was a fly-on-the-wall documentary following a group of people had no real belief or interest in God as they spent two weeks in silence in a Christian monastery, with occasional short times of reflection with a monk.

At first, most of the volunteers seemed to be indifferent, bored, even seeing the church as a laughing stock. But after a few days, as they got off the rat race and slowed down from the mad rush of their daily routine and began to think about their own lives, they became aware of an internal mess, of a spiritual emptiness, of a desire for spiritual reality, to know God. Two of the group had profound experiences of Jesus and actually converted to Christianity.

One of these, a hard-driven businessman, said he intended to change his business practices, spend more time with his family and explore further his new discovery of the realness of God. Like James, John and Simon Peter in our story who, it says in v11, pulled up their boats on the shore, left everything and followed Jesus.

That’s what I mean by swapping small tiddlers for big fish.

Thomas Merton once said, “Many people seem to spend their whole life climbing the ladder of success only to find, when they get to the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”

I’m not saying anyone today should give up their jobs and go into a monastery. But what if, your whole life, the ladder you’ve been climbing is propped up against the wrong wall? What if there’s more? What if actually there is a spiritual side to life that is real?

That’s something Alpha is very good for helping you think through as well.

But I don’t want to point to Alpha so much as point to Jesus. He only had to say “Follow me” and at once fishermen dropped their nets and tax collectors deserted their booths.

Jesus wrote no books, commanded no army, ruled no nation, left no monument, owned nothing, lived rough, died young and was given a hurried, unceremonious burial in someone else’s tomb.

But he is by far the most quoted, most followed, most influential person who has ever lived. And he still heals, delivers and changes lives today by the thousand.

Ending

Is Daniel going to invest his one and only life in pursuing small fry, or will he land the biggest prize of them all? We hope and pray he’ll see the big picture.

What we know is that Jesus sees amazing potential in him, he accepts and loves him just as he is, and he calls him today to follow him into a big adventure. Your promises today say, “We will help him say yes to that call.” Let’s all help him say “yes” as he grows up and begins to understand these things for himself.

In the gospels, Jesus is recorded to have asked 157 different questions.

His question to you and me today is simply “What about you? Are you going to put out into deep water?”

The obvious thing to say is “That’s not rational. It’s not logical. Don’t be daft.”

“Are you going to put out into deep water?”

“But I know there are no fish out there, I’ve looked all night, there’s not one.”

“Are you going to put out into deep water?”

“But I’m going to look a right idiot if I row out there and catch nothing again.”

“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets and let’s see what happens.”

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 20th September 2015

Sacrificial Giving (Deuteronomy 14.28-29 and Mark 12.38-44)

In 1979 the police in Rome uncovered a remarkable crime. Father Guido Antonelli, a humble parish priest, was discovered in the crypt of his church printing 1,000 lire banknotes! In his defence, he pleaded that he had to resort to forgery because his parishioners weren’t putting enough in the plate at Mass! I hasten to add that we have no plans to take such a creative approach to the finances here.

Well, today’s talk is the first in a series of three on the subject of giving and I’m going to speak primarily about financial giving today, though I will touch on other aspects of generosity as well.

We have all heard that money can’t buy happiness and every comic has had their bit to say on the subject; Spike Milligan put it this way; “Money can't buy happiness, but it can get you a more pleasant form of misery!” Bo Derek gave another perspective on the issue when she said, “Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping!”

But the Apostle Paul in the Bible was able to say, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.”

And in the letter to the Hebrews it says to enjoy what you do have instead of dwelling on what you don’t have. “Keep your lives free from the love of money” it says, “and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

One of the ways to be free from the love of money is to give more of it away. The people of Israel, from the time of Moses onwards, had to give a tithe, that is to say 10% of their income.

Brian will speak in detail about this next Sunday but I’ll just say a few words on it today as it’s what our first reading in Deuteronomy 14 is about.

It was a compulsory tax and it was levied for three reasons;

·         firstly to celebrate the abundance of God’s provision;

·         secondly, to give an income to the Levites who were the clergy if you like and had no other way of earning a living;

·         thirdly, to assist those who had fallen on hard times; in particular, migrants arriving destitute from other countries, as well as orphans and widows who had no one to provide for them.

These tithes and offerings funded the world’s very first welfare state. Everyone who worked had to give 10% of their wages so that everyone who couldn’t work would not starve or have to beg. And the Bible says this; the people were to provide in this way “so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”

But our theme today is not just generous giving, it’s sacrificial giving: that is to say, intentionally offering something that is precious, costly or barely affordable as an act of worship and devotion to God.

Sacrificial giving may be seen more in times of scarcity than in times plenty. Sacrificial giving can involve giving my time, my talents, as well as my treasure. Sacrificial giving can mean surrendering something I love dearly; it may be to give up my dreams, or even my life. Sacrificial giving is often marked by acts of apparent recklessness.

Dennis Bakke is a successful American businessman, and a Christian believer, who puts well over 95% of his salary into a trust called the Mustard Seed Foundation to support church growth and humanitarian relief projects around the world. Some might say, “Well it’s alright for him, he can afford it.” Maybe he can, but how many people on his income would live in a modest two-bedroom house and drive a second hand Ford like he does?

At the other end of the earning scale, a friend of mine, when she was a student in Paris, felt that she should put all her last banknotes in the offering one Sunday, knowing that she would have nothing – and I mean nothing but a few groceries at home - to live on for the next ten days. She thought, “I’m only young once. This will be exciting. Let’s see what God does now.” The following evening she arrived home to find an unexpected cheque in the post for the same amount she had given away.

Research done a few years ago revealed that, in evangelical churches, 20% of the people cover 80% of the budget. 30% of the people pay for the rest and 50% give nothing.

Lewis tells me that in 2013 at Saint Mary’s 70% of the people did 80% of the giving which is a lot healthier. The remaining 30% of the people covered all the rest of the giving. So no-one gave nothing.

But 40% of our giving comes from 7% of the people at Saint Mary’s which would leave us in a precarious position if they were to move on. I don’t know who they are as, to avoid favouritism, I make it a point of principle to not have access to information about who gives what.

Our gospel reading from Mark 12 contrasts two very different attitudes.

Firstly, the teachers of the law, or scribes, in v38-40 where Jesus speaks severely and disturbingly about being religious for what you can get out of it.

Watch out, says Jesus, for religious people who love prestige. The scribes liked to wear long robes. Why was that? Because you can’t do manual work in them or move about quickly in them. They were the attire of a life of ease.

They liked the deference of special greetings as well. From Matthew’s gospel we know they liked to be called “Father” and “Master.” Why? Because those titles imply a status above others. “Don’t confer those titles,” Jesus said, “because you’re all equal and only God is above you all.” Religion loves to give titles like “Father”, Padre (which means father), Pope, (which also means father) and Most Reverend Lord Bishop. What’s the matter with us? Jesus said, “Don’t do that.” It’s not a particularly difficult teaching to obey and yet it’s all over the church.

They loved status symbols; they wanted the best places where they could be seen and esteemed by people. Their handbook called the Mishnah states that they expected people to stand as they passed by. Jesus said to beware that kind of religious celebrity culture and avoid it.

Apart from a few Temple-based teachers of the law, most scribes were forbidden from being paid so people were encouraged to show respect their learning by offering them hospitality. But it seems they took advantage of this and sponged off vulnerable people with limited means. They ate widows out of house and home, impressing them with their false piety. That is what Jesus criticises here when he says, “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.”

At the temple treasury there was a large trumpet shaped funnel over the money box at the gate and people lined up to throw their money in to it. It made a ringing sound as the coins went in so the bigger the sum, the louder the ring. How did Jesus know that the widow only put two mites in? Because it would have only made two small distinctive pings as it went into the trumpet.

But how much did she give? “Everything she had to live on”, says Jesus, who commended her for it. All the others gave from what they had left over. She kept absolutely nothing back. He didn’t say, “How stupid! How irresponsible! How is she going to pay the rent now?”

C. S. Lewis wrote: “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.”

When Jesus looks at the collection he doesn’t ask “What can this buy?” He asks “What did it cost?” How much was left in the wallet and the purse?

Kathie and I know a couple who are planting a secret house church in the Muslim world. I’ll call them Marie and Hassan. One day, they needed a sudden cash injection of $1,000 for their ministry. So they contacted some Christian friends in the USA, Bill and Sue, asking them to consider loaning them that sum.

The reply was “Yes,” but it came with a condition. The condition was that they would not pay the money back when they had the means to do so but instead pass it on to someone else who needed it, stipulating the same condition; that the money be moved on somewhere else in the kingdom of God instead of reimbursed.

A few months later, Hassan received an unexpected productivity bonus from the bank he worked for. When he calculated the exchange value from local currency it came to... $1,000.

So they passed on that money to someone else in need, who in turn blessed someone else when they had the means to do so, and so it went on. The gift kept on bringing blessing as God multiplied the spirit of generosity in his people with overflowing blessing and many surprises.

God’s economy does not work like the world’s. The world’s economy booms and then busts in cycles that usually last about 12 years. The world’s economy is affected by interest rates and fiscal policy.

The boom and bust of God’s economy is expansion through faith and love, and contraction through unbelief and selfishness. You stimulate growth in God’s economy through joyful trust in God’s provision and sacrificial generosity.

What might God do if every person here would seek ways of sacrificial giving?

Let’s be ambitious in asking God to pour out a spirit of grace and sacrificial generosity upon us at Saint Mary’s.’

“It is better to give than to receive” said Jesus. “It’s better” said the one who gave absolutely everything, pouring himself out in the greatest sacrifice of all, which we celebrate once again this morning as guests at his table.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 6th September 2015

Promises

“Once we are elected, we will…” Familiar words uttered by political leaders from all over the democratic world – and I should add in the interests of impartiality from every political party. “Once we are elected, we will…” Fill in the blanks; “make Britain great again,” “end child poverty in the UK,” “reduce immigration to tens of thousands,” “not return to boom and bust,” “scrap tuition fees,” and “clear the deficit” to name off the top of my head just a few pledges that perhaps unsurprisingly failed to materialise.

George Stephanopoulos, a US political commentator, famously said on Larry King Live in February 1996, “The President has kept all the promises he intended to keep.” That would be Bill Clinton, whose frugalities in the area of truthfulness were proverbial.

The word “promise” comes from the Latin promittere which means a word sent on in advance that something will or will not be done. There are promises all around us. Every contract we sign is basically a promise to provide a service and pay a debt. Every marriage is founded on life-long promises of mutual love and loyalty.

If some political and social promises have proved alas to be not worth the envelopes they were written on, God’s promises are different.

In the Old Testament God promised that he would send a Saviour and he was extremely specific about what he committed to. Of all human families, the whole earth would be blessed by a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12.3), of Isaac, not Ishmael (Genesis 17.19), from the tribe of Judah, not from any of the other 11 (Genesis 49.1), and a descendant of David, not any of Jesse’s other seven sons (Jeremiah 23.5-6). He would be born in Bethlehem, nowhere else on earth (Micah 5.2), he would come with a message of good news for the poor and bind up the broken-hearted (Isaiah 61).

He would suffer agony, thirst, scorn and mocking, his clothes would be gambled for and his hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22). He would be rejected by his own people, unjustly condemned without protest, disfigured by his beatings, he would pray for his executioners, die from his injuries alongside wrongdoers, be buried with the rich and, after death, see the light of life again (Isaiah 53).

No wonder so many Jews became followers of Jesus in the First Century. They had been waiting centuries for a messiah fulfilling all the above criteria, and Jesus ticked every box.

God kept his promise about his Son to every last detail. And he keeps his promises to us – every last one. Here’s a tiny selection: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11.28). “I will never leave or forsake you” (Hebrews 13.5). “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10.13). “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4.7). “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10.9).

It’s reassuring to remember in a world of many broken promises that, as D. L. Moody put it, “God never made a promise that was too good to be true.”