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