Faith Factor...

Please repeat after me. Salvation is free, it costs me nothing. Following Jesus, will cost me something. This is a big problem for some people. They become Christians and trust Jesus with their salvation, but they don’t want to hand over and trust him with their lives. A lot of people will say, “I don’t want to give up anything in my life, I just like the going to heaven when I die part.” Or, “I’ll give you this much God, but the rest is off limits, you can’t have this. There seems to be some confusion involved. We tend to think, since we are giving up all this great stuff to truly follow Christ (money, job, marriage, relationships, etc.) and not getting anything in return, consequently it is a really bad deal. In other words, "You want your cake and you want to eat it too." If you can relate at all, that I am a Christian but I am not a true 100% follower of Jesus Christ. I’m a Christian but I don’t know if there has ever been a time where I have actually hand over my career, my time, my relationships, My college major, who I am dating or how I spend my free time. If that has never truly happened for you, and the reason is because you are a little bit afraid of what God may take away from you. Your issue is not the value of what you are holding in your hands. Your issue is do you really trust that God is who he says he is, and that he will do what he promised to do. The main reason we are afraid is because we are not sure what he is going to do, If I get out of that relationship, what if there is not another one, what if, what if, what if. And it's like God is saying, "Yeah, I know, isn't exciting isn't it." It is scary. And God says, "No, you’re going to have to, huh, trust me." But that’s scary. "I know that’s why I am not going to force you." I want you to learn to trust me.

Luke 5:1-11 is a story about a guy much like us. His name is Peter and he had heard and learned a lot about Jesus. Peter had come to a point where he was taking the teachings of Jesus seriously in his life. And all of a sudden he is challenge to do something with what he has heard and with what he has believed and it scares him to death. And what Jesus asked him to do really does not make any sense at all with in the context of what he understood, which is the same for many of us. Peter was not famous, he was a business guy, and he worked in the family business.
If you had met Peter at that point and said, “Hey Peter, what do you want to be when you grow up”? He would say, “I am what I want to be when I grow up. I’m a fisherman. I am there.” What is your vision for your life? "I don’t have a vision, I am a fishermen. I don’t need a vision. I want to provide for my family, I want to be a good Jewish man; I want to be an upstanding guy in the community. I am just a guy.” Nobody knew who Peter was. But yet this is the day that everything in his life changed.

“One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.”

Let me tell you a little side information. Fishermen would go out at night to fish, because the water was cool and all the fish would come to the top of the water. They would fish with nets and would fish all night and then come into shore in the morning. Then get the fish, clean the fish, and get the fish ready for market. Then they would clean their nets, and get all the “bear cans” and seaweed out of them. Then spread them out and let them dry. Then they would roll them up, store them, and then go to sleep because they were up all night. So Peter sees Jesus teaching. Apparently the crowed is getting so big that Jesus is backing up and backing up closer and closer to the water, and it is getting a little gushy. So Jesus saw two boats and figured he would hop in one of the boats and push out from the shore so he would have some distance to speak.

“He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.”

So apparently Peter was at the edge of the water working with his nets or he may even be inside the boat. Either way he is close to Jesus, listening too his sermon. Peter has heard Jesus speak before. He knew that Jesus was a teacher. He knew that Jesus clamed to be from God, and many people said he was a prophet. So he knew who Jesus was pretty good, probably better than most people. So he is there listening to Jesus, we don’t even know what he was talking about. Peter is drying his nets, very sleepy, no doubt because he has been fishing all night. He is getting ready to put away the nets and turn in for the day. And then Jesus turns to Peter and asks him to do something that if he did would make no sense at all. So Jesus is basically saying, “Peter I would like you to risk your reputation for me. Peter I would like you to risk your finances for me. Peter I would basically like for you to risk your career for me. Peter I would like you do something for me that everyone on the shore, by the way I have drawn quite a crowd, would look at you and laugh out loud.”

“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Now I don’t know what Peter was thinking, but my guess is Peter was probably thinking something like this. You’re a carpenter, and I am a fishermen. You obviously know nothing about fishing because if you did, you would know that we don’t fish in daylight, we fish at night. The water is warm therefore the fish are low. Also, I don’t know if you we paying attention but my nets were just dried. And if you take a look my nets, they are ready to be stored for the day until it is time to go fishing again tonight. You don’t fish in the day. Again if any of the other fishermen and if anyone on the shore line see you and me rowing around on the lake and not just having a little lake time, but the two of us with these dried clean nets starting to fish in the middle of the day. Who knows what would be said about us. This doesn’t make any sense at all. So peter push's back a little bit like we often do. You know, whatever the deal is. Oh but God do you know how hard it is to get in with this school? But God do you know what an honor it is to be even asked to be apart of that group? But God my parents really like this guy. But God have you seen her, have you seen her? And then as if God would say, "Oh yeah, I forgot, I’m sorry, go ahead, my bad." So peter try’s to give Jesus a little information that maybe he did not already know.

“Simon answered, ‘Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.”

It is like peter was saying, “Jesus, you don’t fish during the day and you especially don’t fish during the day that is connected to the night that you already fish and didn’t catch anything. It just doesn’t make any sense. And besides that, people are watching. And if I go out there and get my nets all dirty again, and then have to spend the whole afternoon cleaning them off, I'm not going to be in any shape to fish tonight. This could wreck me financially. I mean there are a lot of things at steak here." So listen to the rest to verse five.

“But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

This is huge. Peter is saying Jesus I wouldn’t do this for anyone else. Jesus I am not doing this because it makes sense. And Jesus I am not doing this because I think we are going to catch anything. I am not doing this because it is going to help my life in anyway. I can’t think of anything good that is going to come from this. But I’ve been listening, I’ve been watching, and I am going to trust you. Even though this could make me the laughing stalk of all of Galilee, because you said so, I will to do it.

“When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

See what happens here? When Peters little bitty faith intersects with Jesus' faithfulness, he realized whom he was dealing with. And all of a sudden Peter realized that this incredible man, must not simply be a man. Not only did Peter see and recognize who Jesus is. Peter realized that Jesus knew who he was. And in that moment, Jesus was no longer a prophet or a teacher. He became the real, live, personal, son of the living God. And His life was never the same. And the fish weren’t even the issue. See your testimony won’t be about “fish”, when you realize who Jesus is and what he has done for you. It will be how he acted in your life personally as a response to your faith.

“For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

This is an amazing part of the story. Peter encountered Jesus and when he did his life change forever. Something inside of Peter clicked. He realized that Jesus was who he said he was. That alone was enough for him to drop his plans for his life and follow Jesus. He gave up everything, his job, family, and friends. Not to mention the pile of fish they just caught. The pile of fish that just made them very well off. And instead of going back to shore and cleaning those fish and preparing them for the market, he leaves them there. He picks up where he is at and just goes, goes to follow Jesus. Peter had no idea what hung on the other side of the door of him saying, "I trust you", and neither will you. You may be afraid to fail or it just may not make any sense at all. But if Jesus says he wants you to do it, open your hands, open your life and say, “Here I am Lord, do with me as you please.”

"When you decide to follow Jesus, he takes full reasonability for the out come of the journey." - Charles Stanley

Grace and Peace