Trinity 5, July 16, 2017 (Luke 5:1-11) Text Only

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 that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.  And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”  And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.  (Luke 5:8-11)

Why in the world would you follow Jesus?  Or better, because I’m a follower of Christ preaching to other fellow followers of Christ; why in the world do we follow Jesus?

As one follower of Christ preaching to other fellow followers of Christ, you assume that this sermon is going to encourage you in following Christ.  And I pray that it will.  But for a moment, we’re going to consider that we’re a bit crazy because we actually want to.

Jesus’ call to faith and holy living is rather inconvenient to say the least.

Consider first Jesus’ call to the particular office of being His apostle to Peter, James and John.  The text says these three were all partners in a fishing business.  They knew where they were going to get their next paycheck.  Then Jesus says, “from now on you will be catching men.”  …they left everything and followed Him.

Right before this text, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law which shows us that Peter had a family and probably had a wife.  Peter had a home.  Then Jesus says, from now on you will be catching men.  …they left everything and followed Him.

That’s not the call of every Christian.  But our Lord’s inconvenient call is not limited to the apostles.  The call for every Christian is to deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Jesus.  (Luke 9:23)

Deny yourself.  Follow Christ.  Take up my cross. That’s inconvenient.

Consider the inconvenience of one of Peter’s commands in our Epistle lesson:

All of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8)

Unity of mind means I at least need to be considering other people who don’t agree with me.  That’s not easy.  Following my own thoughts is much easier!

Sympathy means I have to be feeling other people and their pain.  Following my own feelings and dwelling on only my own is much easier!

Brotherly love means I have to act in love for the sake of my fellow Christians and they’re sometimes really hard to even like.  Following only people I like is much easier!

Follow Christ.  Deny yourself.

The call for the Christian is to deny their sexual desires if those desires fall outside of God’s institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

The call for the Christian is to defend their slandered neighbor and speak well of them.

The call for the Christian is to honor those in authority even if we strongly disagree with them.

Why in the world do we do that or at least try do that?

And, on top of denying our own sinful natures, we are promised that at times we will suffer from the world even when we’re doing good and that our life here will sometimes be quite lonely.  Elijah said, The people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:15)

So, why in the world do we follow Christ?

The simple is answer is because He has created faith in us that He is God and that He is good.

 

Let’s see this from the text:

 

Peter realizes two things in seems.  First, he is about to die.  And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.  They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 

And second, He is standing in front of His maker and the One that he is accountable to, answerable to for all his thoughts, words, and deeds.  That causes great fear.  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O LORD.”  (Luke 5:6-7)

There are more scary things than denying our desires, more scary things than being rejected and mocked by others.  The scariest thing is being rejected and denied by God when death comes.

This sometimes makes people want God just to go away, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.  That’s not the answer.  That’s the worst answer.

So then, the Lord has also done something for you that completely changes everything.  He has spoken to you in the midst of your sin and death and judgment, and the Lord has said to you, Do not fear.

This flesh and blood Man that spoke those words to Peter, Do not fear is God, Peter’s judge.  And Peter’s Judge and your Judge says to you something wonderful about Himself, Do not fear.

How could we not fear?

Because the Jesus that you are answerable to is Himself your answer.  Died in His flesh and blood to answer for you.  His answer to you is “Peace!”  At all times and in all places, Do not fear.

The Jesus that you will see face to face when you die is the Jesus who in fact died for you.  He can say follow me even through death because He has paved the way through death to everlasting life and already took you with Him in Holy Baptism .

The Jesus that Peter followed is also the Jesus that had proved to Peter he should not worry about following him.  “Leave your job, Peter, the Lord who can provide for you two boatfuls of fish can certainly provide for your daily bread.”

Dear saints, you are not called to come and follow.  You are called to stay and follow.  Live where you’re at with the people that God has placed around you as a disciple of Christ, and do not worry about tomorrow, for God promises that He will provide for you what you need.

Why do we follow Jesus?  Because the Lord has worked in us a fear of Him and then told us to confess, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life, whom shall I be afraid.  He’s the answer to the fear question.

Why do we follow this Jesus?  Because He is faithful to His promises.  He told Peter cast the net to catch fish and Peter caught fish because Jesus said it.  And Jesus says to you, “Delight in My Word, pray to Me, receive my Body and Blood, and begin to live a life of denying your sinful nature” and if Jesus promises He will bless us and others because of this, then He will bless us and others because of this because Jesus said it.

Why do we follow this Jesus?  Because the One who went fishing for men and caught Peter has also caught us again today and reeled us in closer to Himself through Peter’s and the apostles word.  We believe in the one holy, Christian and apostolic Church.  Christ’s Church has caught us and together we do encourage each other to follow Him.

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