Luke 5:1-11 Let Down Your Nets 1. When fishing for salvation 2. When fishing for other blessings 3. When fishing for men February 8, 2004 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. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." 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!" 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." Did you ever have this experience as a child? You were trying to accomplish some task, you were putting a great deal of effort into it, and then your mom or dad came by and suggested that you try to go about it a different way. Well, you could hardly see how in the world doing it that way would help, but you decided it was worth a shot. And when you tried it--wonder of wonders--your parents were right. That experience probably made you a little more willing to listen to your parents the next time they gave advice--no matter how foolish it at first seemed. The same thing happens to Peter in our text. Peter is told by Jesus to let down his nets. It was some pretty foolish-sounding advice, but Peter figured it was worth a shot. And it paid off. The result of this was that when Jesus told Peter in the future to, in essence, let down his nets, Peter was willing to do so, trusting that Jesus knew what he was talking about. We have been asked by Jesus in a number of different areas to "let down our nets", to do things which don't immediately seem wise. Let's take a look at some of those ways. 1. When fishing for salvation One of the more foolish-sounding things I've ever heard is that if you're face-to-face with a certain kind of bear--I can't recall which kind--you should not turn and run the other way to try to escape. Neither should you stand there and shout and scream in an effort to frighten the bear. Either of these might seem to make sense, but the fact is that if you run the bear will always be able to run faster than you, and he will catch you. And if you shout and scream, the bear will decide that someone with this much energy will provide a tasty meal. No, rather, the experts say that we ought to "let down our nets" as it were. We ought to lay down on the ground, completely at the mercy of the bear, and we ought to play dead. It sounds foolish, but I guess it works. In our reading, we see Peter facing something pretty frightening. We see him reacting in a very natural way, but a way that doesn't work. And we see him being told to do something seemingly very foolish. Instead of starting at the very beginning of this account, let's move near the end--after Jesus has preached to the crowd, after the great catch of fish has been pulled in. The full impact of Jesus' miracle smacks Peter in the face. Peter realizes, like Isaiah in our Old Testament reading for today, that he is a sinful man standing in the presence of a holy and righteous God. And he realizes that he has no right to do so. In fact, he dares not do so, and he falls to his knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" This is the only logical reaction that one can have when face-to-face with a righteous God who commands perfection and condemns sins. By our very natures we feel the same way about God. We want him to go away from us--and all the more so when we realize exactly how holy and also how powerful he is--when we realize just how different and how much greater he is than us. When we realize that we have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, when we realize that there have been many times when the thought of praying to God or reading his word was made less important than something else we wanted to do, and when we realize that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, when we realize that we haven't even loved our immediate family as ourselves, then the last thing in the world that our sinful nature wants to do is face God. And so, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we hide from God. Surely if we keep our Bible on the shelf, God won't be able to find us. Surely if we reason that our body needs that hour of sleep on Sunday, God won't be able to find us. Because he'll be in church, and we'll be in bed. And if we stay up until we're so exhausted that we can't help falling asleep, we won't have to go find God in prayer before bedtime. It makes sense. Sinful people and a righteous God simply don't mix, do they? So the safest thing is to stay away until we get our lives together to the point where we are able to look him in the face. And that sort of leads us to the other option that occurs to our sinful mind--especially if we realize that we can't outrun God: Bluff. Stand up, look him in the eye, and say, "I'm willing to stand on my merits. I've lived a pretty good life. I try to do what's right. I've raised good kids. I mean, I even sing in the choir." And then we stand there, stiff upper lip, confident stare...and trembling legs. Because deep down we know that God doesn't buy it. Deep down we know that God has commanded us to be holy, just as he is holy. Deep down we know that God has said that whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles at just one point--and of course we have not stumbled at one point, but at many--whoever does this is guilty of breaking all of it--is guilty of a multitude of sins. And we know that God has said that the payment for sin is a life. Even as we stand there and bluster about the strength we have in our good deeds, we prepare to be devoured. As we've said, the methods that come to mind are logical. But that doesn't mean they work. It didn't work for Peter. He had chosen the first method--to try to get away from God--or rather, to try to get God away from him. But it didn't work. Jesus remained there, and he said to Peter, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." These words are unexpected, to say the least. They are pure gospel. These words are good news. Jesus is not telling Peter here that he should stop acting afraid, that he has nothing to be ashamed of, that he can stand on his own merits before God because goodness knows there were lots of other people who were living less moral lives than he, because goodness knows there were many other people out there who weren't even willing to give Jesus the time of day, much less a boat to sit in and preach to the people. No, Jesus is telling Peter here that he ought to let down his net, he's telling Peter that he ought to do something very foolish. He ought to lay down before God and play dead. Because that's what he is--completely helpless. But doing this ought not make him afraid. In fact, it ought to make him unafraid. Because the Son of Man who had the power to cause a great catch of fish, the Son of Man who had the power to tell a paralytic to get up and walk, that same Son of Man also had the power to forgive sins. And that is exactly what he would do with Peter's sins. He had indeed come to seek and to save that which was lost, that which was dead, that which had laid down before God and pleaded for mercy. He did this a couple years later when he made that payment that was required for sin, when he gave up his life as a sacrifice for Peter's sins. And he also gave up his life as a sacrifice for your sins and for my sins. So let down your nets. There's all sorts of people who are not letting down their nets at all. They're too scared to even go out on the water. They're hiding from God. But as for you, put your boat out from shore. And go past all those people who are letting down their nets in the shallow water of their own goodness. They're not catching anything. Head out into the deep water, the water of Christ's love and his forgiveness. Let down the nets in your spiritual life. There will be a great catch--forgiveness, life, and salvation. 2. When fishing for other blessings It's been fairly well documented, so most of you understand what it is that makes this catch so miraculous--the utter absurdity of the techniques used to catch the fish. Very briefly, the best time to fish was at night, and the best place to fish was in the shallow water. This is exactly what Peter and his partners, James and John (and probably Andrew) had done. And there hadn't been any success at all. So as day broke, they wisely brought in the boats, and cleaned their nets in preparation, probably, for the next night, when they would try again. But Jesus tells them, "Put out into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." We've already stated why this request would be somewhat foolish, so Peter's reply comes as no surprise. He says, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." Whether or not Peter spoke these words--"because you say so"--with a tone of irritation or with an attitude of trust is impossible to tell. But from that moment on, I'll bet Peter said those sorts of words with an attitude of trust. Because Jesus kept his promise of a "catch." In fact, he kept it so abundantly that the nets began the break and the boats were so loaded down with fish, they were riding so low in the water that they were in danger of taking on water and sinking. A foolish command, but a great result. God gives us foolish commands in his Word. If there's one thing our human natures have taught us--and it's been well reinforced by our economic system of capitalism--it's that it's every man for himself. Do unto others before they do unto you. Do whatever it is that you can to the other guy--within the boundaries of government law, of course--because otherwise he's going to do it to you. And that last part is pretty much true--if you don't stab someone in the back first, you had better not turn your back to them, or you'll end up with a knife in it. And even if they don't attack you, they are only being nice to you because they feel they will benefit in some way. So it would only seem to make sense to live that way ourselves. "When in Rome", you know. But God gives us a very foolish command in his word. He tells us not to steal. In fact, Martin Luther says in the explanation of the 7th Commandment that we should fear and love God that we do not take our neighbor's money or property or get it by dishonest dealing, but actually help him to improve and protect his property and business. While the explanations to the commandments are not inspired, the words "Love your neighbor as yourself" are. And this is a perfect application of those words. So in that sense we could say that God has commanded us to obey the explanation to the 7th Commandment. It hardly seems that God's method could work. And yet God tells us to let down our nets. He tells us to do things his way and see what happens. And what will happen? The same thing that happened to Peter. God will bless us. There will be a catch. Perhaps our nets will be filled so full that we'll have to motion our friends to come over and help us, so full that our boats will begin to sink. God will give us clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, cattle, and all that we need to keep our body and life. And he'll probably even give us some things that we don't need to keep our body and life--like great vacations, a job promotion, a new house, the respect of others, and tickets to a Cavs game. But these sorts of things may come, or they may not. When we follow God's commands, he promises to give us all that we need--not necessarily all that we want. But when we let down our nets according to God's commands, we can be absolutely certain that God will fill our nets with spiritual blessings. When we obey God's commands to hear his Word, we can be sure that we will receive a strengthened faith. That in turn will give us a firmer grip on heaven. And there can be no greater blessing than that. Jesus calls us to let down our nets when we are fishing for salvation, and he also calls us to let down our nets when we are fishing for other blessings. Obey God's foolish-sounding commands. Because finally, it is not you, but it is he, who fills your boat so full. Let down your nets. It's not important that you understand exactly why he has told you to do so. It's not important that you understand exactly how he's going to fill your boat. Let down your nets when fishing for other blessings, and do it for no other reason than because he has said so. Then get ready to start pulling, because you can be sure that God will fill your net with blessings--all the physical blessings you need, and more importantly, all the spiritual blessings you need. 3. When fishing for men Finally, Jesus calls Peter and his partners to let down their nets one more time. He says, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." The men then "pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him." The text seems to indicate that this was not a difficult decision for the disciples. And in fact, it probably wasn't. At that moment, filled with the excitement of having just listened to Jesus' preaching--preaching which the gospels tell us amazed everyone who heard it--filled with the excitement of having just listened to Jesus' preaching and having then seen a demonstration of Jesus' power, and then having been assured of his love and forgiveness, it probably wasn't too difficult for them to accept that they would be fishers of men, it probably wasn't too difficult to leave everything and follow him. A faith that's on fire does these sorts of things. But you have to wonder how much they could have really understood about what it would be like to be fishers of men. Perhaps they thought that this fishing expedition would be a long triumphant trip--hauling in full nets of believers, one after the other, every cast producing a great catch of people humbled by, awed at, and rejoicing over their message. But it didn't work out that way, did it? You have to wonder if there weren't times when the disciples wondered about Jesus' methods, if they didn't consider that maybe they ought to be casting the net a little differently. When Jesus and his disciples were headed for Jerusalem for Jesus' final Passover, they wanted to stop at a Samaritan village for a while, but the people there didn't welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. Ah, the disciples figured they knew how to deal with this. James and John said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" That's the solution! If there's fish that refuse to come into the net, shoot a few as a lesson to the rest of them! But they would learn that fishing for men--just like fishing for fish--requires a great deal of patience. Because finally, it is not we, but God, who puts the fish into the net. And he does that through the simple preaching of his Word, through the repeated preaching of his Word. It's a lesson that we do well to remember anytime we are fishing for men. As a congregation, as individuals, we know that we bring a great message to people. Yet we ought not be shocked when people don't immediately jump into our net. And we ought not be ashamed when in fact they even swim away from our net. You might recall that that is exactly what Peter did when confronted with a holy God, that's exactly what we by nature did also. Just keep letting down the nets, keep putting the gospel out there, keep living a Christian life. Don't let down the nets, pull them up, despair at the meager catch, throw away the nets, and begin to fish some other way--or even give up fishing altogether. Jesus promises there will be a catch if we use his methods of fishing for men. We probably won't have such a big catch that the boat will start to sink, and yet Jesus just may grant us enough small catches that our current church building begins to overflow. And Jesus promises a catch when we apply those methods to fishing for children, too. When you read a simple Bible story to your two-year old, they won't respond by saying, "Thank you for exposing me to the one thing that is needful." Regardless, that is what you will have done. When you bring your 6-year old to church and make them sit quietly through worship and Sunday school, they may not speak excitedly of the sermon's theme and parts on the way home. But God's Word works--whether you know it or not. And when you spend $5000 to send your 14-year old 5 hours from home in order to get a Christian education, you may question the wisdom of letting down your nets in such a way. But God doesn't. Rather, God promises blessings, he promises a catch. When fishing for souls--whether the souls of men or the souls of children, follow Jesus' command to let down your nets. And let down your nets whenever Jesus tells you to--no matter how foolish it sounds. It sounds foolish when Jesus tells us to face God, trusting only in Jesus for forgiveness of sins. But God raised Jesus from the dead and showed that Jesus really brings us forgiveness. It sounds foolish when God tells us to obey his laws, that we may have a good life. But if a great catch of fish was provided for Peter through seemingly foolish fishing techniques, God will provide for us although we live in a way the world finds laughable. And it sounds foolish when God tells us to preach his Word, to preach his Law and to preach his Gospel in order to catch men, in order to make believers. But do so. Indeed, if you want to have a catch of salvation, of spiritual and physical blessings, and of new believers, say with Peter, "Because you say so, I will let down the nets." Amen.