I am sure each of us have expectations as we do things in our daily lives, when we expect something completely out of the world to come and surprise us, never in our life we could ever imagine that type of incident happening to us. I have had my life experiences, never in my life I thought I would write a spiritual blog or give sermons for Lord as I always Considered that its only for ordained ministers and not like a working person like me, I praise God and give all the glory and honor to him for using me for his works..
We see an incident in Luke where he did something like this to Peter, who was a fisherman. But God choose the unexpected to make him the 1st disciple. There are many spiritual things to learn from this incident
'One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were 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 from 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 fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. ' Luke 5:1-11
Great revelation Comes in …
Totally unexpected way.
Peter has no idea that his whole life is about to change. God works the unusual way. We’re just going on in life, business as usual, doing our thing, and suddenly the Lord intervenes to redirect our steps. My own experience has been that you can’t predict this in advance. As Jesus pointed in John 3:8, the Spirit blows wherever he wishes. You never know when the call will come to “launch out into the deep.”
Course of daily obedience
Fishermen fish. That’s what they do. In the first century, they went to the Sea of Galilee at night casting nets into the water, fishing all night, and then coming ashore at daybreak. Bible says that Peter and the others were cleaning their nets “who were washing their nets”, it means that the long night was over, and they were taking care of the nets so they could go fishing when night came once again.
Teachers teach. Singers sing. Cooks cook. And on it goes for all of us. Where do you begin in discovering the will of God? The way you discover God’s will for the future is to do the will of God right now.
Many of us wait for those high mountain peak experiences, for those emotional moments, for those moments when God seems so real to us. Almost as if we could reach out and touch him. When we say “God, show me your will,” what we mean is, “Lord give me some feeling, some insight, some spiritual revelation.” And God says, “I have already shown you my will. Now, just get up and do it!”
Only after the small step of obedience
Jesus first asked Peter for the use of his boat as a kind of floating pulpit to address the crowds that gathered on the shore. That was fine with Peter who was busy cleaning his nets. It was a small thing, really. But that small step of obedience led to the miracle that changed Peter’s life. You never know when one of those great miracles is around the corner, but they are more likely to come as we travel along the pathway of daily obedience.
Having agreed to let Jesus use his boat as a floating pulpit, Jesus now challenges Peter to a much greater step of faith. “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” So first we obey in small things, and out of the daily obedience, we discover a greater challenge looming before us.
Luke 5:1-11 tells us how Christ called Peter to be his disciple. The progress of this story is very simple. First Peter caught fish, then Jesus caught Peter, then Peter caught men. It all begins with a frustrated fisherman cleaning his nets after a long, hard night.
Spiritual Lessons to learn
Sense of Need : Verse 1-3, 5a
'One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were 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 from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 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.” ' Luke 5:1-3,5
Fishing is hard work. Peter, Andrew, James and John fished on the Sea of Galilee year round. They either sold their fish locally or the fish were salt-cured and sold as far away as Spain. You wouldn’t get rich that way, but a hardworking man could take care of his family.
Now it is morning and Peter and the others are tired, exhausted, and probably in a foul mood. Now they are busy mending the nets-time-consuming work made more difficult by the frustration of knowing they caught nothing the night before.
God still prepares us for his call by allowing us to endure personal failure
When Jesus asks Peter if he can use his boat, Peter immediately agrees. He knows Jesus and admires him greatly. So when Jesus wants to use his boat for a pulpit, Peter is honored to grant the request.
How fitting it is. Jesus comes to the scene of Peter’s failure and uses it to preach the Word. He takes the ordinary and makes it sacred. He uses a simple fishing boat as the setting for a mighty miracle.
Nothing in this story happens by chance. All is meant to teach us an important truth: *God still prepares us for his call by allowing us to endure personal failure*. Until we sense our need of him, we will not be ready to follow him. After all, if you think you are self-sufficient, why would you need Christ? We must be stripped of our self-confidence before we can be greatly used of God. Peter was broken before he was ready to respond to the call of Christ.
Challenge to Obedience Verse 4-5
'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.” ' Luke 5:4-5
The words of Jesus contains both a command and a promise. Jesus is not saying, “Let’s go out into the deep water, put down the nets, and we’ll see what happens.” Jesus is promising that if Peter will obey, he will catch fish. I’m sure that after a long night of fruitless fishing, this must have been hard to believe for Peter.
God never gives foolish commands, though they may look foolish at the time.
We can learn some useful lessons from this:
God never gives foolish commands, though they may look foolish at the time.
God intends to bless those who obey him without hesitation.
God’s greatest miracles usually require our cooperation.
There were certainly reasons for Peter to be skeptical. As a professional fisherman, Peter knew the lake. And he knew that sometimes even the best fishermen get “skunked.” He could have said, “Sorry, Lord, but it’s not worth the trouble.” Or “I’m the expert here.” Now comes the time to “fish or cut bait.” What will Peter do? “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
I love the way Peter puts it, “Because you say so” (v. 5). In the King James Version, the phrase is “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.” This is the watchword of the saints. Conditions may be dark and the world may fight against us, circumstances may overwhelm us, and our fears nearly submerge us. But God speaks and his children say, “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.” And off we go in obedience to Almighty God. Middle-aged Abraham set off across the desert with no more than this: “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.” Noah built an ark in the face of an unbelieving world with no more than this: “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.” Moses defied Pharaoh, looking to heaven and saying, “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.” Joshua marched around Jericho day after day with this in his heart: “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.” And young David confounded all the doubting men of Israel by marching into the valley armed with this confidence: “Nevertheless, at Thy Word.”
Then Peter added, “I will let down the nets.” We still have a part to do. The fish aren’t going to jump in the boat by themselves. We still have to do what we have to do. We’ve got to go to work, we’ve got to stay on the diet, we’ve got to go to the meetings, we’ve got to go to the counselor, we’ve got to share the gospel, we’ve got to do our homework, we’ve got to write the term paper, we’ve got to get that project done. There is still work for us to do.
Outcome of obedience - Note that the fish were there all along. It’s not as if Jesus created the fish on the spur of the moment. Those fish were in the water the night before; Peter just couldn’t find them. But when Jesus is in the boat, everything changes. Everything is happening according to God’s plan. He allowed Peter to fail so he would learn what he could do with Jesus’ help.
Other way to look at this is : Empty Nets without him; full nets with him. Let’s go fishing with Jesus every day!
Confession from Peter V8-10
'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 fish for people.” ' Luke 5:8-10
Why would Peter beg Jesus to leave? ““Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”” For most of us failure is easier to handle than success. Peter had encountered what was said by Isaiah 6:5. '“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” ' Isaiah 6:5 , Peter could not stand the contrast between the purity and power of Christ and his own sinfulness.
There is an important lesson for us to think in all this: When we encounter Jesus, we will never be the same again.No one can meet Jesus and walk away unchanged. We may end up closer to God or we may harden our hearts, but no one ever meets Jesus and stays the way they were before. In Peter’s case, his confession became part of his testimony. He knew he was a sinner and wasn’t ashamed to admit it. God can use a man who knows his weakness and doesn’t try to hide it.
God’s will is always good, but it’s not always comfortable. And it’s certainly not predictable.
Peter proves the point. God’s will is always good, but it’s not always comfortable. And it’s certainly not predictable. One day you’re catching fish, the next you’re catching men. One day you’re on the boat, the next you’re following Jesus down some dusty road. One day you’re arguing about where to cast your nets, the next you’re arguing with the Pharisees. One day you’re washing the fish smell out of your robes, the next you’re watching Jesus raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
That’s always been God’s method. When he wants to shake up the world, first he finds a man or a woman and he begins to shake them up. And when they are shaken up, he uses them to shake up the world around them.
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