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YOU WILL CATCH MEN

Luke 5:1-11

Key Verse:5:10b “Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”

  In the Vatican City, there is a spectacular and magnificent church building, where the Popes have resided. This building was designed by several great architects including Michelangelo and Bramante, and it took more than 120 years for to complete. The Sistine Chapel contains Michelangelo’s famous ceiling paintings and numerous marble scriptures.  Each year more than a million people around the world visit the Holy City. Do you know what the name of the building is? It is St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the biggest and greatest church buildings in the world. People built this church on Peter’s burial site. Then, who is this Peter? Why has his name been honored so greatly?  Peter was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Before Peter met Jesus, he was a nameless, smelly fisherman. But since he followed Jesus, he was transformed into the great St. Peter, one of the greatest teachers in human history. Today we will study how Peter encountered Jesus Christ and why Jesus called Peter. Besides, we will study the deep spiritual meaning of Peter’s obedience and his confession of faith. Amen.

First, Jesus teaches the word of God by the lake. (1-3) In the previous chapter we learned that Jesus taught the word of God in the synagogues. The people who listened to Jesus were amazed by his teaching, because his message had authority. (4:32) Jesus’ word was living water welling up to eternal life for the hungry and thirsty souls. It also has mighty healing power. Demons came out and sick people were healed. Jesus continued to teach the word wherever he went: in the synagogue, in field, and even by the lake. Look at verse 1. “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God.” The Lake of Gennesaret was called “The Sea of Galilee” in Mark’s gospel and “The Sea of Tiberius” in John’s gospel. This lake was usually a quiet and remote place where people could enjoy fresh air and appreciate nature's beauty. But this day, from early in the morning the lake was crowded with many people who had come to see Jesus. Some of them desired healing. Others were there for the feeding of their hungry stomachs. But, most of them had come to see Jesus and to hear the word of God. Jesus whole-heartedly taught them the word of God. Jesus knew that what people really need is to hear the word of God. This reminds us of the prophecy of Amos who said, “The days are coming, “ declared the Sovereign Lord, “When I will send a famine through the land-not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.” (Amos 8:11)

   The people listening to the word of God became so many that the seashore could not hold them all. Jesus realized the danger of being pushed into water. The situation was desperate. Jesus saw that two boats had been left at the water’s edge by fishermen. (2) Jesus got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon also called Peter, who was diligently washing his nets during Jesus’ teaching. Simon might have seemed indifferent to hearing the word of God. However, Jesus’ eyes focused on him. Jesus humbly asked Simon to put out his boat a little from shore. “Would you put out a little from shore?” Moved by Jesus’ humbleness, Simon answered, “Yes, sir.”

  During this short encounter, Simon was obviously touched by Jesus’ humility in asking a favor of him, even when he looked like a difficult person to talk with. Simon could not be indifferent to Jesus anymore. The more he tried not to look at Jesus, the more his eyes became fixed on Jesus. Simon felt that he was the closest friend to Jesus. This mysterious relationship would last forever. May God give us a humble heart like Jesus to ask a favor from others so that we can make many friends with others. Amen.

Second, put out into deep water (4-7).  Look at verse 4. “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” After his teaching the crowd, Jesus began to focus on one person, Simon Peter. Jesus asked Simon to put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. What a difficult suggestion to understand! What an unreasonable command to obey!  From a human point of view, Jesus’ effort to encourage Simon was too unrealistic to accept. First of all, Jesus’ suggestion went against any fisherman's common sense. Generally there are no fish in deep water, especially not during the day time. Fish gather at the water’s edge or in shallow areas which contain more oxygen than the deep water. More than that, Simon had worked hard the previous night, and it is time to go home after washing his nets. He was hungry and tired. According to his knowledge and experience as a veteran fisherman, Jesus’ suggestion was nonsense.

  How did Simon answer? Look at verse 5. “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.” To our surprise, Simon decided to obey Jesus’ word, denying his own ideas and experience. Here we learn what kind of person Simon was and what kind of people Jesus chose as his disciples. First of all, Simon had learning mind. As we know Peter was a veteran fisherman and Jesus was a junior carpenter. It could hurt a fisherman’s pride if a junior carpenter tried to teach him about catching fish. But, Simon did not mind because he had a learning mind. Second of all, Simon was an obedient person. He was tired and hungry. He wanted to go home as soon as possible after he was finished washing the nets. He was exhausted physically and mentally because he had caught nothing.  But, he overcame himself and decided to obey Jesus’ word. Obedience comes from having a learning mind. Simon Peter became great because he had a learning mind and an obedient heart.

  What happened when Simon obeyed Jesus’ word? Look at verses 6,7. “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 obeyed Jesus’ word, a miracle happened. Seemingly all the fish in the sea gathered into Simon’s nets at once as if they had been commanded to do so. The fish were so many that Simon’s net could not hold all of them. So, Simon asked his partner to help him. Soon both their boats were filled with fish, even to the point that they began to sink.

  In this short story, what can we learn about Jesus? Jesus is the Almighty Creator God. He is the one who said in the beginning, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky” (Ge 1:20) Jesus is the Creator God who controls the fish in the water. Jesus is also the good shepherd who healed Simon’s failure by making him catch lots of fish. Jesus is like a loving mother who wraps her children’s wounds with bandages. There is no failure in Jesus. Jesus heals our failures and blesses those who trust and obey.

  Jesus’ words, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” is a God’s challenge to human beings who live by reason and experience. In modern Western philosophy, there were two main streams of thoughts: first, Rationalism, second, Empiricism. The Rationalists such as Rene Descartes and Spinoza claimed that knowledge is from innate ideas in mind, called ‘reason.’ On the other hand, Empiricists such as John Locke and David Hume said that knowledge begins with sensory experience. These two groups of philosophers tried to understand and measure the value of humanity and nature based on these two elements, reason and experience.  If anything or any idea was unreasonable or incompatible with experience, they would not accept it. These two main humanistic ideas have influenced the Western world and formed modern western philosophy and culture. They have challenged Christianity too. Some Christians live and act based on reason and experience. They will not obey if it is unreasonable or unrealistic even though it is from God’s word. They want to obey only in range of what they understand based on their reason and experience. The word “obedience” is limited, out-dated, and even taboo in some places. There is a promising young man who wants to become a great servant of God. However, he always stays in the shallow water, the water of reason and of speculation. Those who depend on their own reason and experience cannot experience the deep spiritual world as well as God's abundant blessing.

Simon Peter’s humble learning mind and obedient faith reminds us of Abraham in the Old Testament. When God called Abraham, Abraham was 75 years old. From a human point of view, Abraham was a hopeless old man with no children. But, God called Abraham and commanded him to leave his country, his people and his household and go to the land which God would show him. Then, God promised Abraham to make him into a great nation and a blessing to the world. God’s promise was too good to believe. Abraham seemed too old to move. God’s command and promise was not much different from Jesus’ word to Simon Peter, “Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.” God’s command was not reasonable and out of common sense. How did Abraham respond to God’s word?  Hebrews11:8 says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” What happened when Abraham trusted God and obeyed him? The history proves that God made Abraham a great nation and a source of blessing to the whole world from generation to generation through Jesus Christ. Amen. Those who hesitate and stay only in shallow water cannot please God. Nor can they grow into great men. Only those who trust in God and obey him can experience the power of God and grow into great men of God like Abraham and Simon Peter.

Once, Korea was a desolate land in church history.  South Korea was one of the poorest countries in 1950’s after the Korean War. But, now South Korea has become the second largest missionary-sending country in the world next to America. How could this be? It could happen because of the faith and obedience of many Korean Christians who simply trusted in God and obeyed Jesus’ world mission command. Sending missionaries to other countries looked impossible, unrealistic and unreasonable. However, UBF members began to pray. We just wanted to obey Jesus’ world mission command. Some people underestimated our prayer and even ridiculed us. But what happened? In the last 50 years, God has sent more than 3,000 missionaries to over 90 countries through UBF.

Last Friday we had our Founders Day worship service at Chicago UBF. We heard several reports and testimonies from missionaries and shepherds who had come from Africa. We witnessed how God has been working mightily through our UBF missionaries for African souls. For example, in 1993 the title of the first UBF African conference was a holy nation. Our missionaries thought that Africa becoming a holy nation is good enough before God. But, when Dr. Samuel Lee visited the conference, he asked them to change the title from a ‘holy nation’ to a ‘shepherd nation’.  At that time, it was impossible for the poor and dependent Africans to become a shepherd nation to the world. But, our missionaries and some African shepherds obeyed and began to pray. Since then, miracles have been happening here and there in each country in Africa through our missionaries and shepherds. As Simon Peter caught huge number of fish, our missionaries began to serve huge numbers of African students through one to one Bible studies. Among them many shepherds became Bible teachers, missionaries and established house churches for world mission. One of them came to Chicago last Friday and shared his testimony and mission report. He is shepherd Oyor Moses, Sudanese UBF missionary to Egypt. In the past, he hated the Muslims who had killed many townspeople including his family members during the civil war. He could not forgive the Muslims. He wanted to kill them. But, when he heard Jesus’ prayer on the cross through Bible study, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”, Moses repented. Jesus’ forgiving love melted his cold heart and took away the sword of hatred from him. Instead of hating Muslims, he became a missionary to the Muslims.  This one person’s change and obedience toward Jesus’ word showed us the hope for Africa to become a shepherd nation to the world. Amen.

Let us go into the deep water, the world of obedience and faith. May we not just hesitate and remain in shallow water with fear and speculation. As there are abundant and mysterious creatures under the deep water, so also there are abundant and mysterious blessings of God in the world of obedience and faith. Only those who put out into deep water and let down their nets will experience this. Amen.

Look at verse 8. “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”  Simon Peter had the fear of God when he saw the image and power of God in Jesus. He fell at Jesus’ feet. He felt that a smelly and dirty sinner like him was standing in the presence of the Holy God. He asked for Jesus’ forgiveness of his sin, the sin of ignorance and unbelief.

Then Jesus said to Simon. Look at verse 10b. “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” The words “Don’t be afraid.” means “I will forgive all your sins.” Jesus forgave Simon Peter’s sins and gave him a new direction. “From now on you will catch men.” In Matthew's and Mark’s gospels, Jesus says, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mt 4:19, Mk 1:17) What a calling! What a blessing! Simon Peter was a fisherman who caught smelly fish. He laughed and cried according to the amount of fish that he had caught. Then, he was doomed to die namelessly. But now, Jesus calls him to become a fisher of men who catches men and brings them to the kingdom of God. Jesus wanted to make Simon Peter a great teacher and shepherd for all nations.  How did Simon respond to Jesus’ calling? In verse 11, “So they pulled their boats on shore, left everything and followed him.” May God help each of us to respond to Jesus’ calling and become great fishers of men in our generation. May God make America a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  Amen.

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• YOU WILL CATCH MEN-messasage-final.doc

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