October 22, 2017 NOTES NOT EDITED
Hearing the Call of
God
Luke 5:1-11
SIS--We experience great blessing when we hear
and obey the Lord’s call upon our lives.
Let's read about this
call together:
Luke 5:1-11 As the crowd
was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, He was standing by Lake
Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the
lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He
got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put
out a little from the land. Then He sat down and was teaching the crowds from
the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put
out into deep water and let down your nets for a
catch.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night
long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the
nets.” 6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and
their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in
the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full
that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’
knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” 9 For
he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they took,
10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching
people!” 11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything,
and followed Him.
For the last couple
of weeks, we have all watched news account after news account describe the
horrible carnage caused by Stephen Paddick shooting from his hotel window in
Las Vegas. Last count I had, 58 were
killed—58 people gunned down while enjoying a country music concert! Hundreds were wounded. After a while, with nearly 24 hour coverage,
the reports became like noise in our ears.
Add to that, the
noise of an economy that is clanging and rattling like an old automobile on its
last legs, we are immersed in a War on Terror that has no end in sight, a
madman in N. Korea has nuclear weapons, along with personal challenges we can
each enumerate ad infinitum, and one begins to understand why it is so
difficult to hear God's voice above the cacophony of sounds around us.
Yet, even when the
noise from our situation and circumstances or the internal noise of our inner
struggles rise to a fever pitch -- it remains imperative that we can pick the
voice of Jesus out from the crowd.
Our text says, the "crowd was pressing in" on
Jesus (verse 1). Verse 2 teaches us that
the trials of the day and the necessities of work were pressing against the
Simon and the other fishermen. It was a
busy, noisy, maybe even inconvenient time.
We cannot wait for a relaxing, quiet, more convenient time to hear God's
call upon our lives. We must hear it now
and respond in obedience, now.
When we respond--and
not until--we put ourselves in good stead to receive manifold blessings from
God. Our text teaches us at least four
fundamental truths about the Call of God upon our lives.
1. It's a call to CHANGE (VSS 4,
10b)
Two times our text
brings out the idea of change.
4 When He had finished
speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your
nets for a catch.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied,
“we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll
let down the nets.”
..........................
10 “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus
told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people!”
Let's take the second
reference first. This text calls us to a
fundamental change in "who" we are -- once fishermen, now fishers of
men. While metaphorically these two
vocations are the same, fundamentally they are quite different.
Answering the Call of
God upon your life fundamentally changes "who" you are. Some people interpret the call of God too
narrowly. They believe the call of God
to be something special that only a few need to hear and respond to. There is perhaps such a call that
distinquishes those God sets aside to a special place of service in the church,
such as the pastor, but that is not the most prominent, nor even the most
important call.
The most important
call of God comes to all men and women -- the call to "Come, follow me." That
call had four significant characteristics.
It is a call to CHANGE, a call to RISK, a call to OBEDIENCE, and a call
to great BLESSING. Let’s examine the
Call.
This passage in Luke
is one of many of the "call passages." While we associate these passages narrowly
with the Twelve Apostles, these passages apply equally to all men and
women. God calls every man, woman, and
child of age to "Come, follow
me." Most do not hear, but all
receive the call. The Word says,
Mat 22:14 “For many are invited
[called],
but
few are chosen.”
Mark makes the call
of God very clear saying,
Mark
1:17 “Follow Me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you
fish for people!”
The word translated,
"follow," actually represents two words in the original: "come, and after" or "come after me."
When a person hears
the call of God and accepts the Lordship of Christ (that's what it means to
"follow") a fundamental, spiritual, eternal change takes place. The Word describes such a saving experience in
this way:
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if
anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed
away, and look, new things have come.
Hearing the call of
God and responding in faith fundamentally changes "who" we are.
Second, in the first
reference, vs 4, the change focuses on the "way" we do things.
Quickly let me say
that a change of nature leads to --or at least should lead to-- a change in
procedure. Notice verses 4 and 5 again,
4 When He had finished speaking,
He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a
catch.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all
night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.”
We are no longer in
control of our lives once we hear and respond to God's call. Therefore, we need to do things God's Way,
and not our own. The key word in Peter's
response is, "Master."
Some of you know that
I was actually ready to take the entrance exams for my Ph.D. at Southwestern
when God called me back into the ministry, now 13 years ago. I have always said that I'm glad I did not
complete my Ph.D. because I'd much rather be called, "Master," than
"Doctor."
Hearing the Call of God changes
"who" we are and the "way" we work.
2. It's a Call to RISK (verse 4)
4 When
He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let
down your nets for a catch.”
“Risk” is a common
theme in my preaching I have noticed over the years. Think about the “pioneering spirit” I talked
about last week: a spirit willing to “endure hardship and face danger in order to
enjoy adventure and blessing.” Risk
applies in every area of life. In
business, they say, “profit is the reward you get for the risk you take.”
There are several
applications that come to mind after examining the language of this text. But, applications must rest on solid
exposition. You must know what the text
means before you decide how it applies.
The implication in
this verse is that Jesus was asking them to do something foolish--even
risky. Simon (later Peter) was an
experienced Galilean fisherman--perhaps from a long line of fishermen, and
Jesus was a carpenter. As professional
fishermen they knew (or at least thought they knew) that the most productive fishing was at night and close to the shore.
Fish would migrate from the shoals at night to waters too deep to net during
the day.
So, Jesus was calling them to act based upon
their trust in Him, not their trust in their own knowledge--and skill as
fishermen. This is a key issue in Christian living. Part of the risk would have been that the nets
would not be ready for the next day and they would have lost two days wages,
rather than one.
Also, common sense
tells us that the deeper the water and the further from shore, the greater the
risk to life and limb. The Sea of Galillee is notorious for the violent storms
that could come up without warning.
Now, the
application. Hearing the Call of God in
such a way as to bring abundant and unimagined blessing requires taking great
risks.
May I be as bold as
to say that we as families and as the Family of God are perfectly satisfied
with our level of blessing -- we have all we want.
But, you protest, or
at least you would had you been awake when I said that! But, I think it is true. We are comfortable. For the most part we live safe, extremely
wealthy lives. Most families in America
throw away more food at a meal than most the world eats in a week or
longer. For the most part, nobody in
this room has to worry about thieves and thugs breaking into your house -- on a
nightly basis. In places like Quatemala
City, the wealthy have high fences and guards armed with automatic
weapons. Even the local McDonald's have
guards with automatic weapons.
We have blessings
commensurate with the risk we are taking as believers in America. If we really want to see God do something in
and with our lives, we have to
launch out in the deep and let down
our nets.
We
fool ourselves if we think we are going to see a great harvest of souls while
we sit on lounge chairs with our nets hanging on the drying rack. No deep blessings
come from shallow living.
The Call of God is a
"Call to Risk."
3. It's a call to OBEDIENCE (5b,
11, Mt. 4:19,20)
5b . . . But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.”
...............................
11
Then they brought the boats to land,
left
everything, and followed Him.
.................................
Mat
4:19 “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for
people!” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
The Call of God
demands immediate and absolute obedience.
Matthew 4:20 highlights the idea
of "immediately," and Luke 5:11 emphasizes "everything."
The CALL OF GOD is a call to action—to DO SOMETHING, NOT JUST “THINK” SOMETHING. A faith that does nothing is worth nothing. (see James 2:18).
Delayed obedience
is NO OBEDIENCE AT ALL. Moses points
this out in Numbers 13 and 14. After
delivering the people out of bondage in Egypt, including the drowning of
Pharoah's army in the Red Sea, God brought His people to the edge of the Promised
Land.
The Lord spoke to
Moses saying:
Num
13:1 Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the
Israelites.
We know the
story. Twelve spies were sent into the
land and the report they brought back was that it, "flowed with milk and
honey." It was exceedingly rich in
resources.
But, and doubt always
begins with a "but," there were challenges to overcome: giants and fortified cities. So, they
committee of twelve took a vote and the majority decided, "we cannot go in
and possess the land." The majority
voted against the clear promise of God: "I am giving you the land."
This disobedience
displeased God--as it always does.
Here's what the Word says,
Num
14 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these
people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I
have performed among them? 12 I will strike them with a plague and
destroy them.
Moses interceded,
prayed earnestly on behalf of the Israelite, and God altered His judgment. Now, all the generation that refused to hear
God's Call and take the risk to fight for the land (eventhough victory was assured)
would wander in the Wilderness for 40 long years, until all that generation but
Caleb and Joshua, had died.
This got the
attention of the Israelites and they took action:
Num
14 39 When Moses reported these
words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. 40 They
got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country,
saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord
promised, for we were wrong.”
..................................
44 But
they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave
the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that ⌊part of the⌋ hill country came down,
attacked them, and routed them.
The HCSB uses the
unfamiliar word, "routed," to express two Hebrew words, "smited
and pursued." If you spoke
"Hillbilly" as I do, the HSV (Hillbilly Standard Version) translates
the phrase: "whooped 'em bad."
Delayed obedience is
NO OBEDIENCE AT ALL and will bring a curse rather than a blessing.
Measured obedience
is NO OBEDIENCE AT ALL. We come to the
N.T. for an example of "incomplete obedience," or "measured
obedience."
In Acts 5: Ananias and Sapphira
1 But a man named Ananias, with
Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property. 2 However, he kept back part
of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid
it at the apostles’ feet.
The Call of God is a
call to obedience: immediate and
absolute.
The Call of God
requires change. The call of God
requires risk. The call of God requires
obedience. But, the call of God brings
4. abundant and unimaginable
BLESSING (v 6)
Oh, if I only
possessed the oratorical skill to describe for you how glorious it is to
experience the blessing of God upon one's life.
Even while suffering great heartache and deprivation, no doubt in Roman
confinement, with his painful death imminent Paul said,
Rom 8 18 For I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is
going to be revealed to us.
Heaven will be an
unimaginable blessing to be sure, but we don't have to wait until we get to
Heaven to start getting blessed. Malachi
gives us a wonderful promise from God--a challenge really:
Mal
3 10 Bring the full 10 percent
into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me
in this way,” says the Lord
of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a
blessing for you without measure. 11 I will rebuke the
devourer for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your ground,
and your vine in your field will not be barren,” says the Lord of Hosts. 12 “Then all the
nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says
the Lord of Hosts.
Now, this verse
exhorts us to practice obedient giving, but the key issue in the passage is not
what we do--or should do--but what God always does when people hear His Call
and respond in obedience
HE BLESSES! AND HE BLESSES REAL GOOD!
HE OPENS UP A FLOOD
GATE IN HEAVEN.
There is nothing
quite like the sight of seeing a "flood-gate" open. For many years I pastored a church in the
mountains of Arizona, near one of the largest man-made lakes in the United
States--Roosevelt Lake. For most of my
years the lake was in a drought situation.
But, one year, there was enough rain and snowfall melt to cause the lake
level to rise.
Allowing water to
rise over a dam presents an unmanageable situation and potential disaster. So, dams are designed with "spillways,
or flood-gates." They are huge
"gates" that open, usually on both sides of the dam, that allow water
to be released down stream . . . and released downstream does not come close to
describing the spectacle.
Thousands of gallons
of water pass through the "flood gates" and roar down stream. The sight and sound of so much rushing water
takes your breath away.
That's what God wants
to do in our lives: open up the
flood-gates of blessing when we hear and respond to His call upon our lives.
Yes, it will require
a fundamental change in "who" we are and the "way" we
operate. Yes, the call of God comes with
a measure of risk--perhaps even to the point of death as a martyr. The Call of God requires immediate and
absolute obedience--again, even unto to death if necessary. But, hearing and responding to the Call of
God upon your life will bring unimaginable blessings, both now and for
eternity.
We could all leave
here today saying, "wasn't that sweet. Such a nice little
sermon." Or we can each respond
during the coming invitation with immediate and absolute obedience to be and to
do whatever God ask of us.
In short, we can simply
respond to the call to follow Jesus by doing just that -- following Him no
matter where the path leads us or no matter what the journey costs us.
Blessings
unimaginable await how we will answer God's Call.
The Call of God is a comprehensive call. The Call of God must capture ever part of our lives and infuse every corner of our existence. It must be an all-consuming call. It involves CHANGE, it involves RISK, it involves OBEDIENCE. Most importantly it involves BLESSING—TEMPORAL, ETERNAL, UNIMAGINABLE!
Heed the Call.
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