10.18.2009 Sermon - Following without Fear

SermonAudioSermonAudio^^^^^

10.18.2009 Grace Summit Sermon - Following without Fear from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

10.18.2009 Grace Summit Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

The Baby Dedication is in a separate post...

We were down visiting our kids in Columbus yesterday. John and Bekah played a role in the Everyone’s a Poet CD – and it really is a great CD –
Lord, we come to You, asking that You would speak to our hearts. With the Baby Dedication – we want to dedicate ourselves to You – to dedicate ourselves wholly to You. Take us as we are. We offer our lives in dedication and commitment and devotion. Our sins are forgiven that we might have life and in that we stand – it is not about us – just Your love and sacrifice of Your Son. Thank You, Jesus, for Your death for us. May Your Spirit move in a new way – and guide us in truth. Take over our service – we make ourselves available to speak into our hearts. In Jesus Name. Amen.

We are looking at those who are called to follow Jesus:
Luke 5:1 Now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and [began] teaching the multitudes from the boat. 4 And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 5 And Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding I will let down the nets." 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish; and their nets [began] to break; 7 and they signaled to their partners in the other boat, for them to come and help them. And they came, and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.
Now – we look at this story – Jesus calls these disciples to follow Him. It is most likely an expansion of Matthew 4:19 – follow Me – and they left everything and followed Jesus – this is either an expansion of that story – or slightly after it.
This is either the second or third time Jesus calls Peter. The first time- John 1 – Peter is with John the Baptist – and John says to Andrew – that is the Lamb of God – and Andrew went to be with Jesus and got Peter to follow as well.
Jesus comes to Peter – let me speak from the boat – then He tells them to do more fishing. Peter is a fishing – Jesus is a rabbi (teacher). Peter: We have been fishing all night! In this area of the world – it was very hot during the day – and the fish would go lower – and it wasn’t like today’s Deadliest Catch – with deep sea nets – and you can see Peter is like, Look, teacher, I am a fisherman – and we’ve been out all night – but Peter had seen Jesus take 180 gallons of water and turn it into the best wine ever – and Peter had seen Jesus heal – so you see him reluctantly say, ok – I’ll fish. It is kind of like when your kid stands up at the kitchen table and you tell them to sit down – and the kid says – I’m sitting on the outside, but I’m sitting on the inside. Peter is fishing on the outside, but his heart wasn’t in it yet. Being a disciple is a process.
Eventually – like at the end of the Gospel of John – the guys are fishing again – and Jesus pretty much has to say – will it be Me, or will it be fishing. Following Christ takes time – people go through a process – we need to realize that people will go back to fishing – this is a picture – we will tend to go back – even after the great commitments. This may have been just a few days after leaving their boats – leaving their father – and following Him. Occasionally – there are those who have the instant victory in life – God does something – and the area they’ve been struggling in all their lives is changed – it happens. But oftentimes, people move forward – and fall back – but before we judge that – understand that is what these guys did. And these are the saints! They got an S T period before their names (St. Peter…) Did it make them any less apostles? No. Jesus led them – we’ll see what He does here.
Phil. 2: 12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for [His] good pleasure.
This Christian life thing – to work out your salvation – it is work. It is the daily grind. If you work out – at this moment, we have a son who is finishing the Columbus Marathon. He didn’t just go out and run it – he has been training since June – putting in his 20 mile days. That is what He is saying here – it is work – everyday seeking Him and seeking victory. At times, you step back, and then get up and begin again. You are forgiven – God has forgiven you and He loves you.
Back to Luke- Picture this – the rabbi knows nothing about fishing! If I were to tell you to throw the nets out the other side – don’t listen to it. I remember fishing with Mike Kline – and Tony Abrusci getting sick – and me thinking I had a giant fish – but Mike had to cut the line because I was hooked on the bottom. Don’t listen to me when it comes to fishing!
Luke 5:6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish; and their nets [began] to break; 7 and they signaled to their partners in the other boat, for them to come and help them. And they came, and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw [that,] he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
In order for a person to really follow Jesus, they must see Jesus for who He really is. It is interesting the wording that is used – Master (before the catch – like, Sir) – and after the catch – Lord – it was not like Peter said – Now I understand the Trinity – but he did recognize that the power of God was there with Jesus. He is seeing the activity of God in Jesus Christ – and you know – a lot of times, we want people to follow Jesus before they see Who He really is. We think – this is good! This is right! But a person is not going to follow until God reveals Himself to that person. That is how it was with you! I remember for me – I was at OSU in the Ohio Union – of all places – and God came to me – not physically – but through the message of the gospel – and I understood and followed. The same thing has to happen for others. It won’t happen until Jesus reveals Himself. We need to pray that God would come and visit the person – it is not us – we can’t convince them. We were talking a couple days ago – at the Men’s time – about Noah’s Ark – if they would find Noah’s Ark, it would change nothing for no one. There won’t be droves of people coming to Jesus unless He reveals Himself to them.
You won’t follow until you see Who Jesus really is. After seeing Jesus for who He was – Peter saw himself for who he was. Go away from me Lord…I am a sinful man. That is the reality – when we really understand – I remember the night I turned my life over to Christ – I was a freshman in college – and I was there for a couple reasons only – and neither of them were school. We went to this movie – and I had the joints in my pocket, but no matches, so I was clear when I got there – and I remember saying – You died for me – and I am a sinful man – and this stuff has to go. What happens – we become Christiaans and we forget we are sinful people. We think we USED TO BE a sinful person. We are growing – learning to follow – but deep down inside we fail. The reality is this – the greater understanding we have of who God is and who we are – the greater our walk, the greater we’ll follow – and the more we’ll be like Him. That doesn’t mean you have to go out and do lousy things to be a better follower! You’ve already done enough lousy things! Peter was a good Jew. He did not consider himself to be a sinner. He knew he sinned – but was not a sinner – like the Gentiles. It was like when Peter came to Him – God used it to open him up – oh my! What is wrong with me! And we have moments like that in life – where God does something – He opens us up – and we think, oh my! What is wrong with me?

Jesus’ response is pretty cool here –
Luke 5: 10 And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him

When we come to that point where God opens that up to us – we look inside and see the truth that lies in there – we understand – Don’t fear! Don’t be afraid of this! We are afraid of what others might think…Think of Joseph – Jesus’ dad – a righteous man who followed the Law – He was a good Jew – one of God’s people – he went through all that he needed to go through – he was not a ‘sinner’ – and here is his fiancé – she is pregnant before they are married – it was scandalous! He was going to put her away quietly – she was a Scarlet A – everyone knew it – loss of reputation. Here was this honest, genuine, righteous man – and it was all gone. All gone. But God comes to him – don’t be afraid. I’ve got a job for you. Take Mary as your wife. And the rest is history.
When we fall – when we go back – in the process of following Him in our lives is not complete and God comes and reveals Himself and reveals who we are – don’t be afraid – nothing has changed. Peter was still God’s man – and whatever it is God has for you – He still has that – get up! Start right now, where you are – being faithful to what He is calling you to now – that is all He wants. Right now, all He wants from me is what He wants from me right now. When we have that confidence in God – like these guys – we follow Him –we commit ourselves to living as He would have us live – to being His disciple.
Let’s pray
Lord, we choose to follow You – thank You that though we may stumble, You speak and reveal yourself to us and we follow You. We ask that You would help us to see You for who You are and to have a deep and complete understanding of that – that we might continue the process of putting aside our failures and starting fresh and beginning anew today. In Your name we pray. Amen