“Fish on the Other Side” Lk. 5:1-10; John 21:1-10 4/22/07
Frustration and tragedy keep us from having hope. The terrible
evil that happened at Virginia Tech snuffed out so much potential and hope. For
those close to the situation it is really, really hard to regroup. President
Bush in his speech said that “People who have never met you are praying for
you; they’re praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured.
There’s a power in these prayers, real power. In times like this, we can find
comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God. As the Scriptures tells us,
“Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”¹And
on this terrible day of mourning, it’s hard to imagine that time will come when
life at Virginia Tech will return to normal. But such a day will come. And when
it does, you will always remember the friends and teachers who were lost
yesterday, and the time you shared with them, and the lives they hoped to
lead.”
The disciples had put their hopes in Jesus, the messiah.
They had thought he was the one who would redeem Israel, and then he was
crucified. They watched him die. For many their hopes died with him. If we
look at their reactions to this hopeless and senseless situation we can see ours
as well.
The disciples scattered when he was arrested. Today there are
many who are scattering or giving up the faith the minute someone questions
it. I believe there is more evidence than ever for faith, but there have always
and will always be unbelievers who are truly opposed to faith. The disciples
regretted scattering at bad news. I believe that those who leave church regret
it at the end of their time here on this earth.
Judas in remorse, hung himself, and gave up hope. No one
wants to be like Judas. His betrayal was anathema, but his betrayal was because
he lacked faith in Jesus, and put his faith in the Pharisees and worldly system
instead. But another anathema was his giving up on hope in the face of Jesus’
death. I do not think that Peter’s denial was much worse that Judas’ betrayal-
but Peter, despite his denial, still believed. Judas’ remorse was truly a
retreat from life, and a giving into the ways of death and evil. Do not be like
Judas in giving up on hope in the face of even the death of Jesus.
Peter denied him. Peter looked at the odds, and put his faith
in saving his own skin for another day. The people he was around were
antagonistic to Jesus. Most of them were taking part in his arrest and
mockery. He was a lamb in the midst of wolves. So Peter put on wolves clothing
over his lambskin. In this sense he gave into his hopelessness. To Peter the
power of God to help him was a lot less than the power of others around to hurt
him. He basically quit believing in God’s power temporarily. In the face of
grief, hurt, and frustration do not quit believing in the power to even raise
from the dead. In the end, God triumphs- what can a human being do to you
permanently?
In the midst of this hopelessness and hell God did not disappear.
The resurrection reminds us that “Nothing in life or in death shall
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Some of us here today are really going through it. We all
lose things and people we value in life. Some are grieving the loss of a
spouse, a relative, a friend. Some are going or have gone through the heartache
of divorce. Some have lost their dreams or their health. Maybe you’ve fished
all night and haven’t caught a thing- so you might as well come to Jesus.
Then maybe you need to hear Jesus’ words: “Go out into the deep
water.” Maybe you need to go a bit deeper in your life. Maybe you’ve been
on the surface fishing for too long. Maybe you’ve just been going through your
routine- getting up, eating three square meals, watching TV or going to the
movies. Maybe you need to really get alone with God and think and pray. Go
deeper.
Going deeper does not mean pursuing another God. In our
pluralistic age, many think that to get closer to God, you have to leave Christ
behind and pursue other practices. The first and second commandments about not
putting other gods before the Lord, and making idols still holds true. Often
going deeper means figuring out what are the other gods that are getting in the
way of our relationship with the living God. It may be your fear is your idol.
I know someone who would not come to worship because his fear possessed him, and
he didn’t think God could help. Maybe your love for money is your idol. I
think asking what you love and what you fear are good questions that may point
to things that get in the way of your deeper relationship with God.
Or maybe you need to do what the passage says in John 21- cast
your net on the other side. Maybe you’ve been frustrated because you’ve
been in a spiritual rut. You’re casting, and casting but getting nothing.
Einstein defined insanity as when you do the same thing over and over and expect
different results. Maybe you need to start having devotions, or come to a Bible
study or Sunday School class for support. If you have been looking for God,
meaning, purpose and hope, then I invite you to look deeper, and I invite you to
push yourself into a new relationship with God.
Another very important thing in this passage from which we can learn is
that it reminds us to listen to God. Peter says these amazing words, “Master,
we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything, BUT BECAUSE YOU SAY
SO, WE WILL LET DOWN THE NETS.” Listening to God means not necessarily
leaning on your own understanding. My favorite verse (Prov. 3:5,6) says, “Trust
in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Sometimes leaning on
our own understanding is not the best way to go. If Peter depended on what made
sense, he wouldn’t have gone back out as recorded in Luke 5, or wouldn’t have
cast his nets on the other side of the boat as recorded in John 21. If you are
trying to find God’s will for your life, do not think it will always make
perfect sense to you. If you are saying to yourself, “I’ll believe in God when
I get it all figured out…” then you will never believe- you have signed the
death warrant to faith. But if you say I believe in order to understand as
Augustine did, life begins to make perfect sense.
CASSIE BERNALL- This past week was also the 8th anniversary of
the Columbine High School massacre. I saw the brother of Cassie Bernall
on two different networks speaking still about her faith. She did something
that didn’t make sense- when the gunman at Columbine pointed a gun at her head
and asked her if she was a Christian, it would have made earthly sense to say
“No” but she said yes. It also would not make sense to get over her death, but
here is a quote from her parents:
We will never recover from the loss of our
Cassie, but God has been so good to us. He has been patient during times when we
question His will, He has strengthened us to stand up for our faith, and has
provided us with an awesome global church family to stand beside us. We believe
that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has carried us through the worst days of
our lives and will continue to do so. Through prayer, we are beginning to feel a
hope for the future and a purpose for our lives and our loss.
WHEN THE FRUIT CAME, TWO THINGS HAPPENED.
I. THEY RECOGNIZED JESUS- In the Luke 5 story they called him
“Lord”. In the John 21 story, they hadn’t recognized him until they caught the
fish, and they doubtless remembered the time Jesus told them to go out and put
down their nets again. And they found fish. Then John (the disciple whom Jesus
loved) said, “It is the Lord” Peter recognized him, and jumped into the 65
degree water to get to shore faster.
II. THEY WERE GIVEN A PURPOSE-
In Luke’s story they were told to fish for people. This means to
tell others about Him.
The one condition for being a fisher of people is to not be afraid.
Matthew says “come, follow me and I will send you out to fish for
people.” I believe they are both conflated here. Jesus was telling Peter to
not be afraid to drop your nets to follow Him, and perhaps even to not be in so
much awe of what God can do that you are paralyzed. Fear can paralyze- even
fear for God on occasion.
In John’s story Peter was told to feed his sheep. This meant to care for
the people of God. The one condition given to feeding his sheep is to love
Christ more than material things. The two parts of ministry are given here- to
bring people to Christ and then to care for them. This, by the way is not just
for full time church staff people. This is for all of us. We are all called to
be fishers of people if we follow Christ. We are all called to care for the
people of God, and show love.
Not to many years ago a minister (Kermit Long) said, “with all our
education, with all our fine buildings… we are doing less to win people to
Christ than our unschooled [ancestors] did. We’re no longer fishers of
people, but we are keepers of the aquarium, and we spend most of our time
swiping fish from each other’s bowl.” But I think if you look at this passage,
we are called to fish for people, and then to keep the aquarium too! Feed my
sheep, could be “Keep the aquarium!” While we have not done a great job at
fishing for people, we also need to do a better job at caring for the people.
This passage raises many questions.
1) How do you respond when your hopes have been dashed- Jesus would say
listen to Him and do something different- go deep and cast your nets on the
other side.
2) How are you doing at listening to God? Do you have to understand in
order to listen? If you do your brain has become your God.
3) If you are a brave follower of Christ and a lover of Christ, then how are you
doing at fishing for others, and feeding others.
Rachael Hill- 19 died at Viginia Tech. She was a strong believer in
Christ- the Richmond Times Dispatch blasted her story everywhere. In her
yearbook she quoted C.S. Lewis in what has been described as an eerie prophecy.
“God who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not
without pain, but without stain.” Our hope in life is not to go through life
without pain, but indeed to have hope of forgiveness, purpose and joy in the
midst of tribulation. I invite you today into the hope of the power of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to believe in that power and to
fish on the other side in your life.