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Put Out Into Deep Water

Luke 5:1-11

Key Verse: 5:4

“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’”

In last week’s passage, we learned about the “must” spirit from Jesus that he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also. And Jesus helped us to think about who we are and what we are doing in this world. Through this, many of us renewed our identity as God’s chosen people and his beloved children that we exist to listen and preach the good news of the kingdom of God and good news of the beautiful life story of Jesus to other towns such as New Brunswick, HP, Princeton, Chicago, California, and even to Kenya a country around the globe. May God please help us to remember who we are. May we count the blessings, love and grace that we have received from God our Father that we can always be full of thankfulness, and live our lives that make God so happy.

Today, Jesus visits us and challenges us by the Lake of Gennesaret. He challenges us when we just failed to catch any fish after such a hard work over night saying, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Jesus’ challenging word may be difficult for us to obey because we firmly believe that we know what to do with our lives better than anyone. But let us remember one thing and keep it clear. Jesus comes to us and challenges us not to make us shameful or despaired for our failures, but to start building a beautiful relationship with us. He wants to call us as his disciples who represent Jesus Christ our true savior, telling the world the beautiful message of Jesus’ gospel. I pray that we may not miss Jesus’ call for us today. Let us listen to his voice, and obey his word, and I am more than sure that He will help us to overcome our failures and make our lives meaningful.

(Today’s message is in three parts.)

First, Jesus teaches the crowd from Simon’s boat (1-3) Let us read verse 1. One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^[j]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God,” Today’s story begins by the Lake of Gennesaret, and we know this place better as the Sea of Galilee. Jesus did many of his ministry work at this place. This was where he fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish, and drove out the demons from a possessed man. And after he resurrected from the dead, he appeared to his disciples at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and gave Simon Peter the famous message, “Do you truly love me more than these? Feed my sheep.”

So, what was going on? When you look at the second half of verse 1, we could see that the people were crowding around him. To do what? To listen to the word of God. From last week’s passage, we are well aware that Jesus diligently healed the sick, drove out demons and evil spirits, healed Mary, Simon’s mother-in-law, as well as he delivered the powerful message with authority that people were amazed and the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. I could only imagine how crowded the people were, pressing and leaning to Jesus not to miss a single word that came out of Jesus’ mouth. Here we should learn from these people who were eager to come to Jesus and listen to his word. When I read this verse, I asked myself a question? Am I eager? Or am I even willing to hear the word of God? And my heart was broken. Think about your own attitude towards the word of God. Are you like, “oh I couldn’t wait to listen to the word of God. Dear God, please give me your word that I may be restored. Please use your chosen Bible speakers to share the gospel with power and authority. “ or are you like, “ugh, another Sunday worship service. Ugh, another chapter to study. Another message from Joseph. He isn’t even qualified to preach up there. In fact, he is only few years older than me. Or he is younger than me.” Which one sounds more familiar to you? People in this world especially we second gens have been losing our passion and attitude for the word of God. We received such a great privilege to listen to the Bible story from our mom’s bellies. I got my first bible teacher when I just turn 7, and we would study the bible one to one, I would write down the testimonies so faithfully every week. And I would never miss the Sunday worship because it was a part of my life to me as I ate and slept. And the funny thing is I enjoyed every moment of bible studies, writing testimonies, and attending Sunday school, and everything I did with the word of God. But as I grew older, I started to see the world that is not only beautiful. I see the world where the word of God is ignored and where so many temptations and attractive things attack our hearts so that I can tremble. And I start to think, “What have I done ‘til now. I was just stuck church. Now let me enjoy the cool things that the world provides,” thinking that I missed out on all of the fun stuff. Does this sound familiar? Does this sound like your life story? Are you still thinking that we do not need the word of God because we had enough through CBF? You might say that the word of God doesn’t do anything for you. It doesn’t give me all As. It doesn’t feed me. It doesn’t make me popular. It doesn’t make me pretty or handsome. I don’t really need the word of God. That is not true. We need the word of God. And we need it urgently. The word of God gives meaning in your life. It gives purpose in your life. It gives the hope for your life. It breaks our hardened hearts melts our cold hearts, and heals our wounded hearts. Think about the life of a Samaritan women. She tried her best to be happy in the world, and depended her life on men, and had five marriages, and still, she was thirsty for love. And the word of God from Jesus completely changed her life, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The word of God is Jesus, and he is the word of God. I pray that we may renew our attitudes towards of the word of God once again. I pray that we may crowd around every Sunday to eagerly listen to the word of God from our humble messengers.

When you look at verse 2 and 3, you see how Jesus approached one man he chose, Simon the fisherman. Jesus saw two boats at the water's edge, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets after their work. Then He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Here I thought that Jesus was inconsiderate and even rude, and did not understand how Simon might’ve felt after a big failure to catch fish that night. Simon was tired, he was washing his nets to finish up his work and go home to get some rest. But Jesus was holding him. But Simon did not say no. Rather he welcomed Jesus to the boat so that he could teach the people the word of God.

Jesus steps into our boats, too, and asks us to put out a little from shore. Jesus wants to come and start a relationship with us. But he doesn’t come to us in our free time, but the busiest and most important time of our life. He comes in the midst of our studies, work, and our own plan. Here we could think about our priority. What is our priority, to wash the nets so that we could live our life the way we want or let Jesus come into your life, and let him rule over your life? I pray that we may make Jesus as our priority over everything, and do not stop building a beautiful relationship with Jesus. He comes to each of us today saying, “Would you put out a little from shore? Would you change your plan to do what I want you to do, even in this small thing?” I pray that we can make wise choice to let Jesus step into our boats, our lives that he can start doing amazing things through our lives.

Second, the miraculous catch of fish. (4-10a) Let us read verse 4. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down^[k] the nets for a catch." What? Simon just had done Jesus a big favor of letting him use his boat, and he expected to go home finally. But Jesus, instead of saying “thank you so much Simon, you are a good man. May God bless you. Bye,” he said, "Put out into deep water, and let down^[k] the nets for a catch." This was indeed an interesting situation. Simon was a professional fisherman whose job was to catch fish, when Jesus was carpenter who knew almost nothing about fish. Jesus’ word was such a non-sense and really unreasonable. But we must know what his intention was. Why did he want Simon to put out into deep water? Jesus knew their hearts; he noticed the situation of these fishermen after a night of failure. He saw that their nets were empty. Jesus had compassion on them in their situation. He wanted to help and serve them. Through this we know that Jesus is not indifferent to our situation, but puts himself in the situation to help us overcome the situation. Therefore we CAN trust Jesus even in the worst situations.

When Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water,” Simon was challenged. He probably hesitated, reminding of the night of failure. He had already obeyed Jesus to put out a little from shore. Here we see that Jesus is challenging him to go deeper: deeper in his obedience and deeper in the relationship with him. Jesus is not content with our superficial and habitual attitudes. He wants all of us to go deeper with him. He wants us not only end in listening to his words, but accept them with our hearts. He wants us not just end in writing testimonies but put the words of God into practice in our very life. I pray that we may all repent of our shallow relationship with Jesus, and decide to go deeper with him. I pray that we can prepare for our upcoming bible conference with our whole hearts. We may prepare the JBF dance with passion for the world mission. But most of all, we may pray for this conference to plant God’s hope in us so deeply that we can be restored and renewed in our faith and spirit.

So, what was Simon’s answer to Jesus’ challenging command? 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." First, Simon called Jesus Master when he was the captain of the boat. And he mentions his miserable failure the night before that he has not caught anything. So, frankly, there was no practical reason for Simon to put out into deep water and let down the nets. But his answer amazes us, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” “Because you say so” was the reason that he decided to obey Jesus’ word. He did not think too much, he did not calculate, he did not put himself above Jesus as a professional fisherman, but humbly obeyed Jesus. And indeed, Jesus blesses such simple and humble faith.

What happened when they obeyed? Verses 6-7 read, "When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So 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." A miracle happened! The nets were breaking, the boats were sinking, and now they were rich! The night of failure was immediately forgotten. They were all astonished at what just happened. Their lost smiles and laughs were bursting out everywhere. Jesus wants to be involved in our lives; both in successes and failures. That way, He wants us to truly know that he is the Lord in every part of our lives, whether in our studies, our work, or our personal struggles. This is the relationship he is eager to have with you and me. When Jesus becomes Lord over us, and we can trust and obey him, we can expect even greater things that Jesus will do through our lives.

Then how did they respond to such a catch? When you look at verse 9 and 10, we see that Simon’s companions including James and john was astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. But 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!’”. Luke calls Simon, Simon Peter for the first time, the name Jesus gave him. This was a turning point in Simon Peter's life. Simon lost interest in the fish, and was focused on Jesus. This amazing miracle didn't distract him from Jesus. He said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man." This event opened Simon Peter's eyes to see who Jesus is.

Simon Peter recognized Jesus as Lord, and at the same time saw his-true-self as a dirty sinner. Perhaps compared to others, like James and John, Simon felt pretty good about himself. But before the Lord, Simon knew himself as he truly was; he was a sinful man. We many times compare ourselves with others and try to get away from the truth that we are sinners just because the people we know sin more than we do. However, before Jesus we are all weak and dirty sinners. But it’s okay because Jesus came to forgive and save the sinners like us. Personally, the happiest moment in my life was not when I was accepted to Rutgers, it was not when I beat Ping Pong Giant Peter Lim, but it was when I truly repented of my lustful desires, and gave up to live a life driven by my sinful nature. May God help us to make this repentant confession before Jesus today. Let us go together, 'Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!' May this repentance be done every day of our lives. With this repentance, a beautiful and intimate relationship between Jesus and us may start growing.

Third, Jesus calls Simon to be his disciple (10b-11)

Jesus, instead of going away from Simon, he embraces him and forgives him by saying, don’t be afraid, your sins are forgiven. I forgave your sins. Do not worry. Not only that Jesus sets Simon free from the pit of sins, he also gives him a new life. Let us read verse 10b. “Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." From now on, you will catch men. Of course ladies, this does not mean you will chase boys and catch them. But this means that we will live as followers and disciples of Jesus who can pray for the people around us, even risking to sacrifice for the people who are stuck and suffering in their sins. Jesus is calling US who could not see anything, being blinded by the world and Satan’s temptations. Jesus is calling us from the darkness to his wonderful light. And now he wants us to catch men and women. I pray that we may deeply think about Jesus’ heart that he wants us to be light for the world who can represent his name and tell the world about this good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In 2006, only by the grace of God, I was accepted to the best university, Rutgers. God had hope in me to become a campus shepherd for the lost souls. But I was lost among them. I lost my spirit. I lost desire and passion for feeding God’s flock. I condemned myself and God for my weakness and sins. And now I see Jesus my Lord, and see myself so clearly that I am a sinful man. I am scared and I am trembling in my sins. But Jesus tells me, “don’t be afraid, I understand. I forgive you. From now on, you will catch Rutgers.” May God have mercy on me to restore my burning passion for the dying souls and Rutgers Campus once again. I pray that we can restore this heart and Jesus’ personal calling. Let’s say together, “From now on, (name) will catch men.”

Look at verse 11.“So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” Dear JBF, are you ready to leave everything and follow Jesus who will give you more than everything you have? Can you leave at least one thing that block you to follow Jesus? May God bless you with the decisions you make. But let us remember one thing. If you leave things to follow Jesus, I guarantee you that Jesus will fill your heart and life with much greater things.

In this passage, Jesus humbly comes to us, and asks us to put out a little from shore to build a relationship with us. He challenges us to obey his word, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” May God please help us to accept Jesus our Lord and strengthen our faith to say, “Because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Then Jesus will surely raise us up as the fishers of men, and use us as his precious servants that our lives can glorify God’s name.