The Call to Come and Go - Luke 5:1-11

A crowd gathered for a spectacle, but the miracle on the Sea of Galilee wasn’t the full story—it was the setup. When Jesus steps into Simon Peter’s boat and tells a tired professional to try again, daylight fills with fish, nets tear, and boats sink. Then comes the deeper rupture: Peter drops to his knees, confesses his sin, and hears the most freeing words possible—“Do not be afraid.” From there, everything changes. The call is not to watch from the shoreline but to be reassigned: forsake your old way, follow closely, and fish for people.

We walk through Luke 5:1–11 with fresh eyes, tracing how authority, grace, and mission fit together. Jesus confronts our social-media version of “follow,” where we keep a safe distance and curate comfort. He shows that true discipleship is allegiance—trusting his word over our expertise and obeying when the timing looks wrong. We explore the cultural backdrop of fishermen and rabbis, why Jesus chooses ordinary workers, and how the miraculous catch foreshadows the multitudes who will believe as the gospel spreads in Acts. The same authority that gathered fish still gathers hearts.

Transcript

Followers Or Admirers

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right. If you have a copy of God's Word, go ahead and open it up. And would you meet me in Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, as we continue our series, The Real Story of Jesus, walking through the Gospel of Luke. It's a two-year-long series, which will take some summers uh as the summers off, and we'll have a few key focuses throughout the summer. But we're walking through the Gospel of Luke. We're in chapter five this morning. If you have the opportunity to get so if you had the opportunity to get some notes as you walked in, make sure to pull those out as well so you might kind of follow along as we study the Gospel of Luke. At the very start of his ministry, Jesus started building a movement, a disciple-making movement. He calls people to follow him, and then he turns those who follow him into fishermen. Jesus never called anyone to sit and spectate, not alone. He sent out every single sincere disciple to make more disciples. And so it is today. Jesus' people are followers of Jesus who are called to make followers of Jesus. These two callings, following Jesus and making followers of Jesus, are irreducible. The call to come was always the call to go. If you've been a Christian for a number of years, you have heard messages similar to just that. But it is a needed reminder, especially in a day where unlimited information about Jesus can be found from a comfortable couch where countless churches are near your home and many tailored to your desires. You can feel, in many ways, a part of Jesus' mission without ever being on mission. Maybe even mistaking that you can truly abide in Jesus without doing anything his word calls you to. Wasn't so long ago I decided to follow a fairly well-known celebrity on Instagram. For example, uh I I followed this well-known person, and by pressing a button that says follow, you know that you get to kind of see behind the scenes in some way of this an individual's life. You get to see what movies they're watching, what songs they're listening to, what songs they're working on if they're a singer or songwriter, what movies they're working on, what video they're about to upload to YouTube, and so on. And because this word follow is used on nearly every social media platform, the word follow has kind of changed its meaning in the way that we use it in our day. The words become so diluted that to follow someone is really more akin to like observing them from a comfortable distance. But is that really what following means? Well, of course it's not. That's not what Scripture's intending to communicate when it says follow Jesus. Because if I'm following a person on social media, I can choose whether or not I like what they have to say. I can know a lot about the individual without truly knowing them at all. That kind of following means I can choose to follow them, quote unquote, without it changing anything in my life. And just as easy as I followed them, I can unfollow. This is important because in Jesus' ministry we recognize something from the outset. There are much more admirers than there are genuine followers. Throughout his ministry, we come to recognize Jesus has many admirers, much fewer followers. Think about it for a moment. John chapter 6, Jesus performs a miracle, and then those that are the crowd that is amazed at the miracle he had performed, he then goes on to say something along the lines of, If you wish to follow me, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. And then these words are really hard, and many it says left him, and there were just a few that remained. He looks to Peter and says, Are you gonna leave too? What does Peter say? Where would I go? For you have the words of life. We think about later in Jesus' ministry in Luke chapter 14. Jesus at this point is headed to Jerusalem where he knows he will be crucified as a sinless person. Many crowds are following him, and it's like he takes a moment, turns back to the crowd, and says, Hey, unless you're willing to hate your mother, brother, father, sister, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple. He knows where he's headed, and he knows many in that crowd will probably join in the call to kill him. You see, in Jesus' ministry, disciples stay to be with Jesus when crowds leave. So it is true today. As our culture becomes not only frustrated with the teachings of the church, but hostile, it will be increasingly clear who was in the crowd and who is a follower of Jesus. Who is a follower and who was merely an admirer? What do we know? Disciples stay with Jesus and serve him when crowds leave. So the question as we begin in our passage this morning is Are you a follower of Jesus or an admirer? There's a great difference. An admirer, again, watches Jesus from a safe distance. They may be impressed with his work and appreciate his words, but a follower walks with the one who called them and does the work of the one who sent them. This is the great difference between admiring something about Jesus and giving your allegiance to King Jesus. We learned last week, if you were joining us last week, that even demons know about Jesus, then who he is? They get some things right about his identity that many get wrong. They know his plans, they know his power, they know he's holy, but he does not have their allegiance. He doesn't have their heart. So a question that we might ought to ask ourselves in this room, if you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus, is do you have a relationship with Jesus deeper than that of demons? They know about him, they know what he said, they know his plan, but he does not have their heart. In our passage, we're going to see Jesus calling a few of his disciples early on in his ministry. What is a disciple, you ask? Well, a disciple is defined by the one they follow and defined by how they follow him. And what we see as a typical picture of a disciple in the New Testament, there's much more to say here. The word disciple means a learner, implies a lifelong learner. But when you look at disciples in the New Testament, you'll see kind of three things. They forsake their former life to follow Jesus wherever he leads and fish for everyone they can. They forsake their former life to follow Jesus wherever he may lead and fish for everyone they can. Forsake, follow, and fish. Say what's a disciple? What characterizes a disciple of Jesus? What's exactly that? This is a picture of disciple disciples or discipleship we see in the New Testament. Does this picture, these three things, in any way characterize your life? Forsaking your sin to follow your Savior and fish or make disciples. Or would you say I've admired Jesus from a safe distance? Looking at our passage today together, chapter five, three main points, and then kind of a summary of it all at the very end. The first point you'll notice is the authority that confronts you. The authority that confronts you. If you look in your passage, chapter 5, verse 1, we'll walk through, slowly make notes. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, that is, the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, because again the picture is like, what else can he do here? They're pressing in on him. He's got to get some distance to teach. He gets in Simon's boat and he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the people from the boat. So far in the Gospel of Luke, if you're joining us in chapter 5, we've learned Jesus' identity. He was tempted by the evil one, Satan, if he was in fact the Son of God. God the Father had just proclaimed, he was pleased with his son, he goes to the wilderness, and then the devil gives three temptations, saying, If you are truly the Son of God. And he proves he is who he says he is. We've learned his identity. We've seen his power. Last week we saw that he has authority over demons and diseases. When he tells them to be quiet, they can't speak. And we've also seen, as we just heard read from Nick, Jesus' purpose is to preach eternal salvation and not just give a temporary healing. Well, this morning we begin with how popular he's become. He's become somewhat of a religious celebrity. And you might think of a celebrity at a venue who has to exit in a certain way to avoid the crowd or to kind of keep a safe distance. Jesus can't stand and speak except by getting in a boat as everyone crowds around on the shore. He's become popular because of the miracles he's performed. He's become popular because of the fact that he has sent demons from people. At this moment in his ministry, he draws crowds. They come primarily to see his power. Verse 4, when he'd finished speaking, that is to the crowds, he said to Simon, now you see he looks to one person. This is Simon Peter, and he tells Simon Peter, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and we took nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets. So after Jesus finishes preaching, he goes to Peter, he says, Hey, I want you to go fish. First things first, this is a carpenter telling a fisherman to go and do the job that a fisherman knows how to do. This seems odd. So not long ago, I took a flight. I went down to Tampa, Florida, the church that sent us up here to plant. And on that flight, at no point in time, before, during, or after, did I have even the thought to go to the cockpit and say, I've got some ideas. You know, you could go faster by going this direction. Or, you know what? I would recommend. Well, I'm a pastor. I know I don't know the first thing about driving a plane, right? I don't know if you've ever seen a cockpit. I've never actually walked inside of one. I've seen them from a distance, and they've got buttons and levers and knobs, and I wouldn't know the first thing. So this is kind of an odd thing for Jesus to tell a fisherman, hey, it's time to go fish. So Peter, being the fisherman that he is, he kind of says a little bit of what he's thinking. Master, we toiled all night long. We caught nothing. Like Jesus, I know you're a great speaker and a great teacher, and you have this unique authority that no one can kind of totally understand. But I think this is where your knowledge has limits. This is the wrong time of day. And besides, last night, during the best time, we caught nothing. But Peter, respecting the teacher's authority, says, Okay, let's go catch some fish. At your word, I'll lay down the nets. And what happened? Look at verses six, and then of course, verse seven. They set out their nets and they caught more than they could ever imagine. Probably more than they ever caught before, right? They collect so many fish, it starts to break their nets. They get their friends and say, Hey, we need help. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, we need help. They put fish in both boats, and both boats begin to sink. You think, again, here's Jesus' authority. Jesus speaks, creation obeys, and the fish obey actually a little faster than the disciples or the future disciples. But during the midst of this crazy event, Peter's gaze changes. I mean, you can imagine, you're a fisherman, you're just kind of looking at like, I'm going to make so much money to this is not normal. His gaze changes from the money he'll bring in with the fish to the man who actually brought in the fish. From catching the fish to the one who commanded him. Peter sees Jesus now for who he is. Point number two, the grace that humbles you. The grace that humbles you. The text says, verse eight, When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. All right, we we're going to talk about Peter's response here, but I do want to tell you a little bit about what we probably know about Peter first. Because I think that matters. Peter was a fisherman, and that tells you something in Peter's day for the kind of person he was. In Peter's day, as a Jewish boy, he would have gone to school as a young boy and learned the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. He would have been taught under a local rabbi what the Bible had to say, the Hebrew Scriptures. What we can kind of piece together about the schooling of young Jewish boys is those that would advance in their religious studies would continue on while some wouldn't. So after the young Jewish boys would learn the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, many would go on and learn more about the prophets and the writings from their local rabbi. And then those who really stuck out, the brilliant ones, the devoted ones, would be chosen by a rabbi to be kind of like an assistant, to be mentor, to be discipled by a rabbi. They were the like the top shelf of the boys who had gone through school. Well, during that time, if you did not advance on, you would go back and learn your father's trade, which Peter most likely did. He was a fisherman, which means that he and his boys were in some way in that day not the religious kind of cream of the crop. They were average Joes. They weren't the most popular, the most prestigious. They were common men. In fact, that's what the religious leaders call them in Acts 4, when they perceived they were common men. What does this tell us? We have not got to the point of the passage yet, but just again be reminded who Jesus chooses to be his disciples. Jesus, in his ministry, was not looking for powerful men to carry out his mission as if he needed powerful men to carry it out. In fact, he intentionally doesn't seem to choose the most powerful so that he might be proven to be the one who is doing all the work. Jesus aims to make clear that those he calls cannot boast in anything unique they have to offer. Because it's often the case that those who think they are great don't bow. Because they're too proud to bring themselves lower than another.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Peter bows.

Grace Before Assignment

From Fish To People: The Reassignment

Authority As Confidence For Mission

SPEAKER_00 19:14

It is those who know their helpless estate in a literal sense who often most easily see their need. And as God calls the weak of the world, he shows the power of his own strength over the world's fascination with its own, so that he might be glorified and glorified alone. Again, is this not the pattern of God throughout history? He chose Abraham, a seemingly random pagan man. He chose Israel, Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 7. Not because they were the greatest of all peoples, but the fewest of all peoples. He chose to the in his letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 26, 27 through 31, for consider your calling brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. And you think, thanks, Paul, for the reminder. But why? Because God chooses the weak, the foolish to shame the wise, to shame the strong, so that you and I have nothing to boast in that we bring, but can only boast in the Lord who came for us. No room for boasting. In fact, let me just pause here for a second. Why are you saved? Well, Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 10 says it's all of God's work, and verse 7, it's all for God's glory. He saved you, chapter 2, verse 7 of Ephesians, so that he might put on display the immeasurable riches of his kindness toward you in Christ Jesus. You are saved to showcase how gracious God is. So that in the last of days, people are like, why you? And you can say nothing other than God is gracious. God has been gracious. This is us. So here's a biblical reality check. God did not choose you or I to follow after him because of anything uniquely great within us. Instead, God chose us to follow after him because he's gracious, and in his selection of the weak, he will be shown to be great. Fisherman. All right, let's get back to the scene in Scripture. In the rush of calling, James and John, his friends for help, Peter, something finally dawns on him. He realized what has happened is not by sheer coincidence. Only God himself could produce an unprecedented amount of fish like this in a bad area during an even worse part of the day. So what does he do? You see it in the text. He bows in the water, probably, I mean, almost to his waist. He's at Jesus' knees. His demeanor changes because look at the contrast. You see, when he initially heard Jesus' command to go fish, he responds to Jesus' teaching authority and obedience. But now, after seeing Jesus' command to the fish, he responds to Jesus' absolute authority in God-fearing reverence. He knows now who's in front of him. So catch this. Peter previously had been doing something for Jesus without yet being gripped by who he is. And so it goes today. A lot of people do a lot of things, quote unquote, for God in their lives, but are not truly gripped by who he is. Those who usually fit into this category of doing without knowing are those who have not yet understood the depth of their sin against God and the love of God despite it. And Peter is here now. Falls on his face. And what does he say? Depart from me. You've got to go. In awe of Jesus' holiness and with fearful awareness of his own sinfulness, he asks Jesus to leave. And the idea behind this request is that he believes God would not surely want to have anything to do with an everyday sinner. Peter recognizes his lack of worth to even be in the presence of an ever-worthy God. However, what he does not yet recognize is that admitting one's own inability to be right with God and unworthiness to be in God's presence is, as Darylbach says, the best prerequisite for service, since one can then only depend upon God. He does not yet recognize Jesus came for sinners like him, sinners like me, and sinners like you. Jesus came for sinners. He came to call us to his father. He came to forgive us our sin. He came to redeem us for his father's service. He came to rescue us from his father's wrath that we deserve. He came to give us life we don't. I say it all the time. He came to give life to the lost, the least, and the lowly. And will we in turn bow? Bow. What's Peter's response? Depart, Lord. Here's the good news of the gospel message to all who will now bow. All those who plead for mercy will receive it. All who sincerely seek the forgiveness of God will not be denied it. Peter seeks his mercy. At first he actually just says, You've got to go. Number three, the call that reassigns you. Because Jesus now says to Simon, Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. You see, do you see the grace here before the assignments given? Don't be afraid. I came for you.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

I know who you are. I'm not mistaken. Grace.

Multitudes Then And Now

Counting The Cost Of Following

Disciples Make Disciples

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Now in salvation history, Jesus has not yet died. But he he sees faith. Peter will follow Jesus and learn what Jesus will accomplish for him. He will make many mistakes along the way. But Jesus called someone like Peter to be his ambassador. Grace before an assignment. Now, let's think for a moment, kind of step back, look at the whole picture. Jesus never is anywhere in his ministry on accident. And so he got into boats. He told fishermen to go out on the water. He told them to fish. Have you ever thought about the assignment he calls them to and why he's where he is and what he's doing? Why he's doing what he's doing. So here's the picture, right? Well, here's the assignment first. Jesus is calling these average everyday fishermen to become the people who take the good news of the gospel to a big world that if it would not repent will drown under his father's wrath. So here's the picture. As they go and do this, just like the fish responded to Jesus' authority to get in the nets and to come in the boat, as he stands above the water, caught by the faithful work of fishermen, so will men, women, and children of all ages from all backgrounds respond to his authority as he sits above the earth and be caught by the faithful words of the fishers of men safely in the church of God. Think about it. This is why the great commission given by Jesus before he ascends into heaven begins with his authority. I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth, because his authority is our confidence to go. That when we cast our nets, God will cause people to hear the gospel and believe the gospel, and they'll be gathered safely. Even more, get this. The same word used for multitudes of fish in this passage is the word used repeatedly in the book of Acts for multitudes who hear the gospel and believe. Same word. Acts 5 14, more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. They're fishing. And God is causing the catch. Acts 14 1. Now to Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that multitudes of both Jews and Greeks believed they're fishing, and God's causing the catch. Multitudes. So here it is. The authority that gathered multitudes of, you know, sardines when the disciples obeyed God's call to go fishing in the water in Luke 5 is the same authority that gathers multitudes of sinners when disciples continue to obey God's call and fish in the world. Matthew 28. Picture is that just as fishermen try to gather fish from the sea, Jesus' disciples are called together, men and women from sea to shining sea to follow Jesus. So what do the men do? They become disciples. They forsake their former lives to follow Jesus wherever he leads and fish for anyone and everyone they can. Verse 11. A disciple's calling is making disciples. We know how this story continues. Their lives, Peter, James, John, from this point forward would never be the same. No longer would they simply admire Jesus' teaching from a distance in the crowd, but they would give their allegiance to him. In fact, they would be giving their lives wholly to a task that will eventually cost each one of their lives. They met Jesus and they believed following him was worth losing everything. They forsook their lives to follow the Lord and to fish for the lost, no matter the cost. And the same calling for them is our calling today. Go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and I am with you until the end of the age. Have you counted the cost of what it means not merely to be an admirer, but to be a follower of Jesus, giving him your allegiance? To believers in this room, at the very start of his ministry, Jesus calls people to follow and be fishermen. The moment you became a follower of God, you became a part of a movement of God that has led to 2.6 billion people across the face of the earth, empowered by his Spirit to spread the gospel wide. You cannot separate what a disciple is and what a disciple does. The call to come was always the call to go. Let me explain it like this. If the call is to be a fisherman, using that very picture of a fisherman, and you are a fisherman, in a most literal sense, and someone comes up to you and says, Hey, what is it like to be a fisherman? And maybe that is actually your vocation, and you respond with, check out my boat and my new rod and reel. Look at these cool tools that I have. And then you tell them about the professionals that you've learned from. And then you tell them how many times you've watched fishing, how you've read the history of fishing, how many conferences you've attend with other fishermen, the new fishing strategies people are talking about. And the person who asked you what it means to be a fisherman is like, Have you ever went fishing? You can't describe being a disciple without telling what a disciple does. We are fishermen. We are disciples called to make disciples. So I leave you with one question I want you to consider this morning. And a challenge should you be sitting on the shore. How are you making disciples? Right now. Discipling at its most basic definition, other than going and fishing, involves two tasks. Initially telling someone about Jesus and intentionally teaching others about Jesus. Go teach them all that I've commanded. So so here's a question. Who are you telling about Jesus? Or who are you teaching about Jesus? There's a reason you're still on this earth and Jesus isn't yet. And it's because he still has sheep that are not yet of this fold. There are still people he seeks to save. And praise God he uses people like us to do that. Will you be faithful? So as we close this morning, uh I I want to call you to something. I want I want to call you to consider someone in your sphere of life. Where you are is not by accident, where you work, where you live, who you work with. None of that's by chance. Who is someone God has placed around your life that you would commit to pray for starting today and commit today to share the gospel with them in the future? And maybe you say, okay, I can commit to that, but you know how busy life is. Would you commit even today to maybe send them a text and say, hey, let's get coffee? Let's get coffee. Let's get ice cream. Let's get lunch. Would you resolve to reach that person? The call to come was always the call to go. Let's go. Would you pray with me? God, you came to seek and save the lost, and you have not returned yet for your bride. Would your church be faithful until that day? Not only running from sin to pursue holiness fit for heaven, but running to those who do not yet know the Savior to bring them with us. God, we know you are still catching fish. We want to trust you and keep casting our net. God, as we go with confidence in your authority, would you do what we cannot? Open blind eyes, cause deaf ears to hear, and save our friends. Save our families. Save our children. We love you, God. We thank you for the grace shown at the cross. We are your servants. We love you. In your name we pray. Amen.