How to Get Followers

Series on Luke

III The Initiation

B The Authority of His Ministry

2 Over the Disciples

Text: 5:1-11

Introduction

Matthew gives an abbreviated account of this event simply recording the call of these disciples. Mark records a later occasion in which the 12 are appointed in the hills and designated as Apostles. Only Luke gives a full account of the miraculous catch of fish. John records a similar miracle after Jesus’ resurrection. Luke’s account is important because it gives us something that can be of use in our ministry of outreach. The events must be translated into our experience in a way that they are helpful to us, but surely they give us a guide for outreach. They four principles that I would elucidate from this text are; appeal, assist, astonish and acquire.

i Appeal

Notice in the opening part of our text what Jesus is doing in verses 1-3, One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. Jesus is teaching the Word of God and He is doing it where the people are. These men are involved in their ordinary pursuits, but they are witnesses to Jesus’ teaching. He continues to do it from the boat of Simon Peter along with James and John. Once in my seminary days I worked for the Summer Evangelistic Committee of the Presbyterian Church. In the evening we had street meetings in West Philadelphia, but in the afternoons we went to factories. There we played Christian music, distributed tracts, and witnessed for Christ. We were teaching the Word of God doing it where the people were. Paul writes in Romans 10:17, Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. In II Thessalonians 2:13 and 14, the Apostle writes, But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says essentially the same thing in I Peter 1:22 and 23, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. Clearly, the appeal of the gospel word must be brought to men before they can be disciples of Jesus. This is what we are called to disseminate.

II Assist

We see Jesus assisting them in verses 3-6, He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” 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.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. The point here is not doing miracles as Jesus did, but helping as Jesus did. The first precept of evangelism is, or should be, that you do not go to the poor with the gospel without and open hand to accompany your open mouth. People need a ministry of deed as well as word. Many hearts have been opened to the message of eternal life by kindness and deeds of mercy. In Geneva, Switzerland, in the time of John Calvin hospitals and hostels were established. The church constitution mandated four offices, Pastor, teacher, elder and deacon. It described the deacons work as follows. They were to support the poor and care for the sick. The first activity consisted in the organization of alms and its distribution to the needy. To this there also belonged the feeding of the poor. The second consisted in the running of the hospitals and the hostel for foreigners. There was free treatment for the poor and a teacher was employed in the hospital for the children. Deeds of mercy are still integral to the task of winning and discipling men.

III Astonish

The account of astonishment is in verses 8-10, When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. We are not going to astonish people with our miracles, but the work of evangelism is the task of introducing men to the most astonishing person that ever walked the face of earth. The gospel story is an astonishing story. The whole plan of redemption in the Bible is amazing, but the most astonishing thing of all is the Savior we proclaim. Peter’s astonishment in our text is more than surprise at a miraculous act, it is a realization of who was in the boat with him, because he is convicted of his sinful condition The personality, teaching and works of Jesus were so wonderful, Divine, supernatural, as to awaken emotions of surprise and awe never before known in the presence of man. They “were astonished out of measure” at His doctrine according to Mk 10:26 in the King James Version. However, the most astonishing thing in all creation is that the Son of God has come to us, That He who was rich beyond all measure became poor for our sakes. As Paul describes it in Philippians 2:6-8, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! This is the message that the Apostles preached, the message that astonishes those who are ready to hear it as it astonished Peter and James and John in the boat in our text, and as Isaiah was astonished when He saw the Lord high and lifted up and we read in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” When we declare the Word with a helping hand the chosen men will be astonished and cry out, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

IV Acquire

As the final words of our text point out, it is at this point that we read, Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. We cannot motivate others to follow our Lord unless we confront them with the cost of discipleship. Too much evangelism and outreach is centered on what people want to hear and what will make them feel good. Jesus never did that. He calls these men not just to salvation but to discipleship and assures them that they have a job to do. As it turns out it was a difficult and costly calling for those who followed. However their response must be the response we seek in outreach, So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Jesus often made clear that this was the only appropriate response to His invitation.