WHEN YOU’VE
COME UP EMPTY
Hoping For A
Miracle – Part 5
08-05-12
Sermon
As some of you
know, I love to fish. If you’ve ever
been around a fisherman, you know they have fishermen stories. The more they tell them the bigger the fish
get.
But we’re going to
look today at one of the greatest fishing stories of all times. None of the fishing miracles that you’ve
heard in your lifetime can match the one in Luke chapter 5. This is the second recorded miracle of Jesus
so it’s very early on in his ministry. He’s
only done one prior to it which is turning water into wine at the wedding at
Cana.
Let me give you a
little background.
Four of the twelve disciples
of Jesus were fishermen. Peter and Andrew
were brothers and James and John were brothers.
These four guys had a fishing business in northern Israel around the
beautiful Sea of Galilee.
At this point Peter,
James, John and Andrew are not disciples of Jesus yet. They’re just professional businessmen. They make a living catching fish. They’ve been out all night fishing on the Sea
of Galilee, Lake Galilee. They’ve caught
nothing, nada, zero, zip. The lake is in
a recession. Nobody’s biting right now. They’re going through tough times in their job. They catch nothing. They’ve worked hard. They come ashore. And the next morning after ten hours of
fishing they are cleaning their nets on the shore. They’re tired, they’re discouraged. They’ve got empty buckets.
And Jesus comes along
and he’s talking to a crowd and he asks these guys, Can I use one of your boats
as a platform to speak from? We’ll pick
up the story in Luke 5. “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 [that’s Simon Peter], and asked him to put out a little from
shore. Then he sat down and taught the people
from the boat.”
Get the picture. Jesus is already attracting enormous crowds. They want to hear him teach. They’re fascinated by this man. He’s doing miracles. He’s healing people. The crowds are following him everywhere he
went. They’re pressing up against him. Jesus sees these two boats and these tired
fishermen and he says, Let me get into one of your boats and push out a little
bit from the shore. He sits down and he teaches
the crowd on the shore from a little ways out in the boat.
In verse 4 it says
this “When Jesus had finished speaking he
said to Simon, ‘Now launch out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’
[Remember they had just fished all night.] Simon
answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and we haven’t caught anything.”
Ever felt like this. “I
worked all night and I haven’t caught anything.
Haven’t made a sale, haven’t closed a deal, haven’t sold a house,
haven’t stepped up. In fact, I’m out of
work right now. We’ve worked all night
and we’ve caught nothing. You can hear
the discouragement in his voice.
Sometimes this
happens in life. Sometimes you give it
your best shot and you still come up ten feet short. We have seen that with some of the Olympic
athletes. Sometimes you work hard and
you work diligently and you work long and you’ve got nothing to show for it. Sometimes you even do what you think is the
right thing to do in your job, in your career, and you make a decision. You may even think God’s leading you to do it. And it doesn’t pan out. All of these things where you think God is
leading you in this way and it doesn’t happen.
Sometimes you hang in there with your
marriage and you struggle. Maybe you get
some counsel and you read books and you really try to make the thing work, but you
don’t see any improvement at all. It
just isn’t getting any better.
Sometimes
you work at a job, many of you have done this; you’ve been responsible, you’ve
been faithful, you’ve been diligent. You’ve
been a strong, hard employee. And all of
a sudden the recession comes along and you don’t get a promotion or you’re laid
off. You’ve worked hard all night and
you’ve caught nothing.
The fact is, this
miracle has a lot to teach us because everybody’s fishing for something.
Sometimes we’re fishing for approval. We’re looking out there and we’re trying to
find somebody to just love us. There’s
nothing wrong with that. Maybe you didn’t
get that approval growing up. You’re
looking for somebody who will love you and value you for who you are.
Maybe you’re fishing for security. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe you’re fishing for significance. “I want my life to count.” Nothing wrong with that. Maybe you’re fishing for a wife or a husband. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe you’re fishing for a new means of income. There’s nothing wrong with that. Everybody’s fishing for something.
This miracle teaches
us what you do when you come up empty. When
you’ve been fishing all night and you don’t see any results from it.
So Jesus uses Simon
Peter’s boat as a platform to preach the good news. Then the Bible tells us the rest of the story. “After
Jesus finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Now, launch out into deep water and
let down your nets for a catch.’ [The Bible says that] When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that
their nets began to break. [That’s a lot of fish.] So they signaled their partners [that’s
James and John] in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and
filled both boats so full [with fish]
that they began to sink.”
Friends, that’s a fish
story! You’re not going to top that one. I’m not going to top that one. That’s a flat out miracle.
Here’s the point:
they caught more in ten minutes than they had caught in ten hours. This is what’s called a miracle of acceleration.
Where God speeds up the process. When you understand the principle of the
miracle of acceleration, you don’t worry about timing. You may go a month or two months or a year or
two years without work. It doesn’t
really matter because God can turn on a faucet like that as quickly as one got
turned off. The fact is, God can do more
in ten minutes in your life than you can do in ten years. If you will do it the way he tells you to do
it.
What makes the
difference? This is the point. What makes the difference between working all
night and coming up empty on your own, and having so much blessing in your life
that you’re sinking from it. So much
blessing in your life materially you have to spread it around or you’re going
to sink under the load. What made the
difference between emptiness and overflowing?
Jesus says in the
book of Matthew “According to your faith
it will be done unto you.” The disciples
did four things. They took four steps of
faith. You need to learn these steps of
faith to make it through when you’re going through the difficult times, when
you’re coming up empty. Let’s look at
them.
The first thing you need to do that Peter and Andrew and
James and John did is:
1.
I need to give Jesus complete access to my life.
I give Jesus complete
access to my life if I want to turn from emptiness to overflowing. Notice it says in verse 3 of chapter 5 “Jesus got into one of the boats, the one
belonging to Simon and he asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat
down and taught the people from the boat.”
Here’s the starting point. Pretty
simple. You’ve got to get Jesus in your
boat. That’s the starting point. If you want to move from emptiness to
fullness you’ve got to get Jesus in your boat.
Notice: they worked
all night and caught nothing in ten hours.
Now in ten minutes they’re catching more than they can handle. What’s different here? It’s the same lake. It’s the same boat. It’s the same nets. It’s the same fishermen. It’s the same partners. It’s the same fish.
The only thing
that’s different between nothing and fullness is Jesus is in the boat. Do you think that makes a difference? Oh, yeah!
Jesus is in the boat.
That’s the game
changer. Now God is with them. They’re not fishing by themselves anymore. They’re not in their career by themselves anymore. They’ve got Jesus in the job. Their business has got the Master in control
here.
Let’s apply this.
First, what’s your boat? Your boat
is how you make a living. It’s your
means of support. Simon’s business is
his boat. He’s a fisherman. He gives his boat to Jesus. He gives his job to Jesus. The boat represents your career, your vocation,
your profession, your job. It’s how you
make a living.
What does it mean to
have Jesus in your boat? It means you
dedicate your career to God. We’re not
talking about salvation here. You have
Jesus in your life but a lot of you don’t have Jesus in your job. You’ve trusted him for salvation and you come
on the weekends and you praise God. But
when you go back to work during the week you put Jesus on the shelf. And Jesus is nowhere to be found in your job. And he’s certainly not using it as a platform
for ministry. To give your boat to Jesus
means you say, Jesus use my job as your platform. I dedicate my career to you for your use.
When Peter did
this, when he gave his job to Jesus for his use, he gets blessed too with
incredible results. But don’t miss the
sequence. Here’s what we say.
We normally think, God, make me a really great success in business and then
I’ll serve you with the success. Wrong! It’s the exact opposite. God, use my job or lack of it now and then
the success can come. It’s the exactly
opposite. First, Peter lets Jesus use
his job for his platform. Then Jesus
blesses Peter’s job with enormous success.
That’s the order. It’s not “Make
me a success and then I’ll serve you.” It’s
the exact opposite. “God, I’m failing in my job! But
I give it to you as a platform and now you can bless it.”
This is what
Matthew 6:33 says “Seek ye first… [Not
second, third, fourth or fifth.] Seek first the kingdom of God [not
success, not satisfaction, not a salary – seek first the kingdom of God] and then all these other things will be
added unto you.” You’ve got to get
the priorities right. You’ve got to get
Jesus in the boat. When you do that then
he takes care of your needs.
Whatever you want God
to bless, you put him first in that. You
want God to bless your time? You give
him the first part of every day. You
want God to bless your week? You give
him the first day of every week. You
want God to bless your money? You give
him the first ten percent of your money no matter how little it is.
So you get Jesus in
your work. So what you say is “Lord you use my business as your platform
to spread the good news and then we’ll let God take care of everything else.” So you say, “I’m really a missionary.”
What do you do? I’m a missionary
disguised as a banker. I’m a missionary disguised
as a state worker. I’m a missionary disguised
as a retired person. I’m a missionary disguised
as a truck driver. I’m a missionary disguised
as a school worker or whatever it is. I’m
first and foremost using my career as a platform for Jesus; then he’ll bless me
in return.
Question: Have you
committed your boat to Jesus? Some of
you are going through tough times right now and you’re trying to change
everything else. The fishermen didn’t need to change their nets. They didn’t need to change their boat. They didn’t need to change their business partners. They didn’t need to change their location. They didn’t need to change their marriage. They just needed Jesus in charge of the boat. That’s what was needed.
2.
Here’s the second step. I admit that my efforts aren’t
working.
Verse 4-5 “When Jesus had finished speaking he said to
Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.’ Simon Peter
answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and we haven’t caught
anything.’”
Do you realize how
hard it was for Peter to say this? Peter
is a pro. He’s good at what he does. He’s a professional fisherman. These guys are not amateurs. They are not novices. They’re not weekend fishermen. They make a living at this. They know how to do this. But sometimes even when you’re a pro you fish
all night and you catch nothing.
The truth is
they’re doing their best. These are good
guys. They’re doing their very best. But friends, sometimes our best is not good
enough. It’s just not good enough. And sometimes there are situations that are out
of our control. You can’t control the economy. You can’t control the weather. You can’t control a lot of things in life
that will affect your life. Other people,
diseases, you can’t stop the aging process.
Most of the major things of your life you can’t control. So you start thinking, I have tried so hard
it just doesn’t seem to make any difference. I’ve worked so hard and I’ve got so little to
show for it.
What do you need to
do? You need to first do these two things. You get Jesus in your boat and you admit that
your way isn’t working. That’s humbling. The Bible calls that confession.
Why don’t we want to
admit this? I don’t want to admit it. You don’t want to admit it. Why don’t we want to admit it? There are three reasons I don’t want to admit
when it’s not working: pride, stubbornness and fear. Regardless of the cause, the second step is to
admit this just isn’t working.
3.
Here’s the third step.
The third step, if you want to see God turn emptiness into fullness, is
I obey whatever Jesus tells me to do.
I obey whatever
Jesus tells me to do. In other words, I
must be willing to do whatever he tells me even if it doesn’t make sense, even
if it’s illogical, even if it appears foolish, stupid to other people. I must obey what God tells me to do even if
it doesn’t make sense financially. I
must do it even if it’s illogical and irrational and I don’t understand it and
I’m confused and I’m scared to death. I
still do it anyway. I obey whatever
Jesus tells me to do, even when it doesn’t make sense.
Jesus, verse 5,
told them to launch out into the deep. Simon
says “Master, we’ve worked hard all night
and we haven’t caught anything. [We’re empty. We’ve come up empty.] But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Circle “because you say so.” That is the key to a miracle. Because
you say so. Not because I think it’s
smart. Not because it’s popular. Not because I can afford it. Not because it makes sense. Not because everybody else is doing it. I’m going to do this because you say so.
Now, not only is
Jesus in the boat. He’s giving the
fishing instructions. What does Peter do? Unquestioned obedience. Because you say so. If you will become a because-you-say-so man, God
will bless your life. If you will become
a because-you-say-so woman, God will bless your life. Lord,
your instructions do not make sense at all to me. But because you say so, I’m going to do it. I’m going to trust you in faith.
Question: What has God
told you to do that you’re not doing?
Some of us want God
to give us instructions about our job. He’s
already told you some other things. But you’re
not doing it. God’s not going to tell
you three, four, five, and sixth step, if you’re not doing step one, two and
three.
God says to some of you, I want you to
start tithing. And you’re not doing it. God says the first ten percent of your income
goes back to God. You’re not doing it.
God says to you, I want you to forgive
that person and let it go and stop holding a grudge. I don’t
want to. I want to hold on to it. I want to keep hurting. I don’t want to forgive them. You’re only hurting yourself.
God says I want you to go to that co-worker
and I want you to tell them about Jesus.
“I’m scared to death! He might reject me.” You’re not doing what he’s already told you to
do.
I don’t know what God’s
already told you to do, but you do. God
will tell you what he wants. But I will
tell you this. Disobedience always hurts
you. It doesn’t hurt God. You just missed the blessing.
When you do
whatever God tells you to do, you say, because
you say so. You become a because you say so person, God’s going
to give you the vision for your career. And
I’m telling you: it’s going to come in three phases. Because God never gives you the total vision
all at once, because he wants you to grow in faith.
You need to know
the phases of faith. When God wants to give
a vision for your life, it always comes in three parts.
First, he says when.
“Launch out now.” By the way, “Launch out” always means a risk. It’s risky to launch out. God will always force you to take a risk. Why? Because
there’s no faith without risk. And
without faith it’s impossible to please God.
Then it says what.
He says I want you to “let down your
nets.”
Then he says where.
“Launch out into deep water.” Circle “launch out into deep water.” He says I want you to launch out into deep
water. Why does God tell Peter to do
that? Because that’s where the big fish
are. They’re in the deep water.
Most people live their
lives in the shallows of life. They live
kiddie pool Christianity. Just enough of
Jesus to bug them and not bless them. They
never get in over their heads. They live
at the superficial level. They come to
church and they paddle around in the shallows of life and maybe catch a few
minnows, barely getting their feet wet. Afraid
to get in over their head. And they miss
God’s best.
Why is that? As a pastor I’ve thought about this a lot. Why do so many people, most people in life,
live shallow lives? Why do they live in
the shallows? Because it’s safer there. There are no big waves by the shoreline. Your boat isn’t going to get rocked around. It’s not risky to live a shallow life. Your feet can touch bottom and you can stay
in control. Actually, it’s the greatest
risk because you’re missing out on all the blessings of eternity.
So we live these shallow
lives that are safer. We live in this
nice little comfort zone where we want God to bless our plans but we’re not
willing to let him use our business as his platform.
Obeying Jesus when
it doesn’t make sense is the scariest, riskiest, most dangerous thing to do in
life. It’s also the most rewarding way
to live. It’s the way he does it.
Here’s the fourth
thing you do. I give Jesus complete
access to my life, to my job. I admit my
efforts aren’t working. I obey whatever
Jesus tells me – “because you say so.”
4. Then, I
expect Jesus to turn things around.
Follow me on the
logic on this. If God tells you to go
fishing and then he comes along with you in the boat, and then he points out
where to let down your nets, do you think you’re going to come up empty? I don’t think so! Really!
I imagine at this point
Peter is quivering with anticipation. He’s
going, oh boy, oh boy! And all the fear
and fatigue and frustration that he’s felt from the night before, it’s passing
away. “This is going to be good!” He’s not afraid of failing now. He’s not afraid of launching out into the
deep. He’s not afraid of taking risks. Why? He’s
got God’s presence in his boat, God’s plan in his mind, and God’s promise in his
heart. There’s no way he’s not going to
succeed. No way, if God told him to do
it – because you say so. He’s full of
faith.
The Bible says this
in 1 Thessalonians “The one who calls you
is completely dependable. If he said it,
he’ll do it.” God cannot lie.
Follow me on this: if
God can control the forces of nature – 53
fish in the Sea of Galilee come over here to this spot right now! And all the big fishies swim over to that spot. All right guys let down your nets. If God can control nature like that, and obviously
he can, he can get you a job. He can get
you what you need. He can take care of
you. But you’ve got to do it his way.
He can do it overnight. He can do it in ten minutes! After all the delays and difficulties and
dead ends.
Notice the results,
Luke 5. “When they had done so, [When they had done what? Obeyed what Jesus told them to do, admitted they
were failing at it, and gave Jesus complete control. My job – I don’t work for the company, I work
for Jesus. I’m a missionary. First and foremost, I’m seeking his kingdom. Jesus is in my boat. When they had done so…] they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break! So 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. [More blessing
than they could handle. In fact they had
to share it in order to not go under.]
God is looking for
people to bless. It’s not like God doesn’t
want to bless people. God is looking for
people who are blessable. If you will get
blessable he will bless your socks off.
This is the time for
the miracles of acceleration. This is a
turning point in their lives. God is
looking for people to bless. God wants
to bless you so much that you become a blessing to other people.
Notice Peter’s reaction, verses 8-9. “When Simon Peter saw this [this miracle
of fish] he fell at Jesus’ knees and he
said, ‘Go away from me Lord; I’m sinful man! [Remember he’s not a disciple
yet. He’s just a fisherman. He’s a businessman. Go away from me Lord, I’m a sinful man. In other words you are God and there’s no way
I deserve to be around you.] 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 [business] partners.”
This miracle is the
turning point in their lives. Notice the real lesson. “Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid;
[and of course Simon was afraid because he’d seen God do this unbelievable
thing. He was afraid.] from now on you will catch men.”
Let me stop right
here. This miracle is not about money. It’s about people. It’s not about possessions. It’s about God’s purpose for your life. It’s not about keeping a whole bunch of fish. It’s about the kingdom of God. He’s getting ready to call these guys to
follow him one hundred percent. So he
does a miracle in their business. But
it’s not about so he can make them a successful businessman. It’s about I want one hundred percent of your
life for the kingdom of God. He said I’m
going to teach you how to fish for men. I’m
going to teach you how to change the world.
I’m going to teach you how to be used by God to change lives and
companies and homes and communities. I’m
going to use you, to mobilize you, to fish for people.
“Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on
you’ll catch men.’ So they pulled up their boats on to the shore, left
everything and followed Jesus.” You see what happens? They leave all those stinking fish in the
boat! They didn’t even clean them. They’re not thinking, “Good night! We’ve got enough here to set us up for the
next five years. This is incredible. We are in the money!” What do they do? They walk away from it and just start
following Jesus.
Why? Because they were more interested in the
blesser than the blessing. Are you? We’re all interested in the blessing – Bless
me! Bless me! They were going, forget the blessing! If that guy can do this I’m following him,
because if I stay close to him there’s plenty more where that came from. I don’t need the blessing in my life if I’m
next to the blesser. I can walk away from
the biggest catch in my life. I can walk
away from stock options. I can walk away
from an enormous deal because I’m with the blesser. And where that came from there’s plenty more.
Too often we’re more
interested in the blessing than the blesser.
But they knew if they followed Christ, there’s be plenty more to come.
God is calling some
of you to leave your nets and follow him.
He’s calling you to leave the comfort zone, to leave your nets, and
launch into the deep.
Are you ready to do what God wants you to do?
Prayer:
Would you say in your heart, Lord I’ve fished all night and
caught nothing. And you know it. But I want to follow you. I want to leave my nets and follow you completely. So first, Lord, I am committing my job, my career,
to you. It’s your job. It’s your career, and I will be your missionary
in this area. I give you complete access
to my life, my job, my marriage, my friendships, my bank account. It’s yours, Lord. Get in my boat please! I give it all to you. Lord, I admit that things are not working. I have fished all night. Sometimes I’ve been prideful and sometimes I’ve
been stubborn and sometimes I’ve been fearful.
What I need to do is trust you. And
Lord, the things that you’ve told me to do that I haven’t done yet and I’ve put
it off because I thought it was too expensive, or I couldn’t afford it or it
didn’t seem popular or it didn’t make sense – because you say so I will launch
out into the deep. I’m going to trust
you and I’m going to expect you to turn things around. I give it all to you. I want to not be concerned about the blessing. I just want to follow the blesser. In your name I pray. Amen.
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