Sermon manuscript:
Everyone has something that he or she wants. Everybody’s
calling has its own challenges and disappointments. We take it as a given that
not everything is going to go right all the time. It would be quite a surprise
if all of a sudden all those things that we want were suddenly to fall into our
lap.
This is what happened to Peter. He was a fisherman together
with at least three of the other apostles—his brother Andrew, and James and
John. Being a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee was probably not the most lucrative
of jobs. The Sea of Galilee is a fairly small body of water. There aren’t a lot
of opportunities for expansion. So it might have been a kind of hand to mouth
sort of existence.
On the night before Jesus asked to come into his boat in
order to preach to the people who were on the shore Peter had been out trying
to catch fish. He had had little success. So they had called it a day and were
washing up their nets. He wasn’t overly excited about going fishing again with
Jesus. But, who knows? Might as well give it a shot.
Peter, like all people, would have had some mental picture
of success. There was some number of fish that he knew would pay the expenses.
He knew what would turn a profit. If he got a whole bunch there would have been
things that he would like to buy. That picture was completely exceeded,
however, by what Jesus brought into his nets and into his boat. The nets were
straining under the load. His boat, as well has his partners’ boat, were so
weighed down that they started to sink.
Peter could have responded to all of this by saying
something like, “Gee whiz, mister, thanks a lot! I’ll put you on my
speed-dial.” Then he could take his haul, sort it, count it, and laugh all the
way to the bank. Flush with cash he could buy those things that he had been
wanting to buy for so long. Jesus gave him exactly what he had been hoping for.
But, as you know, this is not what Peter did. The only way
his actions can be explained is that he was lifted out of the normal course
that he otherwise would have taken by none other than the Holy Spirit. We often
think that unbelievers are nasty, dark individuals. I suppose they can be, but
those are the outliers. Most unbelievers are trying to make a living for
themselves, raise their kids, and make memories. Being an unbeliever is what is
normal. Being a believer is what is unusual.
Peter’s actions are unusual. He loses interest in the fish
and suddenly becomes very interested in Jesus. Behind his humble words of “Go
away from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord,” is a heart that is hoping for
the opposite. He doesn’t feel worthy to be with Jesus, but there is nothing he
would like more than to be with Jesus. And Jesus does not disappoint him. He
tells him, “Do not be afraid.” Then he adds, “From now on you will be
catching people.” Peter used to catch fish. Now he will be catching people.
Finally Luke says that when they reached the shore with
their boats, Peter and those who were with him left everything and followed
Jesus. This means that they left behind all that wealth that they had had in
their mind’s eye as the very picture of success.
It’s as though Peter could have been singing one of our
hymns: “What is the world to me With all its vaunted pleasures? When You and
You alone, Lord Jesus are my treasure? You only dearest Lord, my soul’s delight
shall be. You are my peace, my rest. What is the world to me?”
Although Peter’s actions are unusual, in one sense, at
least, his actions, worked by the Holy Spirit, are eminently practical and
reasonable. What is the world with all its vaunted pleasures? What would it
benefit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul? We are so
attracted and crave the things that have been created. But behind all that is
the Creator. If the creature or the created thing is good, doesn’t the Creator
have to be that much better?
And, of course, he is. Let us not forget what God is like. Those
instances in the Bible when God partially reveals his glory should be of the
highest interest to us. Things will not always be as they are now, as Jesus
lives and reigns quietly through his Word and Sacraments from the right hand of
God the Father. One day Jesus will come in power and great glory to judge the
living and the dead. Then we won’t have the created things. We won’t even have
our clothes. All the created things that have given us comfort will be no more.
Only the One who created all those comfortable things will be there in his full
splendor. How vitally important it will be at that time to have been given
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who has reconciled us to God. At that time him
being our friend and our brother will be more important than a kettle of fish.
So it’s not like Peter’s desire to be right with God is unreasonable or
impractical.
But we are pretty clever with our reason, especially when it
comes to turning things to our own advantage, so we might come up with a third
option. It would be foolhardy to just say, “Thanks for the fish Jesus,” and go
shopping. On the other hand it seems a little extreme to just leave all that money
sitting in the boat and following after Jesus. How about a third option where
we could have both? Maybe we can cash that big fat check and, in some sense,
also follow Jesus.
I plan to show you how, according to God’s Word, this option
that appears to be ever so reasonable won’t work out as we hope it would. Before
I do that, I have to admit that there is something to it that is true.
We have been made by God to be creatures who require food
and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, wife and children, and so on. To
leave absolutely every created thing behind in our pursuit of the Creator would
not be pleasing to God. That would be putting God to the test. We need money
and goods. To do otherwise would be like throwing yourself off from the
pinnacle of the Temple, relying on the angels to save you, when there’s a
perfectly good set of stairs that you can walk down. Again, if God wanted to
feed us by flying a roasted chicken into our mouths, he could surely do that,
but the ordinary way he works is that we do this is by working, buying,
cooking, and so on.
But there’s a big difference between surviving and thriving.
We should see to our needs in order to survive while having our sights set on
the Creator. The problem is that we don’t just want to survive, with our Lord
Jesus being our treasure. We want to thrive. We want an abundance of created
things. We are no different than the Israelites in the wilderness. They soon
grew tired of manna and water. They remembered the cucumbers, melons, and
garlic that they used to enjoy in Egypt.
While they were eating their bread from heaven and drinking
their water from the Rock the Israelites were the supreme people on earth. They
were blessed beyond measure, far above every other nation on earth, because
they were a nation of priests. They were a people who lived in God’s presence
and thrived on the holiness that he communicated to them. They were surviving
with the Lord as their God. But what did they want to do? Over and over and
over and over again they want to kill Moses and head back to their old lord
Pharaoh. In Egypt, at least, they had something decent to eat.
I’m sure that if you took a poll among those Israelites they
all would have agreed that God was God. They were all for acknowledging him and
keeping him on speed-dial even if they had gone back to Egypt. But where was
their heart? It’s obvious to see the truth of Jesus’s saying: “No man can
serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
mammon.” Even though Jesus clearly says that no one can serve both God and
mammon, that’s never stopped us from trying.
So it was, also, when the Israelites came to settle in the
promised land. In the histories recorded in the Bible, and in the prophets’
preaching, you hear about their idolatry. Folks often assume that they turn
completely to Baal or to Ashtoreth. That is absolutely not the case! The
Israelites never saw themselves as rejecting the Lord their God. In fact they
even named their kids these extremely pious names like “Jonathan,” which means,
“The Lord gives,” or “Joshua,” which means, “The Lord saves,” and so on. The
very names of their children proclaimed the praises of the Lord.
But they also wanted to thrive. Thriving meant that they had
to be practical. The way to get ahead in life is not by putting all your eggs
in one basket. Do don’t drop your membership in the Lord’s church, but riches
can be had by following the practices of Baal, Ashteroth, or Molech. Plus the
entertainment that is offered at these places of worship ain’t half bad either,
if you know what I mean. So don’t be stupid. Don’t drop your membership or you
might go to hell. But there’s no harm in making sure you don’t miss out on the
good things of life. This dual allegiance to both God and idols is what God
complains about so bitterly. The Lord our God is a jealous God.
Among us, also, we are in very bad shape. God, for most
people, is just an insurance policy that is supposed to bail you out from going
to hell. But even in the church conditions are not much better. What people
really want for their kids is for them to thrive. They want them to be prosperous
and successful. To have a kid not get a good education, not get a good job,
this is horrible! Tragedy of tragedies! Catechesis, growth in faith, practicing
prayer, living as Christians regardless of the consequences—these are side
dishes. They’re good side dishes. I don’t know of any parents who don’t want
their kids to be actively participating in church, but they’re side dishes just
the same. What is really important is that they are good citizens with good
jobs and that they make many happy memories.
So if we had to vote between a couple boatloads of money on
the one hand or catching men alive for the kingdom of God on the other, unfortunately
I know which would win. What good will catching men do anyone? The salvation of
the fellow sinners is pretty low on the priority list. “Have the pastor do it.
That’s what we pay him for. Meanwhile, let’s get busy thriving!”
Who’s the god here though? What do people believe in for
their happiness? What are their greatest ambitions? It isn’t the one and only
true God. God is hardly more than an assumption. Nobody is getting ready to
meet the one whom Isaiah saw in the temple, high and lifted up. The voice of
the created seraphim made the foundations of the threshold shake. What could
that Creator do?
We must not be short-sighted with our lives. We only live 70
years, or, by reason of strength, 80. Whatever we might cling to in this life
inevitably rots and decays. Folks could shovel your casket full of stuff. It
will do you no good. These fake gods stink. Jesus has come to redeem you from
them, so that you may know the true God.
You are not in too terribly different of a situation than
Peter. God has not called you nor even me to be an apostle. But he has indeed
called you to have a higher conception of life than earthly riches, power, or
glory. He calls you to know him, for Jesus to be your treasure, and for you to
catch other people alive, just as you yourself have been caught.
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