Grander Vision Living
Week Four of Walk Across the Room adapted from the sermon by Bill Hybels
Three weeks ago, we asked the question, what if evangelism was as simple as a “walk across the room.” We were reminded the single greatest gift we can offer the people around us is an introduction to their Creator and the Lover of their souls. We looked at what it means to “live in 3D”—to develop friendships, discover stories and discern appropriate next steps. These three things are what we can think about, pray about, and act on when we’re operating in the Zone of the Unknown. The 3D framework reminds us to take things slowly with people, allowing the other person to be in the spotlight, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead the process. We dove into the power of story, refreshing our understanding of how much weight our words carry … and of how critical it is that we steward God’s story and our own before-and-after faith stories well.
April 6, 2014
Luke 5:1-11, Grander Vision Living
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[powerpress]
As we wrap up this experience, the question is, “How do we maintain the momentum we’ve gained in the past three weeks?” How do we—as individuals and as a congregation—keep this fire burning in the coming days, weeks, months, and years so that instead of it being a one-time shot in the arm, this four-week experience can serve as a catalyst for significant life change … for meaningful shifts in thinking; for deep transformation of our habits when it comes to personal evangelism? Perhaps the answer is found in a Gospel story that takes place at the Sea of Galilee. When we went to Israel and Jordan a couple years ago, the Sea of Galilee was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Going out on a wooden boat and picturing Jesus and his first disciples being on that body of water was something I’ll always remember. When we were there we thought about this story from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Luke:
“While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he 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, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”
These verses about the call of the first disciples in Luke’s Gospel demonstrate the growing popularity of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus had been preaching in synagogues throughout the area, casting out demons, and healing those who were sick and bringing good news to the poor, the downhearted, and discouraged. People are pressing so closely to hear Jesus share the word of God they are literally backing him up to the edge of the lake more commonly known as the Sea of Galilee. Jesus being a creative, innovative thinker, who always makes use of the resources at hand, notices two boats by the lake. The fishermen have gone out of them and are washing their nets meaning they have just returned from a fishing trip. Jesus figures he’ll borrow a boat for his pulpit that morning.
He gets into the boat that is Simon’s and asks him to put out a little from the land so he can share God’s word with the people. When he is tired, at the end of his shift at work, Simon or Peter is asked if he can take some time with Jesus, if he can make some space for Jesus. Jesus goes into Simon’s area of greatest comfort, he enters Peter’s world, his fishing boat. No matter how tired Simon was, it would be hard for him to turn Jesus down since Jesus had healed his mother-in-law not long ago.
When Jesus finished speaking to the crowd and dismissed them he turned to Simon and said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” This request is loaded with meaning. First of all, you have a spiritual teacher telling a fisherman how to fish. There was a thriving fishing industry on the Sea of Galilee. Fish was one of the main foods in 1st century Palestine, where more fish was eaten than any other meat. Fish was eaten fresh, processed, salted, dried, or pickled, for export. Catching fish is serious business. Can you imagine a spiritual teacher going to Rock Harbor in Orleans or the Chatham fish pier early in the morning and saying to some experienced Captain of a fishing boat, “I’m going to tell you where to fish today.” How well do you think that would be received? Especially if the captain had just returned from fishing all night and had nothing to show for his sleepless night of work except empty nets, expenses and no fish? Simon answered Jesus, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets.” Can you hear the reluctance in Simon’s words? He’s trying to get Jesus to rethink his request. How many times do we read or hear the words of Jesus and think, “Jesus, you don’t really want me to do that, do you? You don’t mean I have to forgive him. You don’t mean I have to love her, of all people. You don’t really mean I have to love you more than anyone else in my life. You don’t think I’ll actually pray for my enemies – it’s so much easier and more fun to say snide and insulting things about them?”
Peter is questioning Jesus; after all, once the nets go in the lake, they’ll need to be cleaned again. That’s more work. They had fished the waters all night long and even with all their skill and experience they caught nothing. There is no reason to believe anything has changed. Simon is thinking, “Show me the way to go home, I’m tired and I want to go to bed.” In 1972 the singing group America had their biggest hit, A Horse with No Name and it includes the words, “the ocean is a desert with its life underground and a perfect disguise above.” Those of us who live by the ocean understand what they mean. If you’ve ever gone snorkeling, it is amazing how you can look at the sky, the land, and the surface of the water and see certain things. But when you put your mask down in the water and look there is a whole world in the depths that we couldn’t see and if you didn’t know it, you wouldn’t even realize it was there. I’ve been blessed to be able to go snorkeling in a couple beautiful places and it is amazing to see the coral, fish, turtles and all the creatures. You only see these things though if you’re willing to look below the surface. Above the surface of the ocean it looks largely the same, beneath the surface there are creatures, colors, and commotion. The same principle is true in life. There is a whole lot beneath the surface that a lot of people never see, appreciate, or realize; in fact, some people will argue there isn’t anything there at all. Life is like the ocean, there is more to it than meets the eye on the surface.
In Luke 5 Jesus is urging Peter to push off from shore and go out into the depths. Simon lets down the nets but he doesn’t think anything is going to happen; he lets the nets down in obedience to Jesus’ word. Surely after a few empty pulls, Jesus will grow bored and they’ll go back to shore. But instead of a slack net holding nothing but water, they catch so many fish the nets are beginning to break. Even with the help of their partners, they fill two boats to the point of nearly sinking them both. The futility of “fishing” with only human resources is contrasted with the effectiveness of “fishing” in obedience to Jesus’ word.
When Simon Peter saw the abundant catch, he fell down at Jesus’ knees saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Like many of us, Peter was not expecting a holy experience in the midst of his work place. We expect to experience God at worship in a sanctuary. We expect to experience God in a worship service. The Bible teaches us to expect God to show up anywhere, even in a bush, as happened to Moses. Here Jesus is in a fishing boat. He is giving those who will be invited to follow him an experience of the power of God while they are at work out in the depths. It is important to observe that the people who only heard Jesus from the shallows had a certain level of experience with him. Those who move out of the shallows with Jesus into deeper water, experience Jesus at a deeper level. There is something about the depths that draw us to experience God in a powerful way.
The psalmist cried out in Psalm 130, “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord. Lord hear my voice!” Out of the depths of grief, the depths of confusion, the depths of depression, the depths of fear, of loneliness, the depths of doubting God or ourselves – we cry out to God, “Lord hear my voice!” And God does hear. In Jonah chapter 2, Jonah is at the very bottom of the sea, at the place of greatest pressure and deepest darkness. From the depths of his depression and his rebellion against God Jonah cries out and his prayer for deliverance is answered. He returned to the dry land a changed man. The same is true for Simon and his partners. They went out into the deep self-centered individuals, thinking about themselves. “I’m tired, I’ve worked all night and I don’t have anything to show for it but more bills. I feel like I failed today. Now Jesus wants me to obey him, what does he know about my job?” They went out trusting in their own wisdom – there are no fish out there – rather than Jesus’ word. They obeyed grudgingly, like the child who was sent to sit in a chair for a time out, who told his mom, “I’m sitting on the outside but I’m still standing on the inside.” The fishermen’s view of Jesus is radically altered by the massive number of fish that leap into their nets and into their boats.
The power of Jesus revealed in the unexpected catch of fish also reveals to Simon his own sinfulness. There is nowhere to escape to on a fishing boat either. One person observed, “Simon’s response to the power and knowledge of Jesus is not a fisherman’s response; he didn’t say, ‘Why didn’t I know where the fish were?’ His response is that of a human being in the presence of one he now calls Lord. Simon’s skill is not the issue; the issue is his life. Yet in Jesus’ eyes Simon’s sin does not disqualify him; the same power that prompted Simon to fall at Jesus’ knees now lifts him into God’s service.” For Simon Peter and ourselves, answering the call of Jesus means a reversal of our priorities and a reordering of our commitments. It means from now on, Jesus will order our lives, not ourselves and Jesus is asking Peter, James, and John, and the rest of us this one question: Are you going to throw your one and only life into pursuing small fish, or will you risk tossing your nets out there in anticipation of catching the human-sized ones? Are you going to dive headlong into Grander Vision Living, or will you be the type who settles for the lesser one? Living the Grander Vision means that your Priority Is People. Jesus desperately wanted these career fishermen … as well as the people of Brewster Baptist Church to understand that this life is all about people. In Grander Vision Living, the priority is always people. He wanted them—and us—to prioritize people; above everything else that vies for our attention. Prioritizing people. This is what so much of our four-week series has been about. Taking walks across rooms for people; caring more about other people than about our self. Having a “radical inclusiveness” for people, even if they look different, talk different, act different, vote different, and so on. Jesus asks all of us who say we want to be walk-across-the-room people … Will you choose the Grander Vision in your situation?
When those of us who name the name of Christ start pulling our own weight, letting our lights shine in a way that lets the people around us know they matter, then kingdom stuff starts exploding in our world. Jesus is convinced we should live the Grander Vision not only because this is the way the kingdom of God gets built, but also because this is the way our souls get satisfied. Jesus knew that if we would build our life around accepting people, getting to know people, caring for people, serving people, listening to people, embracing people, befriending people, exposing people to spiritual things … prioritizing people, we would never crave our old ways again. Simple as that.
Observation number two about Grander Vision Living is that your focus is always on potential. It didn’t seem to matter to Jesus that his soon-to-be disciples were young men whose first response to his command was skepticism. Sometimes we put these first disciples high up on a pedestal and treat them as if they are so far beyond us in spiritual greatness. However, Peter, James, John, arguably the three leading disciples; were sinful, uneducated, common fisherman when they met Jesus. The fishermen were not called because of their qualifications or their education. They were not called because they were incredibly devout, religious Jews. God’s call is unmerited and unpredictable. They were not called because they were so great. They became great because they spent so much deep time with Jesus. Jesus is not frightened away from us because of our sin. He will not leave us in the depths of our sin to cope on our own. The fact that we are not perfect does not disqualify us from sharing in the work of Jesus. Jesus calls us not because of who we are but in spite of who we are.
This is made clear in Luke 5 where after Jesus calls Peter, James, and John, he also ends up calling a tax collector known as Levi or Matthew – same guy. Matthew was minding his own business collecting taxes plus as much as he could get for himself on the side when Jesus invited him to walk away from his business, his former self-focused priorities and to make people his priority and to begin seeing the potential in others rather than seeing them as a means to enrich himself. Matthew caught the vision and followed Jesus. Now Matthew could have been utterly consumed by his own transformation after he chose to follow Christ. He could have gotten so enamored with how much of his own life was changing for the better that he just left everyone else in his dust. He could have ditched his old friends and instead clung fiercely to his new ones. Remember that place we visited in week 1, the “Circle of Comfort?” Matthew chose differently. Matthew understood to Start Small … but Start! He chose to prioritize people outside the family of God above everything else… people who need an ounce of acceptance, a little Christian friendship, a taste of grace. Matthew also chose to see the potential in his tax-collecting friends … the same way Jesus had spotted potential in him. Who would have given Matthew half a chance of ever coming to faith in Christ?
We might sum it up this way: Matthew had a right view of his role in the lives of his friends. Matthew didn’t have his act all together. He didn’t have it all figured out. But one thing he did have: Matthew knew that God had saved him for a purpose … a purpose that included more than his own salvation. A purpose that included being salt and light in his world. A purpose that centered around living out a Grander Vision … by making people his priority and their potential his focus. His purpose included taking walks across rooms … because people were the only thing he’d be taking with him to heaven. The same holds true for us. If anyone knew that death and taxes were a certainty in life it was Matthew and he suddenly realized all material things are temporary and all that is of eternal significance are the souls of people.
Jesus doesn’t want us to settle for just what we can see on the surface of our life. There is a whole, Spirit-filled universe of activity going on all around us … that we can tap into right now! Here’s my challenge to you: if you’re ready to dip your mask into the water and catch a glimpse of this exciting world—a world that is vibrant, alive, active, awe-inspiring—then do what Matthew did … why not throw a party? Imagine what would happen if as a congregation each one of us committed to throwing a “Matthew party” in the next thirty days. Let’s all agree to put a few of our Christ-following friends in a space with some of our unconvinced friends … and trust God with the results. Now, let me give you a few tips as you consider this idea …Keep it simple. Your “Matthew party” does not need to be elaborate or expensive. Do what makes sense for you. Whatever you do, get the ratio right! Please don’t outnumber your unconvinced friends with your Christian friends. Be sure there are fewer Christ-followers at your “Matthew party” than nonbelievers … otherwise, your unbelieving friends will feel ganged up on … and once that happens, you will have an impossible time wooing them back again.
I close with this insight: when we read Luke 5 and the stories of Jesus calling Peter, James, John and Matthew we learn that the qualifications for discipleship lie not in our personal worthiness or holiness, for which we can all be grateful, but in our potential and our willingness to try and put every aspect of our lives under the leadership and authority of Jesus. In Luke 5, Peter is called dramatically, through a miraculous catch of fish, in the midst of his daily activities. He has a very good 45 second story to tell, doesn’t he? So does Matthew. We may not be called as dramatically as Peter and Matthew, but we want God’s kingdom to flow into every aspect of our lives including our daily work and routine as well as our play. In boating terms, Simon turned over his vessel to Jesus and allowed Jesus to steer. We need to be willing to let Jesus pilot the boat of our lives.
Jonah was thrown out of a boat and God found him and God delivered him. Simon got into a boat and God found him, forgave him and called him. Jesus is standing in a boat today – scanning the crowd gathered by the sea in Brewster and inviting all who desire to launch out into the deep with him into a life-giving, life changing relationship with him. Jesus and Simon go fishing, and we, like Simon, are caught by Jesus and given a new mission in life.