Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Doubt into Triumph: Faith Lessons from Luke Chapter 5
Finally, we delve into the theme of continuous fellowship with our Heavenly Father, likening our relationship with Him to the vine and branches. This imagery underscores the need for constant connection with God to navigate life's challenges. By prioritizing time with the Lord, we ensure His support and wisdom in every aspect of our lives, from financial struggles to family issues. Stay tuned as we continue to explore the Book of Luke and the incredible impact of inviting Jesus into our lives.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Today's message is titled Fishes of Men. Now, I know I'm starting in Chapter 5 of the Book of Luke, not wanting to diminish the first five chapters, but I want to focus on a certain aspect of the largest of all the Gospels and also this is the largest book in the New Testament as well. So none of you who are listening to this or reading this, you've got to understand certain aspects of it and, realistically, this is for all listeners, people who were saved and not saved, because this gospel is of salvation. So I don't want anybody feeling excluded in any way, shape or form. See Luke I should say Luke in this. He makes sure that he doesn't leave anybody out male, female, widow, prostitute, slave, poor, outcast, sinners and even despised tax collectors, even to the extent of our Lord's final instructions to preach repentance and remission of sin to everyone. So in saying that, you'll find that throughout this gospel, luke is actually predominantly speaking more about women than anything else, but he does cover all of those categories. But what I want to start with first is Simon Peter. Now I will refer to him sometimes as Simon, sometimes as Peter, because his name was Simon and the Lord named him Peter. So we're not going to go into the extent of understanding that. So where do we start?
Speaker 1:Well, if I'm talking about fish as a man, I suppose we've got to look at the practical side of fishing as well. Me myself as a fisherman, sometimes it's all about relaxing. I want to get my folding my Bible when I go out to do fishing not being super spiritual or anything, but really honestly I don't think there's anything else out there worth reading. That's my own personal opinion, but most of us today view fishing as a recreational sport, and I call it a recreational activity purely and simply because it's an excuse for me coming home after not catching anything. I don't know about the rest of the fishermen out there, but I'm glad that I am better at bringing people to salvation, so being a fisher of men, than I am actually a physical fisherman, and so if you get my wife started, she'll talk about all the horror fishing trips that we've actually had, and there's been a few of them.
Speaker 1:But being a fisherman in the first century was anything but relaxing. It was a tough life and required a lot of hard labour. Pushing off with their boats into the Sea of Galilee, the first century fishermen would stand on the edge of the boat, cast large nets into the water and then haul the nets back in, and they would do this for hours and hours, throwing their nets out and bringing them back, and this was also not a one-person job. So they were working very hard and very laborious. With a catch of fish, a few men would be required to lift the weight of the fish into the boat and so they could take them back and clean them and everything else to the boat, and so they could take them back and clean them and everything else.
Speaker 1:One thing I hated about fishing is the prospect of catching nothing. Spending hours and hours only to come home empty-hounded is a great disappointment. Even worse when you look around and you see others catching fish. So you think, okay, maybe I'm in the wrong spot, so you'll go to their spot and you'll do that. Or you'll even change your bait and you'll copy everything that the other fisherman's doing. And yet they're catching fish and you're not. So you keep moving and hoping to catch. So you keep moving and hoping to catch, but you don't do in any way to the extent of some other people which are professionals. But as a fisherman in the first century, a lack of fish was not only a disappointment, it was a loss of income. Working as a fisherman was to put money in their pockets and food on their table. And if you ask my wife and she will concede that if I was a fisherman in the first century, well, the family would starve, because I'm not very good at it.
Speaker 1:But getting back to Luke, as we read here in Luke, it has been one of those disappointing days for Simon Peter and his men. They've worked all night long casting their nets into the sea but having caught nothing, peter and the others are exhausted after working all night, and now it's morning and they finally call it quits and bring their boat ashore and begin washing their nets. They have to wash their nets and clean them so they're ready for the next time that they do it. Meanwhile, jesus is preaching by the Sea of Galilee and the crowds are pressing up against Jesus to the point that he backs up to the water's edge. Jesus sees two boats nearby. He gets in one of the boats and asks Simon Peter to push out a little from the land. Jesus then sits down and continues to teach the crowd. Peter has willingly helped out Jesus and has eliminated the aspect of the encroaching crowd to actually push him into the water and, plus, you may not know this, but being in a boat with water there, it actually amplifies the volume of your voice and so therefore, it's almost like having a microphone back in those days.
Speaker 1:So when Jesus had finished speaking, he tells Simon Peter to put out to the deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Feel the despair and the disappointment in Peter's words as he tells Jesus that they have worked hard all night and have caught nothing. That they have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, and it's hard to read into the words Peter is saying to Jesus where he's trying to convince him hey, it's a waste of time doing this, nothing's going to happen. First, peter and his men they're tired, they've worked hard all night, they're exhausted and it's time to go and get some rest and try again another night. Second, they have cast their nets all night and caught nothing. So Simon Peter is implying that going out one more time is not going to be profitable.
Speaker 1:Simon Peter may be thinking this carpenter thinks we are just going to go out to the deep, catch some fish and come back in, but fishing was no good that day. Are we wasting our time. All of us have bad days like this. We've had days when we look at life and we see complete emptiness. We've had times when we feel we are wasting our time doing whatever we are doing. We've had days when we are discouraged and frustrated. Things did not go the way we'd hoped they'd go and we had high expectations, and they are crushed when they are not met.
Speaker 1:We may have times when we're thinking, you know, like the preacher in Ecclesiastics was looking at our lives when he explained was looking at our lives when he explained Vanity in vanities, all is vanity. The preacher of Ecclesiastic went on to say that all things that are done on earth is like chasing after the wind. You'll find that in Ecclesiastics 1.14. This is more like if you put it in comparison to today's society. It's like a dog chasing his tail. You know you're never going to catch it.
Speaker 1:We feel like we're going around in circles and we're not getting anywhere. For all of our effort and for all of our time, we are not getting anywhere. Our effort and for all of our time, we are not getting anywhere. We try to make more money, only to never have enough saved. We are trying to improve our talents, only not to receive a probation. We're trying to upgrade our possessions only to have more headaches and more things break. We become dismayed in life and wonder what is the point. And you're probably asking what the point is right now.
Speaker 1:See, with great reservation, simon Peter says that because of Jesus' request, he will go let down his nets one more time. Request he will go let down his nets one more time. He knows it won't do any good, but I will do it because this is what Jesus is asking. Peter had absolutely no expectations here except failure. I'm only doing this because you say so, jesus, but when I pull these nets back up, I'm going to tell you that I told you so. Not really, he told you so, type thing. You wouldn't do that with Jesus. Has anyone you know said this to Jesus? I don't think so. When you hear from the Lord, you know that. You know that. You know based on the word of God. See, things change when you put Jesus into the conversation. Change when you put Jesus into the conversation, when you put Jesus into your circumstances and when you put Jesus into whatever it is that you're trying to achieve.
Speaker 1:One final time, peter and his met let down their nets. Suddenly they felt a pull like they had never felt before in those nets. The pull on the nets was so great that the nets began to tear. They signalled for others in boats to come over and to help them to get the nets in. And with all of these fish, with all of these extra men, they began to pull up the nets. But there are so many fish in the net that the two boats are filled to capacity and start to sink. I would imagine if you had a camera and you were to pan to Jesus in this event, you'd probably see the slightest little smirk on his face.
Speaker 1:I'm only just ad-libbing here, but you'd think that Simon Peter is about to say I told you so. Sorry, rabbi, but there's nothing here. But Jesus knew all along that there would be something there. The unimaginable has just taken place. Simon Peter and his crew have worked hard, fishing all night long and did not catch one fish, have worked hard fishing all night long and did not catch one fish. But here in the middle of the day, jesus tells them to go out and they immediately catch two boatloads of fish. I do not suppose these fishermen have ever seen that many fish caught in their nets to the capacity where they would in their nets, to the capacity where they would fill two boats to the point of sinking.
Speaker 1:Now this is the point that I'm trying to make how different things can be in life when Jesus is on the boat with you. Now let's just say that again how different things can be in life when Jesus is on the boat with you, how dramatic the results can be when Jesus is with you on your journey. It would be useful to recount to you all the times we have seen God answer our prayers for spiritual and physical needs. We've been written off by the doctors, given only months to live. I've seen doctors shake their heads, unable to explain why a recovery took place. And I have seen lives changed from discouragement and disappointment and futility to purposeful, energized lives with Jesus. With Jesus, the possible becomes possible. Peter believed trying again was a waste of time. Why should this time be different than that of the last times? It will be different because Jesus is with you. It says in Matthew 19, 26,. All things are possible with God. You see, simon Peter sees what is happening and falls at Jesus' feet.
Speaker 1:Peter and all those with him were astounded and amazed at the catch of fish they took. He says we cannot simply visualise that these fishermen caught some fish that they were unable to catch the night before. It's not like they were just all in the wrong spots and just never caught any fish, because these guys are professionals. But to have such a miraculous haul of fish, it could only be one governing factor, and that factor is Jesus. When you put him into the mix, everything changes. But see, that's only part of the amazement. The majority of the utter amazement comes from the quantity of the fish that came up in the nets and also the variety of fish. So if you study this aspect of the Book of Luke more in depth, you'll find out that they talk about the types of fish. The haul that he had and all this sort of things were unimaginable by other people. No one has ever seen anything like that before. James and John are also amazed at what has taken place.
Speaker 1:Peter, while on his knees, says Go away from me because I am a sinful man. Lord, peter now sees his inferiority and he recognizes that he is in the presence of the power of God. But all Peter can say is that he does not deserve to be around someone like Jesus. But Jesus responds in kind, saying for it was time to become fishers of men and they were to bring their boats back to the land and Peter and his men leave everything and start following Jesus. Why would you not? After experiencing something like that and seeing the huge crowds that are following him, the impossible become possible. The hall became a huge hall and the people that were needed were five times more than would normally be used for a normal fishing day.
Speaker 1:On one occasion, matthew 22 through to 32, the disciples are in the boat on that same lake, trying to row against the wind to reach the shore. On the other side, jesus walks out on the water to them and the disciples are afraid, believing they are seeing a ghost. Jesus tells the disciples to not fear, for it is him. And this is where Peter, being aware of what he saw manifest with the fish, says to Jesus that if it is truly you to command me to come to Jesus on the water. And Jesus says come. And Peter walks on the water towards Jesus.
Speaker 1:But when Peter saw the wind and the waves around him, he became afraid and began to seek Jesus, reached out his hand and saved him from sinking, declaring you of little faith. Why did you doubt? But Jesus does not send Peter home because of his failure, but he tells Peter to try again. See, we need to be doing the same thing. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, as long as our focus is on him, he will always be there for us. It says in the word that he'll never leave you nor forsake you, but keep your eyes on the Lord. Don't look at your circumstances around you, don't let your focus come off of him and focus on your needs or your problems or your concerns, because we can't do any of these things in our own strength. We need Jesus. So that was the difference between them going out and fishing on their own and then having Jesus with them, and they were doing their fishing.
Speaker 1:Let me just explain this a different way. In Mark 8, 31 to 33, jesus explains to his disciples that he must suffer many things be rejected, killed and rise again. Three days later, peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. And begins to rebuke him. But Jesus rebukes Peter, saying get behind me, satan, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. But rather than send Peter away for yet another failure, jesus says to try again. That's what grace is, for Jesus is always saying to us to try again If first we do not succeed. Try, try again. Because if we know that Jesus will not leave us and we see time and time again where he does this because there's another occasion when Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times. Before the rooster crows, twice Peter boldly declared that even if he must die with Jesus, he will never disown him, and that's in Mark 14, 29, 31. However, as we know, on the night of Jesus' arrest, in a matter of a couple of hours, peter denied Jesus three times, and on the third denial, jesus turned and looked straight at Peter. But rather than disown Peter, though, peter disowned himself and disowned Jesus. Jesus continued to say let's try again. Continue to say, let's try again. Jesus is there for you, and if you fall and you get up and you try again, and if you fall again, you get up and you try again, the Lord is always there waiting for you. And so, as many times as you fail, jesus is basically saying try again. How can we learn from what happens in our life unless we actually fail every now and again? But Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to him except through the Father.
Speaker 1:In John 21, we read about the disciples going out to fish all night and catching nothing. Earlier in the morning, jesus is on the shore Through the disciples, did not recognize him and calls out to the disciples to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. Now, logically, this makes no sense. Why would the disciples catch fish any better on one side than the other? But they did. They were able to haul in the nets and become the largest catch they'd ever seen. Only then did they realize it was the Lord. But Jesus does not scratch his head, wondering if he has taught these disciples anything. He continues to tell them to try again.
Speaker 1:Even later, in Galatians 2.11-16,. This is after the death and resurrection of Jesus Peter is caught in hypocrisy concerning the Gentiles. Peter would remove himself from the Gentiles for the fear of the circumcision group. Paul had to rebuke Peter for his actions, and yet Peter was not asking to throw in the towel. Peter did not have to stop being an apostle or a disciple, he just had to try again.
Speaker 1:You see, there's a theme here. It's very obvious that it doesn't matter how many times, how many chances we have. We are all like this, as we allow Peter. You know he did not believe Jesus about letting down the nets. Why would you, if you've already been there? Because he has a lack of faith. Being right, standing with God is always trusting him. We have to make sure that we always do that and it's never too late to try again. Never, ever is it too late to try again. Never, ever is it too like to try again.
Speaker 1:To those who have already been immersed in water for the forgiveness of sin, allow me to make a few remarks to you. We can be discouraged by our failure in our walk with God. Just like Peter, we come up short of what we know we ought to be doing in our lives. We may be hypocritical in our lives, showing up for services but not for devotionals, not really trusting Jesus during the week, but we do on the weekend. During the week, but we do on the weekend. We have not put in the effort to know God's will. We may not be praying the way we should be praying, we may not be living our earthly responsibilities properly and we may be only attending to the Lord on the weekend, but it's not too late to start over, to start over in such a way that you can change the way that we are doing things. Jesus is always encouraging us to try again, like Peter. You may be asking wonder what is the point? Try again, but this time with Jesus in the boat. We try again, this time trusting Jesus. We try again, this time trusting Jesus. We try again, this time obeying Christ's word. We try again, this time letting Christ lead your life. Quit trying to do things by yourself. Put an end to the feeling of futility and frustration and emptiness by letting Jesus lead your life.
Speaker 1:You know, the preacher in Ecclesiastics tried all the things that are available in this world. Here is his conclusion. This is what he said. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Hear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of a man. That's Ecclesiastics 12.13. 12, 13. Life without God is vanity and like chasing the wind. But following Jesus fills our void and makes us complete, as long as we put him first and foremost in everything we say and everything we do.
Speaker 1:And I know people say they haven't got enough time and it's like applying for a job and you're one of 10, you know not contestants, you're one of 10 applicants, right, and you go in there and you do it all on your own merits. You've got your resume and all this sort of stuff and everything else, and you don't get the job. So then you decide to pray about it and all of a sudden, for some reason, the person who did get the job over you had to leave for personal matters and the job become vacant again, and so they re-interviewed you. But before you went in for that interview, you spent just five minutes in prayer, asking God to watch over you and allow you to have favour in that meeting. And you go in there, and I've even heard it myself when your potential employer gets there and he goes. I don't know what it is, but there's other people that are more qualified and more suited to this job. But there's something about you that makes me want to give the job to you. That's having Jesus in your heart. So, whether you're going out fishing, whether you're actually going for a job interview, whether you're actually starting a new business, going to a new school, you name it Whatever decision you need to make right now to change your life's circumstances and it may be in relation to healing, it may be in relation to your finances, it may be in relation to one of your family members.
Speaker 1:All you need to do is to make sure that you intercede for them and you pray for them. But every time you leave your front door, you say, okay, lord, it's you and me. We're out there and, line upon line, precept upon precept, the Lord is always with you, guiding you and giving you direction. But you need to ask him to be with you and you need to make sure that you have got the full armour of body of Christ on you to protect you against the wiles of the devil, because they will come and they will try and take you down. But Jesus, and that's what you need to do. It's always but Jesus.
Speaker 1:And then, when it comes to a circumstance where you're looking at a job or looking to get a loan or something like this, just make sure you say, okay, what would Jesus do here?
Speaker 1:And the first thing that he wants is for you to have fellowship with him. The vine is in the branch and the branches are in the vine. The vine is in the branch and the branches are in the vine. We are, and should be, always intertwined with our Heavenly Father, because you know, if he is for you, no one can be against you. You know he is there to watch over you, guide you, give you wisdom and knowledge and understanding. So in everything you say and everything you do, you make sure that you spend time with the Lord first and he will watch over you and he will get you through difficult times, whether those are difficult financial times, whether they're difficulties in relation to your family, your wages, your health. Whatever the circumstances, make sure you include Jesus in your life. Thanks for living in the Great Vine Ministries and we'll catch you next time when we talk a little bit more about the Book of Luke. Okay, bye for now.
