Who Does Jesus Call? And For What Purpose?

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Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verse 43 through chapter 5, verse 13,

Luke 4:43

chapter 5, verses 18 through 20, and verses 27 through 32 as printed in your liturgy.

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

But he said,

I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God in other towns also, because that is why I was sent.

And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

One day, as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,

the people were 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.

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, I'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.

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.

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.

Then Jesus said to Simon,

Don't be afraid.

From now on, you will fish for people.

So they pulled their boats up on shore,

left everything, and followed him.

While Jesus was in one of the towns,

a man came along who was covered with leprosy.

When he saw Jesus,

he fell with his face to the ground

and begged him,

Lord, if you are willing,

you can make me clean.

Jesus reached out his hand

and touched the man.

I am willing, he said.

Be clean.

And immediately the leprosy left him.

Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat

and tried to take him into the house

to lay him before Jesus.

When they could not find a way to do this

because of the crowd,

they went up on the roof

and lowered him on his mat

through the tiles into the middle of the crowd

right in front of Jesus.

So when Jesus saw their faith,

he said,

Friend, your sins are forgiven.

After this,

Jesus went out

and saw a tax collector

by the name of Levi

sitting at his tax booth.

Follow me, Jesus said to him.

And Levi got up,

left everything,

and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet

for Jesus at his house,

and a large crowd of tax collectors

and others were eating with them.

But the Pharisees

and the teachers of the law

who belonged to their sect

complained to his disciples,

Why do you eat and drink

with tax collectors and sinners?

Jesus answered them,

It is not the healthy

who need a doctor,

but the sick.

I have not come to call the righteous,

but sinners to repentance.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Good morning, Christ Church.

Is it warm enough in here?

We turn the heat up a little bit.

You good?

All right.

We are,

we've been looking at the gospel of Luke,

and we're here in the early days

of the ministry of Jesus,

and we're looking at

some of the ways that Jesus calls

his first disciples to come

and follow him

and to begin to participate

in his mission.

And Peter is,

you know,

the main person

we're going to be talking about

this morning.

And Peter is a guy who,

he met Jesus the way

that most people do,

which is that

someone invited him.

You know,

someone brought him to Jesus.

Peter would have never

encountered Jesus

had he not been brought

by another person.

We would have never

heard of Peter

unless his brother Andrew

had met Jesus

and begun to follow Jesus.

And the very first thing

that his brother Andrew does

is he says,

I'm going to go get Peter.

And he gets Peter

and he says,

hey,

we found,

we found the Messiah.

We found the Christ.

You've got to come

meet Jesus.

And so that's kind of

where our story

picks up.

Peter has,

he's a guy who's,

he's met

Jesus,

but he's never

really experienced

the power of Jesus.

Peter,

he's met Jesus,

but he's not yet

a follower

who surrendered himself

to Jesus.

He's not yet a disciple

or an apprentice

who submitted himself

to Jesus.

And so we notice

in the story

that Jesus intentionally

seeks Peter out.

He deliberately steps

into not just

any old boat,

but into Peter's boat.

And why did he get

into Peter's boat?

Well,

on one level,

you know,

the crowds are pressing in

and Jesus figures

he can more effectively

preach the word of God

and about the kingdom of God

to all these people

better from the boat.

But on another level,

why does he choose

to get into Peter's boat?

And I believe

that this moment,

like pretty much

every moment

in the ministry

and the life of Jesus,

it's not random.

Right?

It happens carefully

and prayerfully

because it's something

Jesus planned to do.

And the reason

Jesus steps

into Peter's boat

is that

Jesus is fishing

for people.

Right?

Jesus wants to catch

people

and he's fishing

for this particular

fisherman

named Peter.

He sees this man

who's not yet

a disciple

and he wants

to catch him.

He wants to gather him

into his net.

And how does Jesus

do that?

Well,

it says in verse 2

that he saw

the water's edge

two boats

left there by the fishermen

who were washing their nets

and he got into

one of the boats

the one belonging

to Simon Peter

and he asked him

to put out

a little bit

from shore.

So Jesus just

initiates

this simple

relationship,

this simple

conversation.

Much like he did

with that woman

at the well

in Samaria.

He just said,

hey, I'm thirsty.

Can you give me

a drink?

You can imagine

this conversation

where Jesus

has asked

Peter for help

and says,

hey, Peter,

I know you're

doing your job.

I know you're

washing your nets.

I know that we barely

even know each other

but would you mind

helping me out?

Would it be okay

if I use your stuff?

Would you mind

if I borrow your boat?

You mind pushing out

a little bit

from shore?

And Jesus

just simply begins

to share his life

with Peter

and asks Peter

to share his life

with him.

And Jesus

puts himself

interestingly

in this non-religious

space

with this not-yet-disciple

Peter

and he steps

into Peter's world

and he gets on

Peter's calendar

and he gets involved

in Peter's life

and he asks Peter

for help

and he shares

Peter's stuff

and what happens

as a result

when Jesus

just shares his life

is amazing.

And that's

what we're going

to look at

in the next few minutes

this incredible

scene

of Jesus

and Peter's boat.

And I want to look

at it together

under three headings.

I want to think

together about

the challenge

of Jesus

and the transforming

grace of Jesus

and then the mission

of Jesus.

Okay?

So the challenge

of Jesus

the transforming

grace of Jesus

and the mission

of Jesus.

So first of all

let's think together

about the challenge

of Jesus

that Peter gets.

Peter

finds himself

involved

in Jesus' work

by letting him

use his boat

and now Jesus

begins to involve

himself in Peter's work

by showing Peter

how to fish.

And it says

in verse 4

when Jesus

had finished speaking

he said to Simon

Peter

put out into deep water

and let down the nets

for a catch.

Now you need to know

that that is

terrible fishing advice.

Peter is tired.

He's frustrated.

He's been fishing

all night long.

He's caught

nothing

and he must

have had

some sort

of visceral

reaction

to Jesus'

words

but you can

kind of tell

he's trying

to hold it

together

and be

respectful

and diplomatic

so Peter

says to Jesus

in verse 5

Master

we've worked

hard all night

and haven't

caught

anything.

You see

Jesus

is not a fisherman.

Jesus

is a

tectone.

He's a builder.

He's a stonemason

and he's

just a preacher.

What does he know?

But Peter

spent his whole life

fishing these waters.

Peter

like his father

before him

and his grandfather

before him

he knows

how to fish

and he's made

a really good

living

at fishing

and Peter

knows

that Jesus

is giving him

bad advice.

Jesus

is asking him

to do something

that's against

his own instincts

and his own

experience

and Jesus

knows this too.

Jesus

knows

what a high

challenge

this is going

to be

for Peter.

Jesus

actually knows

right?

He knows

that the

optimal time

to go fishing

is at night

when the waters

have cooled down

and the fish

have come up

to the surface

in the shallows

and they can't

see in the dark

and you trap

them in your nets

that's how

you're supposed

to fish.

And Jesus

also knows

that the most

absurd time

to go

would be right

now

when the sun

has come up

and the waters

heated up

and the fish

have gone

deeper

Jesus knows

that this seems

like terrible

advice

and that

in the eyes

of others

Peter is going

to look

absolutely

ridiculous

and absurd.

And by the way

this is how

pretty much

most of the

Christian life

works.

Jesus

says hey

I want you

to trust me

to go against

conventional wisdom.

Jesus says

hey I want you

to do things

that viewed

from the

outside

are going

to look

stupid.

Stuff like

being sacrificial

with your power.

Being self-giving

with your time.

Things like

being generous

with your money

and disciplined

with your sexuality.

Things like

having integrity

at work

and being faithful

even when it

hurts.

Jesus tells us

try it my way.

Try it my way.

And that's

exactly what he's

saying to Peter.

Try it my way.

Now how does

Peter respond

to Jesus

challenge to

trust him?

Well it's

incredible.

He says in

verse 5

Master we

worked hard

all night

we haven't

caught anything

but because

you say so

I will let

down the

nets.

Other

translations say

but at

your word.

And Peter

he's not

thinking hey

this is going

to work out

for me.

He's not

thinking you

know this

yeah this

seems like a

really good

use of my

time.

He's not

thinking you

know what

I'm going

to get out

of this

is a really

good story

and it's

really going

to help

my reputation.

No he

just says

because you

say so.

Because you

are trustworthy

I'm going

to trust you.

the first

step of

following Jesus

as a

disciple

begins for

Peter by

just hearing

the word

of God

and then

stepping out

in faith

on that

word as

if it's

wiser

than

Peter's

wisdom.

And it's

a critical

moment for

Peter right?

It's a

fateful

decision.

The reason

we know

Peter at

all is

because he

responds

because you

say so

at your

word

and he

just acts

on the

word that

he gets

from the

Lord.

And it

says in

verse 6

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.

And what

that tells

us is that

it's good

to trust

Jesus.

It's good

to obey

Jesus.

This is

the biggest

catch of

their lives.

It's a

massive

haul of

fish.

It's the

most success

they've ever

had in

their careers.

Their nets

are breaking.

Their boats

are sinking.

And they're

thinking to

themselves,

they must be

thinking to

themselves,

where did

Jesus get

this power

and this

authority?

How does

Jesus know

better than

Peter how

Peter's life

is supposed

to go?

And how

is Jesus

able to

give us a

more abundant

and more

fruitful life

if we would

just trust

him and

surrender to

him and

submit to

him?

And look

at how

Peter responds

in verse

eight.

When Simon

Peter saw

this, he

fell at

Jesus'

knees and

said,

go away

from me

Lord,

I am a

sinful man.

this moment

that we

see, you

know,

throughout the

scriptures,

the prophet

Isaiah,

when he

encounters the

presence and

the power of

God, when he

comes and he

sees the glory

of God, that

God is holy,

holy, holy as

the Lord God

Almighty who

was, who is,

and who is to

come.

What does the

prophet Isaiah

say?

He says,

woe to me,

I am ruined,

for I am a

man of unclean

lips and I live

among a people

of unclean

lips.

He says,

go away from

me Lord,

I am a

sinful man.

When the

Lord speaks

to Job

out of the

storm,

what does

Job say?

How does

Job respond?

He says,

I despise

myself and

I repent

in dust and

ashes.

Peter has

just experienced

the wisdom

and the power

and the

authority of

the eternal

son of God

and he says,

go away from

me Lord.

I'm not

worthy to be

near you.

I'm not

worthy to

even be

anywhere close

to the

vicinity of

your holiness

because I

am sinful.

I'm a

sinner full

of sin.

And this

is how you

know that

you've begun

a real

relationship

with the

real Jesus.

It's that

you see

power and

holiness in

him and

therefore you

see weakness

and sinfulness

in yourself.

You realize

when you get

into the

presence of

Jesus'

beauty how

spiritually and

morally ugly

you are and

how curved in

on yourself

you've actually

become.

You realize in

the presence of

Jesus'

truth how

fraudulent and

false and

phony and

self-centered and

self-serving you

actually are.

You realize in

the presence of

Jesus'

goodness how

even your

best attempts

to love are

just deeply

flawed and

compromised

with self-interest.

You realize in

the presence of

Jesus'

sovereignty and

his supremacy

how small and

how puny you

are.

And you realize

in the presence

of his holiness

and his

righteousness just

how full of

sin you really

are.

That there's

this vast

difference between

you and

Jesus.

And that

radically begins

to deconstruct

yourself.

It begins to

deconstruct your

identity, your

foundation, your

core of who

you thought you

were.

Seeing Jesus for

who he really

is causes you to

see yourself for

who you really

are and it fills

you with this

sense that I'm

more flawed, I

am more sinful

than I ever

dared to believe.

And you have

this fresh

awareness of

your own poverty,

your own

unworthiness, your

own humility

before the Lord.

And you say,

you know what,

I have, actually,

I have nothing to

offer God.

I am poor in

spirit, I am

utterly bankrupt

before God.

You see, many

people are like

Peter, they have

some familiarity

with Jesus, they've

come into contact

with Jesus, maybe

they've even listened

a little bit to

Jesus, and perhaps

even they've let

Jesus use their

stuff, but they're

not yet a humbled

and surrendered

follower.

Many people, they've

only experienced

the invitation of

Jesus, but they've

not yet stepped

into this challenge

of Jesus, they've

not yet taken a

step to trust in

Jesus, they've not

yet taken that

risk of looking

foolish and

ridiculous and

absurd in response

to Jesus.

They've not yet

surrendered and

submitted themselves

to Jesus and

therefore have not

really experienced

the wisdom and

the power and

the authority of

Jesus or the

sinfulness and

self-centeredness of

their own hearts.

And maybe that's

you today.

Maybe you're at

that critical moment,

maybe you're at

that fateful decision

where Peter was,

where Jesus is just

waiting for you to

say to him,

because you say

so, at your word.

And I wonder what

might be keeping

you from just

quietly, even just

silently in your

heart today, just

saying to Jesus,

you know, because

you say so, I'm

going to try to

trust in you.

That's the

challenge of

Jesus.

But I also want to

think together about

the transforming

grace of Jesus.

Let's talk about the

transforming grace of

Jesus.

Look at verse

10.

It says,

then Jesus said to

Simon,

don't be afraid,

from now on you

will fish for

people.

So they pulled

their boats up on

shore, left

everything, and

followed him.

And what I want to

do for a moment is

just I want to

explore those five

words, from now on

you will.

Okay?

Five words, from

now on you will.

If you want to

underline those, you

can.

And you've got to

pay close attention

and just follow me

because it's going to

take me a minute to

unpack these five

words.

But God's grace in

Jesus Christ is this

unconditioned and

incongruous gift.

We talked about this

last week.

It does not match the

worth of its

recipients and it's

unlimited by our

sinfulness, right?

Peter confesses, I

am sinful.

I am full of sin.

He acknowledges, I

have no claim to

status or favor with

God.

He recognizes the

incongruity, right,

between how

poor and how

unworthy he is and

how good and

gracious and how

powerful and holy

the Lord is.

And

nevertheless, God's

grace is given

freely to Peter.

It's given without

prior conditions to

Peter.

It's given without

regard to Peter's

worth or his

capacity.

And this is

incredibly good news

if you're a sinful

person like Peter or

like me.

It's just really good

news that God and

his grace works like

this.

But it's so very easy

to misunderstand the

grace of God because

many people will say,

ah, because the grace

of God is free, it must

be cheap.

Right?

Because the grace of

God is free, it must be

cheap.

And it must not cost God

very much to offer it if

it's free and it must not

cost me very much to

receive it if it's free.

And because this is such

a widely held

misunderstanding and

creating so much

dysfunction in the

lives of individual

Christians and in

collective Christian

communities, I just want

to go a little deeper

here.

Because the grace of God

is free, it must be

cheap.

But you know, when we

look at God's side,

when we look at the

incarnation and the

crucifixion, when we look

at God's side, God's

grace is anything but

cheap.

Right?

It costs God very much

to give His grace to

Peter and to us.

Right?

God the Father gave His

only and beloved Son.

Jesus had to empty

Himself of all of His

heavenly glory and

riches to come to

earth.

He had to empty

Himself of all of His

status and His

privileges of eternity

to step into time and

take on human flesh.

But we really see the

cost of God's grace

most clearly in the

crucifixion where Christ

crucified is at the

center of this gospel of

grace because it shows

us how much it costs

God to deal with our

sin.

The Apostle Paul summarizes

it this way in one of

the greatest verses of

the Bible.

He says in 2 Corinthians

5.21, God made Him who

knew no sin or had no

sin to be sin for us so

that in Him we might

become the righteousness

of God.

That's the cost of grace

is that the one who had

no sin had to become sin

for us.

The crucifixion is the

price tag for how much

it costs, how much free

grace actually costs God.

But what about on our

side?

Does grace cost us

anything?

Does it cost us anything

to receive God's free

grace?

And I want to show that

Peter demonstrates to us

that yes, God's grace

coming into our lives

costs us actually

everything.

If you look at verse 10

again it says, Jesus

says to Peter, don't be

afraid, from now on you

will fish for people.

So they pulled their

boats on shore, left

everything, and followed

Him.

You guys still with me a

little bit?

Am I?

Okay.

I know I'm going up a

little bit.

But what happens when

sinful Peter experiences

the grace of God in

Jesus Christ?

Jesus says to him,

Peter, from now on you

will.

The grace of God is a

watershed before and

after event in our lives

where we hear these

words, from now on you

will.

Right?

From now on you, Peter,

are no longer your own.

From now on you no longer

belong to yourself anymore.

anymore.

From now on you are not

your own master, you have

a new master.

From now on you're no

longer in control of your

life.

From now on you do not get

to decide what doctrines are

true and what you're going

to believe.

From now on you don't get

to pick and choose what

ethics are right and how

you're going to live.

From now on you're no

longer the Lord of your

life because why?

Jesus is Lord.

That's the message of the

whole New Testament is

that Jesus is the Lord

and we're not.

Yes, God freely welcomes

us and he includes us as

we are but his free grace

does not allow us to

remain as we are.

And if Peter were here

today he would tell you

Jesus did not allow me to

stay as I was.

That would be cheap grace

and that you receive

God's grace and after

that anything goes and

you can just live as you

please.

But the grace of God,

what I'm trying to say is

that the grace of God is

free but it's not cheap.

The grace of God is both

free and as we can see

with Peter it's demanding.

The grace of God is both

liberating and as we can

see with Peter it's

transforming.

Cheap grace is grace

without expectations.

Cheap grace is grace

without obligations of

response.

But how does Peter respond?

He pulled his boat up on

shore, left everything and

followed him.

God's grace in Jesus Christ

is so transforming that

Peter leaves his old life

behind to begin a new life

as a surrendered apprentice,

a submitted disciple of

Jesus.

God's grace in Jesus Christ

is so transforming that

Peter leaves behind the

biggest catch of his life,

all the enormous profits

that would accrue to him

as a result of taking it

to market.

He leaves behind piles of

cash, all the wealth that

would have given him to

feed his family for an

entire year.

God's grace in Jesus Christ

is so transforming that

Peter leaves all of that

behind to go and follow

Jesus in this new identity

in this new mission that

Jesus has for him.

It's not cheap grace.

It's costly grace.

It literally costs Peter a

lot of money.

The grace of God is given

freely in that it's given

without prior conditions.

It's given without regard to

worth, the capacity.

It's given to people who say,

I am a sinful man.

But that does not mean that

God's grace comes without

expectations of return, with

no hope for a response, with

no strings attached.

God's grace carries strong

expectations because it's a

costly grace.

It's a transforming grace.

When the Apostle Paul writes

his greatest letter, the

letter to the Romans, he

spends 11 chapters unpacking

what grace means.

And then when you get to

chapter 12, he says,

therefore, I urge you,

brothers and sisters, in

view of God's mercy, in view

of his grace, to offer your

bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to God, just

as Peter's doing here.

This is your true and proper

worship.

He says, do not conform to the

pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of

your mind.

Jesus says, from now on, you

will.

And it's a word of costly

grace.

God's grace in Jesus Christ

causes such a fundamental

reconfiguration and remolding of

the self that it recreates in us

a whole new set of values, new

dispositions, new habits, new

practices, new purposes, as the

inevitable and the necessary

expression of God's grace in our

lives.

Does any of that make sense?

So, if you're going to become a

disciple of Jesus, you've got to

not only respond to the invitation

of Jesus, but also there's the

challenge of Jesus.

And then if you respond to the

challenge of Jesus, there's this

transforming grace of Jesus, right?

You can't stay as you were.

But then finally, I want you to just

see for a minute the mission of

Jesus.

The mission of Jesus.

Here is Peter and he's eyeball to

eyeball with this person who he now

realizes is a person of incredible

wisdom and power and authority.

That Jesus has absolute control over

nature.

That he's sovereign over every square

inch of space, every molecule of

matter, every nanosecond of time.

And what does the sovereign Lord say

to sinful Peter?

He says in verse 10, from now on you

will what?

Fish for people.

From now on you're going to fish for

people.

Peter, I have a future for you.

I want you to be my partner.

I want you to join in what I'm doing.

I want you to participate in my

mission.

Peter, just as you've been fishing for

fish, and just as I've been fishing

for you, Peter, from now on you're going

to join me in fishing for people and

catching people.

And that's what God's free but costly

grace does to us.

It sends us out into the world to serve

others.

It sends us to no longer live for

ourselves but to live for a greater

and bigger cause, the greatest mission

that's ever been conceived in this

world, the mission of Jesus.

And Luke chapter 5 gives us these four

Luke 5 · chapter mention

amazing examples of Jesus catching

people.

First of all, he catches Peter.

And then he goes and catches a leper and

a paralytic and a tax collector.

Each of these deserves a sermon.

I'm going to give them each about a minute.

You ready?

First of all, the leper.

This man has debilitating skin disease.

He's a social outcast.

He's not allowed to live in town.

He's not allowed to have a job.

He's not allowed to go to worship.

And because of these things, this man is

economically poor.

He's relationally and emotionally isolated.

He's spiritually cursed.

And Jesus is bringing Peter along and he's

showing Peter, okay, let me show you how to

catch people like this.

This is how you fish for a man like this.

And it says that Jesus reaches out his

hand and he touches the leper.

Like, when's the last time this guy's been

touched?

You don't touch lepers.

And Jesus could have easily healed this man

without touching him at all.

But Jesus knows that he needs to be brought back

into community.

He needs to be shown a compassion that nobody's

ever shown him.

He needs not just to be cleansed.

He needs to be loved and accepted in the way that his

heart is longing for.

And he shows Peter, if you want to reach people,

you've got to reach out and touch them.

And then secondly, we get not only this leper, but we

get this paralytic who has these amazing friends and

they go to great lengths.

They go way out of their way to just get people to

Jesus.

And we know in the other Gospels that the house that

they bring this man to and they tear the roof off of,

it's actually Peter's house.

And I'm sure Peter's, like, not super jazzed about his

roof.

I mean, I just, that's a total bummer.

And he gets, they get the man down to Jesus.

And what does Jesus say to this paralyzed man?

He says, friend, your sins are forgiven.

And everybody's looking around at Jesus going like, hey,

that's not what they came for.

He's paralyzed.

And Jesus says, friends, your sins are forgiven.

He's saying, look, you've come to me with a certain problem

that you think needs to be solved.

But what I want to tell you is that you have a much deeper

problem.

You've got two paralyzing diseases, not just one.

And Jesus is showing Peter that when you go fish for people,

when you go to catch people, don't just look for the

paralysis of their body or their life.

Look for the paralysis of their soul.

Jesus says to this man, there are sins between you and God.

You're not right with God.

And what you most need, your fundamental problem,

the disease that's most destroying you is that you need

your sins to be forgiven.

And Peter, when you go fish for people, when you go catch for

people, that is people's most fundamental need.

They need to experience the forgiveness of God.

And Jesus takes Peter fishing not only for this leper and for

this paralytic to put that man back in a right relationship with

God, but he also goes fishing for this tax collector, this guy

who's the worst.

Levi, he's been collaborating with the Roman occupying power.

He's been oppressing and extorting his fellow Jews.

He's been making egregious spiritual, moral, and relational

compromises.

Tax collectors were just the most deeply resented and wildly

unpopular people.

They were traitors.

They were thieves.

They were the most hated group of social outcasts.

And Jesus says to Peter, let's go fishing.

Let's go catch.

Let's go catch somebody else.

Jesus is showing Peter that fishing for people and catching

people means deliberately going after those people who are out on the

margins, intentionally pursuing people who've been written off as too far

from God, going after people that have been dismissed as they're never

going to become part of the family of God or the kingdom of God.

And Jesus says, Peter, it's all about touching people that you're not

supposed to touch.

It's all about helping people experience forgiveness who have deep spiritual

problems.

It's all about eating and drinking like your family with people that don't

belong at a table.

That's what fishing for people is all about.

That's what it means to be part of my mission.

He says, I have not come to call people who think that they are healthy and who

think that they are righteous and who think that they do not need a doctor and

they do not need a healer.

He says, no, I've come to call people who know themselves to be sick sinners in need

of repentance.

And friends, if the free but costly grace of God has come into your life, I think the

question for us today is, are we willing to just begin to follow Jesus and join Him in

His fishing ministry as He wants to fish for people?

Just as Peter caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break and their

boats began to sink.

Over these past 2,000 years, Jesus has caught so many people in His nets and so many people

in His boat.

And I believe He doesn't just want to do that like back then, a long time ago, but He

wants to do it now.

He doesn't want to do it in other parts of the world.

He wants to do it here.

And I think that Jesus is saying to us in 2025, hey, Christ Church, let me show you how to

fish for people.

If you'll just put out in some deep water and let down your nets for a catch and do something

that maybe is uncomfortable for you, I can do it.

And so the question is whether or not we're going to trust Jesus.

The question is whether or not we're going to respond like Peter and just say, you know

what, Jesus?

That sounds good.

Because you say so.

I'm going to try it your way.

May God give us that amazing faith that Peter had that changed his life forever, changed the

world forever.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

Amen.

Amen.