Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The sermon text is from Luke 5: When Simon Peter saw the miraculous catch of fish, 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 catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him. So far the text.
Today we find Jesus preaching by the Sea of Galilee with the crowds pressed around Him so tightly, He climbed into Peter and Andrew’s fishing boat and preached to the crowd from the boat. Peter, Andrew, James and John were professional fisherman – like Alan Crocker without the radio show.
My guess is Peter wasn’t thrilled to hear Jesus say, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets.” Peter was a pro. He was just cleaning his nets after having fished all night. He knew about fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and he thought Jesus was wasting his time. But Peter and Andrew obediently oared out to deeper water and let down their nets. Our text tells us, “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.”
Peter’s reaction to the miraculous catch was immediate. While Andrew struggled desperately with the huge catch – screaming and waving for other boats to come and help before the nets burst or the boat sank, Peter fell at Jesus’ feet saying, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Peter had an epiphany. He finally realized – Jesus was God in the flesh, and being in God’s presence, there’s only one thing to do – get on your knees and cry out: “God forgive me I’m a poor, miserable sinner… I’m a sinful man!”
That’s how it should be when sinners stand in the presence of God’s holiness. Notice, in our Old Testament lesson in Isaiah’s heavenly vision, he fell and cried out: “Woe to me! I am ruined! A man of unclean lips… among a people of unclean lips… and my eyes have seen the King.”
These verses are a good picture of Christian worship. The love that binds us together as brothers and sisters in Christ is precious and important, but true Christian worship is first and most importantly an encounter with God. That’s why I always teach the confirmation kids the first thing we do when we get settled in church is bow our heads and pray. There are some good “prayer starters” in the hymnal to help focus our hearts on the God who comes to us here in His Word and Sacraments. The Holy Spirit binds us to Christ in worship – and then fed and forgiven in Christ’s body and blood we are bound to each other by Spirit-given cords of love and forgiveness. Notice Paul says our mutual gifts are to be used to build one another up – to build God’s Church, which Jesus bought with His blood. As we’re bound to Jesus by God’s grace, we’re bound to each other, mutually dependent members of the same body.
If Lutherans and our worship practices are strange or unfamiliar from what one expects, (I would suggest Lutheran worship is counter-cultural.) it’s because our worship practices are shaped by Scripture, not by focus groups or marketers. What happens in this place isn’t entertainment or self-help or affirming our “authentic selves”, ala, Oprah. Our worship, our Divine Service, is a sacred encounter, and, like Peter, our sins drive us to our knees before God’s holiness.
That’s why our Old Testament lesson became part of our liturgy in what we call the Sanctus, because we know when we gather around the Lord’s Supper, we, like Isaiah, are coming into God’s presence – or better He is coming to us. In Word and Sacrament God descends to dwell with us in grace, and so we join the angels’ song from Isaiah 6: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God Almighty!” God is here with His grace. And like Peter, our services begin from bended knee, crying out for God’s forgiveness to the One who promised: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” How sad and un-Scriptural that it’s become something of a fashion in 21st century churches to downplay our sin. Luther wisely pointed out he didn’t want to know Jesus in any other way than as a poor, sinful beggar, because St. Paul wrote: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the worst.”
Our worship is about humbly coming before the God who gives into our lips the very body and blood of Christ as we gather at His altar. And God’s Words of forgiveness and life lift us from our knees. The Psalmist wrote: “The Lord turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a Rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” What’s affirmed here isn’t my in-born goodness, but God’s goodness for lifting me out of my muddy, mess of sin. Thank you, Jesus.
If you’ve never stopped to think about it, realize that in the Divine Service we encounter God. This isn’t a pep rally or a self-help seminar. It’s not like a trip to the dentist you go to praying it ends quickly. This is the beauty of our Lutheran understanding of worship. What’s significant about what we’re doing here isn’t what we’re doing for God – as if we’re doing God a favor by holding down our pew. What’s important here is what He’s doing for us, giving Himself into our ears and lips so that we may live. “I have not come to be served,” Jesus said, “but to serve; and to give My life as a ransom for many.” Yes, our worship and praise of God is part of our lives of discipleship, but it’s a response to God’s work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit as He lifts us, like Peter, from our knees and sends us out as His forgiven children.
Forgiven and fed by the Holy Spirit in this Divine Service, we are sent out into our vocations, but we are not alone. Jesus is in the boat. Like Peter, you and I may sometimes think we’re really at the helm, but, be assured, He is in control. You can fish all night without Him and accomplish nothing, but in God’s perfect time and by His grace, He opens His hand and provides miraculously and abundantly. And now that Peter has an epiphany and knows who Jesus is – our Lord commissions Peter to be a “fisher of men.” Now Peter has a special God-given task to proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus.
So it is with you. A few minutes ago, you and I were like Peter groveling in the dirt of our sinful filth, but, to quote Psalm 103, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us.” In God’s stead and by His command, you were washed, lifted up and restored. And you also have a mission – a holy calling or vocation. You are a fisher of men in the special place God has given you to let down your net – your home, your work, family, neighborhood, community. You have a mission, a vocation to serve God and speak for Him as God gives you opportunity to confess the hope within you. 1 Peter 3 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that you have.”
You’ve been born again. In your Baptism, through faith you have an unbreakable promise from the Living God, and God wants you to go fishing! God wants to use you and me to extend and enlarge His family the Church. 1 Peter 2 says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of the darkness into the marvelous light.”
In the places God puts us, strengthens, and sustains us in this life, He desires to work through us to catch souls for salvation through faith in Jesus. Notice when Peter went fishing in our text, he had nothing to do with producing the results. God doesn’t ask you to win a harvest of souls for salvation. You have no power over your family members or neighbors. He simply calls us to be faithful, to faithfully speak His message of Judgment and Grace, inviting others to come with us to hear God’s Word. Luther wrote: “It is our comfort that Christ through our preaching will lead His own into the boat.”
God’s Word and His Church don’t have to be sold or marketed. That isn’t to say we can’t do such a miserable, careless job of sharing the Gospel we get in the way, but when we speak God’s truth, the Holy Spirit will bring His fruit in His time. St. Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.” Isaiah 55 says, “[God’s] Word will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which He sent it.”
Dr. Luther wrote: Consider Peter paddling out into the deep water to let down his nets. The sea and deep water stands for the world. The fish are people. The net is the pure Gospel of Christ, and the boat is the Church. When God’s people, His pastors and His holy priesthood, proclaim His Word, we are letting down the nets into this world. Without God’s blessing we can fish through the evening of our lives with no success, but by God’s will and strength the nets, which are the pure Gospel of Jesus, will catch many fish. Even though the nets seem ready to break, they remain firm. So it is with the Gospel, attacked on every side, yet God uses our feeble efforts, weak hands and wills, and produces His own harvest of salvation.
The words with which Jesus sends Peter are especially comforting for us: “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” Don’t be afraid to speak the hope that’s in you. Don’t be afraid to let down the nets of the Gospel of Jesus and know that in His time God’s will is done. He only calls us to speak truthfully and faithfully the Good News.
God gathers. He freely gathered you and me into the boat of His Church through the net of His pure Gospel. It’s His free gift to us through faith in Christ the Savior. Fish don’t deserve credit for being caught, but thanks be to God who leads us out of the murky depths of this world into the nets of His Gospel Good News of salvation in Jesus. In His Name. Amen.
And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.