The Real Meaning of Discipleship, Part 2 | An Ancient Picture of Discipleship

Luke 5:1-11

Simon is in the commercial fishing business. He’s in partnership, along with the sons of Zebedee, James and John. They own boats, they’ve got all the gear, they’ve got the tackle, they’ve got huge fishing nets, they’ve even got some hired men to help with the labor. And think about this, when you picture these boats, don’t imagine one of those little dinghies and rowboats that you saw on the flannel graph in Sunday school, this is not a little rowboat. These are big fishing vessels. These are sturdy ships; they’re large, they’ve got a deck on top, they’ve got a hold underneath.

The boat is large enough to transport Jesus and all twelve of his disciples across the lake and back again, they traversed the Sea of Galilee. It was strong enough to endure fierce storms that battered them on that sea. So don’t think little, think pretty big, you might even picture in your mind’s eye one of those fishing vessels like you see on TV, like the ones they use up in the Pacific Northwest for those, for those fishing shows, Greatest Catch or something like that, you know, where they’re all about to die and then they catch big fish: That thing. Except this: Instead of using mechanical cranes and winches to deploy and retract the heavy nets, you know what they use? Men, men with big huge arms, burly guys, strong backs.

So when you think of Peter, James, and John, think about big dudes, these guys are playing linebacker for the Denver Broncos, that’s the kind of guys you need to think about. These nets were heavy, they needed that strength. The nets had floats on the top edge, but they were weighted at the bottom edge, and that caused the nets, when they were deployed, to extend vertically into the water. And that allowed them to, basically, put up a wall inside the sea, and the fish as a school would swim into that wall and get caught.

A boat might work alone, drawing a full net of fish into the boat or even dragging that net into shore. Or you might have two boats, probably like Peter, and James and John did; they probably worked together, working in tandem. They’d extend the nets between the two boats, and then they’d maneuver the boats to encircle the trapped fish, to close them in, gather all those fish into the boats. Fishermen generally, in the Sea of Galilee, did their work in the dark hours of the morning when the surface temperature cooled. The fish came close to the shore, and close to the surface to feed. Men let down the nets to the bottom and just scooped fish up.

But with the dawn, the sun came up, temperatures started to rise in the shallow water, and the fish returned to deeper waters during the day, where it was far more difficult to catch them. No fish sonars back then, no GPS in your boat, fishermen didn’t know where the fish were. That’s the trick, I hear, to know where they fish are. They still don’t, right? Even aided by that modern technology, people are banging on their. I’ve seen it. They bang on the GPS, this thing ain’t working! The sonar thing, that… frustrated!

So these guys always would try to do what fishermen do, improve their chances of catching fish, knowing where they are. So they fished at night. Morning, then, was spent getting fish to market, cleaning all the muck, and the gunk, and the goop out of their nets, mending any holes, and getting everything ready for the next night of fishing. That was the plan on this particular morning. Until Jesus said, in the morning, “Put out to the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” These men are tired. I’d imagine a bit frustrated after a night of hard, hard work in catching no fish. They’re not fishing here as a hobby, and the last thing they want to do is to go out again. Clean nets, Peter, clean nets!

You can’t see it in our English translation, but in the Greek it’s very clear that Jesus spoke directly to Peter when he said, “Put out into the deep.” Peter’s at the helm, he’s steering the vessel, he’s one of the principal owners in this enterprise, and so he’s the captain of the boat. And Jesus wants Peter to steer the boat into the deep. Okay. But then Jesus commands, “Let down your nets for a catch.” That command is not in the singular, it’s in the plural. Jesus is commanding here, not just Peter but Peter’s crew. He’d just taken over captaincy of the ship, as if he owned it! He is giving the orders now. He tells Simon to steer the boat to deep waters and he tells the hired crew, let the nets down, get ready for a catch.

Look what he says in verse 5, “Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.'” In a way, you’ve got to credit Peter here, he’s kind of come up with a compromise. He says, We, collectively. Look at all of us on this boat, we’re tired, we toiled all night. Lord, Peter says to the Master, then he says, “I will let down the nets.” Not we, I will. He and his men have endured a long night of fruitless labor, they’re tired, they’re exhausted, they’re probably discouraged.

Peter’s a good man, he’s a hard worker, he’s a good boss, he didn’t want his men to suffer any more disappointment, adding insult to injury, especially from what seems to be the rather silly ambition of catching fish like this. I mean, what does a carpenter know about fishing? So Peter says, you want us to let down the nets, look, because it’s you, Master, that’s a term of respect and authority, by the way, master. The word master, epistata, it refers to the one in charge, like on a job site, like the one who’s running the crew. This is the boss, this is the sup, the jefe, head honcho, so he says, at your word, boss man, I’ll take care of this myself. I will let down the nets.

Clearly, he didn’t want to do it either. He didn’t think they were going to find fish, in fact, he knew they aren’t going to find fish. He’s probably wondering already how he’s going to reel all those nets back in by himself, I mean, he’ll cast them in, but he’s going to need some help to bring them back. And then he’s thinking about getting back to land and the unhappy prospect of spending the rest of the day washing the nets yet again once they returned to shore.

It’s a mark of virtue, here, that Peter planned to take one for the team. But his crew jumped in to help here. They deployed the nets. Look what happened, verse 6, “When they had done this, they enclosed,” as you know, “a large number of fish.” Huh, how about that? There are fish out here! So much so that their nets were breaking and so much so that they had to signal their partners in the other boat that’s on the shore to come and help. And they came and filled both the boats so that they begin to sink.

But get this, it’s one thing for us non-fishermen to hear about this, but it’s another thing for fishermen to hear this. This is a targeted miracle. This is an orchestrated miracle. Think about this, when Peter complained, “Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing.” You can almost imagine a wry smile forming on Jesus’ face, like I know. Heh, heh, heh. It was no accident! He gave them a frustrating night of fishing on purpose.

Folks, you ever seen something frustrating in your own life and you wonder, why? God’s got a reason. Here, Jesus is getting them ready for this miracle, a miracle that only fishermen could understand and fully appreciate. Fishermen know what it’s like to have a bad night and what it’s like to have a great night. I mean, not many people here in Colorado are making their living off of fishing. And so to have a bad night of fishing for these men meant no food on the table.

They also knew what it was like to have a really good night of fishing. They knew what it was like to have a great night of fishing. These guys had never seen anything like this, not ever! And they would never have a day like this again of fishing. No doubt some of the men were making plans for the next day; they’re throwing out a buoy, they want to mark that spot. They’re going to come out at the same time, same location, try the same spot the next morning. Maybe they needed to reconsider the profitability of deep-water fishing for themselves, right, get into a whole different trade. No doubt that this miracle here made a mark on the hired men.

But the real impact, where Jesus was aiming, is at his disciples and their hearts, particularly the profound effect it had on Peter, because this penetrated him deeply. Look at verse 8, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.”

Everyone was astonished at the catch of fish, but it went deeper for Simon Peter. Jesus had seen through the deep waters, through the murky depths, all the way to where the fish were, and he’d seen into the depths of Peter’s murky soul. Peter is stricken, here, he’s flayed open. He’s mortified. He couldn’t stand to have Jesus near him at this particular moment. Why? Why did Simon Peter react this way? In what way had he sinned? By working? Certainly not. Hadn’t he, in effect, obeyed Jesus’ command? Hadn’t he let down the nets at his command? Didn’t he ultimately done what Jesus said?

Listen, we all need to understand along with Peter that if he’s Lord at all, he is Lord of all. There is no place on earth, there is no place in the universe that is outside of his dominion, that is not under the absolute authority of his sovereign control. He is sovereign over all, and that includes our minds and our hearts as well, beloved. That includes our, our thought-life, that includes the things we imagine, that includes our plans and ambitions, that includes God’s design for our homes, for our marriage, for our parenting.

You know what? It includes God’s direction for how we work in the world, and when we take a break from work, to pay attention, to be devoted to the Lord’s Word on his day. It controls how we work for our employers and how we will not work for our employers. It controls how we treat our employees, and how we will never treat our employees. He has command of it all. He has command of every single detail. And when you embrace that, then you know that the good news of the Kingdom of God has come to you, too.

Look, can he take care of your financial needs if you devote time to him? Well, he could direct a whole acre of fish into the nets of these fishermen, can he not take care of you and your needs as well, “O ye of little faith”? We all need to hear that, don’t we?

There’s still a more fundamental reason Simon Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” It’s subtle, but it’s clear. Simon had called Jesus, Master, boss man, jefe, head honcho, big cheese. But now Peter is seeing him in quite a different light. Now he calls him Lord and it was tearing him apart inside. As one commentator noted, “it’s the master whose orders must be obeyed, but it is the Lord whose holiness causes moral agony to the sinner” or in the terms that R. C. Sproul used, this is called the “trauma of holiness.”

Some people have noticed the parallels that exist between the commissioning of Peter and the commissioning of Isaiah. If you would, turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah, chapter 6, Isaiah chapter 6. Like Peter, Isaiah also encountered the presence of holiness, and it traumatized him to the core of his being. It says there in Isaiah 6:1-5, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

In this incredible scene of glory, of unparalleled majesty before the very throne of God, and it feels like a place where no mortal should ever dare to tread, and here’s Isaiah chucked into the middle of it, thrust into the room, watching these seraphim, literally, the term means burning ones, and they’re flying about with energy. But in the appropriate creaturely recognition of their creatureliness, they’re covering their eyes, and they’re covering their feet in the presence of a holy God.

And one calls to another, it says there, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! And” the thresholds, “the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.”

Isaiah’s senses here are overloaded, his body is quaking along with the foundations. His mind is reverberating with the, the dreadful refrain of that voice, “Holy, holy, holy.” His heart, here, is virtually turned to wax, melting within him as he says, “Woe is me! For I’m undone! I’m a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

He’s coming apart here, in the very presence of the holiness of God. He, here, comes to a terrifying realization that he stands before this awesome holiness as a sinner from the land of sinners unable to speak along with that angelic testimony, “Holy, holy, holy,” because he doesn’t dare utter those words from his unclean lips. It’s devastatingly clear to him that he does not belong here. Yet what did God do? Restored him.

Folks, that’s what Simon Peter was realizing at this very moment on his own fishing vessel, bowed at the knees of Jesus. Go ahead and turn back to Luke 5. He’s there in Luke 5:8, bowing on his knees, and he says, “Depart from me,” Your holiness doesn’t belong anywhere near me, it’s not appropriate, “I’m a sinful man, O Lord.” What does the Lord do? Yeah, you’re right, Peter, grovel, wiggle like a worm on the deck.

He’s so good. Just as he did with Isaiah, purifying him and commissioning him for service, Jesus does the same thing here with Peter. He reassures him. He issues the call to discipleship, I should say he reissues it. Like all true disciples, Simon had to learn here the real meaning of discipleship, he had to listen whenever Jesus teaches, he had to do whatever Jesus says.

The third point, the real meaning of discipleship, third point, he had to learn to follow wherever Jesus leads. Look at verse 10, “Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.'” Do not be afraid, that’s the reassurance. You will now be catching men from now on, that’s the commissioning, the repurposing of Simon’s entire life. The entire direction of his life just changed. Leave the fish behind.

In fact, the term here for catching men, it specifically refers to catching them alive, and then after capturing them, it refers to repurposing them to be used for a different purpose, used for a different end. The word used, it was often used of capturing men in battle, and instead of killing them, it was about sparing their lives, not letting them rot in prison, but actually re-educating them, putting them into a different use.

It’s not unlike what Nebuchadnezzar tried to do and accomplish with Daniel. He captured him alive, he took him to Babylon, he had hoped to indoctrinate him in the learning of the Chaldeans, to put him to use for the good of the kingdom of Babylon, and that’s what, in fact, happened. That’s what Jesus intended to use Peter for, as well. In fact, it’s what he had just done. He captured him alive, and he repurposed him. This carpenter from Nazareth had proved to be very effective at fishing for men, hadn’t he?

He’s an expert fisherman, turns out, not just with fish, though. He was fishing for men, and he intended to use Peter in the same way. Notice here, Jesus didn’t give Peter an option. It’s not, I want to honor your sovereignty, Peter, over your life. Um, I, I realize you kind of have an Arminian bend toward theology, and I need to honor your sovereign will. So I wouldn’t want to impose myself on you. No. Jesus doesn’t say that. He doesn’t say, would you like to join me in capturing men? Would you like to consider this in your set of options? Fish on the lake, have a great life, or join me in capturing people? No, it’s “from now on,” not you might be but “you will be capturing men.” Wonder of all wonders that he would choose people like us, right?

Jesus is saying here, Peter, though you are a sinful man, you are my prize, I’ve captured you in this battle. A prize for the victory of the war that I will soon win. And as my trophy, you are my chosen instrument, I’m reeducating you, I’m indoctrinating you into my teaching, I’m bringing you close, discipling you in my ways. I want you to understand my mind, my thinking. No longer do I call you slaves, now I call you a friend. I’m redirecting your entire life, I’m repurposing you to have real effect to extend my work of capturing souls for the kingdom, to win people, to win all of those whom God has given to me.

What else is there? Is there a better use of your life but to follow wherever Jesus leads? Take a look at verse 11, “When they had brought their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.” Even though Jesus addressed Peter directly, in the singular, the other disciples joined him in this call to discipleship. It’s very likely that they remembered that earlier call. They were all stricken, but when Jesus said, “Follow me,” they had, like Peter they had failed to do so completely. They had done so immediately, but not wholly, not fully, not forever.

So arriving at the shore, they docked the boats, tied off, walked away. No indication here that they unloaded the fish. No indication that they took this large catch to market and said, hey, I’ve got a great idea, we can fund this whole enterprise, we just sell these fish. We can live high, stay in the Ritz, go out, preach the Gospel, and come back and have a great hotel room; you know those nice, fluffy towels, awesome. A little steam bath?

No, nothing. No indication that they watched, washed their nets again. No indication that they mended their torn nets, helped out with any of the many tasks that needed to be done. They just clearly had no intention of fishing the next day. They left it all behind. They followed Jesus. They finally got the message, right?

 Discipleship means listening whenever Jesus teaches. It means doing whatever Jesus says. It means following wherever he leads. They needed to learn that, again and again. We need to understand that as well. Listen whenever Jesus teaches, do whatever Jesus says. Follow wherever he leads. Will you do that today?