Rev. Bill Seybert
An Invitation into Deeper Water
Luke 5:1-11; Isaiah 6:1-8
Feb. 4, 1007
NRSV LUKE 5:1-11 A VISION OF GOD ON THE
Once while Jesus a was
standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to
hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake;
the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got
into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a
little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the
boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the
deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master,
we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I
will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many
fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 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. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that
they had taken; 10 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.” 11 When they had brought their boats to
shore, they left everything and followed him.
NRSV ISAIAH 6:1-8 A VISION OF GOD IN THE
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the
temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with
two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with
two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is
full of his glory.”
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who
called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am
lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts!”
6 Then one of the
seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with
a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that
this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted
out.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
AN INVITATION INTO DEEPER WATER
Luke 5:1-11; Isaiah 6:1-8
INTRODUCTION: If we ask Simon
Peter to reflect on this morning’s gospel reading he might say, “Oh yes, I
remember it well. That was the day that he called us to become his fulltime
followers. He came along the lakeshore early that morning. A large crowd was
following him. He caught Andrew, James, and John and me cleaning our nets.
After fishing all night and catching nothing, we were exhausted. Jesus stopped
beside our boats as though he wanted to speak to us, but the people pressed in
on him, asking one question after another about God. I was puzzled when he
boarded my boat and requested that I put out from shore a little ways. But then
when he sat down and began to teach the people it made sense. It was the only
way he could speak to the whole crowd and not just the few who crowed around
him. My boat served the same purpose
for him as your pulpit does for you. Tired as I was, I became engrossed
in his teaching.
When he finished teaching he surprised me by saying, "Let's go out into deeper water and catch some fish." I told him that we had fished all night and caught nothing; that it would do us no good to try again, especially in the middle of the day. But if he says so, we'll give it a try.
Well,
you all know about that amazing, net-bursting, boat-sinking catch we made that
day. But let me tell all of you, that
that amazing catch of fish was nothing compared to what I felt in my heart and
saw in the eyes of the rabbi that morning! For an instant I thought I saw God in
person, and I was terrified! I'd been taught that no one had ever seen God and
lived to tell about it. Not even Moses. For
an instant I felt as though I was standing before the mirror of truthfulness
with every moment of my life revealed, every secret thought, all the good
little things I had done for wrong little reasons, the way I was living every
second for me and me alone. I stood
before the strange beauty of God's holiness that day “naked and ashamed”.
I fell at his knees and cried, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
But he didn't go away. And I know now that he never will go away.
You see there are at least two ways to be terrified of God. Either you can be terrified of God because God is so harsh and cruel that you dare not slip up for fear of punishment. Or God may be so wonderfully loving that you despair of all the ways you have betrayed that love with your own way of life. When we experience this true light of God's love, it penetrates our facade. That morning Simon Peter experienced the latter. There is an enormous chasm between God's ways and our ways and God in Christ reaches across that chasm and takes us to himself. God is not a cold mirror of judgment, but a living God of Grace.
God touched the lips of young Isaiah with the hot coals of his love
and made him a prophet. Isaiah's cry, "Woe is me! I am Lost"-
was wrong. He was not lost, he was found! Jesus called Simon to become Peter
the disciple, promising to teach him how to catch more than fish. Refusing to
leave this sinful man, he forgave him again and again. (Even when Peter denied
him three times in the courtyard of the high priest, he forgave him.) Jesus showed us that once the living God
gets a hold on you he doesn't let you go.
Like Simon and his partners most of us
find ourselves fishing all night and catching nothing but anxiety. We spend the
bulk of our time and energy working for material gain leaving precious little
time and energy for spiritual development and service.
I. When it comes to
following Jesus most of us are willing to put out from shore a little ways,
listen to, and even become engrossed in his teachings.
I wonder what Jesus taught the crowd that morning. Did he
point out to the crowd that it is God who feeds the birds of the air with out their sowing or reaping? Did he ask
the rhetorical question, Can you by worrying add one single hour to your life span? Did he have them consider how
the lilies of the field are clothed
without toiling or spinning? And then remind them that even Solomon with all his wealth could not dress as eloquently as
one of these? And did he go on to tell them they were of much more value than
the birds and lilies? And therefore not
to worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we
drink?" or "What will we wear?" And that it is the faithless ones that spend the bulk of
their time and energy striving for all these things? But if they strive first for the
Most of us are willing to put out from shore a little and become
engrossed in his teachings during our appointed hours of worship.
II. But it is those who put
out into deeper water just because "'he says so” that make the amazing
catches.
The amazing catch that day was Simon and
his partners. Jesus showed Peter that he could glimpse the
holiness of God in person and find redeeming love instead of rejection and
punishment. He discovered that after
spending all his time and energy using his most polished skills only to come up
empty, God could more than provide, by creating something from the nothingness
he felt. (I can remember writing all day and half the night on a sermon and while
typing the final sentence the computer crashed. (Car
This
story is somewhat similar to the story of Jesus turning the Water into Wine at
the wedding in
III.
Those who put out into deeper water at his word and experience amazing catches
are leaving everything and following him.
1. Let me define “deeper water” and give some examples. Deeper water is doing anything the Lord invites us to do that we do not think will work, just because he says so. He knows better than we, what we need for spiritual growth and development. He may ask us to love an unpopular person at the risk of being criticized. He may call us to a vocation that requires us to get more education than we think we need. (My call and Chris' insistence on my education.) He might want us to try once more that one thing we failed to accomplish. He may be saying, “Don’t go where you shouldn’t go”. We may be being called to speak the truth in love or to point out destructive behavior without being judgmental. In other words he may be saying to face that conflict we have been avoiding. It just might be appropriate in our current situation to admit we are wrong and ask for forgiveness or even make amends, etc. Doing these things, just because he says so, is putting out into deeper water. But it is here that we will discover that “Amazing Grace" in action.
2.
Let me say what we mean by, “leaving
everything and following him”. It means discovering and presenting our
current set of values to the Master and asking him to change them according to
his will. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we have access to the mind of
Christ. It does not necessarily mean leaving your vocation, home, family, and
friends, but it does mean to stop letting them control your life. Jesus told
the Geresene Demoniac, "Go home to
your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy
he has shown you." Most of the early disciples became disciplined
learners in local congregations. They simply gave him first priority on their
lives and allowed him to use them where they lived. (My grandmother) Peter
and his partners got an invitation into deeper waters and witnessed the amazing
grace of God and responded by leaving everything and following him.
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Do that thing he wants you to do
even if you think you know better. You will be amazed at the catch and you might even discover that you want to go deeper.
Peter’s life story has certainly attracted and caught countless human
beings. No net could hold them all without breaking. No fleet could carry them
without sinking.
A short time ago you ordained and installed
new elders. Shortly you will be accepting the leadership of an interim pastor.
You will be searching for a new pastor in the near future. This time of new leadership is certainly
an invitation into deeper water for many in this congregation and possibly for
the congregation as a whole. Every time we break bread and drink cup
observing the Lord’s supper, Christ is saying to us, "Don't be afraid, put
out into deeper water and let down your nets for a catch. Who knows, you just
might discover the beautiful holiness of God in Christ and want to 'leave
everything and follow him"'.
AMEN.