Launch Out Into The Deep Lk 5:1-11
I don’t think you need to be Einstein to realize that these are significant times for the church.
I believe that God is calling us just as he did Simon Peter (Lk 5:4) to “launch out into the deep with Him”. The potential for us as His church is phenomenal.
It seems to me that Simon Peter was totally unaware of what he was about to experience. Yet he entered into all that God had planned for him because he made the right responses. I believe that the same is true for us. All we need to do is learn from Simon Peter’s example and be sure that we too make the right responses.
Firstly we need to ensure our priorities are right. In Lk 5:1-11 this passage we find Simon Peter still working having labored all night and caught nothing. He’s washing his nets in preparation for the next nights fishing. Undoubtedly he’s tired, perhaps he’s disappointed and concerned because of the lack of a catch. Yet with all this going on he’s ready and willing to serve the Lord when requested. God is looking for people today who will deny themselves and answer His call to serve.
As Simon Peter responds to Jesus’ request “to put out a little from the land” he takes the first step towards seeing a miracle that will totally change his life without him even realizing it. He does this because God has already done something in his heart and he’s ready and willing to deny himself to serve the Lord. I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is are we ready to deny ourselves and serve the Lord? (Matt 16:24)
God is calling us to launch out into the deep. Now is the time to take action. In doing that we need to recognize and deal with the potential barriers to us fulfilling all God has planned for us. That’s where we can learn from Simon Peter’s example. It’s clear from this account that God’s requests don’t always come at the most convenient times and would not always seem the sensible thing to do. At these times we need to watch out for the “buts”.
What was it Simon Peter said when Jesus asked him to launch out into the deep?
“BUT Lord we have toiled all night long and caught nothing” (Lk 5:5) Buts can hinder us progressing and stop us seeing the miracles that God intends for us.
I want us to look at three Buts that are intimated in this passage and could have stopped Simon Peter seeing the miracle.
The first is experience.
Peter is in danger here of telling the Lord that his experience means that he knows better. BUT “Lord we have toiled all night long and caught nothing”. He’s saying there’s no point in fishing now. How often can we be guilty of that? Thinking we know better.
Both negative and positive experiences from the past can hold us back, they can cause us to be fearful of stepping out again or we can be caught up living in past glories.
As Moses struck the rock the second time in the wilderness, when God had told him to speak to it, his experience stopped him from entering the Promised Land. His experience told him he knew how to do this so he struck the rock rather than speaking to it. (Num 20:11-12) We need to be careful that we don’t allow our experiences to do the same.
The second But is tiredness.
“… Master, we have toiled all night…” in other words Give me a break Lord we have worked all night and I’m tired, all I want to do is finish washing my nets and get home to bed. Tiredness can cause us to miss out on the blessing and stop us entering into all that God has for us. There have been so many times when I have been glad that I have not allowed the way I feel to stop me doing what I know God wants. Because having done it, like Simon Peter, I have found blessing in it. Have you noticed it’s always those times when you feel just too tired to go to the meeting, it’s in those meetings when God really moves. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Isa 40:31 tells us
‘But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.’ (NKJ)
When we feel tired we need to run to the Lord not stay away from Him.
The third BUT we need to watch out for is
"Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing” disappointment can stop us entering into all God has for us (disappointment works by trying to convince us that things from our past should affect the present). Someone once told me it’s no good living in the past you can’t change it and it’s no good worrying about the future as we are not there yet. God gives us grace sufficient for each day. How true that is. Yet so many Christians seem to get caught up living in one or the other. Past disappointments constantly drag them down and stop them moving out into all God has for them now.
Paul writes in Phil 3:13
‘Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’ (NAU)
Finally there is only one But that really matters and Simon Peter gets there eventually and that’s “But because it’s you who says so, Lord I will”. We would all do well to remember his example and Mary’s instructions to the servants at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2:5) "Whatever He says to you, do it." (NAU)
God is calling us to launch out into the deep. We need to remember who it is who is speaking to us and who we are called to serve and like Simon Peter:
a. Hear God speaking to us (Heb 5:11)
b. Trust what He tells us (John 2:5)
c. Submit to Him in it (James 4:7)
d. Take action on what He commands
You will be astonished by God’s response. God wants to bless us that we might bless those around us. Not just the Christians. Do not be afraid from now on you will catch men.
Article Date: 1st May 2006 |
