Luke 5:1-11

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Luke 5:1-11 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who 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 from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began 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 full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 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.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

I have to preach on this this Sunday. It is all a bit short notice but these are my thoughts thus far:

There are a number of different focuses possible here:

1) The authority of Jesus:
- people crowd around him listening to him teach
-Peters recognition of his authority, lending him his boat to preach to the crowd to and even putting out to fish again after an unproductive night on the lake
- Results demonstrate his authority, there is such a large catch of fish it almost breaks the nets and sinks the boats
- even though they had just landed the biggest catch of their lives they were prepared to give up their chosen vocation and give up everything and follow Jesus. If he could in a single moment transform what they had worked at for so long they were right to realise that following him was much more important than anything this job could yield them in the future.

2) Character of Simon Peter
-Hard worker- Fishing was arduous manual labour. They had fished all night but the job was still not done as they also had to wash the nets to prepare for the next attempt. It seems that they were probably full of weeds and debris rather than any fish. They cleaned them while listening to what Jesus had to say. The contrast between being in the presence of Jesus and doing their jobs was still strong in their minds when they tried again and received a miraculous catch for their faith in the man. So it was not just the catch that led them to give up everything but listening to Jesus before that while cleaning their nets.
- Willing to trust Jesus with his boat so he could teach the crowd
- Willing to trust Jesus and go fishing again even though he was tired from working all night and had caught nothing in all his efforts
- He felt a sinful man in Jesus presence and one who was not worthy of his favour
-Already work partners with other fisherman in same area of Sea of Galilee – sons of Zebedee – James and John, Andrew was also mentioned in other accounts
- Jesus spoke to Simon but when he called him , James and John also followed.

3) Evangelism style
- Jesus embedded himself into the fishermans context. He did evangelism to call them to it as their new vocation. These were probably illiterate men yet he made the calling something they could readily understand
- Jesus theatrically uses their fishing boat as his pulpit. Converting the tools of their existing trade into the tool of their future vocation.
- They sit and listen to Jesus talk while working and it probably helped to pass the time and may have lifted them out of their current circumstances to a greater vision of what was possible. He did not stop them working to speak to them he spoke to them in their workplace in the public realm. There was no public - private sphere separation here.
- Was accompanied by a demonstration of miraculous power
- this was not the first time that they had met (John 1:35-42; Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20). So is evangelism and calling something characterized by an event like this incident, or it a process populated by significant moments like this?

Not sure how to focus this. Could bring in idea of how we are called to serve Christ and how he reached us, our own experiences of evangelists , of what worked and what did not. Seeker friendly evangelism often means being positive (there is no judgment in this positive act of calling), contextual, it is embedded in real peoples lives using the language and symbols they would be used to.

Bad Evangelism examples would include an incident on a train when 2 men confronted me and told me in no uncertain terms I was a sinner who needed to repent though they could not specify what my sin was ( I had not just beaten up some old lady or something). Despite my protestations that I was aware of my sinful state and had already repented they continued to hound me saying no you must pray a prayer of repentance with us here and now. If I had not already been a Christian would have been put off by these guys.
 
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redleghunter

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Bad Evangelism examples would include an incident on a train when 2 men confronted me and told me in no uncertain terms I was a sinner who needed to repent though they could not specify what my sin was ( I had not just beaten up some old lady or something). Despite my protestations that I was aware of my sinful state and had already repented they continued to hound me saying no you must pray a prayer of repentance with us here and now. If I had not already been a Christian would have been put off by these guys.
Yikes! I remember those days riding the subway and buses in New York.
 
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mindlight

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Yikes! I remember those days riding the subway and buses in New York.

Better these guys than a gunman or a pick pocket. I have even done this myself picking strangers at random for Jesus conversations. It was very hit and miss but 1 in 3 would gain a conversation of some sort. I just wonder how effective this kind of random activity is compared to what Jesus did. The way he structured his invitation to his first disciples showed theatrical style, spoke their language, embedded itself more deeply in their minds and hearts than anything else in their lives. To the point in fact that they were ready to leave everything behind and follow Him towards an uncertain future that would result in 3 of these 4 disciples martyrdoms. All except John in fact. Of course the ability to perform miracles like this catch of fish would help. Not sure how you would structure that on the New York Subway though!
 
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I just wonder how effective this kind of random activity is compared to what Jesus did. The way he structured his invitation to his first disciples showed theatrical style, spoke their language, embedded itself more deeply in their minds and hearts than anything else in their lives.
Not sure tactics and techniques were His style...
John 5:19 (NASB) Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
 
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