Sermon
Title: The Miraculous Catch of Peter’s Heart
Scripture
Reading: Joel 2:12-17
Introduction
The
sermon title this morning is “The Miraculous Catch of Peter’s Heart.”
What do I want you to know this morning?
What should you walk away with?
Jesus’ objective was not to tear nets
with fish, but to tear Peter’s heart with self-revealing truth.
Jesus filled the net with fish until it started
to tear. However, the story is not about a miraculous catch of fish. The story
is about Jesus filling Peter’s heart with truth about who He (Jesus) was,
beginning a tear in Peter’s heart.
Jesus shows us who the Father is.
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is
at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). “He is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15).
God is an unseen spirit (John 4:24). God does
not have flesh and blood. The Father sent Christ as an exact, tangible and
visible representation of Himself. Therefore, as we observe the attributes of
Jesus, we learn more about the Father. Jesus’ purpose is to lead us into a
loving, obedient, intimate, submissive, trusting and joyful relationship with
the Father as He reveals to us who the Father is (John 14:6).
The
Setting (Luke 5:1-3)
The norm would have been to fish at night.
During the day, the fishermen would clean and repair their nets from the
previous night and prepare their equipment for the next evening’s work.
Also, these were not small boats and small
nets. If this were an average fishing boat, it would have been twenty to thirty
feet long.2
Jesus’
Command (Luke 5:4-5)
Note the irony. Here is a carpenter’s son and
itinerant preacher telling professional fishermen how to fish. Conditions were
certainly not right for fishing, as Peter notes. Not only is it still daylight,
but the fishermen would’ve been exhausted and potentially exasperated from
“coming up empty” the night before.
What can
we learn from this? The circumstances and timing seldom
feel right to trust and obey God’s Word. If God wanted you to wait until next Monday, the beginning of the month, after
the holidays, your next birthday, or the New Year, you would have heard Truth
next Sunday, the last day of the month, after the holidays, just before your
birthday or right before the New Year. Right timing for obedience is dictated
by when you learn the truth, not convenient circumstances.
Here we see why Jesus chose Peter to lead the
twelve. Regardless of the circumstances, Peter’s
resolve was to obey God’s Word. Peter heard the truth and showed his
trust through obedience.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you
forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will
be in you” (John 14:15-17).
The
Miraculous Catch and Peter’s Response (Luke 5:6-9)
Let us not forget, this is not the first
interaction Peter has had with Jesus (Luke 4:38-41). Through Christ, the Father
has been gracious to reveal Himself to Peter in the following ways:
·
Omnipotent in healing his
mother-in-law and casting out demons
·
The source of truth in hearing Him
teach
·
Omniscient in knowing exactly where
the fish were
·
Merciful and compassionate in
healing his mother-in-law and redeeming a lost night of work
·
Goodness, kindness, and patience
was revealed to Peter. Before Peter realized his condition, Christ already knew
Peter was a sinful man, but was good to Peter. Christ’s goodness to Peter is
what awoke Peter to his condition (Romans 2:4).
Most importantly, Peter was beginning to
understand that Jesus was Holy. Peter’s confession is not one of individual
specific transgressions; rather a recognition of his character before the
Divine.4 Jesus was other-than. A larger truth was illustrated in the
miraculous catch: Just as Jesus could see what was
unseen to others below the surface of the water, He could also see what lurked
in the depths of Peter’s heart. Peter felt exposed.
The more Peter observed Jesus the more he was
beginning to realize that Jesus was not merely a healer to be sought or an
astonishing teacher to hear, but Holy. We observe in the text a strong change
in Peter’s vocabulary, which indicates a radical change in Peter’s perspective.
·
Simon referred to Jesus as “Master”
in v. 5. In v. 5 Peter was referring to Jesus as superintendent or overseer
(epistates pronounced e-pe-sta-tas).
·
Simon referred to Jesus as “O Lord”
in v. 8. In v. 8 Peter was referring to Jesus as God. The Greek word “kyrios
pronounced ku-re-os” means “he to whom a person or thing belongs; the owner;
the one who has control of a person; the master; the sovereign.”
As a devout Jew, Peter knew that God alone was to be worshiped (Deuteronomy 6:13), yet he fell down before Jesus in the posture of a worshiper.1
Hence is the pattern for us today. Like Peter
we see the relentless goodness of God towards us. As we become more acquainted
with His attributes and character, we are moved to humility, dependence, and
obedience.
Does
Conviction Draw You Near or Drive You Away? (Luke 5:8-11)
Peter’s initial response was to drive Christ
away, but Jesus was calling Peter near.
It is at the moment we feel the greatest
alienation from God that He is drawing us most near.
Read
John 21:1-8
So, what did we learn this morning?
Jesus’ objective was not to tear nets
with fish, but to tear Peter’s heart with self-revealing truth.
What should we do because of what we
learned?
1)
Prioritize knowing, watching, and keeping
your heart.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a
broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
“For thus says the high and exalted One Who
lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place, and also
with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the
lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2).
Why
a Broken Heart is Esteemed by God as an Excellent Thing3
a)
First, a broken heart is the
handiwork of God. It is a heart of His own preparing for His own service. 3 “God makes my heart soft,
and the Almighty troubles me” (Job 23:16). God bids men to rend their hearts,
not because they can, but to convince them rather, that, it must be so, and
they cannot do it.
b)
Secondly, a broken heart is in the
sight of God an excellent thing, because a broken heart is submissive3 (Luke 5:11). It is easier
to submit when you understand that submitting to God is submitting to the most
joyful and beneficial path your life can take.
2)
Think on God’s goodness towards you. Think on how God has relentlessly
pursued you and has been good to you despite your sinfulness and imperfection.
3)
Renew your mind with truth about the attributes of God.
4)
Understand that you seldom change in the “synagogue”, but in the boat
where it is inconvenient, difficult, and uncertain. Because of #2 & #3 deem
God trustworthy.
5)
I often ask Hannah how we say, “I love you” to God? Obedience.
Fishers
of Men
As Jesus’ mission was evangelism, so is that of
the Church. To be a fisher of people is to be a fish
who is able to relate what it means to be pulled out of dangerous waters
by God’s grace.4
Sources
1)
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New
Testament Commentary: Luke 1-5. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009.
2)
Brock, Darrell. The NIV Application
Commentary: Luke. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.
3)
Bunyan, John. The Acceptable
Sacrifice. Shippensburg, PA: Fresh Bread Publishers, Inc. 2001.
4)
Brock, Darrell. Luke 1:1-9:50.
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994.
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