Text: Lk 5:1-11
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means that you listen to Him and that you serve Him.
I
To follow Jesus is to listen to Him. Jesus performed great miracles. He worked signs and wonders. But why is the multitude pressing in around Him on the shore of Gennesaret? To hear Him. To hear the word of God from the lips of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our teacher and as His followers we are His hearers. We listen to Him and we learn from Him. In our Gospel reading, Jesus also called Simon Peter and James and John to catch men—to be preachers of His word. In our day, we do not stand in front of Jesus on the shores of Gennesaret and listen to Him preach. We hear Him through the preaching of the Apostles—through the New Testament Scriptures, His very word. We hear that word preached by men called by Jesus through the church to preach this word. Through pastors, Jesus Himself preaches to us.
Listening to God’s word, hearing it diligently, taking it to heart, believing it—this our great duty. In the Garden of Eden, God wanted Adam and Eve to listen to Him. He wanted them to keep His command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. After the fall into sin, God still wants us to listen to Him. Indeed, it is even more important that we listen, because it is in His word alone that we will find grace and life. And so it is that God’s great demand of His people in the Old Testament was that they listen. Hear O Israel: (It is written in Deuteronomy chapter 6) The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” And God didn’t want them to listen inattentively. He wanted them to take His words to heart. These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lied down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Such was God’s desire of His people of old, that they listen to Him.
In the New Testament, God’s desire is that we listen to His Son. What does God say to Peter, James, and John on the mount of Transfiguration when the cloud overshadows them? This is My beloved Son: hear Him!
If you’re supposed to follow a friend’s car back to his house but you turn off and take your own way, you’re not following him. You’d be getting lost. If you hired a guide for a hike through the Rockies, and he took you up a pass and told you step over here or jump over that stone there, and you ignored his directions and strayed from the path, you’d probably be in trouble. If we don’t listen to Jesus as He guides us through life, then we’re not following Him but something else and we’ll be in trouble. Often people follow their own passions. Jesus says one thing but we do another because we feel like it. We let the desires of our heart rule our attitudes and actions rather than Jesus’ word. Or if we don’t listen to our hearts, we listen to other people. We follow their advice about how to live, how to act, how to feel, rather than Jesus’ word. Do not do such a thing. Do not stray from Jesus by following your heart or someone else. But hear Him. Listen to Him. Let His word be your source of truth about what to think and feel. Let His word be your guide to teach what you should be doing in your life.
Because His word alone offers you true wisdom. He word alone teaches you what is truly God-pleasing. His word alone is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path through this life. And His word gives you what nothing else can. In His word, Jesus reveals God’s plan for you. He shows you that God is leading you into something far bigger and better than anything your heart or anyone else could come up with. He’s leading you to eternal life that Jesus has gained for you through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Of course you want to hear His word, then! He has the words of eternal life that give you forgiveness, and the Spirit, and peace.
II
What does it mean to follow Jesus? It also means you serve Him. After He taught the multitudes, Jesus told Peter to put his nets for a catch. Then He told Peter, James and John to come and catch men. Jesus told them to serve Him. He also calls us to serve Him and His kingdom in our lives. We call the different duties in our lives our callings, our vocations. As Christians, all of us are called to be hearers of the word, to follow Jesus. But we have particular callings, too. Peter was a fisherman. He worked to provide for himself and his family. Jesus then called him to something else, to be a preacher of the word. God has given us all different callings. To be a husband or wife is a calling. So is being a parent or child, or a worker or someone who employs others. Notice that in both cases for Peter, casting his nets to catch fish, or being called to go fish for men, Jesus is the one who told Peter what to do.
I think it’s obvious to us that the calling of being a pastor is defined by Jesus’ word and that being a pastor is all about serving Jesus in His kingdom. What we sometimes forget is that as Christians, everything we do in life we do in service to the Lord. That’s not how the world approaches life. The world has very definite ideas about our callings and the world’s ideas are always very selfish. You can be a husband or wife as long as it works out well for you, but if you don’t feel fulfilled or are getting bored, well then, divorce your spouse and find someone else. If being a parent is hard work, then just stick your children in daycare and activities all day so you don’t have to deal with them. If you don’t like your boss, then cut corners and be lazy.
But we approach being a parent or spouse or employee or employer as a follower of Jesus. That means doing His will, serving for His glory and the good of those around us, rather than serving ourselves. Because that’s what Jesus teaches us to do in His word. So listen to God’s word. What does His word tell you about being a parent or spouse or worker or employer? Listen to Him, not your heart, not other people.
That is hard because Jesus wants you to be selfless instead of selfish. Following Him forces you to repent. But as His follower, also trust Him. Notice that He blesses Peter in his task. He tells Peter to fish, but He blesses Peter’s fishing abundantly. So too, when we serve Jesus in our callings by listening to His word and living according to His word Jesus blesses us, and He blesses us abundantly. That doesn’t mean He guarantees you riches, or that there’ll never be struggles in life. But when we live according to His word and seek to serve Him and our neighbor in all we do we will find contentment, and joy, and peace in our callings—such as you won’t find if you live selfishly. And that is because when we live according to God’s word, when we follow Jesus in life, we are living as we’re meant to live. And though there’s pain for our sinful flesh in such a life, although it’s not free from struggle, it’s good.
What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means to serve Him and to hear Him. We do that because we trust Him. We know that to be with Him, the one who died for our sins and lives to comfort us, and to follow where He goes is the best path life can possibly take. His is a way of repentance and self-denial, of faith and things unseen, but it is the way to eternal glory, joy, and bliss. It is the way He has prepared for us through His cross. So let us ever walk with Jesus, follow His example pure, through a world that would deceive us and to sin our spirits lure. Onward in his footsteps treading pilgrims here our home above, full of faith and hope and love, let us do the Father’s bidding, Faithful Lord, with me abide, I will follow where you guide.
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.