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Note on sermon preached  18  July 2010 on Luke 5 v 1-11

Everyone who encounters Jesus is on a spiritual journey. The destination that Jesus wants us to reach is a place of complete commitment and surrender to Him. In this passage we see Jesus taking Simon on this journey.

Washing the Nets

At the start of this passage Simon is with the others washing his nets. The ministry of the word of God is going on around him and he probably has half an ear on it, but whilst he is happy to be in the entourage of Jesus and associated with him – he’s not really committed to it. His life is fishing – Jesus is a useful add-on. How many Christians are there like this? God is fine – in his place: but their priorities are elsewhere.

Making Yourself Useful

Jesus has a problem – there are too many people to hear him properly. So his solution is to use one of the boats close by. To Simon’s credit, he is willing to make his resources available for Jesus to use. What about us – are we available to be used, and for our resources to be used by God as he requires?

Whilst on this point it is worth pointing out that Jesus used whatever was available to Him to enable his word to be heard. That means He does not hesitate to use PA, radio mikes and whatever else is available to Him.

Hearing the Challenge

When the preaching was over Jesus turns to Simon. Jesus deals with the masses – but he also deals with us one at a time. And his instruction to Simon is remarkable: Jesus wants ot be involved not just in Simon’s spiritual life – but in his daily life as well.  Immediately the barriers between Simon’s “God Box” and the rest of his world come down. The fact is that Jesus wants to be Lord, not only  of our Sunday mornings, but of every part of our lives. There is no part of our lives that is not required to be handed over to Jesus. Are we willing for that?

Making the Choice

Simon is faced with a desperate dilemma. Every ounce of skill, expertise and experience tells him that Jesus instruction is ridiculous. The word of God seems a joke to those who come into contact with Him for the first time. The question is – are we prepared to do what God commands, even when it seems fruitless? You can hear Simon’s dilemma in his response. Bu to his great credit Simon ends with the words “because you say so…I will”. This is a turning point for Simon, and it will be for you as well. The question is: are we prepared to commit ourselves to following the word of Jesus in every area of our lives in every situation? Have you reached the stage where you can say with Simon. “Because you say so…I will”?

By the way putting out into deep water and letting down the nets was not am quick thing to do – it involved lengthy physical work – and the ridicule of the fishermen who were on the shore. Obeying the word of Jesus is not usually straightforward!

Reaping the Consequence

One of the laws of God’s creation is that it is not possible to obey him without blessing following. And what a spectacular blessing follows! You will never obey God without experiencing a genuine blessing.

A Natural response

Face to face with power and authority of God, Simon’s response is the most natural response in the world. “Leave me” is a typical response of anyone who knows they have come face to face with God. Simon knows that he can’t live with the holiness, the authority and the power of Jesus. He knows that he is totally unworthy to be Jesus companion and follower…yet he also knows that he can’t live without Jesus, and that only He has the answer to life’s problems. There has never been a servant of God who has not responded in a similar way.

A Great Commission

At once Jesus follows up with the  call to be involved in the greatest job in the world: the call to work with Him in the building of His church, to win men and women for the kingdom of God and to see them disciples for Jesus. Notice how Jesus uses imagery which Simon can understand. He is a fisherman and has just seen a remarkable catch of fish. The imagery is obvious. From now on his work will be with Jesus to catch men and women for the kingdom to God. That is what we are involved with as disciples of Jesus.

Church is about making disciples – not about keeping you happy, and meeting your needs. Have you responded to the call of Jesus to be involved in the most important job in the world?

A Step of Commitment

Finally Simon (and his companions) take the step that Jesus has been leading them to. The “God box” has gone – now the whole of their lives is surrendered to Jesus. For these fishermen it meant leaving their jobs. For most it won’t – but it will mean deliberately and knowingly putting all of our lives under the authority of Jesus –   with no return. Have you done that?

As the song says:

“And I will give my all to you

Surrender everything I have and follow you

I will follow you”

(Tim Hughes)

Gez Jones spoke this week about how we should consider what God sees in us rather than man’s view.

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Reference: Amos 8

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Note on sermon preached 4  July 2010 on Luke 4 v.31-44

Having been rejected in his home town of Nazareth Jesus goes to the most important and strategic town in the region of Galilee – Capernaum. This appears to his base for a year or more as he ministers widely in Galilee. It was a year of amazing excitement, power and popularity.

Luke, the systematic historian, decides to give us a flavour of this period by taking us through a day in this period. It was a Sabboth, and we can assume that there would be many Sabboths like this in this dynamic period.

We see four things shown in this account:

1. The Great Preacher

The account starts and ends with Jesus preaching. He preaches in the synagogues and goes from town to town preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. We see:

-          The primacy of preaching. This was essentially a preaching tour by Jesus. Yes – much else besides – but Jesus conducted his ministry through preaching of the word. Our church needs to be one which puts the preaching of the word in a central place.

-          The power of preaching. People were amazed when they heard the preaching of Jesus. It had authority and it had power. Preaching that changes people’s lives will not be second  - hand re-hashes of someone else’s views – rather it will be an authoritative declaration of the kingdom of God. We must not settle for anything less.

-          The persistence of preaching. Jesus was prepared to leave a healing crusade in order to continue to preach the word of God. Nothing must stop us: the church needs to be a preaching centre

2. The Great Deliverer

When the kingdom of God is proclaimed on power under the authority of the Holy Spirit, the demonic is challenged. Here we see Jesus proclaiming the word of God with power and it immediately challenges and confronts the demonic. We see clearly the authority of Jesus as He commands the demons to leave, and they must do so without hurting the person.

3. The Great Healer

Having heard the word of God preached with power, Jesus is called upon to minister to a particular need that has arisen.  Simon’s mother-in-law is ill! Jesus again demonstrates his power and authority, and the presence of the kingdom of God by immediately healing her. Notice the response: she immediately begins to wait on Jesus and his disciples. What been our response to being healed by Jesus? We are healed to serve.

This is followed by the most amazing spectacle. At the end of the Sabbath   Jesus is inundated by those needing healing or deliverance. For those who needed a demonstration of the authority of Jesus, it was plain for all to see.

We take a brief diversion at this point. As we go through the gospel of Luke we see repeatedly examples of Jesus ministering in power. The question that we have to ask is: can we reasonably expect to see such things today. The answer is: yes. As always it is subject to the Sovereignty of God and to the faith and faithfulness for his people. But the biblical record is that  we may reasonably come to God and  ask Him   to do everything that we see in the gospels.

There is a view, known as “cessationism”, which argues that the miraculous was given  to authenticate the message, firstly, of Jesus and then of his apostles. For a full consideration of this see Wayne Grudem’s discussion in his “Sysetmatic Theology  and Jack Deere’s book “Surprised by the Power of God”. For now, let it be clear that our position is a non-cessationist position: namely  we take the view that all the ministries, gifts and signs reported in the New testament are available to believers today.

However this gives rise to one more question that we must not dodge. If the events of Luke 4 are available to us today, why do we not see them in  a greater measure? This is certainly a serious question which deserves to be answered.

Firstly, we have to say, that we could just as easily say, “why are there not more people saved” or “why is there not more powerful preaching?” as to say “why are there not more healings?”

We can comment:

a)      Although it is our contention that all ministries are available today, it is equally true that it is unlikely that there will be a ministry as intense and perfect as that of the Lord Jesus. So the likelihood of someone healing in such power is as likely as someone preaching a message with the power of the sermon on the mount,

b)      All moves of the Holy Spirit are – like salvation – dependent on the sovereignty of God. It does not depend on our will – but on God’s choice. God gives gifts “as he will”

However, this does not mean that we can do nothing to bring about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the way that we see here. This brings us to our fourth point:

4. The Great Secret

At daybreak  Jesus withdrew to a lonely place. What was he doing? We know the answer – though Luke does not tell us here, The fact is that Jesus busy ministry was sustained by constant dependence on His Father in prayer. We really can not expect to see the power of God poured out unless we give ourselves to prayer. Do we?

What an amazing experience in must have been to be a part of theis day in the life of Jesus. And we can reasonably assume that there would have many more such days. Let’s enjoy the record that we have of the authority and power of the Son of God. And let’s ask, believe, trust and long for Him to do the same amongst us.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”