When We Disciple | Luke 5:1-11
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Good morning. We are in Luke, chapter five today's we continue our series following the life and ministry of Jesus this entire calendar year. And we're in the mini series called Follow me where we're looking at Jesus calling his first disciples. One of the funny things about having a seven year age gap between my first three children. And my fourth child is as my youngest one who just turned five. As he grows up, and learns to talk, not only does he learn English, but he learns teenage language too. And he learns all the teenage lingo. And, and so when he was learning how to talk, you know, he's too or so early age, he also was learning teenage language. And so I don't really get into the weeds on this, but there's some words they'll say, and I can explain it to you that would make no sense to unless you're a teenager, but sometimes teams will say the word bet when you say, Hey, let's go do something. And they'll say that like, yes or okay, or sounds good. They'll use this word bet. I don't know why, but that's just what they say. Okay. Or they used to at least and, and so John David last year, I'd say, all right, John, let's go, we're gonna go to Walmart and go do something. And he said that, I was like, You're for like, you're not a teenager, right? And then the other day, he did something wrong. And I told him that we couldn't do something. Yeah, all upset. And he said, bro, that's us, which is a whole nother word. That means something, don't worry about it. But it's just another teenage lingo word. And you know, it's just Gen Z tall. And so this little five year old is got all the emotions of a preschooler. And he's talking like, you know, a 16 year old boy. Alright, so as he grows up, he's being dissed. discipled, on some level, by his siblings, who are also growing up and being discipled in their own way. And so you get this little four or five year old who talks like a teenager? That's a basic level of what discipleship is. It is, who is influencing you? Who are you learning from? Who are you learning to talk most of us who grew up in the South, when we say we're going to do something with or if we say, hey, you know, we're leaving, and we say something to you like, Hey, see, y'all later, right? Y'all is the word we use, but you go outside of the south and use that word. They know immediately where you're from, they say something else you are you guys are something we are discipled at early age. That is y'all, right? It's a contraction, you all and actually is a real word, right? Apparently that people don't use it. That's what discipleship is, you're being discipled in a certain way, you're being influenced a certain way. And every person is being influenced, in some level or some manner from someone or something. And we call that being discipled. We get discipled. By the music, by which we listen to music we listen to, we get discipled by the movies, we watch, the shows we watch, we get discipled by what speakers we listen to what famous people we follow what Talking Heads an expert say and what websites we look at, and, and philosophers we get discipled by that, and what we hear and what we bring in what we ingest is what is discipling us. If you're a Christian, you too, are being discipled by someone or something. And if you are a Christian, if people know you're a Christian, whenever you interact with them, you are discipling them. You're showing them this is what a Christian is like, this is how a Christian behaves. This is how a Christian acts. So who are you discipling? By whom are you being discipled? And for the Christian? The ultimate answer, the Sunday School answer is what? Jesus? It should be Jesus, ever Jesus has answered everything in Sunday school if you don't know right. But is it really happening in your life? Is Jesus really discipling you? There we're looking at a passage that will give us some insight on being made a disciple of Jesus. We're in Luke chapter five starting on in verse one. On one occasion, Luke writes, When the crowd was pressed sitting in on him to hear the Word of God. He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night, took nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed, a large number of fish. And their nets were breaking. And they signal to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came in, they filled both the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart for me, for I'm a sinful man, Lord, for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on, you'll be catching men. When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything followed him. Heavenly Father, we, we thank you so much for this passage. Show us today what we need to hear about this issue of discipleship following Jesus learning from you, being made into your image. And Father, as we look at this passage, I pray that You would give me the words to speak that you would give me the words to see the speak that reflect your heart, that you'd fill me with your Holy Spirit and preaching, and that those in here today, and those watching at home, would receive this teaching. And then their lives would be changed as they follow you. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen. I'm gonna give you the three truths. On making disciples of Jesus that we see in this passage, three truths on making disciples of Jesus that we see here first, when we disciple others, they hear Jesus, when we disciple others, they hear Jesus, look at chat of verse one here. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the Word of God, he was standing by the lake Meseret. And he saw two boats by the lake fishermen have gone out of them, and were washing their nets. So another name for this league is the Sea of Galilee, you may have heard of it before. And as the school's custom, Jesus would stand on the shore, and he would teach the backdrop of the of the lake water give gave a natural system of amplification, there was no microphone, so they would stand there on the shore, and speak out so that people could hear him. That's why they, they were on the shore wasn't just like, it was the cool thing to do. Let's go to Lake and have Bible study. He was using it for a reason. More and more people started coming to him. While this was going on, Jesus noticed two boats there on the lake kind of coming in from the catch. Marks account tells us that there were two fishermen, Simon Peter and Andrew. And we're not sure how engaged they were. In this lesson. We don't know if they came back to see what was going on on the show or what the deal was, perhaps they were just halfway listening to the message. But they got Jesus's attention. And Jesus asked if he could get in their boat and push out a little bit. So as the crowd would grow, you needed more amplification. So you get into the boat, you'd push out a few feet into the lake, and then you could speak even better and more people could hear you so the crowds growing, he needs better amplification. He says, Can I use your boat? And they said, Sure, it's not like your neighbor asking you use your weed eater and you never get it back again. Jesus is going to give you the boat back, right? So they were just supplying his need verse three. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's he asked him to go a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. Now Jesus would eventually personally call these fishermen to be His disciples. He would have eventually form close relationships with them. They would eventually hear much of what he had to say. But for now, this relationship started with him just saying, I need a boat. Can I sit in this boat and teach more people? So he was intentional, and making disciples both in the large group. And in small group. He had a need. And he asked for it. And it blossomed into this relationship. So he was intentional, so that more people could hear His message. Look at Proverbs 21, five. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance but everyone who is hasty comes only into poverty. This is a proverb that teaches us what it's like to be diligent and to make plans. Those who plan often have abundance, those who don't often have poor or poor become poor. What he's saying here, and this look what we can say in this instance. And so when we are intentional, when we're diligent about making disciples, guess what, we're going to see disciples. When we plan to make disciples, we're going to make disciples, we will have the opportunities for people to hear Jesus. And let's not forget, this is just not some benevolent thing we're doing. This is not just some good idea we're doing. This is something we're commanded to do. Matthew 28, go therefore, and make it possible. If you feel like it, make disciples. It's not what it says. It says, make them baptize them. First 20. Teach them, teach them to observe some of what I've commanded. Know, teach them to observe what the culture says is okay to learn? No, no, teach them to observe all that I've commanded you. Everything, not just what's popular, not just what is acceptable, not what just tastes good. Everything. That's what making disciples is. And he says, I'm with you. So we're commanded to make disciples. We don't have to sit around and pray about it. Lord, will you give me disciples? No, he already has you go out and make them. We don't have to wait for God to throw someone into our lives. Jesus was intentional about looking for opportunities to make disciples. Now, if it's not that hard, if you are a parent, if you have children, you have it in your house. And you are discipling your children to be something that's scary. Right? When I'm disciplining my kids, they'd much rather hear from Jesus speaking through me than me. Right? And every now and then they do hear from Jesus. And they'll say, who are you? And that's good, right? Like, this is not Charlie talking anymore, right? We have that in our house. You have people in your circles. If we're not intentional about making disciples, we won't make them. And people won't hear about Jesus. Look at Romans 1014. How then, will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to hear? Or how are they to believe in Him who they never heard? And how are they to hear? without someone preaching? Well, answers they won't. We need to be intentional about telling people about Jesus, they have to hear about it, to believe. And they won't believe unless someone tells. So when we disciple others properly, they're going to hear about Jesus. We're not going to just hear about what people say, Jesus says, what the world wants you to hear about what Jesus says. But what Jesus has said in His Word, you know, it's nice to have Christian speakers and Christian influenced things and I got a catalog the other day for a Christian travel agency, and I thought, what does that mean that just did a Christians booking trips? I don't know. I mean, it's cool, I guess, right? We can Christianize everything. But to make disciples. All we need, God has given us He's given us His Word. He's given us community. That's the great thing about a church. We're all all running the same playbook. We shouldn't be. We all have, we all have God's Word. We all agree on what we should all agree on what God's word has said. Now, here's the thing, we sometimes we don't agree about it, because we don't like what it says. God hasn't called us to like it. He's called us to change our viewpoint to what God's word has said. Sometimes, some subjects and things might be easier for us to get on board with, some things are not going to be easy for us to get on board with. But that is what is a disciple living as Jesus has taught. Because God knows what is best for us. It's not this for you to harbor hate and anger towards someone, it's best for you to forgive. Why don't want to forgive, it doesn't matter what you want to do. Christ knows what's best for you. Why don't want to change this in my life? Doesn't matter. Are you going to follow Christ? This is the path. So when we disciple others, they hear Jesus, we hear Jesus, when we speak to people, and you're a Christian, what are they hearing from you? Are they hearing your person, your personality? Or are they hearing Christ? Secondly, when we disciple others, they experienced Jesus. Or maybe these points should say they should, they should experience Jesus. Maybe that's what I should have put in these points when they when we disciple others, they should experience Jesus, first for when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. So he gets done teaching the big group and now the fishermen are probably like, okay, good. Now we can get our boat back. But he says, Nope, we're gonna go out and do some more fishing. They had just been fishing all night. They probably didn't want to go out again. This isn't like, you know, Jesus and your buddy going out and fish. You've already this was their job. And fishing is not as fun as it can be when it's your job. Amen. Like, it's they're living and they're done and they're tired. They work the night shift. Now Jesus has taken their boat and he's taught and he says, Hey, let's go back and fish. Verse five, Simon says, we're tired. We worked all night. And we took nothing. But at your word. We will lay down the nets, they know who he is. He's a he's a master. He's a teacher, they will obey Him. Verse six, when they have done this, they enclose a large number of fish and their nets. Were breaking this time with Jesus with them. They caught so many fish, the nets started to break before they had nothing with Jesus. They had everything. For seven they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and they feel both the boat so they began to sink. So many fish in the boat. They began to seek when years ago when I was little child be my neighbor and father went out fishing on Lake merde. And we were, we came across all these shell crackers and like murders everywhere. And they weren't biting. Because we had worms, we'd have the right bait. We just sit there staring at it, and they wouldn't bite. So we drove down to the bait shop where they shot and got some crickets came back. And man they were hopping in the boat. And we were catching, we weren't fishing anymore. We were catching. That's all we did. And we ate all night long on these fish that we that we made. They were always there, but just by changing the bait made all the difference. The fish were always in the water. The difference was they didn't have Jesus working for him. They were doing it all themselves. You can work as hard as you want on anything. But if Christ isn't in it, it's not gonna go to according to His plan. And they experience the kind of work that Jesus can do in his life just by doing that now they could have been mad about it. I know some people just happen they be complaining that Jesus broke their nets and that he that that their boat almost broke because of all the fish got I don't you know people like that. They weren't complaining about that. Look with Peters said when he saw it, verse eight. He fell down his knees and he said, leave. I am a sinful man Lord. He knows he's been in the presence of God. He experienced Jesus Is His Word in his life in a mighty way, his faith then increased? How could it not have increased? It did. And he had a similar reaction to when Isaiah was called by God and Isaiah six, five, he says this woe is me as Isaiah stood in the presence of God, I am lost from a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the middle of a people of unclean lips. Because my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts, he saw himself for who he was, he was ultimately self aware that he was a sinner standing in the presence of a holy God, he experienced God in that way. When Peter heard the teaching of God, he saw the work of God, he realized who he was standing with, his faith increased as he saw who he was, compared to Jesus. 19th century missionary Hudson Taylor was sailing to China to begin his missionary work. And his ship came upon a potentially dangerous situation. So the wind had quit, it died down. And so they were at the mercy of the ocean currents. And the currents were carrying them towards some sunken reefs, which could run them aground. And they were close to islands, inhabited by cannibals, who were violent toward the gospel, and they could see the smoke plumes from the fires on the island. They were that close. So they didn't know what to do. And his journal Taylor records that the captain said to him, Well, we've done everything that can be done. And I thought occurred to me, Taylor said, and I replied, No, there's one thing we haven't done yet. What is that the captain asked. Four of us on board are Christians. Let's each go to our own cabin. And let's have an agreed prayer and ask the Lord to give us immediately a breeze, something just to get us off these reefs. Taylor prayed briefly, nine min long, certain that the answer was coming, he went back up on the deck. And he asked the first officer to let down the sales. And the officer said, What good comes from that? And he said, he said, I told him, we've been asking a when from God, that it was coming immediately. So we don't need to miss it. So they put it down. And within minutes, the wind began to blow and carry them safely past the reefs, and away from the island. Taylor wrote, thus God encouraged me upon landing on China's shores, to bring every variety of need to Him in prayer. And to expect that he would honor the name of the Lord Jesus and give the help each emergency requires required. See, when he prayed and God excuse experience God in that way, it made him think, well, I'm going to pray with any need. And I know because of the name of Jesus, God will hear our prayers and Edie emergency, he will work experiencing God's work in our lives as part of discipleship. And many of you that are believers can probably think of things in your life, or you've prayed. You've worshipped or something and you've seen God work, and you know, it's God. And it's increased your faith, and you follow Christ, closer than you had before. That's an essential part of our discipleship hearing from Jesus experiencing him. And if you're not experiencing let me ask you, why not? Are you at a place where you can't experience it? Are you not looking for those moments? Are you not trusting him to work for you? Are you not obeying Him and letting down the nets when he says to? You know, I've I've already tried that. But have you tried to a Jesus dropped your nets and see what he does for you? Are you even listening to him is even in the boat with you. If you're not experiencing him, when we disciple others, they will experience Jesus if we're showing him the right Jesus. And if we are listening to Jesus will experience them as we follow Him. And finally, number three, when we disciple others, ultimately they will follow Jesus. They'll follow Jesus You know, I don't want to pick on my children too much here. I got my two older ones in here today, and they kind of know how it is. But I've done a lot of difficult things in my life. You know, I somehow graduated college, or somehow got a master's degree, or somehow got a doctorate. I don't know how North Greenville did that, but they did. You know, God's blessed me, a pastor, a wonderful church, you know, I've had a lot of difficult things that worked for my life. Let me tell you what parenting is the hardest thing we were trying to do. Some of you might be better at it naturally than me, I'm not good. So when I see my older children as they grow, start following Christ and ask me questions and, and dialoguing, I think, praise the Lord, I've done something right. Praise the Lord, right. But they've caught something. When we disciple others, if we're following Jesus, they should follow Jesus. That's not a guarantee. But when we disciple, they should forgive verse nine, for he and all who were with him, were astonished at the catch of fish that had been taken. And so also were James and John sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on, you'll be catching them. When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. James and John, also call about Jesus to be His disciples. So he starts with four fishermen. These were the guys who dropped out of school at a very early age, age 12. They did not they were never going to be tapped by a rabbi to follow them and be his disciple. So for them to hear a Rabbi say, Follow me. These fishermen these rough, we'd call them roughnecks, right? They had been business partners together. And Jesus says, this time, drop your nets, but not in the lake. Drop them on the ground, and leave them there. Leave your bow knob never had to close my business. For my faith. I'm not a pastor, I'm a businessman. I cannot imagine how hard that would be. But something about Jesus talking to you, and giving you clear direction to follow him. He doesn't ask all of us to do this. But the release man he did. And they didn't hesitate. They didn't hesitate. When they followed. They had heard him talk. They had seen him work. And they didn't hesitate. And following him wasn't just a career change. It was a life change. See, I think if people really hear about who Jesus is, and really hear that Jesus of the Bible and really experienced him, they can't help but be saved. They can't help but turn their lives to Him. Oftentimes, what they hear is a mis perversion, a mischaracterization of a Jesus that doesn't exist of a church that doesn't exist. If you really hear about Jesus Christ and really experienced, they can't help but be born again. So what are we? What are we showing people and telling people about Jesus in our lives? What do they see in our lives? What is it now again, it's up to them and God, okay? And he tells them as they start this new journey, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, I am with you. And I left everything and followed Him. Jesus. This is what followers of Jesus does they they command it because he commands Look at Matthew 1624. Jesus said, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. That is hard. It's so easy to be saved. We just received Jesus work on the cross. God took all of Jesus took all of God's judgment on the cross of our sin. We're not going to burn in the eternal fires of hell because of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross and his resurrection is so easy. Just believe in that and you're saved. So easy. But Jesus says is not. He says, then you got to follow me. And you gotta get give up things in your life. You got to give up certain comforts. You got to give up certain rights, you got to give up certain sins, you got to give up certain lifestyles, you got to give up certain activities. But if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus, these things will happen. And he says, Don't be afraid. But I just bought that boat. Peter says, so Okay, leave it. That's the best net on the market, leaving Jesus Christ. Is it worth it to you to follow a man who took your sins on the cross made you right with God? I believe we truly believe that will follow Jesus, Johnny 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life See, Jesus's goal and falling him is not to make your life miserable, is to keep you is to let you drop those things you're holding on to that have no value to you anymore. To lead you out of the darkness in to the light. If you have any sin in your life, any darkness in your life is because Jesus is asking you to follow him and you're carrying all this stuff. You're carrying all these nets, you're carrying all these boats, you've already sold all these things. And he said just drop it and follow me. Have you dropped it? Are you still holding on to the lifestyles and choices that lead you back into the darkness? turning from sin and following Jesus is proof that we know him now we're not going to always get it right we're going to sin, but our trajectory and lifestyle where is it heading? Are we following Jesus first John two, three, the forces this and by this, we know that we have come to know Him. If we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him even amongst corner. Everyone's a Christian, but we know that's a lie. Amen. It's a lie from pedophile. God says clearly, if you say, you know me, but you're not following me. Then you're lying to yourself. And you're lying to your community. You're lying to God. In the south, it's still okay to say you're a Christian and not follow Christ. But it's not biblical. Who is discipling? You? Is it the culture? Is it the South? Is it the country? Is it the family member? Is the talking head is an influencer? If it's not Jesus, it's not the right person. When we disciple others, we follow Jesus and they follow Jesus. And as a Christian, what are you showing and telling people a Christ follower does? It is? How have you experienced them? And what are you showing? As we are called to make disciples, Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for what you've given us. And Lord, this is a difficult passage for us to read because we look at it and we think, gosh, am I doing everything that you've called me to do and in law would you call us to do is follow you. And it looks different for different people. For these fishermen, it looked like leaving it all there. The Lord, show us in our lives, what it looks like to follow you. Because Lord, if we want to make disciples, we have to be a disciple. We're making disciples of something else and we're telling people to live a certain way and more. That's what's wrong with so much of our culture, so much of our country, as people are being discipled to be a Christian, but they're not being decided to be a Christian or being discipled to be something else that's foreign to your understanding in the Bible, and what a Christ follower is. So, Lord, give us wisdom as we look through your word, give us wisdom as we follow You. We thank You. We thank you for the cross. We thank you for the resurrection of Christ, which was celebrated two weeks ago. He's made us right with God, Lord, there's one in here that is never placed their faith in you that today would be the day they do it. And that their faith is accompanied by following you as they start the journey of discipleship but maybe there's one in here today that that just needs to come down front and just spend time with you in prayer and, and they need to drop their nets today and ask you for direction. Whatever it is, Father, that Lord you would speak to listen today and this time that we would follow you where you lead us where we love you. We ask these things in Jesus name, Amen.
