Discipleship

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.

 Peter, James, and John were fishermen.  That was their living.  That was their livelihood.  The recognized Jesus because he had been teaching in the town and had been recognized as a teacher of religious law.  He had even received even greater notoriety because people began realizing that he didn’t teach the same way the others did, he taught with authority.  There was something exciting about this man.  So much so that people were crowding around him to the point that he had to get into a boat and push away from shore a bit to even speak.  After he was done speaking, he did something odd.

Jesus says to the fishermen; while we are out here, let’s go fishing.  I am sure that the guys respected Jesus as a teacher, but who is he to tell us how to do our job?  They even said they had been working hard all night without any luck.  I’m not sure why they connected the rigging, laid out the nets they has probably spent hours cleaning and mending to try one more time at an hour that was not usually the best for fishing, but they did.  Maybe they felt the pressure from the crowds to do what Jesus said, maybe they were desperate to get some fish, or maybe in the back of their heads they trusted Jesus.  So they did it! They put their nets in the water and what happened??  What happened!?  Yea, they caught fish.  Not just a little fish either, so much that 2 boats started to sink. Crazy.

Now these fishermen could have spent the rest of their evening unloading fish, putting them up for sale and getting ready for a big pay-day, know what Im saying? Instead they fell to their knees in fear because they realized they were sinful men in the presence of God himself.  They pulled their boats to the shore and when Jesus said come, follow me…they did.  They left their boats, they left their huge pay-day of fish, they left their families and they followed Jesus.

Why? Why do you think?

It’s the same for every TRUE Christian.  When you experience God, nothing else matters.  Jesus says in Luke 14 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.” 

In context Christ was not instructing us to hate, he was trying to show relationship.  For example, consider if I grew up eating microwave pizza from a box.  It was great I thought until college when I was introduced to Fellini’s Brick-oven, farm fresh ingredient, Sicilian style pizza.  My world would flip upside-down.  Compared to Fellini’s pizza, I hated box pizza.  I now have a new love. 

It was the same way for these fishermen.  How could they go about life the way they knew it when they had experienced God?

These men became what we call disciples – ones that follow, learn from, and live like another; in this case it was Jesus.

In that culture it was common for young men to become disciples of scribes, religious leaders, and the like.  If you recall, philosophers like Plato and Socrates has disciples.  How lucky were these guy, that they were able to become one of 12 disciples of God himself, Jesus Christ!?

When Jesus’ time on earth was finished, he had died, been buried, and raised.  He had appeared to and spent time teaching thousands after his death.  Right before he ascended into heaven, he gave his disciples one final bit of instruction:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 -Matt. 28:19-20

Did you happen to catch the significance here??  ‘Go and make disciples in my name’ and p.s. I’m not dead, I’m still going to be with you.  No longer will there be only 12, anyone can leave everything to follow me.  Anyone can give up box pizza for the handcrafted goodness. 

He wants you to have the goodness…HE is the goodness. 

He wants you to learn from Him.  If you are to be a student of anybody, Jesus is the one you want to learn from.  He is the only one that has words that lead to life.  Commit to being a 'straight A' student in the only course that matters for eternity.

He wants you to live for Him.  God has sent his Spirit to reside in us.  It is a Spirit of comfort, of peace, of councel.  We are to live now as a representation of Jesus himself.  We are ambassadors/representatives for the King.  We need to live our lives like it.

What if we were to hang out and I were to use ungodly language, make fun of other people, spread gossip and rumors, and give alcohol to students and on Sunday act totally different.  You would say, that is the worst youth pastor I have ever seen.  Why would I ever listen to him?  He doesn’t live what he says.  I have a duty to represent Legacy, but more importantly I have a duty to represent my Lord.  Are you living for Jesus the way you should?

Lastly, He wants you to love like Him.  Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your being and the second is like it…  Love your neighbor as yourself.  John 13:35 says “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  Is love the single greatest character trait of yours?  Should it be?