COME FISH WITH ME
Luke 5:1-11
Ron Boswell

A favorite memory from my childhood is when I went fishing with my grandmother on Ball Ditch. My grandmother would pack a lunch and my mother or father would drive us out to the creek that was lined with large shade trees. We took cane poles, a can of fresh dug red worms, and a stringer for our catch. We were fishing for the red bellied brem that made their beds in the shallows of the creek. Occasionally we caught a gargoli or a catfish, but we were really after the red bellies on those summer days. My grandmother showed me how to knock the coffee can at an angle on the ground to uncover the red worms that had buried to the bottom of the soil in the can. She taught me how to string the worms on the hook to make a tempting glob with wiggling worm fingers that would attract the larger brem. Most importantly, she taught me to spit on the bait for good luck. She showed me how to carefully swing the line out over the limbs that had fallen into the creek and plop the hook, line, and cork into a dangerous but attractive hole in the brush. She also taught me how to jiggle the line first when I got my hook hung and then pull the whole thing straight toward you when you were hopeless entangled. This was followed by a lesson on tying new hooks on the line, biting the lead sinker at just the right height above the hook, and, of course, setting the depth of the cork.

Brem bit slowly in the summer. My grandmother showed me how to be patient and not jerk the line when the fish first nibbled on the bait. Only when the cork went completely under, was I to pull firmly, but not jerk, the line. I taught her how to talk someone into taking a fish off the line for you.

At lunchtime, my grandmother and I ate cold fried chicken, and apple jacks and drank home made lemonade from the same fruit jar. And if the fish did not bite, there was always leaf hats or clover necklaces to be made while we told stories or discussed the important issues life for a five year old. In the late afternoon, I hated to hear the horn from the car that told us our ride home had arrived.

What do you think I liked best about fishing? the large shade trees? putting on the red worms? leaning how to rig a pole, make a leaf hat or a clover necklace? Was it the fried pies for lunch or the lemonade? Or did I like most pulling a fat red belly out of Ball Ditch or frying it up crisp and brown with French fries and hushpuppies for supper?

It was none of these. My favorite part of fishing was being with my grandmother.

We sometimes focus on the sensational miracle as we read this passage. How did a carpenter from Nazareth know more about catching fish than did the professional fishermen whose boat he borrowed? Only the Son of God could have worked such a miracle.

At other times we focus on the service and sacrifice that Jesus called his disciples to when he called them to be fishers of men. Alexander Percy has captured this call to commitment in a poem entitled "They Cast Their Nets in Galilee".

They cast their nets in Galilee Just off the hills of brown; Such happy, simple fisher-folk Before the Lord came down

Contented peaceful fishermen, Before they ever knew The peace of God that filled their hearts Brimful and broke them too.

Young John who trimmed the flapping sail, Homeless in Patmos died. Peter, who hauled the teeming net, Head down was crucified.

The peace of God, it is no peace, But strife closed in the sod. Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing- The marvelous peace of God.

You may expect that the sermon today will be about our personally witnessing to others or at least supporting the church as an institution that reaches out to catch men and women for Christ. And that it will be a challenge to you to lay down your nets and follow Jesus in service and sacrifice.

The story does deal with sensational miracle that convinces us that Jesus is truly the Son of God and it does deal with our call to fish for men at whatever cost or sacrifice, but, more importantly it invites us to a wonderful relationship with the great fisherman, Jesus.

The real reason that the disciples left their nets and followed Jesus was not just to experience the sensational or to participate in sacrificial service for God. Miracles can not be manipulated. They happen intermittently in the ways of God to encourage our faith. And the Christian's call to service is just as often a call to difficulties and hardships as it is to sensational success. I am convinced that the disciples desired more than anything else just to be with Jesus. That is what really gave meaning to being fishers of men. They got to fish with Jesus. And so I have restated the call of Jesus with the emphasis on the one who calls more than on the task to which He calls. The real motivation, the real joy in being fishers of men is not really whether or not we ever experience such a sensation miracle as did the disciples and it is not really whether we have to sacrifice or not, rather the true joy of being fishers of men is that we get to be with Jesus. That is why we might eagerly hear the voice of Jesus this morning as He whispers to us, "Come Fish With Me".

What is it like to fish with Jesus.

1. To Fish With Jesus is the delightful privilege of sharing the Word of God with a world that so hungers for it. Folk were flocking to Jesus. Not just because of the physical miracles that he performed, but because of the spiritual miracle that he preached. The word of God that he gave to them was so appealing that they literally pushed Jesus out into the Sea of Galilee.

The common ordinary folk had never heard a message about the God who loved them as a Father and who would accept them with their sins. They had been taught that they had to get good enough for God to love them, and they always came up short. But Jesus had the great joy of telling them that God loved them in spite of their sins, that it was not what they had become that made the difference, but what God could make of them if they would repent of their sin and accept His transforming power into their lives.

ex. Last we John Lynch told you about a conversation that we had in my office that led to his making his profession of faith in Christ. John shared with me some of the regrets that he had in his past and expressed his doubt that God would accept him. I think my words were something like, "John, I can love you and accept you in spite of all of that and if I, with all my imperfection can love and accept you, then I know God will forgive you and accept you just as you are." I had the great privilege of listening as John confessed his sin to Christ, accepted His forgiveness, and committed his life to Him. Folk, it doesn't get in better than that. To have the privilege of sharing the word of God that is good news to an unworthy soul is what you get to do when you fish with Jesus.

2. To Fish With Jesus is to launch out deeper into faith than we may ever have imagined and to find greater reward than we ever considered. Peter was a pretty predictable person before he met Jesus. He did all of the reasonable things that a successful businessman might do. He minimized his risks. He would never have thought of messing up fresh washed nets for a late morning cast into the deep water of the lake. Fishing was always done at night and always done in the shallows of the lake. Why take the advice of a carpenter on how to fish. Yet in obeying the command of Christ, Peter found greater reward than he ever expected.

It happened over and over in his life of fishing with Jesus and it happens to us as well. Fishing with Jesus is always filled with surprises. We find ourselves casting nets where we never dreamed and finding greater rewards than we ever envisioned.

ex. The groups that shared on Wednesday evening about their mission trip to upstate New York began the same way that I have heard so many such testimonies. "I never dreamed that I would be sharing the love of Christ in a far off place, and I never realized that my life could be so blessed from that kind of experience.

3. To Fish with Jesus is to face friendly fear. When Peter saw the great miracle of Jesus, he was afraid. He was afraid of being a sinful person in the presence of such perfection and power as he saw in the divinity of Jesus. ex. Isaiah had the same sort of experience in the temple when he saw the Lord high and lifted up.

ex. William Willimon: "There are at least two ways to be terrified of God. Either you can be afraid of God because God is so harsh and cruel that you dare not slip up for fear of punishment, or God may be so wonderfully loving that you despair of all the ways you have betrayed that love in your own way of life. God's love is the searing light that penetrates our facade."

That is the friendly fear that you get to experience when you fish with Jesus. Fear of being in the presence of one so perfect, yet drawn to his love and mercy that whispers, "fear not."

5. To Fish With Jesus is to follow one who knows the way. ex. Two land surveyors were sent from a large city in Wales to survey the mountains in North Wales. The stayed for a week at an isolated shepherd's cottage. During the day they climbed the steep slopes, charting the contours, checking the landmarks, and tracing the mountain streams to their sources. One night the old shepherd suggested that he accompany them on the mountain the next day. The men assured him that they had compass, charts, and maps and, with them, could not possible get lost. But the old man persisted, "I know the mountain tracks like the back of my hand. I know where the steep precipes are. I know where the bog runs deep. I know where the braken covers the crevices. "Its all on the map, repeated the city men. The map will bring us home." The old man was quiet for a moment and the spoke once more. "You may have the map, but the fog isn't on the map.

There are a lot of dangerous precipices and crevices in the life we live. And I would not want you to think that following Christ is some sooth sure road. His disciples were asked to face the most fearful of circumstances and make the greatest of sacrifices. Some would think them foolish for leaving the security of their fishing business to follow Jesus. But, they sensed at the beginning that Jesus knew the only sure way through life, and if they followed him, no matter how dense the fog, they would be safe and they would find their way to their eternal home.

CONCLUSION: You are not asked this morning to take up the task of being fishers of men. You are not being chided for not keeping the institutional church afloat. I just wanted us to hear the wonderful invitation of Jesus, "Come fish-- With ME.