From Fish To Sheep Series

A Repentant Heart will trust and obey.

In his repentance, Jesus calls Peter into specific ministry. A sorrowful and repentant heart towards one’s own one sin and a profession and trust in the Almighty God and Savior, Jesus Christ to forgive, save, and reconcile will produce a Heart that will TRUST and OBEY the SAVIOR. (That actually becomes the theme of 1 Peter in the NT.) Peter was the flamboyant fisherman, not an educated theologian. He was CALLED and appointed by Jesus to become a pastor and preacher who would train tend, feed and care for, and equip those of the 1st century church whom God had called into fellowship through the Gospel to serve HIM, and so that THEY would be fishers of men. This appearing by Jesus on the Beach shows that the mission assigned to the disciples did not end with His death and resurrection, but it was only beginning.

The mission of the Church continues, as God calls fishers of men into Ministry and Service. For Peter, this would entail the calling of a Pastor, to FORMALLY teach God’s Word to believers. That is, not everyone’s calling, but it IS EVERYONE’S CALLING to RELATIONALLY teach the Gospel to everyone that we meet. THERE ARE NO purely SPECTATORS following Christ. Salvation is God’s idea not man’s; and making fishers of men and disciples is His idea, too. Ministering and serving is His idea, too. Providing for ministry and service comes from Him too, but He accomplishes it through those who have been caught in the net of the Gospel of His Love.

Someone else shared the GOSPEL with us. Now we share it with someone else, and SUNDAY MORNINGS is NOT supposed to be where you first HEAR the Gospel. Whenever we gather it is to praise and worship our Lord and Savior, to adore Him, to glory in His Word and Spirit together, so that WE ARE EQUIPPED to go out from here and “GO FISHING”, exercising the Gospel as we go. Talk about God’s love and greatness to those around you. Weave the Gospel into your everyday activities and conversations.

We Love Him because we have been loved. We serve Him ‘FISHING’ because He first CAUGHT us in His Love, and we serve out of gratitude and from a WILLING HEART, not from a spirit of servitude or compulsion. (Peter later said that in 2 Peter.)

Peter became known as the apostle of HOPE: NOW as Jesus reinstates Peter as a disciple and as one who would care for other believers, Peter begins to realize the great depth of Christ’s Love to forgive him, even though he denied Him and even refused to identify himself with the other disciples, and that He refused to even admit that He KNEW the very Jesus who would DIE FOR HIM! Jesus had taught that to the one who is forgiven little, he will love little; to the one who is forgiven much, the same loves much. (Luke 7:47) Now Peter accepts Jesus’ appointment for Him: If Jesus has said it, I have to trust Him and be obedient!

This is not the end of Peter’s story but the beginning: Jesus’ call to Peter would NOT be for him to follow Him only for the next 3 hours, 3 days, or weeks, but for the rest of his earthly life. He was given the responsibility to shepherd others for the next THREE DECADES! It was not until the Holy Spirit filled Him at Pentecost that he was able to witness, WITH NO DENYING IT.