“Launch Out Into the Deep”
Luke 5:1-7
From 1980 to 1988 we lived in Florida and I traveled the State of Florida working with our Free Methodist churches. When not traveling we attended the St. Petersburg FMC. One gentleman in the church gave me a standing invitation. Anytime I wanted to go deep Sea fishing and pay for the gas he would take me fishing.
On one fishing trip we traveled out 25 miles until we came over an old Mexican ship that had been buried in the Gulf of Mexico. We had to travel out 25 miles to get to water that was 90 to 100 feet deep. On the fish finder we could see the outline of the ship and objects moving down near the bottom of the Gulf. To find big fish you have to go to deep water.
We put bait on our hooks and lowered out lines to the bottom and then raised the line about a foot above the bottom. It wasn’t long until I caught a 8-9 lb Grouper. Later I hooked a Cobia game fish that was about 25 – 30 pounds.
A little later I was pulling in a fish and I felt a jerk on the line. When I pulled out the 5 lb Amber Jack it was bitten in half. I used the other half of the Amber Jack fish for bait and put on a long steel leader. After about five minutes my line took a jolt and I hooked a good size fish. After about 30 minutes I pulled in a large fish – five feet long – a Barracuda with jagged teeth.
To catch fish in the Gulf we had to travel out to deep water.
Luke 5:1-7 Luke describes Jesus teaching by the Sea of Galilee and with a growing crowd of people pressing close he walked down to the seashore and noticed two empty boats. The fishermen were washing their nets after fishing all night. Jesus stepped into the boat and asked Simon the owner of the boat to push out a little way from shore so Jesus could continue speaking to the crowd of people. The empty boats were empty and better for preaching than for fishing that morning.
When Jesus finished speaking he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish.” Luke 5:4 Jesus noticed the boats and nets were empty. Jesus, a carpenter, is telling Simon Peter, a fisherman by trade, how to fish.
Simon protested, “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, we’ll try again.”
From Simon Peter’s perspective trying to catch fish that day was a hopeless situation. Anyway the best fishing is at night and not during the heat of the day.
Many of us can echo the same words: “We have fished all night and caught nothing.” From a human viewpoint continuing to fish is hopeless.
I. Life From a Human Perspective Is Hopeless
Simon Peter believed that the fishermen had given they best. They knew all the tricks of fishing, where the best fishing places are and how to maximize their fishing efforts.
Have you found yourself in situations where you have given your best and it wasn’t good enough?
A week ago on Monday Carollyn and I took our daughter Janette and Joseph our grandson to tour the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA. In the factory you see multi-million dollar equipment that makes jellybeans from scratch. You name the flavor and they can make a jellybean taste like popcorn, licorice, cherries, banana cream pie or whatever. Must of the process is accomplished by robots and computers.
Yet with all the multi-million equipment there are tens of thousands of belly flops. Odd shaped candy that you can buy two large packages and get one free.
In spite of our best human efforts we from time to time experience our own belly flops. Does the Jelly Belly Factory stop making jellybeans because a certain percentage isn’t perfect? No! They keep producing more jellybeans.
From a purely human perspective we look at the world condition and the future seems hopeless. There are many dooms day speakers who teach that life purely from a human perspective.
Several years ago I received a note from a retired minister from Ohio. He concluded his note by saying: “Keep close to Jesus, saved, sanctified, wholly in his hands, I am looking for catastrophic events soon maybe as much as 150 million people wiped out at once, we may be in that number.”
When I was living in Florida over 20 years ago Scientists were predicting the possibility of a warming trend that would melt so much of the ice cap that oceans would rise and create a new shore line in America. Water would completely cover the state of Florida.
A young couple once told me that they were not planning on having any children. They didn’t want to bring children into a world filled with war, crime, immorality and corruption.
On that morning after fishing all night an exhausted Simon looked at his situation as hopeless. We gave it our best and it was not good enough. It would be hopeless to continue to fish.
There’s a children’s book with the title, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” The book is about a little boy from whom nothing seems to go right.
In the story the boy goes to bed with gum in his mouth and the next morning he had gum in his hair. When he got out of bed he tripped on his skateboard and by mistake dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running. He said, “I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day…I think I’ll move to Australia.”
That night the young boy said, “It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My mom says some days are like that Even in Australia.”
When you look at life from a purely human perspective the future looks bleak. “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing.” Jesus, I gave it my best and it wasn’t good enough.
In the second part of verse 5 we have the turning point of the story: Simon says, “But if you say so, we’ll try again.”
II. Life from God’s Perspective
Luke 5:6-7, “And this time their nets were so full they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.”
With Jesus there are no hopeless situations. Whatever your situation is it’s never too late to try again. You’ve experienced what Peter went through. Your nets are empty. Jesus knows your situation. He knows you are about ready to give up. Jesus gives the promise: “It’s not too late to try again. I’ll go out to deep water.
In our human effort dry fishing spots become abundant with fish when blessed by Jesus.
When you’re in what seems like hopeless situations and it seems there is no one to help. Look to Jesus. Jesus understands your situation.
When Jesus tells Simon to launch out into deep water He is in the boat. Jesus gives the command and promise, “go out to deeper water and you’ll catch many fish.” Jesus gives the command and promise and gets out of the boat.
Jesus could have commanded the fish to jump out of the Sea of Galilee and into their boats. Jesus expects us to be involved in carrying out His miraculous works. Jesus gives you a command a promise then he leaves it up to you to trust Him.
During the three summers I worked in the harvest fields for a custom cutter combining wheat I sensed God’s repeated call to ministry. When Jesus said go out into the deep, my obedience was changing my major the third year of college to Philosophy and Religion. God called and my part was preparing to serve.
A TV repairman was called to fix a television set that had no sound or picture. The repairman was left alone in the room to work on the TV. He spotted the problem immediately: the set was unplugged. The repairman easily had the TV working. He pondered over whether or not to charge his regular repair fee. He decided to only charge for his travel expense and presented the owner with a minimum-charge service bill that read: “Restored isolated connecting cable to primary power source, $25.00.”
Jesus gives us his command and promise our job is to trust Him and His power. In our own strength we are like the TV that’s not plugged in to the power. By faith we yield to Jesus and He gives us His power.
Like Peter when Jesus calls us to follow Him when our circumstance seems hopeless we can answer, “If you say so, I’ll try again.” Another translation says, “Nevertheless at your Word we’ll try again.” We all need a “Nevertheless” of faith in our lives. “Nevertheless at your Word Lord, I’ll launch out into the deep.”
I read about two men that daily rented a boat and fished in a lake. Finally one day they caught their limit – 30 fish. One said to the other, “Mark this spot so we can come back here again tomorrow.” The next day, when they were driving to rent the boat, he asked his friend, “Did you make the spot like I asked?” His friend replied, “Yes, I put a big X on the bottom of the boat.” The other man said, “You dummy! How could you be so stupid: What were you thinking? Now what happens if we don’t get the same boat today?”
Our tendency is to stay in the shallow, safe water of life. We want a no risk, comfortable life experience. We want to be able to see the bottom. To launch out into the deep is to take a step of faith. We can’t see the bottom, a picture of the future. We just trust Jesus. Jesus because you say so, I’ll try again - I’ll obey. We sometimes sing: “If Jesus goes with me I’ll go anywhere.”
Regardless of what happens to you we can know that Jesus is near. Jesus didn’t give a command and promise and then leave. He stayed close by on the shore. When Peter returned with a boatload of fish Jesus was there waiting for him.
When going through deep water you can keep your courage and hope in the Lord. Hope is the untiring conviction that you are not locked permanently into your predicament.
Bill Gaither has written:
Because he lives – I can face tomorrow.
Because he lives – all fear is gone.
Because I know – he holds the future.
And life is worth the living –
Just because he lives.
When going through times of deep water, look to the Lord. Isaiah 40:31, tells of God’s promise: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Eagles seem to sense when a storm is coming long before it breaks. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, the eagle sets its wings so the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.
The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. When storms come look to Jesus and by faith rise above the storms of life on the wings of the Holy Spirit. You are not immune from the storms, but you allow God’s power to lift you above them.
Someone has written:
Christ is no security against storms,
But He is perfect security in storms.
He does not promise an easy passage,
But He does guarantee a safe landing.
From the human perspective problems you face seem hopeless. You need to be reminded there are no hopeless situations when Jesus is near.
Mark 5:25-34 describes a woman in a hopeless condition. Mark 5:25-26 NLT, “There was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years.” The woman had spent her last penny to pay quack doctors and she had gotten worse instead of better. After twelve years she was ready to give up. She may as well admit it; she was going to be sick all her life.
Then we read in verse 27, “She heard about Jesus.” She thought, “If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed.” (Mark 5:28 NLT) The woman elbows her way through the crowd and keeps moving like a quarterback going for the goal. She finally touches the robe of Jesus and “Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed.” 5:29 NLT
The healing power of Christ moved into her life. Her dark hopeless condition experienced an immediate turnaround with a blast of hope.
Mark 2:1-11 tells about another person who was both helpless and hopeless. He was paralyzed and bedfast. He could not walk. The man lived in Capernaum. He head that Jesus was in Capernaum and he wondered if the gossip was true that Jesus could heal people.
While he was thinking about Jesus four of his friends showed up and said they were there to take him to Jesus. They put him on a stretcher and started walking with the man until they came to the house where Jesus was teaching the people. The paralyzed man looked at the house and it was jammed with people with people crowded outside the house. There was no way to get to see Jesus.
The four friends did not let a crowded house stop them from getting their lame friend to Jesus. They climbed the stairs onto the roof and started digging a home in the roof. When it was large enough they lowered the man down to the feet of Jesus. Jesus looked at the man and said, “Son your sins are forgiven.” The man probably through, “Yes I need my sins forgiven, I also need healing.”
The religious leaders questioned the words of Jesus, saying that only God can forgive sins so Jesus was committing blasphemy and speaking against God.
Jesus then said, “So you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…He said to the man, “Get up and take up your mat and walk home.” The man jumped up and praised God all the way home.
Jesus turns hopeless situations into hope.
Life from a human perspective is hopeless. Without God a person is like a boat drifting at sea empty and without purpose. From God’s perspective there are no hopeless situations in life.
Don’t be satisfied to stay near the comfortable shore. Launch out into the deep by faith and trust Jesus, he will provide and bless you and give you a dynamic purpose and an abundant life.
