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Jim Clements · Tidal Church Moncton · September 1, 2024
Jim Clements looks at Luke 5:1-11, where Jesus calls Simon to push out and let down his nets. He invites us to expect God's call each day, say yes quickly and courageously, and join together in being discipled by God and on mission.
Topics: Faith, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] When I was growing up, my grandfather was the first person to take me fishing. And you think that when you go fishing, typically you use a rod and reel and everybody thinks about all the different types of rods and reels that you like. And this was the first thing that my grandfather gave me to go fishing with. He gave me a bucket. And if you are from Newfoundland, you may have been fishing with a bucket before too. Now this is the church's bucket, so I didn't drill holes in the bottom of it, but if you could picture holes drilled into the bottom of this bucket in Newfoundland when I was a child, when the tide would come in, there's a fish called capelin.
[0:58] A capelin rolled in with the tide. And so you could literally go out with a bucket, scoop it into the water, and as the water drained all out, you were left with fish in the bucket. This was the first thing I was ever given to go fishing with. As I grew up, things get a little bit more sophisticated. I had to go to the depths of my stories to find this. This is my first ever fly rod. And if you fish and you don't fly fish, there is nothing better than fly fishing. Once you go and you switch from other, that's just my opinion.
[1:48] And then I got my first ever Atlantic salmon was caught on this fly rod, and then this one I have never used. After my grandfather passed away and my grandma passed away, I found this and I was given this. This is my great grandfather's first ever fly rod, and it's wood, placed in and handmade. It's got the other pieces, and I just try to think how, like, it's so delicate, like I wouldn't even dare to use it.
[2:36] So I just keep it. We hang on to things sometimes because it's part of our legacy. It gives us good memories. There's nothing wrong with it. And today we're gonna be talking about fishing, and even to the point for those of you that are big into fishing, this is a Loch Leven eyed fish box. It was my great grandfather's. It's from the early 1900s. It still has his hand-tied flies in it. I've never used any of them. We are gonna talk about fishing today if you haven't figured that out. I heard somebody say it.
[3:22] We're gonna talk about fishing today. Alright, in Luke 5:1-11, one day, as Jesus was preaching on the shore of Galilee, great crowds pressed into Him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats on the water's edge, for fishermen had left them and they were washing their nets, stepping in one of the boats. Jesus said to Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So He sat in the boat and taught the crowd. From there, people flocked to listen to Jesus speak and teach.
[4:11] People still today are being drawn in to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is still relevant today. Jesus knew that in order for all to hear, He had to push back just a little for them to hear. He invested, He wanted to. He was bold enough that He stepped into someone else's boat and said, "Let's push off from the crowd so I can teach." And Simon, he's gotta be tired. He's gotta be thinking, "Who is this guy?" He's gotta be thinking, "What is happening right now?" But he says, "Yes." At the end of our days, at the end of our weeks, when God comes to us and asks us, "Will you serve others?
[5:09] Will you teach others? Will you teach the gospel, teaching like Jesus?" Is urgent for all to hear. The story continues. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Now go out. It is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish." "Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard last night and didn't catch a thing." What is it that at the end of your day, when God asks, "Do you have expectation?" Do you go through your day for me, when I go through the end of my day and I get to the end of my day, like, I go, "God asked me to do something, I did it."
[6:01] I go into each day with expectation that God is gonna ask me to do something. I go into each day expecting to share or to teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I know you look, "Oh, you're a pastor." Not everybody sees me as a pastor. I was at an event last night, wasn't a church event. And all of a sudden people start talking to me and we're having discussions. Next thing I know, we're talking about marriage. Next thing I know, I've got two marriages lined up to do. God used. Like, what is a pastor?
[6:46] You know, well, you're like one thing inside the building, one thing outside the building. I said, "No, I'm a pastor. Like, I'm here with you. I'm the same person that I am inside." Are we? Do we have the expectation and are we quick to say, "Yes"? You've heard me, you get tired of me saying, and I'm sure Gisèle and I have lived our life in ministry, that we go, our relationship with God, the answer's yes. Now what's the question? Or do we say no? Do we expect to be called like Simon and are we quick to answer with courage? Scripture goes on, "But if you say so, but if you say so, I'll let my nets down again."
[7:32] And this time their nets were so full of fish, they began to tear. A shout for help brought their partners in another boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish on the verge of sinking. Do you live a life of anticipation when God calls you and He asks you to do something? It's the end of the day, the end of the week, you're tired, you haven't been expecting it, but maybe you've been expecting it and He asks you to do something that makes no sense. Think of Simon fishing all day, cleaning his nets.
[8:18] And then God says, "Put your nets down." Do you live a life of anticipation? Knowing, though, that when God asks you, when God asks you, when you are expecting, it's His plan, not your plan, it's His plan, not your plan. We should anticipate answers and results when we step out knowing that God's got this. If any of us are gonna rely upon ourselves, it's, you might get away with it a few times, but it's gonna need God in it.
[9:03] The scripture goes on. When Simon realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh Lord, please leave me. I'm such a sinful man," for he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with them. His partners, James, John, the son, they were brothers. Were also amazed. We will miss it sometimes when God comes our way. Maybe we're going through the motions, maybe we're not expecting, maybe we're not anticipating.
[9:54] Let me be the first to tell you if no one's ever said this. If the only thing that you do in your life is show up here on Sunday at 10:30, or soon to be 9:15 at 11, and that's all that you're doing in your life of Christ, this is what you're wearing. You've got a life jacket on, just hoping to survive, to get picked out of the ocean, picked out of the water so you don't drown. And God has so much more for you that you don't need a life jacket in living a life that's honoring to God. You don't need that life jacket to keep your faith moving in a direction that it should go.
[10:45] And so many people are just hanging on. God shows up when you need Him to show up because it's His plan, not our plan. And so the timing is His timing, not ours. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid. From now on you'll be fishing for people." Fishing. And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. Here we see Jesus calling His first disciples to the mission. Mission is being commissioned. There's no time to wait.
[11:30] And yes, that's for you, for each of you. The Hebrew word for disciple is talmid. It stresses the relationship between the rabbi and the student, giving up everything to follow the teacher. Almost 30 years ago, Gisèle and I said yes to God for the calling in our life. We lived at 297 Buckingham Avenue in Riverview. We sold our home. We sold both our cars, we sold our wedding gifts, we sold our furniture. We sold everything possibly that we could sell to follow the call with the ministry. Two young children, two and one at the time, and everything we owned when we left to follow the call fit in 12 feet of a trailer.
[12:22] Not all of us are called like that, but all of us are called. All of us are called to sacrifice something, so not all of us are called to give it all up and to sell it all and to follow a call like that. But you are called to sacrifice something. You are called to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are called to be expecting, anticipating, and to be on mission, teaching like Jesus. Together we do this. Teaching like Jesus is urgent for all to hear, anticipating answers and results, stepping out, knowing that He's got this. Expect to be called like Simon. Quickly say yes and do it with courage.
[13:11] The mission has already been commissioned. There is no time to wait. It's you and it's about you. The scripture today, we talked about the first disciples. As I've said, since then, God has been calling disciples His whole life. He's been fishing, fishing, and He's been casting His line out for people. Another thing I'm gonna tell you this morning that you've probably heard, but I'm gonna tell you again, is that you are all being discipled.
[13:58] Every person in this room is currently being discipled. You're either being discipled by the world or you're being discipled by God. You get to make that choice. You are following the things and you're casting out to catch the things that you want, that you think are for your life, that are gonna make you happy or bring you joy that the world tells you. And companies are spending millions and millions of dollars to do that. So none of you can ever say you're not being discipled anymore. What I want is for all of you to be discipled by God.
[14:47] That is the goal that us as a church are chasing after. We are called to be followers of a living King. We are called because Jesus gave His life and sacrificed it all for our sins. We are called because someday there will be a new heaven and a new earth that we will live in eternity with God and celebrate together. We are called to have a Moncton campus. We are called to have a Shediac campus. We are called to have a Miramichi campus. We're gonna keep answering the call that God placed on our life as a church each and every day because there are people that are still waiting to hear the gospel of Jesus. And you've gotta be part of it. We have to do it as part of a team. In one week, we will start with two services, making more room for families and their children to be ministered to.
[15:40] In three weeks, we hope to be able to tell you the new branding that we have and everything that goes with the church that we're gonna be. In five weeks, we launch the Shediac campus, and the Miramichi campus will go. All of us are needed. Every one of us is needed. It may be heavy, but together, carrying the load can remove incredible barriers. Carrying the load can lift things the normal people can't lift by themselves. We want to remove barriers so that everybody that is within earshot can have multiple times to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can become followers and disciples of Him, so they can stand in a baptismal tank and say, "Yes, He is my Lord and Savior.
[16:31] And yes, I will follow Him the days of my life." Together, as humans, together we can accomplish amazing things. And just as an example, as humans, let me just show you this brief video. As humans, what we can do, as humans, we can accomplish great things.
[18:00] I don't know about you. I'm not here to do what humans can do. I'm here to do what the living God can do in a world, in a community, in the lives of people. And that is supernatural. That happens. And if you don't believe in the supernatural work that God does and the freeing grace of Jesus Christ, then we need to have a chat. But this church exists for us to be in places like this to celebrate together. This church exists for you to be in small groups and study together. This church exists so that we can be in a community and serve together.
[18:49] This church exists so that we can financially support the callings of what God places on this church and support together. This church exists so that we have intentional relationships with other people that need to find Jesus together. We do this together and not by ourselves.