"Called to Go Deeper" 2010

Psalm 42:1-2, 5-8       Luke 5:1-11

 

Psalm 42 Longing for God and His Help in Distress.

1As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.  2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?  5Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help 6and my God.  

My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,    from Mount Mizar.  7Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.  8By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

 

Luke 5:1-11 Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

 

An older gentleman goes out onto a frozen lake to fish.

            He cuts a hole in the ice, drops his line and begins fishing.

  But after an hour or so he still hasn't had a  bite  or even a nibble.

 

Then a young boy comes out onto the ice,  also to do some fishing.

            He too cuts a hole, drops his line and begins fishing near him.

    Almost immediately the boy pulls out a remarkably large fish,

            and the old guy figures that it must   just be beginner's luck.

 

Then just a few moments later, the boy pulls out another,

            then another, and he keeps catching more and more fish.

Meanwhile,

     the old guy still hasn't had  so much as  even a nibble on his line.

 

Finally, he trudges over to the kid,

            points to his string of fish and says,

                                                "You mind telling me your secret?"
The boy looks up at him and says,

            "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm."
                                    "What was that?" the man asked.
                                                He repeats, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rarrm."

 

"Look," the old man complains,  

                        "I can't understand a word of what you're saying."
So the boy leans over, brings his hand up to his mouth,

            spits something out, and says again,            

                                    "You have to keep the worms warm!"

 

 

In the Luke text today, Simon Peter discovers another,

            perhaps even better way to improve your fishing … which is,

                        to follow directions when Jesus urges you to go deeper.

vs. 4~8

            When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’  Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.  Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’  When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. … But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’

 

Jesus has been teaching along the shoreline,

            and when it got to be too crowded,  

                        he gets into Simon Peter's boat and teaches from there.

 

As a professional fisherman,  the one area of life where Simon

            felt most competent and in control was in catching fish.

 

So when

            this carpenter from Nazareth   brought in a net-tearing catch,

                        this was speaking in a language                                            

                                    which Simon Peter, the Jewish fisherman understood.

 

This was more than just another story about catching lots of fish.

            It was a prophetic sign and a theological statement

                        which reveled   his power and who Jesus really was.

And the challenge by Jesus    to go deeper    shocked Simon's world,

    and forever changed his perspective, never to be the same again.

 

vs. 10b-11

            Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."  When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

 

This encounter with Jesus so totally captivated Simon Peter,

            that it swept him off his feet like a teenager falling in love.

    Jesus so completely changed his perspective and his priorities,

            that he willingly left everything behind to follow his Lord.

 

This call to a deeper relationship with God redefined who he was…

            which leads to another question,

                          how has  being a Christian made any difference in my life?

           

In seminary, a friend went with a group of students and professors,

            to visit churches and mission projects in Central America.

                        They didn’t stay in hotels or touristy places,

                                    but lived with ordinary people, in the poorest areas,

                                                getting an insider’s view and local perspective.

 

Coming from his  white middle class   suburban American   affluence,

            my friend was exposed to  suffering and sickness from poverty,

                 truly seeing starvation & hopelessness for the first time,

                                    and his fundamental understandings,

                                                his assumptions about life were forever changed.

 

The social diseases

            of poverty and political corruption mattered to him now.

     He couldn’t go back to his easy and comfortable former life,

         or return to his disinterested views of blissful complacency.

 

He could no longer be  indifferent to hunger, to sickness & suffering.

    He couldn’t even eat   without remembering the starvation he saw.

The images of war orphans, malnutrition, & despair stayed with him,

            along with the amazing people of faith   he met and experienced.

 

Frankly when he returned, he nearly drove the rest of us crazy.

            Every topic in every class, every conversation at every meal

                somehow related back to his experiences in Central America…

 

   … because that mission trip became for him

            a pivotal life experience that redefined his Christian faith

                        radically reorienting his priorities and perspective,

                                    and especially   his faith walk and journey with God.            

 

Whether its Simon Peter the fisherman, or a young seminary student,

            the experience and power of God’s presence    alters human life.

 

If we will stop, listen and obey,

            when we follow Christ, the direction of lives will change,

                and our relationship with God will grow and deepen further.à

 

We will be called to serve, and strengthened to endure,

            and a taste of God's gracious love and empowering presence

                        will always   create in us   a hunger and longing for more.

 

One of the places where I have observed this most powerfully,

            has been in the courage and strength of Christian endurance,

                        endurance even amid terrible suffering & losses in life.

 

I saw and witnessed this most mightily and unexpectedly

            in a little mountain village of Abetifi, in Ghana.

It was on a Sunday morning , and a good woman had died recently,

            who had  been a well-educated and respected school principal.

 

Right after worship, her husband and the father of their children

    was having to leave to look for work in the distant city of Accra.

                        Their children were having to be split up and sent away,

                                    divided among various relatives and family friends.

 

The children were about to leave the only home they had ever known,

            away from all their friends,  their church and  their school,

                        away from the comforts of their former familiar lives,

                                                in addition to the tragic loss of their mother.

    Considering the poverty, distances and violence of Africa,

            it was unlikely that family  would be all together  ever again.

 

This was going to be their last Sunday worship and time together,

            and at the close, the father asked his 14 year old daughter

                        to sing a song   we will sing,  which comes from Psalm 42.

 

It was one of the most beautiful and moving,

            most powerful moments of worship that I have ever experienced.

In a clear, hauntingly beautiful and courageous voice,

            standing all alone, singing a cappella,            looking to God,

                        her voice echoed the poignant and piercing words:

               "As the deer panteth for the water, So my soul longeth after Thee

                     You alone are my heart's desire, And I long to worship Thee."

 

Her confident gaze of amazing faith is forever etched in my memory.

            I can still hear her voice, tight with her emotional struggle,

                        as with great feeling and godly passion

                                    she declared her trust in God, her hope:

          " You alone are my strength, my shield, To You alone may my spirit yield

                    You alone are my heart's desire, And I long to worship Thee."

 

That remarkable young African girl put wings on Psalm 42 for me;

            that despite

                        losing almost everything in life she had ever valued;

                                    upheld by her faith in God, with astonishing courage,

                                                she found voice, courage and strength to cry out,

                                                                “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”

 

There was little or nothing left in life for her to hold onto,

            except  for   her personal relationship and walk with Godà

                        as she faced upheaval and absolute uncertainty…

… as nothing was certain concerning her future,

            except that there would be severe & difficult hardships ahead.

 

That young girl came to God in abject emptiness, suffering and hurt

            but  because she knew God in such a close and personal way,

                             she had courage to go on, clothed in the assurance

                                    of the truth and promises of God in Jesus Christ.

 

Her pain and loss, were so intense and so encompassing,

            that nothing less  than God Almighty  could possibly help,

                        and so she hungered & longed for a deeper presence of God.

 

Today at the Table, may God create such a hunger and thirst in us,

            for there is so very much more that the Lord desires for us,

                        if we will follow and submit to grace a little bit deeper.

 

The final and important question in life is not going to be

            how much I can accomplish, even for God in this life,

                        or how many points did I put on some celestial scoreboard.

 

The only meaningful, important and critical question

     will be if I know Jesus,  well enough   to love and walk with Him;

                        and have we experienced God’s grace and known God’s love, 

                                    that love   and mercy   without conditions or limits.

 

 

At the Table,

     its not a matter of our efforts striving search and seek for God,

                        but rather, its quietly, humbly   allowing ourselves

                            to be found,  and to be loved,  and to be graced,  by God…

 

            … it is   just as Jesus said to Simon Peter,

                        Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.