EverGrace Church

Dennis White: Pastor Dennis, if you didn't know, and we're excited to have everyone here. If you did not get a welcome bag, make sure that you get one. In there, there's something very important because we are a church about community and discipleship and really engaging into our city. If you didn't get a bag, that means there's no connect card in your hand. That means we can't connect with you. Church, we're not here to be islands; we're meant to be here to be supported by the person sitting next to you.

If you didn't get a bag or you didn't fill out a connect card, please fill that out. You could do it online, too, if you're savvy like that. That way, we can walk with you as we walk forward towards Jesus. Amen. Let's open our Bibles to Luke chapter five. Today, we are beginning a new series. I do have a clock here, and I know that your chairs are made of metal. I did forget the kids, so kids, you're dismissed. If you want to go to Sunday school, feel free to join Justin and Marcella. I know the chairs are metal and they're cold, so I have been told to only preach for three hours. If the apostle Paul could do it, we can do it, right?

We're starting a new series today, and I want to think about this thought, which is important for us in our context of society today: Jesus sees me. Do you know that you are valuable to the Lord Jesus today? I'm on social media a little bit because I do this church stuff, and it's amazing how addictive it can become, scrolling, liking, and making sure that people like your stuff. In the midst of all this world and all of these friends, we are sitting alone in our bedrooms or on our couches alone.

I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, and I see zero comments on our church's Facebook, which is okay; I'm not bothered by it. But then I wake up in the morning—I'm an early riser from New England originally—and I see lots of likes and lots of comments. That tells me that people were up late at night alone on Facebook. No surprise. But that also tells me that there is a need for people to be seen, not only by each other but by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're going to talk about that today in Luke chapter five. We're going to read verses one through 11. It says, "On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the people from the boat."

"And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water and let out your nets for a catch.' And Simon answered, 'Master, we have toiled all night and took nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets.' And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell on his knees at Jesus and said, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.'"

"For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were the partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on, you will catch men.' And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Though this is a story that many of us have read, I guarantee that we don't have the correct lens as we have read it.

We ask today that you will open our eyes so that we can see what you have to say to us. We want to drown out all of the confusion, all the distractions, and the excitement. Right now, we want to hear what you have to say to us. Lord, speak loud. Be bold, correct, and be gentle, for we are in need of your grace this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. When I read this passage a few times, I asked myself what this passage is about. Like you, I assumed that it was about the disciples being called.

That is what happens when you read this passage. You see that the first disciples of Jesus are being told to leave what they have and follow Him. I think about it and wonder, isn't it amazing? I would have loved to be Peter, James, or John in this situation. Jesus has already done a few miracles. He's already preached a few times and he's already drawing a crowd. In the midst of this crowd, the finger is being pointed at you, and it's being said, "You, come and follow Me." That is exciting.

In my own life, I can parallel this and say I want to be called by God. I have heard many sermons preached on this very text, preaching that you have been called by God. Amen, that is true. We'll get there, maybe eventually, somewhere towards the end of my three hours. But there's something that happens before this because what happens with us is that I can look at my life and say, "What am I doing well for God today?" I want you to ask yourself that question.

Usually, what happens is I ask that question and then I can say, "Yes, because of that, I can be used by God." Often, that is what happens. I am good at music, so I end up serving God with music. I am not good at music; guess what I am not doing? I'm not singing. I wasn't very good at slides, so if any of you got lost, it’s my fault. It becomes this idea that I grow and I mature and then God can use me. Then I say, "Wow, look at what God is doing in my life. God has picked me."

God has used me to give an introduction at church, or to preach a sermon, or to teach Sunday school. God has used me to do X, Y, and Z, and I love it. God has picked me. But look at what happens on the reverse. This is actually my life because many times I am not excited about my gifts and say, "Look at what God has done; God has picked me." It's the exact opposite because I say I am too weak; therefore, God has not picked me. Have you ever said that?

I guarantee that most of you are humble, if we want to call it humility. Most of us look at ourselves that way and we say, "I have nothing to give to God; therefore, God has not called me." I want to tell a story I've never shared about my basketball career. Some of you are laughing because there isn't one, but there is. When we moved to Baltimore in high school, I tried out for the basketball team. There were three days of tryouts. I'm a hard worker; I can run fast and I have big elbows, so I can carry my own on the basketball court.

I ran harder and tried harder than anyone else. On Friday afternoon at the end of school, they put your name on a board to see who made the team, just like in the movies. I was excited, so I ran and looked at the board and assumed the inevitable: that I did not make the varsity team. I was looking for "W" for my last name, White, and it wasn't there at the bottom. I thought, "Okay, there's still the JV team." I looked down and, guess what, my name was there.

I'm from Maine; we don't have basketball courts, we have trees. I never played basketball in my life and I tried out for the team, but my name was there on the JV team. I was so excited. I spent the next three months of basketball season trying so hard during practice and resting so hard during the game. I tell this story because it can be like this: I try and I work; therefore, I'm chosen. Yet, at the same time, I am exemplifying this very thing where I am not quite good enough, am I?

I quit basketball. This is what happens in my life. But when I am good enough, I feel excited. When I saw my name on that board, I felt special and I said, "God sees in me that which no one else can see." I said, "I have been called; therefore, I need to work harder." During those three months of practices, I tried harder to get off the bench. I said, "I am called; now I have value." Has anyone ever said that? I know I have. In my own Christian walk, I say that sometimes on a weekly basis.

Ultimately, what I am saying is that I finally am seen. God has seen me. My church has seen me. My peers have seen me. I am seen. For a minute, I want you to take the lens off of yourself and put it on something else. I want you to think about the passage that we read. This is what amazed me because the passage here is not about Peter, James, and John being called. If you take them out of the passage, who is left? You can say it: Jesus.

This entire passage has nothing to do with Simon being great and being called. It has nothing to do with James and John being in the right place at the right time and being called by God, but has everything to do with Jesus Christ. In our own lives, if we take away everything—all the accolades, all the achievements, and all the negativity and bad trauma that we have—what is left in your life? Ask yourself that question.

When you're filling out a job application and you put in your resume, what do you put on there? You put all your accolades. You start printing off certificates you never even had just to make yourself look good. You dig in the files and find that certificate you got when you were 11 years old and put it in there. You do anything to get that resume a little thicker. I want to point to some verses here. This is what the apostle Paul says about his achievements in Philippians 3:8.

He says, "Indeed, I count everything loss." He's speaking about his achievements, not all the negativity. He says that they are loss. For what? "For the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord." Isn't that amazing? I want you to think with me for a minute. Take all of your achievements and throw them away because they're worthless. What are you left with now? All your trauma. Thank you, Pastor Dennis. Now I'm left with trauma.

Wait, what does the apostle Paul say about all those negative experiences in my life? In 1 Corinthians 2:2, he says, "For I have decided to know nothing among you except one thing: Christ Jesus." Here, Paul is not talking to a church with a lot of accolades. Read 1 Corinthians over and over again; you're going to see that, actually, it's the opposite. There are a lot of problems in that church. Every time I speak about the church in Corinth, I say it would not be a church that you would want to go to.

You would not be sending your kids to their children's ministry because they were not a good church. Here is what the apostle Paul says. He says everything that is negative, he puts it aside. "I am determined when I look into your eyes, I only see one thing: Christ Jesus." Again, I'll ask you the question: when you get rid of your accolades and you get rid of all that negativity in your life, what are you left with? Kenneth Boa, in his book called Spiritual Formation, says that we are not spiritual doings; he says that we are spiritual beings.

Meaning that we are called to be in a place. We're not called to do accolades or bad things, but we are called to be in a place, and that is a place where God is. In this passage, the real message here is the power of Jesus. We see His power in three different areas. The first area that we see His power is in the Word. This entire passage is about the power of Jesus, and the first place we see it is in His Word.

In verses one through three, the first thing that we see is that Jesus is preaching. What is the crowd doing? It is pressing. That's not a gentle word. I don't know how many of you have ever traveled to another country, but I lived for a few years in Asia. Everywhere you go, you are being pressed. You get onto the bus and there's always room for 10 more. Just when you think there's not enough room, some little lady gets on with her cane and pushes and gets on the bus with you. You are pressed.

That's what this word here for "press" is. The crowd became so close to Jesus that He’s at the edge. The only place for Him to go is on the boat. He didn't go on the boat just because He could project better, but because it was safer. What was He doing? It says that He was preaching the Word of God. These people were hungry to hear the Word of God. I like words a little bit, so I love this.

There is this idea in Greek texts where it's called a haplous, meaning that you have a word and then, as we go along in the text, that word gains value. Here, we have a word, and the word is "Word." He's teaching the Word of God. Very simply, that means that He is telling the congregation the mind of Jesus. It literally means the written Word of God. But words are designed to communicate ideas, and what are ideas designed for? To communicate thoughts.

Jesus was taking the Word of God and He was opening it before the crowd. He was communicating the ideas that God designed for that crowd, and then He was communicating the very mind of God. They were hungry and pressing, and they were saying, "I want to know what God thinks." They were getting closer and closer because they wanted to know the mind of God. We see that He had authority when He spoke because of the pressing. The word "Word" is further developed in the text.

Later on, after Jesus is done speaking, He looks at Simon and says, "Push the boat out and cast your nets out." Remember, Peter might have been a fisherman, but he wasn't an idiot. Actually, he was a very good fisherman. He had several boats and another group of men that were part of his team, so he was a very successful fisherman. The best time to catch fish on the Sea of Tiberias is to go fishing at night. They were fishing all night and what did they catch? Nothing.

Isn't that amazing? You're good at something, you're a professional at something, and you end up with nothing. This speaks of our humanity, by the way. A lot of you are good at something; you're amazing at it. I would go to you in a heartbeat and ask for wise counsel about the areas that you are good at, and yet Peter shows up with nothing. Jesus says, "Go back out and cast your net out."

Peter says, "We've been doing this all night, Jesus. I'm good at this, and I did this all night and nothing happened." Not even a minnow, Eugene Peterson says in The Message. Not even a minnow. There's nothing there. But Peter says, "At Your word." Jesus is revealing His power through the Word of God, not only in the written text but also in the personal application in people's lives. See how that word develops? Someone else has learned the Bible. We see in the gospels who else knew the Bible: Pharisees and Sadducees. They knew it better than you and me. The devil also knew His scripture, and it did them zero good. We can have a relationship with the written Word.