Lesson 9
Who Believes in You
Luke 5:1-11
There are all types of situations in which people express confidence in others. When and company hires an employee it believes that the individual is capable of doing the job for which he/she has been hired. Marriage is another example of the trust between two people that comes from the belief that I can live with and enjoy a long term relationship until the Lord calls one or both home. In my life there have been people who have expressed a belief in me. Of course one is my wife to whom I have been married for over fifty years. She is the love of my life and my best friend in spite of all my shortcomings she continues to be an encouragement to me.
In my spiritual walk there have been as mentioned before two men who although I no longer in contact with either were my mentors and ones who believed that I had some talents and abilities that could be used in service to God. Probably, I would not be doing what I do today if it had been for those two. The neat part of what they did was to seek me out from among all those they could have helped. I like to think they were a lot Jesus who chose men who never thought of accomplishing what He was calling them to do.
All too often the church suffers because we do not look for the potential in others. We have a tendency to pigeonhole people for a number of reasons. Instead of limiting people and potentially having them go somewhere else we need to rethink ways to involve them in the ministries of the church. As long as we believe they do not have the potential and do not challenge them to serve they will atrophy in their spiritual life. We all too often think of ourselves the way others picture us.
There is a story that is told of a teacher who told that he was going to be teaching the brightest and best in a particular school. Sure enough at the end of the year the students had lived up to his expectations. After the year was over he was then informed that his class had actually been made up of average students. What was the difference between them remaining average and achieving great things? It was the attitude of the teacher who believed in them and challenged to do more than they would have otherwise accomplished.
The question is do we want those who come after us to be just like many today? Is it not more productive for God’s kingdom to challenge people to exceed the expectations that a person may have of himself/herself?
Luke 5:1-3
Jesus had gone down to Judea to teach and preach, but had returned to the area around the Sea of Galilee. Gennesaret was another name of the Sea of Galilee. Luke begins to recount the calling of the first disciples in this chapter.
As had been His practice in Nazareth and previously in Capernaum He once again was teaching the people in Galilee. Remember the words he words of Jesus were spoken with authority and power. Therefore, the people wanted to get as close as they could to hear His words. As they crowded in only those closest to Him would have been able to hear. He notice two boats nearby and had Simon put his boat out a short distance from the shore. Having done so, the water would provide the amplification of His voice so all could hear His teaching.
- Why did Jesus pick that particular location near the Sea of Galilee to teach the people? (He already decided who would be His first disciples and they would be found down at the shoreside.)
- Why did the people press in on Jesus?
- What did this show about the words of Jesus?
- What was the advantage of getting in the boat to speak to the people?
- Why did he pick Simon’s boat? (He already knew him.)
Luke 5:4-7
At the conclusion of His message, He commanded Simon to put his boat further out into the sea and cast down his nets. Jesus seemed to be saying to him, I will join you in your fishing today. Simon responded by letting Jesus know that he and his partners had labored all night and had failed to catch anything. He had spoken correctly because he had continued to turn away from Jesus and return to his fishing. Anything away from the purpose to which God calls a person will bring failure. He then stated that because Jesus wanted him to do so he would comply with His wishes. Simon had heard the same words as all of the others had and understood that Jesus carried within himself an authority like no other man.
From the other gospels it is evident that this was not the first time that Peter and the others had been with Jesus. After previously spending short periods of time with Him they went back to their fishing boats. The first meeting would have taken place as they followed Him after John’s proclamation, calling Jesus the Lamb of God. (See John 1:35-39) In the last verse of Luke 4 it does seem to indicate that any of the four travelled with Jesus when He went into Judea to teach.
With Jesus in the boat, the catch was so great that Peter could not haul them in because to do so would break the nets. His partners came with their boat they filled the two boats to the point of almost sinking.
- Why did Jesus have Simon move out into deeper water and again down his nets? (Jesus knew that he had come up empty handed and wanted to let Simon know that only in Him could he be successful.)
- Why was he willing to do what Jesus commanded?
- Why had the men not continued to walk with Jesus after their previous meetings?
- What did Jesus show to all of them when the catch was so great? (They could accomplish more with Him than by their own puny efforts.)
Luke 5:8
The extraordinary event was more than Peter could handle. He had just witnessed something neither he nor his partners had ever seen in all of their years of fishing for a living. Remember they had been with Jesus on previous occasions and had seen Him perform miracles but were still not convinced that they should follow Him permanently. Now Simon was confronted with a choice. He could once again turn back from the opportunity be presented to him and continue doing what was familiar and comfortable or confess his sin and give up everything to become a disciple of Jesus. Initially, upon seeing the miracle his reaction was to see himself as being totally unworthy of being a disciple of Christ. James, John and Andrew were in the same position. For the moment, however, Jesus was focusing on the man who would become the future leader of the Apostles.
- Why did Peter have trouble grasping what had just occurred?
- What evidence do we have that this was not the first time that Peter and the others had seen Jesus and had been invited to follow Him?
- Why did Peter want Jesus to depart from him?
- Why did he feel that way? (Because he had failed to follow Him earlier.)
Luke 5:10
At that moment the invitation to him, to not only follow Him but also to completely change his way of life by becoming a fisher of men. Jesus wanted Simon and the others to become His disciples. He was the One who reached out to them and chose them to follow Him. This would be the pattern with all of the disciples who He asked to follow and learn from Him for the next three plus years.
It is interesting that the way Jesus went about choosing the men to follow Him was at odds to the normal way of selecting disciples. Within the Jewish religion a young could only become a rabbi after years of dedicated study. If he then proved worthy by excelling in his studies and was willing to spend many years of his life learning from a particular rabbi, he would approach him and ask that he be allowed to become his student. By the time the training was complete the disciple of the rabbi would have thoroughly learned, not only all of the traditions of the Jewish religion but would have memorized good portions if not all of the Old Testament.
The key was that only the brightest and committed men would dare to ask to eventually become a rabbi. By the time a young man would have approached the rabbi, most of them would have discovered they did not have the passion to give so much of their lives to that intense kind of learning. Most men would wind up staying home. They would possibly enter into the family business. In the case of the first disciples of Jesus all of them were fishermen.
Then along came Jesus. He saw men differently than the rabbis. They needed to possess special qualities that were not evident to the rabbis nor did the men see it in themselves. There were two characteristics that were important to Jesus. He saw in them the potential to carry on His work once He had trained them. The second was they did not have to unlearn many of the teachings of the rabbis, thus they would be more receptive to the new teachings that they would hear from the mouth of Jesus.
- Why did Jesus not give Simon the option of remaining as a fisherman of fish but of man?
- What was the process by which a young man might become a disciple of a Jewish rabbi?
- How did that differ from the way Jesus selected His disciples?
- What did Jesus see in those fisherman that caused Him to select them in the first place?
Luke 5:11
Simon, Andrew, James and John had heard what they needed to hear. They immediately, without hesitation, left everything their boats and family to follow after their new master. The fact that He had reached out to them and wanted to include them in His work was enough for them. Each of the men possessed the inner drive to accomplish what Jesus was promising. They only needed someone to light the spark that had remained dormant.
- What caused these men to finally leave the work they had been doing?
- What would it take for each of us to leave our old way of life behind us?
- Why is encouragement such an important factor in each of our lives?
- What did the disciples possess that prompted Jesus to call them? (A drive ingrained in them by earning a living by facing the perils and uncertainty of being fishermen.)
- Think of all the times that you have turned downed opportunities to serve Jesus in a capacity suited to your giftedness.
- Even though you may never reach the status of a rabbi, understand that for anyone who calls himself a disciple of Christ he is to be passionate about God’s Word.
- Understand that to be a disciple is to be passionate about serving Christ.
- Be willing to give anything that keeps you from loving Jesus as you should.
The church is only as strong as the people who are part of it. If we are to impact the world around us we need to become passionate followers of Christ. The word used in the Bible for disciple is Talmud. He is one who is willing to dedicate his whole life to follow Jesus with his whole heart soul and mind. Anything less will weaken the church.
Over the coming months it is important to ask whether we are helping the kingdom of God grow because we are changing. The change will only happen when we respond to the call of Jesus to become His computer experts, managers, electricians, bank tellers and military men and women serving Him.