We are starting this series that I am calling Becoming Peter. Now the point of this series is not that you would become like Peter, though that is a worthy goal. The apostle Paul proclaimed to the Philippians to imitate him in Philippians 3:17. We would certainly do well to imitate the apostle Peter and we will consider doing so in this series. But the point of this series will be more focused on how Peter became Peter. Remember that Peter is not his original name. His parents gave him the name, Simon. When he first encountered Jesus, his name was Simon. All of his life everyone who knew him called him, Simon, until he met Jesus.
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). (John 1:40-42 ESV)
We must remember that names meant something back then unlike today. We choose names for our children by how they sound. They chose names by what they meant. Jesus said that Simon would be called “Rock.” Cephas is in Aramaic which means “rock” and Peter is Greek which also means “rock.” So the point of our series that we begin today is how does Jesus move and change Simon (“he has heard”) to become Peter (“rock”). When God changes the names of people, it is something to which we must pay careful attention. God came to a man named Abram and changed his name to Abraham. What you may remember is that the name Abraham means “father of a multitude.” At the time of his name change, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was barren. But this name change was a foreshadowing of what God would do with him. In the same way, Simon’s name being changed to Peter was a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do with him. So let’s spend some time this summer looking at how Simon became Peter. Please open your copies of God’s word to Luke 5:1-11.
Preparing the Moment (Luke 5:1-5)
As we come to Luke 5 we are told that Jesus is teaching the word of God and there are multitudes of people listening to him. Jesus is standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (also called Gennesaret and also called Tiberias) and the crowd is pressing in closer and closer so that they can hear Jesus teach. You can imagine Jesus backing up little by little as the crowd presses closer until Jesus’ feet begin to touch the water’s edge. In verse 2 we read that Jesus sees two fishing boats that were there next to him on the water’s edge. The fishermen are out of their boats but they have not gone far. The fishermen are near those boats, washing their fishing nets. Rather than continuing to be pushed into the sea, Jesus steps into one of the boats and that boat belonged to Simon. The fishermen are cleaning their nets but Jesus asks Simon to push his boat out just a little from shore. Now the crowds pushed all the way up to the water’s edge. So Jesus now takes a seat in Simon’s boat and continues to teach the people from the boat on the edge of the shore.
But when Jesus was done teaching the crowds, Jesus was not done teaching. Jesus tells Simon in verse 4 to put out into deeper water and let down the nets for a catch. In short, let’s go out into the sea and go fishing. Now I want us to appreciate what Jesus just asked Simon to do. The men are washing their nets which means that they just got done fishing. Fishing nets could be hundreds of feet long and the washing of nets was not a process that took a couple of minutes, but hours. The fishermen would untangle the nets, clean out any debris in the nets, inspect the nets for tears and holes, and then dry out the nets. If you have been fishing before, this request would be something similar to asking to take out a modern fishing boat after you have cleaned up the deck and loaded the boat into the trailer.
What I want us to consider at this moment are all the excuses that Simon can give at this moment. In fact, Simon is going to state some of them and some of them are implied. It is clear that these men are done. They are washing their nets because they are done fishing, not because they are preparing to fish. Simon says this to Jesus in verse 5. “Master, we have worked hard all night….” We are tired. We are exhausted. We have been throwing that heavy net into the sea and dragging it back into the boat all night. Not only have we worked all night, but we did not catch anything. The fish are not there. Simon has three perfect excuses. First, we are finished for the day. We cleaned our nets. Second, we are exhausted. We worked all night. Third, this is pointless. There is no catch. We are the fishermen and we know what we are doing. All of the reasons are there to not do this. All excuses are there to dismiss Jesus. Jesus is a carpenter, not a fisherman.
Now it would be easy to stop there and many people do stop there. We hear what Jesus says but we have the excuses ready to not do what he says. We are tired. We think it is pointless. We are done. But this is not where Simon stops. Simon does not stop where we are tempted to stop. Look at verse 5 carefully and see what Simon says. “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Even though we are tired, we will do it because you said so. Even though it is pointless, we will do it because you said so. Even though we are done and have just cleaned these nets, we will do it because you said so. Friends, nothing can happen in our lives and nothing will change or be transformed until we ignore our excuses and trust in God’s word. This is what Simon does. He has all the excuses ready but sets them aside because Jesus said to go out into the deep water for a catch. It is not that a true disciple is never tempted to listen to the excuses. It is that a true disciple ignores the excuses and trusts what Jesus said. True disciples listen even if it does not make sense. True disciples listen even if exhausted. True disciples listen even when we think we are done. Would you think about how different everything would have been here in the beginning if Peter did not say, “But at your word!”? Can you imagine if Peter gave his excuses and left in that moment? I wonder how many times we have stopped God’s transformation process on us because we listened to the excuses rather than listened to the Master!
Breaking Nets (Luke 5:6-11)
When they threw their nets into the sea, these men caught so many fish that the nets started breaking. They signal for those in the other boat to come and help them with this catch. You will notice that the great catch was only in the boat where Jesus was. This is not just some good luck where everyone is having a great day fishing and these fishermen just mistimed the moment. No, it is only in this boat where Jesus is sitting that the great catch of fish occurs. This boat catches so much fish that the boat is sinking.
This is a key transformational moment for Simon. In fact, it seems that the text wants to show us this because rather than calling him Simon as the text has done for the whole chapter, the text calls him Simon Peter. When Simon Peter saw this, he has a transformational moment. Simon does not look at what has happened and think that we need to hire Jesus to be in our fishing business. Simon does not see the money. Simon does not see the success. Simon does not think about a booming business or having a fishing empire. Notice what Simon sees in verse 8. He falls down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Do you know what Simon sees? Simon sees the glory of Jesus and his own unworthiness. Simon sees Jesus’ majesty and his own sinfulness. Simon is overwhelmed by his own insignificance and feels the need to distance himself from Jesus. Jesus, you need to get far away from me. I am a sinful man. You cannot be around me. Simon is just overwhelmed. Simon does not simply see the sign. Simon considers the meaning of the sign. Simon does not think, “Look at me!” Or “Look at us!” Simon looks and sees Jesus and that casts a dark shadow on his own unworthiness and sinfulness.
Now look at verse 10. What is Jesus going to say to this? What Simon has said is not wrong. What Simon is doing in not inappropriate. But notice that Jesus does not respond with the words, “You are right! I am too holy for you!” There are many things that Jesus could have said and done that this moment that would have confirmed everything that Simon was confessing. But look at what Jesus tells Simon. “Do not be afraid.” What do you mean, “Do not be afraid?” Please think about this. The one who causes us to see our sinfulness and unworthiness is also the solution to our sinfulness and our unworthiness. Simon sees the problem but Jesus is the solution. Jesus did not come so that we would run away because of our sinfulness. Jesus did not come to reinforce our unworthiness of him. Jesus did not stay away from humanity because of his holiness but came near to rescue us.
Simon does not need to run from Jesus. Simon does not need to ask Jesus to go away. Simon needs to get on the mission. Look at the rest of verse 10. “From now on you will be catching men.” You do not need to go away from Jesus. You need to work with Jesus. You need to let go of our nets and follow Jesus. You will notice in verse 11 that this is what these men do. They leave everything and follow Jesus. Do not be surprised by this. If you see Jesus, then you will leave it all behind. If we truly understand who Jesus is and we truly understand who we are, then we will leave it all behind. Do not be surprised that they leave it all behind. Be surprised by those who will not leave it all behind. If you will not give it all up for Jesus, then you must not have seen him. Jesus has the power to change you. Jesus has the power to change your life. But you must leave it all behind. Leave the excuses behind. Leave the reasons behind. Leave what you think is important behind. You do not need to hide from Jesus. You need to follow Jesus. What word of Jesus are you not following because you have your reasons? What has God said that you are not doing because you have your excuses? Do you still have your boat on the land and will not push out into the sea because you think you have good reasons? Friends, we cannot be disciples and we cannot experience God’s transformation of our lives if we will not push the boat out into the water because Jesus said so. What is holding you down? What is holding you back? What is keeping you from becoming what God wants to mold you into becoming? Do not be afraid to leave those things behind and follow Jesus.