Lk 5.1-11 Epiphany 5   Hymns: 567, 564, 557, 562

The Apostle Paul writes, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith...it is a gift of God..." (Eph.2.8,9). You are a Christ-ian by the grace of God...only because God chose you to receive the gift of faith to believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin.

Just what does this mean for you personally...to believe in Jesus? You believe you are a sinner, condemned by God, but also you believe you are forgiven...loved by God. You believe that you are forgiven because Jesus died on a cross for you where he paid the debt of your sin on your behalf. You owe him nothing; his love and forgiveness are free! Simply believe.

You believe that while he was on this earth Jesus lived a perfect life. He never had a sinful thought, never spoke a sinful word, never did something that was sinful. And his perfect life is credited to you. It’s as though you lived a perfect life and that’s how God looks at you...you are perfect and holy, as if you never sinned in any way in your life!

You believe that you will die some day because it is a sinful world in which you live and you are still a sinful person. But you also be-lieve that because Jesus died and rose again from his grave, you will also rise from your grave, you will come back to life just as Jesus did and he will take you to heaven, body and soul, to live with him there in a perfect and sinless place forever and forever and forever. This is what it means to be a Christian.

And there’s more. Being a Christian also means living your life with a Christian attitude and wanting to share what you know about Jesus with other people. That’s what Jesus expects us to do, to live with a Christian attitude and to share what we know about him with others. And he made this clear in a very dramatic way when he was with his disciples. Even though we haven’t experi-enced the kind of miracle Jesus did for his disciples that we read about in our text, nonetheless what Jesus said to his disciples after that miracle he still says to us today and to Christians of every generation. And that is: CATCH MEN.

Jesus used the occupation of his disciples to make the point that he wanted them to be telling people about him...Jesus. The disciples had been fishing all night without catching any fish. They were cleaning their fishing nets. And Jesus was nearby, speaking the Word of God to a crowd of people. We don’t have to guess what that Word of God was that Jesus was telling them. He was telling them that he was Messiah sent from God to save the world from sin and damnation. It must have been a large crowd because Jesus got into one of the fishing boats, pushed out into the water a short distance where it was easier for the people to see and hear him.

After he finished speaking he told the disciples to go fishing again. Peter put up a mild protest. "We’ve been fishing all night and didn’t catch anything. But if that’s what you want us to do, we’ll do it. But I don’t expect we’ll have any different results especially because the time to go fishing is at night and not during the day... which all of us who make our living in fishing understand! But if that’s what YOU want us to do, we’ll do it."

It was all about trust, wasn’t it? It was all about going against the odds (fishing during the day and not at night). And Peter didn’t be-lieve that Jesus could succeed where the "odds" were against him. You know the outcome.

The men caught so many fish that they needed help from another fishing boat to drag in the nets, which were breaking. And even at that, there were so many fish that both of the boats came close to sinking because of the weight. Peter was devastated. "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man" he said. He dared to question the wisdom and the command of Jesus to go fishing because Jesus didn’t "know" what he was telling him to do. Jesus wasn’t a fisherman! Jesus didn’t understand the fishing business. He was only the Christ, the Messiah, the Creator of the world, the one who came to pay for sin and conquer death and the devil. What did Jesus know about fishing!?"

Jesus is the Son of God who knows all things and has power over all things. He wanted to impress on Peter and the other disciples that their days of fishing for fish were going to be expanded to fishing for men, to Catch Men, people, young and old, male and female...people who didn’t know and believe in Jesus.

It’s all about trust, isn’t it, still for you and me today. Where do you work...in your home moping floors and changing diapers, cleaning the garage and repairing a leaky faucet? Do you work in an office...writing computer programs or using programs written by other people? managing people or making phone calls? Do you work with machines making stuff or fixing things, or moving ob-jects from here to there? Whatever it is that you do and wherever you do it Jesus says, Catch men.

If Jesus had used your occupation to make a point about catching men as he did with his fishermen disciples (catch fish/catch men), he might say something like, "From now on you will change hearts and not only diapers," or "From now on you will repair hearts and not only leaky faucets," or "From now on you will help people re-format their lives and not just their hard drives." It’s all the same meaning: Catch men at whatever you in life do and wherever you do it. There are lost souls that need to be found and rescued and saved and brought to faith in Jesus.

Will you like Peter doubt that you will succeed in catching men as he doubted he would catch fish? Don’t doubt the power of Jesus who works miracles through the power of his Word. Peter threw out the net and the net is what caught the fish, not Peter. How much skill is there in that? Throw out the net of the gospel to peo-ple who are in your network of family and co-workers, neighbors and friends. The power of the Gospel changes hearts from unbelief to faith, repairs hearts that are broken by the guilt of sin, reformats hearts that are infected with the virus of despair and doubt.

You catch men. Wherever you are, whatever you do create oppor-tunities to live your faith and share your faith. Jesus loves you and died for you and for everyone. Tell people what that means for you. The impure and unholy thoughts you entertain...forgiven! The angry words and foul language that come out of your mouth...for-given! The greed and selfishness that keep you from being gener-ous and compassionate toward others...forgiven.

Catch men! Tell people who Jesus is and what he has done for you and for them. Give them a Forward in Christ and point out an ar-ticle that was especially helpful to you. Invite them to attend the Live A Moral Life presentations or tell them that you’ll go to a BIC with them. What’s your occupation? God will use that, as he used the fishermen/disciples, to catch men with the power of the Word.