One of my favorite definitions of “faith” comes from this acrostic using F-A-I-T-H:

Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him 

In this new unit of study, we will be studying about faith.  What it is.  What it isn’t. How to walk in it.  How it feels to fail to trust.  How it feels to be restored.  There are many “shades” of faith.  This week, we see the growth of faith in the life of Simon Peter. 

In the last few weeks, our pastor has been delivering Sunday morning messages from the gospel according to Luke.  Now, in another one of those “God-incidences,” we will join together in a deeper dive into this wonderful book. For the next six weeks we will study lessons taken from Luke during our Bible Study hour.  What a great way to begin this new year of 2024.

Luke 5 begins with one of my very favorite stories in scripture.  My dad taught me how to hunt and fish before I was ten years old.  We were pretty good at it working as a team.  Hunting was a challenge, but I loved it.  However, fishing was always my favorite.  I love being out on the water in a boat early in the morning just before sunrise. Watching the day dawn in the boat with my dad was GOLD to my SOUL. I have had the privilege of being in Israel with my dad walking the shore of the Sea of Galilee very close to the actual spot of this story.  We didn’t fish there but we did gather some rocks for him to use as a canvas to paint pictures.  I’ve ridden in a boat on that sea.  Treasured times.

One morning, Jesus was teaching a “multitude” of people along the shore of the lake called Galilee.  It is not a sea, but a lake inside a cereal bowl.  You can see the whole lake from any point on the shore.  It is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide.  The people were crowding Jesus, almost pushing Him into the water.  Jesus saw two boats resting on the sandy shore.  The fishermen were familiar to Him.  They were washing their nets after a long night of labor.  Had they caught fish, they would have been mending nets instead of just washing them.  Jesus asked for Peter’s permission to use his idle boat as a pulpit. 

Jesus also asked for Peter to put the boat out into the shallows a little bit away from the shore.  He sat down and continued to teach the people from the boat.  Picture this.  Jesus is now facing the shore…fishing for people!!!  His words were his fishing lines.  He was drawing them in!!!

Pete and the boys were listening as they washed those nets.  Soon, Jesus asked them to take the boat out into deep water so they could let down those nets one more time before they called it a day.  I’m sure they were all thinking, “What in the world does some carpenter know about fishing?”

Peter addressed Jesus as “commander” and said that they had fished all night and caught zero fish. The Greek word for zero fish is zero, nada, zilch.  That fact was difficult for fishermen to admit, especially commercial fishermen whose very lifeblood depended on catching many fish.  But because you have asked us to, we will! 

They caught so many fish that their cleanly washed and well cared for nets tore like old worn-out fabric.  Their boats were listing and about to sink.  James and John were there and probably Andrew, Peter’s brother.  This was the day Peter and the boys realized that Jesus was not in the fishing for fish business.  Jesus was in the fishing for people business.  I imagine Peter never forgot the picture of Jesus facing those people on the shore and fishing for souls. It was at this point in the story that Peter addressed Jesus as Lord.  Life-changing faith kicked in for Pete.  

Luke 5:11 says that on that very day, those four men left their boats on the shore and followed Jesus.  Jesus wants to lead every person from the shore to the shallows and on out into the deep.  That picture progression—shore—shallows—deep—should grab your heart by the strings and give you hope and a calling from God to follow in FAITH.  Peter and the boys did.  They left everything.  James and John even left their father Zebedee to run their fishing business without them.  Jesus is always calling us to go deeper with Him.

These men used circular casting nets with ropes around the circle.  The nets were thrown out into the water and allowed to sink down.  When it was time to check the nets, they pulled quickly.  The ropes were tightened enclosing the fish inside the net that had now become a big bag.  Jesus used their fishing skills to teach them how to cast the gospel net for people.

Fishing nets have to be ready.  They must be capable…clean…mended…cast.  Nets must remain in the water for a time without knowing if fish are even inside the net.  Then the net must be drawn quickly and tightly and brought into the boat.  “Faithers” who follow Jesus must be ready to cast the net of the gospel.  Fish for people and leave the day’s catch to the commander.  

Jesus says:  GO FISH!