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Grace Emmanuel Church
Pastor Sam Chess
The Calling of a Rock
Scene #
1:
(John 1:40-42)
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John
had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to
find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that
is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and
said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which,
when translated, is Peter). (NIV)
Scene # 2:
(Luke 5:1-11) One
day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people
crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the
water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing
their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and
taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said
to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught
anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." When they
had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets
began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to
come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that
they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees
and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all
his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and
so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then
Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."
So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed
him. (NIV)
I. The Calling of
a Rock
I’d imagine in
the spirit of the event they pulled the boat up onto the shore and
instead of selling their huge catch.. they gave fish to all who were
hungry. All who were salivating for a nice fillet.
You can count on
the fact that what ever the fish were, that day in the net, they were
the best fish in the sea. Jesus isn’t going to go to all this trouble
to give them inedible, junk fish.
I imagine that
their competition was crawling all over their boat trying to find their
trade secret.
Simon Peter,
Andrew, James, and John pile up their nets, put on a fresh pair of
sandal and head off after Jesus . What an adventure the next few days
were… Admittedly, Simon Peter and his fishing buddies were running by
the emotional seat of their pants.
We know from
Scripture that Simon Peter had a home in Capernaum, along the north
west edge of the sea. We know Mrs. Peter lived there with him….
We know Peter’s
mother-in-law was there, perhaps living with them…..Very possibly there
was a Simon Jr. , and a Miss Simon or two.
While Simon Peter
is out on the great adventure with the Nazareth carpenter…it stands to
reason that sooner or later Mrs. Peter is going to notice that her
husband’s not coming home nights.
She probably
called him or text messaged him on his cell phone and said…. I just
drained our savings account over at the Capernaum 1 st
National Bank….
Don’t you think it’s time
to get yourself home and catch more fish….Reed-man”!
It had been an
amazing adventure… like nothing he ever experienced before:
(Luke 5:12) While
Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with
leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and
begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." (NIV) Jesus did!
(Luke 5:18-20)
Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into
the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do
this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on
his mat through the tiles … Jesus healed him and forgave his
sins!
(Luke 6:7-10) The Pharisees and the teachers of the
law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him
closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what
they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up
and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. Then
Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do
good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" He looked around at
them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so,
and his hand was completely restored. (NIV)
Then Jesus
centers on a beautiful hillside north of Galilee where the next day he
would preach that long sermon we would come to call: The Sermon on the
Mount. But first he had something very important to do… He prayed all
night.. not about his sermon the next day. His sermon was going to be
very important but his pre-game activities were even more important…so
much so they required him to spend all night in the presence of his
Father.
(Luke 6:12-14)
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent
the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to
him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon
(whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip,
Bartholomew, (NIV)
Must have seemed
like strange stuff to man who had spent his life leading nothing more
than a small band of fisherman in catching little, mindless, scaly
things and pull them out of the water.
Jesus chose him
(first on the list) to be his “apostle” ( Ambassador of the Gospel) .
Later when Peter would write his two Epistles he would start each
with:…… I am Jesus
apostle!
I doubt the
transition was easy…
Jesus, you’re a good guy.. You really snapped my
neck around when you renamed me “rock”. Cute name, too bad it doesn’t
actually apply. You sure popped my eyes out with that load of fish. I
said some pretty strong things about you being my Lord and Master…..
I’m not saying I didn’t mean them….but it’s a big step between
acknowledging your powerful acts and becoming your ambassador.
I hardly know you
yet…but I do know Mrs. Peter, and she called yesterday to say I better
ske-dattle home or she was sending the Mother-in- law out after me.
Let’s think this
through with cool heads, Jesus. I’m a man with a dependent family. The
only thing I’m trained to do is fish. I don’t have all that much going
on in the upper story here. I do know that despite your cute statement
about us becoming “fishers of men“, we all have to eat, we’ve got no
money and we’ve got no current income. Now your on to this thing of us
being ambassadors.
If you’re going
to make this kingdom thing work you’re going to have to gather some
people with some brains, some political contacts, and last but not
least…some shekels.
If you think
you’re going to build the kingdom of God using our bank accounts you’re
in for a rude awakening.
Simon… I don’t want anybody else…I want you… you’re
the first name on my list!
Listen to what
Peter would later write to us:
(1 Peter
2:4-5) As you come to him, the living Stone-- rejected by men but
chosen by God and precious to him-- you also, like living stones, are
being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (NIV)
(1 Peter 2:9-10)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who
called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not
a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter made a
choice to sign on as an ambassador… the man who thought he would never
be more than a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee was helping to cast out
demons. What heady power…..he really was moving from reed to rock.
(Matthew 10:1)
He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive
out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. (NIV)
We know Peter’s
personality… it’s not to hard to fill in what might have taken place in
his mind. If you’ll give me a little literary license here:
John the Baptist
is beheaded. Perhaps Peter imagines…with all my growing
accomplishments, perhaps I can take the place of John in the heart of
the Master.
Watch him as he
helps feed the 5000 the next day. He’s talking just a little too loud.
He seems to feel almost personal credit for all that bread and all
those fish. He is one of the Ambassadors making all this a reality. He
really is, quickly, becoming somebody. He is Peter…the rock! As they
climbed into their boat that night there is a storm brewing but Peter
is unafraid.
He, of all
people, knew the power of the Galilean storms but “all people” hadn’t
been experiencing what he had the last few months. He’d seen Jesus calm
a storm with a single short sentence. He’d been given power over
demons, like Jesus…why not imitate him in the storm. Perhaps he stood
in the boat, climbed into the bow, cleared his throat and said, “Peace
be still”…He waited…nothing happened!
I can imagine
Andrew saying, “sit down, you big fool, you’re starting to think too
much of yourself.
But…but…I had
power before, I was rock-like!
You didn’t have power…He
had power…He just let you use it!
With that, I imagine Peter sinking
back down into the bottom of the boat, all the old emotions rolling
back over him like the waves rolling over the bow. He was no rock, he
was still a reed…who was he trying to kid!
(Matthew 14:25) During the fourth
watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. (NIV)
(Matthew 14:26)
When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.
"It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. (NIV)
(Matthew 14:27)
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be
afraid." (NIV)
(Matthew 14:28)
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the
water." (NIV)
(Matthew 14:29)
"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the
water and came toward Jesus. (NIV)
One step, two steps….whoopee, the
powers back, the rock has returned! Whoa… look at the size of that
mountain of water heading this way….
(Matthew 14:30) But when he
saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord,
save me!" (NIV)
Lord, if you save me, I’ll be kind
to my mother in law, I’ll go to Africa as a missionary.
The text doesn’t
say this but the thoughts are implied:
Lord…Save me!
1) Who is Lord?…
You are Jesus!
2) Where is the
source of your power, Simon the Reed? You are Jesus, Son of the Most
High God!
3) You understand
that my highest purpose is not simply to gain mastery over you but when
you submit to the sovereign Lordship of God, I am able to pour my
grace, and power, and abilities through your life, in the world around
you!
I think I’m
beginning to understand, glub, glub, glub…
4) You
understand that your rock-like-ness didn’t increase when you thought
you were doing well… in fact… this dunk under the water is doing more
to increase the strength of you as a rock than you helping me to cast
out demons last week.
I understand…glub,
glub…
(Matthew
14:31) Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of
little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" (NIV)
Sorry, “Reed” …
you know…
Conclusion:
(Matthew
14:32-33) And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then
those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the
Son of God!"
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