Do what the Lord has given you to do

Sermon for Trinity 5

1 Peter 3:8-15  +  Luke 5:1-11

When Jesus said to Simon Peter in today’s Gospel, “Put out a little from the shore,” you know He wasn’t talking to you, right, telling you to row your boats away from the shore? When He told Peter, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch,” you know He wasn’t talking to you, right? Of course you do! It’s obvious that Jesus’ words to Peter were not meant for you, or for anyone else. And yet, when Christians hear the last words Jesus spoke to Peter in today’s Gospel, they get all excited about it, as if Jesus had spoken the words directly to them, “From now on you will be catching men!” Or as it’s stated in another Gospel, “I will make you fishers of men!” Now, someday, some of the young men hear may be able to apply those words to themselves if they receive a divine call, through the Church, into the preaching ministry, as Peter, James, and John did directly from Jesus. But for everyone else, no, “catching men” is not something the Lord has given you to do.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty in today’s Gospel and Epistle that does apply to you all as Christians. The Lord has given you much to believe here, and much to do! So let’s take a look at our Bible texts again and see what those things are.

Some time before Jesus met Peter, James, and John at the Sea of Galilee for today’s miraculous catch of fish, He had already called them to follow Him as learners, as disciples. They had already spent some days with Him, heard Him teach, and seen some of His miracles. But they hadn’t yet been called to be His full-time apprentices. That would change by the end of the day. Jesus chose this occasion to call those men to follow Him full-time as “seminary students” preparing for the ministry He would eventually give them. And how He called them is significant.

First, Jesus got into Peter’s boat and asked him to put out a little from the shore so that Jesus could preach to the large crowds from a little distance, so that they could all see and hear Him better. It was a simple thing Jesus told Peter to do, and he did what was given him to do; it seemed like a reasonable request. And that simple act of obedience ended up serving the Lord’s purpose to teach the people.

Then, after He finished teaching the people, the Lord had more to teach Peter and his companions. So He told Peter to put out into the deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Again, it was a simple thing, but this time, Peter couldn’t see the reasonableness of it. Serious fishermen went out at night, as Peter and his companions had done the night before, with no luck at all. Not a single fish was caught in their nets. You see, God had prevented Peter from catching anything the night before so that Jesus could teach him this lesson today. Peter didn’t know that the night before, of course. He didn’t know why it had gone so badly for them. But that’s how God’s plans usually work. We don’t understand ahead of time why we go through this or that hardship. Sometimes we don’t find out this side of heaven. But sometimes it’s made clear to us later, as it was for Peter.

Initially, it seemed like a fool’s errand to let down the nets at this time of day, especially after how things had gone the night before. But Peter said something very wise: Master, we have toiled throughout the night and have caught nothing. But at your word, I will let down the net. It didn’t make sense, from a human perspective, to do what Jesus gave him to do. But Peter didn’t let that get in the way of doing it. At your word, Jesus—because You said to do it—I will do it.

And that’s usually how it goes in the ministry of the Word. God tells His pastors, “Preach the Word! Baptize! Give out My body and blood with the bread and wine! Convince, rebuke, correct, encourage! Take care of My sheep! Forgive the penitent! Do not forgive the impenitent!” That’s it? That’s the work He’s given pastors to do? It doesn’t seem like it can accomplish much. But we should learn with Peter to say, “At Your Word, Lord, I will preach and do these things, because You gave them to me to do.”

See how it turned out for Peter and his fellow fishermen. Their net sank with the weight of the great multitude of fish that were suddenly caught in it. The net began to tear, and two boats began to sink as they worked together to drag the net to shore.

It wasn’t luck. It was a miracle that Jesus performed to teach His disciples, both then and now, to trust His Word and to do whatever He has given us to do, no matter how unreasonable or how useless it may seem.

Peter recognized this miracle for what it was. When he saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Jesus’ power over the sea, over nature itself, was a clear sign that this man was not just a man. He was the holy God. Peter was beginning to understand that. And he knew that sinful men, like him, cannot survive in the presence of the holy God. In that respect, the Old Testament had done its job very well. So many of the regulations of the Law of Moses had to do with clean and unclean, and the message was clear: One way or another, you had to be clean, sinless, spotless in order to be in God’s presence in the temple. Either you had to be sinless (which didn’t apply to anyone), or you had to be cleansed of your sin. You had to have atonement made for your sins so that you could be forgiven.

Well, Peter was in the very presence of the One whom he was beginning to recognize as the Son of God, and although he was no murderer or adulterer or thief, he knew he hadn’t fulfilled the righteous requirements of God’s holy Law. He was a sinful man, like everyone else. But when he pleaded with Jesus to depart from him because of his sinfulness, Jesus gave him a very different kind of command. “Do not be afraid.” He doesn’t explain it here, but it would all be revealed eventually. Jesus had come to make atonement for all the sins of all people by offering up His life on the cross, inviting all sinners to make use of His atonement before God as the basis for His forgiveness. To all who look to Him in faith, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid. Your sins can no longer harm you. It’s all right. You can be in the presence of God without fear, as long as you’re with Me.”

And then Jesus added something that’s recorded in Matthew and Mark but not here in Luke. He said to Peter, as He said also to Andrew, James, and John on this occasion, “Follow Me.” He meant it literally. He was calling them to leave behind their careers, their job as fishermen in which they had worked their whole lives. To do what? “From now on, you will be catching men!” This was something new, a new call to these men, not just to believe in Him, not just to learn from Him, but, eventually, to carry out the same ministry Jesus was carrying out in the world, to gather people into the kingdom of God by preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments. And they left everything and followed him.

Now, of the five things Jesus gave Peter to do on that day by the Sea of Galilee, only one has been given to you directly. When you acknowledge your sins, when you look to Jesus for mercy, His words to Peter are also intended for you. “Do not be afraid.” Don’t be afraid of God’s anger or God’s punishment. Don’t be afraid that God will reject you or abandon you. Jesus has taken care of that for you. So don’t be afraid.

There is a sense in which another of Jesus’ commands to Peter applies to you, though. Follow Me. In Peter’s case, it was meant in a very literal sense. In your case, it’s less literal, but just as real. You have been called to follow Jesus, that is, to follow His teaching, to learn from Him, to trust in Him, and to walk in His footsteps, which includes living a life of honesty, courage, and love, which also includes suffering for doing and saying what is right, if necessary.

The same Peter who did what the Lord had given him to do in our Gospel has spelled out in his Epistle many of the things God has given you to do as you follow Jesus.

Finally, all of you, be of one mind. Be sympathetic. Show brotherly love. Be compassionate. Be friendly. You could spend all day just contemplating how you might put those things into practice. You don’t have to change the world. You don’t have to fix our broken society. God hasn’t given you those things to do. But to be sympathetic? To show brotherly love? To be compassionate? To be friendly? That you can do.

Do not repay evil with evil or insults with insults, but on the contrary, pronounce a blessing, knowing that you were called to this. If you’ve spent any time on social media, you know this isn’t how most people behave. Mockery. Insults. Assuming the worst about other people. Tearing down others. That’s what the world does. But you have been given something else to do. You have been called to behave differently. Whoever wants to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it…Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for an explanation of the hope that is in you. Do it with gentleness and respect.

To “catch men” or to be “fishers of men” is an important task the Lord has given to some men and will continue to give, as He sees fit. But to all Christians God has given plenty to do in the time He has given you here on this earth. Be about those things, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. In God’s eyes, no task that He’s given is irrelevant; no task is trivial or small. So serve the Lord with gladness, and give thanks that He has counted you worthy to follow Him here on earth, until you finally follow Him to His heavenly home. Amen.