“God’s Love in the Daily”

Text: Luke 5:1-11
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Sermon:
​Imagine it, Simon is working on his boat. Imagine, Simon was a hungry day. He had
nothing to sell, nothing to take home for his family. Nothing. It might have been that he
was still sitting in his boat because he didn’t want to go home and tell his family that he
had nothing. It might have been that he was sitting there feeling empty, worthless, and
shallow—until that man came and asked him to go out into the deep.

At this point Jesus was teaching and preaching regularly and reaching new heights of
ministry. The large crowd showed the increasing popularity of Jesus as a teacher. In the
book of Luke, the writer says that Jesus was teaching, and everyone kept pressing closer
and closer. The crowd grew and pressed in to hear. So, Jesus looked around for options
and saw Simon Peter sitting there in his boat with failure on his hands.

Jesus directed Simon to move his boat to the deep end of the Lake, and then Jesus taught.
While we do not directly know what he taught, as far as we can tell, Jesus was in the boat
with them as He directed this. His presence gave him confidence. “It is a blessed thing to
see Christ sitting in the boat while you cast out the net. If you catch a glimpse of his
approving smile as he watches you, you will work right heartily.” (Spurgeon).

In the time Jesus using the phrase, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid: In the grammar
of the ancient Greek, this is literally stop being fearful; it calms an existing fear. Peter
was afraid of Jesus in the sense of holding Him in such great awe, but Jesus told Him to
put away that fear. God wants to relate to us on the principle of love, not the principle of
a cowering fear.

Another phrase that we see is: From now on you will catch men: When Jesus told Simon
that he would catch men, He told Simon that he would do what Jesus Himself did. There
was never a greater fisher of men than Jesus Himself, but He wanted others to do the
work He did. Jesus started with these three, then twelve, then hundreds, then thousands,
and millions upon through the centuries.

A third phrase that is used is: They forsook all and followed Him: This seems to mean
that they left the miraculous catch of fish behind, because it was not as important as what
it showed them about Jesus. It showed them that Jesus was much more than any
carpenter, and this caused them to follow Him.

Simon was awestruck at the miracle, and his first response was to realize his own
insignificance in comparison to this man’s greatness.

Peter knew that Jesus had healed the sick and driven out demons, but he was amazed that
Jesus also cared about his day-to-day routine and understood his need. In the same way,
Jesus cares about our daily lives and our daily routine. It is actually through this love, that
Jesus brings change to our hearts long term.

Conclusion: Let us be people who embrace change through our daily lives.