Lovers of God

First miraculous catch of fish on the lake of Gennesaret

Lk 5:1-11 1 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Jesus had just begun His ministry. He had a message to give. If He simply stood up and talked, few would have listened. So God gave Him the gift of healing, and He healed many people. This got the people’s attention, and they listened to what He had to say. He wasted no time, and began using the healings to draw crowds, and when they came, He taught them.

One day, while He was teaching, He didn’t have a good vantage point, and so He saw Peter’s boat, and He began to use it. Peter was working (cleaning his nets) and must have not been very happy because he fished all night and caught nothing. But he didn’t mind Jesus interrupting his work.

If you want to serve God, you must pass the ‘interruption test’ – that is, if God asks you to do something for Him even when you have ‘worked hard all night and caught nothing’ you must consider it a great honor and gladly do what God asks.

After Jesus finished teaching from Peter’s boat, Peter didn’t ask Jesus for payment for the use of his boat. That was the next test – the ‘payment test’. If you want to serve God, you must do it without expecting any payment from God or from His people. You must do it out of gratitude towards God.

God will never owe you anything. If He uses you, He will reward you handsomely. The reward may not be in this life, but there will surely be a reward. Jesus illustrated this aspect of the nature of God by telling Peter to go into deeper water and cast his net for a catch. Peter caught so much fish that their nets began to break, and two boats couldn’t handle the load and began to sink! That was the third lesson.

The third lesson is this – you must internalize the fact that God can finance you without you having to toil day and night to get that money. He is able to pour it into your lap in mysterious ways. As you serve Him, He will finance you. You don’t have to ask anyone for money.

Many people who serve God today don’t realize this. As a result, when they want to do something, or go somewhere, to serve God, they ask people to finance their project. Whose servants are they?

If you serve God, you will ask God for money to finance your project. If God wants you to do the project, He will certainly finance you, won’t He? If you serve men, you will ask men.

So then, ask yourself whether you are a servant of God or a servant of men. When building His kingdom, God is not looking for people who serve man, but for people who serve Him.

In this miracle, Jesus demonstrated authority over the fish in the sea. What kind of person does that? That is the fourth lesson. When you see God operate in your life, you will begin to see how great He is. Your eyes will open to a new realm of reality – that of the supernatural power of God, and the awesomeness of God. You will begin to ponder on the meaning of the word ‘Almighty’. When you realize that you serve an Almighty God you will realize that the impossible becomes possible, and even big obstacles will not faze you.

The outcome of this incident was that Simon recognized that he was a sinful man. That is the fifth lesson – a lesson in humility. You will begin to realize just how sinful you are, and just how holy God is, and you will walk with a new-found respect for Him. It is difficult to serve someone you do not respect. It is difficult to instantly obey someone you are not completely awed by.

Notice also, that these men didn’t think like this: if Jesus can do this miracle each day for us, we can sell a lot of fish and make a lot of money. They understood that this whole thing wasn’t about making money and becoming rich. It doesn’t seem like they even made any money from the catch; the text says that they left everything and followed Jesus.

In the end, the people who were making a living by catching fish were moved to catch men for God. Let God call you to serve Him. Let Him take you through similar experiences (like the one you saw above) to teach you similar lessons and put you in the correct frame of mind to serve Him. It is so important to start right.