Our Savior Lynchburg
Trinity 5 AD 2024
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Today we hear our Lord Jesus call St. Peter to become a fisher of men. And upon hearing this call, Peter leaves everything, his boat, his fellow workers, and the biggest catch of fish that he has ever seen. Jesus calls Simon to become a minister of the gospel, and he leaves behind his entire former life. He does not put his hand to the plow and look back. He does not demand to say goodbye to his friends and loved ones first. He immediately goes with Jesus. And this text is not about the Lord Jesus calling Peter to become a Christian. Peter is already a Christian. He's already a disciple. And this is evident to us from other texts, and especially in the Gospel of John, where we read that Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, brought him to Jesus. These brothers had been disciples of John the Baptist, but now they see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and they go to follow him. When Jesus goes to Canaan, and performs his first miracle there, Peter is also in attendance, and it says his disciples believed in him, that is Peter believed in Jesus. And a little before today's text in Luke, Jesus was at his house where he healed his mother-in-law. Yes, Simon is already a Christian, but many preachers don't preach this text that way. They say that the call that Jesus issues to Peter is the call that Jesus issues to every Christian, that every Christian is called to ministry, not just pastors. Now this is a teaching that has been pervasive in our Synod for the last 50 years or so. It's about 50 years ago, a man named Oscar Foyt published a book called Everyone a Minister. Maybe you've heard of it. And in that book he says that every Christian is a minister. Now in one way he is right. Minister is just a word that means servant, and so in that sense every Christian is a minister, every Christian is a servant. But he's also using ambiguous language, because usually when the church talks about ministers, it's in reference to pastors. Now the thesis of this book is that there is no distinction to be made between the office of pastor and the office of Christian, that they are the same thing. And if that's the case, that means that every Christian needs to have or start a ministry. This book changed and I think for the worse, how we talk about service in the church. The choir director and organist are now called music ministers. Sunday school teachers became children's ministers. Everyone in the church became a minister of this or that. And if everyone is a minister, then everything that he does is ministry. And if everything in the church, everything done by everyone within the church is a ministry, then the Lord's institution of the office of the holy ministry becomes just one of many. And this gift of the Lord to his church becomes obscured means people can become confused about what the pastor is supposed to do. The Lord's instituted order for his church gets confused and hidden. The distinction between pastor, between preacher and hearer, things that are given by God for the benefit of his people, is now replaced with a man-made division between two kinds of Christians, different classes, if you will. The lower class are those who just come to church. If the upper class are those who have a ministry or even better, multiple ministries, having a ministry also became a matter of ability. After all, if the church has a ministry of evangelism or outreach, then they want the people who are best at that to be part of that ministry. And those who are not exceptionally gifted at confessing the faith, well they don't really need to apply. And in this way, the Christian vocation of confessing the faith is stolen from many Christians. They're led to believe that they're unqualified to share their faith. Now this doctrine also steals away the simple joy of being a Christian, living in the vocation where God has placed him, and all this led Christians to believe that their ordinary lives are insignificant before God. Parents God given responsibilities of raising children to fear the Lord has seen us less important than the life of the congregation. Caring for those in need in the community or around the world is seen as better than eating dinner with your family. Funding the preaching of the gospel in distant lands is better than teaching your own children the faith. See God has called you to your place and your station in life. The Lord instituted the home. This order is by his design. He has placed you into a family and he has given you a specific role there. Your God given vocations are holy even if they seem small or insignificant or downright meaningless. The Lord Jesus has called you to be a Christian in your vocation. Because he has called you to these things, caring for your family and loving and serving the person who is near to you, then it would be evil to abandon those things in order to go and pursue something else even if those things are the things of God. Now it is true that all these other works of service in the church are good and we certainly give thanks to God for all those who serve our congregation in many and various ways and a lot of things would not run so smoothly if they didn't. And if you are serving the church in this way, then we are grateful for your help. But at the same time, we cannot say that such service within the church is any more holy or God pleasing than taking care of your children at home or providing for your family or comforting your children when they are frightened or sad or lonely. Just because your daily life is ordinary, it is not any less significant. Because it is what God has given and called you to do. So don't ever feel that you are not a good Christian because you aren't able to help out at the church more. Most of you, I think with one exception here, you aren't called to be a pastor and that is okay. That is actually good. The Lord doesn't need a church where everyone is a pastor. He has ordained for most of you to be hearers. He has given you the vocation of hearing God's word and rejoicing in that. Now we know that the text before us today is about Simon's call to be a pastor and an apostle in the Lord's church. But I am going to consider the aspects of his office, the honor and the responsibility and the gift of that call another time. But instead, I want to consider how Simon conducts himself as an example of what it means for us to live simply as Christians in the Lord's kingdom. Before Jesus calls him into the office of fishing for men, Peter was a fisher of fish. He does his work as a Christian. On this particular night, he has been busy all night long. He and his crew pushing the heavy net into the water and pulling it back out and every time it was empty. Over and over, he diligently worked the whole night through. All night long, his work produced nothing. All his effort was in vain. Simon does not give up on his diligence, he does not despair of fishing and throw down his nets in disgust or wander off to go find something else more successful or more fulfilling. Now he and his fellow workmen patiently sat about cleaning and repairing their nets for yet another night of fishing. Simon had a high view of his work, but even as he focused on his work and valued his livelihood, there was something that he prized even more. Because when Jesus came to preach, Simon set aside his work, got into his boat and permitted Christ to make that boat into a pulpit and chancell, and when he is called as a fisher of men, when the Lord calls him to leave it all behind, he dies. Though Simon works hard in his daily work as a Christian, that earthly work is by no means the most important thing in his life. He knows that his heavenly calling is far above any earthly duty. His temporal work is important, but he seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So no matter how urgent or important his daily vocation is, the care of his soul comes first. So that even when it seems that his daily business is failing, even when it seems that he will now go without his daily bread, he is going to take the time to receive the spiritual nourishing of his soul from God's word and according to God's word. And nothing except a great and unusual emergency is he going to permit to get in the way of the divine service. He will be in the Lord's house hearing the Lord's word with the congregation. He will join them in receiving our Lord's gifts, giving thanks and offerings to God and calling upon God for help. He will seek all good things from the hand of his Savior. In John's gospel, Jesus teaches extensively on the sacrament of the altar and he says, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink." But after hearing this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God." Simon knows that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. And he knows that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. So he will make it the utmost priority to go and hear these words of Jesus. So when his day of work has been unsuccessful, he goes to Jesus in order to receive his daily bread, and then Jesus surprises him. He instructs Simon to go back out into the lake. And Jesus commanded him, "When against all knowledge of fishing," Simon knew it would be better to fish, not out in the deep, but at the shore, not during the day, but at night. So he answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets." You see, this is the real reason for all of Simon's work. The Lord has ordained it. He has commanded it all the way back in Genesis 3, even though it was part of our Lord's curse against sin, it is God's order and arrangement. By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread. Because he is a Christian, Simon receives this word as a gift from God. He knows that even if he works all night and has nothing to show for it, his work is the gift from God. Even if the world doesn't praise him and his diligence, his work is a gift from God. Even if the work seems boring and thankless and exhausting and pointless, he knows that his work is a gracious gift from our gracious God. So as a Christian, you joyfully do as your Lord has commanded not only prayer and service to God in the church, but also your work in your daily life. When it let down his net, suddenly he becomes rich beyond imagination. Jesus gives him the greatest catch of fish that he has ever seen. Now if one of us, if I suddenly found myself so wealthy, maybe now I'd praise my own skill. Maybe I'd immediately begin thinking of how to spend all that wealth, maybe a new car or a big vacation, a bigger house, or at least in terms of fishing a butter boat. But Simon receives even this as a gift. He knew that he did not deserve this kind of success. He knew that he hadn't filled the net because of his diligence or his cleverness or his worthiness. He knew that he is an unworthy servant of the Lord Jesus. The pair of boats filled to overflowing with fish did not inflate Simon's pride but caused him to become deeply humbled. Nor does he use this newfound wealth to now distance himself from God to think that now he's a master of his own fate and he can manage his life from now on and say thank you Lord for this gift but I've got things from here on out. See when his work fails he does not despair because he trusts God to provide. When his work succeeds he does not become popped up in himself but he gives all credit and glory to Jesus. He falls down on his face before his Lord confessing his sin. Most people in this life work because they feel like they have to or because they want to become rich and gain honor and status in this life. When work no longer seems necessary for those things then those people become idle. Some people work because they have to and when they finally retire then they just die. But Simon knows that his work is a good gift from God so he works. He does his daily work diligently and joyfully. It's the way that God is instituted for Simon to serve his neighbor and then having worked for the sake of God and his neighbor he then waits for his bread from God. See this is how the Lord works. This gift of work is the Lord's gift to you and it is your Christian duty to work as the Lord has given you work, to love your neighbor as he gives you opportunity and then to receive what your Lord gives. You don't need to please God by your works. Christ Jesus has already done that by his suffering and death but now he gives you your daily work as a gift and he blesses you according to his mercy. This is the good life, Saint John writes in Revelation, "Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, blessed indeed such the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.'" In the holy name of Jesus, the peace of God, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. (clicking)