Encountering Jesus...

Last week at the church where I serve we looked at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 5:14-16, we saw Jesus explain to His followers throughout history that, as followers of Jesus, we are to live our day to day lives in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to those around us.

Jesus also revealed for us the reality that we will reveal and reflect Jesus when we live our lives in such a way that the world around us may see our good works and glorify God who is in Heaven. Jesus calls His followers throughout history to understand that we reveal and reflect Jesus Christ by how we love and serve the world around us. Jesus calls His followers to engage the world by loving and serving those who God has placed around us.

And when we love and serve others in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus Christ to others, the result is that we glorify God in Heaven. And because of that reality we are committed to and are focused on the goal that God has given us as a church to be a city in a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city.

We ended our time together by inviting you to join us in the kingdom mission and vision that God has given us in three specific ways with three specific goals. We are inviting you to partner with us in the kingdom mission that we have been given as a church by investing your time in a community group, your talents in a ministry, and your treasure in a way that reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus.

Now the reason why we believe that these goals are so important; the reason why we want to be a city within a city that reveals and reflects Christ as we love and serve the city; is because throughout the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, people who encountered Jesus never remained on the fence when it came to Jesus. And the reason why people never remained on the fence after encountering Jesus was because Jesus never let them remain on the fence.

 People who encountered Jesus were challenged by Jesus to look at their lives and the lives of those around them from a different perspective. People who encountered Jesus were challenged by Jesus to look at their position, possession, and circumstances from a different perspective. And when people encountered Jesus, people responded to Jesus in very powerful ways.

And as we move forward into 2015 we are going to look at various encounters that people had with Jesus that are recorded for us in an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And as we look at these encounters with Jesus, we are going to discover several timeless truths that will have the potential to powerfully impact our lives today.

Now have you ever experienced a time when you read about something that occurred during an encounter with Jesus that left you scratching your head? Have you ever walked away from reading about an encounter that someone had with Jesus thinking “that is just weird”. I know I have. And for me, one such encounter is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. I mean look what happens here beginning in Matthew 4:18:

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Now doesn’t that just seem weird? I mean doesn’t it seem strange that Jesus would just walk up to some strangers and say “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” and they just get up and follow Him no questions asked? Doesn’t it leave you scratching your head that grown fishermen would leave their jobs and family and just follow this guy that they just met?

And the movies of Jesus do not help, do they? This 95 lb. Swedish dude just saunters up and these guys follow after Him almost hypnotized? Weird. However, in Luke’s account of this same event from history that occurred during Jesus life on earth, we see Luke fill in the details. And as Luke gives us the back story and the details of this encounter with Jesus, we discover a timeless truth that has the potential to powerfully impact our lives.  So let’s look at the back story and details together beginning in Luke 5:1:

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; 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. 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.

Luke begins this section of his account of Jesus life by providing for us the context in which this event from history would take place. As Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee, which was also called the sea of Gennesaret, He was followed by large crowds. You see, even at this early stage of Jesus public life, word about Jesus had spread throughout the region.

And as the word spread about Jesus, people responded to what they were hearing about Jesus by wanting to be near Jesus. So when Jesus stopped and began to teach, the swelling crowds pressed closer and closer to Jesus in an attempt to hear what Jesus was saying. However, as the large crowd pressed closer and closer to Jesus, two things happened.

First, as the large crowd pressed closer and closer to Jesus, the crowd muffled the message that Jesus was proclaiming to the crowd. Second, as the large crowd pressed closer and closer to Jesus, Jesus found Himself being pushed closer and closer to the very edge of the Sea of Galilee. Soon Jesus was going to run out of dry land and be run into the Sea of Galilee.

Luke then explains that Jesus saw two empty boats near His location at the water’s edge. The reason why the boats were empty was due to the fact that they were owned by fishermen who were nearby washing their nets. These fishermen were cleaning their nets after finishing an evening at work on the Sea of Galilee. These fishermen were ready to go home and go to bed after a long nights work.

So you can imagine their surprise when Jesus decided to get in one of their boats in an attempt to put some space between Himself and the swelling crowds that had come to hear Him teach. And you can imagine Peter’s surprise when Jesus asked Peter to set sail out away from the crowd so that He could get enough distance from the crowd so that His voice would be able to be heard by all the crowd.

You see, once Jesus was able to get some space between Himself and the crowd on the lake, the lake would serve as an amplifier and would allow the crowd to hear His message and teachings more clearly. Luke tells us that, once out a little ways from the shore, and with Peter along for the ride, Jesus sat down and taught the swelling crowds from the boat.

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as Peter. I want us to walk a little bit in Peter’s shoes. You have been up all night fishing. And as you are washing and putting away your gear and preparing to go home for a meal and some sleep, Jesus shows up, gets in your boat, and asks you to take Him out so that He can give a sermon. You’re Peter. You are tired. You just want to go home, get something to eat, and go to bed. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond as Jesus kept on talking as you tried not to fall asleep?

A natural question that arises here is “why did Peter agree to let Jesus use his boat as a speaking platform? Why didn’t Peter just politely say no?” You see, Peter already knew Jesus. Peter had already heard Jesus preach before in a synagogue in Capernaum. And just before this event from history that we are looking at this morning, Peter had watched Jesus demonstrate His power as He healed his mother-in-law.

So the least Peter could do to respond to Jesus activity in his life was to allow Jesus to use his boat as a platform. At some level, Peter felt like he needed to pay Jesus back for what Jesus had done for his family. So Peter let Jesus use his boat and tried not to fall asleep as Jesus talked to the crowd.

However, Peter was not prepared for what Jesus would want him to do next, which we will look at tomorrow…