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Text: Luke 5:1-11 (pg.728) * I want to be reminded about what it means to be a Christ-follower; to assess my life. I occasionally like to revisit the decision I made to follow Jesus and then ask,… “Knowing what I know now, would I do it again?” (Lynette and I have done this on occasion concerning marriage). * To me, the difference is being in love with God and being in love with the idea of God. - Being in love with the idea of God means that we are fascinated with the possibilities, but we’re easily distracted; we like the benefits that it affords, but there appears to be too many inconveniences. * Being in love involves a personal commitment that Jeremiah described as “singleness of heart and action”. Jeremiah 32:38-41 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God (RELATIONSHIP). 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them (DEVOTION). 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire (“to gain one’s attention’ to affect a result”) them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. God’s love for us and desire to be with us gets our attention and motivates us to choose him. The more we come to know him, the more we become convinced that our only reasonable response would be to give ourselves to him completely, considering no other options. * In this particular story, we find Jesus interrupting some fishermen in the middle of their routine. “Routine”- patterns of behavior which help to ensure that life happens on our schedule. But, the “routine” seems to always make the best environment for the “extraordinary”; it’s the context for change. * The real hazard with routine is that it often leaves us merely “accepting” what IS, instead of “expecting” what COULD BE. * Peter and the boys have been out all night with not a single fish to show for their efforts. They have just finished the lengthy process of cleaning their nets, when Jesus suggests that they “let their nets down in the deep”. I must suggest here that Peter’s compliance was somewhat “grudging” (Let’s humor Jesus; after all, he’s a carpenter, what does he know about fishing!) They comply, rather grudgingly, and when the fish start hitting, pandemonium breaks out! * I imagine that Peter, the midst of the haul, almost hesitates to make eye contact with Jesus (can’t you just imagine Peter as he slowly turns to see Jesus with that little “smirk” on his face). * The first thing Jesus seems to do is get our attention. Peter and the others were aware of Jesus and his teaching, but were distracted; disappointed with their lack of productivity and preoccupied with their nets. The change that we desire begins with a willingness to consider another point of view; another perspective… God’s! * Peter’s response to Jesus may have been prompted by humility; maybe he had seen that look in Jesus’ eyes before, knowing that the moment was about more than just a successful fishing trip. * When Jesus invited them to follow Him, he knew that it would involve not only journeying toward something, but it would require leaving something behind. Jesus was not saying that fishing was not an honorable life; what he was saying was that THIS (my teaching, my perspective) needs to order THAT! * This is where Peter and the others are confronted with being in love with the idea of God and being in love with God. * One of the predominant characteristics I have observed in people’s lives who have made decisions to become students of Jesus is the priority of “obedience” in their lives. I know there are varying types of obedience: - forced into compliance, - obey based on an anticipated reward, - or, an obedience that fostered by a loving-respect (The primary objective of such obedience being the delight of the one to whom I am devoted). * One of the things that I have noticed about Jesus… ….although he seemed to make it easy for people to love him, he didn’t necessarily make it easy for people to follow him (i.e. he spoke in terms of self-denial, about the absence of creature comforts, about venturing into the relatively unknown/unexplored). * Obedience is difficult because it flies in the face of the thing that we most highly value in our lives…control. And, with every decision we make, the conflict becomes more evident. We interpret commands as restrictive and limiting; there’s something about being told what I CAN’T do that awakens my curiosity (maybe we need like an “invisible fence” concept where we wear a collar with a little bible-shaped receiver on it: get a few “volts” when we tend to stray). * Let me also clarify something very important here… God is not interested in obedience for obedience sake. Obedience, in and of itself, is of little value. In fact, begrudging obedience can harden us more to God than disobedience (at least disobedience is “authentic”). Obedience is really more of an attitude than an action. Ephesians 6:6 “…doing the will of God from your heart.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts”. Reflections… I obey because it allows me to function properly in God’s world. - In John’s writings, within the short span of just (9) verses in chapter 14, Jesus emphasizes this one thought (3) times: “If you say you really love me, you will obey my commands”. - in some sense, obedience is our response to legitimate authority (It answers the question, “Who are you to tell me what to do?”). * It appears that the one who has given the command has every right to expect obedience. - God knew that there would be certain issues in our lives that would simply require him to say, “No, stay away from that”. You cant’ understand now (John 16:12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear”.) - there will always exist a certain healthy tension between Creator and created. There’s just something inherent in that relationship that makes a certain discomfort inevitable; that He’s God and I’m not (and I’m O.K. with that). Romans 11:36 For everything comes from Him; everything exists by His power and is intended for His glory. To Him be glory evermore. Amen. (NLT) I obey because I understand the limits of my perspective. - there are times in all of our lives when we must choose to obey (follow) simply because there are too many aspects of our life which are either incomprehensible or easily misinterpreted. There are too many missing components (mystery). I obey because I value the relationship, even when I don’t understand the rules. - I have become convinced that the one requiring my obedience has not only proven to consistently be “right”, but that he has never exploited my willingness to obey (never taken advantage of my willingness to trust: “I was just seeing if you would”). I obey because I am listening, not just because I hear! * I discovered that when I asked my children to do something and they didn’t respond, I would say, “Did you hear what I said?” I also discovered that it was not that they didn’t hear, or weren’t aware of my desires, but they just weren’t ready to respond. * Many times, they were not deliberately being DEFIANT, they were just DISTRACTED; not that there was a lack of clarity, just a failure to concentrate. We become so absorbed with our immediate circumstance that we become inattentive and unresponsive to the appeal. I obey because I am the object of His love. - it’s the proper response to God’s stubborn love in the face of my persistent rebellion. - obedience is the “fruit” (evidence) of trust. It’s the response to God who NEEDS NOT explain Himself in detail every time I demand answers! - once you experience the benefits of obedience, you will no longer view the commands of God as limiting or restraining. * There was never anything in my life as a parent that made me feel respected than when my children obeyed me out of love (not fear of punishment, not just to stop my incessant demands). Conversely, I never felt so dismissed or disrespected as when I am ignored. I have come to discover that… THE OPPOSITE OF DISRESPECT IS NOT “REBELLION”, BUT “DISREGARD”! I obey because I don’t know any better! John 6:68-69 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Although God will never violate your right to believe anything you want, He will challenge what you believe to be right and invite you to choose life according to him. “If you love me…”, Jesus says. How do I determine the value of my obedience? “Is my responsiveness a reflection of my loving-respect for God?” “Is my obedience motivated by gratitude or guilt?” “Do I consider obedience optional, or am I devoted to Him?” (or, have you determined that it’s your only reasonable response having been loved so deeply?”) Devotion is about… … refusing to consider any other options, .… being absolutely certain about so little, yet trusting so much, … experiencing temporary episodes of competency, yet being so dependent. * The miracle catch was not so much the abundance of fish, but the power of Jesus’ love to capture the human heart and win its devotion.
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