Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Sermon for Trinity 5

1 Peter 3:8-15  +  Luke 5:1-11

When Jesus said to Simon Peter in today’s Gospel, “Put out a little from the shore,” you know He wasn’t talking to you, right, telling you to row your boats away from the shore? When He told Peter, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch,” you know He wasn’t talking to you, right? Of course you do! It’s obvious that Jesus’ words to Peter were not meant for you, or for anyone else. And yet, when Christians hear the last words Jesus spoke to Peter in today’s Gospel, they get all excited about it, as if Jesus had spoken the words directly to them, “From now on you will be catching men!” Or as it’s stated in another Gospel, “I will make you fishers of men!” Now, someday, some of the young men hear may be able to apply those words to themselves if they receive a divine call, through the Church, into the preaching ministry, as Peter, James, and John did directly from Jesus. But for everyone else, no, “catching men” is not something the Lord has given you to do.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty in today’s Gospel and Epistle that does apply to you all as Christians. The Lord has given you much to believe here, and much to do! So let’s take a look at our Bible texts again and see what those things are.

Some time before Jesus met Peter, James, and John at the Sea of Galilee for today’s miraculous catch of fish, He had already called them to follow Him as learners, as disciples. They had already spent some days with Him, heard Him teach, and seen some of His miracles. But they hadn’t yet been called to be His full-time apprentices. That would change by the end of the day. Jesus chose this occasion to call those men to follow Him full-time as “seminary students” preparing for the ministry He would eventually give them. And how He called them is significant.

First, Jesus got into Peter’s boat and asked him to put out a little from the shore so that Jesus could preach to the large crowds from a little distance, so that they could all see and hear Him better. It was a simple thing Jesus told Peter to do, and he did what was given him to do; it seemed like a reasonable request. And that simple act of obedience ended up serving the Lord’s purpose to teach the people.

Then, after He finished teaching the people, the Lord had more to teach Peter and his companions. So He told Peter to put out into the deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Again, it was a simple thing, but this time, Peter couldn’t see the reasonableness of it. Serious fishermen went out at night, as Peter and his companions had done the night before, with no luck at all. Not a single fish was caught in their nets. You see, God had prevented Peter from catching anything the night before so that Jesus could teach him this lesson today. Peter didn’t know that the night before, of course. He didn’t know why it had gone so badly for them. But that’s how God’s plans usually work. We don’t understand ahead of time why we go through this or that hardship. Sometimes we don’t find out this side of heaven. But sometimes it’s made clear to us later, as it was for Peter.

Initially, it seemed like a fool’s errand to let down the nets at this time of day, especially after how things had gone the night before. But Peter said something very wise: Master, we have toiled throughout the night and have caught nothing. But at your word, I will let down the net. It didn’t make sense, from a human perspective, to do what Jesus gave him to do. But Peter didn’t let that get in the way of doing it. At your word, Jesus—because You said to do it—I will do it.

And that’s usually how it goes in the ministry of the Word. God tells His pastors, “Preach the Word! Baptize! Give out My body and blood with the bread and wine! Convince, rebuke, correct, encourage! Take care of My sheep! Forgive the penitent! Do not forgive the impenitent!” That’s it? That’s the work He’s given pastors to do? It doesn’t seem like it can accomplish much. But we should learn with Peter to say, “At Your Word, Lord, I will preach and do these things, because You gave them to me to do.”

See how it turned out for Peter and his fellow fishermen. Their net sank with the weight of the great multitude of fish that were suddenly caught in it. The net began to tear, and two boats began to sink as they worked together to drag the net to shore.

It wasn’t luck. It was a miracle that Jesus performed to teach His disciples, both then and now, to trust His Word and to do whatever He has given us to do, no matter how unreasonable or how useless it may seem.

Peter recognized this miracle for what it was. When he saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Jesus’ power over the sea, over nature itself, was a clear sign that this man was not just a man. He was the holy God. Peter was beginning to understand that. And he knew that sinful men, like him, cannot survive in the presence of the holy God. In that respect, the Old Testament had done its job very well. So many of the regulations of the Law of Moses had to do with clean and unclean, and the message was clear: One way or another, you had to be clean, sinless, spotless in order to be in God’s presence in the temple. Either you had to be sinless (which didn’t apply to anyone), or you had to be cleansed of your sin. You had to have atonement made for your sins so that you could be forgiven.

Well, Peter was in the very presence of the One whom he was beginning to recognize as the Son of God, and although he was no murderer or adulterer or thief, he knew he hadn’t fulfilled the righteous requirements of God’s holy Law. He was a sinful man, like everyone else. But when he pleaded with Jesus to depart from him because of his sinfulness, Jesus gave him a very different kind of command. “Do not be afraid.” He doesn’t explain it here, but it would all be revealed eventually. Jesus had come to make atonement for all the sins of all people by offering up His life on the cross, inviting all sinners to make use of His atonement before God as the basis for His forgiveness. To all who look to Him in faith, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid. Your sins can no longer harm you. It’s all right. You can be in the presence of God without fear, as long as you’re with Me.”

And then Jesus added something that’s recorded in Matthew and Mark but not here in Luke. He said to Peter, as He said also to Andrew, James, and John on this occasion, “Follow Me.” He meant it literally. He was calling them to leave behind their careers, their job as fishermen in which they had worked their whole lives. To do what? “From now on, you will be catching men!” This was something new, a new call to these men, not just to believe in Him, not just to learn from Him, but, eventually, to carry out the same ministry Jesus was carrying out in the world, to gather people into the kingdom of God by preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments. And they left everything and followed him.

Now, of the five things Jesus gave Peter to do on that day by the Sea of Galilee, only one has been given to you directly. When you acknowledge your sins, when you look to Jesus for mercy, His words to Peter are also intended for you. “Do not be afraid.” Don’t be afraid of God’s anger or God’s punishment. Don’t be afraid that God will reject you or abandon you. Jesus has taken care of that for you. So don’t be afraid.

There is a sense in which another of Jesus’ commands to Peter applies to you, though. Follow Me. In Peter’s case, it was meant in a very literal sense. In your case, it’s less literal, but just as real. You have been called to follow Jesus, that is, to follow His teaching, to learn from Him, to trust in Him, and to walk in His footsteps, which includes living a life of honesty, courage, and love, which also includes suffering for doing and saying what is right, if necessary.

The same Peter who did what the Lord had given him to do in our Gospel has spelled out in his Epistle many of the things God has given you to do as you follow Jesus.

Finally, all of you, be of one mind. Be sympathetic. Show brotherly love. Be compassionate. Be friendly. You could spend all day just contemplating how you might put those things into practice. You don’t have to change the world. You don’t have to fix our broken society. God hasn’t given you those things to do. But to be sympathetic? To show brotherly love? To be compassionate? To be friendly? That you can do.

Do not repay evil with evil or insults with insults, but on the contrary, pronounce a blessing, knowing that you were called to this. If you’ve spent any time on social media, you know this isn’t how most people behave. Mockery. Insults. Assuming the worst about other people. Tearing down others. That’s what the world does. But you have been given something else to do. You have been called to behave differently. Whoever wants to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it…Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for an explanation of the hope that is in you. Do it with gentleness and respect.

To “catch men” or to be “fishers of men” is an important task the Lord has given to some men and will continue to give, as He sees fit. But to all Christians God has given plenty to do in the time He has given you here on this earth. Be about those things, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. In God’s eyes, no task that He’s given is irrelevant; no task is trivial or small. So serve the Lord with gladness, and give thanks that He has counted you worthy to follow Him here on earth, until you finally follow Him to His heavenly home. Amen.

Sermon for Trinity 3

1 Peter 5:6-11  +  Luke 15:1-10

I think you probably know the story of the prodigal son; it’s at the end of Luke chapter 15. Today’s Gospel doesn’t include that story, but that story gives us a useful perspective that helps us understand the two parables we have before us today: of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In the parable of the prodigal son, the father has two sons. One is openly rebellious, the other is openly obedient but is revealed in the end to be secretly self-righteous. In that parable, both sons become lost, but in different ways. Both sons need their father to go looking for them. Both sons need to repent. Both sons need saving.

That’s the story of all mankind in a nutshell. All people are lost, by nature, by birth, neither knowing nor worshiping the true God. We all start out life openly rebellious against the true God, pursuing our own beliefs, our own passions, our own pleasures, our own good. People’s rebellion begins in their heart from the earliest age and then manifests itself in all kinds of ways. (You don’t get a “pride month” recognized and celebrated around the world without most of the world being openly rebellious against the true God.) Now, some of those openly rebellious people are brought to a knowledge of the true God and make a beginning in His Church. They fix up their lives, for the most part, and become openly obedient children of God. But then many enter into another state of lostness. They become secretly self-righteous. They begin to trust in their own goodness and merit before God, as if He should be proud of them for being such good people. Openly rebellious or secretly self-righteous—in the end, it doesn’t matter, because both groups of people are lost. Both wretched in the eyes of God. Both under His condemnation.

And yet, our God wants no one to remain lost. He wants no one to be condemned. And so He goes out looking, pleading with them now, before it’s too late. Because one day soon, He will come, not seeking to find the lost, but to give them the everlasting punishment they deserve. For now, He still seeks, as we see in today’s Gospel, where we encounter both groups of lost people.

First, we see the tax collectors (who, at that time in Judea, openly practiced legalized theft and extorsion) and the “sinners” (that is, well-known, public scoundrels, sex workers, and adulterers). They’re openly rebellious against God. They’re impenitent—not sorry for their sins but determined to keep living in them. They have no desire to change (or to be changed). At least, not until they hear Jesus. These tax collectors and sinners in our Gospel were coming near to hear Jesus preach, calling them to repentance, offering a clean slate with God the Father to all who came to Him, seeking God’s mercy through Him. And Jesus was happy to have them come.

Second, we see the other lost group. In the Gospel they’re called Pharisees and scribes. These are the self-righteous religious people. They’re lost, too. They’re impenitent. They don’t believe God when He tells them that all people (including them!) have sinned and fall short of His glory. They don’t humble themselves before God, as Peter told us to do in today’s Epistle. Instead, they exalt themselves before God. They signal their own virtue before the world. They don’t cry out for God’s mercy, they don’t appreciate His grace. In fact, they’re so arrogant and condescending that, when they see the tax collectors and sinners coming to Jesus, they get angry: The Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Since we have two groups of lost people in our Gospel, it’s fitting that we also have two little parables, one for each group. The parables are similar in many ways and we wouldn’t want to press the distinction too far. But we might say that the parable of the lost sheep focuses on the lost openly rebellious sinners, while the parable of the lost coin focuses on the lost secretly self-righteous sinners. (While the parable of the prodigal son that follows deals with them both.)

The tax collectors and sinners were like the one sheep out of a hundred that goes astray and becomes lost. They rebelled against God and lived for themselves, oblivious to the very real devil who, as Peter says, is like a roaring lion, prowling around looking for someone to devour. But God, the Good Shepherd, wasn’t willing to give up on them. No decent shepherd would be, as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees, that any of them would do the same thing for one sheep that went astray. How much more shouldn’t God seek to bring back the human beings (His special creation, made in His own image) who have gone astray! Of course He receives them when they come to hear Him! Of course He welcomes them back into His Church and into His family when they repent and seek forgiveness from Jesus! He is, after all, the one who would soon give His life on the cross to pay for all the wrong they had done. He’s thrilled when sinners recognize the error of their ways and come to Him for mercy! And all of heaven rejoices with Him when that happens. I tell you, in the same way there will also be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.

Such is the care and concern of God for every sinner, yes, even for the openly rebellious. That includes all non-Christians, no matter how decent they may appear, because all non-Christians are, by definition, open idolaters, people who deny the true God and refuse to worship Him through His beloved Son Jesus Christ. It also includes the Christians who have rejected the holy life to which God has called us and have chosen instead to live in sin. It includes all LGBTQ supporters and practitioners, and all those who have committed or supported abortion. It includes all the heterosexual people out there, too, who shack up or hook up outside of marriage. It includes porn stars, and porn producers, and porn watchers. Thieves. Race-baiters. Liars, false accusers, etc. God sent His Son Jesus into the world to suffer rejection, torture, and crucifixion as the payment for their sins—for the sins of the world. And now the risen Lord Jesus sends out ministers in His Church to call sinners to repentance, to look for them and to find them with His Word, with His Law and His Gospel. And the Holy Spirit works through the Law to bring them to see how lost they were, to change their attitude toward sin, so that they no longer love it and embrace it, but come to hate it and reject it. And through the Gospel the same Holy Spirit leads them to flee in faith to Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. And when they do, God and His angels and all the saints, in heaven and on earth, rejoice over them.

But there are some, like the Pharisees in our Gospel, who do not rejoice over them when they come to repentance, because they have come to believe that they have earned God’s approval, and that other people need to earn it just like they did if they are to have it. No mercy! No forgiveness! Certainly not for free!

The Pharisees in our Gospel were like the one silver coin that the woman lost. Now, a sheep may be dirty and smelly and prone to wander. But a silver coin was seen as very valuable. And the woman who lost it didn’t have a hundred of them; she only had ten, so losing one was a much bigger deal than losing one sheep out of a hundred. And yet, for as much value as that coin may have, it’s absolutely worthless as long as it remains lost. It can’t purchase a single thing. It’s good for nothing.

But with the same care and concern as the shepherd had for his one lost sheep, the woman in the story lights a lamp and sweeps the house and searches until she finds her one lost coin. And with the same joy as the shepherd had over finding his lost sheep, she rejoices and calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me! For I have found the silver coin that I lost.

The Pharisees were outwardly good citizens, shiny and valuable, like the silver coin. But they were secretly self-righteous, still lost, still impenitent, and, therefore, useless before God. They trusted in themselves, not in God. They looked down on others, instead of loving them as God demands. They didn’t seek the repentance and salvation of the tax collectors and sinners around them; no, they wanted to see them all burn in hell. They were generally mean and nasty people, because pride and self-righteousness always end up making a person mean and nasty. But God valued them just as much as He valued the tax collectors and sinners. He wanted to find them and to have them found just as much. The blood Jesus shed on the cross for the tax collectors was the same blood He shed for the Pharisees, and His joy when any of them repented—like Nicodemus, or like the Apostle Paul—was just as great.

We don’t have Pharisees anymore. But there are plenty of Christians out there who share much in common with them. These are the ones who think highly of themselves and who look down their nose at everyone else. They’re proud of how religious they are, or how orthodox they are, and they mock those who don’t live up to their standards. What they don’t realize is that, by their self-righteous attitude, they have broken away from Christ. They have become lost. They need finding. And so our merciful God goes looking for them, too, warning them to recognize and repent of their self-righteousness, persuading them to seek God’s approval in Christ, and never in their own worthiness.

Now, I ask you this morning to examine yourself. Do you find yourself among the openly rebellious? Do you find yourself among the secretly self-righteous? If so, then repent! And what does repentance look like for both groups? It looks like coming to hate your sin, whether it’s open rebellion or secret self-righteousness. And then, it looks like trust in the Lord Jesus, who paid for those sins and yearns for you to be found and find peace and comfort in the forgiveness of sins. It looks like being baptized. And then, it looks like a life lived within God’s holy Church, a life of daily contrition and repentance, a life of prayer, a life of hearing and learning God’s Word and receiving the Holy Supper of Christ’s true body and blood, a life now devoted to fighting against your own sinful passions and desires, a life now devoted to loving God and to loving your neighbor.

As Peter expressed in today’s Epistle, living in repentance as someone who has now been found by the Lord Jesus also means you get to cast your cares upon the Lord, because He cares for you. It means being sober and diligent as you watch out daily for the many ways in which the devil tries to lead you back to impenitence and lostness. It means resisting the devil, and there’s hope in that, because it means the devil can be resisted. As a penitent child of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, you can stand against the devil. You don’t have to go along with him either into open rebellion or into self-righteousness. You don’t have to follow him into hatred or into despair. Peter reminds us that, for as much as we may feel alone in this world, suffering so many attacks from the devil, the world, and our flesh, we aren’t alone. It just feels that way. In reality, Peter says that the same sufferings are being brought upon your brothers in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen