Personally I dislike shopping at shopping centers & especially at super markets. For one thing the parking lots are very dangerous. I recently found out why. The Book of Judges rules in the parking lot. "Every Man does that which is right in his own eyes". And if you escape the cars in the parking lot, it is not likely you will escape the carts in the aisles of the Super Market and of course I never know where anything is in the Super Market. I get lost in a phone booth.
I haven't noticed it here so much but down where I use to live the Super Markets did something that I kind of liked, they played music over the PA system, music I grew up with. That's back when music had a melody to it and you listened to it and one day I was going thru the aisles of the Super Market and over the PA system came a song that I had not heard in a long time. Youngsters won't even recognize it, but some older folks might. The song was "What a difference a day makes...24 little hours."
I thought to myself, that's very biblical. "Teach us to number our days". We don't number our days, we number our years. "teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom, boast not thyself of tomorrow, thou knowest not what a day may bring forth".
Now to the unsaved person that must be very frightening. If I were an unconverted person in this world today, with what I see around me, I would be afraid to get out of bed in the morning. When you don't know what a day is going to bring forth, and you have not one to help you handle that day, if for no other reason than to have a shepherd, a guide, a protector, a friend, to help me day by day. If for no other reason than that, I would get converted.
Salvation is more than being rescued from hell. Salvation means that day by day we have One with us, who is perfecting us....performing His will in us. That encourages me. If you don't know Jesus as your Savior, I don't know how you live. Actually, you're not living, you're dead. I don't know how you make it day by day!
If there was ever a crisis man, it was Peter and he learned to live a day at a time.
But before you can walk into the future with the Lord Jesus, you have to pass a test. And this test is described for us in Luke, chapter 5. I want to read verses 1-11. In order to prepare you for the crisis that are on their way, you have to take inventory of your life. Luke chapter 5, verse 1 (read 1-11)
Life is not easy. Life is challenging and as you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you may walk into a few crisis experiences. Peter certainly did. Let's find out if we are ready. Using this passage as our basis, let's take inventory of our spiritual lives by asking 4 very simple questions.
QUESTION #1: HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO DISAPPOINTMENT?
The Bible is filled with failures. In the Word of God you will find that Abraham failed and David failed, and sometimes the people of God were disappointed.....they worked hard and nothing seemed to come from it. Here's a case in point; "we've toiled all night and we have taken nothing". Now, how do you respond to failure and disappointment?
How could Peter have responded? Well, what was he doing? He was washing his nets & mending his nets. To do what? To go back out again. By the way. That is one reason our Lord called fisherman, to be His followers. It is likely that 7 or the 12 disciples were fishermen. Do you know why? Fishermen don't quit!! Fishermen know how to work! Fishermen know how to work together. Fishermen are courageous and patient. Fishermen know that they have to keep at it if they are going to get the job done.
The work of God is done by people who know how to plod. Just keep on working. It's fine to mount up with wings, as an eagle. It's wonderful to run and not be weary. But the job is done when you walk and you don't faint. Just that day, by day, by day, by day, by day ministry that God gives you.
Now, he could have made up excuses. He could have quit. If I had fished all night and caught nothing, I would not be mending my nets. I would be selling my nets. I would have a sign up there in Latin, Aramaic and Greek that would say, "Dock sale" Boat for sale....CHEAP"
We do that, don't we? When we are disappointed & have some failure, we get discouraged, and we quit. But he didn't do that. Peter didn't quit.
Peter was a fisherman. And fisherman don't quit. Or, Peter could have made excuses. He could have said, "there are hundreds of boats on this lake & we all can't be catching fish all the time! Lots of competition." He didn't make excuses. He could have blamed other people. "These partners that I've got. This John, always losing his temper." NO, no. He didn't do that. Or, he could have blamed God. A lot of people do that. It is easy to blame God, for God is very patient with us. You blame people, they get angry with you. You blame God, He just smiles & says, "Well, you'll learn".
But Peter didn't blame God. He didn't blame his partners. He didn't blame the competition. He didn't blame anybody. He just said, "Well men, we didn't catch anything last night, let's get ready to go back out." HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO DISAPPOINTMENT?
You see, Peter was very, very close to the biggest catch of his life. There is an old saying that is right. "It is always to soon to quit!" It is interesting. Twice in his life Peter had great catches of fish. Here's the first one. All he had to do was wait about an hour. While the Lord Jesus sat in the boat and talked to the people. Then out they went. He was an hours time away from great success.
The second catch of fish is recorded in John 21. They had fished all night & caught nothing. And Jesus showed up on the shore and said, "you haven't caught anything, have you?" They said, "No!" He said, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship". Can you imagine? The difference between success and failure was the width of the ship. That's how close there were to success. Now you don't know how close you are to your great catch of fish.
Be patient. How do you respond to disappointment & failure? I have seen some of my rainbows smashed. I have seen some of my finest plans ground into the carpet. I have seen some of my greatest ideas laughed at. And it is a good thing. God had something better. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO FAILURE? HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO DISAPPOINTMENT? That's going to determine how you are going to respond to the next crisis that is going to come along.
QUESTION #2: HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY?
But with the Lord Jesus Christ it means we are in better hands. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY? The Lord Jesus stepped into the boat, He took command of the boat. He said, "launch out a little bit, push a little way from the land. I don't want this crowd to be crowding Me, and I want to talk to them." He took Peter's boat and turned it into a pulpit. Preached a sermon and taught the Word of God. He took over the nets. He told the fisherman what to do, that He might be able to tell the fish what to do.
Our Lord Jesus comes with authority. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY? Now you can reject authority and say that I am going to do my own thing. Or you can resist authority and say "I'll do it, but I'll do it under pressure". Or we can surrender to authority and say, "Lord, what ever You say." I like what Peter says here. "Master, we've toiled all the night and taken nothing, nevertheless, at Thy word." That's were faith comes in. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY? Now it is a basic principle of the Christian ministry that nobody has a right to exercise authority, who is not under authority.
Just keep that in mind. God has made it very clear that if I am to exercise authority, I must be under authority. And if I am not under authority and I'm exercising authority, I'm not a leader, I'm a dictator.
Parents exercise authority over their children but they are under the authority of the Lord. Pastors exercise authority, but pastors are undershepherds who are under authority of the Lord. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY?
Peter could have had a real problem here. He could have said, "Wait just a minute here Lord, You are a carpenter, I am a fisherman. What do carpenters know about fish? Now, if I want my boat mended, you are the person I would come to. But, Lord, you don't catch fish on this lake in the day time in the deep water."
That's true. On the Sea of Galilee you catch fish at night in the shallow water. So Peter is saying, "I understand fishing. I have past experience. I have training. I have expertise and I know what I am doing. By the way, your experience might be the biggest obstacle to the biggest blessing that God wants to give to you.
You know that sometimes a preacher will say, I have 10 years of experience. No. He has 1 year of experience, 10 times. Or, someone might say, "I've been teaching Sunday School for 20 years and the class gets smaller and smaller. Why? You are not being reached by the challenge. You are resting on your expertise. You are resting on your experience.
But Peter doesn't say that. Peter didn't argue with the Lord. He submitted to the authority of the Word of God. BUT HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY?
How do you become a musician? You put yourself under the authority of a teacher. You cannot pick up your first music and say, "I don't like the way they write these things! I don't like the scale." No. You submit yourself to the musical tradition and you set down at the keyboard and drive someone in your family crazy playing the scales.
Until you learn how to play the scales, you are not going to play much of anything else. You see, creativity is released when you say, "I submit."
This is true of athletics. How does a person become a great football player or hockey player or tennis star? By putting himself or herself under authority and that authority brings out the creativity that is within. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO AUTHORITY? Do you say day by day, "At Your Word. I'm not going to argue with it. I don't think much is going to happen, but at Your Word. I will do what you tell me to do."
QUESTION #3: You have answered the question, "How do we respond to disappointment & failure, and how do you respond to authority. So question #3 is,
HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO SUCCESS?
They say, "Crazy fellow! Who told him to do that. You know, that carpenter fellow from Nazareth. He said, "Let's go out and catch some fish." "What does He know about fishing?" Only one thing. He is Lord of heaven and earth. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO SUCCESS?
"At Thy word we will let down the nets, and they let down the nets and they caught so many fish that the nets began to break and then they started putting the fish in the boat, so the boat began to sink." Now you talk about success. But how did Peter respond to this success?
By the way. The way you respond to success, helps to determine how you respond to criticism and failure. How did Peter respond? #1. He helped his friends. He shared his success. When Peter saw that the nets were so full and the boats were sinking. He called his friends, "Come on over and help us." Now that speaks well of Peter. Some people, when they succeed, build a fence around their success. Put up a sign and say, "This is my territory." Peter didn't do that. If success makes you selfish, God will see to it that you won't be too successful. The first response that Peter had was the response of helping others.
I noticed something else that happened here. Not only did Peter respond by helping his friends but he responded by humbling himself before the Lord. Now let me be honest with you. If I had been in Peter's situation, if I had caught that many fish.....in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I had done that, I would not have fallen at the feet of Jesus in the boat and said, "depart from me, I'm a sinful man, oh Lord."
No. I would have jumped up in the front of the boat and said, "Hey folks, look at me. I'm a successful man. Then I would have started a series of seminars on how to catch fish. Peter didn't do that. When Peter succeeded, he did not use it to inflate himself. He used it to glorify the Lord. If success inflates you, criticism will crush you.
But if success humbles you, criticism will build you up. We hear a lot of criticism of Peter. There are a lot of preachers up in glory that are going to have to line up and apologies to Peter for the way they have treated him. He's a great man. Anybody who can have this kind of success and be humbled by it, and say I'm not worthy of this. Why would you do this for me, I'm a sinful man. That's the kind of people Jesus needs. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO SUCCESS?
Now there is a 4th question in our inventory. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE FUTURE? You might be tempted to say, "that's a crazy question." No. That's one of the most important questions you'll ever answer. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE FUTURE? Some people are afraid of the future.
I received a letter from a dear lady not that long ago, and I'm not being critical, but she said, "Oh, brother Ferry. I wish that everything could be like it was in the 50's" and I said to myself, "dear Lord, I'm glad it isn't." You see, I would not have the wife the Lord gave me, nor 2 children and 6 grand-children. I don't want to go backward. Oh, you know the poem,
Backward, turn backward of time in your flight
make me a child again, just for tonight.
I don't want that. I may enter into a second childhood again someday, but I don't want to be a child. I asked a friend if he'd ever had a mid-life crisis and he said, "At this point, he'd have to back into it."
HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE FUTURE? Now a strange thing is happening across America. We are on a nostalgic kick. Just turn on your radio and see if you can't find a station that plays the old songs. The old TV programs are becoming popular. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE FUTURE? Is the future your enemy?
There are millions of people who would not move out of their house or apartment in the morning had they not picked up the newspaper and read their horoscope. They depend on it. If there were a person who could tell me day by day what was going to happen, I would not consult them. I don't want to know.
Joseph Parker's beautiful hymn says, "God holds the key of all unknown and I am glad, if other hands should hold the key or if he trusted it to me, I might be sad." I don't want to know what's going to happen tomorrow. But I'm not afraid of it.
You see, the Lord Jesus got them back on shore and said, "Now don't be afraid." I like that. "Don't be afraid." When Peter looked at the future, he wasn't afraid. Do you know that the future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord. You don't have to be afraid. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE FUTURE?
It is interesting that the Lord Jesus started with this episode and trained Peter to ready for the future. As Peter followed the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter said, "This man is amazing." I can trust Him. In the boat, on the Water, in the day time.
The next lesson was not that way. The next lesson in Luke chapter 8, the Lord Jesus is in the Boat with the disciples at night in a storm. And He is asleep. And Boy, Peter is scared. Now for a fisherman to be scared, that is something. And the storm got worse and the wind and the waves and it was terrible. They were frightened and they went up and woke Him up. And they said, "Don't You care?" He said, "Of course I care, what are you worried about?" "Peace, be still." And the peace came.
And Peter said, "You know what, I cannot only trust Him in the boat in the day time on calm water. I can trust Him in the boat at night on stormy water. Even when it seems like He doesn't care. I can trust Him." What a man. No fear in following Him.
Then the 3rd lesson came, Matthew 14. Peter had to learn to trust Him without the boat. NOW THAT IS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL LEVEL. Kindergarten level is Luke 5, High School lever is Luke 8 and graduate school lever is Matthew 14.
He sends them out onto the lake. He goes to the mountain to pray. They are out in the middle, as far from the land as you can get and they are making no progress. The wind is contrary and it is dangerous.
You can just hear Peter saying, "Where is He, Where is He? If He were here He could do something. Were is He?" You see, Peter had to learn to walk by faith, not by sight.
Then this figure comes across the waves. Just imagine, the waves that were so frightening to them were just a stair step for the Lord Jesus. He wasn't afraid. "Be of good cheer. It is I, do not be afraid...If it be Thou, bid me come to You on the water....COME! One word. "Come". Peter got out of the boat and he walked on the water. Don't criticize him for sinking. We're still in the boat. He walked on the water.
Of course he go his eyes off the Lord and go them on the circumstances. You've done that. And the Lord Jesus spared him. He learned that he could trust the Lord, even without the boat. You can walk on the water if you're following the Lord Jesus by faith.
What am I saying? I'm saying this. God brings crisis experiences to you and to me to knock our substitute props out from under us. Those things that we trust in instead of trusting Him. Peter you're trusting the water. I'm going to make it stormy. Peter you're trusting the sunshine, I'll make it dark. Peter, you're trusting the boat, get out of it. Peter, are you trusting Me? No wonder it was Peter who wrote, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you".
HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THE FUTURE? When it comes time to go in a different direction. When the Lord calls on us to move out in faith, don't say, "No, we want to go back." Move forward.
Beware of being a comfortable Christian. Because comfortable Christians never become CONFORMABLE CHRISTIANS. They always stay on the same level. HOW DO YOU FACE THE FUTURE? What is your attitude? Your response to the future? Jesus comes to you and says, "Follow Me." .... "Where are we going?" ... "That's up to Me. FOLLOW ME!" ... "I want to see the itinerary." .... "Follow Me." ... "Bit if I do I'll have to leave my boat." .... "Follow Me."
Oh, what a challenge. And that to me, is the excitement of the Christian life. It is much more than meetings and speeches. The excitement of the Christian life is that God puts us into a crisis situation and we discover something about ourselves that we didn't know before. And we grow. No wonder it was Peter who wrote, "Now grow in grace and in knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And you're not going to grow unless you go and you're not going to go unless you forsake all and follow Him.
Our Lord says to everyone of us today, "Follow Me, I'll make you..." Now to the fisherman He said, "I'll make you fishers of men." He didn't say that to Matthew. He just said, "Follow Me" and He made Matthew into a writer.
I don't know what He is going to make you into, but He just simply says, "Follow Me & I'll make you" "And if you don't follow Me, I may break you."
Let's stand. May it be, Father, that we will be excited about the future, not resting on the achievements of the past, not protected by our experience and our expertise. Oh, Lord, may we have to lift higher that our muscles might grow. May we have to see farther that our vision might expand. Oh, help us to grow. Deliver us from becoming shriveled saints who don't know how to face a crisis. For Jesus sake. Amen
