The Risk of Obeying God
Introduction
Luke 5:1-11
Sometimes we know what the Lord wants to do in our life, and sometimes we are not quite sure. There are sometimes we really know exactly what He is saying, but we hesitate, or we just say, “I’m just not going to do it.” Now friend that response is one of disobedience.
I. Reasons people refuse to be obedient to Jesus
A. One of the reasons we fail to do what God wants us to do is that we fear failure.
1. Most Christians have a hard time with this because they have half way believe what Philippians 4:13 says, “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”. There are a lot of folks don’t like to admit that they fear failure. There are a lot of folks that are failing in life because they fear failure so much they have just never got started succeeding. So they feel failure and they disobey the Lord.
2. Are you willing to take the risk of obeying God?
B. A second reason we don’t want to do what God tells us to do is that we don’t want to lose control.
1. When you have been in control of your life so long and then God says, “I want you to give up and surrender, no matter what I ask you to do.” Red flags begin to be tossed from the sideline of your mind. Listen friend, it is really easy to sing, “All to Jesus, I surrender. All to Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him, in His presence daily live”, until he calls your hand. And when He calls your hand, it is very, very difficult to give up control of your life. It is very scary to give up control. We don’t like to give up control. We want to hold on just a little bit.
2. Are you willing to take the risk of obeying God?
C. A third reason we don’t want what God wants is because we are afraid of the requirements.
1. You are probably thinking, “What will God really ask of me?” That is why a lot of people are not on the mission field, preaching the gospel, and serving the Lord. They are so afraid of the requirements, that they will not yield themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Are you willing to take the risk of obeying God?
D. A fourth reason we don’t want what God wants is because we are fearful of criticism
1. My friend, we are more afraid of what other are going to think about us than we are about what the Almighty God already knows. The Bible indicates that God is Omniscient (All Knowing). God knows everything. The old time preachers use to say he even knows what you try to hide in the closet or sweep under the rug.
2. Are you willing to take the risk of obeying God?
E. A fifth reason is that God’s request does not seem reasonable.
1. There are many times in our lives that God will ask something that just doesn’t seem very reasonable.
2. Example – God instructed Joshua how they were to conquer Jericho. “Joshua, you are not going to believe this. All I want you to do is march around the walls of Jericho six days and on the seventh day march around it seven times, blow the trumpet and shout.” I am sure Joshua then responded, “And then what God?” God said, “That is all”. “There must be something else?” “No that is it.” “Well God, marching, shouting, and blowing trumpets is not going to conquer Jericho.” Friend, God said, “That is all.”
3. How many times has God instructed you to do something and you say “how is that going to work” and God says “just do what I tell you.” My friend, it is really difficult to get beyond human reasoning, when we can’t figure it out.
4. Are you willing to take the risk of obeying God?
My friend, God is in control of every event and circumstance in our lives, but our actions often prove otherwise. Let’s continue to look this morning at The Risk of Obeying God.
Maybe you are hear this morning and you say, “There is no risk in obeying God”. IF you believe that why is it that you fail obey Him when he asks you to do something.? If there is no risk in obeying God, why don’t we just say, “You name it God, here I go” You see, there must be some risk or you and I would obey him every time.
Turn with me to Luke 5:1-11 and let’s read the story together.
This is the story of Jesus and Peter going fishing and there is a lot of truth in this story. If we can just get one nugget of truth out of this event and apply it to our lives, oh what a difference it will make.
Listen my friend, Peter Obeyed the Lord Jesus. Let’s dissect what this passage is saying to us today.
II. Why did Peter obey Jesus and what will cause us to obey Jesus?
A. He saw something about Jesus he had never seen before.
1. Jesus was a very wise man. He was “all wise”. He was “all knowing”. He was “all powerful”
Jesus was a very knowledgeable person. They went right to the deep spot. This was the spot that Jesus had determined that Peter should go. Peter had fished there a lot.
a. Jesus said, vs. 4 “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”
b. My friend, the reason most of us don’t ever get much accomplished in our spiritual lives is that we like to hang out on the shoreline. Jesus said, “get out there where it is deep.”
c. In Vs. 5 we notice hesitation even in Peter. “We have toiled all night and caught nothing…couldn’t we just throw out a couple nets.?”
d. Vs. 6-7 (read)
e. In Vs. 8 Peter knew Jesus was all wise and all knowing. He knew exactly what he should do. This was not only a physical event; it was a spiritual event for Peter. What are you seeing in Jesus that you have never seen before?
B. IF you and I in our lives decide we are going to do what is natural and what the World does, we are never going to obey God very often.
IF you look around you and see what others are doing, you will never obey God much, because most of the time what people are doing is in no way an example of obedience to God. The rest of the fisherman were mending their nets, folding their nets and planning on returning to shore. It was about noon.
Jesus said “If you will do what I tell you to do and how I tell you to do it and for the reason I tell you to do it you will never be disappointed. Let’s say it together: “Jesus will never disappoint me!!!
1. Friends if we do what Jesus tells us to do, when he tells us to do it, and how he tells us to do it, we will never come up with empty nets. There is no disappointment in Jesus. There is no failure in doing what Jesus wants you to do. What if Peter who at this time of the day was mending his nets and folding them, said, no, Lord I don’t think so. Look at the blessing he would have missed. I wonder how many blessings we have missed because we have not been available and what we have is not available to Jesus – Peter made his boat available.
What do you have that is not available to Jesus? You say, well everything I own is available to Jesus? Is it?? Jesus honored Peter because he made his simple boat available to him. What do you have that is not available to him?
a. Life, Time, Talents (Gift of teaching, singing), Money, Car, Home
b. What have you stamped as being unavailable to God, and whatever it is, God wants it.
c. If that had been your boat, what would you have done? How may blessings have we missed because something we have is not available to Jesus. He learned so much about Jesus in that simple trip. That decision to obey the Lord radically changed his life. When they got back to shore, he walked off and left the boat. Not only was His life changed, but all of his friend’s lives were changed. You don’t know how many people are watching us, but some are going to do what we do.
Conclusion
You cannot obey God without being blessed. Think for a minute, what is the last thing God ask you to do and you reasoned it away, you didn’t do it. You pushed it aside and maybe you have forgotten about it. Let me remind you that Jesus never forgets anything except for our sin that has been forgiven. He does not forget out disobedience. If Peter had not been obedient, he would have missed a blessing. I wonder this morning what you have missed?
Peter could have allowed Jesus to sit in his boat but never left the shoreline. That is where a lot of folks are this morning, shoreline thinking, shoreline living, shoreline giving, and our who life gets shallow. Friends life never gets exciting until you get out there where you can’t stand on the bottom. That is when you have to trust God. What has he ask you to do that you are afraid to do? I wonder how may boatloads of blessings we have here this morning? How many have boats that smell like fish, but there aren’t any fish in them?