Tonight, I preached from Luke 5.1-11 on the calling of Simon. There is so much to glean from this passage of Scripture. As soon as Christ finished His sermon that He preached from Simon's boat to the people gathered on the seashore, He turned to Simon and told him to go out to the sea again and let down his nets for a catch. This shows us, for one, that Christ's word always calls for a response of trust and obedience. Simon was reluctant, as many of us are, to respond in trust and obedience, but he tells Jesus, "I will do as You say and let down the nets" (5.5). Christ's command sometimes comes to us in the midst of circumstances that make obedience inconvenient, irksome, or impractical--but His command is still given. Still, it is in times like these that trust and obedience yield new truths for us to learn about God, truths that are indeed life changing.
Simon's response of trust and obedience, although reluctant, was the way by which he overcame his doubts. He had been out all night fishing and hadn't caught a single fish to show for his efforts. When Jesus told him to go back out and let down his nets yet again, you can almost hear the exasperation as you read his response. But Simon's actions show that by doing this simple act of trust and obedience, the doubts and frustrations dissolved when Christ demonstrated His great faithfulness to Simon. It is the same when we are faced with the opportunity to act on God's word. We may have our doubts, but when we obey, we find that our doubts and fears were groundless and we see again that God is always faithful to keep His promises.
Most importantly, we see in verse 8 that Simon was humble before Christ. Christ's response to Simon's humble and contrite spirit before Him was to encourage him and promise him that He would become a fisher of men. The great assurance from this text is that Christ always receives the one who is contrite, who realizes that he is unworthy and depends on Christ for grace and mercy. Christ never turns such a one away. As I Peter 5.5 says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
God's grace overcomes our doubts and fears, no matter how powerful they are. Christ's call to be His follower is always attended by the promise of His grace and presence. This is indeed a powerful assurance and encouragement from God's word.
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