Go Deep… | Sunday, June 1, 2025

So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret... He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking... When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"... And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. (Luke 5:1–11)

Jesus rarely calls us into the deep all at once—He leads us step by step, rewarding even our hesitant obedience as He makes us fishers of men.

A Rich and Simple Story

This is a rich and powerful passage—one of the most significant stories related to Jesus's ministry among His disciples. Here we have the calling of four men who would become Jesus's apostles: Andrew and his brother Simon, and James and his brother John. There are corresponding passages in Matthew and Mark, but those give only a brief snippet—"I will make you fishers of men." Luke gives us the story behind the call.

Three of these four—Simon, whose name would be changed to Peter, along with James and John—are considered the inner circle. Some say Jesus kept them close because He had to keep an eye on them. Regardless, these men are central to the story of Jesus.

The story itself is not complicated. A child can understand it; we teach it in our children's ministry, and they grasp the basics. You don't need to parse Greek words or deconstruct some great metaphor here. In chapter 4 Jesus was rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, even threatened with death, and from what we can tell He never returned there. But He did go back to the Sea of Galilee.

Around the Sea of Galilee

The "Sea of Galilee" sounds vast, but it's really a moderately sized lake you could travel around in a day. Most of Jesus's life and ministry was lived around it, especially the northern tip, where He traveled from city to city teaching and preaching. As multitudes pressed around Him along the shore, He saw a couple of boats belonging to fishermen who had been out all night.

Jesus already had a relationship with Simon—they knew each other. So He asked to sit in Simon's boat and put out a little from the land, a very practical request, so He could teach the crowds. Simon did just as Jesus asked. I often wonder what Jesus taught that day. I suspect it was at least moderately applicable to Simon, who was sitting right there listening. When He finished, He said, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

Jesus Works Incrementally

Point one: Jesus tends to work incrementally in our lives, not all at once. The progression here is clear. This wasn't Simon's first meeting with Jesus. He'd seen Him around Capernaum, the town where Simon ran his fishing business with his partners James and John. Like so many, Simon was one of a successive generation of fishermen.

First Jesus simply asks to sit in the boat. Simon's fine with that. Then comes a further step: "Launch out and let down your nets." And eventually, in the last verse, the big call—forsake everything and follow Me. But Jesus didn't start there. If He had, Simon would have resisted and run the other way.

We see this pattern throughout Scripture. God told Abram in Genesis 12 to leave his father's house—and the text says the Lord had said this, suggesting He'd been saying it a while. Abram was 75 when he finally followed; 25 more years passed before the promised son Isaac came; and only years after that came the seemingly absurd command of Genesis 22 to sacrifice Isaac. God didn't begin with that heavy call. We see the same incremental work in Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and David—and in our own lives. Jesus works this way because He is full of grace.

Reluctant, But Obedient

Notice Simon did not immediately comply. Many of us can identify with Peter—he's really good at putting his foot in his mouth. He voices hesitancy: "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."

My friend Nick Long, who pastored in Germany after coming out of the fishing industry, points out something interesting: Simon was washing his nets, which you wouldn't really need to do if you'd caught nothing. Maybe Simon didn't want everyone to know he'd come up empty. Nick imagines Simon agreeing only because all the multitudes were watching. I don't know if that's how it went, but it's an interesting way to look at it.

Simon was the professional. Yet it's funny that the great Galilean fisherman is never shown catching a fish in Scripture without Jesus's help. Simon knew fishing on Galilee—you don't cast nets in the middle of the day—so he tenderly let Jesus know this isn't how things are done. This is a character quality of his; later he'll get in Jesus's face about His arrest, saying, "Not so, Lord, this shall not happen to You." That's not how you talk to the Lord. Yet we kind of love the bombastic nature of Simon Peter.

Jesus Reveals His Greatness Gradually

Point two: Jesus usually reveals His greatness gradually rather than all at once. Jesus is the most awesome individual who ever walked the earth, but He doesn't overwhelm us with His awesomeness. He shows who He is a little at a time. And Simon, reluctant as he was, still obeyed.

I'm glad this passage is here, because I don't always obey perfectly at first either. I'm not always fully all-in. Yet the Lord is gracious and patient. Though Simon protested, he did what the Lord said—and notice the result. They caught such a great number of fish that the nets were breaking. They had to signal their partners in the other boat, and both boats began to sink. This was likely the biggest catch Simon ever got, and it happened publicly, in front of the multitudes Jesus had just been teaching.

Reluctant Obedience Rewarded

Point three: Jesus frequently rewards reluctant obedience to build future faith and faithfulness. He didn't rebuke Simon for his hesitation—He rewarded his obedience, even though it wasn't prompt or full. This is not how the world works. If an employee is reluctant to do what you ask, you probably don't hand out a bonus. But Jesus is not of this world. As God says through Isaiah, His ways are not our ways; they are higher.

I find a lot of my obedience, like Simon's, is slow and partial at the start—and so is yours. Yet Jesus is gracious because He's training disciples, not recruiting slaves. This same Simon will get in Jesus's face, will deny Him three times the night of the betrayal—but he is also the same Peter who will stand on the day of Pentecost and see 3,000 saved, the same Peter who will write 1 and 2 Peter. He stumbled and fell, yet slowly, incrementally, because God is gracious, the Lord restored him and kept him on the path. This is Jesus's style—raising up followers who respond in faith, not servants who obey out of fear.

There's much we can learn here, especially if you have people under you—as a parent, grandparent, employer, manager, or teacher. Jesus's style of leadership is unique.

Transforming Sinners into Saints

What was the response? "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!'" He and all who were with him were astonished.

Point four: the Jesus style is redemptive, transforming fallen sinners into faithful saints. It's been one of the great blessings of my life as a pastor to watch lives miraculously redeemed and transformed. We see this gracious, patient, redemptive work in Simon throughout the New Testament—and in our own lives. There are probably more than a few here who, like Simon, are reluctant and hesitant to believe and follow. But incrementally, Jesus is working to move you further into His purpose. Every day He seems to say, "Just a little bit more. Go deep."

Faithful Followers, Not Perfect Subjects

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." The explicit words "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men" are recorded in Matthew 4:19; Luke gives us the story behind that call. And this is not the climax—it's the beginning. Simon will have his slip-ups, but Jesus will keep being gracious because He is making a disciple.

Their response: "They forsook all and followed Him." There's so much in that simple clause. Their entire lives had been spent in those boats with their fathers and grandfathers, and now they'd taken over the business. Could you imagine the conversation with Zebedee? "Hey Dad, that preacher guy—we're not going to be doing this fishing thing anymore."

Point five: Jesus seeks faithful followers, not perfect subjects. And that's good, because none of us fits the profile of a perfect subject. We can grow into faithful followers, but we'll never be perfect. Many times we don't jump in fully or embrace the call immediately. Faith and faithfulness develop over time. I didn't launch out into the deep on day one—or even by year five.

God Works in Us to Will and to Do

This is why Philippians 2:12–13 is a favorite: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." He begins with desire. In high school, around my sophomore year, I began to seek the Lord, but it took a couple of years before I was even ready to be baptized. Pastor Tony baptized me at about 17 at a men's retreat in Murrieta Hot Springs.

I still had my own plans and a thought maybe you've had too: if I go all in, Jesus will make me do something weird—like send me to Africa. Years later I actually went to Africa with Cross Connection Outreach. I thought I was headed into the tech industry; God had a 26-year detour planned, and now He's brought me back into the realm of technology through my studies. I didn't see that coming. The Lord essentially said, "Yeah, I kind of do this for a living."

Paul says in Philippians 3, "Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." That means He saved us for a purpose. Jesus could see Peter preaching at Pentecost years before, even while Simon was saying, "We toiled all night and caught nothing." He sees the end product and blesses the small steps of obedience along the way—forgetting what is behind, reaching forward to what is ahead, pressing toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Just Follow and Obey

As the years go by, we reach new points where He says, "Launch out into the deep." More than a decade ago, around 2011 or 2012, my mentor Mickey Stonier sat with me—along with Dr. Allers and another PhD—and they greeted each other, "Doctor, how are you?" Then they looked at me and said, "Dr. Miles." I said no. Mickey told me, "I think you need to go get your degree." I said, "I don't want to do that—too much time, effort, and money." It took me about five years to finally say okay.

There are many days I find myself praying, "God, why am I doing this?" And the sense I get from the Lord is simply, "Just follow and obey." We don't always see the outcome or the purpose, but God says follow and obey—one incremental step at a time. That's what He's calling you and me to do.

So it's easy to identify with Simon. You've heard about Jesus, listened to His teaching, maybe put yourself where He'll show up so you can hear more. Then He asks to get in your boat. Then He says, "Take a bigger step—go a little deeper." He leads us into something we never imagined for ourselves.

The Next Step

For some of you, that next simple step is the same one I took at 17. Next week we're going to have baptism. In baptism you make a public declaration that you've decided to follow Jesus—that's why we give shirts that say "I have decided." A disciple isn't a perfect subject; it's a growing, faithful follower seeking to obey by the Lord's grace. The same Simon Peter who sat in the boat is the one who stood at Pentecost and told the crowd, "Repent and be baptized, and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord."

You can register at ccchurch.com/baptism. If you don't register, that's fine—it just means you might show up in nice clothes and drive home wet. Another way we acknowledge we are followers of Christ is in partaking of His body and blood in communion. The same Jesus who got into Peter's boat on the Sea of Galilee is the same Jesus who went to the cross to redeem you and me.

Closing Prayer

Father, I pray that You would work in our hearts to move us into the purpose and plan You've created for us, that we might lay hold of that for which You have laid hold of us. Every person here has a purpose You desire to accomplish. We do not see the end product; we only see the next step, and sometimes that step seems foggy and dark, so much that we're afraid to take it. Lord, help our unbelief. Help us when we question what You're calling us to do, like Simon did. Help us to trust You and follow by faith, even when we don't see the exact outcome. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Lord Jesus, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had broken it, said, "This is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

Father, we stand before You today because of Your grace, because Jesus said, "It is finished." You paid the debt for our sin and took our punishment. As we identify ourselves with You, partaking of Your body and blood, would You shine brightly upon and through our lives? Help us to take that next step, whatever it may be, as You lead us into Your purpose. Whatever You're calling us to do that seems so far out, help us to trust. We praise You, Jesus.

And now, may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.