The Choice

Our text today comes from Luke 5:4-11.  Jesus is teaching by the lake Gennesaret (Which was also known as the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberias).  There are so many people that they are crowding Jesus.  So Jesus sees some fishermen who are washing their nets.  He steps into one of the boats and tells the owner, Simon (soon to be Peter), to push out a little way from the shore.  Simon does and Jesus was able to teach without being crowded.  Then we come to our text.  Let's read: 

   ⁴Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

   ⁵And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

Did you see that?  Jesus said let down your NETS. Plural. As in more than one.  Then Simon said I will let down the NET.  Singular.   I wonder what would have happened if Simon would have done what Jesus said.  Ok, let’s keep going.

   ⁶And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.

Net. Singular.  He only let down one net.  And they caught so many fish that it started to tear.

   ⁷And they called to their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

   ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

   ⁹For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:

   ¹⁰And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

I have had a few big choices in my life, ones that I would consider to be “life-changing” decisions.  One of which was about seven years ago.

I was really into paintball.  I mean I was obsessed with it.  I wanted to own my own field.  I wanted it so bad that thought about it nearly every waking minute. I researched everything I could about it.  I knew where to buy the equipment, paintballs, etc.  I knew how to make the most money.  All I needed was the money to get the equipment and the field. 

My wife was graduating from college and we felt that God was moving us to another state.  The church we were going to had just bought some land, that was touching two interstates, to build their new building.  When we told the pastor that we thought God was leading us away, he wanted us to stay.  He said if we stayed he would buy all the paintball equipment I would need and he would put a field on the spot that touched the two interstates, and I would run it! This was a dream come true.

What should I choose: My dream or the unknown?  Was God really calling me?  Was this a test, or a temptation? 

The words temptation, tests, and trials are usually used interchangeably. But they are completely different.

Temptations

-       are always an enticement to sin

-       never come from God

-       draw us away from the Lord

-       endured and able to be escaped

Trials

-       are mostly hardships

-       are either from God or approved by God

-       can be physical, emotional, financial, or spiritual

-       will always prove our spiritual endurance (whether we get up or give up.)

Tests

-       are situations that require us to make a choice

-       are mostly from the Lord

-       require discernment and wisdom

          

It was a test.  It was a life-changing test.  I didn’t know it at the time but it was.   If we keep reading in our text…

¹¹And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

Jesus had just given them The Choice.  The Choice is that decision you have to make between what you want to do, and what God wants you to do.  The Choice is always a very hard decision.

You see they just got the catch of their life!  They had the choice to sell the fish, and live comfortably for a while or leave it all and follow Jesus.  We see they chose Jesus because when they brought their ships to the dock they left everything.  They left the biggest catch of their lives, they left the boats, the nets, their families, everything and followed him.  They didn’t say “Jesus, wait until we sell the fish, and make sure we have enough money to make the trip with you.” No, they left everything and followed him.

You might say Jeff listen.  If I choose Jesus is he going to make me leave everything?  I don’t really want to leave everything. 

I can’t answer that.  He might, He might not. 

There is a story about a dad who gave his ten-year-old daughter a fake pearl necklace.  Now the little girl loved this necklace.  She wore it everywhere.  At night she would take it off and carefully put it in her jewelry box. 

A few months later her dad came to her and said, I want you to give me back your pearl necklace.  The little girl was devastated. 

         “But Daddy, this is my favorite necklace in the whole world.  Please don’t make me give it up.”

         But the father insisted.  Tearfully the little girl gave him the necklace. 

         The dad took the necklace, pulled out a velvet box, and handed it to the little girl.  She was puzzled.  When she opened the box she found a pearl necklace exactly like the one she had with one exception.  These were real pearls! 

         The father explained.  I gave you this fake pearl necklace to see how you would take care of it or if you would lose it or break it.  But you took such good care of it I knew I could trust you with this real one. 

But first, you had to give up the fake one so I could give you the real one instead.

Sometimes God wants us to give up something in order to give us something even better. 

He knows what you are going to do.  He allows things to happen in our lives to make us lean on him.  To trust him just a little more, to stretch our faith.

Now I have a friend, who I believe took the other choice.  He was called to preach.   In fact, he preached several sermons before he was out of high school.  He had the choice to go to Bible college or get a small acting part in a low-budget no-name film. He was given The Choice.

He chose the film. No big deal right?  He could go to Bible college after that.  Then came the next film. Now in this film had him use one curse word.  Just one.  But that is ok. Right?  The next he used a few more curse words, then more. 

Today he does not even believe God exists.

I could tell you about several others that I know who made the wrong choice, and it led them so far away from where God wanted them. 

You are going to one day be faced with The Choice.  You are going to have to choose to do what you want or what God wants. I will tell you if you choose what God wants, you will find out that it is what you truly wanted in the first place.

I am convinced that had we stayed and run a paintball field, I would have been miserable.

God will help you with The Choice.  Just listen to him and do what he says.