TOTAL LIFE WORSHIP, PART 2: PRECIOUS CONFESSION

Luke 5:1-11 (NASB)
David Bruce Linn, Pastor-Teacher
3 November, 2002
All Rights Reserved

I. HOW TO SUCCEED IN MINISTRY

In 1978 I found myself descending into the darkness of the fifth sublevel basement of the old Perkins Library of Duke University. I was an undergraduate student at the time in search of a quiet place to study during final exams. One would think that finals would be the quietest time of the semester, but the reverse was true. While organized parties were more rare at that time, the sheer wildness and cacophony of the impromptu parties were unsurpassed.

And no one near them could study, so I was descending the steps in search of a quiet study cubicle--the farther down the better. As I left the fluorescent glare of the new stairway which connected the new and old basement floors and stepped into the darkness of an archival floor I felt as if I was entering another time. The powerful scent of aging paper and leather bindings shocked my nostrils. As I flipped on the lights I saw a nest of study carrels remote from the hubbub of the campus--quiet as death.

I dropped my backpack on the desk and immediately thought: “What in the world do they keep down here?” The shelves were stacked with horizontal layers of huge volumes. I hefted one to the desk and read the binding which said: “London Times, July to December, 1888.” The massive tome practically jumped open to a particular spot as if it had a mind of its own.

There on the large yellowed page of antique type, amid ads for patent medicines which promised to cure every illness, was a short article entitled: “How to Succeed in Christian Ministry.” A prelude read: “The following article, which has only recently come to light, is dated ‘Paris, 1712’ and had to be translated from the French. Furthermore, scholars say that the French was apparently a translation of a Latin text of unknown age. The recovered text follows and is printed for the benefit and curiosity of our readers.

Thus I was caused to ponder the new advice of the Reverend Doctor Mephistopheles. I turned to my books and notes, drove all thought of these perplexing issues out of my mind, and settled in to study--for there was so much to be done.

II. BUSYNESS KILLS

In a book on pastoral ministry entitled Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, John Piper writes: “The great threat to our prayer and meditation on the word of God is good ministry activity.” In other words, the greatest hindrance to the personal worship of God for pastors is the busyness of ministry. It’s what they’re supposed to be doing, but often the good stuff drives out the most excellent stuff. This is true for all believers today. The good stuff of life just naturally grows until the very idea of spending time alone with God seems absurd. Most Christians are not against worship--they’re for it! It just gets placed too far down the list of priorities to get done--assuming that we actually have a list of priorities in life.

This makes many Christians into armchair worshipers. Armchair worshipers are like armchair quarterbacks. Armchair quarterbacks watch a lot of football--they rarely do any themselves. And on the basis of their watching, they think they know almost as much about football as the people doing it! In the same way, armchair worshipers are confident that they know what they like and don’t like in church worship services, so they are often heard explaining how it should go. They often change churches to find the style they like, though they rarely engage in personal worship themselves. The Devil has no fear of armchair worshipers--he encourages them! That, of course, is the real source of the bad advice from the Reverend Doctor Mephistopheles.

John Piper warns pastors of that great challenge: what could be wrong with busyness in ministry? It could cause us to lose everything that really matters. Busy parents, many of whom have jobs outside as well as inside the home, are doing everything they can to have a good family as God planned--and never get to personal worship. It’s run and drop, zoom and flop, fly around and then collapse. What is your pattern of distraction?

One reason Westerners do not put personal worship of God high on their priority list is that it does not seem like the “real stuff.” Meetings seem real, organization seems real, talking on the phone seems real, getting the kids ready for school seems real...but just worshiping God? It’s hard to see the immediate importance of that. What will it take to change our minds about the importance of worship?

III. GETTING WITH JESUS CHRIST

The fisherman Peter, before he became an apostle, had an encounter with Jesus Christ which dynamited the door of his heart open. The story begins at Luke 5:1-5: “Now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them, and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding I will let down the nets.’"

The sequence of change in Peter’s life began with an extended time of getting with Jesus and paying close attention to his teaching. This is completely the opposite of what our gut tells us to do. We want to do something that seems active, but Jesus wants us to start by getting quiet with him. The main way we draw near to him is by listening to him in the word of God, the Bible. We need to just sit and read on a regular basis, starting every session with a prayer: “Lord speak to me. I want to get near you.”

Jesus then asked Peter to do something extremely counter-intuitive. Here was Jesus, a carpenter, telling Peter to go back out in the boat and start fishing at the time of day when fishing does not work! In addition, the expert fishermen had already fished that area with all their skill and caught nothing. Finally, the fishermen were dog tired. They had fished all night.

How often do you find yourself thinking: “I’m too tired to meet with God today. I’ll do it another day. Plus, I read my Bible some the other day and didn’t get much out of it.” The reasons why not can be multiplied, but getting into the word is the only concrete way of getting near the real Jesus. Jesus is calling: “Come to me!” And like Peter, the only way this will happen is if, against all our better judgment, we just say: “I will do it.” This is no mere matter of growing by self-discipline. It is the price we must pay to have the door of our hearts blown open by the power of God.

IV. BLESSED INTO CONFESSION

Peter found that out in the next verses: “And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish; and their nets began to break; and they signaled to their partners in the other boat, for them to come and help them. And they came, and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!‘ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon” (Luke 5:6-10a). For Peter, staying near Jesus, listening carefully to his word, and following Jesus’ instructions even when they did not seem to make sense opened a huge door for the blessing of God to flow. How many of us would have argued with Jesus about re-fishing the fished-over spot and missed the stunning display of the grace of God?

And Peter was stunned indeed! It was like a veil was ripped off of Peter’s eyes, and he saw spiritual reality with heart-stopping clarity. Even as the boats were in danger of sinking from the overload of fish Peter fell and worshiped Jesus as the Christ. Peter saw his own sinfulness and the holiness of Christ and he was crushed by his own sense of unworthiness before God. Peter confessed this out loud for all to hear: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” The word “confession” in the original Greek means “to say the same thing” as God says. It is verbal proof of a crystal clear sense of reality because reality is God’s home address!

Peter was not verbally brow-beaten into seeing his sinfulness, he was blessed into it! His call for Jesus to go away was the confession of a man who realizes that he is not worthy to be in Jesus’ presence. I am reminded of the words of Job after God blew the door of his heart open centuries before: “My ears had heard of you /but now my eyes have seen you. /Therefore I despise myself /and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6 -- NIV). Job says: “I was familiar with the teaching about you, but now I see your reality--and it demolishes me!”

It was the overwhelming grace of God which blew the doors of Peter’s heart open. David Brainerd, missionary to Native Americans in the early history of America, described this same thing repeatedly in his diary. On one occasion he wrote: “It was surprising to see how their hearts seemed to be pierced with the tender and melting invitations of the Gospel, when there was not a word of terror spoken to them” (from The Life of David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards, p. 307).

V. CONCLUSION

If we want the opportunity to see the grace of God blow doors of worship open in our lives, we have to start by getting near Jesus prayerfully in his word. We need to do whatever he tells us, even if it seems absurd. Beyond that, just tell God that you want it! Notice that when the blessing came, it was not the wealth of fish which became the focus of Peter’s heart--it was the Lord who gave the fish. The boat nearly sank while Peter was worshiping! Things of earthly value “had become strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace” as the old hymn says.

There is an army of demonic spirits sent out to keep you from doing this. The imaginary Dr. Mephistopheles has many real counterparts who will tell you that getting stuff done is more important than getting with God. The Devil wants at all costs to keep us from seeing the reality of God which would cause us to make that precious confession. Don’t listen to lies!

And when we do become crushed by our own unworthiness in the face of the all-worthy Christ, when we do become brokenhearted over our sin, what does Christ say to us? “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men” (Luke 5:10b). In other words, “I will not cast you away--you have just become useful! Now you are ready to tell others about the life-changing grace of God.”

And so the disciples did the only sensible thing to do when you see the all-surpassing worth of Christ: “...they left everything and followed Him” (Luke 5:11b). They engaged total life worship for the first time. That’s what will happen to us also when the grace of God blows open the doors of our hearts. It all starts by getting near Jesus.