It takes a lot for us to be astonished. To be greatly surprised, to be impressed, or amazed. Jesus Christ is the only one worthy of following with our lives. Jesus attracts us to Himself by initiating a relationship with us and revealing Himself to us. The second part of Luke 5:1-11 gives us an example of what it means to respond to Jesus' invitation to follow Him.
READ: Luke 5:8-11
We must RESPOND to Jesus Christ out of our ASTONISHMENT of Him! As a result of Jesus initiating relationship and revealing Himself to Simon, James, and John through an enormous catch of fish they were all “astonished”. The word translated “astonished” in verse 9 is from the two greek words “θαμβος” which means to be “alarmed” and “περιεσχεν” which means to “encompass”. Together they mean to be completely overwhelmed with a sense of shock or fear. No matter how astonishing of an experience we have had, there is nothing that is more astonishing in all existence than Jesus Christ. There is no scenery, no event, no experience that can top who Jesus is and what He has done.
Astonishment is the foundation of our response to Jesus Christ. Responding to Jesus is more than intellectual knowledge, but a personal experience with the God of the universe who initiates relationship with us and reveals Himself to us.
How are we to respond to Jesus taking initiative to reveal Himself to us? One way we must respond to Jesus taking initiative to reveal Himself to us is by . . .
WORSHIP and REPENTANCE (Luke 5:8-9) – In 2014 our youth group went on a mission trip to Mississippi. The Wednesday night of our trip we were planning to go to the beach for a campfire, but it was raining so we were forced to stay inside. Our worship and prayer time began with a “shout out” time when students had the opportunity to encourage others in the group. I began our prayer time by saying, “we’ve spent a lot of time shouting out to each other this week, I think it’s only appropriate that we spend some time shouting out to God and thanking Him for who He is and what He has done in our lives.” I gave a few more instructions and we began to pray. Students began to pray and within a few minutes the prayers go very real and emotional. Students were praising God, confessing sin, asking for help with struggles, and praising God for literally feeling His presence in the room. I never looked at a clock, but I am confident we prayed for 45 minutes to an hour. After I closed our time in a final prayer we gave one another a big group hug. That night 5 students came to me and said they wanted to get baptized. Within a 24 hour period, 10 students said they wanted to be baptized. That night our students genuinely experienced worship and repentance.
As a result of Simon’s obedience they “enclosed a large number of fish”. The fish were jumping in the boat like the lake was on fire and the boat was the only place of comfort. There were so many fish their “nets were breaking”. There were so many fish they needed to call another boat out to “help them”. There were so many fish that both boats were filled and “began to sink”. For a moment Simon forgot Jesus was even in the boat as he and all who were with him were “astonished” with the catch of fish they had just made. I can picture Jesus in the boat watching as Simon is caught up in trying to collect all of the fish.
It’s in that moment of astonishment that Simon realizes that the reason they were able to collect so many fish was Jesus Christ. In that moment of astonishment Simon responded with worship by “(falling) down at Jesus knees”. In that moment of astonishment Simon responded with confession by saying “depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. In that moment of astonishment Simon recognized WHO Jesus was. It was no longer about the fish but about WHO He was in the presence of.
Simon’s response was similar to a few other characters in the Old Testament . . .
READ: Exodus 3:1-6
God astonished Moses through a burning bush. He was “keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro” when an “angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (God initiated). At the moment that the Lord saw that Moses had “turned aside to see, God called him out of the bush” (God revealed). Moses was instructed to take his sandals off because he was standing on holy ground. As a result of God entering into Moses’ life and revealing Himself to him he, “hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God”. Moses worshiped God out of fear and reverence for who He was.
READ: Isaiah 6:1-7
God astonished Isaiah through a vision. In a vision Isaiah saw the Lord “sitting upon a throne . . . the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke”. As a result of the Lord revealing Himself to Isaiah through a vision he said, “woe is more! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”. Isaiah confessed the sin of His lips out of being in the presence of the Lord.
If we are ever going to genuinely worship and repent of our sins we need to be astonished at who God is! We can manufacture worship, we can fake repentance, but if it is ever going to be real we must have a moment when we are blown away at who God is and what He has done for us through Jesus Christ. We will never fully follow Jesus Christ if we haven’t been astonished by God and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is the only one worthy of us following.
Simon’s initial response was worship and repentance, but there was one other response yet to be made. Jesus did not just want a one time experience, a mountain top high. Jesus wanted a long-term whole life commitment. Another way that we must respond to Jesus Christ when He takes initiative to reveal Himself to us is by . . .
FOLLOWING Jesus with our LIVES (Luke 5:10b-11) – During my early teenage years I tried to live my life as a Christian (I wasn’t into drugs, alcohol, etc) but it was obvious by my priorities that I was into myself and not 100% on Him. I loved athletics (played baseball, basketball, golf), especially the game of baseball. I spent nearly all of my time and energy practicing or playing the game of baseball. My dream for my life was to pursue playing baseball as far as my talent and my effort would take me. It was my dream to one day be a professional baseball player. That is what I wanted for my life.
But at the age of 16, during my sophomore year, God made it clear to me that He wanted me to LEAVE BEHIND playing baseball and FOLLOW Him with my whole life. He made this clear to me through a man named John Cox who invited me to be a counselor at the Bible Camp where he was the director that I grew up attending. John’s invitation led to a crisis of belief because high school baseball was during the summer. Playing baseball and God’s will for my life conflicted and I had to make a choice which one I would do. Although John extended the invitation, it was through these circumstances that I knew it was God who was calling me to leave everything behind that I had been living for and follow Him completely. I remember distinctly feeling God saying, “you can either live the rest of your life for yourself or for me!” I debated my response for a season and questioned if God knew what He was doing, all the while knowing what I should do. I knew trusting and following God meant letting go of my own life and letting Him have His will for me. Not knowing what the future would hold, or what the rest of my life might look like, I told God that I trusted Him and that He could do whatever He wanted with my life. I gave up all of my own personal aspirations in life for His sake, I gave up my pride and confidence in myself and put my confidence in Him and decided not to play baseball and worked at Bible camp the next 4 summers. I ended up going to Bible college and going into ministry where I’ve been for 22 years!
The purpose of Jesus’ encounter with Simon, James, and John was for much more than a momentary emotional response. Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” From that powerful moment on, their lives were to be different. The text says they, “left everything and followed Him.” This was a commitment that involved their whole selves for their whole lives. They were no longer living their lives for their own purpose but for the purpose that God had for them. As a result of their astonishment of Jesus, Simon, James, and John followed Him with their lives!
Verse 11 says Simon and his partners “left everything”. Fishermen made a better-than-average income, so leaving their job is an act of radical commitment that they would expect to adversely affect them economically. Stop and think about that for a minute. Why? These men’s livelihood depended on their nets, their boat, their being fishermen, and yet they were willing to walk away from it all in order to follow Jesus with their lives. They understood that there was something GREATER than them, their livelihood, their identity. Jesus was inviting them to be a part of the ultimate purpose for a human life.
Do we want to be living for the ultimate purpose that can be experienced in human life? When we have been astonished by Jesus our life’s purpose changes. For these 3 men For a police officer this would mean “putting people in jail for Jesus”. For a teacher this would mean “instructing pupils about Jesus”. For a doctor this would mean “providing the medicine of Jesus”. When we have been astonished by Jesus we follow Him personally and completely.
CONCLUSION
There are many who have been astonished by Jesus at some point in their lives, . . . but it has faded. You are no longer worshiping God and repenting of your sin. John writes to believers in 1 John 1:9, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. When we have a personal and powerful encounter with Jesus Christ, our lives are changed!
There are others who have been astonished by Jesus at some point in their lives, but you’ve never responded by following Him with your whole life! In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” Maybe this is the moment that God is convicting you of something that you need to leave behind and commit to living your whole life for Him. Remember, He is the only one truly worship of following with your whole life!
Finally, there are some who have never been astonished by Jesus. He’s initiated a relationship with you, He’s revealed Himself to you, you’ve heard the message that Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin, and rose again three days later in order to confirm who He was, but you’ve never responded with worship and repentance. John 3:16 says, “for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life”. Maybe this weekend is the moment that you have been astonished by Jesus Christ and respond with worship and repentance in order to be saved from your sins.
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