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God Loves Crappie
by The Very Rev. Frank F. Limehouse, III
Year C, 5 Epiphany, Luke 5:1-11; Isaiah 6:1-8
2/07/2010
unedited
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
There are, of course, many beloved and well-known verses in the Bible, and one of them is Luke 5:10 where Jesus said to Simon Peter, who was at the time a simple fisherman, “Do not be afraid, Simon; henceforth you will be catching men.” Or, “Henceforth you will be fishers of men.”
Years ago I cut out a Kudzu cartoon that I've kept to this day. Doug Marlette's character, the Preacher, is on his knees praying, “Lord, I know we're called to be fishers of men… but all I come up with are crappies.” I thought it was hilarious. Listen, I'm the scrawniest crappie the Lord ever pulled in and I'm just glad he didn't throw me back. (Incidentally, the Greek word translated here, “catch”, means literally “take alive.” “Henceforth,” Jesus told Peter the fisherman, “you will be catching, taking alive, men.”
At any rate, sure enough, Peter would in time go on to be one of the greatest fishers of men the world would ever know. After Peter's very first sermon, on the day of Pentecost, we are told in the Book of Acts that about 3000 souls were converted to Christianity.
Now, the beginning of Peter's story is really not too much unlike the story of Isaiah. Whether it was at the very beginning of Isaiah's ministry, as in an inaugural call, or whether it was an experience that came shortly after he had begun to preach, is not the essential thing. The important thing is this incredible vision-experience that forever shaped the rest of Isaiah's life.
And I want to spend just a few minutes looking briefly at the call of the Lord on both of these men, Peter first, then Isaiah, because there is much to be learned here about how God relates to you and me.
Peter and his friends, all professional fisherman, had been fishing hard and long, “toiled all night and took nothing.” Worn out, they had called it quits and were washing their nets. Along came Jesus who got permission to use one of the boats from which to preach. After Jesus had preached, he told Peter to go back out into the sea and let down their nets again. This was a demanding request, asking these tired men to do this when they hadn't slept all night. Furthermore, Peter and his friends were pros. They knew how to fish, where to fish, and when to fish. On the other hand, however, Jesus was a very special man- a man who had days earlier healed Peter's mother-in-law among many others. For whatever reason they did what Jesus said, and the rest is history. I love it when Luke says the nets were so full of fish they began to tear. I just almost hear the cords of the nets groaning, a thread here and there popping, and the boats so loaded down they were beyond safe-sailing capacity. It's quite a story!
But then the crucial thing happened. The light came on for Peter. The man whom Peter had seen heal the sick and preach the Kingdom of God, was more than man. We'll never know exactly what flashed through Peter's mind. Perhaps Jesus not only knew where the fish would be; perhaps Jesus had directed the fish to be there as only God could do! Whatever he thought, Peter knew he was standing before the Lord. In a flash the infinite overwhelmed the finite!
Peter's response? Well, he surely didn't light a campfire on shore and start singing “Kum Ba Ya My Lord”, or “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place”. None of that. Instead Peter felt overwhelmed and utterly abashed. From what we can know about Peter, he was a religious enough man, and a regular worshipper, but suddenly he felt thoroughly known, totally unveiled. Dazzled by the holiness of the Lord vis-a-vis his own unworthiness, he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Now, here again is the good news that we have come to love: The Lord did not depart. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord did not grant his request? Peter's heart was weak and frail, but in that brokenness the promise was heard: “Soon Peter, you will be catchers of men.”
Centuries earlier, the same kind of thing was experienced by another man who would be made a great servant of God. It was “in the year that King Uzziah died”, that would make it circa 740 BC. This time it was Isaiah who suddenly experienced the inconceivable majesty of the Lord. It's one of the most incredible vision-experiences in the Bible. Isaiah said, “In the year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim… And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called...”.
The Marine Air Base in Beaufort, SC was located about 8 miles from the deanery, where Jane and I used to lived. And when those jets flew over the Intracoastal Waterway right over our house, the noise was almost unbearable, like standing right next to a steam engine train thundering down the tracks. I remember the windowpanes in our old house, built in 1820s, would rattle like crazy. So when you think of God's seraphim as chubby babies with wings like we see in gift shops, think again. Point being. Isaiah, like Peter, found himself totally undone, dazzled, alarmed at the presence of God.
Isaiah, like Peter, felt thoroughly known, unveiled. It was not only that he had seen the awesome holiness and majesty of God, he beheld the infinite gap between God's holiness and sinful creature that produced this prostrating effect. And he cried out, Woe is me!... Woe is me! 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!”
It's what happened next that once again brings the gospel to light: “Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven'."
The Seraphim took this coal with tongs because it is a holy thing. It belonged to the place of sacrifice and atonement and forgiveness. It touched Isaiah's unclean lips and it did not hurt him, it healed him. This burning coal symbolizes the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Now I know I preach on this subject a lot, but never too much because this is crucial to understanding the true Christ gospel. Suppose the Seraphim would have said something like, “Now, now Isaiah, quit beating up on yourself. You're aren't perfect, but you aren't that bad. Get up and just believe in yourself” or whatever the Zeitgeist is saying these days. No. It just says the seraph, instead of banishing him from the scene, instantly declared to him Your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.
And the young Isaiah, much like Peter in years to come, was on his way to becoming the great prophet of the Old Testament, the prophet most quoted by Jesus himself.
Brothers and sisters, does our day and age have any greater need than the persistent, unrelenting preaching of the true gospel? Even the church has shortchanged the essence of the Gospel, and I believe we've shortchanged it in two primary ways.
On one hand, we shortchange the gospel by sugarcoating sin. As Faith Alive director Tom Riley said last Sunday, he once got on his knees and asked God to forgive his sins, because they really weren't that bad anyway. God open our eyes! Neither Peter nor Isaiah became aware of occasional slip-ups and peccadilloes. They became aware of the enormous gap between creature and Creator- not just the limits of being human, but of their sinfulness.
I wonder how many souls we keep away from a saving relationship with Christ because gloss over and underplay the harsh reality of sin in everybody's life. That's the first way we shortchange the gospel.
But on the other hand, we shortchange the gospel when we try to make people believe they have to put off coming to God until they start leading a “more godly, righteous and sober life.” I wonder how many souls we keep away from a true relationship with Christ because we give them the impression they first need to learn obedience, commitment, turn over a new leaf, clean up their act- that they can't come, “just as I am.” That's not the gospel! Come just as you are, and see what God in his own time does with you.
Isaiah became the great prophet, and Peter the great fisherman of men, because they felt the power of amazing grace. They were brought to their knees then lifted up and loved and thereby transformed into God's servants.
It's the exact same thing with you and me. I thank God he loves crappie and that he can even use crappie. Otherwise, I'm out of here! God's power is make perfect in weakness. We have His word for it. And for that we say, thanks be to God.
May God draw reluctant hearts, and now give doubting souls courage to believe this for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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