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INJ
St Luke 5:1-11
'Fish, Fear and Faith'
Divine Service (II)
16 July 2006 | 5th Sunday after Trinity
Dear Saints,
Peter wasn't afraid when he woke up that morning. He wasn't afraid when he went down to the docks for work. He wasn't afraid throughout the night when there were no fish, or in the morning when the Lord comes and gets into his boat and teaches him and the crowds about the kingdom of heaven.
Peter isn't even afraid when the Lord Jesus tells him, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” [St Luke 5:4] He might have been exasperated, knowing that if fish were to be caught the time was at night, not noontime, and the place was close to the shore, not in the deep. But Peter silences his doubt; he believes that Jesus can give him his daily bread, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net,” [St Luke 5:5] and Peter fearlessly throws out the nets.
And then Peter was afraid. “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to there partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!'” [St Luke 5:6-8]
Peter is afraid, and he tells us why: “I am a sinful man.” Peter knows what happens to sinners who stand before the face of God. He knows something that our world has forgotten and that the church is forgetting, that nothing unholy can stand before the Lord.
The other day a friend and I went downtown to make a video, a survey of what people think about religion, and one of the questions we asked was: How do you get to heaven? There were three different answers given:
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There is no heaven, or
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By being good, or
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By believing in Jesus and doing good works.
There is no fear of God in any of these answers, there is no sense of His overwhelming and consuming holiness, there is no idea that we aren't good enough, that we are unholy and unworthy, there is no sense that we are sinners, not good enough to stand before God. Such is our sinful human pride that we think that we are pretty good, that we're nice or likable, that surely God will invite us to His party.
And Christians, it seems, are not immune. Half the people we talked to claimed to be Christians, and only one said that you get to heaven solely based on Jesus death in our place. Everyone else wanted to bring their own goodness and worth before the judgment of God, before His face. Such foolish pride will be the destruction of man.
But not Peter. Peter was afraid, afraid of Jesus. He knew rightly that God's wrath burns hot against sinners; that he didn't deserve to be there before the face of God in Christ. That this boat wasn't big enough for God and a sinner.
May God the Holy Spirit grant us this fear, the knowledge that we do not deserve to stand before the face of God, that we are completely unworthy and undeserving, that He would convict the world of sin, that He would give us a proper fear of God. For it is only then, when we know our own sinfulness, when we cry out with Peter, “I am a sinful man, O Lord,” when we are genuinely afraid that our own wretched sinfulness will the the end of us, it is then that Jesus' words come to us with the full and sweet comfort and consolation of the Gospel, “Fear not!”
“Do not worry. Peter. It's true that you are a sinner, and that you do not deserve to stand before Me, and yet I have not come to condemn the world, but to save it, to seek and save lost sinners. My holiness will not consume you and destroy you, but will be given to you as a gift. Your sin,” says Jesus to Peter, and to us, “Your sin will not destroy you. It will destroy Me. I will taste My own wrath so that I may be merciful and gracious and loving to you.” So speaks Jesus, to Peter, to us, to all people. “Fear not.”
The wrath that you and I have earned and deserved has been poured out upon Jesus. He became sin for us, so that he must cry out to God, “Depart from Me, for I am a sinful Man, O Lord!” “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me!” Nothing unholy can stand before God, and Jesus Himself becomes your unholiness, my unholiness. He cannot stand before God. He cannot live, but He must die.
It is beyond fathoming, that the Lord Jesus would wrap Himself up in the wrath of God that we would be set free from the fear of death [Hebrews 2:14]. Jesus drinks to the dregs the cup of God's anger so that His gifts to us might overflow. Jesus endures the fearsome frown of God in order to cause His face to shine on us.
All of this so that He can say to Peter and to you, “Fear not.” “God's wrath is spent on Me, and there is nothing left for you, nothing for you to fear. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The Gospel casts out terror, faith overcomes fear.
Our beloved Confessions, the Christian Book of Concord, say it like this: “By its accusations, the preaching of penitence [repentance, the law] terrifies our consciences with real and serious fears. For these, our hearts must again receive consolation. This happens if they believe Christ's promise that for His sake we have the forgiveness of sins. Amid such fears this faith brings peace of mind, consoles us, receives the forgiveness of sins, justifies and quickens us. For this consolation is a new and spiritual life.” [Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV.62] In the midst of fear faith clings to the comfort and peace that Jesus won for us on the cross.
The same Jesus who stood before Peter in the boat, and Who filled the nets with fish, this same Jesus, who is both God and man, comes before you today with His true body and true blood.
There is nothing on earth more holy than Him, nothing more pure. And here we stand with our unholiness, with out filth, with our sin. And we know, don't we, that this room, this sanctuary isn't big enough for God and sinners, for God and us. We, than, want to cry out, “Depart from us, for we are sinners, O Lord!”
But the Lord has not come to consume us and destroy us with His wrath and displeasure, but to give us His gifts. “Do not fear,” says Jesus to us. “I am here with the forgiveness of all of your sins. This is My body, give for you. This is My blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” His word, and that word bound to His body and blood, these holy things are given to you; they make you holy. By His gifts you are made fit to stand in His presence, and not only do you stand before Him today, but by the forgiveness of all of your sins you are fashioned into a holy one, a saint, and you will stand before Him forever and ever in heaven.
May Jesus' word push into your ears today, and cast out all the terror and fear that should be ours, these words, “Fear not.” Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO
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