Trinity 5 July 21, 2019 The Sunday of Jesus Calling the Disciples

Trinity 5
Luke 5:1-11
July 21, 2019

“Depart from You? No, I’m Calling You”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Hark, the voice of Jesus crying, ‘Who will go and work today?” But that’s not talking about you guys, right? You guys in the pews, you laypeople as we call you, you don’t do godly or important work, right? You’re not like me, a pastor, a church worker, who obviously is involved in much more godly things every week. Much more important things to God.

You’re not like me, doing churchly, religious, pious work. Saying prayers and teaching Bible studies and confirmation. Having meetings with other important churchly folks. Preparing Sunday services and sermons, meditating on the Word of God. Hearing confessions and announcing forgiveness. Of course, pastor work is godly and important to God and holy.

But you guys…I mean, the jobs you do all week are just so mundane, right? Nothing particularly godly about them, right? Teaching at a public institution? Nothing godly there, right? Working at an insurance firm like State Farm or Country Companies? How mundane and unimportant, right? Staying at home with your children? Ugh, can’t you find something meaningful to do? Living the retired life? God doesn’t care about what you’re doing. Truck driver? Library? Walmart? Nursing home? High school student? College student? Salon? Engineer? Office job? Come on, you laypeople, why don’t you guys get an important, holy, godly job like me. Why don’t you guys do something churchy that matters to God?

Is that right? Are your lives mundane and unimportant to God Monday through Saturday? You have to come to Church on Sunday to finally do something holy and worthwhile? Is that right? No, it’s not. But it doesn’t keep us from thinking it. Most of us intuitively think that the only jobs God really cares about are church jobs. But it’s not true at all. Today we’ll see that actually your lives are just as holy, just as important, just as godly, and absolutely as important to God as anything that I’m doing. Today we’ll see that God has specifically called you to do what you’re doing Monday through Saturday. That He has you right where He wants you. That He is using you in many and various ways.

Peter thought a lot like you guys. He thought, “I’m just a poor, common, fisherman. Nothing great or holy about me at all. I’m not like those important godly folks in Jerusalem like the Pharisees and Sadducees and chief priests. They are doing the Lord’s work. Not me.” But Jesus still got into Peter’s boat. I guess Peter was okay with that. To a point. He liked what Jesus was teaching anyway.

But then things got out of hand. After Jesus was done teaching, He tells Peter to put down the nets for a catch of fish. Now Peter may not be some highfalutin, holy church worker, but he definitely knows how to fish. And they’ve been out there all night trying to catch and they haven’t gotten anything. So if Jesus just thinks he’s going to get a bunch of fish on the first try, forget about it!

But still, Peter really likes Jesus. And there’s something about Him. So He says, “Okay, at your word, Jesus, we’ll put down the nets.” And then comes the out of hand stuff. They start pulling in fish like they’ve never pulled in their entire lives. So many fish the boat is sinking and they’re frantically calling for another boat to help. Jesus has just come barreling into their mundane, ordinary, ungodly lives and has done something completely miraculous and holy. Peter realizes that this is none other than God Himself right there in his boat and in his life and in his fishing nets and he becomes extremely afraid.

He becomes like you when you think of God being right there with you Monday through Saturday in your mundane, sinful, unholy, and ungodly lives. He says, “Get away from me, O Lord, for I’m a sinful man.” Peter’s no Pharisee or chief priest. He’s no fancy church worker. He’s just a fisherman. And a very sinful fisherman. And he thinks that Jesus should really have nothing to do with him—an unholy and ungodly sinner like he is.

That’s what you and I often think too. “Get away from me, God.” We come to Church Sunday morning and that’s fine. But the rest of the week we’d just as soon that God stayed away. “Depart from me, Lord, for I’m a sinful man.” After all, we’re not some holy, godly pastor who does important and sacred work all week. No, we’re sinners.

We’re sinners. We curse and we get angry and we lust and we hate and we gossip and we do things Monday through Saturday that we’d just as soon keep pretending that God doesn’t know anything about. We certainly don’t want Him coming right into our boat and getting into our business. We’re just not good enough for God…really.

But good for us—Jesus won’t stay away from us. “Ha! Depart from you, Peter? I’m not going to depart from you. Ever. Don’t be afraid. From now on you’ll be catching men. Peter, you think you’re just an ordinary, mundane, unholy, and ungodly guy? Well, you’re right about that. But you’re MY guy. I’m calling you. And my call makes your entire life important and godly and holy.”

Now it’s absolutely true that we are unholy. We don’t deserve God in our lives Sunday through Saturday. At all. But that’s true of everyone. Not just you. It’s true of pastors too. And true of Pharisees and Chief Priests. And true of apostles and prophets. And true of Popes and bishops and Synod Presidents.

Imagine that in Peter’s mind—him no worse than a Pharisee or a scribe or a chief priest? No, he wasn’t. And really take it to heart that I, a highfalutin pastor, am absolutely no better than any of you. In fact, if you want to compare I’m quite confident I can rattle off a list of sins much longer than you guys.

But all of us together have heard the words of forgiveness from Jesus. “Don’t be afraid.” Jesus has baptized us into His death and resurrection. He has given us His body and blood here at the altar. We are forgiven. Absolved. We are holy and godly. And now every one of us, because we’ve been called by Jesus Christ, every one of us is called to live our lives in Him.

So what we do here doesn’t stop here on Sunday morning. You don’t go back to your normal, mundane, ungodly, unholy lives while I continue in the holy, godly church work all week. NO! Jesus goes with you from here into every other part of your week because He has called you to serve others in His name through all your various vocations. And you don’t have to be afraid of that and say, “Get away from me, God, I’m not worthy. Go bother Pastor Boehne. He’s doing the important church work!” No, don’t be afraid. God wants to work through you. That’s why He has called you.

Vocation is a word that should picture for you God doing all His work through people just like you. When God has called you and you’re working within your vocation, everything you do is important to Him. Now Peter was called to be an apostle. That’s not a vocation any of us is called to. But all of you have other vocations that you’re called to and that work that you do is holy and godly and very important to God.

If you’re a mom or dad, a grandma or grandpa, and you’re feeding the children and reading to them and cleaning house and doing dishes and laundry—you probably think there’s nothing godly about that, right? Certainly not as important as whatever Pastor Boehne’s doing. But how wrong you are! One could make a strong case that there is no work anywhere that God is more concerned about than the work of father and mother. That’s God’s work. Teaching your kids, correcting and disciplining, taking them to piano lessons and baseball games. That, you folks in the pews, is godly work.

If you’re an office worker sitting in front of a computer and organizing papers, you probably think, “Nothing God cares about here, right?” Wrong. You are doing God’s work. As long as you’re involved in good business—and not, say, a bookie or drug dealer or something along those lines—then somewhere someone is being helped by the work in your office. And that’s what God has called you to do then. To do His work of helping others.

All of you need to take the jobs you do each week and ask yourself, “Who is God serving and caring for by the work that I’m doing?” Teachers are obviously doing God’s work of teaching. Caring for the students. Making better citizens for this world. Truck drivers are obviously doing God’s work of supplying people’s needs. Getting the goods of God to the people that need them. In one way or another.

If you’re a student at EPG or anywhere else, you probably think, “Oh, God doesn’t care what I do at school. It’s not important to Him.” Wrong. God absolutely cares. He has called you to be a student. He wants you there. Learning so that you can serve others in the future. He wants you there learning about good character so that you can bless others. He wants you there to care for other students and to respect your teachers. You are doing God’s work when you’re in the classroom.

God has called you. Which means everything I said about your lives being mundane and unimportant and unholy and ungodly—that’s all just not true. You are holy because Jesus has made you holy. And all your work is holy because God has called you to do that work. Your work is just as holy, just as holy, just as holy as anything that I’m doing as a pastor.

In whatever work you do this week, whether at home or in the workplace or in the community or in the church—whatever work you do, do it in the name of Jesus Christ who has called you to it. As Peter says in the Epistle today, “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.” Do that in all your work. Know that you, a sinful man, are forgiven by Jesus and called to important work. And like Peter and the others, leave everything else behind and follow Jesus throughout your week.

“Hark, the voice of Jesus crying, ‘Who will go and work today?’”

In Jesus’ name. Amen.