9/ 17/ 2000  Worship service            
         
Frank Wallis, a man who lived in Mountain Home of Arkansas, was a very fortunate man.  He declared bankruptcy after his business had failed and started wondering what to do with his life.  While contemplating about his future, without much thought, he purchased a roll of $1 silver dollars at a bank.  The roll of silver dollars contained a new commemorative Sacagawea coin.  These new silver dollars were minted to commemorate Sacagawea, the Native American woman who had helped Lewis and Clark explore the region that is known today as Louisiana.  

This coin, by mistake, was thrown into the roll of regular silver dollars, and it had a startling feature:  the back side of the coin had the face of George Washington, or the head side of a quarter.  This was only coin of its kind:  A coin that was mistakenly produced by the US Mint, with a silver dollar's head on one side and a quarter's head on the other side.  It was recorded as the only such coin in existence.  The important thing is that after declaring bankrupcy, Wallis ran into an unexpected fortune after purchasing this roll of silver dollars.  Droves of people lined up to buy this rare, one-of-a-kind coin in existence.  The bidding for the coin went up as high as $100,000 before settling at the final sale price of $41,395.  In the history of the US--actually, in the history of the world--it was the most expensive coin ever minted.  A coin, which we may purchase or obtain in the most inconspicuous manner, can change the course of our lives.

Every week, millions of people buy lottery tickets.  Many more people send in their entry forms for the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes with the hope of winning the grand prize.  If any of us win the lottery and become receipients of millions of dollars, we can have a serious problem on our hands.  What would happen if one of us were to win millions of dollars?  According to statistics, whose who become wealthy overnight as a result of winning the jackpot of a lottery experience relationship problems with their families, friends, and alike and become worse off, in terms of personal relations, than before winning the lottery.

According to the word of the scripture today, the act of casting the fishing net in the Sea of Gallilee for Peter, James, and John, who depended on catching fish for their daily livelihood, wasn't a playful action aimed at hitting the jackpot, like those who buy the lottery ticket today.  For them, fishing was a very tough and exhausting profession, a difficult way of making a daily living.  If they did not catch fish, it meant that their families would starve for the day; therefore, catching fish was the most important thing to them.  They were very experienced fisherman, for they knew every habit and tendencies of fishes in the sea, and knew where to cast the net in order to catch most fish on a given day.  They were true experts in their profession.  However, much like those who purchase the lottery ticket, Peter, James and John, to a degree, was expecting some luck when they went out to the sea that morning.

One day, these fisherman took two boats out early in the morning and stayed out all day, into the night, to catch fish--but could not net a single one, and found themselves washing empty nets.  Despite all their hard work and all their careful preparation, the result was empty nets, which translated into empty purses and empty stomachs.  
But if you take a look at today's Gospel, Simon Peter and his fishing partners suddenly hit the jack pot.  Jesus apprears, and his advice and recommendation become their winning lottery ticket.  By following a long-shot tip to set out for the deep water during what they clearly knew as the wrong time of the day, Simon Peter and others cast their nets down into a jack pot.  No matter how one looks at it, Peter, James and John clearly had more experience in fishing than Jesus; however, when Jesus told them "launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,"

Peter let go of his knowledge, experience, and skills regarding fishing.  In Luke 5 verse 5, it is said "But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net", and when Peter gave up all that he believed in and followed Christ's command, a miracle happened.  A school of fish exceeding all imagination netted into Peter's net, nearly ripping the net apart, and without the help of his two friends, he could not have moved all the fish to the two boats that they were in.  The amont of fish nearly sank the two boats.

The important lesson from today's word rests not simply on the fact that Peter netted a big catch because of the grace of Christ; rather, the important point rests on Peter's decision as the result of his faith.  All of a sudden, Simon Peter realizes that he is not just standing in the middle of two boatloads of fish.  He is standing in the middle of a God-moment, a divine miracle.  With just a word, Jesus had made these fishermen more successful than they had ever dreamed possible.  But Simon Peter did not feel like a winner.  Instead, he was overcome by his own human sinfulness and inadequacy.  

In despair, not in thanks for all this bounty, Simon Peter collapses at Jesus' knees.  Peter, in witnessing God's work, realizes his sins and deeply feels his own weakness and inadequacy, and the fact that without Christ, he cannot do anything.  Therefore in verse 8, it is stated "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"  He cast his net all day into the night and could not catch a single fish; however, after obeying one word of Christ he was able to catch two boatloads of fish.  All this made Peter realize that Jesus is indeed different from himself, is indeed the Son of God.

The other crucial point in today's scripture is the fact that Jesus is instructing all to depart from the sudden, unexpected miracle, this wealth that is derived from the mountain of fish.  In latter portion of verse 10, Jesus says to him, "Do not be afraid.  From now on you will catch men."  From now on, you are going to be fishermen of men, not fishermen of fishes in water.  Jesus implores them to abandon all unexpected fortune and miracle, and become fishermen of men and follow in the Lord's path.  Peter probably thought, "If I follow Christ and do as he says, I will be able to catch a lot of fish and reverse my fortunes."  

However, Christ commands him to become a fisherman that can walk away from all this fortune.  Does this sound smart?  Does this sound like reasonable advice to you?  Would you do the economically smart thing, the safe thing?  Jesus has made the fishermen wonderfully successful in the eyes of the world--perhaps for the first time in their lives.  But could you turn your back on the money, on the comfort, on the status?  Could you turn away from this newfound success and the promise it holds?  Peter put all this behind him and followed Christ.  The one thing that Jesus wanted of Peter is not to become a successful, wealthy fisherman who can provide well for his wife and children, but to become the disciple of fisherman Jesus who nets people into salvation.

Warren Buffett, who is in a neck and neck race with the Walton family for the second place in the wealthiest people in America race (Bill Gates is the first), was once asked, "Now that you've become one of the richest men in the country, what is your next goal?"  Buffett answered:  "To be the oldest."  There is no end to the human greed that seeks wealth.  However, Jesus calls on us to answer a higher calling, and wants each and every one of us to become His true disciple to fulfill his work.

Conclusion:  Some time ago, among junior high and high school students, bracelets with the initials "WWJD" were in fad.  The initials stood for "What Would Jesus Do?"  These bracelets were the result of volunteer activity for a fund raising drive by students in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  These are discipleship bracelets.  They remind the wearer that as disciples, we live according to a different standard then that of the rest of the world.  Kids wear them to remind themselves to make decisions based on "What Would Jesus Do?"

 If we, during the course of our daily lives, stop to think "What would Jesus do?", our actions and lives will transform for the better, and we ourselves could take a stop closer to Christ.  When all of us are faced with difficult problems, hard problems, despair, difficulties in relationship with others, I pray in the name of Christ that we can have the ability to stop and think, "What would Christ do?"  Amen.