Pressing In to See and Be Near

Well the Christmas season has officially started and to be honest I am glad.  Not because of the busyness and consumerism it will bring to the forefront, but for something else - my thoughts drift so much to Jesus more and more each year leading up to the anticipation of our celebration of His first coming.  

I am still amazed and filled with worship as I think upon the reality that He came here, took on flesh, was like us, was among us, and came to rescue us.  

A couple of weeks ago I wrote the words below in a sermon and my thoughts drifted back to that text tonight as I reflected on He Who Came Near.  What it must have been like to go and see Him and sit and listen to The WORD teach the Word!

The God Who Came Near – 5:1

Luke 5:1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 

This reality of Christ’s nearness is one of the clearest pictures of our faith’s uniqueness.

No other faith system in the world affirms how close our God was when Jesus lived here and no other faith has at its core the reality that those who know God in faith have God living inside of them like we do.  We have become the living temples of the Holy Spirit – houses of the one true God.  It is so amazing this truth!

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

2 Timothy 1:14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

In the first century in Israel, God had come and was walking on the earth - you could go see Him, listen to Him, talk to Him, ask him questions, be healed, laugh, be in awe, worship, or just walk near Him.  What that must have been like.

Looking at the early part of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ popularity was immediate for right after the temptation sequence these words describe how people were seeing Him…

Luke 3:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

The Jews knew that you give glory to God alone so they fact they were giving glory to Him reveals how they were seeing Him.  The people were amazed at it all!

The hearts of people were being awakened and everywhere Jesus went, the things that took place were only the kind that God had the power to do.  God had come to earth and you could go and draw near.

Things like this were becoming the norm everywhere...

·      Demon-possessed man - Luke 4:36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

·       Peter’s mother in law – Luke 4:39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

·       The Sick and Demon-possessed – Luke 4:40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

·         The Pursuit of the People – Luke 4:42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

In time, the popularity of Jesus was so immense that Mark writes these words…

Mark 1:45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Q: Why all of this attention?  God had come near and it was stirring mightily in the nation.

As we come to Luke 5:1 we see the people so wanting to get close to Jesus again…

Luke 5:1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 

            pressing in on him – the Greek is “epikeimai”

·      Epi – imposed upon something – force, pressure

·      Keimai – to lie on or upon

It is the same word the Greeks used to describe the pressure and power of a hurricane or strong storm.  So when it says the people were pressing in on him, the scene is not one of calmness, but of the powerful strength of a crowd all desiring to be on the front row and be near.

There was an urgency to be near.

Does that describe our desire to be near?  

We love this verse for its powerful implications spiritually in James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Or…Hebrews 4:6 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

For those living in the pages of the New Testament, they were the special generation who got to see the physical Jesus and know the greatness of seeing and hearing him.  It is understandable their pressing in to get so close.

One day we will get to press in and we will be heaven and in that state of perfection we will worship and be near in the most magnificent way. 

The reality of that nearness, at least for me, makes the worship here special and a great foretaste of what is to come. 

I cannot wait to truly see Him who died and rescued me!

As we walk through this Christmas season of 2017, let's find ourselves pressing into His nearness.

The Call to the Deeper Life

The God Who Calls us to Depth – 5:2-4

Luke 5:2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 

Jesus chooses to get into Peter’s boat here, revealing Jesus’ conscious choice of Peter on that day to learn what it is like to be a vessel for Him to use and work through.

Jesus could not stop ever telling, teaching, proclaiming the Gospel.  He did it publicly and in small groups for both hold great value and both have great effectiveness for the believer. The early church did the same as they met publicly and in homes (small groups).

 Why did Jesus spend so much more time communicating the Gospel than any other ministry?  What is it about the proclamation and teaching that is so critical in the church and in missions.

We gain some valuable insight from Paul on this, so let’s look at it. 

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

 Note that both of these flow out of the speaking of Scripture

(1) Salvation – people don’t come to faith without a messenger communicating the truth of Jesus.

(2) Sanctification – people don’t grow in their faith without the teaching and application of Scripture.

            The Deeper Life

That day when Jesus stepped into Peter’s boat, it was much more than the purpose of it being used as a floating pulpit, but Jesus was actually taking a step deeper into Peter’s life. He was going to call Peter to so much more than his current life.  The call to push off from the shore would change everything for Him.

Jesus aim is always Deeper Revelation!

Luke 5:4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

Notice as well how Jesus is going to use Peter’s business as a means to fully engage Peter to follow.

Jesus is calling Simon to leave the comfort of the shore and do something that is against his experience, knowledge, not practical at all – Go fishing in the middle of the day. 

**Sometimes Jesus calls us back to a place where we have been toiling in our own power and nothing happened so He can show His power.***

Peter did not want to go back out and do the same thing again. 

If we are not careful we can think that Jesus does not have a perspective on our job, church, family, circumstances.  He always has the right knowledge.

            “at your Word I will let down the nets”

If Simon Peter hadn’t obeyed what was to him a seemingly foolish & unimportant command to put out the boat into deeper water and lower the nets, he would have missed out seeing Jesus perform this incredible miracle.  

But Peter did submit to Jesus’ authority even though he had no clue how things would turn out or what the Lord was up to.  This ought to encourage our hearts to simple obedience to the Lord and His every command, even when we don’t understand what He is doing.

Peter knew the futility to try and fish during the day, but he obeyed, not because it made sense to him, but because Jesus asked him to do it. 

However much faith he truly had in that moment in the boat we don’t know, but we know his faith was far from magnificent at the moment, but the great object of that faith – Jesus himself – produces a transforming miracle in Peter’s life.

God will reward our obedience if we will go ahead and do what He has told us to do. 

 How many things do we miss because we think we know better than God?

A little faith in the might of Christ has always seemed to bring about amazing things!

Do we obey Jesus only when it makes sense to us, or we you obey him simply because he asks us to obey? The answer to that question reveals the condition and understanding of our faith.

Maybe Jesus is calling you and I to something more, to get out into deeper water and we want to stay near the shore.  Peter was in danger of missing out because he thought he knew more and nothing was going to be caught out on the water.

Even in spite of his objections Peter agrees to do so because Jesus is asking.

His Word must always outweigh our objections or logic!

His Word must be enough to foster our obedience even if it does not seem logical. 

So, Peter does this...“let down the nets”

This is “chalao” and it means to let go, loosen, relax, let down from a higher place.  Even though this is referencing something tangible, it also represents his obedience to let go of his objections and obey.

     “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Simon’s reaction is not surprising, but his reaction is not because he thought Jesus had better fishing techniques and he was going to want to utilize them more.

Peter immediately in that moment is wholly focused on Jesus, and Simon has just seen Jesus more clearly.  In that moment everything shifts for Peter from seeing Jesus earlier as master, to now calling Him "Lord". Master underscores the understanding of someone in authority and Lord was a Messianic title. 

Peter is realizing in the moment exactly who Jesus really is. Note the irony that up until now Luke has called him Simon, but when he falls on his knees, Luke calls him Simon Peter.  Peter in this moment is being the name Jesus gave him in John 1:42.

The Greatest Treasure – 5:11

Luke 5:11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

We will not be able to fully follow Jesus in deep intimacy until we are willing to forsake our own plans.  

On the most successful business day of their lives, they just walk away from it all.

Q: Why does someone just walk away from it all like this?  You do this because you have found the greater treasure and Peter saw that walking with Jesus would be worth any worldly loss.

The word "followed" means to walk the same road, to accompany someone and that is exactly what Peter did for the rest of his life.

I just close this blog with this question...

Do we see Him as the greater treasure?

If we do see Him in this way, then there is no doubt that we will walk in the deeper life!