Living In The Nevertheless

Beloved, you will forgive me if I postpone our study on the Sermon on the Mount, but I feel strongly lead by the Holy Spirit to share with you what the Lord is doing in my life through the preaching of Bro Brad Lowery during our revival services. The Lord did a marvelous work amongst our flock last night. And it was all to His glory and for His righteousness.

Bro Brad preached from Luke 5:1-11 and he keyed on the word “nevertheless” in verse 5. Peter, his brother Andrew, and the Brothers Zebedee, James and John had been out all night fishing and had caught nothing. They were tired and hungry, and as Bro Brad said in his Alabama accent, “They were ready to go to the house.”

Jesus gets into the boat and has Peter push off from the shore and Jesus “sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat” we read in verse 3. Now let’s pick up the conversation from beginning in verse 4:

    “When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ 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 they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their 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!’” [(Luke 5:4-8) emphasis added]

Don’t be too hard on Peter; he just came up with all the excuses we would have. They had fished all night and caught nothing. They were tired and hungry and didn’t want to have to row out and row back in just to get skunked again. But something in Peter allowed himself to obey Christ and he said, nevertheless. And it was a obedient response to Jesus’ word. Peter obeyed. And of course the blessing was far more than any of the fishermen ever sought on their own.

Once ashore Jesus called them to be His disciples. Oh well Bro Dave who wouldn’t follow Jesus after THAT miracle!

You wouldn’t and neither would I. And we haven’t.

Those four fishermen had a boat full of fish and Jesus standing in front of them.

We have a freezer full of fish, the Holy Bible, the autobiography of Jesus Christ, and two thousand years of miraculous testimonials, some in our own life and yet we won’t follow Him.

The Disciples lived in the “nevertheless”; we live in the “Yeah, but Lord.”

When Peter saw, that is Jesus, not the catch, he said “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

When we see it, that is the catch not Jesus, we say “Praise God and bless me some more.”

Jesus told Peter and the others:

    “For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.’ So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.” (Luke 5:9-11)

With us, Jesus asks, “Why are you afraid? Why are you not catching men?”

We don’t obey Jesus because we do not want to pay the cost. Beloved, how is it that the American Church, you and I included, have come to the point that we think we can have a sacrifice-free Christianity? It is because we are acting like consumers of the kingdom of God and not citizens. Imagine had Paul counted the cost of following Christ and found it too expensive or inconvenient? He never would have written these words:

    “For this reason I also suffer these things; NEVERTHELESS I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” [(2 Timothy 1:12) emphasis added]

Didn’t I hear that as a power verse on K-LOVE the other day? Really?!!

I am not ashamed?

When was the last time you or I believed and was persuaded that we should fulfill our commitments to Christ until that Day? Seriously!

No more my dearly beloved, no more.

A man that was facing the seemingly impossible task of taking the reins from his mentor, a mighty man of God. And the Lord came to this young man and told him to “be strong and of good courage” and promised not to leave him or forsake him. This young man could have looked around at his circumstances, did a cost and talent analysis and said, “But Lord, I am not able.” Instead in the twilight of his life the mighty warrior for God Joshua wrote this famous verse:

    “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

That’s Joshua challenging us to live in the nevertheless.

That’s where I’m headed.

You wanna go?

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2011 David Jeffers

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