Genesis 6, Jonah 1, Luke 5
“The Captain and the Crew”
I
am really excited about this series of sermons that we are embarking on
today. Because our aim in this series,
is how we can move our Christian lives from the shallow waters of a small pond,
where we find ourselves paddling, but never getting anywhere … to an
adventurous voyage, where we’re heading out to the deep waters and where we can
experience the fullness of the Christian life.
That’s what we’re about in this series.
The
reality for most of us, is that we spend most of our Christian lives in the
shallow waters. Very often, my spiritual life feels like “a puddle”, yet I know
that God offers us “an ocean.” And I want to experience that ocean. I want to experience that “joy unspeakable
and full of glory.” I want to know the
“peace that passes all understanding.” I
want to feel like I’m doing something that is really significant and the Master
is right there by my side. But so many
times, I feel as though I’m just doing busy work and going in circles. Often our spiritual lives are “a mile wide”,
but only “an inch deep”. Yet, it’s not
supposed to be that way.
So, in this series, we are going to be exploring
what it means to be a more deeply committed Christian and how we can experience
the fullness of the Christian life that God wants for us. And today, we’re going to begin this by
asking three questions. The first one is
this: “Who’s the captain of your ship?”
The second question is: “Are you a passenger or a crew member?” And the third question is: “Do you want to
stay in port forever or are you willing to actually embark on your adventure?”
And let me remind you, that throughout history, the
Church as been thought of as “a ship” in which people board in order to take
the journey of faith. This is even seen
in the architecture of most churches.
The central part of a sanctuary, where the people sit for worship, is
called “the Nave”. And that word comes
from the old Latin word, “Navis”, which means “ship”. And this is where we get our modern term,
“Navy” And so, we are all on this
ship. We’re on the “SS First UMC” and
we’re going to be taking a voyage together.
And so, let’s begin by looking at these three fundamental questions of
our faith.
The first question is, “Who is the captain of your
ship?” In the Christian life, the
Christian journey begins with a decision.
It begins with a decision to let go of the helm. Most of us are control freaks. I mean, we want to control everything in our
lives. We want to hold on tight to the
helm and we want to steer our own way through whatever happens in life. But to call Jesus “Lord of our lives” is to
call him “the captain of our ship”. It
is to say, “Jesus, take control of the helm of my life and pilot me. I want you to guide my life and lead me to
where you want me to go.” That’s the
decision we make when we become a Christian.
As United Methodists, we remember the words of John
Wesley, who taught his followers to pray: “I am not my own, but Thine. Put me to what you will. Rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing; put me to suffering. Let me be employed by Thee or laid aside for
Thee. Let me be exalted for Thee or brought
low for Thee. Let me full or let me be
empty. Let me have all things or let me
have nothing. I freely and heartedly
yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.”
This is what it means to allow Jesus
Christ to be the captain of our ship.
And if you are like me, I find that I have to renew that decision every
single day. Because every day, I am
tempted to take back the helm and take control of my life. So, every day I have to say to Jesus, “Lord,
help me to let go and turn my life back over to you. Lead me to where you want me to go and what
you want me to do.” Who’s the
captain of your ship?
Most of us remember Frank Sinatra’s
popular song, “I Did it My Way”. And in
the world, that’s what we are taught to do.
But as a Christian, we recognize that “my way” often doesn’t work out so
well. We find that when we are in
control, the ship runs aground or becomes shipwrecked. And so, we learn to let go and trust in Jesus
to captain our ship.
Edward Hopper, a great Gospel hymn
writer, in 1871 wrote a hymn that captures this idea. It is found in our hymnal on page 509. The words go like this:
Jesus,
Savior, pilot me over life’s tempestuous sea;
Unknown
waves before me roll, hiding rock and treacherous shoal.
Chart
and compass came from thee; Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
As a
mother stills her child, thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boisterous
waves obey thy will, when thou sayest to them, “Be still!”
Wondrous
sovereign of the sea, Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
When at
last I near the shore, and the fearful breakers roar
‘twixt
me and the peaceful rest, then, while leaning on thy breast,
May I
hear thee say to me, “Fear not, I will pilot thee.”
Who’s
the captain of your ship? Who’s at the
helm?
A
couple of years ago, Marie and I traveled to
Well, if
Jesus is our captain, then it is important to understand how we are to respond
to our Captain. And the Bible teaches us
that it is a balance between two responses.
On the one hand, we are taught that Jesus is “our friend” and we can
have an intimate relationship with Jesus.
And so, we sing, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. And yet, at the same time, he is the Captain
of our ship. He “calms the wind and the
waves”. He is “the Lord of Lords and the
King of Kings”. And this requires, what
the Old Testament writers called, “A fear
of the Lord.” That is, reverence,
awe, absolute respect, and a willingness to do whatever the Captain tells us to
do.
Some
people have their whole spiritual life revolving around this image of “the fear
of the Lord”. So, they never know the
friendship that we can have with Jesus.
Some people have such a friendly relationship with Jesus that they
forget to fear and stand in awe of him.
The Bible teaches us that the balance is somewhere in between. Confidence, respect, friendship, and trust …
all of these things are a part of what that relationship looks like when we
name Jesus as the Captain of our ship.
With this in mind, let’s shift gears now and
take a look at “Three Biblical Sailors” and see how they responded to the
Captain of their ship. We’re going to
introduce these three stories today and over the next few weeks we will be
taking a closer look at each of them.
These sailors are Noah, Jonah, and Simon Peter.
Noah’s story is often a story that
we tell to children and we think of it as a children’s story. And yet, it is really not a children’s
story. It is very adult in its
nature. The story occurs in Genesis 6-9
and it is a story about God’s disappointment with humanity. God created human beings and placed them on
the earth, but after time, God sees that humanity is perpetually evil. Constantly, they are hurting each other and
violent towards one another and they are violent to the earth itself. So, God is grieved that he made us. Can you imagine that? God is so grieved over
what human beings were doing to each other and to the earth, that he decides to
remedy the problem by bringing a terrible flood to the earth and eliminating
humanity. He decided to start all over
again, without human beings.
But then, God noticed that there was a man who
righteous. His name was Noah. And there was his wife, and his three sons
and their three wives. And the
Scriptures actually say that “this man
walked with God”, which means that God was “the Captain of his ship”. And because this man was righteous, God
decided to spare his family. And the
hope was, that when God started over again, things would be different, because
he would be starting over with these righteous people. But of course, we know that it wasn’t much
different the second time around. Even
today, we are violent towards each other … hurting each other and hurting the
planet. But God decides to give them a
second chance, as he does us.
So, God says to Noah, “Noah, I want you to build a ship.
And I want you to gather two of each animal on the earth … seven of some
animals. Put them on the ship and then I
am going to bring a flood.” Now,
whether you believe this story literally or figuratively, don’t miss the point
here. The point of this story is to
teach us something very important about who God is and who God calls us to be
as human beings.
So, God calls Noah to build a ship and to put all
these animals on the ship. Well, you
know, that is a whole lot easier said than done. I mean, how is Noah going to do this? He is going to have to give up everything to
build this
Some of you may have seen the recent movie out about
this entitled, “Evan Almighty”. It’s a humorous,
modern day take on the story of Noah, yet it helps us to think about how Noah might
have struggled with this request of God.
But the Biblical text doesn’t tell us how Noah struggled with God’s
request. The Bible says that God told
Noah to build an ark and “Noah did
everything that the Lord commanded him to do.”
That’s a powerful verse. I want to ask you this question: If God
called you to do something that would require you to sacrifice everything. If it required you to give up all your hopes,
and dreams, and plans, and cause you to be the laughing stock of your neighbors
… would you do it? Would you say “yes”
to the Captain of your ship?
Or would you be like Jonah? Jonah is called by God to go and preach the Good
News of God’s mercy and grace to the people of the City of
But God tells Jonah to go to the Ninevites and tell
them that, “God has seen your wickedness
and in 40 days God will destroy you if you don’t repent.”
And Jonah says, “No
Lord, I’m not going to do that.”
“What did you say, Jonah?”
“No Lord, I think it would be
best if you go ahead and destroy them.
The world would be better off without them. I don’t like the Ninevites. I’m not going.”
And God says, “Jonah,
this isn’t a request, it’s a command.
You are going to
“I’m not going and you can’t make
me!”
Jonah then decides that he is going to flee from the
presence of God. And it is helpful if
you understand the geography of the land that we’re talking about. So, on the screen, you will see a map of The
Mediterranean Sea and surrounding area.
This will help you to see what was going on. This is where Jonah lived and God was calling
him to go to
And this paints a picture for what often happens in
our lives, as well. Sometimes we are
like Noah and we do exactly what the Lord commands of us. But sometimes we are like Jonah. God asks us
to do something and we don’t like what he’s asking. We don’t like those people that he asks us to
love. We don’t want to do that, because
it will be embarrassing before our friends.
We don’t want to do that, because it doesn’t sound like fun and what I’m
into right now is fun. God wants us to
go this way, but we go that way. And at
those moments, we try not to think about God.
We try to flee from God’s presence.
But you know what? You can run,
but you can’t hide from God! Even when
we run, God is persistent.
Have you ever been like Jonah? Have you ever tried to run from God? Have you ever pretended that God isn’t there
or run in the opposite direction from what God is calling you to do? Most of us have been like Jonah at some point
in our lives. Some of us are there
today.
Well,
there is one more model for us to consider.
And that is the story of Simon Peter in Luke 5. At this point, Simon Peter is not yet a
disciple of Jesus. Jesus is preaching
and there are huge crowds that are coming to hear him. They were all trying to get close to Jesus
and the crowds are so great, that Jesus is not able to be heard. So, Jesus stepped in a boat and he asked
Simon Peter to push him out a little ways, so he could be heard by the
crowd.
Now,
Peter and his buddies had been out all night long fishing … casting out their
nets and dragging them in, but they didn’t catch a single fish all night
long. When Jesus sees them, they were
cleaning their nets and getting ready to go get some breakfast and then home to
get some rest. But Jesus asks him to
push him out a little from the shore.
So, Simon Peter pushes Jesus out.
Jesus finishes preaching to the crowd and when he’s finished, he says to
Simon, “Simon, come on and get in the
boat with me. Let’s go fishing.”
Now,
you’ve got to imagine Simon saying to Jesus, “You’ve got to be kidding. Man,
I’ve been fishing all night long and we caught nothing. Trust me, they’re not biting. You’re a carpenter and I’m a fisherman … I
know what I’m talking about. Besides,
I’m tired. I’m worn out, Jesus. I don’t want to do this!” But I love what he says. Simon looked at Jesus and said, “We didn’t catch anything all night long and
I’m tired, but because you say so, I will do it.”
I love
this story, because Jesus calls him to go out to the deep water. And that’s what we’re talking about in this
series of sermons … going out into the deep water with Jesus and casting our
nets. But I’m curious, have you ever
felt as though God is calling you to do something, but you say, “I just can’t. I’m too tired. I’m too busy.
I don’t have time. Lord, don’t
you understand how many other things I’ve already done. I don’t feel excited about this. I feel dread about it. I don’t want to do it!” But in the end, as we mature in Christ, we
come to the place where we say, “But Lord,
if you ask me to, I’ll do it.”
Now,
here’s what I’ve found in my own spiritual life. Early in my Christian life, I found myself more
like Jonah. But I’m not so much like
Jonah any more. And I’m also not very
much like Noah. I wish I was. I wish I could say that every time I felt the
prompting of God in my life that, “Ricky
did what the Lord commanded him to do”.
But that doesn’t often happen with me either. What happens most often, is that I feel this
nudge from the Lord and I ignore it for a while. And then, I’ll whine about it for a while, but
eventually, I’ll say, “Okay, because
you’re asking, I’ll do it.” Do you
ever feel like that? Well, that’s okay …
as long as you do it in the end.
And
here’s what we find at the end of this story.
Peter and his friends go out with Jesus to the deep water, they cast out
their nets, and they have to call for help to haul in all the fish. It was more than they had ever caught
before. Which is exactly what happens to
us, when do what God asks of us. We find
blessings that we were not expecting.
Sometimes
we have this idea that if God is calling us to do something, the way that we
will know that God is calling us, is that we will feel excited about it. But you know what? That happens in about 1 in 10 times. In 9 out of 10 times, when God is calling you
to do something, you are going to feel a sense of dread. “I
don’t want to do that. I’m too tired.” Yet when we feel that way, we do it anyway,
because the Lord asks it of us. And when
you’re done, what happens most of the time, is that we say, “That was awesome! I’m so glad I did what
God asked of me.”
Who is
the Captain of your ship? Are you more
like Noah, or Jonah, or Simon Peter?
The
second question is: Are you a Passenger
or a member of the Crew? When we begin
our Christian lives, we begin as “passengers”.
When we went on that cruise ship a couple of years ago, we went as
passengers. And it is cool to be a
passenger! They wait on you hand and
foot. You don’t have to make your
bed. You don’t have to worry about the
dishes or meals. Anything you want or
need, they will get for you. They take
care of it all for you! It is really
cool being a passenger. You don’t have
to do anything as a passenger, but enjoy yourself.
But
there comes a point in the Christian life where you realize that the action is
in becoming “a member of the crew”.
There comes a point, as we mature in the Christian life, where we
realize, it’s not about “me”. It’s not
about what I get out of this. It’s not
about whether the sermon spoke to me.
It’s not about whether somebody else took care of my children here.
We
start out the Christian life asking, “What
is the church going to do for me? If I
go to church, what am I going to get out of it?
And what is Jesus going to do for me?” As long as my needs are being met, then we’re
satisfied. But a fundamental change
begins to happen when we mature in our Christian life. We begin to say, “Here are my hands, Lord. I want
to be a member of your crew. How can you
use me?” It ceases to be about “me”
and “my needs” being met. We now find
our joy in serving others and helping others come to know Jesus.
So,
here’s the question: Are you a passenger or a member of the crew? Is it all about you and what you’re going to
get? Or have you come to that point
where you realize that I’m going to get stuff, but most of what I get, is going
to come when I give? Are you here to be
served or to be a servant? At some
point, we stop asking, “What is Jesus
going to do for me?” and we start asking, “What can I do for you, Lord?”
And that is a sign of spiritual growth and maturity.
Now,
it’s okay to begin the journey as a passenger.
But at some point in our spiritual maturity, the goal is to become “a
member of the crew”.
Okay
… the last question is: Are you going
to stay in Port forever or are you actually going to head out to sea? You know, as long as you stay in Port you
feel safe. I mean, no storm is going to
happen in the Port. You don’t get sea
sick, while you’re at Port. There are no
“Titanic” events that happen while you are at Port. But, you’re on the boat and things are great! And you can stay forever in the Port. It’s like Riverboat gambling. You’re on a boat, but it never goes anywhere. You can even be a part of the crew while at
Port. But you know, at some point,
you’re supposed to go out to the open water.
This is what the ship was designed for!
We were designed to go out on a mission … on an adventure.
One day out of seven, we gather here
and we bring this ship into Port. And on
that day, we re-provision you. We
encourage you and hopefully bring some healing to your life. We try to remind you of the Captain’s orders
when we come into Port every week. But
this is not where you are meant to stay.
You are meant to go out from here on a mission.
And sometimes, when we think about
going out and doing something for God, we think it is supposed to be this
magnanimous, huge thing. We think if God
calls us, it is going to be like Billy Graham or Mother Teresa, and if it’s not
like that, then it’s not really an adventure.
But the great adventure that God calls us to is every day, in small ways,
listening for His voice and doing what he asks us to do.
A couple of months ago, I was out of
town and I went to a restaurant to eat.
The waitress who served me was kind enough, but I could tell that
something was bothering her. It was
clearly a struggle for her to be nice.
At one point, as she was waiting for one of her orders to come out, I
saw her tear up and then recompose herself, wiping the tears from her eyes.
She had a lot of tables to serve, so
I couldn’t really engage her in any conversation. I paid my bill and started to walk out the
door, but as I did, I felt one of those nudges from God to somehow reach out to
her. As I tend to do, I tried first to
ignore it, and then I whined about it, “Lord, she’s too busy. I’ve got places to go. Lord, I don’t want to do this. What will she think?”
And then, I remembered a scripture
that I thought would be helpful to her.
So, I took out one of my business cards and wrote on the back, “Looks
like you are having a bad day. Thought
I’d share a scripture that has been a help to me: “I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me.” I took it
and placed in with my receipt on the table and then left.
A couple of weeks later I received a
letter from her, where she said, “I just wanted to thank you. You will never know how your words helped
me.” She then told me how that was one
of the worst days of her life. Her
husband had left her that morning and she didn’t know what she was going to
do. She said, “I had lost all hope.
Thanks for reminding me of where I can find hope.”
I was greatly touched and blessed by
her letter. And I was so glad that I
listened to God’s call that day. It
wasn’t anything great. Anyone could of
done that. And I was so blessed by
it. That’s the way it is when we listen
to God and do what he asks us to do.
Are you listening to the Captain’s
voice? When he calls you, do you make
excuses or do you say, “Here am I, Lord,
send me.” You see, the difference
between a great adventure and paddling around in the puddles of life is the
answer to that question.
Prayer
As we bow our heads, I’d like to
lead you in a prayer. Jesus would like
to be the captain of your ship. And all
it takes is for you to ask. So, if you
feel like asking Jesus to be the captain of your ship today, I invite you to
say this prayer with me.
Jesus,
Savior, pilot me. I yield the helm of my
ship to you. Guide me and lead me. Use me and speak through me. These hands and my voice are yours. Help me to honor you and to live for you, and
to follow the leading of your Spirit.
Help me to move from being a passenger, to becoming one of your crew
members … instead of wanting to be served, to serving. Help me to take the risk of leaving the Port
and to do your will. We offer ourselves
to you. In Christ’s name. Amen.