Blessed are Those Who Hand Over the Remote (Luke 5:1-11)
Uncle Larry and Aunt Brenda owned the first TV remote control that I ever saw. Larry bought a huge TV that came with not one, but two, remote controls.
Brenda loved her TV, and she watched a lot of it. One day after work, Larry somehow had the second remote and snuck out on the back patio where he had a direct view of their TV. While Brenda watched her afternoon shows, Larry began to change the channel. Confused, Brenda changed the channel back to what she was watching, but the TV changed again. The more Brenda tried to watch her show, the more the television seemingly changed by itself. Brenda was certain that she and Larry had bought a defective TV until she turned around and saw Larry laughing in the window.
I’m sure none of you would do that to your spouse, but I’m sure that many of you like to have the remote control in your hand. You might have an agreement with your spouse to take turns with the remote. Or maybe you hate when your spouse gets the remote because you just can’t stand what he or she watches. Perhaps you really enjoy that remote because you remember those days when you had to get up off the couch to change the channel.
A remote control really boils down to control; whoever holds the remote controls what’s on the television. What if your life came with a remote? As long as you held the remote, you had control of your life. However, the moment you handed over that remote, you handed over control of your life.
In this morning’s text, Peter willingly gave over the remote for his life to Jesus and allowed the Lord to have complete control. Understand: “Jesus wants control of your life.”
Scripture (Luke 5:1-11)
verses 1-2:
The crowd pressed around Jesus to hear the word of God as he was by the lake of Gennesaret—the Sea of Galilee. Two boats were there, and the fishermen were out of their boats and were washing their nets. Because they collected a lot of stuff besides edible fish, nets had to be cleaned regularly.
verse 3:
The shoreline of the Sea of Galilee functioned acoustically like an amphitheater; getting in a boat and going a bit from shore would have made Jesus much easier to hear.
verses 4-7:
After he had finished teaching, Jesus told Peter to put down his nets for a catch. Peter replied, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” Fishermen often worked at night because fish in the Sea of Galilee tended to seek low depths during the day due to the oppressive heat.
Peter agreed to let down his nets at Jesus’s word. Think about Peter’s act of faith. Jesus was a rabbi and a carpenter, not a fisherman; Jesus gave Peter advice in Peter’s area of expertise. With purely human reasoning, Peter should have known far more about fishing that Jesus ever would. However, Simon understood that Jesus was no ordinary rabbi, and he obeyed his word.
The catch of fish was so great that the nets began to break, Peter had to call for help, and both boats were filled and began to sink.
verses 8-10a:
Peter fell down at Jesus’s knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter confessed two things: He knew who he was in relation to Jesus, and he knew who Jesus was in relation to him.
verse 10b:
Jesus told Peter that from now on he would catch men.
verse 11:
When the fishermen brought their boats to the shore, “they left everything and followed him.” Fishermen in ancient Palestine made a much better living than the average peasant. Therefore, when Peter, James, and John left their livelihood, they made a radical commitment to follow Jesus and gave the Lord complete control of their lives.
Application
“Jesus wants control of your life.” Peter gave Jesus control of his life. Will you do the same? Notice the steps Peter took to give Jesus control of his life:
One: Concentrate
By reading the text, you realize that Peter was in the boat while Jesus was teaching; therefore, Peter had an opportunity to Concentrate on what Jesus said.
If you hand Jesus control of your life, you must Concentrate on Jesus’s words. Those words will not pass away: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31). Those words will judge you: “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day” (Jn 12:48).
Will you Concentrate on Jesus’s words?
Two: Comply
When Jesus told Peter to let down his nets, Simon was willing to Comply. Peter was the fisherman, not Jesus. Yet Peter complied with Jesus and saw a great catch of fish.
If you hand Jesus control of your life, you must Comply even when his words don’t make sense to you. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt 7:24). “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (Jn 14:23-24).
Will you Comply with Jesus’s word?
Three: Confess
When Peter handed over control of his life, he was willing to Confess who he was and who Jesus is: “I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Lk 5:8).
Of course, you must confess Jesus with your mouth (Rom 10:9) and confess your sins (1 Jn 1:9). However, if you’re to give Jesus control of your life, you need to go a step further and know those truths in your very core. You know that Jesus is Lord; when Thomas saw the Resurrected Christ, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28). You and everyone else on this planet is a sinner: “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10).
Confess your sinfulness and Jesus’s deity. If you need to, say to yourself over and over, “I’m a sinner, and Jesus is Lord.” Do whatever it takes to understand your place and his place. Will you Confess?
Four: Concede
When Peter handed over control of his life, he was willing to Concede his very livelihood. Imagine the conversation around the dinner table that night when Mrs. Peter asked about his day: “I walked away from our good living today so I can follow a Teacher who doesn’t have any money.” Imagine the conversation with his kids, “No, you can’t sign up for soccer camp because Dad walked away from his job to follow Jesus.”
Do you realize that Peter was willing to Concede whatever it took to follow Jesus? How about you? What have you been willing to Concede to follow Jesus? Have you given up your family . . . a career . . . a hobby . . . a sin to follow Jesus?
To follow Jesus, you must Concede everything: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. . . . So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26-27, 33).
Yes, Jesus expects much as you hand over the remote to your life. However, he richly blesses those who do so: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matt 19:29). What do you need to leave in order to inherit eternal life?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.