Sovereign choices

A Night of Fishing

Simon was a fisherman from a small town on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. He was the master of his own fishing boat and the men who worked with him.

The life of a fisherman was fairly simple, though it was hard work. Late in the evening, the crew of four men would launch the boat. Throughout the night they would throw their net, called a dikuton, into the water and let it sink. After some time, they would pull the net in, expecting to see fish caught in the net.

He had done this for most of his life and had become very experienced. Depending on the time of year and weather, he knew just where to fish in this body of water he had navigated for years. He had learned how long to wait before pulling the net in. The net needed to be in the water long enough for some fish to enter the net, but not too long so they would escape. Sometimes, they would even use noise to drive the fish into the nets.

Even though he had learned how to control what he could, it was still an unpredictable business. There were nights that he caught a decent number of fish in just a few hours. But there were also nights when he fished all night and came back with just enough to pay for the night’s work.

He expected the trials of the fishing business, but last night was something different. After an entire night of fishing, he had come back with nothing. Not a small catch or a few fish. He went to his favorite fishing spot. Nothing. He changed locations. Nada. Nikud (or zero in Hebrew).

As he approaches the shore after this frustrating night, a group of people greets him on the shore being taught by a rabbi. He just wants to go home and forget that this night has ever happened, but the rabbi asks Simon to use the boat while he teaches.

When the teaching ends, the rabbi asks Simon to push his boat into the water to catch some fish. All he wants to do is go home and forget the previous evening, and now this rabbi is asking him to go fishing at one of the worst times of the day.
Against all of his feelings, he responds, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.”

What he expected was to drop his net, wait a little, bring up another empty net, and finally end this day and go home. But the nets started filling up with fish. As he watched, the fish kept coming until the nets could barely hold them. As they started pulling the nets in, Simon had to call to another boat for help because his boat couldn’t hold all the fish.
He noticed the rabbi still in the boat and fell to his knees saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
The rabbi responded to Simon, “Do not be afraid. Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”

A Challenging Call

Peter was the owner of his own fishing business. He was in control of his own life. Now he was being asked to leave all that behind to follow this rabbi from Nazareth.
Peter recognized that the choice that Jesus was giving him was either to stay as he was, living the life that he had been, or to abandon it all to follow Jesus. By making this decision, he would give up control of his own life and identity to do what Jesus said, go where Jesus went, and to become who Jesus wanted him to become.

This is the same call that God gives to us, leave our old lives and identity and follow Him. The choice we have to make is whether we are going to maintain the perception of control in our lives or choose to leave it all behind to become a disciple of Jesus.

The challenge we have with this choice is that we like to have control.

To be more accurate, we like to have the perception of control.

In psychology, this is the concept of autonomy or an individual’s belief or subjective perception that they have the ability to influence and control their own environment, outcomes, and experiences. We want to make choices that affect what happens in our lives and environment.

How my wife communicates this idea to 3-year-olds is that, “We have an I-want-my-own-way heart.”

We want to choose what we do. Even more importantly, we want to define who we are and express that in whatever way we believe is best. One of our basic principles is that no one should define what we do or who we are, besides us.

In our own lives, we want to be sovereign.

Understanding Sovereignty

The idea of someone being sovereign is not something that we regularly consider because our modern culture rarely includes this political structure.

Although it is not a regular part of our lives, it was a reality for people living during Biblical times.

The idea of someone being sovereign is that they are a ruler with control over everything. They have the ability to do anything they want within their domain. They control all things within their kingdom.

Like I said, most of us do not live in this environment or structure, so we don’t really understand it like people in Biblical times did. Many of us cannot completely understand being under the authority of someone who is sovereign, who can do whatever they want.

My father-in-law and son-in-law are very proud marines. They would readily remind us that there is no former Marine; once a Marine, always a Marine. But the process of becoming a Marine is not for the faint of heart or spirit.

The initiation into becoming a Marine starts with boot camp. This comprises 70 “training days” over 13 weeks that many who have completed it have described it as the most challenging experience of their entire lives. One time while describing boot camp, my father-in-law stated that the goal was to break the individual so they could be put back together into a Marine.

One aspect of boot camp is that you are put under the authority of your drill instructor. During the entire boot camp, you must follow the commands of your drill instructor. You own nothing of your own. Everything that you have in boot camp is given to you. You are no longer your own.

In your life during boot camp, the drill instructor is as close to sovereign as I can think. Whatever he tells you to do, your response is, “Sir. Yes, sir!”

Wake up at 4:00 am to do a 3-mile run in the rain. “Sir. Yes, sir!”

Clean the bathroom floor with a toothbrush. “Sir. Yes, sir!”

Everything the drill instructor wants you to do, you must do. But, there is an understanding that everything he is asking you to do, no matter how hard, is to help transform you into a Marine.

Sovereign Lord

After Jesus did the miracle of filling the nets with fish, Peter’s first reaction was to call Jesus, “Lord.”

The Greek word that is translated “Lord” is kyrios means master, owner, or sovereign.

With this single word, Peter recognized who Jesus is and who he was in relation to Jesus. By recognizing Jesus as the sovereign Lord, Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the one in ultimate control over all things, including himself. Because of his previous life, he was not worthy of even being in the presence of Jesus.

Instead of the reaction of judgment and condemnation that Peter was expecting, Jesus’ response was, “Do not be afraid.”
He had been living like all of us, independent of God. We live in rebellion against our creator and sovereign Lord.

Instead of God defining who we are and what we do, we want our autonomy, to define ourselves and our actions.

We are rebels against our rightful sovereign Lord. And as with all rebels, the penalty is dire: death. We deserve separation from God, the source of all life.

Instead of giving Peter what he deserved, Jesus offered security, forgiveness, and redemption. By choosing to follow Jesus, Peter is being offered the opportunity to have a restored relationship with God and a redeemed identity.

Just like Peter, if we recognize who we are before a sovereign God, and submit to Him, He does not give to us what we deserve. Instead, He calls us to follow Him and trust in who He is to lead us.

As we learn more about who He is along with the scope of His sovereignty, it will impact who we are. We will develop new principles that define our truth. We will view the world from new perspectives, with Him as Lord. We will live for new purposes and priorities.

It starts as we let go of our old lives and identity, to follow and submit to a sovereign God.