In Luke chapter 5 there are several verses that I find interesting and intriguing.
The first one is verse 1 and it says:
“Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God…”
What is your thought just on that verse? My thought was, “am I that eager for the Word of God to press around (or in) to Him to listen?” It’s also clear that these people put forth physical effort to listen to the Word of God. In Luke 12:1 there is a somewhat similar scene.
“Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples…”
What effort am I willing to put forth to “press into” Him to hear and learn His Word? The good news is, it doesn’t take much physical effort to do so and there’s little likelihood that I will be stepped on as I seek to hear His Word through the reading and meditation of His Word.
The next verse is verses 4-5 and it says:
“When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.'”
This verse speaks of obedience to our Master and our trust in Him. Jesus gives Simon (Peter) a simple and clear command. Look what Simon says and does:
- He addresses Him as Master. Simon starts out acknowledging who Christ is to him and His role in his life. He didn’t start moaning and groaning about what Christ asked him to do.
- He gave a short appeal basically saying that he’s already done that and didn’t catch anything. In parenting, we call this a “proper appeal” (by the way, this is a great instruction on how children to should respond to the requests of their parents).
- Simon said “I will do as You say.”
Simon showed that he had some doubt, but he still trusted and obeyed…thus he was “happy in Jesus.” As we have seen, Christ has given us many commands, let us trust and obey Him in following those commands.
Lastly is the final verse, verse 39. This comes at the end of the parable about old cloth and new cloth, and old wine and new wine. And Jesus says:
“And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”
What do you think about that? While there is some debate on the meaning of this verse, it seems that Jesus is promoting something new and encouraging His disciples to drink the “new wine.” The part that intrigues me is the statement from the person that says “The old is good enough.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be that person or disciple. That speaks of apathy and complacency. From my experience and eyewitness, this is where most people are when it comes to church. They are content and satisfied (in this case not good attributes/gifts) with not being the “fulness of Him who fills all in all” and not being “fitted together, growing together and being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
I am in no way advocating any such thing as being “emergent” or “relevant.” Nor am I suggesting we use the worlds marketing methods to grow the church. I am suggesting two things:
- What takes place in most churches is the “old.” Sorry, not interested.
What should take place is the “new”…as in New Testament Christianity. Principles and practices, life and doctrine that are demonstrated throughout the New Testament. - That way, and likely, only that way, can we truly discover “the unfathomable riches of Christ, and bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” -Ephesians 3:8-10