The idea of delayed gratification - which ended with the pre-World War II generation – has been replaced by instant gratification for the average American. We have food of every kind that can be heated and served “instantly.” We have a plethora of fast food restaurants. We expect nothing less than a booming stock market, and yet we face daily the peer pressure that comes from friends and family who appear to “have more than we have.” All of this adds up to a feeling that we too must have it all…right now!

And maybe the worst part of this is that this need for instant gratification has detrimental affects upon us our spiritual lives. At the very minimum, it causes us to struggle with the question, who really is our master?

When Jesus called his disciples, as seen here in Luke 5, he didn’t cast a spell upon them and declare that they were already formed and prepared to do the work of his ministry. No, what he said to them was this, and I prefer Matthew’s version of this story, “Follow me I and will make you fishers of people.” Luke says that, “from now on you will be catching people.”

It would take three years whereby Jesus would demonstrate, teach and preach about the Kingdom of God, and require the sacrifices of his disciples before he would ultimately give them the keys to the Kingdom of God. And yes, we know the rest of the story, how that even after Jesus death and resurrection, even after Pentecost, these disciples would continue to grow in their faith and in their understanding of discipleship.

Here in Luke 5, Peter, James and John had been fishing all night, the best time to fish in the Sea of Galilee, but they had caught nothing. Fishing in that day was a family affair. Wives and children would know the appointed hour to come to the dock in the morning and help the husband and father unload the catch. Afterwards, they would go about preparing the fish in order to be sold in the market, keeping only a little for their own needs. Fishing required the work of the total family.

Jesus was there that day when the fishermen were washing their nets, after catching nothing that night. He no doubt observed the frustration and disappointment on their faces after giving up a night’s sleep for nothing. He could detect the same from the wives and children about the loss of needed income. Yet, in the midst of their despair, Jesus still asked a favor of the men – could he borrow a boat from which to speak to the crowd that had gathered. Maybe their words were - “Of course you can. Maybe you can get some use out of the boat, we sure couldn’t.” Jesus preached from the boat, and when he finished, he said to the tired and dejected Peter, “Now take the boat and put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

One can imagine the thoughts that must have run through their minds. Here this landsman was trying to tell three professional fishermen how to perform their trade. Everyone knew that you could not catch fish during the day…too much activity…too much light that revealed the tricks of the fishermen. So Simon Peter answered reluctantly said, “Master, we have worked all night long, there isn’t a fish within a mile of this place, but if you say so, we will let down the nets.”

When Simon and the others obeyed, and let their nets down deep into the water, they saw the water quiver and the line to their nets begin to draw taught. As they began to pull in the nets, there were so many fish that they had to ask for other fisherman to come and help them pull in the nets. When they did, there weight of the fish almost sank their boats.

When they returned to the dock, Simon fell down at Jesus’ knees, and cried out, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” However, instead of leaving Peter standing there with his confession, Jesus invited him, as well as James and John, to leave their catch and to come and follow him.

This story is every person’s story who chooses to become a disciple of Jesus. The story begins with meager faith…having only enough faith to take a baby step in trusting the word of Jesus.

Wherever we are, spiritually speaking, the truth of our spiritual journey is that it begins with meager faith. We doubt whether we can live the life of a Christian. We have preconceived ideas of what we will have to give up, or do without, or have some misinformed image of what a disciple of Christ looks like. All of these hindrances hold us back until we take one step toward the Cross and believe. At its best it was meager faith that allows us to take this step!

Then to our surprise, we discover grace. God uses us in some fantastic way that becomes a blessing to us. We may have chosen to participate is some Sunday School class, some Bible study, some mission trip, or serve with others to accomplish some ministry…and we discover that we are surprised by Joy. We never realized that seeking to follow Jesus could make this much difference in our lives. And we are tempted to ask a question that my children used to ask when we were on long trips, “Are we there yet?” By no means!

We will discover that our meager faith becomes a growing faith that takes a lifetime of full discovery.

But in every person’s life, there comes a time when we are confronted by the reality of whether we want to invest ourselves fully in being Jesus’ disciple.

Luke explains it this way: “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him” (verse 11). Just think, their boats were sinking they were so full of fish; they could have sold that catch of fish and put money in the bank. But wealth and fame did not hold candlelight to being claimed by Jesus as his disciple.

No, there was no way that those men knew what lay before them. There was no way that they understood the sacrifice and the demand that they would face. But this one thing they knew, that just as they were willing to follow Jesus’ advice to throw their nets deep in the water, they now were willing to cast themselves deep into the role of discipleship; nothing would compare to that journey.

George Buttrick, the famous United Methodist preacher of Tennessee, was flying back to his church with a pad and an open bible working on his sermon. Beside him sat a man who asked him what he was doing and Buttrick explained. The man responded, “Well, I am a professor. As a scientist I do get caught up in all the complexities of religion. For me, the only thing that is important is to ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ That is all I need.”

Buttrick asked him what discipline of science was he a professor. The man answered, “Astronomy.” Buttrick replied, “You know, I don’t get caught up in all the complexities of astronomy. All I need is ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star.’ That is good enough for me.” (An illustration told by Tom Long, SEJ Large Church Pastor’s meeting – 2007)

Yes, if we are to grow in Discipleship, it means that we take it seriously. It means that being on the peripheral of discipleship, or being willing to stand in the shallow water of our faith no longer satisfies us. Instead, we make a deliberate choice to go deep into the life, teachings and example of Jesus.

So, I ask you today…spiritually speaking, why don’t you let your net down deep?