Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher from the mid-1600’s, writes:

“All men seek happiness.  This is without exception.  Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.  The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, it is the same desire in both, attended with different views.  The will never takes the least step but to this object.  This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

This is true, isn’t it?  We all just want to be happy.

We are then left with the age old question: where shall we find it?  What will ultimately satisfy us?  Where can we find happiness? 

Pascal answers this question as well:

“The infinite desire for happiness can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.”

Happiness is found in God!

Some may think that this sounds so selfish, and that there can be no ‘self’ in worship.  But remember: when you find happiness in something, you show it to be great.  The best way to show the worth of something is to treasure it, to find pleasure in it.

It logically follows, then, that the best way to glorify God is to find pleasure in Him.  If you profess to worship God, but you find no pleasure in Him, you are most certainly not showing him to be great.

What do we call someone who claims to worship God but doesn’t enjoy Him?  We call such a person a hypocrite!

God, the creator of everything that exists… the one who made you and me - He made us for a purpose, to find pleasure in a relationship with Him.  He invites is to come to Him for LIFE.  We read Jesus’ words in John 10:10:  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

What is life all about?  It is about glorifying God by finding pleasure in Him.

Take a look at this inspirational poster from www.despair.com:

(Regret: It Hurts to admit when you make mistakes – but when they are big enough, the pain only lasts a second.)

We all make mistakes, big and small.  But there is one mistake which has eternal huge consequences:

What will we do with Jesus?

In our search for pleasure, will we seek God?

Will we glorify Him by going to Him to satisfy us?

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 5:1-11. 

This morning we will be looking at Peter’s encounter with Jesus.

Peter grew up in a different part of the world in a different culture at a different time, but Peter is very much like us.  He was searching for happiness, and he made “The Find.” 

As we look at Peter’s encounter with Jesus, we’ll see that there are four things that we can do to make “The Find” as well.

The first thing that we need to do if we want to encounter Jesus is this - we need to:  Long for Him in the everyday

Let’s begin in Luke 5, verses 1-3; we read:  One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

Notice what is going on in these verses.  Peter is going about his life – a life of fishing.  He is doing what fishermen do.  They make a living catching fish, and Peter is doing just that.   But something unusual happens while he is doing his normal, everyday stuff – Jesus shows up.  And not only does Jesus show up, Jesus asks Peter if he can teach from Peter’s boat.  Talk about an interruption!  Peter was out in the boat all night.  He is cleaning his nets.  He is ready to go home for some much needed rest.  But Jesus has other plans; he wants to teach from Peter’s boat. 

What would you have done? 

Look what Peter does.  Peter lets Jesus get into his boat and interrupt his routine.

Question: are you looking for “The Find” badly enough to let it interrupt your daily routine?  Are you searching for God even in the everyday?

We read Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:7:  "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."

And Jesus commands us in Luke 12:31:  “Seek His kingdom.”

What Jesus is teaching us in these verses is that the Kingdom needs to be sought!  We need to long for it!  And when you long for something, it is something that consumes you.  You think about it all of the time.  The passion invades every aspect of your life. 

Sometimes we live as if God is a Sunday-only God.  We go about our days… our weeks, months and years, living our ‘spiritual’ lives only on Sundays.  We come to church, sing some songs, listen to a sermon, greet a few smiling faces… and then we go home and forget about God until we reluctantly roll out of bed the next Sunday morning.

Is this what God intended for us?  Is this fulfillment?  Is this LIFE?

I would suggest that this is NOT what God had in mind when he made us!  If this is our experience, we have NOT encountered God.  If this is an accurate description of our relationship with God, then there is certainly something very wrong!

As we read about Peter’s encounter with Jesus here in Luke 5, we see that Jesus wants to invade our daily lives.  Peter let Jesus into his boat.  Will you let Jesus into your boat – into your daily routine? 

Encountering Jesus doesn’t mean he becomes a part of your life.  Encountering Jesus means he becomes your life.  Will we be a people who long for Jesus in the everyday?

If this is who you want to become, here is a simple suggestion: start praying for more hunger for Him.  If there is any prayer that God loves to hear, it is this! – His children asking for more desire for Him.  Make ‘quick prayers’ the habit of you life.  As you live through each day, throw up simple, quick prayers, “Lord, I want to know you more!  Increase my hunger for you and my knowledge of you!”

Yes, Jesus wants to invade our everyday lives with the pleasure of His presence.

And what is the next thing we see in this passage that we can do to encounter Jesus?  It is this:

Obey His word

In verses 4-5, we read:  When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."  Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

Do you hear the exhaustion in Peter’s voice? 

“Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.”

But what does Peter do?

“Because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Question: who is the expert fisherman here?  Jesus’ father was a carpenter, not a fisherman.  Jesus grew up learning how to make things with wood, not how to catch fish!  Come on Jesus, let the experts do the fishing!  You just do your teaching… you’re good at that.  Oh, Jesus.  When will you learn.

Do you want to encounter Jesus?  Do you want to make “the Find?”  Obey Him.

I’m reminded of my own two kids, Josiah and Olivia.  They get an allowance every week: $2.  A number of months ago, Janelle and I got tired of having to say “no” to daily requests for new toys.  Now it’s easy; we just say, “use your allowance money.”

The kids each have a jar for spending money.  I love how quickly they are obedient when it is time for getting their allowance.  “Josiah, Olivia, go get your allowance jars!”  And before we know it, they’re ready!  Can you imagine them responding with disobedience: “Oh, come on, do we have to get our allowance now?”  Never!  They love allowance time!

Shouldn’t we have that attitude toward God?  Shouldn’t we look at obedience to him as an opportunity to better our own lives?  He loves us, doesn’t he?

"Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

"Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

Obedience.

Peter just does it.  Peter believes that Jesus knows what he is talking about.  Do you believe that Jesus knows what he is talking about?  Do you really believe that Jesus knows what is best for you?  Do you really believe that obedience to God will result in your good?

And this brings us to the third thing that we can do to make “The Find.”  Orient yourself to reality

Look at the results of Peter’s obedience:

We read in verses 6-7:  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.  So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Peter let down the nets as Jesus had said, and they caught so many fish that the nets were breaking!  They filled two boats with fish, and there were so many fish that both boats began sinking!

What is this reality to which we need to orient ourselves?  The reality of who Jesus is.

Why did Jesus do this miracle and catch two boat-fulls of fish?  Was it to say to Peter, “Hey Peter, yeah, you had a bad night of fishing; but don’t give up!  Keep fishing.  You can do it!”  Or did Jesus want to give Peter enough fish in one day that he could take a few days off and have a vacation?

The reason Jesus does this miracle is simple: he wants Peter to realize who Jesus is!  Jesus wants Peter to come to grips with the reality that God-in-the-flesh has come!

Are we living in the reality of Jesus?  Do we live as if we really are forgiven?  Do we live as if we really do have an eternal home awaiting us?  Do we live as if loving others and bring them closer to Jesus really is the purpose of our relationships?

Are we living in the reality that the Kingdom of God is what really matters?

It has been said, “If I am going to believe in your Savior, you are going to need to look a bit more saved!”

Why does Jesus give Peter a miraculous catch of fish?  To reveal to Peter the reality that there is something new and wonderful going on – the reality that is Jesus.

And we see that it works!  Peter is hit with reality!

This brings us to the fourth thing that we need to do to make “The Find.”  We need to:  Kneel before Jesus

Look what Peter does.  In verses 8-11, we read:  When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"  For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."  So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Peter encounters Jesus.  He falls at Jesus’ feet.

It appears that Peter has forgotten about his new wealth in fish!  Peter has one of those God-moments.

"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

Peter sees Jesus for who he is – the Lord.

And Peter sees himself for who he really is – a sinful man.

When you have an encounter with Jesus, it will always, always have these two qualities.  When you encounter God, you have a deep and profound realization that He is God, and that you are not.  And there is nothing else that you can do but get down on your knees and worship Him.

What does Peter realize about Jesus?  I think we could sum it up by saying that Peter recognizes that Jesus is… HOLY.

Remember what holiness is?  That God is Holy is that God is totally “other than.”  God is totally unique.  Jesus is Holy because he is the one and only God.

My dad used to collect coins.  He received new coins regularly from the U.S. Treasury Department.  Which coins are the most valuable?  The rarest ones!

How rare is God? 

There is only one creator of the heavens and the earth!  Only one LORD!  God is holy because he is totally ‘other’ than anything and everything else.  There is nobody and nothing like him!  He is unique!

"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

Peter realizes that Jesus is the great treasure.  He is overwhelmed by this treasure and by the fact that his life is so out of sync with the value of this treasure.

When was Peter saved?  Of the places in Scripture where we might say, “that’s where Peter is saved”… this would be near the top of my list.

He didn’t say a sinner’s prayer.  Nobody gave him the Four Spiritual Laws.  He didn’t respond to an altar call…

Peter simply recognizes that Jesus is “The Find,” and falls to his knees.

I believe that Peter’s experience here is what conversion is all about.  Being saved is realizing that Jesus is the great treasure, and realizing that that you are empty without Him.

Repentance is the deep sorrow that your life is not in sync with the greatest treasure – Jesus. 

In order to repent, you need to first fall in love with Jesus.  You have to recognize that he is Holy – that he is the greatest treasure.  And you have to want Him.  You have to want something before you can be sorry that you don’t have it!

"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

Have you encountered Jesus?  Have you recognized that Jesus is the greatest treasure?  Have you experienced the sorrow of not having the greatest treasure that is Jesus?

We read here that Peter and the others were astonished at the huge catch of fish.  And we read:

Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."  So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Did you catch that?

What does Peter do in verse 11?  So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Will we do the same thing?  Are you convinced that LIFE is found in Jesus alone?  Are you convinced that He is “The Find?”  Will you leave everything else behind and follow Jesus?  He is worth it.  He is the only one that satisfies.

This morning, let us once again commit ourselves to LOOK for Jesus.

Peter left it all.  He left his boat.  He left the nets.  He left all of the fish he had just caught!

Why?

Because he encountered Jesus.  He experienced “The Find.”

May we do the same.

Let’s pray.