“Nevertheless, at your Word…” Luke 5:1-11. Peter and some of the other disciples were washing their nets already and here comes Jesus. Now we know they were tired and they were toiling, working, fishing all night long, pulled up nothing all night, and now here comes this guy (Jesus). “Go back out and throw the nets again and you will pull a draught of fish.” And there must have been a lot of reasons not to do it. Simon (Peter) could have told Jesus no but didn’t because it was Jesus. Jesus was not a fisher; He was a preacher! He had been preaching, preaching, and preaching the Word of God. Peter could have said: “I have been doing this all of my life, now here comes this preacher guy telling me how to fish.” Peter could have given Jesus a long list of why not: The weather is bad; the fish are not biting; it is a wrong time now; we have been doing this all night; there is nothing out there...” But they came to that “nevertheless” moment and decided to obey His Word. He had this heart attitude: “Nevertheless at Your word, I will do it. Even though we toiled all night. Nevertheless…People think I am crazy, but nevertheless, I will be doing what He is telling me. I have been doing this all night, but nevertheless ….” He could have used all of these reasons, but no! He said, “Nevertheless, I will do as You said.”
NEVER THE LESS. We need to have this faith and this heart attitude to always say, “Nevertheless.” Whatever anyone says, nevertheless, at Your word...Whatever it looks like, whatever the odds are against you, nevertheless. Whatever I think, nevertheless. Whatever I have or don’t have, nevertheless …Even if it is something that I have never seen before, nevertheless I will get it done. Whoever is standing with me or not, nevertheless. Even if it is something that has never been done before, nevertheless. Even if it seems impossible, nevertheless. Let’s do it His way. Let’s do whatever He told us to.
There is another passage in John 21 where we will see this “nevertheless” situation. Sometimes we go back to the way we used to do things, and we ignore His word. Discouragement, depression, anxiety…Peter in this passage was facing all of that. He went back to his old self but he did not catch anything. Remember, the passage in John 21 happened after Jesus died and rose again. In both passages, they caught nothing. Jesus was stopping him from being stuck back in that position. Peter had walked with Jesus for over three years and he was so full of faith in himself. Then when it came down to when the rubber meets the road, when people surrounded him, and when things got really real, he did what he thought he would never do: he denied Jesus three times. This happened because his faith was still in himself. He went back to the same place, the same life, the same old thing, and then he came to the end of himself and Jesus did not leave him or forsake him. Something happened that day. He had to forgive himself and he had to be converted. But it was that moment when he shifted his faith entirely onto the Lord. He lived the rest of his life as a “nevertheless” kind of guy.
Sometimes, Jesus Himself will shut some doors so we can let go of what we consider precious. “Children, do you have any fish?” …Jesus knew they caught nothing. Jesus was ready to rescue him from that lifestyle. And said, “Cast your net on the other side.” And, nevertheless, there was a multitude of fish! Peter had some “fig leaves”, trying to hide his own self! And here comes Jesus covering him, again. What Jesus was saying is, “I am not going to leave you in despair, and I am not going to not finish what I started. Peter, are you ready to do it My way now?”
Jesus was trying to encourage Peter, “Go back to the nevertheless.” Probably Peter was very discouraged but who showed up: JESUS! At His Word, nevertheless! Throw your net. Jesus did not say, “Throw your net and let’s see what happens.” He did not say, “Throw your net and I will ask the Father to do something.” No. He just said, “Throw your net.” We don’t ask amiss any longer. We ask things that God has placed in our own hearts. In religion and tradition, we keep doing the same thing (like Peter) over and over and over again. The first place Peter was found by Jesus was the last place Jesus found Peter. Jesus will meet us back at the place He found us to rescue us. The enemy will use this type of situation to tempt us to do dead works. Jesus was not concerned about the fish but about Peter’s heart! He used the fish to reach Peter. Jesus was fishing to catch that man – Peter - once again.
Nevertheless, it is going to be different this time. In obedience, there is always a nevertheless! In obedience, there is no striving! People don’t want to hear the Gospel, nevertheless, keep preaching! Go throw your net again. In another situation Jesus told Peter, “The first fish you pull out, there will be a coin” (Matthew 17:27). By then, Peter knew better to obey His word nevertheless! Peter was saved from being entangled with the world once again because of that nevertheless attitude! Let us become Nevertheless- at-your-word disciples of Christ.
Father, You are the God of all creation. And we are going to do whatever you send us to do. Other people have gone and caught nothing. Nevertheless, we will obey You. Nevertheless, other people have failed. Nevertheless, we will not. Nevertheless, other ministries are falling away. Nevertheless, we are not going to fail. Father, thank you, your Word says it, your Spirit says it, nevertheless, we will do it! You are the miracle maker. We are expecting many souls, much fruit, and everything according to your Word and power. Because when we say, “Nevertheless” and when we do it, you get the glory! Peter did not get the glory! Jesus did. Peter just did his nevertheless part!
Father, we stand in obedience, we stand on your Word. It is all up to you. Nevertheless, we will do it and obey it! We thank you for the nets. We thank you for bringing in everything You told us You would bring in! We can do nothing without you! Thank you, Father.
Not by might, not by power, but by You, by Your way, by Your unction. It does not matter what we see, nevertheless, we will have a draught, a purpose, and a plan. And You will get the glory! Help us to have that “NEVER THE LESS” attitude! Forever and amen!
Shane Roessiger
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