How many of you are graduating this term?
Are you graduating this term? That's great.
We'd love you to come down, come on down.
We want to honor you. Wow.
What a beautiful group of graduates.
So Craig has a gift. He's going to come and bring
you. And then I would like to pray
for you off because it's a big transition.
Well, let's pray and we want to say thank you, Jesus.
Because these are degrees that were significantly impacted by
covid, where they didn't get to have all the normal university
experiences. And so we say thank you Jesus.
That you kept their health, and their advisers, and their
professors health, and that you have brought them to this
moment. We thank you, Jesus, for
learning. We thank you, Jesus, for even in
the midst of covid, friendships that were made.
And then we want to pray for them.
Because Lord, there's transitions, we want to cast
every anxiety, that might be there about just compensation in
the next job. Finding a place to live finding
who to live with finding someone to live with long-term in life.
All these different things, that transitioning and graduating
brings up. We passed the anxieties of that
on you and because we know that you love each of these we asked
Jesus that you would allow times of rest and restoration to come
for each of them where they've done that final push to be done,
maybe came at the expense of their friendships and they're
expensive, they're time with you.
And so we ask for rest, we asked for a renewed hunger for your
word. We ask for friends to reach out
and celebrate with them and we pray and join with.
My who some 2600 years ago said that you have plans for them to
flourish plans to bring about what is good and I pray that
they would each see in their lives, how you have been working
out, their next steps. Lord, I pray that you would
allow them to Value themselves for the not just this
accomplishment but for the care, Doctor you have given them for
the ways. They have overcome troubles in
you have brought them this far. I pray that they will continue
to walk with a spirit of Jesus. And Lord, I ask if they have a
faith quake as they graduate that they would turn to people
who love them and would sit with them in that, And then Lord, I
pray over the learning and expertise that they have worked
hard to get Lord. That they would use that in ways
that bring you honor and glory. And that bless many people that
they would not grow weary in doing good with opportunities,
they have for these education. And so may you fill them because
lord it's also a season to celebrate and I pray that they
would have all of the best moments of Celebration and
Thanksgiving for that. You have brought them here and
expectation of what you are about to do in their lives.
And so we thank you that these are people who have blessed us.
And will continue to bless others and that they are our
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, who are equipped now for new and
exciting things. And so we say both, thank you
Jesus and help them Lord, and your precious name.
Amen. Some of you might be wondering
what it is. They got a previous original.
Her name's Marissa Wang has painted or drawn the origin
blessing in order to bless them. And so all the Bumblebees in the
picture are actually graduating. They've got a little Mortar
board and the flower is the lily of the valley, which is a Flower
that was connected and sort of named to Jesus.
He's the lily of the valley and so there's a lot of meeting in
there and our origin blessing is right there in the print there
for you. You know, symbols matter a lot
in some ways, don't they? And graduation is one of those
moments that symbolizes a lot. And so today, I want to speak to
the graduates, but I hope the rest of you will also listen,
we're beginning a new series and Luke Chapter 5 called in view,
of God's mercy. So, I invite you to open your
Bible to Luke Chapter 5 and follow along as As I read a text
that really may seem familiar to many of you but to others of
you, it might be new and it might sound impossible.
What happened in that moment and so I hope you will let that
sense of wonder and awe that came for the disciples.
And that moment also arrived in your own life.
From Luke Chapter 5, beginning in verse 1.
One day as Jesus was standing by the lake of ganesa turret, the
people were crowding around him and listening to the word of
God. He saw at the water's edge to
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 the shore. Then he sat down and taught the
people from the boat. 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 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 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 fish for people. So, they pulled their boats up
on shore left, everything and followed him.
Don't fear from now on you will be catching people.
It's quite a fascinating little phrase that Jesus used their
don't fear. Don't Be Afraid from now on.
You will be catching people. This is actually a phrase that
is filled with the mercy of God. You might not see it yet but I
hope as we move through this text, you will see it and that
you will begin to process what Paul says in view of God's
mercy. Offer your bodies as a Living
Sacrifice. This is your reasonable act of
worship. and so to the graduates who have been part of origin in
this time, I'd like to say live your life in view of God's
mercy. Live your life in view of God's
mercy. I'd also like to say stay with
us a while. We like you, we'd love for you
to stay. If you can't move into the UBC
Community, move into the Oakridge.
Langara Community live among us, help us be a part of the
continuing Mission, but that's because I'm a little bit
selfish. But wherever the Lord's takes
you, live your life in view of God's mercy?
Can you imagine the moment in the future or maybe it's what
you're living in. Now, where you've been at work,
you are in the market place and things aren't going well.
None of your experiments are working the kids.
You are teaching aren't listening.
It's one of those days. The markets have crashed and
your portfolio has lost a lot of money.
Wherever you've tried to go in that day, there's been a lot of
traffic and you're like, I hate traffic.
And then you think but I'm part of traffic.
Do you know for Peter James and John?
They were in the marketplace, they were in the workplace, they
had worked all night and it had been unsuccessful.
There were no fish in the morning for the people who were
lined up at the shore at the fish market.
No fish. No one was in a hurry that
morning. And Jesus shows up.
And Jesus begins to teach the people and the crowd gathers in
and he asked Simon, would you let me sit in your boat and
teach. So they pushed out a little from
the water and Jesus addressed that crowd, that was there.
How would you feel at your workplace if Jesus showed up on
your most unsuccessful day? Peter had already had a run-in
with Jesus. It had been a miraculous moment.
His mother-in-law was quite sick, and Jesus prayed for her
and the fever Departed. So he knew what Jesus could do.
And In This Moment, Jesus presses in it's an act of Mercy.
Jesus presses in with Peter and says, push out to the Deep,
let's catch some fish. What does a carpenter know about
fishing? What does the rabbi know about
the waters and the fish and the depths Peter objects and says,
listen, we've been fishing all night long. but because you
asked, What you're at? He concedes.
But before we talk more about Peter, let's talk about Jesus.
And the fact that Jesus can see what is happening in the depths.
Jesus can see what is happening in the depths of the water.
And Jesus can see what is happening in the depths of
Peter. And Jesus is crafting a
situation. He is providing the most Divine
leadership at this moment, as he's crafting, this situation to
get at something in the depth of Peter, the depths of Peters own
conviction about God, his own conviction about himself, his
own convictions about the stuff of Earth and his own convictions
about people Jesus sees the depths Of you and of me, could
he not in his sovereignty as the resurrected Lord, craft the
situations of Our Lives? In order to get at something, in
the depths of us. He can do it.
He sees you, he knows you, he calls you by name.
This, one, who died on the cross died for you.
This one who was buried in the tomb was buried for you.
This one who was raised from the dead was raised for you. so, in
view of his Mercy, Will you open the depths to him even more?
Proverbs 20 says the purposes of a person's heart are deep
Waters, but the one who has Insight draws them out does not
Jesus have the greatest Insight. Is he not the smartest human
there ever has been He has the intelligence of Heaven.
He sees deep into you and me. And Jesus is after something.
He's after us. The second thing that I hope you
will realize as a graduate is that Jesus does indeed allow for
the crisis of his holy presence. He allows the crisis of this
knowledge to be generated, in us a crisis about who are we and
who is he Peter's, concession. Let's go for the Deep.
Okay, because you say so I will do.
It was a yes, but a reluctant one.
Do you know God always uses our yeses?
Even our reluctant yeses? Peter throughout the Nets.
His Partners throughout the Nets.
And as they begin to draw that net, they were drawing in the
largest catch. Perhaps they had ever seen.
They're pulling it up into the boat.
The boat begins to sink their signaling for help come come
come and the water sloshing in over the side as the can you
imagine the wildness of the scene?
All of those fish going to he must have been incredibly
exciting in that moment and then something is happening in Peter.
Something from the depths of him has this, aha Epiphany moment,
where he realizes something about Jesus, and he calls him
Lord for the first time. Go away from me, Lord.
I am a sinful man. Lord.
He has a realization about who Jesus is.
He's catching a glimpse of the glory and majesty and power of
Jesus. That this Carpenter sees the
depths This carpenter has in his hands, the command of the
creator. It's a crisis for Peter.
It was a crisis, in some ways for Moses when he saw that
burning bush. And from the bush, God spoke and
says, Moses take off your shoes. This is Holy Ground.
It was a crisis for Isaiah. When he stood in the temple,
grieving the fact that the king had died and Israel, he could
see the brakes and Quakes coming in the country and he there in
the temple. Sees the glory and Majesty of
God and he says, woe is me. I am undone.
I'm coming apart because I'm a man of unclean lips and I come
from a people of unclean lips. Oops.
The vision of God's holiness was unraveling him.
And he couldn't hold it all together.
And so Peter has this sense of the greatness and Holiness of
Jesus and he says go away. Go away Lord.
I'm a sinful man. He sinks to his knees and a
sinking ship was there something more important in that moment.
Like getting the water out of the boat.
No, there was nothing more important in that moment than
settling himself with Jesus. Nothing was more important.
Than settling himself with Jesus in that moment.
His little, Yes, to Jesus. Now opened up the depth of his
own life. And he says, I'm a sinful, man.
Peter threw himself into that Collective group called Tax
Collectors, prostitutes, and sinners.
He just lumped himself in I'm a sinner.
I'm not wholly with that confession.
He was saying, I'm not what you are.
But there was something else mixed in in that moment, a sense
of Shame for he says go away. I don't know what he thought.
Jesus was going to do. He didn't know it yet, but Jesus
could walk on water. Jesus could have turned and
said, okay, I'm out of here and he could have gotten off the
boat and had a walk. I wonder why ft shame creates
that kind of pushing away. When we want to push Jesus away,
when were shamed. When we feel shame, when we
realize the truth about ourselves, when were filled with
some sense of regret for what we've done, we want to push
Jesus away and so it's sort of surprising.
When we, perhaps have pushed the church away, we've pushed the
worship songs away, we put the scripture away, and then Jesus
shows up at work. He can do that, you know?
He can show up on your worst day.
And invite you in. And there's the shame.
I'm unworthy, I'm not good enough for this.
Go away, Lord. Do you know this is a grace
mercy moment. But most of us grow up.
With an immense fear of being judged and critiqued, we grow up
with an immense fear of sticks and stones and words that might
break our bones and break our hearts.
And so we fortified ourselves with a theme song.
You shoot me down but I won't fall.
I am titanium. It's our theme song.
It's your generations theme song, you shout it loud but I
can't hear a word. You say, I'm talking loud, not
saying much, I'm criticized but all your bullets.
Ricochet, you shoot me down but I get up.
You shoot me down but I won't fall.
I am titanium. you carry that view in relationship to each
other and the world in light of the fact that sometimes we fail
in light of the fact that sometimes we are unsuccessful
and lie to the fact that we are, critiqued criticized and judged
and then comes Jesus and we confuse Jesus with Society I am
titanium. And so we pretend to have no
shame. We eliminate the law and word of
God and say, well, it doesn't really matter.
It's just words in a book. And if we bring the, I am
titanium. We will do what we're warned of
in Hebrews chapter 2, and that is we will miss the grace of
God. We will miss the mercy of God
available to us. And Hebrews 2, the writer says
we must pay the most careful, attention to what we have heard.
So that we do not Drift Away. How shall we escape?
If we ignore. So great.
A Salvation, this little phrase, so drift away is very difficult
in English to translate it might actually be better as if we said
it drifted past us. How shall we escape?
If we ignore such Grace it's going to drift past us.
Imagine you're standing at the waters and you're watching a red
maple leaf. Come down the stream.
It's just drifting away in a moment.
You could have reached and grabbed it, but you hesitated.
And then It's God. It went.
If you carry the I am titanium, view into your relationship with
God. You miss the moment.
And so for Peter, he set aside the I'm a tough and seasoned
fisherman he said it aside. And in that moment he truly
entered into a relationship with Jesus.
Oh Jesus from his gut. He's praying.
Go away from me, Lord. I'm a simple man.
And it's that confession that then opened up all the grace of
God. It's that confession that mercy
of grace that brought him to that confession.
That turned him ultimately into the leader, who establishes the
church. It's fitting.
That Peter responds first with great conviction of heart.
And the confession about who he is.
Do you know there's a third thing that happens here.
Jesus signals his Mercy Mission. This miraculous catch of fish is
a holy disturbance but what happens next is a prophetic
announcement. Jesus says Don't Be Afraid.
Peter, don't be afraid. From now on you will be catching
people alive. From now on you will be catching
people alive. This little phrase that we tend
to say, you're going to catch people, you'll be fishing for
people is actually this phrase. You're going to be catching
people alive. This was a term of warfare.
It's a Warfare term for a conquering King who enters a
city and takes people alive. And he takes these captives and
carries them into a parade. And in that parade, he brings
them to humiliate them in front of his own people and say, look
who I have conquered. And in that parade of
humiliation, some will be tortured.
Some will be beaten Some will be enslaved and some will be
killed. But look at Jesus, look at
Jesus. He's using the phrase of a
conquering Tyrant Empire to give a phrase to the kingdom of God.
In chapter 4 right before this event, Jesus is in a town, and
it's been praying and the people of come looking for him and
they're like, where are you? You need to be with us and he
says, look, I've got to go, I've got to go, I've been sent and I
must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom.
What's the good news of the Kingdom?
God is taking captives. And in his Mercy, they will live
in his Mercy. They will be lifted up and
restored in his Mercy. They will be set free from the
death that has inhabited them and corrupted them.
They will be mercied. And so this prophetic
announcement to Peter. Don't worry, you're going to be
catching. People alive is actually a word
of Mercy. We're going to bring them into
the kingdom of God. It's gonna be so different.
And you're going to be a part of it.
What's Peter to do? Is it going to say?
Yes, he's already said, yes. Once He's already said yes,
wants to Jesus, he put out into the deep.
And throughout the Nets, that was the first invitation from
Jesus. Put out into the deep.
Okay. Lord because you say, so let's
go. And he says, yes, do you know
what they wrote To The Shore? They put their oars in, they
pull their Nets up and it says they left with Jesus and
followed him. What a moment.
Peter was captivated. He was captured.
By Jesus Mercy. What does it mean for you as a
graduate to live in that Mercy? Would you let Jesus Take You
Alive? It's the only kind of prisoner
he wants. The prisoner of Grace captivated
by his Mercy, delighting in the Majesty of Jesus.
He can make holy disturbances in your workplace.
He can meet you on your most difficult day if you will.
Also let your life be aligned with the mission of his kingdom.
He will draw you into a life and way of holiness.
That far exceeds what you can imagine.
This week. George ver were died.
George Weber was the founder of operation mobilization.
It's become one of he was born in 1938.
He said yes to the Lord when he was 18, Before that he was known
as a bit of a Rowdy kid. But he said yes to Jesus.
In his first year of school, he got this idea about missions and
he said to his roommate. Are you ready to go?
Let's go. Are you ready?
His friends, like, it doesn't work like that.
He said, yes it does. And they went and filled their
car with Bibles and carried them down to Mexico.
Gave them away. That became the pattern of his
life just saying yes to Jesus. And going, finally, he realized
at one point that he wasn't his own words, a very good
missionary. He says, I made so many blunders
and mistakes and messes. In fact, later in his life,
2016. So very recently he said, I've
made so many messes that I've just made a book called messy
ology, just calling and making messes.
He says, we don't need to make messes, but we do sometimes.
In just saying yes to Jesus. Are you ready?
He says of his testimony of Jesus, he says, I found that
Jesus could use me not by crushing my temperament or
showing me to be a wretch that I was.
But instead by offering me love and working through me by the
Holy Spirit, Last week in his last Blog video blog, he says
that what he hoped he would be known for most was a Revolution
of Love. Revolution of Love.
Jesus, has he captured you alive?
Can you say of it with? Gratefulness.
He took me alive. In fact, really, I was
spiritually dead. But he took me alive and he made
me more alive than I ever thought possible.
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for this Mercy that you've given to us.
Would you help us inter truly into this spiritual warfare?
Those spiritual warfare of Jesus.
A conquering King over death over Satan over.
All the powers that are arrayed against the knowledge of him.
Our apathy our shame, our guilt, our fear, our love of comfort.
And would you Lord Jesus do a work again today?
Of Mercy. Lord, we surrender our titanium
vests today. We just set them down.
We set them aside. We invite your spirit to come
and show us who you are and Who We Are.
And whatever word you give to us.
Grant us, the courage to say, yes.
It's stand in our ship together.