They Left Their Nets

Matthew 4:18-22

Habakkuk 1:14-17

A Sermon Prepared for the Hollywood Presbyterian Church

Rev. Stephen A. Herring

January 23, 2011

In the first chapter of the Book of Habakkuk the prophet voices the following lament about the unrighteous man.  “You, O LORD make people like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.  The unrighteous man brings them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults.  Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to it.  For by his net his portion is fat and his food is rich.  Is he then to keep on emptying his net, and mercilessly slaying nations for ever?”  (Habakkuk 1:14-17)  This text speaks to an ancient Jewish concept known as “the nets of falsehood.”  The Jews of the ancient world believed that they held the truth of Almighty God by virtue of their obedience to scripture and to the laws of conduct scripture contained.  They held this truth, but they were constantly being over run by the forces of larger and more powerful nations.  First the Kingdom split against itself, between north and south.  Then the Babylonians came to conquer and to destroy.  Then the Greeks came.  Next it was the Romans.  Each nation that over ran the holy land brought layers of falsehood and false teachings that would distract the people.  The only power that could ever set things right would be a Messiah sent by God.  As they waited for the Messiah they would need to watch out that they would not be led astray by the nets of falsehood. 

Today we also need to be careful of the nets of falsehood.  Nets of falsehood lead us astray into false teaching, conflict, and confusion.  The nets of falsehood are composed of all the interconnected lies which compose the fabric of our daily lives.  We become entangled within these nets and we gradually loose our freedom as these nets seem to surround us at every turn.  To see these nets all we need to do is to look around ourselves at all the people we believe are wrong headed.  Look at all the people who just got it wrong.  Look at all the people whose ideas of truth and goodness are completely different from ours.  Look at the people whose beliefs do not agree with ours.  The conflicts generated by all these opposing beliefs strengthen the nets of falsehood around us.  The more we want “them” to think differently, the more “they” hold on to their wrong headed ideas.  The nets of falsehood are strong and they seem to be growing stronger.  As more people ascribe to various false beliefs, the nets of falsehood grow larger and stronger.  As more people get led astray, they seem to lead increasing numbers of people astray.  We are tempted to believe that those who control the nets of falsehood are winning the battle.  We wish to battle falsehood and false beliefs, so we strengthen our own nets and we pull even harder on our nets trying to convince people to think as we think.  The problem is that as we do this, those we disagree with do the same thing.  Pretty soon we are all tangled up with them in irresolvable nets of falsehood and conflict. 

We can see the nets of falsehood when we look at an average day in the life of the average guy or the average girl.  The average guy or the average girl may often have a day when they disagree fundamentally with their kids about something really important.  Likewise, husbands and wives may disagree about some crucial element of life, or some essential decision.  So we start our morning disagreeing with our spouses and with our kids about this and that.  We go to work and the boss wants us to do one thing while the customer wants something else while we know that they both got it wrong.  Neither of them knows what is best.  We turn on the radio and hear falsehood proclaimed as truth.  We turn on the TV and hear falsehood proclaimed as truth.  We go to lunch with our good friends and we find that we do not agree with the way we are looking at the world.  At the end of the day we go back home so we can disagree with our spouses and our kids.  In the end we have a disagreement with the dog just to put the icing on the cake. 

The best way to understand the nets of falsehood is to understand that each of us has gotten as far as we have in this life by constructing systems of value and belief.  We have our own personal ways of doing things and looking at things.  We knit and knot interlocking structures out of the beliefs and ideas that work for us in making decisions.  In a way, this is our personal net.  We use it to go fishing each day.  For a time, most of us are successful working this way.  If our net gets torn we repair it.  If our net works well we get a good catch and we are successful.  If our net does not work well, it comes up empty.  Either way, our net is our net, and we love that net.  It is the best net because it is our net.  If we are not careful we do just what the unrighteous man did in Habakkuk.  We like our own net so much we end up sacrificing to it.  If someone suggests that we change something about it we get upset with them.  If someone brings their net over the top of our net, we get all tangled up with each other and we might just pull and struggle so hard that both our nets get all torn up.  So how often have we been in those struggles with our spouses or with our kids or with our bosses and found ourselves with only half a net?  So we struggle through these lives, always a little tangled up in nets of falsehood. 

Today as we face the ongoing struggle between truth and falsehood I am going to suggest that we set down our nets and walk away from them.  This is the solution Christ Jesus offers.  Just like the fishermen, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, we need to leave our nets as they left their nets.  We may not know the answers to life’s paradoxical mysteries, but Jesus does.  We may not understand the mystery of how things came to be the way they are, but Jesus does.  We may not understand how people with opposing views can be equally loved and accepted by God, but Jesus does.  We may not understand how people can do everything wrong and still get by, but Jesus does understand. 

If we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, he encourages us to leave our nets behind and follow him.  He encourages us to trust him beyond the systems and institutions we would otherwise depend on.  He calls us to stop trying to figure out our way through this mess and to trust him to lead us.  I find that the Apostle Paul puts it well in this text from First Corinthians. 

”Where is the wise man?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.  …. We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles, but to those who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”   (First Corinthians 1:20-25) 

In conclusion, perhaps we do not need to pull and struggle against the net cords of all the falsehood in our lives.  We can literally quit the struggle.  We can walk away from it all in Jesus Christ.  Perhaps we can depend less on the answers we would figure out for ourselves, and trust a little more in the guidance of Jesus Christ.  If you feel all tangled up today in uncertainty and conflict, lacking the answers to the big questions, it is time to renew your trust in the Lord Jesus.  If you feel burned out by arguing with people who are just doing it the wrong way, perhaps you need to set that torn net aside and follow another path.  Set down those nets.  Ask Jesus to lead you in a new direction.  Ask Jesus to fill your heart with a new purpose.  Trust Jesus to show you how to minister to that person who is doing everything wrong.  Trust Jesus to show you how to love them in spite of their own attachment to their own nets of falsehood. 

When you meet Jesus by the sea shore he will show you how to cast a different sort of net in a different direction.  He will show you how to fill your nets with a new kind fish and a new kind of blessing.  He will show you how to fill your new nets with love and with the abundance of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.