Peter the businessman
By Ivan Ho First written 6 July 2016
So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
Luke 5:1-11 NKJV
This, I believe, is a detailed account of how Simon Peter “got saved”, how he responded to the calling of Jesus to follow Him. This same story was described more briefly in other gospels. (Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-18)
Before Peter decided to follow Jesus, he wasn’t a religious man, nor a “churchgoer”. He was in business, one who carried out fishing as a way of living. So how did he turn from being a fisherman to become a disciple of Jesus? Well, he didn’t attend Alpha course, nor did he go to any evangelistic event and respond to the altar call. He was saved right where he was at while doing his daily routine work of fishing. He had a God encounter at his workplace and became one of the most influential apostles of Jesus.
Jesus, while he was ministering to the crowd in a public place, saw two boats and decided to get into one of the boats where Peter was. The Son of God saw something in Peter and decided to get involved in his business and made an awesome impact in his life. While Peter was carrying out business, he had a personal encounter with Jesus that changed his life forever. God is doing the same thing today and shows up in the workplace, in the households, in the schools, in the government, in the universities and so on. I personally encountered Jesus while I was doing my university in Sydney. Before that, I never attended any church nor did I get saved in a church setting.
This is how God conducts His business of establishing His kingdom on earth, not just by ministering in the churches however important that is, but by entering into the places where people are doing life on a daily basis!
To be continued in Peter the businessman pt.2