Gone Fishin

Mark 1:16–20(ESV)

16Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

18And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

19And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.

20And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

THE PARABLE OF THE LIFE SAVING STATION

“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station.

The building was just a hut and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost.

Many lives were saved by this wonderful lifesaving station so it became famous.

Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and their money and their effort for the support of its work.

New boats were bought and new lifesaving crews were trained and the little lifesaving station grew.

I think this is what the Church is suppose to be. We are a life giving station!

It’s interesting to see who God chooses to join in in this life giving station.

Fishing for people takes the right timing v16-18

Our text says that Jesus saw Simon, Andrew, James and John. This wasn’t the first time he met this group of men. He had developed a relationship with them. He knew them and they knew Him.

They were common men. They didn’t have a license or ordination status. They are ordinary people who were created by an extraordinary God. Just think about the qualities of Fisher-man. That might help us understand why God choose them. Fisherman have patience, endurance, and have a method to their madness and a technique to how they catch fish.

We have to understand when we try to reach people with the Gospel it has to be in God’s timing not ours.

In God’s strength and not our own. With God’s words not our own.

First of all, Fishing for people takes the right timing. Just like when we fish for fish.

It takes patience. It takes diligence. It takes waiting for them to bite on what we are offering.

We need to Catch them before we try to clean them. It’s nearly impossible to clean a fish before we catch them and have a firm grip on them.

We might cast our line or net and have them in our reach but at that point they can always get a way if we try to clean them up.

Jesus gives an invitation to these first disciples. He said “Come Follow me” and “I will make you become Fishers of men”.

This is a call to discipleship. We have a call to this too. To be disciples of Jesus and also to go out and make Disciples.

What is a Disciple?

We might ask what is a disciple? A Disciple is a student, it’s a learner, it an apprentice.

It’s someone who give their entire being and lives to their teacher.

It’s giving up all our desires, wants, agenda and will for them. In essence to be a Disciple of Jesus is learning to die well.

Jesus says “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple”

Those are harsh words with a harsh reality. Some that people may be offended with.

But, when Jesus says hate he doesn’t mean hate as we think of it today. He is basically saying when people look at your relationship with your spouse or children or sibling it better look like hate compared to your relationship with me.

There better be a seperation there or you cannot be my disciple because your relationship with them interferes with your relationship with me.

I remember shortly after I got saved and how my family reacted.

They didn’t understand it. They didn’t know what was happening to me. They probally just thought it was a phase i was going through after my dads death.

I remember one evening when I was in my basement, where my room was and just minding my own business and reading the bible. My brother comes down and tells me im wasting my life with this religious stuff. I ignore him and just keep on reading.

Before I know it he grabs my bible out of my hand and spits in it, then throws it across the room.

I share that because, maybe some of you have family or friends that just don’t understand you and your faith.

stand strong my friends, because it’s so worth it!

You may feel not up to the task of being a witness for Christ and you may have that desire to see people to come and know Him because of all he’s done for you in your life.

This is what we need to remember if Jesus can take these unprepared, unlearned fisherman to shake the gates of hell than he can use you!

Fishing for people takes the right spot v16;19

That brings me to my next point. That Fishing for people takes the right spot.

It said that Jesus was passing along the Sea of Galilee when he called Simon and Andrew and then went a little further as he called James and John.

It doesn’t say that they were in a temple or Church building. It doesn’t say that they came to Jesus but, Jesus came to them.

This was unheard of in that day. Usually people seeked out the rabbi teacher but here we have Jesus seeking out and coming for the students.

Jesus said come and follow me.

We need to be able to discern and listen to the voice of God and hear where he may be leading us to go because we may not always know. But, God does.

we may not be catching any fish because we are looking in the wrong spot. That’s why we need to listen to God.

John 21:5–6

5Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”

6He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

Where is our fishing spot to find people who need to be hooked with the Gospel? Where is your mission field?

Our mission field can be our own homes, the places where we work, the local food pantry.

When we fish for people though we need to find the right spot.

Sometimes that means moving on from people who aren’t responding and going to people and spaces where people are more open and receptive to the Gospel.

Fishing for people takes that right sacrifices v18,20

Now it would be easy to say here that we need the right bait to catch people.

When we think of fishing today we think of the bait that we put on the end of a rod.

Some of it is real worms and other times artificial bait that isn’t the real thing.

But to say to be fishers of men by using the right bait would be biblically inaccurate.

Because the way of fishing rods and lines isn’t how people fished in biblical days.

It’s important not to interpret the bible according to culture and find what the author’s original meaning and intent is for us today.

In biblical times they would use a net to fish and even hunt with. Nets were used to catch the prey by their feet.

Nets also represented God’s judgment upon those who disobeyed God.

So we can take this Sunday School story of being fishers of people and tie a bow on it, make it all lovey dovy.

But we cannot forget one of the most important aspects of the Gospel.

Many times Jesus called people to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

We see many of the first followers of Jesus, especially in the book of Acts calling people to repentance and announcing God’s judgment on them if they didn’t.

Now these disciples had to of known what they were getting themselves into by following Jesus.

They left their families, job and everything else they knew because they counted it all worth sacrificing to follow Christ. But do we?

When was the last time we unashamingly took a stand for the gospel?

Would we leave our families to follow Christ?

Would we leave our friends to follow Christ?

Would we leave our farms to follow Christ?

APPLICATION

Sometimes I think we suffer from Spiritual A.D.D Attention deficit disorder.

we can become distracted from keeping the the main thing the main thing.

Who is God leading you to Share Jesus with? A family member, a co-worker, a friend?

Are we using excuses not to? Such as I am afraid of being rejected. I don’t know enough or I am afraid of what others would think?

Sometimes we just don’t know where to begin. Here are some conversation starters...

Do you have any kind of Spiritual beliefs?

What has God done in your life lately?

To you who is Jesus Christ?

Do you believe in Heaven or Hell?