Matthew 7

The Call

Leading up to this point in scripture we have really seen Jesus preparing for His ministry. While He has done public appearances and had a few lessons we could learn from already, He has not yet started preaching and healing people like we see through the Gospels. Today will be the official kickoff of His ministry in Matthew.

Let me sum up verses twelve thorough seventeen for you to see what sparks the beginning of His teaching. We are told in verse twelve that Jesus heard of Johns arrest. John the Baptist who was Jesus’ cousin and close friend had been arrested for calling out some nobility on their immorality and calling for their repentance. Once he had been arrested Jesus went to a place called Capernaum which was in a territory that Isaiah had prophecied that a light would one day come to and now Jesus is beginning his teaching ministry here.

The Call of Jesus

From the beginning of His teaching ministry we see what I will refer to as the call of Jesus. Jesus has a calling to all of us. I want to look at that call and see if we can identify the initial steps of the call, how do we accept the call, and what steps do we take after accepting the call. First, let’s look at the initial calling on our lives.

Repent

Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

Jesus begins preaching the same message that John had been preaching before. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. His initial calling to us is that of repentance. Before anything else can happen in our lives we have to come to a place of repentance. True genuine repentance where we accept that we are sinners and failures and that we cannot do it on our own. We must make that commitment to strive to cut the sin from our lives and rid it from our thoughts and actions.

Jesus’ initial call is not complex, it is not a long list of to do’s, but instead is a simple message of repentance so that you can get the opportunity to recieve the rest of the call.

Follow Him

We see the next step of Jesus’ call to us starting in verse 18.

Matthew 4:18–22 “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

On first reading this it sounds like Jesus just walked up to some random people and said follow me and they said sure why not. That makes no sense. As I have said before God is logical. All His ways have logic and reason behind them even if we cannot see it clearly. Here though, there is some logic behind it when we look in comparison to the other Gospels and historical records. This was not the first time these four men had encountered Jesus. We actually know that Andrew was introduced to Jesus by John previously and he then brought his brother Simon to meet him. Since John has been arrested at this point and we know that John dies in that prison, we can know that this was not their first time meeting Him.

Likely they had been attending some of Jesus’ messages in town and had followed Him on occasion but were not true commited followers to Him. Our churches today are filled with people just like this. They come on Sunday morning and Wednesday night and seem to want to follow Christ then, but out in the world they go right back to what they are doing and forget the messages of Christ.

What Jesus is doing here is He is offering something more to these men. He is offering a calling that every believer has recieved and accepted. A calling to base your life on Christ. Everything they do from this point on Jesus is calling them to do it for Him. Will they always do it perfectly? No, we will see their many mistakes as we go through the Gospel, but they are making an effort.

That is why repentance alone is not enough for salvation. Repentance is still relying on yourself to not make any mistakes. You can never atone for your mistakes you’ve made any more than you can stop yourself from making another mistake. So, their is a need for a specific calling on your life from Christ to follow Him. To base your life around Him and trust in Him.

There is more that we can learn from this call though by looking at the way these four guys were called. I want to look at James and John first. When they were called they were working with their father helping him to mend nets. When Jesus called them does it say that they finished helping their dad then they got up and left? No, it says immediatley they followed Him. Following Christ is the top priority in our life. Not even our family our ranks the call on our life. We so often put anything else above the call that He has given us. We are filled with excuses as to why we can’t accept His call. We are to busy right now maybe later is what we think. Well Jesus is not going to wait forever. There will come a time for all of us that it is too late to answer the call on your life. You do not have tomorrow promised to you so if He is calling today then answer Him.

The second thing is the promise He makes to Andrew and Simon. He tells them if they follow Him then He will make them fishers of men. What does that mean?

Go Fish

Well, that is the next step of the call. Once we have accepted the call we are assigned a job, to fish. All of us who are now believers are being made into fishers of men. By this Jesus means that in following Him you will be called to tell others of the call. To spread the call of Christ everywhere you go casting your nets and seeing who we can bring into the family of Christ.

So, how do we do that? How can we be a fisher of men? Do we just stand on the street corner preaching? Do we force it into every conversation that we have? Though I agree that their is a place for such intentional evangelism meaning that we are actively seeking ways to slip Christ into conversations I do not think that it is the method that Christ teaches here not do I think it is the most effective way at bringing others into the kingdom.

Let’s look at verses 23-25 to see how Christ fishes for men.

Matthew 4:23–25 “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.”

How did Christ fish for men? He met them where they were and He met their needs. Jesus went out to teach and preach, but it was not just the message of repentance that He delivered. No, Jesus went out and began healing those in need and casting out demons. Jesus met the needs of the people so that He could build a relationship with them. He realized that based solely on the message of repentance very few would come to know Him. Instead we see quite often in Jesus’ ministry He befriends the sinners and builds a relationship with them before preaching repentance.

What about us though? I don’t know about you guys but I’ve never healed a blind man or cast out a demon. So, how can we be fishers of men in this same way? Well, I’ve never healed the blind, but I have mowed peoples yards before, I have brought food to people in need, I have donated money to people. I have never worked a miracle, but I have met needs. It does not take a miracle to meet every need. No, we cannot fish in the same way that Jesus fished. We cannot call on others the same way Jesus called on us and we cannot live the same way Jesus lived, but He gives us an example with the understanding that we will do the best we can to repeat it. So, while we may be unable to heal every affliction we can meet the needs of people who are around us.

We have at this church a service program called IServe. The whole idea of it is to do just that. To go out into our community and find those who are in need and show them the love of Jesus Christ with a hope that they will answer the call of Christ. If you have never participated with us before in one of those events then I encourage you to do so next time we have one so you can help us fish.

Events are not the only time we fish for Christ though. You should be fishing every single day. When you go to school or work or just going through your life you should be looking for opportunities to start fishing for someone. Look for needs that you can meet or relationships that you can build. In my experience people who have their needs met by a Christian or have a Christian build a relationship with them typically are more receptive to the Gospel, more likely to follow Christ, and more likely to stay committed to following Him after answering the call.

So ready your boats and cast out your nets. Fish in your group of friends, fish in your family, and fish where you work or go to school. Look for water that is ready to be fished by that I mean look for the needs of others. Don’t become self absourbed in your own world and ignore those around you. Pay attention and see when people are struggling and see where you can help. Cast your nets by building a relationship with a person either by meeting a need or just becoming a friend. And finally pull them in by offering the call to repentance and the call to follow Christ that you recieved also.