How Jesus Calls You to Service

Mark 1:16–18 KJV 1900

Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

Mark 1:16-18 (KJV)

16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

Jesus has just announced His arrival as the one who would come after John the Baptist to usher in a new era of relationship with God. John’s ministry was one of preparation, but Jesus’ ministry is one of perseverance. John’s ministry cleared the ground, but Jesus’ ministry laid the foundation. John’s ministry pointed in the right direction, but Jesus’ ministry was the way, the truth, and the life!

Even though Jesus was God in human form, and even though He contained the very nature of God, in order to begin His ministry of drawing all men unto Himself, He needed to be surrounded by men of great passion, power, and purpose.

So where did Jesus go in order to find men of such a quality that their destiny would be forged by teachings of the very Christ? Did He go to Jerusalem, the beautiful city of God, home to David the great king of old? No. He went to Galilee, otherwise and infamously known as Galilee of the gentiles. Galilee was the spiritual and moral wasteland of the Middle East. Galilee was home to the corrupt and the crazy, the selfish and the sinful, the desperate and the depraved, and the wounded and the wild.

Galilee was not a cosmopolitan city, it was not a place of fun filled visits or family vacations. Galilee was the kind of place you went to only because you had no other choice! It was this place that the wise, holy, and immaculate Jesus decided to search for His men of faith and power! This was an unlikely place and an unlikely people, but God often uses the unlikely to accomplish the unforgettable! The bible says in,

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

KJV

Let’s take a look at this text and see how Jesus calls us to His service…

Peculiar People – verse 16, “Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.”

God seems to always use the peculiar to perform the powerful (Noah, Moses, Abraham, Joseph, David, Jonah, Jesus!)

Simon (God has heard)

A devout Jewish Zealot (an activist) who despised roman corruption

An everyday common fisherman

His name to be changed to Peter, but not yet!

Andrew (Manly)

A former disciple of John the Baptist

A low-profile guy

Promising Proposition – verse 17, “And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” 

This proposition is actually a threefold call to a life of purpose.

“Come”, a call to fellowship. Get in His presence!

“Follow me”, a call to discipleship. Learn His ways!

“Fishers of men”, a call to ministry. Do His work!

Pursuable Purpose – verse 18, “And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.”  

Many people have a theoretical purpose, others have a conversational purpose, yet others have a theological purpose, but God actually gives us a pursuable purpose!

This is the kind of purpose that compels us to act in demonstration of our faith and do something!

“At once”. Discerned the urgency of the purpose.

“They left their nets”. Determined to sacrifice for the purpose.

“And followed Him”. Decided to perform the purpose!