Come Ye After Me, and I Will Make You To Become Fishers of Men Mark 1:17

Introduction

Pastor preached from this passage just a few weeks ago and ever since then, i just cannot get this one verse out of my head. God has been using it to minister to my heart ever since and I’ve made it my personal theme verse for this year

2024 is going to be a big year for me personally. We are moving in March, Im becoming a dad in April, and there are going to be a lot of other changes that happen this year. And if im being honest, change is exciting, but it is also frightening. Especially when you get into things youve never experienced, like fatherhood. But as I was praying about a word or a verse or a theme for myself for this coming year, God answered that prayer by fixing my attention over the last couple of weeks to this one simple verse. Mark 1:17 “1 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”

Jesus had just started his Earthly ministry and had come into Galilee. When he walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon Peter and his brother Andrew out fishing. They were just minding their own business doing what they always did… fish. But Jesus had some greater things in mind for these men and with that was going to come a lot of change in their lives. These men did not know everything that was going to happen to them, but they decided to take Christ up on the invitation and follow Him.

I want to simply take the time to look at this one verse and break it down and look at how things unfolded in the lives of these disciples afterwards and hopefully it will be as much of a blessing to you as it has been for me over these last several weeks.

I. The Invitation to Follow Him “Come Ye After Me”

We know from John 1:35-41 that this was not the first time they had met Christ and therefore wasnt the call to salvation. They believed on Christ then, but here Jesus was calling them to become His disciples

A. Who is He calling?

Simon Peter and Andrew. 2 lowly fisherman. Just a couple of blue collar workers in the middle of their workday. They were not well known in Israel. They had no fame, no fortune, and probably very little influence on their community, yet Jesus wanted these 2 guys to become His disciples. His followers.

Jesus is calling you and I to do the same. We don’t have to be a “somebody” for Christ to have you as His disciple. As a matter of fact, God’s favorite kind of person to use for His glory are the nobodies.

You don’t even need to know how to be a disciple, all you have to do is “come after” Him and He will show you HOW to be a disciple.

Who is He calling to be His disciple? YOU and ME

B. What is He calling us to do?

He simply told Simon Peter and Andrew to “Come ye after me”. In other words “Just follow me”. You go where I go, you do what I do, you say what I say. You stay right here with me and wherever I go.

He says “Come ye AFTER ME”. This implies that Jesus must go first in order for us to go AFTER Him.

We cannot go ahead of Him, because we don’t know what lies ahead. We cannot lag behind Him, because then we can drift off and go the wrong way. We have to stay close behind Him as He leads the way.

ILLUSTRATION: Getting the kids to follow us for AWANA, Good News Club, and VBS

So what is He calling You and I to do? Just simply follow Jesus. Let Him take the lead and you just go where He goes, you do what He does, you say what He says.

II. The Process of Becoming Like Him “And I will make you to become”

There was a cause and effect to this invitation that the Lord gave these men. Jesus said “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men”

Jesus did not say He would give them something, but that He would make them into something.

A. I will make you

Jesus is the One Who is doing the work here. Jesus is not putting the pressure on these men to make themselves into something. Their only responsibility was to follow Him and HE would do the work of making them into something.

This is good news for you and I. We don’t have to fall under the weight of trying to make something of ourselves. He’s doing the work, we’re just following His lead.

This makes sense because these men didn’t have the ability to make something of themselves, once again they were simple fishermen. They didnt have great financial means, they didnt hold positions of power, they werent highly educated. All they had to do was just follow Jesus and He would make them into what they needed to be (John 15:5 “for without me ye can do nothing.” )

The Greek word for “make” means to “make ready for, or prepare”. Jesus had big plans for each of His disciples, but at that moment in time, they werent ready for everything God was going to do through them. But that was ok, they didnt need to be. Because the Lord Jesus was going to “prepare” them for the task ahead.

In just a few short months, I am going to be a father for the first time. That’s a daunting task! I have no idea how to be a father to son because i’ve never done it before. In the last several months I have been trying to prepare myself for the task of being a dad. Ive read some good books on it, Ive gotten some advice from men I trust who have the experience. But I began praying that God would help me to be the best godly father that I can possibly be for my child.

My personal theme this year is to be a stronger husband, father, and spiritual leader. Then pastor preached from this passage on the first wednesday night of the year and it was as if God Himself spoke to me and said “there’s your answer”. It is a good thing for me to want to be a stronger husband, father, and spiritual leader, but how do you do that Zack??? You follow ME and Ill make you into those things!

That took a huge weight off my shoulders when I realized that all the preparation i was doing was good, but at the end of the day, if i just follow Him. He will make me into all those things I need to be!!!

The same is true for every person here tonight, whatever lies ahead for you this year or in the coming years, if you just simply follow Him, He will make you into everything you need to be

B. To Become

the phrase “to become” denotes a process. They werent going to be made into everything they needed to be overnight, no it was going to be 3 1/2 years of following Jesus physically and many more years after His ascension for them to become everything God wanted them to be.

Lets look at some things Simon Peter and Andrew learned in their time following Jesus

They learned that Jesus had power over demons (Mark 1:21-28)

Peter learned Jesus could heal his own Mother in Law (Mark 1:29-31)

They learned how to pray (Mark 1:35-36)

They learned how to preach (Mark 1:37-39)

They learned of Jesus’ power to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12)

They learned how to treat people with love and compassion (Mark 2:13-17)

They learned the true purpose of the law and the commandments (Mark 2:23-28)

They learned how to commune with Him (Mark 3:14)

They learned how to trust Him (Mark 4:35-41)

They learned how to go out by faith and preach the gospel (Mark 6:7-13)

They learned how to rest/refresh themselves in Him (Mark 6:30-31)

They learned how to minister to people and that ministry is hard work (Mark 6:35-44)

They saw Jesus in all His glory (Mark 9:1-13)

They learned what it truly meant to be the greatest in the kingdom of God (Mark 9:33-37)

No wonder Peter could truly say “thou art the Christ” in Mark 8!!!

Peter and the other apostles would have never learned these things and couldve never become the things they needed to be if they had never decided to “Come after” Jesus.

The Lord showed me that not only will He make me into everything i need to be… but also that He wont do it overnight, It’ll be a process.

This also shows us the need to CONTINUE to follow Jesus. The process of Jesus making us into what we need to be is never ending. It continues until we become just as He is in glory. So therefore, if the process never ends, the “coming after” never ends either! (Philippians 1:6 “ Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” )

III. The Result of Becoming Like Him “fishers of men”

So what did these men need to become? What was the Lord trying to make them into? Fishers of men

These men wouldve understood exactly what Jesus was talking about here. They were experts at catching fish, Jesus was an expert at catching men.

They observed Jesus being this “fisher of men” for 3 1/2 years and by following Him wherever He went, by doing the things He asked them to do, by saying the things He asked them to say, they learned how to be just like Him.

Jesus didnt want them to become fishers of men simply because it would generate more followers for Himself. He wanted them to become fishers of men because that is what Jesus was.

This process of following Him makes us just like Him.

You know that old phrase “you are who you hang out with”? This is being played out here. Jesus is saying “you hang around me enough, youll start to become more like me”

If you stay close enough to Jesus, He’ll rub off on you! You cant help but become more like Him!

These men got sent out and they did many wonderful things for the Lord all because they let the Lord make them into “fishers of men”

Conclusion

What happened when Simon Peter and all the other disciples began to follow after Christ? They became fishers of men. They became like Jesus. They became what God wanted them to become.

Simon Peter went on to preach at Pentecost where thousands were saved. He went on to write some New Testament books. He is one of the men that in Acts 17:6 says “turned the world upside down”. All simply because he made the decision to take up Jesus on His offer to “Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men”

The Lord showed me that if I simply follow Him, He will make me to become everything I need to be. And what do I need to be? More like Jesus

The best husband that my wife can have is one that is just like Jesus

the best father that my son can have is one that is just like Jesus

the best Spiritual leader that this church can have is one that is just like Jesus

I dont know what new things you are going to face this coming year, but I do know this: If you come after Him, He will make you to become everything you need to be in order to face them.

Its ok if you dont know how to be what God wants you to be, you just worry about following Him, and He’ll make you into everything He wants you to be