The Call to be Fishermen:

Introduction:

Good morning everyone, its good to be here this morning, to be able to worship together today. last week we talk about the good Samaritan women. about how Jesus Christ is the living water for us, and because of his words and teaching that we are able to come to God through him, we also talk about how our heart needs to be right before we come to the throne of God, not just, and we talk about how God has standards for his people and how he wants to be worship. today we are going to be looking what it means to be call as Fishers of men. our main passage will come from the gospel of Luke 5.

Calling the of the four Fisherman:

We all know the saying “I will make you fishers of men” Today we are looking at what it means to be fishers of men. we are going to be looking at the history before we break everything down. our main passage comes from the Gospel of Lk 5:1-11.

Luke 5:1–11 NKJV

1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 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. 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 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.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 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. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 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.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

From this passage here we come to understand that Jesus ministry is growing. Jesus just recently move his ministry from Judea to Galilee. now as Jesus begin his ministry we come to understand that Jesus first stage was to invitation to follow him and learn from him. Jesus would call on many who would come and follow for a short time or period, they were not full time disciples, usually these people would eventually go back home to support their household. the second stage to Jesus call to discipleship would be full time discipleship. those who answer this call would travel and live with Jesus. we also come to understand that the number of these disciples would be much smaller compare to the first stage disciples. from our main passage in Lk we come to see that the four fisher men eventually answer the call to become full time disciples of Jesus Christ. Now finally the third stage of discipleship of Jesus Christ would be the chosen twelve disciples the in circle of Jesus disciples. the ones who would be the closes to Jesus Christ. the chosen twelve would get to see things that would change their lives forever. for now lets focus on the first four who are mention in our main passage from Luke. we come to see so much details from the four Gospels within the Bible we see that there are three accounts about the call of the four fishermen. two of them mention of four men while in our main passage only mention three men. also according to Luke Jesus was preaching to a crowd of people before he call the four. many people would assume that Luke account had happen at different time unlike Matthew and Mark accounts which are some what similar to each other. there are reason why some scholars believe that this occasion is similar to the accounts in Matthew and mark. the first reason behind this is because of the location is same as in Matthew and Mark. Lake Gennesaret is another name for Lake of Galilee, which is mention in Mt 4:18; Mk 1:16; Lk 5:1. the second reason behind how this is the same account in Matthew and Mark is that Luke also mention same people. Peter, James, and John which are all mention in Mt 4:18,21; Mk 1:16,19; and Lk 5:3,10. Matthew and Mark also mention a fourth person Andrew, where as Luke does not mention Andrew, but We also understand that Peter had someone in the boat with him, which in is mention in Lk 5:6,7,10. we know that Andrew work with Peter his brother as a fishermen which is mention in Mt 4:18

Matthew 4:18 NKJV

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

we also come to understand the third reason behind how this the same occasion as in Matthew and Mark is that Luke records the same work that each of them are doing which repairing the nets, cleaning which can be seen in these verse here in Mt 4:21; Mk 1:19; and Lk 5:2. the fourth reason to why Luke account is the same has Matthew, and Luke is that all four men are called to the same calling to be fishers of men which is mention Mt 4:19; Mk 1:17; and Lk 5:10

Luke 5:10 NKJV

10 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.”

Just from these verse here we come to understand that Jesus had called them to be disciples. the fifth reason to why Luke account is the same is that is all four fishermen all chose to leave what they were doing, and follow Jesus Christ which is recorded here in Mt 4:20; Mk 1:19-20; and Lk 5:11. Now this leads to interesting question. is if Luke account is the same as Matthew and Marks account there has to be a way to logicality connect them. so in some sense Peter James, John and Andrew were consider to be part time disciples. they probably travel with Jesus across Samaria in order to head home to go back to working as fisher men along the sea of Galilee. Now we come to understand at some point Jesus probably decide to walk near the shore where these men were working and eventually had given up on fishing for the day. from our main passage we understand that Jesus was teaching by the shore and the crowed had follow him. Jesus decided to get in the boat with Peter, and he told Peter to cast his net into the water. this was know a miracle of catching fish. which why Jesus told them instead of fishing normally they would be fishing for men, which is mention Mt 4:19-22; Mk 1:17-20; and Luke accounts is basically quoting what Jesus tells in Lk 5:10-11

Luke 5:10–11 NKJV

10 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.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

From these verse we come to understand that these four would eventually become 1/3 of the Apostles. the’re life is going to change because they had chose to follow Christ and give on everything else. this leads us to our next question for today what does it mean to answer the call of Discipleship?

The Call of Discipleship:

As Christians we come to understand that most follower of Christ where call disciples or students under Christ. we see that disciple is mention throughout the Bible here are couple of verse from Gospel of Matthew Mt 5:1; 8:21-23;9:2;14:33. this leads us to breaking down our main passage in Luke to see just some of the requirements of becoming a Disciple of Christ.

We must Learn Something: