Becoming Fishers of Men

5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 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 But 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 that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

(ESV)

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Goal: For the Hearer to understand the importance of not Just Listening to Jesus, but also to follow Him.

Good Morning Sons & Daughters of St. Paul’s … May the Grace and Peace of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you all … Let us Pray

I have been doing some thinking about Jesus and his time with the disciples on the Sea of Galilee. I also have been thinking about the wishy-washy trend happening throughout the world regarding disbelief in our Heavenly Father. The failure of the world to recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior to humanity, let alone the in-ability of many to follow Christ in our lives. It left me with the following question. Why does it take so much for us to believe, let alone to follow? Well

today we are going to look at this story of the disciples being called when Jesus reached out to Simon, Andrew, James and John. You see they were all fisherman for a living. But Jesus promised them so much more.

One of the most known verses in the Bible …… tells us what Jesus said to them … 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Now, no matter how many times we hear this verse, we fail so many times to grasp what Jesus is saying. How do we become Fishers of Men? Do we just throw out some spiritual fishing pole into the world...is that it?.....or does it require a little bit more?

I have never been the best fisherman, but I always have fun when I go fishing. The story goes that Mark Twain also loved to go fishing, but he hated to catch fish. The problem was he went fishing to relax, and catching fish ruined his relaxation, since he had to take the fish off the hook and do something with it. When he wanted to relax by doing nothing, people thought he was lazy, but if he went fishing he could relax all he wanted. People would see him sitting by the river bank and they would say, “Look, he’s fishing, don’t bother him.” So Mark Twain had the perfect solution: he would take a fishing pole, line, and a bobber, but he wouldn’t put a hook on the end. He would cast the bobber in the water and lay back on the bank. That way he could relax all he wanted and he would be bothered neither by man nor fish. Mark Twain is like a lot of Christians I know. They have their pole in the water, but there is no hook on the end. They are not fishing; they are relaxing. Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind

when He said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”? ().

In my fishing experience, I have found that it is all about having the right bait. How much money do you think is spent on developing lures and baits that will attract all different sorts of fish in all sorts of weather conditions at all different times of the day? I would venture to say millions. Some lures are shiny, some are dull. Some are big, and some are small. It’s amazing to me how the professionals know just what to use based on the lake setting and temperature that day. I watch those fishing shows on ESPN and I am amazed at the expertise presented in a sport that seemingly is all about being “at the right place at the right time” … or just being “LUCKY.” But there is one thing I hate about those shows. My blood boils when I see the effort they place in catching these fish and they just turn around….kiss the fish….and put them back in the water and let them get away. I will never understand why they do that. What if Jesus did that to us……He caught us just for the sport and threw us back into the world?

Fishing analogies aside, two really important facts in our lesson jump right off the page. The first is how quickly—actually, immediately—the disciples responded to Jesus’ call. The second is that He called them not to be catchers of men, but to be fishers; and there is a difference. Verse 18 tells us about the quick decision on the disciple’s part: “At once they left their nets and followed him.” Something is really happening here. People don’t usually drop what they are doing immediately…especially fishermen. Fishermen think things over. They’re usually slow to act because they are used to having to use so much patience to

get what they want. But for these four disciples, well, their response was immediate. They left their nets and followed Jesus. Now think about that…..they left right away, no questions asked…no promises of glory, just servanthood.

How many people are willing to follow or respond so immediately? How often are people asked to do something for the church and their immediate answer is: “Sure I will. I’ll be glad to.”? How often do we immediately respond? How often do we put tasks or our families off until halftime of the Packer Game? How often do we fail at showing urgency in our actions or responses? And what the disciples were called to do…well…it pales in comparison to the little things I’m talking about, even the Packer’s game. All the disciples of Jesus left something behind. These first four left their fishing boats, their livelihood and their homes. And it wasn’t the kind of situation where they could say: “Well, okay, we’ll try this out for a while, and see how it works out.” They followed. There was a finality about it. Think of the sacrifice. Have we left anything to follow Jesus? That questions stings a bit, doesn’t it? And I ask this because in order to follow Jesus we do have to leave something behind…for good!

It may not mean that we must leave our jobs, or our homes or families…but it might. For some, it is just that. They leave all they know to serve our God in numerous facets…missions work, going to seminary, whatever God calls them to do…. they also act with an urgency of a called servant of God.

What it does mean is that we will have to leave behind some of the prejudices that we cherish so much…and that are so familiar to who we are. And

maybe there are lifestyle issues we must leave behind to follow Christ. A friend told me of a time he was witnessing to a college student. My friend asked him if he believed that Jesus Christ is Who He says He is. His answer was yes. Then my friend asked him if he would be willing to pray, repent of his sins, and ask Jesus to become the Lord of his life. The students answer was, “No. Not yet. I believe, but I’m not ready to give my life to Christ. There are too many things I’m not ready to give up.”

How many of us ‘believe’, but are not willing to follow? James, the brother of Jesus, tells us: “Even the demons believe…”But we are also told that they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire! “Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” The power of the Gospel changes people’s lives. Once we meet Jesus on the road of our own individual life, and decide to follow Him, we will be changed! We will be different people. But many of us tend to resist change. So many people just want to see the Gospel through rose colored glasses—wanting to see only the joy, comfort, and light—and not wanting to see the difficult or disruptive. “Behold, I make all things new,” says Jesus. two very important words in this Scripture Lesson are repent and believe.

Too many people think repent means to feel sorry for what you’ve done—and then, go do it again. That’s not it at all. Repent simply means to change direction or turn away. It means to turn from your sins……it means a change in priorities. It means living with a whole new approach to life. It calls us to embrace the newness and change which Jesus brings. This is what happened to the disciples as soon as they began to follow Jesus… nothing was ever the same. It was the beginning of a new and exciting journey…the best journey imaginable…where God is not just a Sunday friend but a daily companion. And this is what happens to all of us when we heed the call of Jesus in our lives to: “Come follow me.” And when we embrace this newness of life that Jesus offer…well, we see how good things can be…we experience God’s love up close and personal…and we want to ‘Pass it On.” “Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.” There is a difference between being fishers and catchers of men. Jesus calls us to be fishers. Think about your life journey. How many people dropped a hook in front of you…before you finally grabbed a hold of the new life you found in Christ? An awful lot, I’d imagine. Maybe you were brought up in church. Maybe you were surrounded by the preaching of the Word, the invitation to accept Christ, and people who were wonderful/grace-filled examples of how magnificently different it is to be a follower of Christ……..But you still didn’t bite. At the same time, there were hundreds upon hundreds of seeds being planted. And then one day, well, Praise the Lord!…it all clicked…the decision was straight ahead of you and you became a Christian! And you believed…really believed…and hopefully things really started to change!

Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so

that no one can boast.” Even the ability to believe and make the decision to accept God’s plan of salvation is a gift of God.

Fishing is not the same as catching. Jesus calls us to be fishers, not catchers, and that is good. It means that we’re not alone in the project of proclaiming the Gospel to the world. God is with us, and He enables our ‘fish’ to be caught, He enables people to respond to our message. And since it is the Holy Spirit who does the catching, we don’t need to take the rejection of the Gospel personally. Maybe it wasn’t the right time for that person; maybe the Holy Spirit has some other things to work out with them first; it may be a lot of things…maybe they will never accept Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives……We do have free-will. The main thing we should be concerned with is the fact that we did witness to them.

We must also remember that witnessing is not always done door to door or at churches or spiritual events. We witness to everyone who comes in contact with us by OUR ACTIONS and our CONSISTENCY in those actions. If they know we act in His name…we may not even have to say a word…. they will see Christ in us. And whether a catch is made or not, we are called to cast the net again, to proclaim the Good News to another person by words and deeds, and let the Holy Spirit fill the net according to God’s will. People are being transformed and we are praising God for it!

So, let’s put ourselves in those boats so long ago, with the knowledge we have of a Savior Who wants to give everyone the gift of salvation. And let’s remember that this gift can neither be bought nor earned by any human being;

that it is, however, God’s gift to those who call upon Jesus’ name, who trust Jesus for salvation and not themselves. Jesus calls us to be fishers of people, let us respond by fishing and fishing and fishing…but let us not be like Mark Twain…let us have a hook and the right bait…. the redeeming words of our Lord Jesus Christ.…letting God take care of the rest.