Living Stones – Monday, January 22, 2018
Fishing men
Matthew 4:19
Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
What were you doing when Jesus found you?
Jesus found His first disciples by the seaside and they were fishing. This passage in Matthew’s Gospel account, 4:18-22 is a summary account of the calling of the first disciples. In it, Jesus is seen going to the seaside and, obviously, finding some fishermen. The account states that “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.”
Matthew’s account was referred to earlier as a summary account because this calling of the first disciples was recorded by all four of the Gospel writers, and we are given different details by others that expand for us the nature of this encounter and the calling of these first disciples. In Mark’s account, the information is basically the same. Luke, however, gives a full story.
Luke 5:1-11 puts the four fishermen in a drama out in the deep where, reluctantly they had obeyed Jesus’ instruction to launch out into the deep at an odd time of day, after a night of catch less labour, and then having the catch of their lives were sinking at sea. Luke’s account is also set against the backdrop of a busy seaside motif that most of us are unfamiliar with these days. The fish we eat is caught by trawlers owned and operated by big fishing establishments, not artesian fishermen.
John’s account focuses on the action taken by those who encountered Jesus first to bring others to Him. “One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” John 1:40-42.
It is clear that Jesus had a few encounters with the disciples culminating in that call to “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19
This summary in Matthew lets us focus, not on the drama of John-the-Baptist shouting out who Jesus was and then seeing some of his disciples leave to follow Him, nor does it let us focus on the bustling seaside where many were working at fishing, net mending, boat maintenance, vending, and the like, Matthew gets us to focus directly on the men, their work, and the two-fold call of Jesus on their lives.
From the moment Jesus called these first disciples there was a clear purpose and outcome to his call, (a) they were to follow – be disciplined followers, disciples and (b) there was a mission related to the lives of men into which they were being called – to become fishers of man. They were being called to become and to do.
Our first call by Jesus is to become. John 1:12 “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:” That’s the becoming part. When we came to Jesus we experienced redemption, reconciliation, and, as a result of these, came into relationship with God. We got a new identity in Jesus, we became children of God.
Writing to the Ephesians Christians, the Apostle Paul states very clearly that we are not just saved and renewed in Christ by God for relationship, but we are also saved and recreated in Christ to do “good works” which God had prepared “beforehand” for us to do. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10.
This idea of becoming a Christian to do some things is reinforced by the Apostle Paul in a different context talking about spiritual gifts. In his letter to the church and Christians at Corinth he makes the point that we are all imbued with gifts by the Holy Spirit to act. We are gifted to serve, we are enabled and endowed by the power of the Holy Spirit to execute and do all kinds of powerful things, and to do these for the benefit of the whole body.
The question for each of us, then, is what am I saved to do? The secret to the answer is often found in what we were already doing when Jesus found us and called us. Jesus had this concept already stated in Jeremiah 16:16, “ Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”
Jesus wanted fishers of men so He went where he could find fishermen and called them. Some of us are called to use the skills and experience of our trade, like the first disciples who went from fishing for fish to be fishing for men. Some of us are called to leave our given trade or profession to follow Jesus in different service, “He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” Matthew 4:21-22
Either way, we must remember that we were called both to become and to do. Many of us need to get about doing.
Think on these things:
- Where were you and what were you doing when Jesus called you?
- What are your skills, talents, and gifts?
- How are you using your work, your gifts, your passion to honour God and serve men?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we who are saved to become, would be busy doing what we were saved to do.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex