Living Stones – Saturday, November 18, 2017
Different fish
Matthew 4:19
Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
In Matthew 4:18-22 we have the record of Jesus calling his first four disciples. Jesus chose the seaside in Galilee and, given that choice of talent pool for recruitment, it is no surprise that the first persons called were fishermen.
At the time of their recruitment, Jesus didn’t take them into any deep theological discussion, and didn’t test their history of the scriptures, or ask how conversant they were with the Jewish messianic history. It was a simple twofold call with a clear purpose and outcome. First, they were to follow Him and second, their skills as fishermen were going to be transferred to different targets.
From the outset there was a clear purpose and outcome to his call, there was a mission, related to the lives of men, to which they were being called.
We are saved to become, but we are also saved to do. John 1:12 says that “… as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God…” That’s the becoming part, redemption, reconciliation, and relationship with God.
A lot of emphasis today is placed on the becoming part. There are seminars, conferences, retreats, camps, courses, deeper life meetings, special series of CDs, YouTube videos, live streams, downloads, yes, and daily devotionals, all related to the becoming part. However, there is the doing part still.
A good example is the conversion of Saul on that fateful Damascus trip. After Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus and Saul was, ironically, struck blind by the vision, he was there for three days in that condition. God appeared to Ananias and sends him to heal Saul. Ananias is reluctant because of Saul’s reputation, but God said to him, essentially, that Saul was saved to both become and to do. God had a clear task for Saul that, like the Galilean fishermen, had a clear mission related to the lives of men.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16.
Later in his life, the Apostle Paul, writing to the Christians in Ephesians 2:10, outlines 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.”
While there were three different ways that fishermen around the sea of Galilee worked, we know that at the time of the calling of these first disciples they were using a dragnet. We know that these first disciples were using the dragnet because of Luke’s retelling of this story in Luke 5:1-11. These four disciples were essentially collaborating in their fishing enterprise. When they had let down their net at the urging of Jesus, Luke notes that “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.”
We need to be seized afresh with that ongoing mission for the souls of men. Jesus told the first disciples that their skills at fishing would be used now for fishing men. Men who are swimming in a sea of sin and are in need of being rescued for the kingdom of God.
There is a lot of pressure today for us to, more than anything else, show tolerance and respect for the views and faith of others. We are frowned upon if we seek to share our faith, yet, this is the very thing we have been called to do.
We must, therefore, while respecting the new social conditions that define our context, drop the bait on the hook, toss a casting net, or with other saints drag the net, in order to catch men and women for Christ.
Think on these things:
- How disciplined are you as a follower of Christ?
- How focused are you on the primary mission that we have, to share the Gospel for the salvation of men?
- Is your church organised in its outreach and, are you engaged in the outreach activities?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that, we would be disciplined followers of Christ who remain focused on the mission for the lives of men.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
