Fishers Of Men

One day, two guys were out fishing. A funeral service passes over the bridge they're fishing by, and Bob takes off his hat and puts it over his heart. He does this until the funeral service passes by. Frank then said, "Gee Bob, that sure was a nice thing to do!"

Bob then replies, "It's the least I could do. After all, I was married to her for 30 years."

Now, I know fishing is not for everybody but for those of us that enjoy it, we really enjoy it. I enjoy being out in nature. I enjoy the peace and quiet. I enjoy the challenge of catching something that doesn't want to be caught. I enjoy the fight when I do get something on the line and I enjoy eating the fish too. I'm not very good at it but it's a lot of fun and I enjoy the whole experience.

But just like most hobbies, it can get expensive. There is a motto in the hot rod world that says, "Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?" And I think most hobbies are that way. When you first start out, you get by fairly inexpensively but once you get into it, you realize you need this and you need that and you just gotta have some of that over there. Right?

In fishing, you can spend a lot of money on boats and gear and fish finder sonar. Then you have to have a new truck to pull that boat. And you need a new wardrobe and you need that new fishing rod Bass Pro has on sale. Gotta have that. That's what the pros use.

But, one of the things that really starts to add up is all the different lures you need. Most lures aren't real expensive except but then you realize you need a few of each. You need a few buzz baits. You need a few crank baits. You gotta have some plastic worms, some jigs and some spoons. Then you need some Texas rigs, some Tokyo rigs, Ned rigs, Alabama rigs, Neko rigs and wacky rigs. You need topwater poppers, whopper ploppers and toppers. You need chatter baits, spinner baits, swim baits and blade baits. You also have spinners, plugs and flies, not to mention just a good old-fashioned hook if you are going to use live bait. And that's not including all the different kinds of line and the different rods and reels that you use for each one. And like most hobbies, the accessories are endless. So, yea, it can get expensive after a while.

Now, I know what you non-fisherman are thinking. You don't need all those different kinds of lures. Why, my granddad caught fish out of the pond with a cane pole and a nightcrawler. Right? I hear ya. And you can do that still today. But if you want to catch more fish and bigger fish and different kinds of fish then you will start to see that you need different baits.

So, now some of you are beginning to think you came to a TED talk on fishing and you are wondering why I am bringing all this up. Well, today our passage of scripture is from Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus is talking to some fishermen and he uses a phrase they can relate to. I hope you have your Bibles with you today. I want to encourage you to always bring them with you to church. I want you to see for yourselves what it says and not just take my word for it.

Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and in chapter four we see Jesus just starting His ministry. He has just been baptized by John and then He went out into the desert and was tempted by Satan. Having been obedient and passing that test, Jesus starts to gather His crew together. So, let's read Matthew 4:18-22. We will concentrate on just one main phrase but let's keep it all in context by reading those verses.

Matthew 4:18-22 says, "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."

"I will make you fishers of men." Now, if I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, you have to always keep scripture in context, right? And some of you right now are thinking, "Whew! Thank goodness this isn't written to us!" And you would be right. It was not written to us. Jesus didn't say it to us. We are not on the shore of the Sea of Galilee trying to go fishing. But, if you will excuse the pun, you are not off the hook on this one because there are lots of other places where this overall message is given to us as believers. So, this message definitely applies to us.