Sermon-2/11/07-Matt. 4:12-25-Fishers of Men
Story of a fisherman. Reputation for being the greatest fisherman in the area. On days when most people would come back with 2-3 fish, he’d come back with 2-3 hundred.
-Game warden decides to investigate.
-Shows up at the man’s house, identifies himself, and asks to go fishing with him.
-take off, warden notices that the man seems to have no fishing gear, just a small duffle bag.
-hop in the boat, chat, eventually stops boat in middle of lake, opens the bag and takes out a stick of dynamite, throws it in the water-boom!-takes out his net and starts scooping up the stunned fish.
-This is highly illegal, man laughs moves the boat to another section of the lake and does it again.
Warden had enough- “Mister, you’ve broken so many laws-I don’t know where to start.” Man laughed and pulled out another stick of dynamite. “Illegal possession of dynamite, illegal detonation of dangerous material, disturbing the peace, and about a half dozen other misdemeanors and felonies.” while the warden was talking the man lit the stick of dynamite and tossed it to the warden. As he did he asked the warden the question fishermen always ask “Well, are you going to talk all day or are you going to fish?”
-The key verse in our text today is verse 19- “Fishers of men.”
-That is our problem when it comes to being fishers of men-to much talking, not enough fishing.
This morning talk about what it means to really be fishers of men
First some context from the passage.
Not apparent from the text but there is about a 1 year gap between verse 11 & verse 12. Look at what happened during that year in a moment. So in verse 12 Matthew says “When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.”
I. Arrest of John the Baptist (vs. 12)-Arrested by Herod Antipas, Matthew includes no details, assumes the story would have been well known to his readers.
A. Reason-find 2 reasons from different sources
1. Political-Josephus underscores that Herod Antipas imprisoned John for political reasons; that is, he feared that John’s popularity with the people, along with his preaching and baptism, might lead the people to some sort of rebellion
2. Moral-Later, in chapter 14, Matthew gives us a further, moral reason behind John’s arrest: John the Baptist had publicly condemned Herod Antipas for having an affair with, and eventually marrying, Herodias, his half-brother Philip’s wife. The result of the arrest ...
B. Result
We see that Jesus….
Withdrew to Capernaum-Up to this point what we can know of Jesus early ministry had taken place in the southern part of Israel, in Judea. But Christ took the arrest of John as an occasion to relocate his ministry to the northern part of the land, in Galilee. Established his ministry headquarters in Capernaum
Kefer Nahum-in Hebrew, means city of Nahum, this brings bout the...
2. 6th fulfilled prophecy in book from
Isaiah 9:1-2-Ever since the Assyrians conquered the region in 732 BC this area had experienced turmoil and the forced infiltration of Gentile influences. The Jews that lived here were called “the people sitting in darkness”, a description of a people who awaited deliverance while living among the hopelessness of the Gentiles. So here, where things seem the darkest, the place that is so far removed from the center of Jewish religious life in Jerusalem, these Jews are the first to see the great light of God’s deliverance in Jesus. It will bring hope to those who understand most clearly the hopelessness of death.
So lets look at the
II. Ministry of Jesus here
First as I mentioned
A. Matthew skips year one of his ministry in Judea (John 1:29-4:3)
First meeting of disciples (Jn. 1:35-51)
John, Andrew, Peter, (probably James), Philip, Nathaniel. First meeting with all of them.
Other events during that first year of ministry-First miracle, cleanses the temple, Meets with Nicodemus, and on His way back up to Galilee-meets with woman at the well. So what we have recorded here is not the disciples first encounter with Jesus, not even His first call to them to come and follow Him.
2. Second Call here
Brief review of Jewish schooling:
Began schooling in Beth Sefer (5-10 years) (house of the book) Taught by local torah teacher. Learned the Torah, reading and writing, best students had it memorized by the time this level was done. When this level of education Was finished most students (all girls) stayed home to help with the family, learn to be a good wife or for the boys learn a trade.
The best students from Beth Sefer would continue on to Beth Midrash. (10-14) Studied the rest of Scripture, & interpretations of the oral Torah. Had the rest of the Jewish Scriptures memorized by the time they were finished. Also learned the Jewish art of questions.
-Age 14-15-the best would go on to Beth Talmud-apply oral and written law
-The Best of the best desired To be a rabbi– they would go to a powerful rabbi and ask to become a talmudim. (disciple) the rabbi would ask them questions to determine if they could one day become a rabbi. If the rabbi deemed them worthy he would call them to be his talmudim. You would leave your family and follow this rabbi.
Notice what Peter, Andrew, James & John are doing when Christ comes and calls them. Peter & Andrew it says were fishermen. James & John were fishing with their father, apparently Peter and Andrew had already learned a trade, James & John were learning a trade from their father, they were not good enough to be a talmudin, been turned down. All of Christ disciples, he went to them, called them. They had most likely all been told that they weren’t good enough, but Christ said, come and I will make you fishers of men. Says the same to us.
Fishers of men
How? Finish with some thoughts on how we are called to be fishers of men.
Not speaking as an expert here, evangelism is not my gift. Had plenty of opportunities, had the priveledge to lead a number of people to Christ.
-Camp counseling at gilead.
-SEMP
-Youth Ministry-number of outreach events, seen kids come to Christ, enjoy it when I get the chance to share the gospel, but it’s not my gift.
But saying that evangelism is not my gift doesn’t get me off the hook. Because there is the gift of evangelism and then there is the command to evangelize. Jesus said, "Go and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15). That’s the command. It is God’s will for your life, period. We are to do the work of evangelism—that is, the work of spreading the good news about Jesus Christ wherever we go.
That is the command to evangelize, but there is also the spiritual gift of evangelism, which some Christians have and others don’t. The people with this gift have a unique ability to share their faith with other people.
Let me suggest three ways of identifying a person who has this gift:
First, the person gifted in evangelism has an unusual burden for the lost, which is greater than the general burden that all believers share.
Second, the person gifted in evangelism has an unusual ability to share the gospel with others. That is, he finds opportunities in everyday life that the rest of us just pass up.
Third, the person gifted in evangelism sees unusual results. That is, people come to Christ when he shares the gospel with them.
In the Bible only one person is called an evangelist. His story is found in Acts 8. Philip had been one of the first deacons of the early church. God gave him the gift of being an evangelist. We see this gift at work in two ways in Acts 8. First, he went to Samaria and began to preach the gospel with the result that a large number of people came to Christ (Acts 8:4-8). Then he went to the desert road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. Along the way he met an Ethiopian Eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53. He came along, got into a conversation with the eunuch, shared the gospel from that very passage and led him to Christ (Acts 8:26-40). All the elements are there: A focus on the unsaved, clarity in preaching the gospel, and impressive results in terms of people coming to Christ.
So, when it comes to evangelism, all Christians are commanded to evangelize but some Christians are both commanded and specially gifted in this area.
So, what about the rest of us, who aren’t gifted, but are still commanded?
How do we obey the command when we don’t have the gift?
Oikos evangelism-household-reach those that God has placed in your sphere of influence. 3 easy steps for reaching your oikos-
III. Spiritual CPR
Cultivate-Evangelism starts with relationships, cultivate relationships with those in your oikos, build those friendships so that you have a place to share about what God is doing in your life. Look for ways to build those friendships-reach out, ask them for help, look for opportunities to practice hospitality, take an interest in them & their interests,
-Just be their friend with no agenda. Love them as Christ loved you.
B. Plant-Look for opportunites to begin to plant seeds of truth about God, who He is and what He is doing in your life. This is where a lot of us fail, we should all be talking about God as a normal part of our life, plant seeds of truth, be honest about who you are and what God is doing in your life.
Video clip
If God’s not doing anything, that’s something else that we need to talk about at another time.
C. Reap-Look for opportunities to share the gospel, testimony, etc.
Great opportunity to learn and grow in this area starting next Sunday, Jim will be teaching a class called contagious Christianity, if you want to learn and grow in this area come and be a part of that.
