Go Fish!
Mark 1:14-18 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" 16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Intro: There’s an old joke about two fishermen out in a boat. The day was calm and the lake was isolated enough that they were the only fishermen there. The first man baited his hook, threw it into the water and watched the bobber bob on the waves. Suddenly there was a terrific explosion just a couple feet off the portside of the boat. In a few moments dead fish were floating to the surface and his companion was frantically scooping them in with a net.
He was about to ask his friend what had happened, when he saw his friend light a piece of dynamite and throw it into the water… followed by another terrible explosion.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted.
“Fishing” the guy replied.
“But you can’t do that… that’s illegal.”
At this point, his friend lit another stick of dynamite threw into his lap and said: Hey, you gonna talk, or you gonna fish?” (Jeff Strite, Sermoncentral.com)
-Well, Jesus saw something in some fishermen that nobody else saw. He singled a few of them out as the kind of people He wanted to hang out with. And then He asked them to follow Him and He would really teach them how to fish. But instead of going after fish, they would be going after people. There are a number of parallels and comparisons between fishing for fish and fishing for people, and we hope to look at a few of them today. Jesus will take you where you are and start with what you know and He will make you into who He wants you to be!
1. Come to Jesus
-V.17 is where we will get all our main thoughts from today. The first thing we see is an invitation from Jesus: Come…. This isn’t the only time we see this invitation to come to Jesus. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
-If we are ever to be or do anything for God, it begins by coming to Him through Jesus. Jesus is the only One who can fix us and help us develop into who He wants us to be. When we come to Jesus, we do find rest. We find rest from the weariness of this world. We find rest from doing our own thing. We find rest from all the expectations and demands others have put on us. We find rest from our own personal failures and sins and mistakes from the past.
-When we come to Jesus we find life. John 5:39-40 39 “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” If we want to find what we really really long for, deep down inside, we must come to Jesus. And Jesus said He would never turn away the person who would come to Him. He said, “Whosoever will may come.”
-Coming to Jesus involves laying aside our own pursuits and anything else we might be tempted to hide behind. Jesus accepts you just as you are, but He wants the real you! He wants the part of you that cries out for something more. Jesus wants the part of you that is seeking meaning and purpose. He wants the part of you that really wants to live. He wants the part of you that cries out for connection with the only true God! And when you come to Him, you will not be let down! You will not be disappointed! You will find love, acceptance, forgiveness! You will find meaning and purpose! You will find life!
-After we begin a relationship with God and come to Him through faith in Jesus, we need to keep coming to Him. That is what it means to pray. We come to God with our heart and spirit open to Him and we communicate with Him on a spiritual level. We also come to Him through the Bible as we get to know who He has revealed Himself to be throughout history. So, come to Jesus and keep on coming!
-Many people are in the process of coming to Jesus right now. They recognize that there is something about God that they need. That is a great start, but don’t stop now. When we come to Jesus, the next natural step is to follow Him.
2. Follow Jesus
-Coming to Jesus involves the realization that we need His help. Who else can help us? Who else can take away our sin problem? Who else has the words of life? But if we just come to Him when we need something from Him and do not choose to follow Him, we miss out on the relationship He wants to have with us. The thing that is missing is commitment.
-When Jesus came walking by and called these fishermen to follow Him, something amazing was happening. As a rabbi, He was asking them to leave everything and become students of His who would sit under His teaching and observe His life for an extended period of time. This was an incredible honor to be chosen to study under a rabbi. Typically, only the best of the best were chosen. Many Jewish children had already memorized large portions of the Torah at a relatively young age. It was only those who showed great aptitude for deeper study in the Torah who might be selected by a rabbi for further study.
-Jesus saw something in these fishermen that He liked and He extended the invitation for them to attach themselves to Him and follow Him and learn God’s ways from Him.
-What does it mean for us to follow Jesus? I think it really boils down to listening to Him and learning to obey. We follow Jesus by following His words and His teachings. We follow Jesus by doing what He expected of His first followers. To follow Jesus implies having a life that is completely surrendered to Him. There is a reason His followers called Him Master. He truly was their leader and they were to emulate Him and learn how to do life by being close to Him.
-Here is the question for us today: Are you following Jesus? Have you joined your life with Him? Are you learning from Him? Are there changes taking place in your heart and life because of your close association with Him? If so, then you are one of His disciples. And as His disciples we need to encourage one another and commit to keep on following Jesus. It is through coming to Jesus and following Him that He will make us into who He wants us to be.
3. Let Him “Make You”
-Jesus said, "Come, follow me, and I will make you….”
-The growth and development of a Christian is the ongoing work of Jesus in us through His Holy Spirit. The idea I want to focus on here is the willingness to change. Have you ever tried to teach somebody who did not want to learn? That is a teacher’s worst nightmare! Please pray for teachers! They have a huge task! It can be a challenge just teaching those who want to learn, but when so many do not even want to be there, a lot of grace and patience and creativity is needed.
-My point is that we need to be willing to grow and develop and change. We need to be willing to lay aside our preconceived ideas of how things are and learn from God and His word about reality.
-What are some of the basics involved in the development of a follower of Jesus? Some are obvious: Trust or faith in Jesus; Love for God and one another; humility and repentance before God; forgiveness of others so we can be forgiven; a commitment to obey God and honor Him; and all of this and more occurs in the context of relationship. Friendship with God is what brings us to a place where He can make us into what He wants us to be.
-How is your friendship with God? Do you enjoy God? Do you like to be around Him? Or is it more obligatory because you know you should? Sometimes those of us in church leadership have urged people to pray and study the Bible so strongly that some people become more concerned about their spiritual chore list than they are about really knowing God as their friend and Savior. Granted, prayer and study are some of the means used to know God, but just reading and saying a list of things to God are not enough. Let’s make it our purpose to know God and invite Him to make us into the people He has designed us to be – before we were even born!
4. Let Him Teach You to Fish
-Since Jesus is the One who teaches us and makes us who He wants us to be, I cannot capture in a few words the lessons of fishing for people that we need to learn. But here are some basic thoughts about fishing for people.
-Use the right bait (No tricks or lures, only unconditional love and truth. Be real! People need to know that you’re not just trying to get them on a stringer or catch your limit. People crave relationship, not bait. People need love and acceptance and understanding and room to make mistakes.)
-Don’t fish alone. Realize that it takes a team approach. (There may be times when you share your faith alone, but it takes a community of believers to disciple a follower of Jesus to maturity.)
-Go where the fish are! Don’t wait for them to jump into the boat! Go where people are. Learn to love and accept them – even when their lives are messy and broken.
-Leave the results up to God – You are called to fish, not necessarily catch. Some plant, some water, God gives the increase. Some cast the net, some mend the net, but God fills the net. There will be times when you mess up and lose some fish. Learn from your mistakes; don’t be defined by them. I lost a pretty good salmon right by the boat last Friday. And if I get another chance I’m planning to keep my pole up. I’m learning.
-Don’t give up – The fishing may not be too good sometimes, but don’t give up! God has called you to do something way bigger than yourself! He will help you accomplish it.
Close: Come to Jesus, Follow Him, Let Him Make you, Let Him teach you to fish for people! Where are you in this process today? Maybe you need to come to Jesus for the first time, or maybe for the first time in a long time. You need to experience His love and sense His acceptance of you. You need to know that He cares about you and can help you. Maybe you have already come to Jesus and you like to hang out with Him sometimes, but you haven’t really committed to following Him. Are there areas of your life where you have excluded Him? He must have full access into your heart and life!
-Perhaps you need to take a step today to come closer to Jesus, or commit to follow Him with all your heart. If we aren’t coming to Jesus and following Him, we can’t expect to become the person He wants us to be.
-If you would like me to say a prayer for you along these lines, would you let me know by lifting your hand? If you need someone to talk to about your faith, I would love to do that at your convenience. Also, maybe you’re doing pretty well and you’re getting to know God better, but you really want to learn to reach people with the good news about Jesus. If you want to learn from Jesus how to fish for people, I’d like to pray for you. Would you lift your hand up? God has put this in your heart because He wants to prepare you and equip you to reach others with His love and truth.
