Fishing for Men
Matthew 4:18-22
Matthew Chapter 4, one of the most wonderful texts in all the word of God because that great statement of our Lord is here, "Follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men." Some years ago I was reading the Presbyterian Journal and I read this parable and I thought it was a fitting way to introduce our thoughts from Matthew 4 tonight. This is what it said: "On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a little crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for them selves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful lifesaving station so it became famous.
Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and their money and their effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new lifesaving crews were trained and the little lifesaving station grew.
"Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots and beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club's decorations and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club held its initiations.
"About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the hired crews brought in loads of cold, wet, half drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was considerably messed up so the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out they were still called a lifesaving station, but they were finally voted down and told if they wanted to save the lives of various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast a little ways, which they did.
"As the years went by the new station experienced the same changes that occurred in the old one. It evolved into a club and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself and if you visit that coast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters but most of the people drown."
What a simple and striking illustration of the history of the church. But the work of lifesaving and the work of evangelism is nonetheless the purist and the truest and the noblest and the most essential work the church will ever do. The work of evangelism, the work of fishing men, as it were, out of the sea of sin, the work of rescuing people from the breakers of hell is the greatest work the church will ever do. It is God's great concern.
I John 4 tells us, "We only love Him because He first loved us." And John 3:16 tells us, "That God so loved the world that He gave." The greatest work in the heart of God, the greatest concern in the mind of God is evangelism. Winning the lost is God's great concern. It is also Christ's great concern. Luke 19:10 says, "For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." The work of winning the lost is God's concern and Christ's concern, and also the greatest concern of the Holy Spirit, for it is the Holy Spirit who comes, according to John 16, to convict men of sin and righteousness and of judgment. It is the Holy Spirit who comes upon the church and after we have received the Holy Spirit, "We are made witnesses," Jesus said, "Unto Me, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth." The great concern of God is evangelism. The great concern of Christ is evangelism. The great concern of the Spirit is evangelism, saving the lost.
When you come into the New Testament you find it is also the apostles greatest concern. Certainly it was true of Paul. In Romans Chapter 1, Paul echoed what is a divine sentiment, "I am debtor to the Greeks and the Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Later on in that same wonderful epistle of Romans Paul shared his heart in the 9th Chapter by saying this: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." It was his great concern.
In Chapter 10:1 he says, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." In I Corinthians 9:20-22 he says, "I will become all things to all men that by some means I might win them to Christ." Listen, God's greatest concern is to win people to himself. Christ's greatest concern, the Spirit's greatest concern, the greatest concern of the apostles and it was the greatest concern of the early church. When they were scattered in Acts Chapter 8 they went everywhere preaching Jesus Christ endeavoring to win people to Him.
Even in the Old Testament it was no different. In the Old Testament God's great heart was a concerned heart and it was concerned for those that were lost. In fact, in Proverbs 11:30, we have this great statement: "He that winneth souls is what, is wise." And if you know anything about the term wise in the book of Proverbs, you know that the term wise is a synonym really for righteous living. The truly righteous person, the person who really lives with understanding, the person who doesn't just know but lives it out is the one who wins souls. He is truly wise.
At the end of the book of Daniel in the 12th Chapter and the fourth verse it says, or rather the third verse, "And they that be wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." People who turn others to righteousness are wise and they will shine like the stars forever and ever. I think that's the source of the name Starlighter, one of our classes in our church. The word of God is clear. Our text echoes the same sentiment. Look at it: Matthew Chapter 4, the great word of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 19, "And He saith unto them, 'Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.'" What a promise! He doesn't just say I want you to do it. He says I'll make you into those who can. This is our task.
Did you know that the term evangelize, the Greek term is used no less than 53 times in the New Testament, and it is all summarized, as it were, in the great commission in Matthew 28 when the Lord said, "Go into all the world winning people to Christ and baptizing them, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Someone said, "Evangelism is the sob of God." Evangelism is the anguished cry of Jesus as He weeps over a doomed city. Evangelism is the cry of Paul when he says, "I wish myself were accursed from Christ for my brother and my kinsman according to the flesh." Evangelism is the heart-winning plea of Moses who said, "Oh these people have sinned, yet now if Thou wilt forgive their sin, if not block me, I pray Thee, out of the book, which Thou has written." Evangelism is the cry of John Knox, who said, "Give me Scotland or I die." It is the cry of Wesley who said, "The world is my parish." Evangelism is the sob of parents in the night weeping over a lost son.
This is the greatest task and we must be about this task. At the same time evangelism is a great paradox. Winning people to Jesus Christ is paradoxical in this sense: Jesus said, "Whosoever would save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake the same shall save it." In other words in saving others we lose ourselves, or in losing ourselves in the task we will win others. In fact, we might put it this way: the one who would win the world must be rejected by the world. You can't have both.
In John Chapter 15 Jesus said this: verse 25, "This cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated Me without a cause, but when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me and ye also shall bear witness." In other words Jesus says you're going to be My witnesses. You're going to go into the world and bear witness.
What's going to happen? Verse 2 of Chapter 16, "They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." He who would win the world, he who would reach the world must be rejected by the world. He who would save his life must lose it, he who loses his life will find it used to save others. This is Jesus' way. Our Lord who saves us from death by conquering death had to yield to death.
And so evangelism, in a sense, is the sacrifice of the greater for the lesser. It is the worthy for the unworthy. It is the strong dying that the weak may live. It is not the loveless theory of the survival of the fittest, but is the sacrifice of the fittest that the feeblest may walk. The Bible is clear that we must be committed to this, that we must be committed to face the world of people without Jesus Christ and lose ourselves that we may win them.
I was rummaging through an old book this week, and I like to do that, because I find that all of the things that we think are so new and so wonderful and just discovered by this generation of alert Christians are always buried in some treasure of the past. And God's Holy Spirit has always disclosed these great truths to all His people through all the years. And I was rummaging through an old book written in 1877 and I found this little note here and I thought it was interesting. The writer was trying to incite to evangelize.
This old man of God, whoever he was, and it was anonymous, no doubt some preacher, was trying in an impassioned plea to get people to go out and win others to Christ. He was probably saying to the church, "Be a lifesaving crew not a club." And these were his words and I thought they were so interesting. "If we were supposed the present population of our globe to be sixteen hundred million, which would be 1.6 billion, in 1877, which is probably an overestimate, and that in all that vast number there was but one true Christian and that he should be instrumental in the hands of the Blessed Spirit during the coming year of the conversion of only two others to Christ, and that each of those two new converts should be instrumentally used to lead two others to Christ during their first year of spiritual life and that the work should thus continue each new convert leading two others to Christ within a year of his conversion how long would it take at this rate starting from one Christian to bring the whole sixteen hundred million to Christ? The answer will doubtless startle many of our readers, but if we may rely on figures the whole world would be converted in a little less than 30 ½ years, within less than a single generation. Is such a work too mighty for God's Spirit to accomplish or for the church to strive to achieve?
But let us bury somewhat the conditions. Instead of supposing as above that there was but one true Christian in all the world let us with a nearer approximation to the truth suppose the number to be at least 20 million. This is probably much below the truth. If each one of these 20 million Christians should bring to Christ one single soul within the coming year the whole number would be double before the end of this year 1877. If similar blessed results should follow prayer and effort in 1878 and be continued year after year each true Christian becoming instrumental by prayer and personal effort in the salvation of only one soul a year long before 1883 would have come to a close the grand chorus would be heard in heaven the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ."
Want to know something? They didn't do it. Did you know that? That's right. They didn't do it. You want hear something interesting? If one person at Grace Community Church trained two other people how to present Jesus Christ and they each led one person to Christ and this process continued every six months, in six and a half years the entire San Fernando Valley would be converted to Christ and the rest of Los Angeles in the last six months.
Now the reason why I say that is not to get into an argument about whether God wants the whole city of Los Angeles saved or not, but simply to show you that it is not an impossibility. The commission hasn't changed. It's got to start somewhere, people. It can start with us. And you know it's got to start right where you are, not up here. You know a stationary foghorn has its value, but nobody ever got rescued out of the sea by a stationary foghorn. I can come in here Sunday after Sunday and honk and blow the whistle, but it's going to take well-trained lifesaving crews who are out there picking the souls out of the sea. You see? We're being fishers of men.
Henry Ward Beecher, great preacher, said this: "The longer I live the more confidence I have in those sermons preached in which one man is the minister and one man is the congregation, where there is no question as to whom is meant when the preacher says, 'Thou art the man.'" Evangelism is the realization in time of God's eternal redemptive purpose. Personal evangelists winning people to Jesus Christ, and beloved, it all began in Matthew 4:18-22. Let's look at it.
"And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the se, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fisher of men.' And they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left the boat and their father and followed him." This was the first lifesaving crew ever gathered in the New Testament, the first band to be trained for evangelism to start the process to fulfill the Great Commission. It all began here.
Now let's look at the context again. Matthew is introducing us to the king, King Jesus. That's his theme all through 28 chapters of his gospel. And everywhere in this gospel we're going to meet the royalty of Jesus Christ. We're going to see him as king. And I've been telling you that in Matthew 4:12-25, this whole big section here is really one unit, in Matthew 4:12-25, he concentrates on the official ministry of the king. This is where Christ's official kingly ministry begins and we called it The Light Dawns. Finally the king arrives. After all the years of preparation, after the ministry of John the Baptist, after the baptism, after the temptation, finally Jesus embarks on his official ministry, the light dawns in Galilee. Everything is in perfect order. Every thing is ready.
And as Jesus' ministry begins you'll remember our outline, it's in the bulletin if you need to refresh your mind, He begins His ministry right here in verse 12 to 25 and we've given you several points to consider. First of all in verse 12 we saw He began His ministry at the right point, at the right point.
Secondly in verses 13 to 16 in the right place in Galilee. Thirdly by the right proclamation, you remember that in verse 17, "From that time Jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Listen, Jesus was on a divine clock, a divine calendar, functioning in response to God's plan. He began His ministry at the right point when John was cast into prison, in the right place in Galilee of the Gentiles where He would have the greatest hearing, where there was the most openness, the most potential, and the greatest need and by the right proclamation. There was a kingdom coming, but somebody had to be converted to participate in it.
God had a kingdom, Jesus said, and if you want to be a part you've got to repent and be converted. So He began at the right point, in the right place, by the right proclamation, and now we come to verse 18 with the right partners, with the right partners. Jesus never intended to do it alone. He never did. Oh He could have, sure He could. He had the power. He had the right, but it wasn't the plan. He never intended to do it alone. Mark this one. He also never intended to do it just with preaching. There was to be fishing for men.
Dr. Duryea said many years ago, "The sixth soul needs more than a lecture on medicine. He needs a personal prescription." And Jesus needed some people to go beyond the lecture on medicine that He would give and take the personal prescription to the souls of the people they would meet. We don't know how all twelve disciples were called to start that first lifesaving crew, but we do know that they were all called personally by Jesus Christ. We know the circumstances around seven of them. The other five we don't know the specifics, but we know that Jesus called them himself. He picked out His crew. He picked out the individuals that he wanted to go out to be a part of this marvelous opportunity of fishing for men. Listen God always chooses His partners carefully.
You can look all the way back in the Old Testament and you can read with great wonder how God chose Israel to be his partners in evangelizing the world. They were to be the ones who were to be His mouthpiece. In Isaiah 49, he says, "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." He chose the Jewish people to be His partners in the Old Testament. Then He chose from among them some special people like Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel and many many more. And when we come to the New Testament Jesus chose His partners just as carefully.
In John 15:16, Jesus looked those twelve in the face and He said, "You have not chosen me," but what, "I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth and bear fruit." You didn't choose me I chose you. Jesus chose His partners very carefully. In John 6:70, "Have not I chosen you twelve," he said. John 13:18, "I know whom I have chosen." Luke 6:13, same truth. "And when it was day He called unto Him His disciples and of them He chose twelve." When Jesus chooses His partners He chooses very carefully.
You say, "Boy, do you think He's chosen me to be a fisher of men?" Oh yes. Everybody in Christ has that commission. We're all to be witnesses. We're all to preach Christ. We're all to speak of Christ. We're all to labor in the fields that are white unto harvest, all of us. You see it in the book of Acts as it unfolds all the way through as the church expands and grows and everybody becomes a part of the lifesaving crew. So to the prophets of the Old Testament to the apostles and disciples of the New is added everybody whoever came to Jesus Christ. It's all our task. In Luke 24:46, "He said unto them, 'Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,'" now watch, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations begin