1 Corinthians 1:10-17; Matthew 4:12-23
January 26, 2014
© 2014
Just one more football game left this season –
the Super Bowl. As always, a lot of attention is focused on quarterbacks and
receivers. Whom can a quarterback trust for a clutch third and long in the
fourth quarter? What kind of relationship does the quarterback have with the
different receivers? Once the game starts, whether the quarterback would share
family dinner with the receivers and their families doesn't matter. Whatever personal issues they may have are set aside for the single goal of winning the
Super Bowl.
As we read in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, the
Apostle Paul is disturbed about the divisions and quarrels in their church.
Some were Paul’s fans; others preferred Apollos or Cephas. I’m sure the
dissension went beyond personalities to disputes about how the church should be
run.
Paul wrote that instead of dividing their
loyalties between favorite leaders, they should be united in the same mind and
the same purpose. Just as a football team needs to unite around the goal of
winning, a church needs to unite around the purpose of its mission, not around
the preferences of personalities or individual taste.
In verse 17 Paul makes the uniting purpose
crystal clear: proclaiming the Gospel. Energy and enthusiasm flourish;
distractions and division fade, the sharper our focus on fishing for people
with Jesus.
Jesus spoke of fishing for people in Matthew
4:12-23.
Now
when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in
the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been
spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea,
across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people who sat in
darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and
shadow of death light has dawned.”
17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven has come near.”
18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon,
who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for
they were fishermen. 19And he said to them,
“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and
followed him.
21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of
Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending
their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left
the boat and their father, and followed him.
23Jesus
went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good
news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the
people.
As we saw last week in John 1, Andrew and
Peter, John and James had already been introduced to Jesus by John the Baptist.
They had spent time with Jesus, but he did not give them an entrance exam or
ask them to sign a doctrinal statement or become members of his organization.
He did say, “Follow me.” And he told them he’d make them fish for people.
I remember singing the children’s song “I
Will Make You Fishers of Men” with the motions of casting with a fishing pole.
As much fun we had with this as kids, for Jesus fishing for people had a very
different image. Matthew knew about fishing with a hook and line, which he
mentioned in 17:27. But Jesus saw Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea.
This word for fishing net is only used here and in Mark’s account of this story
(1:16). It refers specifically to a small, round net. It was used near shore by
wading in to the water, casting it in deeper water. When it is drawn in, it
closes like a bag with fish inside. The more common word for fish net was for
the large trawl nets dragged behind two boats in deep water. Unlike hook and
line fishing, fishing for people with Jesus does not involve using bait to
attract people to something they don’t want. With the image of the small, round
casting net, fishing for people with Jesus implies getting into the water where
the fish live and getting close enough to them to spread the net over them. An
Alban Institute study concluded that many churches assume that if churches
serve their own people well, outsiders will see this and want to become insiders,
but they miss any desire to find out about the spiritual needs of outsiders.[1]
How does the image of the small, round
casting net inform the way you think of our mission of fishing for people with
Jesus? Energy and enthusiasm flourish; distractions and division fade, the
sharper our focus on fishing for people with Jesus.
Jesus built his life centered around his
mission of fishing for people. If we are to follow him, we must also build our
lives and our church around Jesus’ mission of fishing for people.
As we saw in John last week, Jesus began his
ministry alongside John the Baptist in Judea. When Herod Antipas arrested John
the Baptist, Jesus withdrew to Galilee, not to escape Herod’s threats but to
put himself at the hub of Herod’s domain. Herod had to be thinking to himself,
“I got rid of that pest John the Baptist, and now I have to contend with this
Jesus. Why can’t these preachers leave me alone?” Jesus left Nazareth where he
had been raised and made his home base in Capernaum, which was the largest city
on the Sea of Galilee and the crossroads of commerce and communication for
Galilee and Judea. Matthew wrote that this fulfilled Isaiah 9:1, that light
would shine in darkness in Galilee of the Gentiles. Though historically part of
Israel, for centuries Galilee had a large Gentile population, and the Romans
concentrated on Capernaum because of its commercial importance, especially for
tax collecting. So Jesus went fishing for people where people were coming and
going.
Everyone knew that John the Baptist had
introduced Jesus. And they recognized that Jesus picked up where John the
Baptist left off, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom: “Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near.” Where John the Baptist preached by the Jordan
River in the Judean wilderness waiting for word of mouth to bring people to
him, Jesus strategically went to where the people were. He taught in the
synagogues He brought a healing ministry to the sick. Like fishing with a casting
net, wading into the water with the fish, Jesus’ mission took him to be with
people so he could fish for people.
So when Jesus called Andrew and Peter, John
and James as his first disciples, he was calling them to join him in the
mission of fishing for people. No elaborate, confusing instructions, just one
simple focus: “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Energy and
enthusiasm flourish; distractions and division fade, the sharper our focus on
fishing for people with Jesus.
For 1st Christian Church of
Odessa, this transition time is not just waiting for a new pastor. You are
standing on the threshold of a whole new era of mission. You are poised to
reinvent yourselves for unprecedented ministry in the 21st century.
You will be facing unanticipated changes and challenging decisions. You will
have to sort through a myriad of controversial opinions. Unity will not come by
navigating through competing philosophies, personalities and preferences. Unity
will only come by sharpening your focus on your purpose, your mission of
proclaiming the Gospel to people beyond the church, of fishing for people with
Jesus.
Evangelism is not about programs and
techniques, but love for God, church and people. Evangelism is about inviting
people to church and introducing Jesus to them. People seldom come to church
because of advertising or activities. People come to church because someone
they know invited them. The invitation may be to an activity, group or worship,
but the personal invitation is the essential ingredient! And people stay with a
church if they form relationships there. Studies show they need to make five
friends within a month or a little more to stay.
People who are hungry for an encounter with
God in an authentic community want to know that God is really among you, as I
have reminded you that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:25. In his
commentary on this passage, Douglas Hare wrote, “Our task is to share a faith
that is exciting enough to be contagious.” (p. 31) We talked about this kind of
excitement at Leadership Conversation on January 15 when discussing Paul
Nixon’s assertion that churches must chose fun over drudgery.[2] Paul
is clear in 1 Corinthians that disunity was killing their fun. The solution is
to take the focus off of competing personalities and unite for the purpose of
proclaiming the Gospel.
Paul wrote that he did not come with eloquent
wisdom but with the power of the cross of Christ. (v. 17) Evangelism depends on
the power of Jesus’ word, “Follow me!” Not worship styles, theological schools,
social or political agendas. Not how well we argue for God. The Holy Spirit is
quite capable of convincing people through Scripture to follow Jesus. Our part
is to invite people to join us in following Jesus. Energy and enthusiasm
flourish; distractions and division fade, the sharper our focus on fishing for
people with Jesus.
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