Jesus told the first four disciples, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men". Of all the things they might have expected Him to say, that was probably last on the list. Yet they dropped everything and followed Him. It couldn't have been because they intuitively understood what He meant. It must have had something to do with the fact that he just miraculously filled two boats to the sinking point with...you got it, fish.
No one became a Christian so they could "fish for men". We did it because someone said when you die you go to heaven or you go to hell and hell's a bad place but if you become a Christian you can go to heaven and that's good and we said, "Okay, I'm in". Or we cried out to God 'cause our marriage was messed up, or we didn't have a job, or we were addicted to something, or our hearts were broken, or we had some kind of need and Jesus came in and began to put us back together and we said, "Okay, I'm in". We didn't do it because he said, "fishers of men", we all did it for selfish reasons, and He knows that and it's okay, but there's more.
Jesus would say, "I care about the stuff in your life, I care about what you care about, I want peace and good things for your life, and for the time you spend on this earth between birth and death, but my agenda is to make you into something you're not already...a fisher of men".
Jesus goal is the same now as it was when He called those first four guys, and it isn't to make us more spiritual, or make us holier, or make us smarter, or more disciplined, or a better person, but His goal for me and for you is to follow, and to do in the lives of others, what someone has done in your life. The reason you ARE a Christian is because someone else followed...and fished.
Thank you Andy Stanley for explaining that in such a simple way, and thank you Jesus for making us all fishers of men as we follow You. That's what we're gonna talk about this Sunday at Crossroads at the College Cinema at 9:00AM and 10:30AM. Come early for coffee and donuts. See you there!
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