And I Will Make You Fishers of Men

And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the

brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And

Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.”

And immediately they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1: 16-18

When Jesus gave his last instructions to the disciples at the end of the gospel of Matthew, he didn’t tell them to save souls. He didn’t tell them to bring men to decision. He told them to go out and make disciples.

To this day Jesus isn’t looking for church members.

He isn’t looking for admirers.

He isn’t looking for nice people.

He’s looking for disciples.

Our problem is that many of us have the rather morbid idea of what a disciple is.

Many of us think of a disciple as a kind of “spiritual heavy” who gives off an aroma of profundity.

“Wilber’s a real disciple”…which usually means that Wilber has a look of total commitment on his face, he can quote scripture, and he never misses Bible study.

No doubt there are people in our fellowships that are afraid of that word, discipleship, because it makes them think of hard things---like discipline, self-denial, sacrifice, voluntary poverty, asceticism, work, persecution.

This is compounded by the fact that most of the people who think of themselves as true disciples often make a production of it. They give the impression that they are paying a terrible price! “Oh, it’s so hard!” is written all over their face.

So what is a disciple? A disciple is nothing other than a pupil – a learner.

A disciple is a person who has placed himself/herself voluntarily under the authority of a certain teacher. And the important thing to the disciple is not that he is a disciple, but that he has a wonderful teacher. Her mind is on her teacher not on herself.

The one desire of a disciple is to soak up everything the teacher has to give.

When the teacher happens to be the Crucified and Risen Son of God and you are the disciple,

the major consideration is not how hard it’s going to be,

or how much you are going to have to give up.

The major consideration is that this teacher, Jesus, is transforming you into a man, a woman, of God – into a New Creation. He is making you into something brand new as you walk in his way--as you follow him.

Granted, you have to decide before you start whether you want him for a teacher badly enough that you are willing to put his claim on your life far above mother, father, wife, husband, brother, sister, children, even your own life.

Do you want him badly enough for a teacher that you are willing to turn yourself utterly and completely over to him? Once the answer to that is yes, then the issue is not whether you have the aptitude for persecution, or whether you have the willpower to cut out all your bad habits. Those are not the issues. Those are his problems not yours.

Jesus will transform you into a man or woman of God as you walk with him and do what he says.

For instance: When Jesus said to Peter, and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men”, he didn’t take them to his office and run a set of tests to see what their aptitude was, he didn’t check their work record to find out what their habits were.

No. He said I am quite able to make you fishers of men. I know what I’m doing. I’ll take care of your shortcomings. All I want you to do is walk with me and learn.

And halfway through the course, Jesus didn’t take Peter aside and say, Simon, I’m sorry, but you just don’t have the right temperament to be a disciple. You better go back you fishing.

He never wrote a letter of rebuke to Andrew which said you never told me up front that you had all those problems. I’m sorry, but you’re too mixed-up to be disciple.

He took those characters and made them into exactly what he said he would.

He made those unstable souls into fishers of men!

If he could do it with them, he can do it with us.

I am going to make you into men and women of God. I am going to make you into latter-day, eleventh-hour prophets. I’m going to cause the word of God to flow from your lips like rivers of living water.

I am going to manifest the kingdom of God through you as the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear---as you follow me.

He’s the teacher. We’re the disciples. We learn from him in two ways, as we walk with him.

First, we learn by trusting him.

No teacher can instruct a pupil if he doesn’t have the pupil's trust. If you don’t trust the teacher, you don’t learn.

This is especially true with Jesus.

He can’t do anything for you if you don’t trust him.

Hence, he tells you, you have to hate father, mother, wife, husband, children, brothers, sisters, even your own life, so that your trust is never divided. That it is utterly and completely on him.

You burn your bridges behind you.

You have no secret fire escapes.

No secret way back to your old life…"just in case”.

Everything is centered on Him. Only when our trust is utterly on Jesus can He begin to teach us. Hence, all through the Scriptures we see the emphasis. Believe! Believe! “I am the bread of heaven. He who comes to me will not hunger. He who believes on me will not thirst.” Believe!

“If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. As the scripture has said, He who believes in me out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."

Jesus says to the blind man he has just healed, “’Do you believe in the son of man?’ And he says, ‘Who is he?’ Jesus answers, ‘You’re looking at him.’ ‘Lord, I believe!’ ”

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes on me shall never die.”

Jesus can take care of any mistake we make. He can turn our blunders into victories. But there is one thing he will not abide; He will not abide our unbelief.

Unbelief is at the root of every spiritual problem in the disciple's life.

Jesus says, Look, I’ve manifested myself to you. I’ve shown you the power of my blood to set you free from sin. I’ve given you peace with the Father. So how come you are going back into your old unbelief? How come you are walking right back into your old fears? How come you are on that treadmill of guilt again? Why aren’t you trusting me? Why aren’t you believing me?

Jesus never sympathizes with our unbelief. Never.

Jesus was extremely patient with his disciples. He did not demoralize them with they did stupid things. He didn't demean them when they asked ridiculous questions.

But there was one place where Jesus would not give them an inch: when they manifested a lack of faith. When the disciples panicked in the boat, Jesus didn’t say, I understand. You’re just a bit weak in the faith. It’ll come after awhile.

No! He said, "Where is your faith?! Why did you doubt o yea of little faith?!"

When they couldn’t heal the epileptic, he refused to coddle them. “O, faithless and perverse generation," Jesus exclaimed, "how long am I going to have to put up with you?”

Jesus does not see our unbelief as a weakness, nor does he see it as something we can’t help because we are so smart. He sees it as pride,

stubbornness,

hardness of heart.

He says, Look to me. When you start to really trust me, then I can teach you.

And that’s his word to you, dear Reader…Stop looking at yourself to see how committed you are.

What else can you see when your eyes are on yourself?

How can you measure your own commitment?

As long as you are preoccupied with your own spiritual state it will be an up-and-down ride. “I’m not really committed today. I’ve had two weeks of bad going", or, "Today I feel much more spiritual".

The Master says, don’t look at yourself. Don’t be measuring your commitment. And don’t be looking at your brother…Look at me! You will never increase in your commitment by looking at yourself. You will never learn from me until you get your eyes off your brother and sister and look at me.

Get your eyes on your teacher.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your soul.”

The second way we learn from Jesus is by doing.

For instance: When the disciples said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us how to pray," he did not say, Okay fellows, we are going to have a ten-week seminar on prayer. Every Wednesday night at 8:00 I’m going to get you clued in on prayer. No! He said, start to pray. “When you pray say, Our Father who art in heaven.” And once you’ve started keep at it – don’t give up.

“Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.”

He didn’t give them theory. You don’t learn prayer by getting into theory. You don’t learn prayer by reading books about it. You learn to pray by praying.

When you start to pray (even though you feel like a dummy, you feel inadequate, you feel foolish, you feel stupid, you feel ignorant) Jesus himself, your teacher, comes inside you and helps you through his Spirit, with groanings which cannot be uttered.

We don’t know how to pray as we ought, but he helps us.

When Jesus sent out the twelve, and again when he sent out the seventy, he didn’t give them a thousand details as to the method. He didn't lecture them on technique. He didn’t go into the background of the spiritual world and the unseen realms of the spirits. He simply told them, “Preach the kingdom. Heal the sick.”

And if we had been among those disciples, we would have questioned the Master's approach, "What are you talking about, Lord? We don’t even understand the first thing about the kingdom of God. We don’t know how to heal. Lord, first you have to give us a training program."

And Jesus would say this IS your training program. The only way you are ever going to learn these things is to do them.

So whenever our Lord tells us to go out and feed the multitudes, we do it.

We go out and feed the multitudes even if all we have is five loaves and two fish.

And if he tells us to take the gospel out to the uttermost parts of the earth as a testimony to all nations, then we do it---beginning in the place where we are.

And if he tells you to open Scriptures to a hungry brother or sister, you don’t sit around and suck your thumb and plead your inadequacy, you get your thumb out of your mouth and you open your Bible and start unwrapping the Scriptures to this person. To your amazement, you will find amazing things coming out of your mouth, things you never dreamed you knew!

I’m not saying that discipleship is an easy life. Surely the world that put our Master on the cross isn’t going to make it any easier for us.

If you follow Jesus, of course, there will be persecution. And on your part there is going to be discipline, self-denial, even danger.

But discipleship is not that morbid legalism that so many people these days are making it out to be when they proudly announce: “I believe in discipleship! I don’t believe in the gifts – I believe in discipleship!”

Discipleship is simply walking with your Teacher day after day.

You aren't walking through that valley alone. You’ve got a Master. You’ve got a teacher. You’ve got a Savior. You’ve got a friend right down in those messy circumstances with you.

And he’s going to get you through. And he’s going to make you into exactly what he said he would, if you’ll trust him and do what he says.

The Master's word to readers who already consider themselves disciples is: Get your eye off your discipleship and off your fears, and off all those reservations you have about those other phony believers, and get them on me.

And the Master's word to readers who are still standing at the distance because you are scared stiff of the word discipleship: "It is the thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” Don’t be afraid. Come on follow me. I will make you fishers of men.

And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

May God help us to do the same.