Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the
sea gathering fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and
sorted the good into vessels and threw the bad away. Matthew 13:47
When Adam and Eve first
walked in the garden, they were free in every sense.
They were free to eat whatever they wanted.
They were free to
walk wherever they pleased.
They were even free
to eat the fruit of the tree that would mean their death.
God did not put barbed wire
around this tree to keep them from getting at it. All he gave them was a
warning which they were free to disregard.
Into this freedom walks
Satan with a net made of lies in order to overcome them and bring them out of
freedom into bondage.
"You're
not going to die if you eat that fruit; for God knows in the day that you eat
of that tree your eyes will open and you will be as God with knowledge of good
and evil."
So, of their own free will,
Adam and Eve walked right into the net and were caught.
No wonder the world
has so many nets dipping and dragging for human souls.
There's the
economic net which makes all kinds of promises and brings you into bondage to
the loan shark, the finance company, your favorite department store.
There's the
ideological net that holds multitudes of people in bondage to dreams that will
never ever come true.
The political net
that holds millions of people into bondage in such a way that they are
tyrannized at every turn.
Worst of all is the
religious net that brings both mind and spirit into bondage.
It's true to say that the
entire world in which you and I live, is wrapped in a net, which is the net of
death and the fear of death.
Every one of us lives
inside this net, and there is no way out of it, apart from a miracle from God.
As long as we are born of the flesh, we can run around in circles and think we
are having an adventure, but we know in our hearts that we are in prison, we
are bound.
It's no accident,
therefore, that the one who captured our first parents in a net and has held
their children, including us, in that net ever since, should have the captives
snatched out of his control also by means of a net.
Again…the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown
into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
When he had ceased speaking
he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a
catch."
If we had been among those fish that were in
Peter's boat that day, it would have been a strange experience.
Here we are swimming hungrily through the sea looking for something to
eat, when we are drawn to a spot, surrounded by a crowd of fish and suddenly
lifted by a net into Peter's boat, where we lie flopping around gasping for
oxygen.
Now suppose, as the final destination of this journey out on the Sea of
Galilee, we end up, not on somebody's dinner table dead and cooked, but we
become food for others, while remaining alive and free.
The divisions of chapters and verses in
Scripture were not in the original manuscripts.
While many of these chapter and verse divisions are helpful, many times
they are arbitrary. For instance the revelation which begins in Luke 5:1 actually continues into Luke 6:11. The passage begins with fish being
caught into Peter's boat; it ends with human "fish" being caught into
God's net of Sabbath Rest.
"On a Sabbath, while he was going
through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some of the ears of
grain rubbing them in their hands. Some of the Pharisees said, "Why are
you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?" And Jesus
answered, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and
those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the
Presence which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat and also gave it
to those with him?" Luke
6: 1-4
We're looking at freedom, because "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
From the time Adam and Eve were caught in
Satan's net in the Garden, the human race has been caught in the bondage of
labored death.
The Lord says, "In the sweat of your face you shall
eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are
dust, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:19
The human race has been in bondage from that
day…labor, weariness, heaviness, overshadowed by death with one respite…the
Sabbath.
The Sabbath, the gift that God gave to man—one
day out of seven where they would have a foretaste of divine freedom and peace…
…until Jesus comes with this net and lifts those who will let
themselves be lifted by it into true liberty—Sabbath rest seven days a week.
"How come your
disciples are doing that which it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"
…Because I am
their Sabbath. I am their freedom…I'm their life…
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release
to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those
who are oppressed." Luke 4:18
"If you are my disciples you will
continue in my word and you will know the truth and the truth will make you
free."
John
8:32
Free in the Sabbath rest of God.
Free from the death-labor of this world.
The net that Jesus brings into this world
lifts us out of death-labor into the liberty and freedom of God's Sabbath rest.
"Again the
kingdom of heaven is as a net thrown into the sea
which gathered fish of every
kind."
The kingdom net gathers those who let
themselves be lifted by it into freedom, first of all, from sin and death.
"There is, therefore, now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death." Roman 8:1
The law of sin and death has control over our
lives — until we enter the Lord's mysterious net….
For the first time in our lives, now that we are in his net, we are no
longer in bondage to sin and death. Now we have power over them.
We are being lifted to the place where we don't have to be pushed
around by that sin; we can "push sin around."
We don't have to be inwardly in fear of death as we have been all our
lives—we can be free. We can walk out of whatever bondage has held us in its
grip.
Jesus' gospel: You are free so
stop living a slave. Don't let sin push you around any more! ... Or fear... Or Satan himself. You don't have to!
The law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
So you begin to take authority over sin and death.
Again…the kingdom of
heaven is like a net thrown into the sea gathering fish of every kind.
The net of the kingdom gathers those who let
themselves be lifted by it into freedom from the bondage to the idolatry of
the written code —legalism.
Such is the confidence we have through
Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as
having come from us; our sufficiency is from God, who has qualified us to be
ministers of a new covenant, not a written code but in the Spirit; for the
written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read
a veil lies over their minds; but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is
removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being changed into his likeness, from one degree of glory to another; for
this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:
4-6, 15-18
For multitudes of people, the Christian faith
is a written code; one has this brand of written code, another has that brand.
The Christian faith is not a written code, but
a relationship with the crucified, risen, living, personal Messiah.
The written code kills; the Spirit gives life.
"You search the Scriptures for it
is in them that you think you have life and it is they that testify to
me!"
Whenever you take out of Scripture a
principle, a rule, which can be applied separately from a personal relationship
with Jesus, you have entered into legalism—you are sliding into bondage.
The kingdom net comes down and fishes us out of the slough of despair
into which we fall every time we wake up again and realize we just simply don't
have in us the power to live by a written code... we can't do it.
The kingdom net lifts us into that place
where, with unveiled face, we behold the glory of the Lord, and by seeing him,
are changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another by his
Spirit.
The kingdom net lifts us into a living,
personal, continuous, burning relationship with Jesus so that his words are no
longer simply ink on a printed page, but are burning in our hearts.
The kingdom of heaven is like a net
thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
The kingdom net lifts those who yield to it into freedom from bondage
to religious flesh.
For freedom Christ has set us free.
Stand fast therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. Galatians
5:1
What slavery? The slavery of religious flesh
which says, "You've got to be circumcised…You have to observe certain
days…You have to adhere to these disciplines…"
Where commitment to God is measured by certain
specific, measurable external standards, you can live by all those external
standards and yet be untouched by the fire of God, un-melted, unbroken, hard as
a stone. You are living by the principles. You're going through all the things
that "prove" that you are born again.
You have the right "vision"…you have the proper
"feeling"…you know it all…but your heart is dead.
The kingdom net came down and took us out of
that into a relationship with Jesus—a walk with Jesus that produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
No written
code.
And those who belong to Christ have
crucified the flesh …
especially the religious flesh with
its passions and desires.
The kingdom of heaven is like a net
which was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
The most wonderful thing about this net is that, once you have been
lifted by it into freedom, you become the means by which God sets others free.
When you are caught in this net, you become part of it. You are the net by
which, in harmony with brothers and sisters, God now lifts other people out of
bondage to sin and death, bondage to a written code, and bondage to religious
flesh.
All we have to do is be out there among the
multitudes of this world, where God has put us, and live as he guides us, and
speak as he gives us utterance—and when he
gives us utterance.
God in his own time and way will draw the
fish. And in his own time and way he will lift the net.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, because he has anointed us that we should preach good news to the poor and proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and set at liberty those
who are oppressed.
Luke
4
Surely
if God has sent us to do this, we can do it!