“The Making Of Fishermen” Mark 1:14-20

St. John’s – East Moline 01/22/06

Intro.: Make disciples of all nations! Preach the gospel to every creature! Declare the redemptive acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light! We here at St. John’s know that this is our task, but the problem is that many of us find it much easier to talk about it than to actually do it. Why is that? Some of our hesitancy can be attributed to the evil that works against the Gospel from without, but more often the barrier stems from within; from our own feelings of inadequacy. We may look at the task before us, a tumultuous sea filled with souls to be caught for the Lord, and then we look at ourselves and ask, “Why even bother?”

Why bother? Because with the Lord we do not want any to perish, but rather that they come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, and because this is the purpose for which Christ has established his Church among us. While the primary application of this Gospel lesson is certainly to the apostles, and by extension to pastors, it also speaks to every one of you, as the Lord reveals what it takes to make a fisher of men. In short it takes a faithful teacher, a great message, a promising call, and a willing student.

I. A Faithful Teacher.

The making of a fisher of men begins with a faithful teacher of God’s Word. Today’s Gospel presents us with a number of such faithful teachers.

A. It begins with John the Baptizer, the preparatory teacher, who was sent to build a royal highway in the wilderness for Jesus by leveling the mountains and raising the valleys. Offering the faithful Word of repentance and forgiveness of sins, he pointed all people to Jesus. Through His life and message he prepared the way for Christ to come into so many lives; a good number of whom later became followers of Jesus. But in all things John recognized that he was only to prepare the way for the greater teacher, who was Jesus.

As our lesson says upon John’s arrest it was time for Jesus to embark upon His public ministry of teaching in the region of Galilee. It was there, in the middle of an uncultured and notoriously rebellious region, that Jesus began to teach the truths about God’s kingdom and the way of salvation. As the Word made flesh He taught powerfully with miracles and parables, through example and sacrifice, and with unquestionable authority and absolute clarity. In Galilee He revealed himself to his disciples as the supreme teacher who would make them fishers of men and equip them to be faithful teachers. Through them and their successors He would then continue His work by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was these first teachers, trained by Jesus, Himself, who offered the foundation upon which Christ would build His church. They have taught us everything we need to know to have life and salvation. As Jesus promised they were given the Holy Spirit under whose inspiration they wrote the New Testament Scriptures so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name. Because of these assistant teachers of Christ and their testimony we are made wise unto salvation, and thoroughly equipped for service to the Lord.

B. The common motivation behind all of these good teachers was love. None of them taught for self-glorification. John was arrested and eventually beheaded for his unwavering message. Jesus, the perfect teacher, was handed over to the chief priests, elders, and scribes for his message of mercy, and was crucified for His faithful declaration of Himself as the promised Messiah. And all but one of the apostles is believed to have suffered a martyr’s death for their bold Gospel teaching. The sole motivation for them was love; the selfless love of God for sinful people like us.

C. Still today the Lord blesses His church with faithful teachers through whom Christ continues His work. Over the years you have known dedicated, faithful pastors, who have served you in God’s selfless love, some continue to live as examples among you like Pastor Heino and Pastor Dumer. But there are also other teachers among you: Sunday school, Bible class, and confirmation teachers who commit themselves to the Lord’s service. They do it, not because they want glory or satisfaction, but because the love of God compels them. They are people who have been deeply touched by the message of God’s grace bestowed upon them in Christ. Because God so loved them that He sent His One and only Son to purchase their salvation they want to share that message with others in the hope that still more will become fishers of men and teachers of God’s grace to the world. They want you to join them in proclaiming the great message which is able to make for the Lord fishers of men.

II. A Great Message.

The message which the Lord has given us to have and to share is the message of the Gospel. It is the message which reveals the fullness of time, the nearness of the kingdom, and the gift received through repentance and faith.

A. The first part of Jesus message in our Gospel lesson is, “The time has come!” In other words the day of our redemption is upon us. Prophets and kings wanted to see what the apostle’s saw, and longed to hear what we hear, but didn’t. We are the privileged ones who are living in the fullness of time. The light of salvation has come into our world to dispel the darkness and usher in the dawn of a new creation. The long awaited Messiah has appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The promised Savior has died upon the cross to receive in His flesh and upon His soul the punishment for this world’s sins. This same Jesus, who is the very Son of God, has also risen again to give eternal life to all who believe. He has fulfilled the words spoken by those who longed for His appearing, as He said of Himself: “Today is the scripture fulfilled in your hearing.” The time of our salvation, and the salvation of the whole world, is now through Christ...

B. Because as the second part of Jesus message declares, through Him the “the Kingdom of God has come near.” The kingdom is present wherever Christ is present in His power and grace, offering the forgiveness of sins and the open door to the kingdom. God’s kingdom exists right here in Christ’s Church where He comes to us by the Holy Spirit in His Word, where He comes to us under the bread and wine, and where He pours out upon us the cleansing waters of Holy Baptism. Through Jesus we have access to our heavenly Father and His kingdom. It is not far away, closed off from us in heaven. It’s right here, right now as the people of God are gathered in His name. Right here and right now we are able to enter it through Spirit worked repentance and faith.

C. Jesus invites us, knowing that the time has come and His kingdom is near us, to repent and believe the Good News.

In the training of fishers of men, there is an ongoing process, of dying to the flesh through the Law and being made alive again in the spirit through the Gospel. Through the Law God would have us daily be convicted of our sins against Him and our fellow men. This involves not only regret that we have been unsuccessful in hiding our sins from Him or others, but true sorrow over them as wounds to our Father’s loving heart, and the very instruments which pierced Jesus and nailed Him to the cross. After such contrition has been worked in us, then the Lord calls us to daily return to the certain promise of forgiveness and eternal life He provides through His Son. When we believe the Good News of Jesus and trust that the Father has forgiven us for His sake, then we know that we are true citizens of God’s kingdom, and have become heirs with Christ of the treasures of heaven.

This is the great message which the Lord uses to make simple fishermen, and for that matter simple farmers, laborers, clerks, housewives, and even little children into fishers of men. Not everyone has been called to be an apostle, evangelist, or pastor and teacher, but we can all be fishers of men in the little ponds where the Lord has placed us.

III. A Call With A Promise.

A. In our Gospel Christ issued a call with a promise: “Follow me and I will make your fishers of men!” He did not just sit back and wait for the disciples to come to Him; He went out and found them. He did not wait for them to “get themselves saved or make their decision for Christ”. He chose and called them to be His disciples. And look where He found them – in very common and unexpected places; busy at work along the Sea of Galilee. They were not counted among the wise and learned, but regular fishermen who probably never if told the things they would do in Jesus’ name would have believed it. But Jesus came to them with the promising call, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” With this call they left everything and began their training.

B. Christ still issues His promising call today. He has called us to faith through the Gospel and poured His Spirit into our hearts in Baptism, so that we may belong to Him, and serve under Him in His kingdom. While we have not all been called into the Office of the Public Ministry, as Peter, Andrew, James and John were, we have all been called into the royal priesthood to share the Gospel with others. Through sinners like us, made holy through His blood, Christ is calling yet more sinners to repentance and faith.

We like Jesus cannot be content sitting back and waiting for the fish to jump into the boat. It is important that we repeat His call and offer His promise to others. If we look at our community we will find that there are many unbelieving and unchurched people who have not yet heard the message of the Gospel and Jesus’ promising call to them. There are still many within our own congregation whose spiritual welfare is in jeopardy, who long to hear Jesus say to them again, “Follow me! And I will make you fishers of men! Follow me, and I will accomplish much more with your life than what you are doing with it now!”

IV. A Willing Student.

The last thing that goes into the making of God’s fishermen is a willing follower and student of the Gospel.

A. In our Gospel the disciples left everything to follow Jesus. They left their nets, their boats, and their business behind for a time to become what Christ promised to make of them. When Jesus called they were moved to become his faithful, willing disciples, and thus began their three years of seminary training.

Last week I was blessed to be back at our own seminary, to see such men as these. Some of the most brilliant minds of our time who have set aside the dreams of fame and fortune to become fishers of men. Men who have left lucrative careers and taken their families away from luxurious lifestyles in response to Jesus’ call. And today I pray that you will thank the Lord, not only for Peter, Andrew, James and John, but also for men like Jacob Corzine, Jason Iwen, Adam Schnabel and Brian Cozgrove, who have heard the Lord’s call and have dropped their nets to follow him.

B. And I challenge each and every one of you also, surrounded by such witnesses, to hear the promising call of Jesus to you, and prove yourselves willing followers, students and disciples. If in the past you have found Sunday morning breakfast to be more important than feeding upon God’s Word in Bible study, then stop and listen to Jesus calling “Follow me!”

If like Jonah you have responded to the Lord’s call to proclaim His Word to your neighbors, perhaps even to people you do not like or of whom you are afraid, by running the other way understand that the time has come and His kingdom is near.

Like those disciples of old, the Lord did not wait for you to come to Him, but found you while you were still a sinner and came to you. He called you by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel to turn from the empty way of life, to become His disciple. He worked in your heart repentance and faith in the Good News that because of His holy life, sacrifice and resurrection, you have forgiveness and are saved for eternal life.

You are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the willing followers and students of Christ. He has made you messengers of the Good News, to issue His promising call to others: “Follow me! And I will make you fishers of men!” Amen.