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Mark 1:10-19 "Go Fishing with Jesus"
by The Rev. Clancy Nixon
Church of the Holy Spirit
Ashburn, Virginia
January 22, 2006
It's Sunday. It's warm. Nice day to go fishing. How about you and I go fishing
together? How does that sound? Getting outside, doing something different. Simon
Peter and his brother Andrew went fishing, except for them, it wasn't different. It was the
same thing they always did, day in, day out. Fishing was big business on the Sea of
Galilee, but these brothers were not big players in the fishing business. Simon and
Andrew cast their little hand-thrown nets with weights on them while they stood there on
the shore. I bet they wish they could have owned one of the three hundred fishing boats
the historian Josephus says worked the Sea of Galilee at that time. The boats had much
bigger nets that caught more and bigger fish in deeper water. Maybe one day.
Fish for your Bibles for me, and turn up Mark 1:13. We are on page 990 of your
blue pew Bibles, in Mark Chapter one, verse 13. Here comes Jesus. Satan had tempted
him while he was in the desert forty days. What Mark does not tell us, but we learn from
reading the Gospel of John, is that a full year passes between Mark Chapter 1, verse 13
and verse 14. Jesus ministers for a year in Judah, before he returns north to Galilee. Mark
has Jesus' announcement of his public ministry immediately follow his temptation by
Satan because Mark wants us to get it that Jesus is announcing a victory when he
proclaims the good news of the Kingdom. Jesus says, verse 15, "The time has come.
The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
The King James translates this as "The time is fulfilled." this is Kairos time, the
existential moment when Chronos time seems to stand still, history cracks open, and
Jesus proclaims himself to be the hinge of history. His public proclamation of the
Kingdom of God is good news. This is the gospel the good news, the center of Jesus'
message: "the Kingdom of God is near." The rule and reign of God has broken through
time and space to occupy earth in an entirely new way. This is the good news. There is
only one authentic gospel. Jesus preached it and embodied it; the disciples learned it; they
passed it on to us in the form of the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul warned us against ever receiving any other gospel than Jesus
Christ and him crucified for our sins. Make no mistake, another gospel is being preached
from many pulpits in our land today. Often the message sounds good, but it's watered
down; it's not the full gospel. This new gospel speaks of God's love, but leaves out the
reality of sin, the need for repentance, and the possibility of judgment. Somehow,
preachers have decided that they know better than Jesus or the Bible. No one has the
authority to change the message once for all delivered to the saints, Jude 3. No one. We
have only one commission to preach at all, and that comes from Jesus; so preachers must
be true to his message, or they have no warrant to speak at all. Jesus warned us that there
is a form of godliness which lacks power. Beautiful vestments and fancy church buildings
are not necessarily correlated with the preaching of the full gospel. At the end of Mark's
gospel, we're told that there will be signs following those who believe. Paul said, the
gospel IS the power of God. The gospel has the power to drive away the Devil and his
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host. Look at verse 25 with a word of command from Jesus, "Come out of him!" the
demons scatter. The authentic gospel will lead to transformed lives, and deliverance and
healing will not be unusual. By their fruit we'll know them. Amen?
The good news of the Kingdom reign of God is undeniably a victory over evil and
death, but it is not yet the final victory, which will come only at the end of time, when
Jesus come in power to judge the world. In this in-between time, we still live with
ambiguity. Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God is near just at the moment that John
the Baptist is sent to prison. The spiritual news is good, but the political news is bad.
John's imprisonment is foreshadowing Jesus' betrayal and death. Jesus' death brought
new life and victory, but the gospel still brought persecution to many of his followers.
The news is very good, but it brings opposition.
Jesus announces the New Era: God is near now, reigning. In verse 15, Jesus says
we need to do two things: repent and believe. We'd like to believe without repenting, but
there is no new life unless the old life has died. We don't like to repent, do we? No.
Change is hard. But it's necessary. God loves us just as we are, but he loves us too much
to leave us there. When Jesus gives the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5, Peter is so
embarrassed by his lack of faith that he says, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful
man." He knew his own sinfulness, and despite his words, he knew his need for a savior.
Humble Peter got it right. We need both repentance and belief. I thought you might get a
chuckle out of this fake version of the General Confession I read yesterday, which
illustrates the lack of power in what some churches preach. Here is the fake General
Confession:
"Easy-going Father, we have occasionally been guilty of errors of judgment.
We have lived under the deprivations of heredity and the disadvantages of environment.
We have done the best we could under the circumstances; and we are glad to think that
we are fairly normal. Deal lightly with our infrequent lapses, O Lord, according to the
unlimited tolerance which we have every right to expect from thee. Grant us, O indulgent
Father, that we may hereafter live a harmless and happy life and keep our self-respect.
Amen." (David Head, He Sent Leanness) Good Lord, deliver us from such presumption,
and bring us fruit in keeping with true repentance.
Back to our text. In Mark 1:16 in your Bibles is this odd impression we get of
Jesus telling fishermen whom it appears he has just met, to follow him, and they leave
everything, and follow him. But that is not what is up here. We know from the Gospel
of John that it's not just Jesus' magnetic personality or his divine power that draws them.
The fishermen already knew Jesus for at least a year, because John the Baptist
commended Jesus to them. "Look there is the Lamb of God." They saw Jesus perform
miracles. I think these fishermen were waiting for the signal from Jesus. He had already
called them privately; this was their public call, their sending. Their relationship was
already established.
The first call is to relationship to Jesus Jesus said, "Follow me;" the call to
ministry is second then he said, "I will make you fishers of men." The first call never
goes away, and the second call comes with the first, from the beginning. Jesus didn't
keep new converts from telling others about him, though he sometimes told people not to
tell about his miracles.
Notice: Jesus went to them, on their turf. In verse 16, it appears that Jesus might
be on a stroll by the sea, but I ask you: do you think Jesus did anything haphazardly? No,
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Jesus was fishing for men, catching those who would follow him. He was deliberate in
recruiting and selecting people to follow him, and so should we be.
Notice who he called ordinary working men. There is nothing in these four that
strikes you immediately or even later that these are key men. They are not particularly
accomplished, not always courageous or even loyal, not wealthy, not educated, not very
pious. Acts chapter 4 verse 13 says that in the eyes of the Sanhedrin, they were
"unschooled and ordinary men." They are fishermen. What the 2 pairs of brothers do
show here is an obedient temper, and a willingness to sacrifice, work, and learn. That's
what we look for, too. When Jesus called them, they came immediately. They dropped
everything to follow him. Andrew left his nets; Peter dropped his nets, and probably his
wife wasn't too pleased about this venture; and James and John left their nets, their boat,
and their father. They all left their livelihood on the water to follow this itinerant preacher
and miracle worker. They left their paid work to accomplish a task to become fishers
of men. Back in Luke 5, where Jesus also calls them to become fishers of men, Peter
evidently feels that he must remind Jesus of the real sacrifices that they have made, when
Peter says, "We have left everything to follow you." Following Jesus is worth the cost,
but the cost is real.
How about you? Think about it. What have you sacrificed in order to follow
Jesus more closely? Have you ever sacrificed your livelihood to follow the call of God?
Your location? Closeness with your family? Your possessions? Your free time to
disciple others? Take some time in silence to write down something you have sacrificed
for Jesus. [pause] Now take some more time to write something that one other person has
sacrificed for you personally so that you could enjoy life with Jesus. This very day, I
encourage you to tell the story of how someone else sacrificed for you. These four
fishermen sacrificed all that and more, for they followed Jesus to their death. According
to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this is the scandal of the cross, the cost of discipleship: that when
Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. The blessing of the cross is that there is
resurrection life on the other side of death. It's a good thing that the old self dies, or we
would still be in bondage to our sins. There is victory in the cross, victory over sin and
death and the devil.
In verse 20, it says "Without delay he called James and John." On this same trip,
Jesus called two others in to join the group. Jesus was an includer. Peter and Andrew
might have been jealous of James and John, since the Zebedee boys had a boat and
servants, but that did not concern Jesus. He is no respecter of persons he is not
particularly impressed with your boat or car, your salary or advanced degrees. Jesus calls
whom he will, when he will. To be fishers of men, we need to do as Jesus did, and
include people.
There is no one that I know who does this better than my wife, Ginger. I
remember one night in November twenty-two years ago when I came alone to a "Big
Chill" party in McLean Gardens in D.C. I was a new lawyer in town, and the party was a
huge sock hop mixer on a sixties theme. I had met Ginger at church, but we had not yet
dated. Ginger spotted that I was alone, and she asked me to join her group of friends. We
danced that night, and for the first time, I saw how fun and kind and beautiful Ginger
really is. We began to do other things together, like a church fundraiser party. While she
was out of the room, without telling her, I volunteered her to serve on my committee.
She did not complain! We fell in love, and married in less than a year. To this day,
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Ginger still is inviting people to go along on things we are already doing. She
understands that this is Jesus' way. There is always room for one more. You include
people in your mission, and they carry on the work.
Not only did Jesus include people, he promised to show the disciples how it was
done, and then he did show them how to fish for people. Notice that it was Jesus'
purpose from the start to make his disciples fishers of men. He would make disciples who
make disciples. Sound familiar? The aim is outreach, but he starts with training a few
believers. Jesus was going places, and he took them with him. He was active, and was
calling these men to evangelistic activity. Understanding is important, but at its root,
Christianity is an active faith more than a bookish faith. The disciples came to understand
more about Jesus over time, but they got to work immediately on fishing for people. This
is an action- reflection model of learning. If you feel your relationship with Jesus is stuck
or stalled, try telling people about Jesus in a more deliberate way. Your discipleship
always includes fishing for people.
Making a disciple requires constant personal attention, like a mother gives a child.
No class, no organization can do this. Sunday worship is a great place to start; then
weekly home group is a great next step in becoming a disciple. But for most of us, not
even those two weekly meetings are enough. We need more time with one or two others
who will be our mentor, our accountability partner, or our prayer partner. We need
advice on the innumerable problems confronting us, any one of which could spell disaster
to our faith. Is it any wonder that about half of all converts to Christianity who profess
Jesus and join the church eventually fall away?
Jesus was there to show his men the ropes. Have you had the experience of
someone who poured their life into you, and trained you how to fish for people? If so,
raise your hand. Most believers have not had this experience. Yet this is what it means to
obey the Great Commission: to make disciples. The only way you know if you are
actually obeying the Great Commission is if your converts are now training their own
converts to make disciples. I was blessed to have met weekly for twelve years with a man
named Ron Soderquist. Ron is with Campus Crusade, and he disciples military officers
and businessmen. Ron taught me how to give my testimony, how to include others, how
to lead others to Christ, how to pray and read the Bible. He is one of my best friends,
because he took the time to show me the ropes, to teach me how to cast a net properly.
If you want to learn how to do a particular ministry, then find someone who does,
and hang out with them! Learn from them what they are doing that you are not, and what
you are doing that they are not. Jesus made disciples who made disciples. This passage
shows that this was his plan from the start. Jesus also taught them how to cast out
demons and heal the sick with a work of command.
Go fishing with Jesus. You'll never be the same.
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