Matthew 4:18-22
These verses have been preached since they were recorded,
and it has often been wondered, “why” would Jesus pick common men, men who made
their living fishing, when He could have picked anyone? I believe that the common, not the elite, the
unlearned over the educated, has not been the model that the world or the
church has wanted. I believe that Buell
H. Kazee may have hit on the reason in his book “Faith is the Victory.”
Pastor Kazee, said the following on page 17 of the book
listed above: “The glory of Israel among the
heathen nations was always a display of what God could do for a people who were
His for a possession. God was always the
big attraction. Israel was merely a
people chosen of God as the body of flesh through which He could manifest Himself
to the world. When they trusted in Him
and let Him do great things for them, the heathen were impressed and God was
glorified. But the modern church, the
body through which and on behalf of which God meant to demonstrate His power to
the world and thus attract the lost unto Himself, has substituted its own works
for His, and set up, after a world order, a great business institution in an
attempt to impress the world.
If God should
succeed through our great promotional organizations, He would get little or no
credit for it, for, according to the world’s estimate, the set-up we have ought
to succeed anyway. It has all the
expertness of the world in it – organization, efficiency, method, psychology,
psychiatry, learning, culture, world appeal, and all that it takes to be
successful after the wisdom of the flesh.
If it should succeed it would be apparent that we, not God, did it. All of this is the product of the carnal
mind.”
Do you understand how offensive it was to the Jewish leaders
that Jesus had not set under one of their great teachers of the day, and who
does He pick for disciples; fishermen.
This is Matthew’s account of what happened: “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw
two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net
into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And
going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John
his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he
called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
(Matthew 4:18-22 ESV
Is this still happening, men leaving their businesses and
following Jesus, and the answer is yes, men and women are still hearing Jesus
call out to them; “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Let me share with you three
examples; one is a RN nurse named Marcia, who God called to leave nursing and
become a missionary to Asia with Pioneer Bible translators. This is her story, she had a passion for
nursing and yet as she prayed for God’s will to be done in her life, she felt
the call to the Bible-less people of the world, and she followed Jesus. Now let me tell you about Colin Millar, a
very successful businessman who is a man of prayer, and God called him out of
the business world to awaken Christians to the power of prayer. He how leads a ministry called “Igniting
Prayer Action,” Colin also heard Jesus saying follow me and he did. And then Craig Hearn, also a business man who
came to know Jesus Christ, who for years supplemented his income by playing his
saxophone in local bars in the Houston area.
Craig did much like James and
John, after being invited to follow Jesus, dropped his nets (so to speak) and
followed Jesus, and now his saxophone, his voice, and his life are at the
disposal of the Lord. Craig’s ministry
is called “Burning Hope” and the Lord Jesus is using Craig in many areas of
Houston and the world, to show His power.
“As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15 ESV)
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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