MPC 3rd May 2007.June 3 - Luke 5 - "Fishing for Men"
Phil Campbell MPC 3rd May 2007.
You've probably heard the line that it's the fish John West rejects that makes John West the best. You'll know that if you've ever bought tinned salmon. Or if you've seen the advertisements of the fisherman fighting off the bear for the best fish; of diving through the rapids for the perfect salmon.
The fact is, John West endures the worst - to bring you the best. And anything less than the best... is thrown out.
I know people who have felt a bit like the throwaway fish when it comes to church. Not quite good enough to fit in. Not quite enough theological big words. Not from the right side of the tracks with the right kind of clothes and the right kind of schooling and the right kind of job. To really fit in. Or maybe someone who's spent so long getting life right you're just convinced in your own mind that you could never be welcome at a place like a church.
This morning I want to introduce you to another kind of fisherman. Who's not like the John West kind of fisherman at all. Because here's a fisherman who takes the kind of fish that others might leave behind. This is a fisherman who rejects the best... to get the rest. Although of course it may well be that the fish that look the best... and think they're the best... aren't really the best at all.
Our fishy story starts in Luke chapter 5; Jesus is standing by the lake; it's morning, the local fishermen who work Lake Galilee have come in from the night shift. And Jesus is surrounded by a crowd of people who are hanging off every word; Luke says there in verse 1 that as Jesus speaks, they're crowding round, listening to the word of God. When Jesus speaks, God speaks.
In chapter 4 his reputation's been growing. And the crowd's getting so big Jesus decides he needs a better place to talk from so they can all hear: so there are a couple of empty fishing boats pulled up to the shore, and the fishermen are on the pebbly beach washing out their nets. Packing up after a tough night of dangling their nets and catching nothing. Which if you were a commercial fisherman back then was bad news, just like it is these days.
And so Jesus says to Simon, he says, "Can I use your boat?" And he gets in Simon's boat, and he says, "Push off a bit." And I guess you can imagine the picture - people standing around the water's edge with the little waves lapping up to their sandals, listening to Jesus as he teaches. Trying to hear him over the seagulls and the sound of the waves splashing on the side of the boats. Disappointed when he finally stops. And it's time to head home.
Now it's at that point Jesus says to Simon, it's time to go fishing again. They're a little way off-shore; and verse 4, Jesus says to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
Now it's one thing for Jesus to be a teacher. Which he's obviously good at. But what Simon Peter wants to do is, he wants to go home to bed. He's been out all night. And it hasn't been a good night at all. He just wants to cut his losses. And so you can see in verse 5, he's not keen.. And he says in verse 5, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught a thing...," and I guess he might be thinking, "Stick to what you're good at. But because you say so, I s'pose we'll give it a go. Because you say so, I'll let down the nets."
And he does. And Luke says in verse 6, they catch such a huge pile of fish that the nets can't handle the weight, and the strands start snapping. So they wave back to the shore to their mates the Zebedee brothers to come out and help them, and they pile both boats so full of fish that they're on the verge of sinking under the weight. Piles and piles and piles of beautiful big fish. The catch of a lifetime. The sort of catch John West can only dream of.
Fishing with Jesus is sensational. Better than a sonar detector. See, the thing is, if you want to catch great fish, you've got to go where the fish are. And somehow Jesus knew. And Simon Peter and James and John, they're just dumbfounded. Absolutely astonished at what's happened. Simon Peter falls on his knees; he says, keep away from me, Lord, I'm a sinner. He says, there's something so big going on here that I'm not worthy to be part of it.
But then Jesus says this. The end of verse 10. He says to Simon, "Don't be afraid; this is just a glimmer of what's coming up. And sinners like you are just the sort of people I'm here for." Simon Peter's starting off on exactly the right footing. Admitting his sin. And Jesus says, "From now on, you're going to catch men." Catching fish is small time. I'm going to make you fishers of men.
And I reckon the most amazing bit of the whole thing, verse 11, here they are with their boats full of the catch of a lifetime, fish flapping round everywhere... and they just walk away. Leave it. Leave everything. And follow him.
Peter, James and John. The first recruits; the first disciples... have suddenly seen something way more important than fishing for fish. And they're learning Lesson Number 1; one that we all need to notice. Following Jesus is all about fishing for men. Being a disciple... is all about making disciples. He doesn't say follow me and I'll give you a good spiritual education. He doesn't say follow me and I'll give you a sense of spiritual fulfillment. He doesn't say follow me and I'll fix up your lifestyle. He says, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. That's the job. And off they go.
Now I want to jump ahead a few verses to show you a little bit about what fishing for men looks like when you're fishing with Jesus. That's what he says they're going to do. And that's what he does. And if it's anything like what we just saw in the boat, it's all about throwing the net out where the fish are. But it's interesting to see the sort of fish that Jesus wants to catch.
Let's start with a leper. Verse 12 to 16. The Old Testament's great visual aid of what it meant to be unclean before God. Here's a man in verse 12 who's covered with leprosy. An appalling sight. Falling on the ground and begging Jesus, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus touches him. Which is unheard of. I mean, touch a leper and you become unclean yourself. Unless of course it's suddenly started working the other way around.
I am willing. Be clean. And immediately, verse 13, the leprosy leaves him.
And he goes and makes the offering at the temple to show that he's clean again. As a testimony to the priest that something radical's happening.
Fish number one. A leper. Who no one would touch.
So now for fish two. Who incidentally is a paralysed guy who lies on a mat, and presumably does nothing but beg every day. But more significantly as Jesus looks at him is a sinner. Who Jesus calls his friend.
They always said Jesus was a friend of sinners. And here's proof. The words in verse 20. When these guys make a hole in the roof. And lower the paralysed guy down on his stretcher through the ceiling.
It's not the kind of thing you'd see every day, is it, as the bits of mud roof and straw rain down in your hair? But the words are the big thing. "Friend," verse 20, "Your sins are forgiven."
Which causes a stir. Because who does Jesus think he is to go forgiving people's sins? But then he says, get up and take up your mat and go home. And he does. Fish number two.
It gets worse. As you come to the calling of Levi in verse 27 to 32. I always feel bad for people in the congregation who work for the tax office when we talk about tax collectors. But it's nothing personal.
It's just that tax office workers keep on cropping up in Luke's gospel. And in verse 27, his name's Levi. Sitting in his little booth, collecting the road toll that he's imposed, some for the Romans, some for Levi, some for the Romans, some more for Levi. Which has made Levi by this time very rich. And very unpopular. Worse than unpopular. In fact, formally excluded. Unwelcome. Almost anywhere. The phrase was, tax collectors and sinners. Hear it as prostitutes and pimps. These are those kinds of people. Or the types that used to be called on the news prominent business identities.
Closer to home, if you can think of the sort of person you just wouldn't want to have dinner with, hold onto the mental picture. And plug it in here.
And let's watch Jesus go fishing for men.
Verse 27, Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," says Jesus. And Levi gets up, leaves everything and follows him. Exactly like Peter and James and John did. Don't worry about tallying up the day's tax returns. Don't bother grabbing all the loose change. Up. And out.
And that night Levi holds a great banquet at his house, invites Jesus as the guest of honour, and brings all his tax collector mates. A large crowd of them, and all the other outcast types as well. Will you notice, here's Jesus at a cocktail party with a bunch of people that decent people don't mix with. Here's Jesus... fishing for men. Quite happy with the fish John West rejects. The fish everybody rejects.
And the pharisees, the religious leaders, the upright and proper ones, they don't like it. And they complain to his disciples. Because Peter and James and John are there as well. Verse 30. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law say, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Because to them, purity is important. By which they mean, never mixing with anyone who isn't pure and righteous and virtuous just like they are. They wouldn't dream of it. And there's Jesus - there with his disciples - right in the middle of the messiness. A friend of sinners.
And Jesus says to the Pharisees who are complaining, he says, this is exactly what I came for. He says, you go down to the doctors waiting room, it's not full of healthy people, is it? You go up to visit the hospital, it's not like the health club gymnasium.
A bit like that ad on TV for MBF - a Paul Harrigan talking about how if you're young and healthy you get a discount with MBF. The health fund for people who don't need a health fund. Let me tell you, that's a pretty irritating ad for people who are getting over the hill and wearing out a bit. Who really do need a health fund.
Jesus says, I'm actually here for the ones who know they need help. He says, call me Doctor Jesus. Because that's what I am. And I'm not here for the healthy. I'm here for the sick. By which he means I'm not here for the self righteous types like you pharisees. I'm here for sinners. He spells it out in verse 32. "I haven't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
That's who he's fishing for. So that's who he's spending time with. Not to be in the social pages with the rich and famous and impressive. But fishing for the sort of Israelites who know they've got a sin problem. Who know they need a saviour. Who want to start again. Who know they're unclean. And want to be clean.
Now the thing I really want to ask you this morning is, have you ever been accused of the same thing? Has anyone ever said to you, how come you're hanging around with sinners all the time?
Not to be corrupted by them. But because you're fishing for them.
I sometimes wonder if we've lost the art.
Fishing for sinners. They're still around. Plenty of them. Though of course it's not polite to call people sinners any more. The job is still exactly the same. Keep it in focus. We're not a club for respectable people. We're here to call sinners to repent.
See, it sort of makes you wonder, doesn't it, if the church has turned into a bit of a John West kind of fishing club. If most of what we like to call outreach, most of what we like to call evangelism - avoid ever dangling the net where the fish are. And if in the end, we're more interested in preselecting the kind of fish we're prepared to accept. And we've already rejected the rest.
Because in the end, just by the fact you're never going where there's any real life sinners. Let alone spending any time with them. Let alone eating and drinking with them. Let alone calling them to repent.
It's interesting how something like our Food For Thought dinner on Thursday can highlight the problem. That maybe we've shaped our lives around choosing the fish we want to mix with. Something like that with an opportunity to invite friends to hear the gospel, we suddenly find we've got no friends who need to hear the gospel because we've pre-chosen our friends to exclude anyone who's not already a Christian.
See, Jesus didn't say to Simon and the guys, follow me and you can stop being fishermen. He said follow me... and keep fishing. I'll make you fishers of men.
And he says the same to you and me. Maybe the first step is to get serious about the following bit. Maybe the second step is to stop holding on quite so tight to your netful of the old kind of fish. Simon left it behind and followed. Levi did the same. Which showed at the very least they were somehow serious about it. What about you? A foot in each camp is really a foot in no camp at all.
You know, I think the only disappointing aspect of last Thursday night and our Food For Thought Dinner was the high percentage of Christians at it. I wonder if when it came to the crunch you just didn't have a non Christian friend to invite? Or else you forgot we're meant to be fishing?
Because we've got a message that's all about God's forgiveness. A message for sinners. Whoever they are. Whether they're the outwardly respectable sorts of sinners or the sort nobody really wants to mix with. When there's a chance to bring them to listen to the truth about Jesus, let's invite them all. But before you can invite them you need to know them. And even love them.
If you're in a growth group you will have see this in the study; apparently the first few hundred years, Christians were actually getting this right. I'm not sure if we are anymore. But sometime around the third century, there was this guy named Celsus, who was thoroughly anti Christian. And Celsus said this. He said, "Normally the sort of people you invite to Religious Ceremonies" - he's talking about the Roman or Jewish sort of religious ceremonies - "normally the sort of people you invite along to religious ceremonies are the pure who live an honourable life. Christians, however, invite anyone who is a sinner, or foolish, or simple minded. In short, any unfortunate will be accepted in the kingdom of God." Celsus says, "Any sort of unjust person, thief, burglar, poisoner - if you wanted an assembly of robbers, these are just the kind of people you'd call."
To which a Christian back then by the name of Origen replied, "That's exactly right. We Christians extend an invitation to sinners... to bind up their wounds."
Sometimes we forget that's the starting point. It was the starting point for Peter. On his wet knees in the boat. It was the starting point for us. It's the starting point for the next sinner who comes into the kingdom of God as well. Who might otherwise be excluded. And marginalized. And ignored. Or who might equally be surrounded by wealth and the good things of life. And be just as lost.
Can I urge you this week - walk with some sinners. Love them like Jesus does. He's the Jesus who says, "friend your sins are forgiven." And we should be praying for opportunities to say the same. Because he hasn't sent us to fish for the best fish. He's sent us to fish for sinners. He's not the doctor for the healthy. He's the doctor for the sinner. He's the one who says, "I haven't come to call the righteous - but sinners to repentance."