Bud Hancock draws some parralels between Jesus’ command to His disciples and His command concerning the Church today. As all my contributors are saying “The time is short, the hour is late!”

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

Commanded to be Fishers of Men

By Bud Hancock

Introduction

When Jesus the Messiah began His earthly ministry, He chose certain men to become His original twelve disciples. Though some may believe those men were simply His comrades, His traveling companions, there is much more involved in His selection than simply having nice guys to chum around with.

According to the Merrian Webster Dictionary, a disciple is (1), a person who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another; (2) an adherent of a school or an individual. The word adherent is interesting since it suggests a close and persistent attachment. The twelve men chosen to become disciples became so devoted to their Lord and Saviour that they would have gladly given their  lives for Him.

The Twelve were a mixed bag of men from different backgrounds and pursuits; none were highly educated, with the possible exception of Luke who was a physician and a Gentile. Perhaps Jesus chose each man for his distinctive abilities, or lack thereof. We do know that, at the end of His ministry, each man, except for Judas Iscariot,  was well-equipped by Jesus to complete the work assigned to him after His departure to return to the Father.

Jesus ministered TO these men for three and one half years to enable them to understand their roles in the future ministry of Jesus THROUGH them. He made sure they saw His mighty works and acts of healing and other miracles, knowing that they would be enabled to do the same works, and even mightier, after His ascension to heaven. They most certainly understood that Jesus was man, through his birth to Mary, and God because He was begotten of the Father. He also displayed the fact that He was anointed by The Holy Spirit “without measure” (John 3:34). He planned for all those who would choose to follow Him to also be anointed with the Holy Spirit and be able to accomplish the same works as Jesus did (John 14:12).

Jesus emphasized the need for His disciples to remain attached to Him in order to complete their mission, which was to take the gospel to the entire world.

Why So Many Fishermen?

When Jesus selected and confirmed the original twelve men to become His disciples, He seemed to favor fishermen. Of the twelve,  seven were fishermen who generally worked the waters of the Sea of Galilee. That body of water was rife with the fish that sustained life for thousands of Jewish people from that area. It also provided a good livelihood for the men who worked hard at their profession. Fishing for them was more than simply sitting on a dock and casting a line with a hook and bait into the water. Theirs was a commercial enterprise, using boats to go out into the water using large nets to bring in large amounts of fish. The work was made more dangerous by the sudden storms that so often arose on the Sea of Galilee, storms that could easily swamp even a large fishing boat, endangering not only their catches but their lives.

They spent many hours tending to, and repairing, their nets, making sure they would function as needed to bring in a haul of fish, and they also spent many hours away from their families and homes, out on the water where the fish were. They knew where the fish were; how ludicrous and foolish it would have been for them to sit on the shore, next to their boats and wait for the fish to swim up and wait to be plucked from the water.

Jesus Command to His Disciples

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus spoke to those who were to become His trusted ones and told them to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. I can only imagine the confusion this statement brought to the men who all their grown lives had been catching fish in order to sustain their own lives and the lives of others. They were obviously very skilled at seeking out the schools of fish and spreading their nets over them to make sure they were successful at their work, but, how in the world were they to become fishers of men? Did Jesus mean that somehow men could be caught in the waters of Galilee? Very confusing, I’m sure, to a bunch of Jewish fishermen.

Jesus did become much more specific in His command, when, recorded in Mark 6:15-16, He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”. (Please note that He did not say: “OK now, build some really big auditoriums, add lots of pews and musical instruments, cause You know how those heathen LOVE music, and they will flock to your gigantic auditoriums to hear it.) Notice that in this passage of scripture, Jesus is clearly spelling out how they were to become fishers of men: GO. Just as they had to “go out onto” the waters where the fish are, they were also instructed to “go into all the world” where the sinners are and “preach the gospel”. Of course, in the disciple’s time, there were no radio or television stations, no internet, no newspapers and no telephones. It could be argued that, because of the lack of high speed technology, the gospel was necessarily spread by word of mouth as the followers of Jesus traveled from town to town, engaging with the lost people.

However, even though today’s world has shrunk greatly due to the development of various communications technologies, it still is necessary for Christians to engage face to face with those who have not heard the good news of the gospel, mainly because most of those technologies have now been hijacked by Satan. If the current high speed communications were the only method used to reach the lost, multitudes would be missed due to an utter lack of any desire on their part to hear the truth.

Just as fishing on the Sea of Galilee was dangerous to the disciples of Jesus, so also will those who answer the call to be fishers of men face dangers out in the world. Jesus never promised there would NOT be danger, but He did promise that, wherever they went, He would be there with them, keeping and protecting them through every danger.

When I was a small child, I remember going with members from our local church to visit those in our small town that had suffered sickness or aliments, leaving them unable to move well. Our visits with them seem to show to them that someone cared enough to go to them where they were, and show compassion for them in their troubles. I also remember attending visitations to the local main streets to witness to people as they passed by. Perhaps some good came of those visits, perhaps not, but we may not even know until we are given our rewards in heaven. The point is that, unless we, the Church, are willing to get out of our comfortable pews and go where the sinners are (hint: they are not usually sitting next to you), then we are unlikely to be in obedience to the command Jesus gave to His disciples.

Expecting those who are lost to spontaneously gather in local Christian churches to hear the gospel would be akin to the Jewish fishermen sitting on the shore, their boats idle, and calling to the fish: “Come on fish, come and jump into my net”. The fish MUST be sought out in their habitat; in the same manner, unbelievers, all of whom God loves are usually NOT interested in hearing the gospel.

Laodicea – The Powerless Church

It is a fact that we are currently living in the time of the last vestige of the Body of Christ on this Earth. The Book of Revelation describes THAT church as the Laodicean Church which was physically located in the kingdom of Pergamos in what is present day Turkey. The area where that church was located was a busy hub of banking, industry and commerce that provided much wealth and influence for its citizens, so much so that the believers in Laodicea were often found boasting that they were rich and had need of nothing. It sounds as though they prided themselves on their own ability to thrive, rather than giving God the credit for their success. I can almost picture the members of that church boasting of their wealthy members who would bring their riches in and become a part of their “megachurch”.

Anyone sitting in the pews of many local church buildings, eagerly awaiting a massive influx of lost souls (bringing with them their MONEY), will be sorely disappointed. Unless the clarion call of the Holy Spirit to bring them to a place of repentance has been sounded through the members of the Body of Christ, whether by word of mouth or by electronic means, the church buildings will still be inhabited by the perennial Laodiceans, boasting of their wealth and still missing the call of Jesus to that powerless church:

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

TIME IS NOW VERY SHORT! It is now time to mend the nets, restock the bait bucket (God’s word) and go out after those fish! We must go out on the waters to get to them; they are not likely to swim into our boats!

Blessings and Maranatha!

budaroo@twc.com

Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors.  After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker.  Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Metrologist (Science of high precision measurement), he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents.  Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he began a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer.  Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles emphasizing Biblical teaching and geopolitical issues.  At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter.  Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times  perspective.