Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

There are certainly pockets of resistance, but in large part the Western Church is mired in mediocrity and lukewarmness. There is little fire to publicly live the Gospel in demonstration of God’s loving power. Much of the Western Church - institutional, house and para - has left the prison house of sin and bondage only to be imprisoned yet again, and more desperately so, in a prison house of religion.

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
“Follow Me.”

Not “Receive Me as Lord, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Not “Go to church, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Not “Pay your tithes, and I will make you fishers of men.”

All of the above are absolutely necessary, but they have nothing to do with being fishers of men. To be a fisher of men, you have to follow Jesus.

The word “follow” in this verse is not translated as “follow” anywhere else in the Bible. It is unique to this verse. In this verse, the word “follow” is a combination of two separate Greek words; deute which means come here! (the exclamation point is literally there) and opiso which means to the back.

Jesus was saying “Come here to My back!” emphatically and urgently. With an exclamation point, even. Again, Jesus wasn’t talking about getting “religious.” He was talking about a life-changing, intense turn toward Him.

Many Christians simply do not follow Christ. They show up on Sunday. Some “feel” God and some don’t. But with many, any effect from that church service has worn off by about Monday noon, if not Sunday afternoon.

Feelings aren’t the point. Following Jesus isn’t about following good-feeling emotions. Following Jesus is about following Him in spite of overwhelmingly negative emotions.

Peter followed Jesus, and look what Jesus said to him just before He ascended. In John 21:18, Jesus says....... (Click on the "Read More!" link below)“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”

In today’s English, Jesus was saying: “When you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted to go. But when you become mature [follow Me alone], you will stretch out your hands and I will dress you, and take you places where you don’t want to go.”

As harsh as this may sound to some, this is what it means to follow Jesus. To throw away not only the living of one’s life in this world. but to throw away the perception of one’s life in this world. You see, it is our fleshly perception of and fleshly love for this temporary, earthly life that seeks to trick us, and trap us, and hinder us, and if possible even prevent us from following Christ.

But we must crucify that fleshly love of our lives in this world. This is what Jesus instructed us to do. In Galatians 5:24, the Word of God tells us that .....“they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” In Mark 8:35, Jesus says, “For whosoever will save his life [in this world] shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it [eternal life].” And again in John 12:25, Jesus says, “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”

..........all that we may gain Life. Zoe life. God’s eternal Life.

So we see then that it is only when we “throw away” this temporary, earthly life that we can truly follow Jesus.

This is a main reason why much of the church is not fishing effectively, and has lost its spiritual vibrancy. Too many of us are not following Christ.

Following Christ means letting Him dress us - letting Him determine how we look on the outside to other people.........and You’ll remember that Jesus made Himself of no reputation (Philippians 2:7), so watch out! He probably won’t be aiming to make us look “good,” either.

And, following Jesus means going where He says to go and doing what He says to do there - no matter what the consequence - even at the expense of our very lives (Revelation 12:11).

Even when, and especially when, we’re “fishing.”

“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”
Luke 5:4-11



Click below to view a very interesting presentation - complete with fishing boat, pole and tackle - of the scriptural message shared in this post.







Click Here To Go To Our Home Page