Fishers of Man

(In this post, Chinese pastor Brother Yun discusses our response to the call to become fishers of men. Too often we are more willing to talk about the Great Commission than actually fulfill it. Today, reach out to someone with the gospel of Christ, whether it be simply giving a gospel tract to a person on the street, or supporting a missionary overseas. Do something for the Kingdom of God!)

When Jesus first found Peter, James and John, they were washing their fishing nets. From time to time it is necessary to clean our nets if we constantly use them to catch fish, but today many churches have become professional net washers. Instead of catching souls, they spend all their time talking about fishing, studying various fishing strategies and techniques, listening to the lectures of fishing experts, and singing songs about fishing. Yet they rarely, or never, actually fish!

Many pastors fill their pulpits with fishing stories, and their congregation admires the fishing nets that are displayed on the church walls. The nets have been thoroughly cleaned. No effort has been spared to keep all dirt and impurity out of the church. Indeed, the nets have been bleached so white that nobody would ever guess they had once been used for fishing! The strings are carefully arranged so that each square has the same size and shape. After all, they say, “God is a God of order.” The pastors love to boast about all their nets and even invite Christians from other churches to come and admire their nets with them.

Every few years “overzealous” young believers come in and suggest that they should take the nets down from the wall and take them out to the lake to catch some fish. The “mature” members of the congregation explain that God is catching many fish throughout the world, and all is well. Their job is to live holy, peaceful lives and not be presumptuous. The new believers are assured that once they have followed the Lord for a few more years, they will mature and become just like the others. For now, they had best remain quiet and stop speaking out of turn.

Week after week, year after year, Satan lulls individual believers, churches, and whole denominations to sleep with his lies. The bleach that has removed all the stains and dirt from the nets also effectively disinfects the Christians until they never consider becoming fisherman again.

Many Christians hear God’s voice calling them to catch fish for the kingdom of God, but like Peter, James and John, they don’t believe there are any fish left in the water. How often have you heard Christians say, “Nobody around here is interested in the gospel anymore”? This is not true! Have you ever considered that the problem might be that your fishing is not under the direction of Jesus Christ? Perhaps you have spent years casting your nets in the wrong place. I promise you that there are fish in the sea all around you. You need to stop fishing your way and start fishing under the direction of Jesus.

Peter caught nothing while he and his friends operated in their own strength. They were convinced there were no fish left. But when they gave up and allowed God to direct their efforts, suddenly “they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break” (Luke 5:6).

-Brother Yun, former house church pastor in China.

Reproduced from the book Living Water, pages 163-164. Copyright, 2008. Used with permission.