Creekside Church Sermon of January 24, 1999 "Just Fishing?" Matthew 4:12-23	Rev. David Bibbee
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Just fishing?! I considered asking, "How would you react if I said your car was just a Lexus?" "How would you like it if I said, "Your kid applied for enrollment to ten universities and it was just Harvard that accepted him?" Those who practice the most noble, beloved, and I might add spiritual sport of fishing, shudder when "just" is applied to their craft.

After his baptism, Jesus endured forty days of trial and testing in the wilderness. Afterwards his ministry began. John the Baptist had been executed and Jesus picked up the baton, preaching repentance in response to God's kingdom. Matthew says that at the start of Jesus' ministry, he chose his inner circle of followers. The text shows that Jesus was looking for a particular kind of disciple, certainly not the sort we would have chosen. He didn't recruit magna cum laudes from Jerusalem Tech. He didn't go to the seminaries to recruit the best preachers and Bible teachers.

Instead, he walked among the boats at Fishermen's Wharf, called Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John by name, and simply said, "Follow me, and I'll show you how to fish for people." We would not have picked them. They were just fishermen, for goodness sake...uneducated, unkempt, absolutely ordinary men. You wouldn't expect much from Simon and Andrew. You could count on them for fish for a fish fry. You wouldn't expect a sermon from them. You wouldn't go to them for marriage problems or spiritual counsel or healing if you were sick. These men didn't expect much from themselves, either. They caught fish, kept food on the table, made a decent living. They were just fishermen, and Jesus in his strange wisdom called them to be his disciples.

The Son of God came to the Lakeshore looking for help. "I want you, Simon." "Follow me, Andrew." "Let's go fishing, James and John." They were common men and Jesus entrusted the spread of his ministry to them. Ordinary men they were who soon would do extraordinary things. But the question of what Jesus would do with these fishermen doesn't apply to them only. What about you? When was the last time you went fishing? One of the most important reasons for coming together on Sunday morning is to remember that we are the baptized, and as such, we too are Jesus' disciples. Our job is to increase the influence and extend the reach of Jesus Christ. We are the lures he casts into the world to draw people into the large net of his saving love.

When I was in seminary, all seniors had to preach at Friday chapel. During my first year, I listened to one of those sermons. I don't remember "what" was said, but I recall "how" it was said. "How many of you have led someone to Christ? Raise your hands if you have," the preacher said. Not as many hands were raised as he had hoped. "And you call yourselves Christians?" After we had been sufficiently shamed he finally stopped. I leaned over and whispered into a classmate's ear. "He should look up the definition of tact." "No kidding," she said. "It was one of the most manipulative and offensive sermons I have heard in a long time, and you know what bothered me most?" "What?" "What he said is true."

When was the last time you went fishing? Has Jesus caught someone because of you? Have you gotten close enough to someone to share why you believe and live the way you do? Is there anything in your actions and speech to rouse their curiosity and beg the question, "Why?" When someone learns that I love to fish, I sometimes hear, "I used to fish, but I haven't picked up a rod or baited a hook for years. I do my fishing watching those guys land the big ones on TV." Well, watching someone else catch fish doesn't make you a fisherman, and taking up space on a pew listening to stories about Jesus doesn't make you a disciple.

Declining statistics and empty spaces in the pews indicate that our tackle is collecting dust in the closet. There are reasons. Suppose your teacher said your performance in class was ordinary. Suppose your boss gave you an evaluation and said you were doing an "ordinary" job? Most people would strive to improve their performance. We don't want to settle for being just ordinary. But in the church we use being ordinary as an excuse. "Don't ask me to invite someone to church. I can't talk about my faith with someone else. That's too personal. I don't want to seem intrusive. I'm not qualified. I'm just an ordinary person.

The church needs to do a better job of teaching its people to reach out, but being an ordinary Joe or Jane isn't sufficient grounds not to fish. Lack of qualification is not an excuse. Peter was just a fisherman. Jesus wasn't interested in credentials. If God built the church on an uneducated, unlikely ordinary man like Peter, what makes you think you can't make an impact that would lead someone to faith in Christ and membership in his church?

You've heard me talk about my friend and former parishioner, Denny. He is a successful executive who loves the Lord, and therefore loves people. One of his pastimes is to go by himself into those 24-hour greasy spoon caf‚s, order a cheeseburger and multiple cups of coffee, and strike up conversations with the clientele. Now and then he brings some of them to church with him. One Saturday night he called and said he was bringing a guest named Cliff to church. He formed a caf‚ friendship with Cliff a few weeks before, and wanted to prepare me before he came. "Cliff had recently been released from the penitentiary, and Denny offered him a little help to get him started. I can still the odd couple sitting there, Denny in a pin-striped suit, and Cliff in a pony tail with jeans and a Harley tee-shirt which accentuated his muscular, tattooed arms. After the service Cliff came through the receiving line with teary eyes a big smile and said, "You don't know what this means to me." Denny was probably the closest Cliff had ever come to Jesus Christ. Denny knew how to fish. He didn't coerce, buttonhole, preach or intrude. He was a caring, concerned Christian friend to Cliff.

Has it ever occurred to you that you are Christian today because someone fished for you? I asked several of you this week how you came to faith. You talked of parents and grandparents who read Bible stories and Sunday school teachers who embodied their lessons. You told me of walking through a beautiful sanctuary as a thirteen-year old, singing hymns and crying for joy because you knew God loved you. You told of your decision to follow Jesus made while sitting around a fire at Camp Mack. You told of leaving religion behind, and in the middle of a dark night surrendering to God in faith, declaring trust in Christ with no need of a miracle to back it up. You spoke of not knowing a time when you didn't know him or ever felt distant from his love. You said that the right person said the right thing in the right way at the right time and your heart opened and God hooked you.

We have come in many different ways, most of them unspectacular, and nearly all because we were close to just an ordinary person who was close to Jesus. A perceptive observer of life said that, "Some people come into our lives and quietly go. Others stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same." Peter, Andrew and Zebede boys knew much about fishing and little about anything else. Then Jesus came along and said, "Follow me." They remained fishermen till the end, but he taught them and inspired them to make disciples, and the people whose hearts they entered were never the same.

President Jimmy Carter is an accomplished fisherman, both for fish and people. In his book Living Faith, he describe how dejected he was after losing his first bid for governor of Georgia to Lester Maddox, a professed racist. He felt his political career was over and that God had rejected him. His sister then told him that God would help him learn from his defeat and that wisdom would come to him from dependence on God. She suggested that he do something unrelated to politics. Soon afterward he got an invitation to go on a lay witness mission in Pennsylvania.

He was one of one hundred visitors paired by twos who visited in the homes of people who claim no religious faith, and briefly shared the Christian message with them. This was a totally new experience, so he was paired with a seasoned veteran...a Texas farmer named Milo. Milo told Carter, "We don't have to worry about receptions or results. We'll pray a lot before each visit, do our best, and depend on the Holy Spirit for the outcome. Milo was a simple, relatively uneducated man...just a farmer. During the visits he did most of the talking. He spoke of God's love and of salvation by grace and Jesus' forgiveness. Carter was surprised by the number of homes that welcomed them, but was uncomfortable with Milo's fumbling presentations. To his amazement, however, many people accepted the message, often in tears, and pledged themselves to Christ. It was the clearest evidence of the Holy Spirit he had ever seen.

That night he called Roslyn, told her what was happening, and then said he had no fear for their future. His first encounter with the miraculous power of Christianity enabled him for the first time to trust in God's power and not just his own, and to trust the outcomes to him. He was just a peanut farmer who was just fishing for people, and along the way became President of the United States.

I hope no one will take offense at this, but we are not a great church. There are several areas where we are lacking. We are just an average church. But there is something we possess in abundance-one thing we do very well. We have the wonderful ability to share Christ through caring. It's an indespensible piece of tackle. You already know what to do. You do an incredible job of responding to needs with care and compassion, and we need to get the care inside the church expressed on the outside. We've got to witness in our friendships, and in our caring and serving. Do you want to become a great church? Then just go fish.

Toward this end I have made an executive decision and changed our mission statement. Please pick up your bulletin and read it with me.

Because we are God's beloved in Christ,
United in the Spirit we
Seek God's love in our lives
Celebrate God's love in vital worship
Fish with the lure of God's love through acceptance, service, and witness

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