Get Off the Bank and Into the Boat

“And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

(Matthew 4:19)

A great Greek philosopher once said that “A bad day fishing is a million times better than a good day at work”, okay maybe it wasn’t a Greek philosopher, but I’m sure one heck of a philosopher had to have come up with it.

At any hint of warm weather the banks of the river near where we live start to fill with old & young looking to entice a fish to the bait they have just thrown out. They all set along the shore intently watching to see if their bobber even slightly moves & when it goes under…BOOM! They set the hook! But more often than not, they are there to hang out with friends or maybe family, they sit on the bank talking, eating & drinking, enjoying the day not really caring whether they catch a fish or not & living by the rule, that you don’t fish in the rain.  

I was thinking the other day as I watched the men fishing, that we as the church are a lot like the fishermen on the shore. We go to church to hang out & visit with our friends & family, to just fellowship & enjoy the get-togethers, ever once in a while throwing out some bait to try & lure some non-believers to church & often only “fishing” for a certain kind of fish. Some decide to stay home at the drop of rain.

When Jesus called the disciples to become “fishers of men”, they knew exactly what He meant, for most of them fishing was a way of life. They knew fishing was hard work. They knew the heartache of a bad day without a single fish & the joy of a good day when their nets were full. These guys didn’t sit on the shore; they got in the boat, sailed out in search of the fish, threw out nets & pulled in all kinds. Often the waters were rough & dangerous, but they still went fishing.

When God called you to be a “fisher of men” he called you to the boat, He called you to weep for the lost & to rejoice when they are saved, to go out & cast out the net & trust Him to fill it…but He never called you to just sit on the pew & every once in awhile, casting out your bait & watching your bobber hoping someone might come to church, heck He didn’t even call us to invite people to church. He called us to make disciples…to share the gospel. Do you want people to come to church? Share Jesus with them. Get off the bank & into the boat…we may not have much longer to fish.


Vern

Attitude Adjustment

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"
(Philippians 2:5)

Through out church history churches have split over the silliest things from the color of the carpet to the difference in the styles of music to who should be in charge of cooking the fried chicken for the yearly singing & “dinner on the ground”, I mean Betty’s chicken is always to dry & that Annie Mae I tell ya, bless her heart, her chicken is way to grease it’s like your chewin’ on a bottle of Wesson Oil…any way, there is a church in Louisiana whose roof is green on one side and red on the other. This was done because some members of the church stubbornly wanted green and other members unyieldingly wanted red. The disagreement was so intense that the church was going to split because of it. Fortunately, a compromise was reached and the church did not split. Unfortunately, the red and green roof is a monument to the surrounding community of the disunity within the body of Christ. Church splits are an awful thing, something that should never happen, but often do because of one thing, we forget who our attitudes should be like, we forget in whom our unity lies.

Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that we as the church should be "...like-minded, having the same love...” what "same love" is it referring to? Is it just, love for each other or being people who love their community? No, it’s nothing like that; this verse is speaking of Christ. What always causes petty arguments inside the body of the church, is when we forget our true love, our reason for being in the body...the one who saved us. When we are all focused on Christ & His will, we don't have time to sit around & find petty things to gripe about, nor do we want to. We become "...one in spirit and purpose", because we are concerned about the will of God instead of will of self.

When we forget about self & put others first, we take on the most important thing that will heal any rift in a troubled church…we take on the attitude of Christ.

Vern