“Walking With Jesus”

Lesson Objectives:

It is important to hear and obey God.

God compensates abundantly for services rendered.

The Kingdom or Reign of God is beginning (with Jesus’ ministry).

Jesus calls His first Disciples. Jesus doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called!

When Jesus calls, we must follow!

Lesson Commentary

025 - Jesus Starts a Fisher’s of Men Business!

How to Fish more Effectively

On the one hand, it is sometimes fun to launch out on an adventure not knowing where you will spend the next night. You have heard someone say, “I’m going to see the world”, without any agenda as to where you are going, how fast you will get there or how long you will stay.

However, after a while, this running around gets old and it is good to have a place that one can settle down in and call “home”.

We are looking at what it means to follow Jesus. He has been “away” from “home” for about six months. Now it is time to establish something a little more predictable and not be out on the road all of the time. Let’s look at Matthew 4:13-22; Mark 1:16-20 and Luke 4:31—5:11 and see how to be better fishermen.

Matthew begins our look into the life and teachings of Jesus Christ with a fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy. Zebulun and Naphtali were territories on the west side of the Sea of Galilee where the city of Nazareth is located. The “great light” is a reference to Jesus the SONlight of the world! In contrast to darkness that symbolizes the absence of salvation.

Go to Where the Fish Are! – Matthew 4:13-17, Luke 4:31a

Jesus message to the people is that God’s Kingdom is near and they need to repent and get ready. This is very similar to the message preached by John the Baptist. Notice that the kingdom is entered through repentance! This kingdom is in context of reign, rather than territory!

Get Help! – Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20

Jesus is walking along the shore of Galilee at Capernaum and sees Simon and Andrew fishing. They had spent some time with Jesus earlier just after John the Baptist had immersed him. Evidently, they had either gone back to fishing or were getting back to work after taking time off to follow Jesus for a short period of time.

Simon and Andrew immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus! How has Jesus called you to serve Him? Are you obeying Him?

Jesus merely accepts Simon as he is and calls him to learn how to fish for men! Simon pulls the boat to shore and leaves and follows Jesus from then on. Nothing is said about cleaning the fish and getting them to the market. Evidently the other partners take care of that for Peter.

Jesus also sees James and John working with their father, Zebedee and calls them. They don’t ask dad’s permission or discuss anything. They simply walk off leaving dad with all of the work and they follow Jesus. At least we know that Zebedee also has some other hired help to fill the gap left by James and John. Were Simon and Andrew partners or employees of Zebedee? Just a thought! When God calls, we must obey!

Use Resources Nearby – Luke 5:1-3

Another day, after Jesus had called Simon, Andrew, James and John, our text tells us that He was preaching to a crowd that had gathered on the seashore at Capernaum. Simon and the others had finished a night of fishing and are cleaning up prior to going home to get some needed rest.

To improve His delivery so the people can hear Him better, Jesus climbs into Simon’s boat and has him move back just a little bit from the shore. This improves the acoustics so the larger crowd can hear Jesus better.

I find that I project better to a larger group when I stand. However, Jesus sits down in the boat to talk to the people. It is possible that He doesn’t want to get knocked off balance by a wave and tossed into the Sea, but it is also Jewish custom for the speaker to sit while addressing the crowd. Would you have let Jesus use your boat?

Pay for the Boat – Luke 5:4-11

When Jesus is finished talking, He compensates Simon for the use of his boat! He sends Simon and his partners out into the deeper part (150 ft. deep) of the Sea of Galilee to fish. Simon’s first response is that he is tired from fishing all night and would like to go home and get some sleep. After all, they did not catch any fish, so he’s discouraged and tired. It is obvious that the fish aren’t near enough to the surface to be caught. Would you waste your time to fish one more time when someone who knows little or nothing about fishing tells you to do it again?

Since Jesus insists, Simon complies and the result of obeying Jesus is that he gets such a large catch of fish that he needs help bringing them into the boat. Simon and Andrew have partners (Zebedee, James and John?) who come and help them process this catch of fish. Some Payment!

Simon is so overwhelmed at this “payment” that he feels too unworthy to receive such a blessing. In fear, he asks Jesus to leave him because he knows he is not good enough to entertain the SON of God. How would you feel if this happened to you? What has God called you to do?

CONCLUSION

God compensates those who are willing to allow Him to use them for His purposes and His compensation is not meager or minimum wage! Our focus is not on getting money, but on being obedient and serving the Lord according to the abilities that He has given us! What are you doing to serve the Lord? How has He already paid you?

Next Week: Jesus becomes a doctor without going to medical school. How good of a doctor is He going to be?