The Big Fish Story

Dear Family:

 

A good friend of mine is going through a change in his professional career, and I would ask that you pray for him. Ask God to not only open doors of opportunity for him but to also give him the wisdom and understanding to recognize the open door and to have the courage to walk through it. Because I do not have his permission to use his name I will not do so but then God knows who we are praying for. My friend's ordeal reminds me of one of the lessons Christ taught His disciples early in His ministry. I call it: The Big Fish Story.

During the past several years numerous businesses have either closed their doors or laid off a great number of their employees in an effort to reduce expenses and increase profits. These things continue to happen as a result of the continuing tax reforms which are making business produce real profits instead of paper losses. Although, in a real sense, most business could produce greater profits by simply increasing sales and reducing production costs through greater efficiency, but business leaders, like government leaders, look for more contributions from shareholders or taxpayers or they down-size rather than seek excellence. Ironically, there is a natural law that if it is not increasing it will decrease. There is no such thing as standing still. If we are not growing spiritually and intellectually we will become stale and complacent. The effect on the people who lose their jobs due to the cuts and downsizing is sometimes devastating. Too many times homes, insurance, retirement benefits and savings are lost. It can be a very scary thing to consider starting over for the older worker who has been on the job for many years. Ardyce and I certainly know the feeling as there were several times in our later years that we found ourselves victims of business failures or cuts. It might seem frightening to someone who has never had a job that was not salaried or from 8-5 to go out on their own and generate their own sales and production. In today's world there are greater opportunities than ever before for start-up businesses. I think back to the days of Christ, especially in Mark and Luke, where several very good business principles are pointed out. LUKE 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

Most fishermen in that day fished in the shallower waters, for several reasons:

1. The sea was not as rough.

2. The time and toil of rowing was less.

3. The drag on the nets was less.

4. More hours could be put in fishing.

5. There was less danger of getting caught in a storm.

Christ told Peter to defy the traditional rule, go to the deep water and let your net down. Peter did so and caught so many fish that the nets broke. Obviously Peter had not prepared himself or his nets for success. If you want to catch a large catch wouldn't it make sense to have nets that could handle a big catch?

In 1963 I was fortunate to be able to spend a week with Dr. Tockilosus from Michigan State University. He would sing the song that many of the Galilean fishermen sing as they wash and maintain their nets by the sea of Galilee. The words of one verse went something like this, "When our nets are ready we will go fishing again." What makes a net ready? First of all it must be kept clean or otherwise it will rot and break. It must be kept free from tangles, or it will not ride evenly on the bottom and fish will get away. All frayed strands must be mended to prevent holes from forming letting the fish out. So here is Peter. He had not prepared for success, and needless to say when the opportunity was presented, the nets broke. Not only was his equipment not ready for success, neither was his attitude. LUKE 5:5 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. V:6 And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. V:7 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. V:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. V:9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: Peter's attitude was "Look we have fished all night and haven't caught a thing, why should I try it your way, I don't believe I'm going to succeed."

Can you imagine, here is Christ, the Son of God, who was present when the sea was formed, and the fish were created. Certainly He knows where they are and how to catch them. Notice that even though their nets broke, there were still more than they could haul in their ships. They had no idea what to expect with success. They didn't even know how many fish they could put in their ship and not sink. Proverbs 23:7 says "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he"; If you think you can, you're right, you can. If you think you can't, right again, you can't. We typically can only accomplish those things we are mentally prepared to accomplish.

Many of you know I have spent all of my adult life in real estate sales and management. When asked how I was able to fill up an apartment complex when no one else could, I always said it is simple. I use the 3 P's - Product, Price, and Presentation. I know that 11 phone calls = 3 presentations, and 3 presentations = 1 apartment lease. So if I have a 100 unit apartment complex with 10 vacancies all I have to do is make the phone ring 110 times. If the apartment is properly prepared, my presentation is correct, and the price is right, I will succeed. I will lease all my vacant units.

So, is it important to keep records of phone calls? Yes.

Is it important to know what made them call? Yes.

Is it important to know what things they expect in an apartment? Yes.

Is it important to know the maximum price people will pay? Yes.

Is it important to know what type people want to live in the area? Yes.

Is it important to know what advertising the people respond to? Yes.

The last verse tells the whole story. He was "astonished." If you are going to be a fisherman, why would you not want to be one of the best? Why not plan to be a successful fisherman? Peter was surprised that he succeeded. He was not prepared for the success he had. What in the world am I going to do now? I have more fish than I can handle.

I see churches that do not prepare to succeed. The pastor preaches an effective message that creates a tremendous response but no one is trained to help deal with the counseling of the respondents, no one is trained to nurse the new babes in Christ to bring them to mature productive, witnessing Christians (fishers of men) and the nets of the pastor or church breaks.

Christ spent his entire 3 year ministry training 12 key men to be fishers of men whose nets would not break and even gave them and us a practical lesson. Compare these verses in Luke where Christ was recruiting the disciples to John 21: where he met with the disciples after his crucifixion. JOHN 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. V:8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. V:9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. V:10 Jesus sayeth unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. V:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. V:12 Jesus sayeth unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

Now let me set the ground work for this story. Christ had been crucified and had risen but had not yet ascended to the Father, therefore, the Holy Spirit had not been given to the disciples. They had been sitting around waiting for something to happen, they didn't know for what. Not working, not witnessing, not studying, just waiting. You can't just wait. You must get started getting started. That's the hardest part! Just get started getting started! Peter got bored and said, I'm going back to my old way of life. I'm going fishing. They fished all night and didn't catch a thing. In the morning Jesus came along and said have you caught anything? Peter said not a thing. Peter should have known that once Christ becomes the captain of the ship you don't go back to sea without the captain. Too many times people make the decision to follow Christ and then when the excitement is gone they go back to the old way of life. In Verse 6 Jesus said cast on the other side of the ship. Notice, Peter must have gone to the right place to fish. He just didn't have the guidance of Christ as he fished. But notice this time when Christ said let your net on the other side, Peter didn't question Him. He simply did what Christ said. Now you or I might tell a fish story when we go fishing, but these guys don't tell fish stories. They are lifetime fishermen and there is no reason for them to tell stories of great fish. 153 b i g fish, but that's not the point. The point is that the nets didn't break. They caught more, and bigger fish than in Luke, but the nets didn't break and the ship didn't sink. Is there a lesson here? You bet there is. If you are in business or going into business, a church leader or pastor, Christ must be the captain of the ship or success will never come. People make the decision to follow Christ and then somewhere down the road they let their nets get tangled by concerns of the world, or their nets become dirty with un-confessed sin and they break. Pastors too, let their nets become tangled and dirty. Inevitably, the pastor, the members like Peter are going to have those moments when they say I'm going fishing and it is in those moments that the nets break.

I want you to notice something very important in the following verses, but before we get to them, let me say, we have a tendency to be more critical of those of our family, or church. When one of our brothers or sisters stumble (nets break). We tend to say, look at you, you are a Christian, pastor, brother, etc., you are not supposed to be human. Well, not so. None of us are above letting our nets get in disrepair, but thanks be to God for l John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I can assure you that this verse is not worn out, even though I have claimed it far too many times for myself. The disciples and apostles were no different. When Christ called James and John they were with their father MENDING their nets. MAT 4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. MAR 1:19 And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. The Bible is just packed full of seemingly insignificant words like this and we don't see some of the great things that are there for us when we just read without meditating on each word, and this is one of those words. This word mending is the same Greek word Paul used in Galatians 6:1 and translated as restore. GAL 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Paul says, you who are spiritual (in fellowship with God) help mend the nets of your brother, but notice he places a certain order that is important, ye which are spiritual. Not just anyone can help mend a brother's net, only ye which are spiritual. I can't help my brother if I myself have un-confessed sin and are not in fellowship with God. I cannot help a Christian mend his nets if I am not a Christian. 1CORINTHIANS 2:9-16 But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. V10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. V:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. V:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. V:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. V:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. V:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. V:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. The therapist can't mend the nets. No one but the spiritual can. Notice verse 14, the natural man (one who has not accepted Christ as savior, is non-spiritual, is unsaved) can't. Only the brothers and sisters in Christ, in meekness, can help mend the nets. Christ never intended that the pastor do all the soul winning, feeding the flock, and mending the nets. He intended that ye who are spiritual do these things as well. The pastor should be feeding the flock from the pulpit and the congregation should be witnessing and winning souls and bringing converts into the church for them to receive training and fellowship with other believers. So, how are your nets? Do they need cleaning or mending. Christ is the master mender, but he has to be asked to help. Remember Revelation 3:20 "behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and will sup with him and he with me."

It just might be that you are reading these thoughts is Christ knocking on the door of your heart asking you to let him in to do the mending work. Why not let him in!

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