Fish Stories – Fishing With the Holy Spirit
Matthew 4:18-22 and Matthew 28:18-20
- “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” = “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
- When Jesus first called His disciples lets consider what He did not say.
- He didn’t say, Come, follow Me and I will teach you how to read your Bible.
- He didn’t say Come, follow me and I will show you how to sing worship songs together.
- He didn’t say, Come, follow Me and I will show you how to join a small group.
- He didn’t say, Come, follow Me and I will teach you how to pray.
- I think it’s interesting and worth noticing that when Jesus called His disciples He put the focus on reaching other people, the purpose of the call was reaching other people with the Gospel.
- Too often we view serving Jesus as Bible reading, prayer time, and going to church on Sunday.
- Again that is all absolutely necessary and commanded but don’t miss that a primary purpose of those disciplines is for the purpose of making fishers of men.
- Maybe discipleship is really more about helping people serve God by serving others.
Jesus came to serve, not to be served
- “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”” Mark 10:45 ESV
- Stop and think about that for a minute. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was with God in the beginning, and He was God.
- All things were made to serve God and His glory.
- So, as the Son of God, Jesus Christ had every right to come into our world expecting to be served.
- He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Creator of all things.
- But when Jesus came into the world, He put all His rights as God aside.
- John 13:3-15 and Philippians 2:4-8
- Why should you care about serving others? Because your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ who set aside His rights as God and took the very nature of a servant.
- Jesus set the example for you that you should do as He did. Jesus came to serve, not to be served.
God has given you gifts for service
- “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV
- God has given each one of us gifts for service.
- “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Peter 4:10 ESV
- God has given each one of us gifts and abilities to serve Him and each other.
- Ephesians 4 says “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” Ephesians 4:11-12 ESV
- The leaders job is not to do all of the ministry, but to prepare God’s people to do the work of the ministry (a word for service).
- The leaders are called to equip God’s people for works of service.
- Everyone is called to minister or serve in the church.
- Everyone can do something. God has given you gifts for service, and He expects you to use them in the service of the church.
Everyone needs to do their part.
- So why should you serve your church family? We’ve looked at two reasons so far. First, Jesus came to serve, not to be served. Secondly, God has given you gifts for service.
- And thirdly, everyone needs to do their part.
- “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV
- Paul uses the illustration of the human body here to teach about the church body.
- The human body is joined and held together by every supporting ligament.
- Every part is important. And unless each part does its work, the whole body flounders and falls apart.
- If the eyes and hands and legs all decided to take a break, the whole body suffers.
- It’s the same with the church. The body of Christ can only grow and build itself up in love as each part does its work. Everyone needs to do their part.
Servants Are Not In Charge!
- Is a servant in charge?
- Does the way I serve keep me in control?
- I wonder if the way most of us serve keeps us in control?
- Do we choose whom, when, where and how we will serve?
- Jesus is calling for something else.
- He is calling us to be servants.
- When we make this choice, we give up the right to be in charge.
- The amazing thing is that when we make this choice, we experience great freedom.
- We no longer have to worry about our status, about what people think of us, if people take advantage of us.
- We can be vulnerable and free because it’s not about us, it’s all about the One we serve.
- Serving Jesus is serving others.
- Matthew 25:34-46
- “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:26 ESV
- We serve Jesus by following Him, going where He goes, implying we do what He does, which implies we serve others, we die to ourselves and live for others.
Living Hope Ministries 