Free book from Gary: The Measure of One’s Life book

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Ron Humphrey, in his book entitled, Hearts on Fire, noted a most sobering statistic: “The average member of the church of Christ has heard 4,000 sermons, sung 20,000 songs, participated in 8,000 public prayers and converted zero sinners.”  One cannot help but ask: What are we thinking? What are we doing? Where are we headed? More importantly, what can be done to correct such a pattern?

   Maintenance Mentality — With this in mind, consider, what Ron Humphrey calls the “maintenance mentality” (p.5). One doesn’t have to look too far to see it. Once in a men’s business meeting, in a context in the which church discipline was being discussed, after having lessons and a special speaker to answer questions on the subject, it was time to put the Lord’s will into action. One brother, who unfortunately wielded much influence, said, “I have been told if we do this there are some who will leave. It takes people to give the money and it takes money to pay the bills.” Another man, whose only input in the past was the status of the “gas bill,” also expressed his concern.

   After some discussion, some in favor and some in opposition, I asked, “Are we going to allow the weak and/or disobedient brethren to determine which commands we are going to keep and which commands we are going to ignore?” “Oh, no, no, no….” was the response. In spite of such an emphatic denial, rest assured that was exactly what was happening!

   What was the problem? It was the “maintenance mentality”! Numbers and bills were more important than souls and commands. It is a frightening thing to think that God’s people can become so numb that they actually seem to perceive the mission of the church as keeping the lights on, the carpet clean and the gas bill paid. It’s as if God is pleased so long as you keep the building structurally sound and have an occasional fellowship dinner.

   Forgive me, but I don’t think God is all that impressed with clean carpet and continental breakfasts! What impresses him is seeing the church respecting the word and keeping all of the commands – one of which is evangelism. May God keep us from the maintenance mentality!

   Friendship Evangelism — “Friendship Evangelism” is the practice of becoming friends with someone in order to introduce them to the truth. One may ask, “How can that possibly be perceived as an enemy of evangelism?” Who among us has not, in efforts to convert someone, befriended a sinner? This writer most certainly has and will continue to so do. What then is the problem? The trouble with “Friendship Evangelism” resides not in its basic concept, but rather in abuses in its implementation. There are, at least from this writer’s perspective, two major abuses of “Friendship Evangelism.”

   First, “Friendship Evangelism” is not aggressive, let alone as aggressive as God demands we be! When Jesus commissioned the disciples, He did not say: “Go make friends”; he said: “Go make disciples” (Matt. 28:19-20). The primary responsibility of the Lord’s people is not to befriend sinners. The responsibility is to teach truth! May we never equate our having become friends with someone who needs the gospel to our having worked to evangelize their soul!

   Second, “Friendship Evangelism” is used as an excuse for inactivity. When asked, “Have you talked to them about their soul yet,” it is common to hear as an answer: “Well, we’re not good enough friends yet.” Where does it say one must be “good enough friends” with someone to teach them the gospel? What unfortunately happens is the fear of “loosing them” causes the Lord’s command to preach the gospel to be either postponed or completely circumvented. A friendship, even with a potential convert, should never be placed above the determination one has to keep the Lord’s commands (Luke 14:26).

   Lethargic Dual — A preacher was going to speak on the two greatest enemies of the Lord’s church. He ran the topic by a brother and asked: “Joe, I think the two greatest enemies are ignorance and apathy. What do you think?” To which Joe answered, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” Joe, while oblivious to it, was a personification of the problem plaguing the church.

First, consider that of ignorance. Do people really understand that God means what He says? The God of the Bible will not lie. In fact, He cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18)! Such is contrary to His very nature. Consequently, God means what He says. That means that accountable people who do die without having obeyed the Gospel will be lost (Matt. 7:21). Contrary to what some teach, there are no exceptions, no ulterior plans and no second chances! One has rightly stated, “The only surprise about the Judgment is that there won’t be any surprises!” Paul said: “Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (II Cor. 5:11). Surely there are not many, if any among us, who are unaware of the church’s responsibility to save the lost. It would seem that anyone who has a remote clue about God’s Good Book, would know that to claim ignorance of evangelistic responsibility in the Judgment would be futile. May God help us to be aware of our responsibility!

   Second, consider the topic of apathy. Three words aptly capture the gist of “apathy”: indifference and no interest. The apathetic Christian is the one who can hear a lesson on evangelism and feel little or no compulsion to do something. He is virtually “numb” to God’s command to evangelize the lost. He might talk about it, or make announcements concerning it, yet he personally never does it. Evangelism to the apathetic is always “someone else’s business.” Whenever a Christian is numb to a command of God, he is “lukewarm” at best. Remember the church of Laodicea: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:14-16). Is there a more graphic description of the Lord’s disgust for his people?

May we be ever aware of our responsibility to save the lost and may we have the willingness to do something about it. Again, it was Jesus Christ who said: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:18-19).

 

 Gary’s blog: http://www.tjsman.wordpress.com;

Free book from Gary: The Measure of One’s Life book

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One of the most arresting photographs I’ve ever seen came about when Julie and Alex Armas agreed to permit a photographer for USA Today into an operating room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

The date was August 19, 1999, and Mr. and Mrs. Armas had agreed to allow surgery on their 21-week-old son. And you should understand that the 21 weeks were from the time of their son’s conception, not his birth.

The surgery was to be performed in utero. Infant Armas had been found to have spina bifida, which had left part of his spinal cord exposed after the backbone had failed to develop properly. The surgery was designed to close the gap and protect the baby’s fragile spinal cord.

The operation was performed through a tiny slit made in the wall of Mrs. Armas’ womb. The thing that proved so amazing about the photography sequence that emerged from that operating room is that Samuel Alexander Armas — still not viable outside his mother’s womb — surprised everyone with a reflex movement that not only extended his arm from the cramped quarters hosting his imperfect body but grasped the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner.

I suppose we could say that Samuel was “hanging on for dear life” to the surgeon’s hand.

That photo forces me to think of our situation with the Creator God of Heaven and Earth. From our fragile environment and with all the defects of our faith, you and I reach out for God and try to hang on for dear life by means of a grasp called faith.

Samuel  was born at 6:25 p.m. on December 2, 1999, and is doing well. It’s too early to know for sure that he will walk, but he is moving his legs very well and is being monitored regularly.

He’ll have the normal challenges every kid faces growing up, and some of those challenges will relate to the spina bifida for which he underwent dramatic in-utero surgery. But the Armases — who had suffered through two miscarriages before little Samuel’s conception, surgery, and birth — are thrilled with their son. “The details of his limitations become insignificant,” said his father, “and that’s the understatement of the year.”

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. . . . Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Cor. 4:7-10, 14-16

Although you and I think of Paul in terms of his apostleship and centuries of honor for his role in the early church, the words of our text today were spoken in a defensive tone. Paul’s mission at Corinth had been under fire from some harsh critics. The criticism was severe enough that he had been tempted to “lose heart” (2 Cor. 4:1). He was determined, however, to fulfill his ministry and not to dishonor the trust God had given him. By means of a faith-grasp on God’s hand, he had resolved that nothing would make him relinquish that hold.

The key theme of this section is repeated in 1 Corinthians 4:1 and 16: “We faint not!” Literally, Paul said, “We do not lose heart!” There were certainly plenty of reasons for discouragement in Paul’s situation, yet the great apostle did not quit. What was it that kept him from fainting in the conflicts of life? He knew what he possessed in Jesus Christ! Instead of complaining about what he did not have, Paul rejoiced in what he did have; and you and I can do the same thing.

One thing is undeniable about Jesus: He was brutally honest about his call to discipleship. He drew people with the warning that their eventual triumph and joy in following him would come through hardship, danger, and perhaps even death. “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” he told them. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matt. 5:10-11).

Maybe Jesus understood one of the things about human nature that we occasionally discover for ourselves: Few people are motivated to do their best in a cushy, unchallenging job. There are people every year who quit jobs with good salaries because of the lack of challenge. Few things in life are more insulting to some of us than to be offered an easy job, a job just anybody could perform. Work without challenge offers no sense of joy in accomplishment.

But forget ordinary work and careers for a minute. Does anyone seriously think he/she could join God Almighty in doing something and not be stretched to his/her limits? How can we participate with God in anything and not be challenged? How could we participate in his holiness within a cosmos in rebellion against him and not be put at risk?

Paul’s personal experience in following Christ had certainly lived up to its advance billing. He had indeed been “persecuted because of righteousness,” endured repeated vile “insult,” and had people “falsely say all kinds of evil” about him because of his commitment to Jesus of Nazareth.

Later in this same epistle, Paul — with an obvious sense of embarrassment for having to cite such things in order to answer the slander of his opponents — gave a list of things he had been forced to endure over the course of his ministry:

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (2 Cor. 11:25-29).

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,” said Martin Luther King Jr., “but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

If that sentiment is correct, Paul comes off well. He was a mature Christian. He understood that his faith would not exempt him from adversity. Or, to quote Augustine: “God had one son on Earth without sin, but he has never had one without suffering.”

But you and I live at a different time and with a different mind set. The sentiment most of us carry is that adversity in our experience somehow contradicts the doctrine of the love of God. But it is shallow thinking and flawed faith that would measure the degree of God’s love by the comfort of our earthly situation.

 

     

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How honestly do we confront the dangers of wealth? The New Testament clearly teaches that wealth, while not inherently evil, does involve some real dangers.

Paul wrote, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:9,10).

Warnings like these, unfortunately, have little effect on most of us at the practical level. We seem to believe that, if there are such dangers, they are not so great as to keep us from pursuing however much wealth we happen to want. Denying that what we desire is “to be rich,” we conveniently define “rich” as a level of affluence above what we aspire to.

Nevertheless, most of us do need to hear the warning that although money itself is not sinful, it is fraught with danger that is both real and serious. Most of us already have more money than we can safely handle — but rather than cutting back on our efforts toward affluence, we are as busy as we can be trying to elevate our standard of living even more.

Everybody acknowledges the difficulties of being hungry; too few are honest about the difficulties of being full.

Paul said that he had to learn how to abound as well as how to suffer need: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11-13).

For obvious reasons, we pray not to be stricken with poverty. But if we understood what the realities are, we would pray even more fervently not to be stricken with wealth. Affluence is not an aid in getting to heaven — it is a difficulty to be overcome.

“Give me neither poverty nor riches — feed me with the food You prescribe for me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Prov. 30:8,9).

One critical danger of wealth is that it tends to draw our trust and our gratitude away from God.

“He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage” (Prov. 11:28).

Prefacing the parable of the rich fool (Lk. 12:13-21), Jesus warned, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist of the things he possesses” (v.15). The story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk.16:19-31) makes a similar point.

Paul instructed Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).

Concerning our treasure and our hearts, Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt. 6:21).

The Lord taught that it is a very rare rich man who will be saved. “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt. 19:23,24).

Most of us, however, naively assume that, whatever dangers wealth may involve for other people, we are that rarest of camels who can get through the eye of the needle!

The church in Laodicea illustrates how out of touch we can be about the damage that affluence has done to us personally: “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

Sometimes we just do not see the truth about what our real spiritual condition is in relation to how prosperous we are materially. Before it is too late, we need to soberly assess what our pursuit of an ever-higher standard of living has already cost us — and decide if we wish to continue paying the price.

How Our Pursuit of Money Is Hurting Us

In our character.

Godly virtues and character qualities are being eroded by monetary motivations and economic values. In terms of integrity and spiritual-mindedness, there is not a person any farther away from having the mind of the Lord than the covetous person. For a good example of the consequences that covetousness has in a person’s character, simply consider the inner character of Judas Iscariot (e.g. Jn. 12:6).

In our families.

Can it be denied that, in many instances, we are losing our families to materialism? Are we not sacrificing real life and real relationships for money and the things it can buy? See chapter on Crippled Families.

For materialistic and otherwise worldly rewards, many husbands and fathers are expending themselves so completely on their professional careers that they have nothing left to give to their families.

Significant, well-rounded male leadership in the home is rare. The relationship of many career-driven men with their families is a wreck. When it comes to decisions that impact our families in far-reaching ways, we are often making those decisions mainly on the basis of monetary considerations, not infrequently with disastrous results for our families.

Consider the consequences of Lot’s decision to move his family to Sodom for reasons that were primarily economic.

The combined hours spent by fathers and mothers in moneymaking pursuits is leaving too little time for the building of godly families that are strong and stable.

The often-used excuse is that, although the time we are having to devote to our careers and jobs is too much right now, the situation is only temporary — later we will have even more family time than most people. Often, however, the adage holds true: there is nothing quite as permanent as a temporary arrangement.

Even if, at some point in the future, we do quit spending too much time making money, we will have missed critical opportunities with our families and done damage that we may not be able to undo. One of Satan’s oldest lies is that there is no damage we can do in the present that cannot be undone later. It is a most dangerous thing to assume!

The implications of our materialism with respect to our children are nothing short of frightening. What kind of values do we think we are passing along to our children by the way we are living our lives? By our example we are canceling out the words we have said about spiritual matters being the most important thing in our hearts.

When they compare our enthusiasm for money with our enthusiasm for the Lord, our kids do not have any trouble figuring out what we are really after in life. In our (perhaps well-intentioned) efforts to give our children “all the things we never had,” we are inflicting on them one of life’s greatest disadvantages.

By giving them basically everything they want, we are ingraining in them a view of “the way the world works” that is out of touch with the reality they will face in the adult world.

As adults, our kids will not get 100% of everything they are able to dream of; what they do get will be obtained by working, not by whining and manipulating.

Too few of our kids even know what it is to want something and not get it immediately. They may never know what it is like to dream about something, to plan and work and save for it for a long time, and then to enjoy it.

By overdosing them with material things they have had to expend no effort for, we are not only producing ungrateful offspring, we are depriving them of the pleasure that comes from things that have been waited for and worked for.

In the age of credit cards, our kids will likely spend their adult years deep in debt, having learned from us that they have a right to get everything they want — right now.

By giving our kids too much of what they want and too little of what they need, we are creating emotional and spiritual cripples who have no idea how to tolerate frustration, overcome difficulties, and work toward goals. See the “The Fruits of Frustration” in John K. Rosemond, Six-Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children (Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1989), pp. 113-34.

If they ever learn how to be self-sufficient, effective adults, our offspring will probably have to learn it the hard way from someone other than us, their materialistic parents.

Spiritually, we are hazarding our children’s lives by encouraging them into careers that involve the making of great sums of money.

Again, the point is not that wealth is inherently evil — it is just that, spiritually, wealth is very dangerous. Remember Paul’s warning: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:9,10).

Consider an analogous situation. Most of us would not think of encouraging our kids to pursue a career in, say, show business. Our argument would not be that it is impossible for a Christian to be an entertainer; it would be that the dangers are simply too great to risk.

If we worry about careers that, for one reason or another, involve special dangers, why are we so unconcerned when our young people enter vocations that are dangerous because of the money involved? Are we blind to these dangers to our kids’ faith?

In general, it simply has to be said that, with respect to our families, we are making the wrong investment of ourselves.

We are “going all out” for all the wrong things. We are going to get to the top of the ladder and find out that it is leaning against the wrong wall.

On our deathbeds, we will not wish we had spent more time at the office or more time in other moneymaking endeavors; we will wish we had spent more time building quality relationships with the people around us, especially our families.

In the work of the Lord.

Too often, what should be going to the Lord is going to higher standards of living for ourselves.

Our money.

In most places, the Lord’s Day contribution is not nearly what it ought to be. Many Christians are making far more money than they ever dreamed possible and the contribution looks good when compared to the past, but from the Lord’s vantage point, it may not look so good because it represents so little sacrifice. The Lord measures liberality in terms of sacrifice.

“So He called His disciples to Him and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood'” (Mk. 12:43,44).

Doors for the gospel are opening up all over the world right now, but at our present level of giving, many of these opportunities cannot be taken advantage of. Generally, we are willing to give to support the gospel up to the point where it impinges on our standard of living.

At that point, we claim we cannot “afford” to send more evangelists to the field. Really what that says is that we are not willing to sacrifice and reduce our standard of living in order that others may hear the gospel.

If there are souls that never hear the gospel because American brethren were unwilling to cut into our standard of living, will we not stand in judgment before the Lord with blood on our hands?

The amount of money now spent on “upscale” church buildings by conservative brethren in some places ought to give us pause to think. Are there not some implications here with regard to our values and our attitudes?

Our time.

Affluent people tend to be very busy people. The simple truth is that we have less time for the Lord’s work than we would if we were not so occupied with material matters. See chapter on Overcrowded Lifestyles.

We allow work to keep us away from the services of the church. Is it any more than an assumption on our part that work obligations should automatically take precedence over church services? Uninterrupted attendance and significant involvement in any congregational activity is often hard to get now from even our “stronger” members — largely because of obligations to careers and other economic pursuits.

Even when we attend, we sometimes give the appearance of hurrying through the services of the Lord so that we can get back to our commerce. Amos charged the Jews of his day with being eager for the days of religious observance to be over: “When will the New Moon be past, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may trade our wheat?” (Amos 8:5).

Personal evangelism is not the least of the things that suffer because of the time we spend making and spending money. See section on Our Shortage of Personal Evangelism.

Our hearts.

Our attention and affection are being distracted by activities that relate primarily to the making and spending of money.

Precious interest and enthusiasm are being drained away from the Lord’s work by materialistic endeavors.

The devil is undermining our wholehearted devotion to the Lord with economic enticements. There is not a more powerful tactic he is using today to keep us from loving God with all our hearts.

Some Suggestions About What We Can Do

Plenty of suggestions can be made about dealing with materialism. Most of these are commonsense ideas, things we already know to do. The difficulty is not really that we do not know what to do about this kind of a problem — it is that we will not admit we have the problem! Here are some examples of specific things we can do, some real changes it is possible for us to make.

To an American, the most radical suggestion of all would probably be this one: we can put a moderate ceiling on our standard of living.

Do we have the outright faith and courage it would take to do this? Can we not at some modest point say we have enough? I know a brother in the Lord who actually does have this attitude. He once surprised a telephone salesman for an investment company by saying, “No thanks, I would not be interested in your offer. I already have all the money I need.”

Our culture assumes that a family will live, for example, in the most expensive house it can afford, automatically trading up as soon as possible. Can we not call this assumption into question?

Would it not make a big difference in the Lord’s work if even a few of us imposed a significant limitation on our standard of living and determined to spend everything above that in the Lord’s work? We can set some limits and impose a time budget on our moneymaking activities: husbands and wives can determine that, between the two of them, they will spend no more than ______ hours a week making money.

We only get a fixed amount of time: exactly 168 hours a week for each individual. Within this limited amount of time, we must take care of the various things we need to do in life. This obviously requires that we wisely allocate our time resources among the different priorities that we have. If we spend too much time on one priority, something else will get shorted.

In most families, somebody has to spend some time each week making money so that the family can live. But how much time should this be? How much time can the members of a family spend making money without taking time away from other things that are more important? Each family must make its own decision about the combined number of hours that can be spent making money in that family each week.

A wise and godly family will not only seek the Lord’s will in making this decision, it will stand firm when the temptation comes to increase the family’s earnings by spending more time in moneymaking activities. Once a family has decided the maximum amount of time that husband and wife combined can afford to spend making money each week, it has only two alternatives when the “need” arises for yet more money:

It can find a way to make more money within the same amount of time. It can lower its standard of living to decrease the amount of money needed. We should rarely, if ever, consider the third option: breaking the family’s time budget by borrowing time from other priorities to satisfy materialistic desires. If living on what we are able to earn within our prayerfully determined time budget does not allow us to have as big a slice of the pie as we would like, so be it.

“Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing” (Lk. 12:23).

We can make it a rule that work will never keep us from the services of the church. More and more jobs require travel and other requirements that prevent assembling with the saints. If our present job requires missing services, then the finding of another job, perhaps lower-paying, that does not interfere with our attendance probably should be an immediate priority.

• We can maintain time for personal evangelism.
• We can maintain time for the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study.
• We can maintain time for our families.
• We can quit giving our children everything they want and teach them the meaning of work.
• We can go out of our way to spend time with the poor, we can see to it that our children do so, and we can consciously hold on to the ability to relate to the poor.
• We can find some regular charitable work to do that is anonymous and unpaid.
• We can increase what we are giving to the Lord’s work — and make it an actual increase, not just a “cost of living” increase.
• We can cut up our credit cards, get out of debt, and learn to live within (if not below) our means.
• In short, we can repent of our covetousness.

These suggestions are useful and effective only if we act on them in concrete ways.

Conclusion

It is foolish to pretend that materialism is not a problem. We have our heads stuck in the sand if we cannot see that, as a whole, the Lord’s people in the United States have been affected by the materialism that surrounds us in our culture.

The damage being done is cause for real concern.

But lessons on materialism, covetousness, etc. are easily misunderstood. The point is not that any member of the church who happens to be affluent should be embarrassed or apologetic about it — unless, of course, he got that way by compromising his spiritual priorities. The point is not that anyone should turn down his next raise at the office.

The point is not that we should be indifferent or slothful in the work of providing for our families.

What we are saying is that maintaining spiritual priorities in a materialistic environment like ours is not easy. Our greatest mistake would be to assume that we have met the challenge and that our own personal priorities are what they ought to be.

For better or worse, others can tell what our priorities really are by how we spend our time, not by what we say.

The Scriptures contain special warnings that need to be heard by those among the Lord’s people who are, in fact, wealthy. “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:17-19).

What happens to us in the hereafter depends on what we are here after! There is more to life than money, mammon, and material things. Jesus resisted Satan’s temptation concerning physical needs with the truth contained in the Old Testament: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4).

He warned the multitudes, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist of the things he possesses” (Lk. 12:15).

He said, “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing” (Lk. 12:23).

It is urgent that we learn contentment. “Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you'” (Hb. 13:5).

We need to be able say with Paul, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11).

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” (1 Tim. 6:6-8).

It is vital that we lay up treasures in heaven rather than upon earth: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt. 6:19-21).

     

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Almost everyone is interested in success. If you have any doubt, look at the business section and self-help section of the local bookstore. Look at the best-selling books. Examine your mail for all the ads for success seminars.

Of all people in the world, Christians should want to succeed. What makes us different are our definition of success and our strategies to get there.

Let’s take a lesson from a tired and weary group of fishermen who felt like failures until Jesus taught them a lesson. It was a lesson that sustained them the rest of their lives.

This is obviously a significant event for the disciples, but it was also a significant event for the early church. Their experience of following Jesus is mirrored in these four fisherman. For many Christians, Jesus’ call to become “fishers of men,” mixed with fear and worship, is all very familiar.

Furthermore, this incident shows that Jesus not only fraternized with the working class, but used them significantly in the propagation of the kingdom. While their “doctrinal faith” leaves much to be desired, their “practical faith” is exemplary. In other words, what they believe about Jesus turns out to be wrong; but their trust in Jesus is right on!

It is possible that at least seven of the disciples were fishermen (John 21:1-3). Consider the fact that fishermen generally have the qualities that make for success in serving the Lord. It takes courage and daring, patience and determination to work on the seas; and it also takes a great deal of faith. Fishermen must be willing to work together (they used nets, not hooks) and help one another. They must develop the skills necessary to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

If I had fished all night and caught nothing, I would probably be selling my nets, not washing them to get ready to go out again! But true fishermen don’t quit. Peter kept on working while Jesus used his ship as a platform from which to address the huge crowd on the shore.

“Every pulpit is a fishing boat,” said Dr. J. Vernon McGee, “a place to give out the Word of God and attempt to catch fish.”

But there was another side to this request: Peter was a “captive audience” as he sat in the ship listening to the Word of God. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

In a short time, Peter would have to exercise faith, and Jesus was preparing him. First He said, “Thrust out a little”; and then, when Peter was ready, He commanded, “Launch out into the deep.” If Peter had not obeyed the first seemingly insignificant command, he would never have participated in a miracle.

From this event comes the Christian acrostic of the fish. The Greek word for fish is ichthys. Each of the five Greek letters stand for the beginning of the following words: Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Savior. It was the secret password for the catacomb worship services. Christian theology is summarized in this symbol.

Mt 4:18 with Lk 5:1 — [One day^LK] ¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. … as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^NIV-6-4 with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, ²he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

The first step to calling men is seeing a vision of people—people who need the Word of God. The people were actually “pressing” (epikeisthai) in upon Jesus. They gathered and crowded around Him. Note why: to hear the Word of God. They pressed to hear the Word of God. They had a craving, a hunger and thirst after righteousness.

The famous sheet of water in Galilee is called by three names-the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesaret. It is thirteen miles long by eight miles wide. It lies in a dip in the earth’s surface and is 680 feet below sea level. That fact gives it an almost tropical climate. Nowadays it is not very populous but in the days of Jesus it had nine townships clustered round its shores, none of fewer than 15,000 people.

We are here confronted with a turning point in the career of Jesus. Last time we heard him preach he was in the synagogue; now he is at the lakeside. True, he will be back in the synagogue again; but the time is coming when the door of the synagogue will be shut to him and his church will be the lakeside and the open road, and his pulpit a boat. He would go anywhere where men would listen to him. When the synagogue was shut Jesus took to the open road. There is in this story what we might call a list of the conditions of a miracle.

(i) There is the eye that sees. There is no need to think that Jesus created a shoal of fishes for the occasion. In the Sea of Galilee there were phenomenal shoals which covered the sea as if it was solid for as much as an acre. Most likely Jesus’ keen eye saw just such a shoal and his keen sight made it look like a miracle. We need the eye that really sees. Many people saw steam raise the lid of a kettle; only James Watt went on to think of a steam engine. Many people saw an apple fall; only Isaac Newton went on to think out the law of gravity. The earth is full of miracles for the eye that sees.

(ii) There is the spirit that will make an effort. If Jesus said it, tired as he was Peter was prepared to try again. For most people the disaster of life is that they give up just one effort too soon.

(iii) There is the spirit which will attempt what seems hopeless. The night was past and that was the time for fishing. All the circumstances were unfavourable, but Peter said, “Let circumstances be what they may, if you say so, we will try again.” Too often we wait because the time is not opportune. If we wait for a perfect set of circumstances, we will never begin at all. If we want a miracle, we must take Jesus at his word when he bids us attempt the impossible.

Jesus calls these four men—two pairs of brothers, all aligned with their fishing business—Peter, Andrew, James and John. They worked on what is generally called the Sea of Galilee (also called Gennesaret, Chinneroth, or the Sea of Tiberias). But it is actually a lake, not a sea. It is shaped like a pear, twelve miles from north to south and seven miles across at its widest. Oddly, it sits in a basin six hundred and eighty-two feet below sea level, surrounded by a perimeter of one-thousand-foot hills, and it is teeming with fish.

Fishing was one of the three great industries of Palestine along with agriculture and shepherding. It was a lucrative business on this lake. A typically rabbinic exaggeration states that there were three hundred different kinds of fish in the Sea of Galilee. Edersheim describes several such rabbinic teachings about fish, including how to prepare them (I:473). Certainly, fishing was big business in Palestine. Even one of the gates of Jerusalem was called the “Fish Gate” (Neh 3:3).

As Jesus walks along the shore, the fishermen are cleaning their nets after working unproductively all night (Lk 5:5). This was the bane of their work—meticulously cleaning out the pebbles, grasses and sand which had tangled themselves in their nets and repairing the torn strands after heavy use all night.

Simon and Andrew are the first Jesus encounters. They are casting their nets into the lake. This is the only time this kind of net [amphible4stron], is mentioned in the Bible. This was a relatively small net which was cast into the water and sunk whatever was below it. It would then be drawn up and whatever was in its “bell” would be taken in. The second kind of net mentioned in the Bible was the sage4ne4—a drag net that was pulled behind the boat (only used in Mt 13:47). The most common net was the diktya, also mentioned twice in our passage. It was the normal casting net. These larger nets are being cleaned while one of these guys is fooling around in the shallows with the amphible4stron, trying to redeem their night of catching nothing.

The crowds press in on Jesus. He is already so popular that he cannot move about freely. Mobbed like a movie star, Jesus employs Peter’s empty fishing boat as a pulpit and uses the shore as an amphitheater.

The second step to calling men is seizing resources. Jesus had to find some way to handle the throng of people both then and later. The crowds were so large and their needs so many that He just could not handle their disorder. He could not meet the needs of everyone. Standing there and being confronted with the present problem, He scanned the horizon for some way to handle the matter.

As He looked around, He saw an opportunity and laid His plans. He saw a boat and a fisherman in the boat, and He needed both. The boat could be used as a pulpit, and the man could become a disciple. He asked the man to let Him use the boat as a pulpit and to steer the boat out from land a short distance. The point is this: Jesus seized and used the resources available. He had the vision of people needing the Word of God, but He needed a pulpit and others to help, so He scanned the horizon and found both.

The third step to calling men is the removal of reluctant obedience. As soon as Jesus finished His preaching, He decided to win Peter’s loyalty and discipleship. But first, He had to humble Peter. He had to show Peter that He, the Messiah, could look after and take care of him. He told Peter to put out to sea and fish. Peter objected because he had fished all night and had caught nothing.

However, he stopped right in the middle of his objection and obeyed Jesus. Note what had happened.

1. Peter was reluctant to obey Jesus. He objected to what Jesus asked. He was thoroughly exhausted, for he had “toiled all night.” He was disappointed, for he had caught nothing, and he had worked enough hours already. Despite needing to be home in bed, he had stayed and helped the Lord in His preaching by loaning his boat to Him.

2. Peter caught himself in the middle of his objection and obeyed. What caused the switch, the change from reluctance to willing obedience? Probably two things.
3. Peter was pretty well convinced that Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Messiah.
4. Peter was drawn somewhat to follow Jesus. Therefore, when he began to object to Jesus’ will, there was a prick of conscience, and he obeyed his conscience. He followed his heart…

• not his mind, thinking there were no fish.
• not his experience, having already tried and failed to catch fish.
• not his body, being too tired and exhausted, just incapable of going on.

Reluctance should always give in to obedience. We need the spirit that will try for God, no matter what the obstacles or how hopeless a situation may seem.

 When a man is drawn to Christ, he desperately needs to obey his heart and to obey it immediately.

Lk 5:4-7 — ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down^NIV-6-5 the nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Jesus asks Peter to push off a short distance from the shore in order to teach. But when he is finished he directs Peter to “cast off” into the deep and let down his net. This is a passionate scene. Peter is tired and frustrated. They have worked all night dropping and hoisting their nets and caught nothing. We must remember, this was not a fishing vacation with a little rod and reel. These are heavy boats, large nets, and their major means of support. Furthermore, Peter has just finished cleaning the nets. Now Jesus is asking him to dirty them up again. This landlubber does not even know that it is the wrong time to fish. In addition, the best fishing is usually near the shore, not in the deep of the lake.

Peter must have been surprised when Jesus took command of the ship and its crew. After all, Jesus was a carpenter by trade (Mark 6:3), and what do carpenters know about fishing? It was a well-known fact that, in the Sea of Galilee, you caught fish at night in the shallow water, not in the daytime in the deep water. What Jesus asked Peter to do was contrary to all of his training and experience, but Peter obeyed. The key was his faith in the Word of God: “Nevertheless, at Thy word” (Luke 5:5).

The word translated “Master” (Luke 5:5) is used only by Luke and it has a variety of meanings, all of which speak of authority: chief commander, magistrate, governor of a city, and president of a college. This unusual word “master” [epistata] is used only by Luke and always in reference to Jesus. This is a momentous phrase. Peter is a professional fisherman. He knows the sea and he knows the odds of going out there and catching a fish. Nevertheless, he has seen Jesus in action before.

More than a year ago, as he followed John the Baptist, he saw Jesus baptized. He watched Jesus cleanse the temple, he was there in Samaria after Jesus talked to the woman at the well. He witnessed the healings in Judea and the miraculous transformation of water into wine in Cana. After nearly nine months of following Jesus, Peter went back to his family fishing business at the lake, while Jesus preached in his own hometown. Now they are reunited. Jesus makes this simple, although absurd, request. But because of Peter’s respect and trust in Jesus, he obeys.

Peter was willing to submit to the authority of Jesus, even though he did not understand all that the Lord was doing. And remember, a great crowd was watching from the shore.

How people respond to success is one indication of their true character. Instead of claiming the valuable catch for themselves, Peter and Andrew called their partners to share it. We are not reservoirs, but channels of blessing, to share with others what God has graciously given to us.

As Peter pulls up the nets, his muscles flex, his eyes bug out, and an involuntary smile breaks out all over his face. It is such a large number of fish, in fact, that their nets begin to tear and their boat begins to sink. The smile turns to a grimace. He knows that he needs some help. Luke uses a word that means “to beckon with a nod.” That makes sense. His hands are full of net, he could hardly wave to his partners, and he certainly can’t let go. Besides that, he is too far out to shout effectively and too busy to have a friendly chat with his partners.

The second boat of their family business comes out to help, manned by James and John. They pass on the other side of the net and begin to pull up so that the net is between the two boats. As they pull up, fish begin to spill over into the boat. So many, in fact, that both boats sink deeper and deeper into the water in threat of going under. This was about all the blessing they could handle! They were shut out the night before with nearly nine months of bills to catch up on since following Jesus. But today, in one beautiful moment, the Lord takes care of their electricity bill and even provides enough extra for a new dress for Peter’s wife.

The fourth step to calling men is demonstrating godly power. Peter’s obedience produced results; his obedience caught fish, and the catch was no ordinary catch. It was much more, so much more that there could be no question about Jesus. Jesus was behind the miracle; Jesus was demonstrating the power of God. (Remember this was the very purpose of Jesus, to win Peter’s loyalty and willingness to become a disciple on a full-time basis.) What happened is a little humorous when we remember what Jesus was doing with Peter, and Peter’s reluctance and objection, weariness and exhaustion.

There was a sense in which the Lord was really laying it on Peter, really letting him have it. Peter thought he was tired, but he didn’t know what exhaustion was yet. The Lord must have stood to the side smiling to Himself. How our Lord loved this man Peter, even now! He was after Peter’s loyalty, and He was going to get it even if He had to make Peter drop in his tracks (which was exactly what was to happen, Luke 5:8). At any rate, there was some humor in what began to happen to this man who was so reluctant, moaning and groaning about his tiredness.

Just imagine Peter already bone weary, grumbling in his mind at this carpenter telling him, the skilled fisherman, how to fish. Imagine Peter’s exhaustion and weariness, reluctance and objection, moaning and groaning; and then all of a sudden a catch is made, a catch so great that he was going to have to work wearily along for hour upon hour.

• Peter’s net broke.
• Peter had to call for another whole crew and boat to help.
• Both boats were filled as full as they could be.
• Then to top it off, both boats began to sink.

Jesus had His man! What else was Peter to do other than what followed? In all the humor of the situation, our Lord’s heart was bound to be full of rejoicing because this big hunk of a fisherman, man though he was, was like a little child before the Lord. He was broken in humility before the Lord, and the experience was but the first of many experiences of brokenness yet to come.

Lk 5:8-10a — ⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

The fifth step to calling men is stirring a deep confession. Peter knew exactly what had happened. He had been reluctant and objected to the Lord’s request, and he had not been too happy that the great catch had caused so much trouble. But he was a skilled fisherman, and he knew that the great catch was no ordinary catch; it was a miracle of the Lord, a miracle which the Lord was using to teach him that he was to obey without reluctance and objection.

Note exactly what happened. When Peter saw the boat beginning to sink, he raced over to Jesus, fell upon his knees, and in a sense (continuing the humor) said, “Lord, I’ve had enough. Let me alone. I’ll do anything.”

His confession was threefold.

1. He confessed his sin of disobedience and unbelief: of being reluctant to obey the Lord, of questioning the Lord’s will and knowledge and power.

2. He confessed Jesus to be the Lord. Note that Peter had previously called Jesus “Master” (epistate, Luke 5:5), which is a word used to address anyone in authority. But Peter had learned better. He now called Jesus “Lord” (kurie). He is the Lord who is holy and convicting, who must be obeyed and followed.

3. He confessed a fear, a reverence, an awe for the Lord (cp. Luke 5:9-10).

You would think that Peter would kind of like having Jesus around. After all, he is good for business. After they got their boats steadied and their hearts stopped pounding, Peter falls to his knees on a slimy pile of fish. He had just seen Jesus, really seen him, for who he is. He says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” A couple things ought to be observed. (1) Peter is thinking correctly. He, unlike the crowds, is not selfishly seeking a miracle. He is thinking about what it really meant to be in the presence of perfect purity. Jesus’ purity demands obedience and ushers in judgment. (2) Peter is responding out of fear of the presence of God himself. It was a fearful miracle to him.

The people on the banks are no doubt laughing and cheering and selling souvenir T-shirts, but they were not in the boats that almost sank. They were not so personally touched by this miracle as Peter and Co. Besides, this is one professional fisherman who understands the power of the lake and majesty of this miracle. As Jesus saw through the waters to the fish, so he saw through Peter into the depths of his heart.

Lk 5:10b-11 with Mt 4:19-20, Mk 1:17-18 — Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; [follow me^MT,MK] from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹So [at once^MT,MK] they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Mt 4:21-22 with Mk 1:20 — ²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. [Without delay^MK] Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father [in the boat with the hired men^MK] and followed him.

The sixth step to calling men is challenging men to discipleship, that is, to catch other men. Note two significant facts.

1. The words “fear not” (me phobon) indicate that Peter was actually scared and frightened. Jesus was calming him, telling him to trust and stop fearing. He, the Lord, was in charge and looking after everything.
2. The call to Peter was to “catch men.” The word “catch” (zogreo) means to catch alive or to catch for life. The idea is that Peter was no longer to catch (fish) for death, but he was to catch (men) for life.

Once the disciples are back on the shore the crowds would gather and start to count the fish as they were sorted. Peter’s employees (Mk 1:20), would no doubt start cleaning their nets (again). It is at this time that Jesus uses their present occupation to call them in a way that they can visualize—Fishers of Men. Like other analogies, not all points of comparison are applicable. Jesus is not asking them to trap or capture men, but simply to collect them into the kingdom of God. Peter and Andrew respond to Jesus’ call.

Luke departs here from the other synoptic writers. Matthew and Mark both say, “I will make you fishers of men.” The word Luke uses does not mean to fish but to take live captives. It is used only one other time (2 Tim 2:26). There it describes how we rescue from Satan those whom he has caught alive. This call is one of battle. We tread behind enemy lines to free the captives whom Satan has seized.

The three men walk a short distance farther and encounter their partners, James and John. They are sitting with their father, Zebedee, in their stout fishing boat, also cleaning their nets and repairing the torn spots from this massive catch. Jesus also calls them and they likewise respond, leaving their father in the boat with the hired servants (Mk 1:20).^6-8 Of these latter two, we observe that James was the first Apostolic martyr whose death is recorded in Acts 12. And John was the last surviving Apostle as he writes Revelation about a.d. 95, and according to tradition, the only Apostle who died a natural death.

I don’t suppose that Zebedee was any too happy to be left to clean up by himself. Of course, their business was big enough to have hired servants to do most of the dirty work. It may seem unkind for these two sons to leave their father with the family business, but such is the nature of discipleship (cf. Mt 10:37).

This call may seem too sudden to merit such a response. But we must remember that these four have already traveled with Jesus for about a year now (cf. Jn 1:35-51), and have just witnessed a miraculous catch of fish. Jesus enters into their domain and proves his power. He now calls them into his domain to be empowered to fish for men. What else is there to do when such a one as Jesus calls you to his vocation?

Jesus’ call of these men is unique: (1) There is already antagonism against Jesus in Jerusalem. They know there will be danger in following this man. (2) He calls them to abandon their occupations, which are lucrative, popular, and steady. This is a tremendous step of faith for them. (3) Jesus calls them, not to a new doctrine but to a new direction. The contemporary rabbis considered it a sacred duty to gather students about them. Jesus, however, doesn’t ask them to come and learn, but to come and do, or rather to come and be. The flicker of the kingdom begins to flair.

Accept the limitations of human efforts and plans. Peter, Andrew, James and John did all they knew to do and still had come up empty. While God gave us brains to think with, sometimes we don’t have enough cleverness on our own to do the job.

Trust the word of Jesus even if it doesn’t make sense.

How do you think these fisherman felt, taking advice from a carpenter turned preacher? Didn’t they know fishing? It was their business. Still, there was something in Jesus that caused them to trust him. He did not, of course, ask them to do something immoral, just something that did not seem to make sense.

Be willing to take risks.

When Jesus asked them to go out, it was into the deep water. Every great enterprise takes some risk.

Persevere even through disappointment and fatigue.

The fishermen were tired, but willing to do their part. They were discouraged, but willing to try again.

Remember the importance of teamwork.

As success came, they had to share the burden. Since Jesus was the ultimate focus, it didn’t matter who got the credit.

Remember, God can give us more than we ask or imagine.

The catch of fish was even greater than they would have expected. Our God delights in surprising us.

Be humble in your success

Peter did not take credit for the success. In fact, he humbled himself before God and came face to face with His own unworthiness.

Conclusion

Remember after Jesus’ resurrection, Peter, in the throes of regret, decided to go back to fishing. Peter no doubt felt he had failed. Jesus came to him again and did a similar miracle. He evidently never forgot the lesson. He went from that place to become a great fisher of men. He became a spiritual success, and so can you. You know the secrets.

Illustration

Think of how a bird must feel the first time it is pushed from the nest by its mother. The feeling must begin with fear, but as the bird stretches its wings and soars, it becomes exhilaration. Risk is a part of all achievement. A risk-free life is terribly dull.

Runners describe a feeling called the “runners high.” It only comes after the runner has pushed past his fatigue and kept on going when every cell of his body is yelling for him to stop. The feeling of exhaustion yields to the feeling of euphoria. It happens only if we are willing to keep on going when we feel like quitting.