When God Calls, Obey! – Sermon 25 January, 2015

When God Calls, Obey!
One of my favourite movies is a comedy titled Gone Fishin starring Danny Glover and Joe Pesci as two fools whose only passion in life is to fish. They do some fishing, they battle some alligators, they wreck some boats, but the interesting thing is they never catch a fish the entire movie!
There is a famous parable: There once was a fishing village on the shore of a great lake stocked full of fish. The fishermen of the village diligently debated and discussed what fishing is, how best to do it, which equipment to use. They invested lots of money in boats and gear and a fishing headquarters, hired a staff, and sent emissaries around the world to search other lakes and rivers for fish. One day, a little child stood up in their meeting and asked, “You all claim to be great fishermen—how come you’ve never caught a fish?” Indeed, no one in the village had ever actually caught one. They had never even been fishing.
Sadly, many churches and many Christians go for years without bringing a single soul to Christ. We are not called to be keepers of the aquarium—Jesus calls us to be “fishers of people,” to catch people in God’s grace, love, and salvation.
We are not the first to have had unwillingness to share our faith with strangers. The book of Jonah, one of the oldest books in the Bible, tells the familiar story of a unwilling evangelist. Rather than giving attention to God’s call to reach out to the strangers in Nineveh, Jonah fled in the other direction. Ironically, in his unwillingness to be a “fisherman” for God, he became fish bait! Even after the great fish spewed Jonah back onto shore, even after Jonah went and converted the people of Nineveh, he still had no compassion for them.
If we truly want to be “fishers” for Jesus we need to learn some lessons and specific direction for the task.
1. Fishing requires patience
We need to be a little patient. If we fail to get a bite immediately, we should not leave and go somewhere else. The people may have no experience of God’s love or may even have had a negative experience with religion. They may be highly resistant to an invitation to hear the gospel. Great patience is required to convey Christ’s love to a person whose only exposure to church were sermons about the wrath of God.
2. Fishing has to be in the right time
There are certain times of the day when the tides and temperatures are conducive to fishing. Likewise, there are right and wrong times to evangelize. Right now is not always an appropriate time to talk about our faith with others. If we embarrass someone, they will not be receptive to the gospel. We are wise to wait for a suitable opportunity when our message will meet open ears.
If we listen, people will give us hints about when the time is right. They may ask our advice about a problem or for our opinion about their pain, difficulties, addictions, unbelief and start opening up their heart to us, then we can say “my belief in God gives me strength in facing those sort of things.”
3. Fishing has to be in the right place
You cannot catch fish in the church. You must leave the church building and go where the fish are. Jesus did. He didn’t hide out in the synagogue. Jesus went into the streets and marketplace, into the villages and homes of the common people. Likewise, we must develop friendships with those who are not Christians. We must reach out to people in need wherever they are.
4. Fishing requires the right gear
The right thing is the live bait. The world offers all kinds of lures, but they are often artificial. People are sometimes lured by money, success, and popularity, or by the pleasures of drugs and alcohol. Addiction to drugs is appropriately referred to as “being hooked.” It is easy to get hooked by attractive artificial lures.
Christ alone has the real thing. Jesus is not artificial; he is living, he is real. Jesus offers us true and lasting love, joy, and peace. Authentic faith is what the world is hungry for, and this is what we need to offer others. If you know God as a real and genuine power in your life, share that with others. In a world full of artificiality, people respond to a sincere word about your experience with God.
5. If there is no catch we should be glad that we tried
People really do want to hear about salvation and hope, about life and love given through Jesus. We need not be timid with our valuable message. The most selfish thing in the world is to discover the joy and peace of God’s love and then refuse to share it with others.
Sharing the good news of God’s love means offering a word of hope, a word of forgiveness, a word of love, a gospel of grace to folk beyond our church walls. We must cast beyond the gunnels of our own boat. When Jesus called his disciples, they had to leave their boats and their fishing village and journey to new places. When God called Jonah, he had to reach out to strangers in Nineveh.
Where is God calling you to cast your net?
When He calls, obey Him.

Krikor Youmshajekian