A Problem With the Analogy

The problem with turning this comment into theology is that it has been used poorly. I think this happens in part because of the way we fish today as compared to the way they fished then. I have fished using a lure, which looks like a bug or a smaller fish. I’ve also fished using bait–anything a fish would identify as food to cover up a hook. Modern fishing uses bait and trickery to snag a fish against its will to get it into our cooler. Much the same way, modern evangelism has used lure and often trickery to get people to come to a location where they will then be subjected to hearing a message they probably wouldn’t have opted in to attend if they had known.

In Peter’s day, fishing involved going to where the fish were and lowering a net. The idea was to pull the nets when a school was passing over them. The end result was the same, fish in a cooler, but rather than trickery, it involved paying attention to the fish and waiting. That’s still not how I want to interact with people and I’m glad this isn’t actually the point of this text. This is still just a comment to a fisherman as he’s asked to leave his job for a very different kind of life.

Intended For Peter

This was a message for Peter and it’s deeper than what we’ve turned it into. Peter was a skilled fisherman. When Jesus asked him for a lift in his boat onto the water so he could talk to the crowds of people, Peter had already been working all night. He’s cleaning his nets, and he’s tired.

After Jesus talks to the people, he tells Peter to let the nets down again. This is the last thing anyone would want to hear. It’s the end of his workday. Jesus isn’t a fisherman and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It’s probably a little bit insulting or just ridiculous. Peter explains why this won’t work, but then humbly does what Jesus asks and is overwhelmed by the catch. It’s in this context that Jesus tells Peter that from now on Peter will catch people. It was a clever way to say, follow me.

Let’s follow Peter into this new call a bit to see how this plays out. The gospel features many interactions between Jesus and Peter. Many of Peter’s comments and actions are misguided and receive anything from a gentle to a sharp correction from Jesus. Preachers everywhere have a field day with Peter, he becomes the bumbling sitcom sidekick—the comic relief of many sermons because hindsight is 20 /20.

Peter was experienced in fishing, but now he’s talking to people, praying for people, answering trick questions from people who don’t like Jesus, witnessing miracles, not understanding the cryptic things Jesus is saying. He wants to save Jesus from execution as any follower would, he cuts off a soldier’s ear to prevent the arrest of Jesus. Later that night he denies Jesus. Either Peter is really out of his element, or there isn’t a person in all of history who would have looked competent standing next to Jesus.

Fishers of Men

Peter doesn’t suddenly get it after the resurrection either. In one gospel he doesn’t believe Mary’s account. In another gospel, he returns to fishing. He has lost whatever faith he had. Then he re-encounters the resurrected Jesus who hangs out for a few weeks teaching them before returning to heaven. At this point, the followers of Jesus gather and pray because they don’t know what else to do. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit rushes into their prayer meeting. Everyone leaves the meeting and rushes outdoors. After such a bad track record for saying everything wrong, Peter, full of the Spirit, preaches to a crowd, telling them everything Jesus has done. Four thousand people believe at that moment, even though many of them don’t even speak the same language.

This miracle on the day of Pentecost is a mirror image of the overwhelming catch of fish. Not only were Peter’s best efforts not good enough, he failed completely. When Peter is ready to pack it in, Jesus says, try it again. As Peter humbly responds to that call, listening to Jesus, listening to the Holy Spirit, responding to what God is doing in that moment, allowing himself to be a part of God’s work, he sees the result of that work, God’s results, God moving in the hearts and minds of the people present. He was a fisher of men, but not through trickery or coercion. Most of the people here are excited to hear what he has to say.

Your Call is Different

We are not Peter. Our work is different. The results may not even look impressive. Many faithful people didn’t see a massive response to their message. I don’t think we should have preconceived ideas of our role and our results, based on someone else’s role and results. What we should do is stay in communication with God. Honestly pray about your disappointment. We should live humbly and be thankful when our work produces good results.

Have you felt like your best efforts haven’t produced much? Have you ever experienced God working in your life when you felt depleted?

Photo credit: by Mathieu Le Roux on Unsplash

Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.

1 Kings 3:3-14

Up until this point his father, David, was the second king Israel had and David was the greatest. He was victorious in war, the people loved him, and he rose to greatness from humble beginnings. It was a rags to riches story and that story ended right before we pick it up here. Solomon was chosen to be the next king. He probably felt like he was living under a very large, successful shadow. David was “a man after God’s own heart”—those are big shoes to fill.

Solomon Goes His Own Way

There was a lot of good and a lot of bad that happened during David’s reign, but one consistent good thing we read about is how important worship was to David. When the ark of the covenant was rescued David danced with the people. David had the idea to build a temple so that God would have a permanent place of worship among them.

One way to get out from under someone’s shadow is to intentionally be different from them. This could be how Solomon ends up making a habit of worshiping God in the place where people of the other religions are worshiping. This should have been punishable, possibly even grounds to disqualify him from being the next king. It’s tantamount to breaking the first two commandments.

God Enters the Story

When God appears to Solomon in the dream, he doesn’t start with punishment, retribution, or a lightening bolt. There’s not even a mention of Solomon’s questionable worship practices. Like the parable of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find the one that wandered away, God meets Solomon on the hills where the other religions practiced their rituals.

God offered Solomon an extravagant gift—anything he wants will be given to him. Solomon replies by telling God about the faith of his father before making his request. Maybe Solomon believes he’s living in David’s shadow even as he responds to God or maybe he feels like his worship practices won’t give him enough cred with God for an offer like this, even though God initiated this encounter. Solomon asks for wisdom so that he can govern well. God blesses Solomon’s selflessness by telling him that he will also receive the things he didn’t ask for: wealth and honor.

God meets us all where we are. You may be breaking from tradition, you may not be in the ideal place, but God meets you where you are right now. Look for the areas in your life where you sense God’s love. What question do you think God is asking you? How will you respond?

Photo credit:  Mariam Soliman on Unsplash

You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

By faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness.  When I think of faithfulness I usually think of the ways I’m not faithful.  For some reason, the word immediately draws my attention away from the concept of grace to the opposite concept–my failures.  This reveals that I have a faulty idea of what faithfulness is, because these verses are saying we do not become justified by works, but the only thing that matters is faith working itself out in love.

Treadmill of Good Works

In looking at this topic I realized that my assessment of my own faithfulness is based on what I’ve done or what I’m doing.  Instead, I should be looking down the horizon at what God is transforming me into.  What’s the difference? 

Assessing what I’m doing creates an internal pressure to do more or at least to maintain my level of perceived righteousness.  The actions that might have started in sincerity quickly turn into a self-focused treadmill of good works.  If I look at the horizon toward what God has promised he will transform me into, I then keep a healthy understanding that God is the one doing the transforming, and I’m cooperating with him.  This is seen here in the few words that can be easily skimmed over, “For through the Spirit, by faith…”  Because I don’t understand how this works I move right past it and yet this is the lynchpin.  The Holy Spirit is working in and with us to cause this transformation.  This process is what is known as our sanctification.

Eyes on the Horizon

Sometimes when I’m walking down the sidewalk my son wants us to walk without stepping on any cracks.  We do this laughing and pointing out when each other misses and steps on a crack.  Walking this way is fun for about a minute and then it’s almost dizzying to walk looking straight down at our feet.  Not to mention you can only walk at a snails-pace doing this.  And this is like our life.  As we walk through life, if we’re constantly analyzing the minutiae of what we want to avoid it’s like trying not to step on cracks in the sidewalk.  It’s not possible, it’s not efficient and it’s not enjoyable. 

If we look toward our goal it’s still possible to avoid tripping over things blocking our way. It’s the correct way to walk, looking ahead toward the horizon. To bring the metaphor back to real life, we want to look at our goal and not at the ways in which we fail.  And we know what the goal of this process is—it’s found just a few verses later in Galatians.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

Galatians 5:22-23

We are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus himself and as that happens these qualities will become more prominent in our lives.  How does this transformation happen?  I think there are many things that God uses to bring about our sanctification but certainly spending time in prayer is a huge piece of the puzzle.  Our relationship with God is a relationship which is cultivated over time; and we need to put in the time. 

Needed Grace

I know I spend the most time praying when something difficult is taking place in my life.  As I look back those are also the times when I gained more perspective or developed a better understanding for God’s love for me and for other people.  Difficult times will come and go but we don’t have to wait for those times before we build a relationship with God.  By getting to know God, we will get to know his love more intimately.  By knowing his love we will experience the grace needed to face the areas in our lives where we need to grow.  When we bring those areas to God he will then empower us by his love and grace to grow, and as we do, we will understand his love for us and others even more. 

This whole cyclical process is where we will find faithfulness.  Mostly it’s God’s faithfulness to us, but it’s also where we can exercise our faithfulness to God by his grace.

Let’s keep our eyes on the goal and not on our failures. By God’s grace, let us be faithful to the calling.

All scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version

Photo credit: by jonathan wilson rosas peña on Unsplash