What Happens When Fishermen Stop Fishing?

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

Jesus called fishermen like Peter, James and John to leave behind their fishing nets so they could follow him in becoming fishers of men. Obviously, the call of Jesus still remains for us.  We are to be fishers of people.  The sea is filled with people, just like we once were, who don’t even know they are without hope, broken in sin and missing out on life now and forever.  Our first calling, according to Jesus, is to follow him to the lake and take up the fishing pole.  But what happens when fishermen/women stop fishing?

Max Lucado, in one of his short stories, summed it up best when he wrote, “When fishermen stop fishing, they fight.”

If I looked to experience as my instructor I would say Max Lucado is exactly right.  In my own life, in the life of the church I was a part of starting in Centerville, OH and now in our Canton First family, I can point to examples of how that truism plays out in real life:  When fishermen stop fishing, they fight.

When fishermen stop fishing they start complaining about how dark the world is.  They forget that the world, without Christ, can’t be anything but dark and the church is responsible for taking the light into the world.  So, really wherever the world is darkest, we ought not blame the world or Satan or blow it off by saying, “The end is near,” but we ought to say, “Lord, give us the courage, love and wisdom to go fishing with your light.”  In other words, the best fishing is in the dark (Peter, James and John actually did their fish fishing at night so maybe it was easier for them to see the darkness of the world as good fishing territory).  But when fishermen stop fishing they don’t think or pray or act like they are called to join Jesus in chasing the darkness away with his light.  So they choose to sit on the shore and fight over what’s wrong with the world and the church today.

When fishermen stop fishing they start fearing change more than seeing God in the change.  Nothing is the same ever.  We know this but we live in denial of this.  Today is different from yesterday.  Tomorrow will be different from today.  This idea that things are changing fast is true but also often used as permission to live in denial of the reality of what has always been since God started creating--he introduced something new to our world every day. “Change is the only constant,” as some would put it.  When we stop following Jesus to the lake to catch the lost, broken and doubting, we will fight with each other over what programs to keep or not keep, what color the carpet is and what kind of music we sing.  Why? Because we are not made to fear change, but to fish.  When fishermen don’t fish, they fight over what they think should or should not change.

When fishermen stop fishing they start thinking that God needs help in transforming people’s lives.  They become uncomfortable with thinking that God knows best how and when to call people to repentance.  And so rather than do what they are called to do and that is fish, they justify their lack of fishing for the “worthy cause” of cleaning the fish that were caught 50 years ago.  Sure those fish now stink because we have scoured the life right out of them, “But if we don’t tell people how to live right how will they know?” they say.  When fishermen don’t fish they fight over what is the best way to clean the fish.

I will let you go on with your own examples of fighting rather than fishing.  But today my question is:  What could happen in a church…what could happen in the world…if even one church family would make up their mind in Christ to stop fighting and fish?  Yes, that’s the question I want to see my kids see us answer.  What happens when we stop fighting and live and die fishing?