Well before I answer this, I want to address one of the reasons I believe Jesus used fishing to describe going out to gain new Christians. The obvious reason was that he was speaking to fishermen at the time and he spoke in terms they would relate to, but I submit that there was perhaps more to that statement. I am not the best fishermen in the world by far, but I know the best way to attract the fish is with bait. I also know that certain types of fish are attracted by certain type of bait. I learned from fishing with my buddies that fish can be easily startled, so it is best to not do things that will startle them, such as playing loud music, scampering around in the water that they are in, etc.
Now I am sure some of you avid fishermen can add more to that list but I want to address just a few of these points as it relates to our call to be "fishers" of men and women. My first point to address is the relationship and symbolism found in the term bait as a mechanism to attract fish. Just like bait which can be other fish, chicken, lure that wiggles in the water, resembling a struggling insect or anything else fishermen use to attract fish, I believe that each and every one of us has our own "bait" or “lure” designed to attract a certain personality in the world. The type of bait; size, design, flavor, scent, determine what type of fish you attract. The size of the bait normally determines the size of the fish that the fisherman is trying to catch. This principle applies to people to. We gravitate initially to the things we like or the things we are most comfortable with. For example, an entertainer has a platform to attract the attention of a lot of people through the gift of song, poetry, comedy, dance, movies....the list goes on. That to me is equivalent to a net being thrown out and catching a lot of fish at once. The type of fish may vary at first based off what they like or what attracted them there in the first place. Let’s take it a little further. If you were in the world and you grew up hearing rock music, you may be inclined to receive things in that musical format better. If you enjoy laughing, comedy may gain your attention. I believe God knows that about us all. Preachers through the gift of ministry are used by God to attract certain types of people. Even within ministry different styles attract different congregations. Remember this because I will refer back to this later. On a smaller scale, if you work in your office and you are the person everyone loves to come share their life’s stories or issues too, something in you has attracted those people to you whether it was through your humor, your smile, or overall demeanor. On another note, stern people have the tendency to relate better to stern people. The point is if you look at your life objectively I am sure you will find that there is something in you that God uses to attract certain people to you!
Now here is where it gets complicated though. The second part of fishing was going to where the fish are and creating the atmosphere that makes the fish curious enough to take the bait, or be availed to the fishermen’s net. Fishermen have to be strategic with where they fish. They have to go where the fish are. Where they fish may be determined by what kind of fishing they do, the type of bait they use or what kind of fish they are looking for. Well taking that same concept and applying it to fishing for disciples I believe that God strategically leads us to the places He wants us to fish in. I believe that based off the type of people we are, our lifestyles, career choices, gifting, to name a few, he places us in the position to attract the fish of our own kind. Ezekiel 47:10 clearly states this saying “And it shall come to pass, [that] the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a [place] to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many”. God seems to really want us to understand that we will have to go to the ends of the earth to fish, and that we are responsible for attracting more than one type of fish. Here is where my concern lies though. Too many times I hear other Christians putting down the ministry of others, on the bases that something seems too much like the world, or it does not fit their traditional sense of how the gospel should be shared. I remember when Kirk Franklin came out, with Stomp. He had a bunch of well known artist on his song, and it was probably the first gospel song I had heard get regular play on the urban radio stations. I even heard it in a club before…lol..yeah a club. Here is my point though. Some of his biggest critiques were Christians and still are. Even though he has decided to dedicated the gift that God gave him to casting a net out into the world and pull in people who relate to what he does encouraging other Christians to have faith through tough times, he still get scrutinizes by the main people who should be helping him get more fish. When Christian hip hop started getting a little buzz, the same thing happened. When Christians started making movies that were based off life from a faith point of view, instead of supporting it, Christians were the biggest critiques in a most cases. I can go on and on but hopefully get the point. God placed these people in position to use their influence to touch people’s lives, to fish for the certain type of people. The biggest thing that supports my point is the life of Jesus. During his time on earth Jesus showed his disciples how to fish. He was perfect so he was able to attract all types of fish. He showed this when he ministered to the masses, healed the blind, sick and lamed, fed the masses, cast out demons. He too was criticized by the people of the church. They questioned who Jesus hung out with, what he said, how he said it, when he ministered to people, everything. We read this and see Jesus had no fault but people still tried to find it in him. Jesus was the ultimate fishermen and truly showed us through his life how we should fish for men. Paul understood this when he said 1 Cor 9 “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” I can give loads of examples of how Jesus and his disciples were criticized by the church following religious traditions but I encourage you to open your bibles and study if for yourself.
I believe one of the main reasons God called us into the kingdom was to have us go out into the rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans of our lives and be fishers of men. He wants us to use the bait he has placed in us and go where he directs us so that we can catch some men and women who need a relationship with God. Now of course there are things we have to strive to do in our lives to even be effective in that but it’s a call that we must aspire to. To make this work though we have to stop throwing stones in each other’s fishing ponds trying to scare away each other’s fishes. We have to stop trying to put God’s ways in our little traditional and mental boxes. If God can use a donkey to minister to someone, surely he can use hip hop. I have seen this first hand. I have seen my three year old walking around singing the lyrics to musicians like Lecrae, and Canton Jones. I want to give a special shout out to Drew Collins and Norris J for going into a local bar, full of people expecting to hear music glorifying an ungodly life style, but instead they heard straight ministry through song and rap. There ministry outshined the darkness of every song our artist after them. Until you see a place full darkness change to an atmosphere conducive to God working in people’s lives you may not truly ever get the concept of what I am saying. Christian’s if you continue to just stay within your church walls, eating up the word for yourself and not sharing it with the fish in your life, you may never get this point, and you may never get to fulfill what God truly wants in your life. As always I implore you to read your bible, and pray about this for yourself. I pray that you will seek God’s true counsel about this and be ready to take on the task he has for your life and that he will convict those us who knowingly or unknowingly continue to try to hinder God’s kingdom growth.
As always I love you, and all comments and additions are welcome!
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