Illegal Fishing

Good Morning and Greetings to all:

Our text today is Matthew 4:19

And he (Jesus) saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Many have heard of the saying "fishers of men" and what it represents. It represents people who have become a believer in Christ going out into the world to witness about Him. It would be like a person fishing out on a lake or ocean. We have heard people say - oh, he (name here) is a fisherman. A fisherman and "fishers of men" are two different roads but use the same concept. In other words, a fisherman has a rod, a weight, a hook and some bait. He then cast his line out (with hook and bait) to an area in the water where the fisherman thinks he can catch a fish. It is similar with "fishers of men" - they have been saved by the blood of Jesus, reading their bible, praying, fasting and then goes out into the world to find a spot to cast forth the word of God (witnessing) to see if they can catch some fish (souls).

Today's post is dealing with a trend I see going on in the body of Christ - I call it illegal fishing. If you are a true fisherman (I am not) and have been in tournaments, you understand that not everyone plays by the rules. There are guidelines that a fisherman must adhere to. Anywhere from filling out proper paperwork for registration, the boundaries one must stay in, how many can be in one boat, what kind of equipment and what type bait that can be used. If you fail to obey the rules, you will be disqualified.

You might say, what does this have to do with being "fishers of men"? Let me share a natural story that will give us a little spiritual insight. I have heard recently of a fisherman that had been disqualified from a tournament and banned from that prestigious tournament for life and some other competitions all for cheating. This fisherman would put a 2 ounce torpedo shape sinker on a treble hook and place it in the fish's mouth (9 fish all together). The idea is that the fisherman hoped the torpedo sinker (weight) would stay in the fish's mouth and not drop into his belly. As the bible says, you're sins will find you out. When it was time to weigh the fish, the fisherman presented three dead fish. Dead fish for weigh-ins are OK by the rules. The fish were weighed and everything seem to go smoothly for the fisherman. The dead fish from this tournament are filleted and the meat given to charity. This is where the fisherman's plan started to crumble. When the fish were fillet, the torpedo sinker did not stay in the mouth of the fish but went into the belly of the fish. The fisherman's sin (cheating) was discovered.

I believe there is illegal fishing going on in the body of Christ today. Yes, all we have to do is go out into the world and present the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, what is going on is that some are using weights to not catch but entice some to come to Jesus. A weight is something that can be heavy - like a load or a burden. Hebrews says ....let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Fishing with a weight isn't wrong but using it an improper way is. People nowadays are being fed a line of Jesus (freedom) and the world (weight) to hook them into the church. It sounds good but there is a mixing that shouldn't be going on. What are some of the weights that believers are using to entice people into the kingdom of God? Anywhere from promised riches, live like you want, God is a God of love and not wrath, you can still cling to your worldy music, movies and things and don't worry our God is the same as any other God. The list could go on and on but hopefully you see that there is some illegal fishing going on by so-called Christians.

Remember, the story of the fisherman who got caught - he was disqualified and so was his fish. Hmmmm. Just a thought.

Are you fishing by the rules of the Lord or by the popular conditions of the world?

Blessings
kc