“Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men” | Matthew 4:17-22

Show Notes

Episode 706: 
In this episode, we are thrilled to kick off a new series, “If Jesus Had a Podcast: Real Talk from Jesus That Still Works.” Today, we examine one of Jesus' most famous quotes: "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people." We discuss the significance of this calling, particularly in the context of Jesus choosing his first disciples—Peter, Andrew, James, and John—who were fishermen by trade. We highlight the honor and purpose that came with being called by a rabbi, emphasizing that this was not just a career change for them but a profound shift towards a life of significance.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. Jeff, we are so glad to have you back. Man, it is good to be back. I've been gone a long time. Well two full weeks. Yeah, yeah, I missed you. I missed you, Chris, I missed you. Every time I knew you were in the studio, I was just so sad. Yeah. Hey, Wesley called his his addition. You didn't know this, he said, he said, Bible Guys, Platinum Edition. I heard that. I heard. Yeah, so yeah, it's a big upgrade. Yeah that's great. That's right. Yeah, Well he's just. We couldn't afford the rent. So now it's back to Jeff. Well, when I said, when I said, that means it's an upgrade, he goes, No, no, no, it's an upgrade. And that's it. He goes. He goes, Jeff's the diamond Edition. Yeah. Hey, Kyle did a great job. Wessey did a great job. But we're glad to have you. Back, and it is good to be back. We are on the Heritage stage and we don't know how long that's gonna last. But if you're watching and the studio looks different. That's why we had some studio changes, Yes. Studio changes. Yeah, and we'll update you more on that. And also we are diving into a brand new series today. Yes, so we've gone through this is like, how many episodes have we done? Seven hundred and something. Else seven six today? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, something like that. Well that's the one that's playing today, right, right, yeah, while we're recording. Yes, So anyways, we're over seven hundred episodes, and we've gone through the entire New Testament, that's right, the entire Old Testament. Well, we went through highlight virtually the Old Testament, almost every verse of the New Testament, most of the Old Testament. Then we did every and we've also done all two hundred and fifty events in the Life of Jesus, that's right, And you just go on and on. I mean, we're very prolific, very prolific. We've also done verse by verse certain books of the Old Testament as well. Yeah. Yeah, so this one, I thought because I was trying to think about it, and I was talking with Dez and des Ray and I couldn't remember what it was I committed to do. And because we had this big planning meeting. Yeah, and I don't know, I slept since then or something. I do know if it rolled out my ears, it slept, yeah, yeah, and it rolled out my ears. I don't remember. So I was working on this idea, and I was thinking, I'd really like to get back into talking about the teachings of Jesus. Sure, and then I thought, what if Jesus had his own podcast? Oh right, yeah, and so let's just take the sayings of Jesus. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. So we're just going to go through a bunch of the sayings of Jesus for the next several weeks. Can we call it Jesus's famous. Quotes Jesus Famous quotes? Yeah, famous quotes by Jesus. Famous quotes. Okay, very cool. They still work today, by the way, I'm a big fan, big fan of them. They still work today. Yeah, that's funny. So that's what we're gonna do for the next I don't know, like ten twelve weeks something like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, so next three months you hang in there, oh no, no, twelve oh yeah, yeah, it is. Well, I thought you met twelve episodes, but no, you met twelve. Weeks, ten or twelve weeks? Okay, okay, all. Right, So before we dive into that, we have a segment today. Called mail bags, and both of our voices are struggling. So yes, reason why. I couldn't get my harmonies up that was as high as I could go. Okay, So mail bags today here is. This is written in called Stephen H or Steve Hyeah. Steve H says my wife and I love listening to you too every morning. Oh I've always wanted to send in a mail bag question, so I'm finally doing it. Oh, there you go. That's awesome. Congratulations. So here it is, as fellow pet owners dot dot dot, if your pet could talk, what do you think they might say about? Oh? No, okay, listen. First of all, Steve, I have never had that thought in my life. I have not either. Wow, what might they say about me? What for us? Yes, pet owners if your pets talk's. See okay, let me just start with the fact that I have cats, yes, and so cats are devious in nature. Have you ever seen those Have you ever seen those things where it says what a dog. Is thinking what a cat is thinking, yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're so funny. The dog is like, hey, you're home. I'm so happy, and give me a bone. And then and then the cat is like day number three hundred and eighty five of my captivity. It's like they refuse to fill my bowl. They're trying to starve me. If I could eat them, I would, If I could eat them. I would. They never five hundred captivity And it says something like the attack me with the with the large vacuum or something. It's so funny because. Because they're just angry. Yes, yeah, cats are deep. They're sort of non appreciative, although you know they love you, they have affection, right, but they sort of are that way. They're independent. They don't need you. So uh well, I think. So I have two dogs, my wife, My wife and daughter have to go. And don't forget that. Don't forget their names. Gucci and Chanel. Right, that's your name. It's the least manly thing about it. Yeah, I know you're like hunting, dear, so Gucci Gucci is very emotional, and so I would say Gucci probably if he could talk to me, he'd want to make sure we're okay, are we okay? I mean, he looks deeply in your eyes, he gets up on your lap. He wants to make sure everything's okay right, And Chanel would be like, do you have any snacks? That's that's pretty much it. I don't know that Chanelle has any deep thoughts in her head at all. We can't teach her any tricks, we can't. She's just she dumber in a box of rocks. But she's sweet. She's just dumb, but she just wants treats. But Gucci seems to be very dialed into the emotional temperature of the room all the time. So okay, I imagine he'd want to know, make sure we're okay. So excuse me, I have two cats. You're already board. We're five minutes into the episode board. I uh no, I uh. I used to have more cats, and uh and they've they've slowly, sadly, sadly enough, they've slowly sort of died because we got them all at the same time, and then one by one they've just sort of gave up the ghost. And so I'm now down to two. So uh so Max is like thirteen years old? Wow? And then I had one that went to twenty one. Yeah. Wow, Champlin twenty one champ. He was the champ. He was the champ. Now that's like Guinness World Record, I know, I know. And then and then I uh, then I have Cleo, and Cleo is I think, like ten years old. Wow. So anyway, Max is getting old enough to where I think all he wants are treats all the time. So I think it's just feed me. Why do you starve me? And when you give him treats he throws up. Actually, oh nice, So because he's old enough to where he can't really handle it, so you give him more, you know, so what he wants is not good for him, right, So it's just why why do you deny me treats? Is really sort of what he would say, wow, And then I would say Cleo would say, am I safe? Now? You know she spends like ninety percent of her time hidden under Liz's bed and she doesn't come out, and so we'll have a house guest. And and look, my mom and dad came in from osday weekend and I said, I guarantee you you're not going to see Cleo at all, not even once. And if you do it'll be a miracle and you may see Cleo once. She'll hide and she only comes out like at midnight when everybody's gone to bed, and she'll sneak out and come down. If you're watching TV. Wow, I know terrible. It's terrible. And you know the reason why. I think it's because of childhood trauma. She was thrown out of a car in a. Busy traffic, so she's trying to avoid that. Yeah, traumatized. And then somebody saved somebody saved the kitten on the side of the road. Huh. She was just thrown out of a moving car and then we took. Her, and you took her. You guys rescued her. That's right. So I looked it up. Twenty one years was how long your cat lived? Yeah, and this says the world record for the age of a domestic house cat is held by Creampuff, who lived an astounding thirty eight years in three days. Oh my word. She was born August third, nineteen sixty seven and passed on August six, two thousand and five, in Austin, Texas. That's the officially verified longevity champ. Wow. So your champ is chump Champ Jump that's right. The context. For context, the average lifespan of indoor cats typically falls between thirteen and twenty years. Yeah, so that's the average. The current oldest verified living cat is Flossie, which was born December twenty ninth, nineteen ninety five. So coming up on thirty years. Wow, Yeah, it's impressives. We go. So your champ was nothing, Well, i'll. Tell you what. We've had some we've had some pretty cool cats. I've liked my cats. Will yeah yeah, good talking about nothing and champs. Okay, I've got nothing about either of those things. We've got to get into the we're trying to transition. Into this this speaking of champs, you know who is the champ Jesus. Jesus, Jesus is a champ. And he said, I'm going to make you champion fishermen. No, no, no, that's not going to work. That's not gonna work. No, just leave it at that, okay, just take take the wind. All right. I'm sorry. So we are in this in these like famous sayings of Jesus. Yes, right, and today there's lots of them. We're clearly not going to cover them all. No, but we're just kind of there's this random selection of get to know Jesus, and and when he comes to his disciples, he has when he's picking them at the beginning of his ministry, he's choosing his disciples, he has a really clear vision of what he wants for them. And so in Matthew chapter four, verse seventeen, it says, from then on Jesus began to preach repent of your sins and turned to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. That was his message. That's what he's preaching. So one day, as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon also called Peter and Andrew, throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living, and Jesus called out to them, come follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people. And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little further up the shore, he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting on the boat with their father's zebede, repairing their nets, and he called to them too, and they immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. So there you go. So what is the famous quote. The famous quote come follow me, and I'll show you how to be fishers of men or this this translation says fish for people. Yes, now you remember that song. I will make you fishers of men, fishers and men, fishers of men. I will make you no fishers have been if you follow. Me, okay, yeah, at least get to the following me. Okay, okay. So so yeah, so that's a song in what Sunday school? If you grew up with a Sunday. School, that's right, and then uh and then yeah, anyway, the point is I was gonna tell you children's story, but that's okay. I did children's ministry. Did you do children's men? Yes? Yes, yes, yeah, so so I have all those child songs in my head. Yeah yeah. I had my number one rule when I was a children's worker was no crying. I would tell the kids that, all right, what's pastor Jeff's number one rule? And then all yo, no crying? Is that right? Yep? Oh my goodness. That means you made them cry a lot. No no, no, no, they didn't cry, stop crying out. They placed each other. Yeah, a pastro justtion on one rules, we don't cry. Okay. So I was children's director well off and on. I mean, you know, like I had volunteers that took that role. But I was over children's ministry for like eight years, and I'm not sure I've ever had a problem with anybody crying. Yeah, why'd you have to create a number one rule about it? Yeah, Cuse I didn't want any crying. Wow, the little winers, they want to go home, they want their mommy, dad, whatever. I don't think I was wired for children's ministry. Well, my church was also a small church. We kind of knew each other too, right, so you know, we just leveraged the relationship. I'm going to call your mom in here. I was. I was running on a wana program that had like two hundred and fifty kids in it. Wow. Okay, so that's a little bit different. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. And he had everything from like kindergarten to sixth grade. Yeah. So I ran a vacation Bible school. My biggest that I've ever had with kids. I ran a vacation Bible school in the year of nineteen ninety eight, and I had it was it was a fair theme, like a like a like a festival carnival kind of theme, and we had five hundred kids in the parking lot with a bunch of carnival made makeshift carnival rides, and it was kind of cool. And our auditorium only held three hundred, so we had standing wall to wall all the way into the lobby, hundreds of people for the message. It was. It was probably the highlight of that of that what of my eight years there, that was that was the most we've ever had. It was kind of cool. So to give some background on this this story, these guys already knew Jesus. Yeah, right, Peter and Andrew already knew Jesus. James and John already knew Jesus because they were also part time followers of John the Baptist. And so in John chapter one, it tells us that Peter and Andrew had already had an interaction with Jesus and that they had and then when Jesus called them, they knew who he was. They knew that John the Baptist said, this is the Lamb of God who's going to take away the sins of the world. They had see, perhaps been witnesses to his baptism. You know, the dove, the Holy Spirit descends from heaven, the voice from God, said, the Father says, this is my beloved, soigning whom I'm well pleased. So they had an awareness of who Jesus is, and that is like, hey, we're big fans. Good job, Jesus. We think you're a good guy. But I don't know that they'd ever contemplated I'm going to quit my business. Peter was a business owner, right, As a matter of fact. At one point it mentions Peter and James and John and Andrew and all those us and that there were multiple boats, many boats. So this is like a fishing operation. These aren't two guys out there with a pole in the water. These are guys that are running a fishing operation with nets and men and boats and all this stuff. And so Jesus asked him, I want you to leave your business and come and follow me. And I'm going to make you fishers of men. I think what he's doing is he's giving purpose to their life. You know, Uh, you're fishing for fish. You know, okay, good, that's necessary. But let me let me give you something that's even more important than that. Right and uh, and and by the way, that's a great message, because I want to talk about something else. Too. But let's not get off of that topic right away, because we understand that if you make widgets for a living, yeah, and you make a great you know, salary, and you provide for your family. Uh, those are important things. That's important and exactly right, and we we. Can find purpose in those things. We could provide excellent customer service, We could help humanity, uh, you know, and and and so we can try to find you know, and and and even if widgets are just for fun and they're not essential and you don't feel like you're helping humanity, you're still providing for your family. So right, But that's the reason why a lot of people get to the end of their lives and even though they spent their life making money and they you know, they could even be successful at it, they sort of transition. And what they do is they go from what is it into significance. It's the search for significance. That book, Yeah, from success to significant Yeah, that's right, that's right, the book's halftime, that's right. Yeah, yeah, from success to significance. And a lot of people they know what success is, but then they just realize, geez, you. Know, what is it all for? You know, making a living. Sure, I'm eating and my kids are living indoors and they're well clothed and provided for, but you know, I want to do something that really matters in the life of people. And so a lot of people they try to find things, especially you know, midlife crisis type age, your retirement age, right where they say, I want to do something significant. Now this isn't everybody, but I do have a feeling that there are a number of people even listening that are probably right at that crossroads that think the same thing. And it's not that you haven't done important things, it's just that there are things that are more important right right, Like remember when Jesus was meeting with Mary and Martha, and and remember Martha was upset that Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. And Martha says, hey, I'm I'm the host and we're supposed to be host together and these are important things and and uh, and Jesus essentially said, hey, Martha, what you're doing is important, but there is something more important, right and then and this eternal significance right like she's sitting at the feet of Jesus. Mary has chosen what is more important and I'm not going to deny that from her. And so that's sort of what we're saying here. It's like, hey, they're fishermen. It's an important thing, but there's something more important. We're going to have you reverberate your effects all throughout eternity. Right, You're going to do things that last beyond this world. Right. If you feed a kid of fish and he'll leave for a day, but that's right. You fish for a soul and they last for an eternity. So I think that that that conversation we were having about work, all work that is legal, right and moral. Yes, all work that is legal and moral has value, I think. Right, whether it's creating jobs or just feeding the family and clothing the family and keeping the family living indoors, those things are all good. It's one of the things God made us for. Work is not a curse, right. A lot of work gives us purpose and gives us something to do and to hone our skills, those kinds of things. The curse for sin was that work was going to be difficult and that it wouldn't produce what we would expect it to produce. Right, That's that was the thing. So you know, if you're talking about the widget thing, right, so you make a widget, you may go, hey, you know it's not the most important thing in the world. That's fine. As long as you're paying your bills and you're taking care of your family and you're contributing to society, that's a good thing. It's what God made you to do to provide for your family. But then what Jesus did when he comes alongside of Peter, James and John is say, okay, now let me give you some purpose too. So whatever your work is, if your work is honest and provides for your family, that's great. But if you're not finding a ton of fulfillment in it, then just understand God gave you that work to fund your ministry, right, so you put it. Paul. We think of Paul as being like a full time preacher. He wasn't. He was a tent maker. He made tents so that he could fund the ministry of spreading churches all over all over the Mediterranean, and. So he had a different he had a different obstacle to overcome. Right. So, churches were brand new back then, and people were very leery of false prophets and people who just wanted to eat and say a bunch of truth. So he became a tent maker just so he could what like above reproach. And there wasn't a system when he moved into a new town. There wasn't a system to provide for his needs financially. So he went and got a job. So what to do. Yay, I'll make some tense. I'll provide my own way. I'm not going to beg you for money. I'm going to provide my own way. And there is a lot to be said about the dignity of just good work in general. Right, But he used his tent making to fund his ministry. So if you're looking at your job, Jesus is celebrating the fact that you're working, that you have a job. That's good. But if it's not particularly fulfilling, you're saying, this isn't my purpose in life, this is just funding my life. Then finding your purpose is incredibly important, right, And that's what Jesus did with Peter, James and John saying, okay, your fishers of men, but I'm going to teach you to do something that has some real significance. I ran across a quote recently. I was just digging around in my phone looking for it. William Carey was one of the great early missionaries from Great Britain back in the eighteen hundreds, and he said, I'm not afraid of failure. I'm afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter. Isn't that powerful? That's really powerful? And so it's it's not about the job that I'm doing, it's about also doing something that matters. So if your job doesn't feel like it matters that much, you just understand God gave that to you to fund the ministry that will matter. So let's find that ministry that matters. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah. And then and the other part that I wanted to touch on is that, you know, if you try to add context or suppose context to this story, you would say, why in the world would like James and John leave their father's business and leave their father hanging, right? Because, after all, everybody knows today even that if you're you know, if you're Zebedee and you've got your two boys working for you, that's a pretty big deal of those two boys leave that business, right, true, And then Peter is shutting down his own business, like what would ever make them do that based on one sentence from Jesus. And the answer is that if you're a good Jewish boy, one of the highest honors of a Jewish boy's life would be to be called by a rabbi, right, and to follow a rabbi and to train under a rabbi. To be chosen by a rabbi is a great, great honor. Now it doesn't say so, but there is a good likelihood that Peter, James, and John and maybe some others maybe they grew up and maybe they tried to follow a rabbi and maybe they were rejected, right, because not everybody gets chosen by a rabbi. And so there's a good portion of young, good Jewish boys who you know, who you know, they start their training by the age of twelve. They have to have the entire book of the Torah memorized, right, every single word of the first five books of Moses, of the Old Testament, they have to have it memorized. So they, I mean, every good Jewish boy dedicates their life to those kinds of things, and to be chosen by a rabbit is a great honor. And so again it doesn't say but there's a great possibility that you know, they're older now, Peter's older, you know, and they've been sort of they sort of passed that window of being chosen and to be trained by them to fall. They were definitely overlooked. Yes, they were probably assessed and determined they didn't have what it took. Yes, or to the other boys. Yes, and and so for Jesus to come along and say, follow me, it's not just that we've heard of this famous guy. It's more than that. It's the fact that I've been chosen, and I've been chosen by a rabbi. It would have felt like a second chance for some of them. Yes, yeah, yes, and so and so that's really important to know. And so even somebody like Zebedee would probably have looked at his boys and said, are you kidding me? Go like that is a great honor. I can't believe finally a rabbi is choosing my boys. So he would have might have even encouraged it. Right. Well, I love the fact that Jesus comes in. The first four disciples are dock workers, right, They're fixing nets, they're fishermen, they're dock workers. There. These are not the creme de la creme of the academia world at the time, and I ran across another great missionary, David Brainer wrote this prayer. He said, Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am. Isn't that fantastic. I'm going to put that in my office. I found that quote. I'm going to have it printed up and put it in my office. I love that idea. God. I want to make an impact that is utterly disproportionate to who I am. And God delights in using ordinary people who don't feel like they have much to offer, but when they just get up and go when God says and so you know what that purpose was. You know they were fixing. They were fixing nets. Maybe you're building a widget. Their purpose was, and your purpose is, let's go reach more people who don't know Jesus. That's it. So whatever we can do to reach more people that will give you. That's that shift from success to significance. That is when we finally move over start reaching people that don't yet know Jesus. And there's a skill set to that, certainly, but there's also the power of the Holy Spirit in us that gives us the words to say, and so just having the courage to get on that mission. Man, it's amazing. Yeah. And then they spent the rest of their lives spending time mending nets and then casting them and reeling in people. That's right, that's right, you know, in the form of ministry. So hey, that is our time, and so hopefully you enjoy this idea of if what if Jesus had a podcast. We'll see you tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,