Let Love Be Genuine

Dear CBC Family,

I don’t think it is any secret that I like to go fishing. I like the winter trout fishing but prefer the summer tuna fishing much more. I don’t think it is just the size of the catch but it is also the experience of the hunt. Shore fishing is just what it sounds like…..standing on the shore while offshore is way more exciting.

The reflection on that got me thinking about Jesus’ call to the Apostles down on the shore of the Galilee. Matthew 4:21-22 “And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

So, we believe in Jesus. Great, but what are we doing with that? What impact is our faith having in this world? How many people have been pulled back from the brink of hell, because, through us, they met Jesus? These are awkward, even uncomfortable questions, aren’t they?

“But, I’m not an evangelist. That’s not my job. That’s why we pay the missionaries to do that stuff.” I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. Our text above is another.

Before Jesus came along that day, imagine that all James, John and Zebedee did, was to prepare the nets. They tended them, cleaned them, repaired them, folded them, over and over again. Each day, every day, standing on the shore fixing the nets. They never went out onto the sea of Galilee to use them. How successful was their business going to be if that’s all they did?

All of a sudden, Jesus comes along and promises to make them “fishers of men” so they follow Him. That was a bold step by James and John. But how successful would they have been at that, after Jesus had ascended into heaven, had they just sat around in their weekly small group meeting, talking about how wonderful that Jesus was and still sat on the shore mending the nets?

Where would the church be today, would there even be a church, if the Apostles hadn’t left the shore of comfort and gone out fishing? So, here’s the question: are we out there fishing or are we preoccupied with the nets?

Today my brother called and asked if I wanted to go fishing….I wonder if he knows what he is really asking!

This weekend we will be continuing in Romans 12 on spiritual gifts. The title of the message is “Let Love Be Genuine” taken verbatim from verse 9. I pray it will be a source of encouragement and a great challenge for each of us.

That’s what is happening this weekend but for today how about we all go fishing?

Blessings to you all,

Pastor Scott