Risky business

Demonstrating mature faith can seem like risky business. Perhaps God has called you to an assignment that made you say, “What? There’s no way I could do that!” The truth is, however, that the Lord calls His followers to radical obedience every day. And when we hear Him speak, He expects us to act!

Just think about what the disciples in the boat must have thought in Matthew 14:22-33, when Peter stepped out onto the water: He’s crazy! Somebody grab him! Nevertheless, Peter trusted the call of Christ.

Isn’t it interesting that Peter had no trouble walking on the water until he took his eyes off Jesus? As long as his total focus was on Christ, he was fine. Yet,when he allowed himself to be distracted by human fears, he fell neck-deep in trouble—literally!

This demonstrates an important principle: When doubts prevent us from obeying God, we are doomed to failure. But when we step out in faith, God always assumes full responsibility for the consequences of our obedience.

The story of Peter’s walk on the lake teaches us three things. First, we can trust that God will call us into challenging situations which force us to face our fears. Second, we are assured of the enduring presence of Christ, who stands ready to rescue us when we cry out to Him. Third, we know that the Spirit of God will never let us fall beyond His reach.

Training

Often we think that if our children just watch our walk with Christ it will naturally rub off on them. We do need to be aware of what our children see lived out in us, but God demands more of us in preparing our children for life. He calls us to train them.

To “train up” requires that parents impart wisdom, love, nurture, and discipline to their children so that they become fully equipped and committed to the Lord. “In the way he should go” implies that the training should be according to the unique personality, gifts, and aspirations of each child. It also means that children should be taught to avoid any of their natural tendencies that might prevent them from making a total commitment to Christ.

In order for training to be effective, children must put into practice what they are taught. Opportunities to demonstrate their spiritual skills must be given them so that when the real challenges come they will pass the test—both now and for a lifetime.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Too busy?

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons, and in his opening address he said, “We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Saviour. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."

His legions of fallen were aghast and wrung their hands in despair.

Ever the villain, Satan went on to explain his new strategy. “Let them go to their churches,” he said. “Let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don't have enough of it to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do," hissed the Devil. "Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

“How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work! Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."

Like a coach, he roared, “Keep them busy, busy, busy! When they meet for spiritual fellowship, they’ll leave with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work," he pronounced. “It will work," they agreed.

It was quite a plan! You might wonder if it worked, or you may be too busy to give it a second thought.

What would it be like?

What would it be like for an average person to meet a prophet? Would his elevated spiritual stature be immediately recognizable; would we perceive the "the Divine Presence" that rests upon him? Would we be moved or shaken by the palpable sanctity that emanates from a person of God?

I think that the answer to this question can only be offered by those who have met spiritually advanced people, no longer to be taken for granted in our day, place and age. Had you been fortunate to have spoken, confided in or be affected by such an individual, I am certain that your answer would have been unquestioningly affirmative. The charisma and the sense of purity and transcendence that envelope a sincere servant of God cannot be communicated in words but only through experience. It something that is sensed by everyone around him or her.

The Bible describes many meetings between prophets and other individuals that typify this fact. Among them, in 2 Kings 9:1-13 is a portrayal of the effect that an anonymous prophet had upon a group of military leaders and generals, leading to coronation of Yehu.

“One day Elisha the prophet ordered a member of the guild of prophets, "Get yourself ready, take a flask of oil, and go to Ramoth Gilead. Look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi. When you find him, get him away from his companions and take him to a back room. Take your flask of oil and pour it over his head and say, 'God's word: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and get out of there as fast as you can. Don't wait around."

The young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. On arrival he found the army officers all sitting around. He said, "I have a matter of business with you, officer." Jehu said, "Which one of us?" "With you, officer."

He got up and went inside the building. The young prophet poured the oil on his head and said, "God's word, the God of Israel: I've anointed you to be king over the people of God, over Israel. Your assignment is to attack the regime of Ahab your master. I am avenging the massacre of my servants the prophets—yes, the Jezebel-massacre of all the prophets of God. The entire line of Ahab is doomed. I'm wiping out the entire bunch of that sad lot. I'll see to it that the family of Ahab experiences the same fate as the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah. As for Jezebel, the dogs will eat her carcass in the open fields of Jezreel. No burial for her!" Then he opened the door and made a run for it.

Jehu went back out to his master's officers. They asked, "Is everything all right? What did that crazy fool want with you?" He said, "You know that kind of man—all talk." "That's a lie!" they said. "Tell us what's going on."

He said, "He told me this and this and this—in effect, 'God's word: I anoint you king of Israel!'"

They sprang into action. Each man grabbed his robe; they piled them at the top of the steps for a makeshift throne. Then they blew the trumpet and declared, "Jehu is king!"

Yehu was sitting in a company of his equals, all accomplished military leaders, all captains of large companies, men who had seen their share of heroism, treachery, suffering and defeat - men not easily impressed. Yet, as soon as they saw this young prophet, they were stricken with a premonition for they saw that he was not a common person. They immediately recognize greatness and they knew that this man did not come to them for trivial purposes. Note how they attempt to drawn this realization in mockery and scorn, calling the messenger a crazy fool, denying the importance of his message. Yet, as soon as Yehu shares it with them, they know, they know that this was a prophet of God. Immediately and unanimously they embark on a dangerous and uncertain rebellion and void their previously secure allegiance to the king to crown one who was previously their equal. Such was the impression that the "crazy fool" made upon this group.

In the net

It’s strange how we read the Bible: we filter everything through our own world view, our own culture, our own life-setting.

Matthew 4:18-22 (The Mesasage)

“Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.

A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee's sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.”

The kind of fishing envisioned in this text is net-fishing. Notice “throwing their nets into the lake” (v. 18), “dropped their nets” (v. 20), “mending their fishnets” (v. 21). Now, to be sure, the ancient world knew of line-fishing as well (cf. Matt 17:24-27). But that is not what was envisioned in the imagery of “fishing for men.”

The standard Greek lexicon speaks of the net as circular, having heavy weights around its perimeter. Fishermen would either stand on the shore and repeatedly cast their nets into the water, or drop their nets from a boat. In Matthew 4, the nets used were those tossed from the shoreline. The occupation of fisherman was rather labour-intensive.

The imagery of a fisherman involved much strain, long hours, and often little results. Jesus’ point may have been one or more of the following:

• the strenuousness of evangelism (unlike line-fishing, which is often caricatured as a means to get a good nap, net-fishing is very labour-intensive)

• the work ethic that it required more than a focus on the skill involved

• persistence and dedication to the task (often in spite of minimal results)

• the infinite value of the new “catch” (viz., people)

• perhaps an eschatological theme of snatching people from judgement. (If this last motif is in view, then catching people is the opposite of catching fish: the fish would be caught, killed, cooked, and eaten; people would be caught so as to remove them from the eternal flames of hell and to give them new life. The correspondence, in this instance, involves an implied antonym.

Now all of this is not to say that the Bible denies some of the imagery that line-fishing conjures up. After all, we are told that our words need to be seasoned with salt, so as to attract unbelievers to the truth and power and grace of the gospel (cf. Colossians 4:6; similarly, Matthew 5:13-16). Thus, the concept of using bait—something to attract people to the gospel—is a biblical concept. The question is whether it is taught in Matthew 4:18-22 and with the imagery fishing for men.