Atlanta Bible Baptist Church

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Who's your one? Last week I told you a story about a club, a soul-saving, death-defying group that went out and caught people as they were shipwrecked and delivered them to safety. This morning I want to begin with a different story, though not an unusual one because I have shared it with you before. It's a fish story. The author, we have no idea who it was, but here's what he said. He said, "Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish, and the fish were hungry."

Week after week, month after month, and year after year, those who called themselves fishermen met in meetings and talked about their call to go fishing. Continually, they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. They could have called Pastor Leonard in to be an expert in that particular field, but this author did not mention him, so I won't. They sponsored costly nationwide and worldwide congresses to discuss fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing, such as the new fishing equipment, fish calls, and whether any new bait was discovered. These fishermen built large and beautiful buildings called fishing headquarters. The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman, and every fisherman should fish.

One thing they didn't do, however: they didn't fish. All the fishermen seemed to agree that what is needed is a board which could challenge fishermen to be faithful in fishing. The board was formed by those who had the great vision and courage to speak about fishing, to define fishing, and to promote the idea of fishing in faraway streams and lakes where many other fish of different colors lived. Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology, but the teachers did not fish; they only taught fishing. Some spent much study and travel to learn the history of fishing and to see faraway places where the founding fathers did great fishing in centuries past.

They lauded the faithful fishermen of years before who handed down the idea of fishing. Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded. They were commissioned and sent off to fish, and they went off to foreign lands to teach fishing. Now it's true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen's clubs. They anguished over those who were not committed enough to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the Master who said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men"?

Imagine how hurt some of them were when one day a person suggested that those who don't catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did sound correct. Is a person a fisherman if year after year, he never catches a fish? Is one really following if he isn't fishing? Interesting story. Last week, we talked about discipleship and the importance of discipleship, looking at Matthew 28 verses 16 through 20, teasing out those verses. And then we talked about the significance of discipleship and three reasons for that. It's the most important work in the church, it's the means God has chosen, it's the method that's most effective, and it's the model that best displays the power of the Gospel and the person of the Son of God.

I said to you that this week I wanted to follow that up with the theme "On Earth as It Is in Heaven." That takes us to Matthew chapter 4. In Matthew chapter 4, I want to just give you a little brief overview of the chapter and talk about the pattern of Jesus's life. There are three things that are noteworthy about the life of Jesus. If you look at verses 1 through 11 of chapter 4, you'll see that after Jesus was baptized, it says here in verse 1 that he was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That caught my attention because I noticed when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, that's when things got really hard for you. Satan just ratcheted up the heat; he turned up the heat when you gave your life to Jesus.

There's something about the public identification with the cause of Christ that puts you on Satan's radar, and then you've got the bullseye on your back and he goes after you. And of course, this was not an unusual thing with Jesus. When Jesus was baptized at 30 years of age, because it was at the age of 30 that priests actually went into the priesthood, Jesus began his public ministry as prophet, priest, and king. Then verses 1 through 11 says he went and he battled the evil one, Satan. And of course, that stands out to me because it was in that moment that he was tested, he was tempted.

"If you are the Son of God, command these stones that they be turned into bread," right? And these three temptations—lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life—the same three things that got Eve to fall, the same three things that John says we're not to love because the world is filled with those things. That's what he came at Jesus with. And Jesus, of course, defeated him. But it points out the fact that his convictions were tested. And that's the way it's going to be with you and with me. The first thing that happens is that our faith, the belief in Christ, is challenged by the evil one. And that's what he did with Jesus.

Then verses 12 through 17, he begins his public ministry. And of course, between verse 11 and verse 18, you have those verses 12 through 17 and what you see—that's about a year's worth of the life of Jesus—and you know what he was doing in that year? He was preaching and teaching the good news of the kingdom. So, Jesus first of all took on Satan, displaying his convictions. For us, God allows us to face temptation and to be opposed by the evil one to deepen our faith and strengthen our convictions. It should not surprise us that God allowed his Son to go through that for our sakes, and that we're not surprised when it comes our way.

But then after convictions are tested, now comes his sharing the gospel. He's preaching all up and down the coast, and then a year later, verse 18 tells us that he commits himself to what I call "pupil-making." That is, he's raising up disciples. And of course, you'll recognize this next slide because I've shown it probably 50-11 times. But in the case of our Lord, you look at these three things: in his private space, he deepened his personal convictions through testing. Then in his public life, he's sharing the good news of the kingdom. And then for the last year and a half of his life, he's involved in pupil-making, or making disciples.

I believe that's to be the case with you and me. The three things that God wants to see happen in our lives is he wants us to get deeper, stronger, and broader in our faith, and he allows the enemy to come at us that we might get stronger. He also wants us to be involved in sharing the good news of Christ so that people can come to faith. And then he wants us to make disciples; he wants us to build followers. Which, of course, takes us to the passage that we're looking at, verses 18 through 22. One day Jesus was walking along the shore beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew, fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. He called out to them, "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people." Instead of perch and bass, he says, "I want you to catch people."

And they left their nets at once and went with him. A little further up the shore, he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called out to them to come, too. And they immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. In this brief passage, there are five observations that I would like to make. It's the first Sunday, it's bonus day. Five observations concerning Jesus' call to discipleship. I want you to notice first of all in verse 18 that Jesus is going out, and as he's going out, he calls these men. He found them and he called them to be his disciples.

Now, a little historical background for you. All Hebrew boys when they were five years old went to Torah school and they were taught the scriptures. By the age of 10, these boys knew the Torah. And of course, there were A students, B students, C students. But the best students went on to study the rest of the Old Testament. The others who were not A and B students, they returned home to work in their family businesses. About the age of 17, if you wanted to go on and make a career out of religious studies, your next step was to find a rabbi you admired and apply to become one of his disciples. They were called talmidim because they were studying the Talmud, the teachings about the scriptures.

And when you found the teacher, you would go and sit at his feet. By sitting at his feet, that was your request for him to take you as a student so you could learn. I put Acts 22:3 here because it introduces us to a man named Gamaliel who was such an authoritarian figure that when all of the Sanhedrin Council, the council that ruled over Israel, were wanting to do in the disciples, Gamaliel stood up and he shut it all down. He had that much influence. When you get to chapter 22 of Acts, what you see is that Paul said, "I sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel taught me; I was his student." And that's the way it was.

One other thing, though: the rabbis were picky. Because when they chose a disciple, they were choosing someone they believed could become just like them, to not just know what they knew but also to do what they did. The rabbi would examine the student with questions and put them through a series of tests to see if they were worthy to be his disciple. The rabbis had the privilege of choosing the smartest, the most talented boys to be their disciples. For several years, these young disciples would follow the rabbi, imitating him in every way. The goal of a disciple was to be like the rabbi.

When you understand all of that, it really stands out what you see here in this passage. Because it says here Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and he saw two brothers casting their nets because they were fishermen. They weren't the ones who went on to study deeply. Apparently, they weren't the A students. They may not have been the B students because they went back to their father's business and they're fishermen by trade; they're not the talmidim. But here we see Jesus, as he's walking by the shore, he sees them and he says to them, "Follow me." He's not looking for the brightest and the best. He's looking for those who are willing.

He knows what's inside the heart of these men, and the heart is more important than the intellect. And of course, for you and me, that's an important thing. Christ saw you and Christ chose you, not because you were the best and the brightest or the smartest. He chose you because you were willing. In case you doubt that, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 says, "Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose the things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful."

"God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God." God didn't choose you because you're all of that. He chose you because he wanted to. He set his sovereign love on you in spite of you because the difference in your life is the difference that God himself makes. I love the way John MacArthur puts it. He says, "God skipped all the wise of that day. The great scholars were in Egypt. The great library was in Alexandria. The great philosophers were in Athens. The most powerful, they were in Rome."

"But he passed over Herodotus the historian, Socrates the great thinker, Julius Caesar the great general. He chose men so ordinary it was comical. No rabbis, no teachers, no religious experts. He chose the nobodies because only God can make nobodies into somebodies." That's what he did for you and for me. Second point: notice he says to them, "Follow me, and I'll teach you how to be fishers of men." He chose us; we didn't choose him. Students went looking for the rabbi and said, "Can I be your student?" But these men were not looking for a teacher. The teacher looked for them. No man seeks after God, the scripture says. But God sought after you.

If you know Christ in the pardon of your sins, it's because God saw you and God set his sovereign love upon you, and he decided to save you. That's why you're here. If he had not chosen to do that, if he hadn't chosen to pick you and save you, you wouldn't be here today. You'd be out doing something destroying your life in one way or another because Satan would have gamed you up with something. But God chose you. He says in John 15:16, "You didn't choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." It is an encouraging thing to know that Christ himself chose me.

See, there are going to be times in your life when the evil one will hop on your shoulder and remind you of all 837 reasons why you don't deserve to be loved by God, why you aren't anything and you're never going to be anything. And you can say, "You know what? In spite of my not being anything, Christ chose me. He set his sovereign love on me." I know I'm somebody because God made me and God doesn't make junk. He chose me, and I belong to him. Third thing that he says to them, he says, "Follow me." Our primary calling is to be with him. I love this verse in Mark 3:13-15. It says Jesus went up on a mountain and he summoned those whom he himself wanted.

He called this whole group, the people that he wanted around him, and then he handpicked 12. Why? He appointed 12 so that they would be with him and he could send them out to preach. Before he could send them out to preach, they had to spend time with him. Someone smart said to be little with God is to be little for God. If you want to see God use your life, then he's going to use your life because you're spending time with him. And he's pouring into your life, and then because he pours into your life, you've got so much of him in you that it comes out.

People see it and they hear about him, and they love him because of what they see of him in you. That's why we want to be with him. Fourth thing: to follow him, we have to leave. It says that when he saw these two brothers and he says, "Follow me, I will make you fishers of men," verse 20 said they immediately left their nets and followed him. When it comes to James and John, he called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. I like that statement. They left their profession and they left the relationship. Jesus says, "If you have anybody above me, then you don't deserve me."

Jesus says, "I want first place over anybody and everybody." You have to leave; you have to be willing to give it up. I told you before when I was 25 years old, the love of my life realized she could not live her life without me, and so we were married. As we worked in the church, one day the Lord began to tug in my heart about ministry. I said, "Honey, God wants me to go into the ministry." Or maybe I said, "God wants us to go into the ministry," because she said, "Well, God hadn't said nothing to me about that." So it takes a minute sometimes.

But we talked about it. I said, "Well, when the angel came to Mary and told her she was going to have a son, but after she and Joseph had their union, you know every time God wanted to do something, he spoke to Joseph. He didn't speak to Mary." I said, "So when you're married, God speaks to the husband." So he put it in my heart. She said, "Okay." So we left. She's been a wonderful first lady. Success that we've had in ministry obviously has been because of her. People like her, really. They put up with me, but they really like her. My point was that when the Lord dealt in my heart about ministry, we had to leave.

I asked the pastor about it. He says, "Go to seminary. Get a master's degree." And he says, "Save up some money. $10,000, then go." Okay. So I saved up $10,000, and then we took off. And people were stunned. My dad said, "Why? God has blessed you to be able to go and get this career in pharmacy. Why would you throw all of that away just to become a preacher?" Well, Dad, that's what God wants me to do. And I can't answer all the questions; the only thing I can tell you is that I'm sure that's what he wants. And if that's what he wants, then that's what I got to do.

Others in the church said, "Why would God lead you?" I can't answer that. All I know is he's leading me, and I'm out of here. Every time we would come back for Christmas, "Are you back now?" "I'm not back. I'm visiting." Eventually we did make our way back after 30 years. I guess it took me a long time to know how to do ministry. But we left. If you're going to be the person that God wants you to be, the question becomes: is there anything in your life that God can't put his hand on and say, "I want to take this away"? Is there any thing or anyone in your life that he can't put his hand on?

Is he sovereign? Is he Lord? Is he boss? Can he call any shot he wants and it's okay with you? Because that's what lordship entails. In Luke, Jesus says it like this, Luke 14:26. He says, "If you want to be my follower, you must love me more than your own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple." You've got to leave everything. Verse 27, he says, "You cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me." The cross is an emblem of death. In other words, you die to your desires and you pick up his.

"No one can become my disciple," he says in verse 33, "without giving up everything for me." Now when you see that, you say, "Well, that's a lot." Well, of course it is. It's everything. But what all that means is you have to make a decision; you've got to count the cost. What does it cost to follow Christ? Everything. What am I giving up to follow Christ? Everything. Does that mean that God's going to strip me bare? Not necessarily. He will strip away all of the things in your life that keep you from being and doing exactly what he wants you to be and do.

But that doesn't mean he's going to take away all your money or your house. We think in terms of things, even though Jesus says a man's life does not consist of the abundance of things that he possesses. Your life isn't great because you have stuff. Your life is great because you have purpose. But you count the cost. When I was in Pennsylvania in seminary, I had a friend named Dan Tarr. Dan was a carpenter and he could do some woodwork. In fact, he at one time owned his woodworking business. He built bookshelves. I tell people we built them, but the truth is I paid for the wood and I stood there and handed him the tools.

Dan told me something one time. He would measure something and then come back and measure it again. He says, "A wise carpenter measures twice, cuts once." Sometimes that's us. We jump out there and say, "Oh man, why did I—" because we didn't exactly take the time to step back and make sure this is exactly what we should be doing. God says, "Listen, you've got to count the cost. To follow me, you've got to see if you're willing to do any and everything that I want." Because if the answer to that is yes, then of course we're game and we're moving forward.

The fifth and final thing is that he commands us to spiritually reproduce. He says, "Follow me." What happens when you follow him? He says, "I will make you fishers of men." If I'm following you, I'm going to wind up being a fisherman, which means I will be fishing and I will be catching fish. If you're not ever catching fish, are you really a fisherman? Are you following if you're not catching fish? Because he says, "If you follow me, I'm going to make you a fisher of men." Jesus says, "My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."

I talked to you last week about following him and allowing his life to infuse itself on my life so that I live out his life in my life. I'll end with this personal mission statement. I thought about this and prayed about it and considered whether or not it was accurate with respect to the scriptures. My purpose in life is to, number one, grow deeper in my relationship with my Lord. That's my primary calling. To know him and to know him more deeply. I want to be in his word, and I want his word to be in me so that then I live out his word.

I told you last week about having that mannequin mindset. You go into the store at Macy's and you see the clothes on the mannequin, and they look good. The mannequin is stationed right there by the sale sign. You look at that and say, "Now I need to look like that." But what you notice is that none of the clothes on sale look like the ones on the mannequin. The ones on the mannequin are over there, and there ain't no sale sign over there. So you've got to decide: how much do I want to look like this mannequin? Because it's going to cost me. It's going to cost me more to look like that.

That's the reality of the faith. There are no cheap, easy roads to developing Christ-like character. If I'm going to be like him, there's a price to pay. And if I'm going to pay the price, then I can have the results. God wants me to look good. I'm not talking about fashionable in terms of clothes, but having a life that bears fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—that's the fruit that the Spirit produces in me because I spend time in his word. Jesus says, "I've chosen you that you may go and bear fruit and that the fruit would remain."

When you are bearing that kind of fruit, then as you are out there, the fish are going to swim right alongside and they're going to want to be where you are. They're going to want to be like you. They're going to want to know, "How can I become like you? What did you do?" "I gave my life to Jesus." "Well, how can I do that?" And then you'll be able to share with them. But that comes on the back end of a life that's in his word and in his will, following in his steps. My purpose is to grow deeper in my relationship, cooperate with the Spirit in becoming more like him in character.

There are going to be things in my life that God's going to put his hand on and say, "Ray, that's got to go." And if I say, "Okay," it goes and I grow. If I say, "Oh, I don't know," then there's no growth. But I want to cooperate with the Spirit. I want to say yes to him so I become more like him in my character and allow him to trim off anything out of my life that displeases him, that doesn't look like Christ, that opposes Christ, that brings shame on the name of Christ—they all have to go. And then share those results with others.

I build relationships with people, I get close to them, I talk with them, I walk with them, I share with them, and then one day at a point of need, they come and they ask me a reason for the hope that's within me. I tell them about Christ, and I ask them, "Would you like to know how to receive Christ?" "Yes." "Okay, let's do it." And then we get on our knees and we pray. And that's not the end of the story; I've got to help them become like him, which means I spend time with them, sharing with them how to be like Christ. And I say, like Paul, "Follow me as I follow Christ." That's disciple-making.

And what God is saying to you and to me is, "I want you to put your hand on that one." So the question is: who is the one? Who is the person that you believe God wants to use you to reach, to win, to share with, to draw to himself? And how are you going to be strategic in spending time with them and sharing Christ by showing Christ to them in the way that you live? Who is the one? Pray that God would bring that one into your view so that you can be all that God wants you to be in order to reach that person. Who is your one? Ask the Lord to show you.

If you're here today, maybe you're the one. Maybe you're the person who has never received Christ in the pardon of your sins. Maybe you've been playing religion, or maybe you thought that if I hang around the church, maybe it'll catch. It doesn't catch like that. It's not influenza. No, you give your life to Christ by choice. And if you're here today and you've never received Christ, bow the knee of your heart. I plead with you. The best decision you'll ever make in your life is the decision to surrender your life to Jesus Christ. You're surrounded by a group of people who will love you and lovingly help you.

Father, thank you again for this day. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the calling to discipleship. Lord, you said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." And the proof is in the pudding as I think about my own life and I think about the people with whom I have constant companionship. Most of those, they're watching me. And they're seeing what I'm doing and what I'm saying, and they're making assessments as to whether or not you're real. As you are using my life to convince them of your reality and your love for them and your desire to change them, and as they look at me and they're able to recognize that I'll be like him if I give my life to Jesus, they're drawn.

And that means that my life has got to be manifesting Jesus. That means that there need to be no barriers between me and Jesus. That means that I must be saying yes to Jesus, even if it means saying no to the flesh. That means that there must be no barriers between you and me. That means that for your sake and for their sake, I must deny myself, and then you must increase and I must decrease. Strengthen me that it may be so. I pray for that one who needs to receive Christ today, and I pray for us who have received Christ, that we will be moved to walk as fishers of men. We ask these things in Jesus's name. Amen.