ARE WE "FISHERS OF MEN" OR JUST "CHUMMING" THE GOSPEL?
By: Pastor Chuck Morley
In the fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel as well as the
first chapter in Mark’s, Jesus calls four men into ministry. "And he (Jesus)
saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). All four by trade
were fishermen, Peter and his brother Andrew and James along with his brother
John.
It’s interesting to notice what these men were doing and
where their focus was at the time of their calling. It wasn’t on the condition
of the sea, the weather, the time of day or their boat. While all of these hold
equal importance in the fishing business, there is one piece of equipment that
fishermen must possess and continually maintain above all else; their net. Both
Gospel writers record Peter and Andrew casting their net while James and John
were mending theirs.
Any fisherman can put his focus on being the proud owner of
the finest, biggest and most expensive fishing vessel ever built. He can boast
of his ship being equipped with the latest and most advanced "fish finding" and
meteorological technology available. He may also be blessed with sufficient
financial backing to employ the best trained and most experienced crew. But
without a strong, well maintained net, the fish will continue swimming around
him and never make it to the market place. The finest ship, the latest
technology and the best trained crew does not catch the fish - the net does.
Over the last several generations fishers of men (the Church)
have failed miserably at maintaining their nets. Our net is the power of God’s
Word, delivered under the convicting of the Holy Spirit to change lives and
convert souls.
Rather then keeping our nets in the condition required to catch and haul the
lost into the Kingdom of God, our focus is now the ship (our big buildings), our
technology (our entertainment, light shows etc.) and our trained and experienced
(marketing) crew.
Our nets are full of holes, they are full of empty spaces
where netting material should be in order to keep the fish in. The politically
correct church of today has opted to remove the power of the Gospel, those
elements of His Holy Word that confine and catch fish.
John MacArthur, in his book, Ashamed of the Gospel writes:
"I recently read through a stack of newspapers and magazine
articles about the user-friendly phenomenon, and a common thread began to
emerge. Here are some quotations from clippings describing the preaching in
user-friendly churches:
"There is no fire and brimstone here. No Bible-thumping. Just
practical, witty messages."
"Services at [the church featured in the article] have an
informal feeling. You won't hear people threatened with hell or referred to as
sinners. The goal is to make them feel welcome, not drive them away."
"As with all clergymen [this pastor's] answer is God - but he
slips Him in at the end, and even then doesn't get heavy. No ranting, no raving.
No fire, no brimstone. He doesn't even use the H-word. Call it Light Gospel. It
has the same salvation as Old Time Religion, but with a third less guilt."
"The sermons are relevant, upbeat, and best of all, short.
You won't hear a lot of preaching about sin and damnation and hell fire.
Preaching here doesn't sound like preaching. It is sophisticated, urbane, and
friendly talk. It breaks all the stereotypes."
"[The pastor] is preaching a very upbeat message.... It's a
salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved from the fires of
hell. Rather, it's being saved from meaninglessness and aimlessness in this
life. It's more of a soft-sell."
"The idea, [the pastor] says, is to get people through the
front doors, then disprove the stereotype of sweating, loosened necktied,
Bible-thumping preacher who yells and screams about burning in hell for
eternity." (John F. MacArthur Jr., Ashamed of the Gospel, Crossway Books
1993, 47 - 48)
If we deliberately omit the points of the Gospel that have
the supernatural power to bring men face to face with what separates us from God
(our sin), what are we left with? Chum!
Chumming is a popular and effective method for drawing
and clustering fish into an area so they can be fished with a baited hook or
lure, and to promote active feeding once they arrive. It entails placing various
forms of food and other substances in the water to attract fish to a specific
area and keep them there for extended periods. Because finding and enticing fish
is a prerequisite to successful fishing, chumming is a method that has been used
for more than 500 years and one that is still used widely today....common chum
bait is a soup-like mixture composed of ground-up fish, crustaceans, mollusks
and worms. However, non-fish items like bread, grains (especially corn),
processed meats, spices, dog food, oil, blood and even alcohol have been
utilized as chum. (Discover
the Outdoors)
Like chumming, we may draw people to an area (our
sanctuaries and auditoriums), but lack the supernatural power (hook/net) to get
them out of the water (sin/the world).
When I was a boy I once went fishing with my father off the
coast of Rhode Island. This trip was my introduction to chumming. Although the
trip was over forty years ago, two things still remain firmly imbedded in my
memory. First, and foremost, chum stinks. As described above, it is a nasty
concoction of some of the foulest smelling ingredients known to man.
Secondly, within this soup of stench contains chopped and ground up pieces of
sea life so small or mangled that you at times cannot determine from which
animal they were once a part of or attached to.
When the portions of the Gospel, relevant to biblical
salvation, are replaced with small, mangled, unrecognizable pieces of the Word,
we end up with sterile, flesh pleasing, man centered, ear tickling sermons with
no spiritually redeeming value.
There is no denying the fact that chumming will definitely draw a crowd, but it
will NOT catch fish. Every fish that has ever been reeled into the Kingdom of
God can be easily recognized by the hook in it’s mouth, or the marks on it’s
body from rubbing against the net.
Another interesting point is the fact that all net fishing is done without any type of "bait". The Gospel of Jesus Christ, in it's truest and purest form, needs no help from the carnal inventions of man to be proclaimed to any culture or sub-culture. No Starbucks, no popcorn, no light shows, stand-up comics, drama teams or rock bands - NO CHUM! "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32).
"One of the fundamental issues
of misunderstanding that leads to corrupt churchmanship in our generation is the
failure to distinguish between a crowd and a church. The failure to distinguish
between a crowd and a church is . . . to misunderstand everything about
preaching, everything about ministry, everything about our task. If we think our
business is to build a crowd, frankly any of us can do it. There's a way to
bring and draw and attract a crowd. . . . Let us never mistake a crowd for a
church
[or] think our business is to draw a crowd."
- Al Mohler
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."
(2Timothy 4:1-5)