May 14, 2006

FISHING 201

Matthew 4:19

          Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”   Last week, Bob and I shared with you some basic principles of successful fishing, and how they relate to fishing for men, and this week we’re back with some more.  Think of this as Fishing 201.  So Bob, what’s the first lesson today?

1. Fish anywhere, anytime, and think about it all the time   Romans 10:1; Colossians 4:3
   Always have some equipment so you can indulge in fishing. Even 5 minutes is good for the soul.  I have seen big trout right in the town of Ft. Collins. Try fishing under river bridges, canals and small ponds; there are fishing opportunities everywhere.  Be a little ready all the time.  When you are not fishing, have the mindset to be seeking fish. Read, observe and think.  I look at the weather, the snow pack and the seasons and wonder how it is affecting the fish.  Get fishing on the brain and be learning and thinking.  Do it alone or do it with friends, just do it.
             As Bob speaks, you can hear his passion.  What is your passion? What is it that you think about all the time?  What do you dream about? Daydream about?  Read books about?  Talk about with others?  For Bob, and many other fishermen, it is fishing.  We want to have that same kind of passion about fishing for men.  Paul said in Romans 10:1, “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”  Can you say that about a friend or relative—that your heart’s desire and prayer for them is that they may be saved? 
             I find that I need to pray that God will give me that heart’s desire, that passion for the people He has put in my life.  Lord, give me your heart for people; let me see them as you do; give me your love that will move me outside my comfort zone, to take risks, to love people the way you did in Christ. 
             One thing I have done that helps me with this is to put people on my prayer list so I don’t forget them.  I try to pray for my neighbors as I drive by their houses.  I made a map of our neighborhood, and wrote in the names of the people as I got to know them.  This is part of thinking about “fishing” all the time.  Praying for these people we care about keeps them on the front burner of our mind.  It helps to keep the passion hot.[1] 
             In addition to praying for them, we can also pray for opportunities to talk to people.  Col. 4:3, “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ…”  It is not our job to batter the door down.  If you are an extravert, you have no problem initiating conversation about most anything, and you may find it easier to start talking about the Lord, as Donna Luke mentioned today.  But if you are an introvert, you may need to pray this prayer:  “God, open the door.  Don’t let me miss it when you do; help me see those opportunities.”  Then we need to commit to God that if He opens the door, we will walk through it.  We may not feel particularly comfortable doing that; we may not know exactly what we are going to say, but we commit ourselves in advance to walking through the doors God opens. 
   
    
2. Don’t be a fish snob   John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
   Fish researchers went looking for the perfect fish in the 1800’s.  They wanted a fast growing, adaptable game fish that was fun to catch and good food.  In 1831, with great fanfare, the first of these fish were imported from Germany to North America.  People came from hundreds of miles away to buy fish for their ponds. For 50 years these fish were raised in fisheries and stocked all over the U.S.  That fish is the carp.  By 1900 the U.S. had decided that they had made a mistake and the carp was no longer wanted in the U.S.  The carp did not change, we changed.  Sometimes, carp are the only fish in the pond. You can fish for carp or go home. Carp grow big, people all over the world eat them and they are fun to catch. They are still a beautiful fish and worthy of catching. They will often take a fly and the fight is amazing.  Don’t be a fish snob, they are all fish, and remember the goal is to catch fish.
             We all know John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  But notice the inclusiveness in that verse.  God loves the entire world—every last person in it.  And His provision is so great that whoever believes in Christ will not perish but have eternal life.  One of the most pernicious traits of human beings is that we make distinctions between people, and judge some groups better than others.  This was certainly the case with the Jews of Jesus’ day and their attitudes toward Gentiles.  An observant Jew of that day would not even enter the home of a Gentile.  It took a vision from God to change Peter’s mind about that, so that he was willing to enter the home of the Roman centurion, Cornelius.  But when he did, God used him to lead the entire extended household to faith in Christ.  Peter’s conclusion from that experience was that God does not show favoritism; He’s not a “fish snob”.   He accepts people from every nation, from any group. 
             Paul made a rather pointed observation to the Christians in Corinth when he said, 1 Cor. 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders [10] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  Just when we start to feel smug about all those sinful types of people who will not get into the kingdom of God, we read “and that’s what some of you were!”  Oh yeah; we’re not all that great, either, are we?  We have sexually immoral thoughts; we worship other gods besides the one true God; we commit adultery in our hearts; we have stolen things from our employers; we are greedy for way more than we need; we have slandered people we didn’t like.  All of those things are true of us to some degree, and God accepted and saved us anyway. 
             So now, with that realization, we are ready to follow Jesus as He commanded us, and to become as He was, friends of sinners.  The Pharisees used that phrase as an attack on Jesus, but I think He wore that title proudly.  That’s exactly who He was, and that’s exactly what we need to be.  O God!  Make me someone who can befriend obvious and blatant sinners.  May I not be turned off by their language, or their jokes, or their smoking, or their drinking and drugging, by their entertainment, or their friends, their self-sufficient arrogance, etc..  But may I become a friend to anyone who needs you, because I am no better in your sight. 
             So who are some of the “sinners” of our day that we should befriend in Jesus’ name?  How about the prisoners in the county jail?  That’s a good place to start.  Or the unwed mothers who come into the Life Choices pregnancy center.  Or “at risk” teens who need a mentor.  Or the needy people who come into the House of Neighborly Service.  Or the guests we host from Interfaith Hospitality Network.  These folks are all around us, but we have to look through the eyes of Jesus to see them and their needs. We cannot be snobs about who we love in His name.[2] 
   
    
3.  Hang out with other fishermen
   Cultivate friends who have a nice boat, truck and camper J.  Cultivate friends who know more than you and learn from them.  Encourage each other and share your knowledge.  The more you share, the more information you will get back.  It really fires me up to spend time with someone who shares my passion.  It just makes me more eager to get out there and go fishing.  

          Let’s face it: there are a lot of interesting, worthwhile things to do in life.  We have too many good choices of what to do with our time.  We’re not so much tempted to do bad things, as we are to choose the good over the best.  So it helps to have some others around us who are also interested in fishing for men.  Why not ask a good friend, who maybe also struggles to get around to this kind of fishing, to meet with you to pray and strategize about how you could do it together?  Or do you know someone who seems to be better at it than you are?  Invite them out to lunch, or over for dinner, and just ply them with questions.  See if you can catch their heart for people, and maybe pick up some ideas of how it could work for you.  We tell ourselves that we don’t know how to do this, but  I think that the old saying is true: where there’s a will, there’s a way.  If we could get excited about the possibilities, and catch God’s heart for people who are still outside His love, then I think we’d find ways to do it.  So hang around with people who love to share God’s love with others.  Let their enthusiasm rub off on you.  And in the process, you’ll no doubt pick up some ways of going about it that would work for you. 

4. Know your quarry
   1. Location
      Where are they?  90% of the lake has no fish in it. Learn what each fish prefers.  The lake trout are in the deepest part of the lake, large mouth bass prefer weed edges, small mouth bass hang around rocky points.
                The first thing to say about this is that the “fish” Jesus is talking about when He says that He will make us fishers of men are not in church.  The ironic joke is that Jesus said He’d make us fishers of men and we have become keepers of the aquarium, expecting the fish to jump in of their own accord.  But we have no idea how foreign a church service feels to someone who has never gone to church, or hasn’t been since they were a kid.  They would feel really awkward here. 
                So we have to go where they are.  We need to get out of our comfortable routines, out of our little holy huddles, and go fishing.  Where are the fish?  They are in city sports leagues (not usually church leagues.)  They are in sports bars, and rock concerts, and camera clubs and hiking clubs.  They are hospital volunteers, and library volunteers, and Earth Day activists.  They are in political caucuses, and city government task groups, and the Lions and Rotary Clubs.  If we thought about it very long, we could find something that we are interested in, and there would already be a group of people in the city who are interested in that also.  We could join their group, and make friends, and begin to cast our lure out to see if anyone will bite. 
                Or here’s another approach.  You have a neighbor who likes golf; maybe you don’t care for the game, but you realize that it would give you several hours with that friend every time you go out, just to talk about whatever comes up – great fishing opportunity.   So you take up golf, and ask him/her to give you pointers to improve your game.  Or your co-worker is into skeet shooting so you start going to the shooting range with them and begin to attend some of their matches, and maybe even buy a gun yourself so you can participate in that interest of theirs.  (We had a couple in our church who did that a while back.) It’s going to where the fish are, rather than expecting them to come to us. 
   2. Timing
      When is the best time to fish?  Fish the early morning and late evening in the summer. But in the winter, trout will feed most actively from noon until 4:00 when the water warms to create a bug hatch.
                When are people hungry? What circumstances make people spiritually hungry?  One kind of circumstance that makes people more open spiritually is stress.  On your outline this morning, you’ll find a list of stress factors. 

Holmes and Rahe Stress Rating

If your total score in a year is over 200, your health is in jeopardy.  But long before that, people feel the stress and begin subconsciously to look for ways to alleviate it.  When there is no stress, there is no incentive to change the status quo.  But if there is some dissatisfaction in their lives, then they are more open to change.  The bigger the dissatisfaction, the more open they are, or the more open to changing fundamental things in their lives. 
          One way to minister to people at these opportune times in their lives is to ask if we can pray for them.  Very few people will object to being prayed for.  Even if they don’t think it will help, they don’t mind if you pray for them.  You can do that at home, or even right there with them.  Be bold; stick God’s neck out! Ask Him to do something obvious, something big, to really make a difference in your friend’s life.  If they are hurting, struggling with something difficult in their lives, they will appreciate that you care enough about them to bring them to the Lord.  The key here is being sensitive to those times in people’s lives when they may be open to change, when they feel a need of some sort.   

3. Bait
   Discover what kind of lures work best for each type of fish. There really is not a consistent “one size fits all lure”. The bait should look natural for each type of fish and the particular body of water. 
             The apostle Paul is a great example for us here.  When he was in the synagogues, preaching to Jews, he quoted a lot from the Old Testament, and referred to their history, all in an effort to show that Jesus really was the Messiah.  But when he went to Athens, and had a chance to speak to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill, he never mentioned Scripture once; instead, he quoted from their own poets, and referred to their obviously religious nature and the monument they had to the “unknown God”.   He tailored his approach to their needs; he modified the “bait”.
             So we have to know our friends well enough to know what will make sense to them.  Do they need philosophy, or apologetics, or a long slow friendship, or prayer for a crisis they are in, or are they ready for the gospel presentation?  And again, I think the best way to know this about them is to ask lots of questions.  Find out what they think about spiritual matters.  Don’t be too quick to dump the truck of the gospel on their heads, until you know what kind of presentation is going to be most effective, until you know what kind of questions they are asking.  Yes, there is a central core to the gospel that is the same for every person.  But the packaging of that, the lure, as Bob would say, the way to get them interested is different for each person.    
4. Pay attention
   Sometimes the bite is incredibly subtle.  When ice fishing, often my bobber suddenly just lies on its side.  That is a fish bite and I set the hook.
             Very rarely will someone say to you, “You know, I’m going through a hard time right now, and I’m rethinking all my fundamental presuppositions about life.  I wonder if you could tell me how Christ might make a difference for me.”  They are usually not that obvious.  But they may drop subtle hints, hoping that we’ll notice.  This is especially true for men, who I think tend to be a bit more guarded than women about what is really going on inside them. This requires us to love them enough to pay careful attention to what they are saying, and how they are saying it.  Is there a bit more emotion in that comment than usual?  What does that mean?  When they casually mention that their father died, or their teen-age daughter is pregnant, it’s an opportunity for us to pay attention, and gently probe a bit deeper.  When the elderly parent starts making comments about being ready to leave if heaven will have them, it’s time for us to explore that with them.  I think many times, people are subconsciously hoping that we’ll pick up on the hint and talk with them about these things.  But again, it’s a question of whether we love them enough to pay attention to these little clues.    
   
   Bob says that the successful fisherman knows his quarry.  So does the successful fisher for men.  Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:19-22, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. [20] To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law …, so as to win those under the law. [21] To those not having the law I became like one not having the law …, so as to win those not having the law. [22] To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”   He paid attention to the differences in people, and was willing to adapt himself and his style and whole approach to the particular people he was trying to reach.  
             We have much the same thought in Col. 4:5, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”  Be wise.  Pay attention to your friends as individuals, and adapt yourself to them as much as possible.   

5.        Find a style you can love
If you are not having fun, you are doing it wrong and you need some changes. I tried some fishing tournaments and hated them.  The crowds, the pressure and the rules made it work instead of fun.  I learned what worked for me.  I like to ice fish; it is very relaxing and there is no guilt about the yard work.  There are people I love to fish with.  I love to fly fish streams in the mountains.  I love to fish for pike with a spinner over a weed bed.  Make your list of what you enjoy and do it. Fishing is wonderful fun and a blessing.  If you are not feeling blessed by the Lord and having fun, change things until it is right for you. Then you are fishing the way that God intended you to fish.   
Whenever somebody mentions the “e” word (evangelism), people invariably say, “Oh, I could never do that.”  I have found, by asking questions of folks who say that, that what they mean is they could never preach like Billy Graham, or stand on a street corner, or go door to door witnessing.  But that’s a false stereotype of what it means to do evangelism.  Yes, some people do it those ways, and they may be successful at it. But God is not asking you do to that. He’s asking you to find a way to fish for men that fits with who you are.  He has made you a certain way, and you will be effective sharing your faith in certain ways that others will not be.
Here are several different styles[3] of doing evangelism.  See if one of these feels like you. 
1. Confrontational.  The apostle Peter was like this.  On the day of Pentecost, he boldly preached the resurrection, and blasted the Jews for having killed the Messiah!  Whew!  You and I might think that was custom-designed to fail, but 3,000 people became Christians!
2. Intellectual.  The apostle Paul was more of an intellectual.  His letters are very logical and linear presentations of the gospel.  His sermons recorded in Acts are like that, too, trying to persuade men through reason. 
3. Testimonial.  I mentioned last week the man who was born blind.  He didn’t know much theology, but he knew what Jesus had done for him, and stated it clearly and convincingly:  “Once I was blind; now I can see.”   That was his testimony. 
4. Relational.  Matthew is a great example of this.  Very shortly after he left his tax collecting business, he threw a party for his friends—all of them:  his old friends, who were considered the riff-raff of society, and his new friends, including Jesus and the disciples.  There’s no mention of a special gospel presentation at the party; Jesus apparently didn’t preach.  Matthew just relied on the relationships he had to introduce his friends to Jesus.
5. Invitational.  The Samaritan woman that Jesus met at the well eventually came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  She immediately went into town and told everyone she could find to come out to the well to meet Jesus.  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did,” she said.  Many people are wonderful inviters, and they can easily invite friends to church, to a comedy night, to go with them to a movie so they can talk about it later, etc. 
6. Service.  Dorcas was a woman who was known for “always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  We have no record of her ever preaching or even talking about Christ to people, but she faithfully served people out of her love for God, and in the name of Christ.  Because this style seldom shares the gospel, it needs to be paired with someone with one of the other styles, because nobody ever asks, “Tell me why you have such a servant heart.”  But this kind of service lays the foundation of trust and credibility and respect for the gospel presentation.  
So who are you?  Does one of these styles fit you better than another?  Find a way to fish that you can love, and go for it.  You don’t have to be like somebody else; you’ll be much more effective if you just be yourself. 
 
Success in fishing for men is taking the initiative to move someone one step closer to Christ.  They don’t have to pray to receive the Lord for it to be a successful experience.  They just have to move one step closer.  And when they do, and you can see that it is God who is drawing them, and shaping their questions, and giving them encouragement, wow!  It is so great to be a co-worker with God in that!   When the fish are being reeled in by the Master Fisherman, it’s a blast just to be in the boat with the net ready!  What’s not to love?—seeing people we care about growing closer to God, discovering His love for them, seeing how the Bible fits together, realizing the truth of the gospel, finding that He is the lover of their souls.   It’s the best thing in the world.