THe Gospel of the Kingdom - Matthew - Andrew and Peter Called to Fish

 

Text: Matthew 4: 18-20  – “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”   they immediately left their nets and followed Him.”

We are going through the redemptive biography written by the disciple Matthew. He wrote topically to the Jews to establish that Jesus is the Messiah – the Anointed One – the King. Jesus is embarking upon His public ministry.

We left verses 18-22 out yesterday. Today we will look at this passage. In this passage, if you compare with a Harmony of the Gospels, you would see that there is apparently 3 contacts with these 4 men in Christ’s calling of them.

The first meeting took place in Jerusalem – John 1:35 – 42.  John the Baptizer points out the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World to them.

This account we are looking at today takes place at the Sea of Galilee and is the second meeting. They had seen Him before, but now He is calling them to follow Him. The first time they just met with Him. Following this meeting, Mark and Luke inform us that they went back to fishing.

The third account is where He calls them to Apostleship. On a side-note, this should remind us not to give up on witnessing to someone – it often takes more than one contact to reach a person with the Good News. 

It is interesting the ones He chose to follow Him. The probably would not be our choice. It shows that no matter what, Jesus will reach out to people. The many different gifts that we have are all used by Him.

Let’s look at these four men. We will see Peter and Andrew today, and James and John tomorrow.

Jesus meets these two brothers by the Galilean Sea.

Starting with Andrew we know these things about him:

• ·      He was a disciple of John the Baptizer
• ·      He became a follower of the Lamb of God
• ·      We first see him bringing his brother to Jesus in John 1: 40-41 – “ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).”
• ·      He is the one who brings the young lad with 2 loaves and 5 fishes to Jesus
• ·      He brought Greeks who were seeking Jesus in John 12: 20-26.
• ·      He brought the one who would be used of God in the early church to Jesus.
• ·      He was definitely one who sought out and would bring them to the Savior.
• ·      Are we like Andrew with our desire to bring others to Christ?

 

That brings us to Simon Peter. We know this about him:

• ·      Herbert Lockyer calls him the “Apostle Who was Hot-Headed.”
• ·      Simon Bar-Jonah – Simon the son of John
• ·      The name Simon was popular after the Maccabees – 9 bear this name in the New Testament
• ·      Simon means “listening”
• ·      John 1:42 – “Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). [ Simon=Hebrew; Cephas= Aramaic; Peter= Greek]
• ·      He would need to learn restraint, humility, grace, sacrifice, and love to be used by the Master.
• ·      He went from the disciple who denied his Lord to the disciple who defended the faith.
• ·      Do we have the fervor to serve our Lord?

When Jesus called them to follow, He promised that they would be fishers of men (verse 4:19 – 20). Jesus promises to make them successful in reaching others with the good news.

He gives us the same call today – if we follow Him, He will make us successful in fishing for men.