Gtcotr/ss102107
God has a history of calling greatness out of obscurity.
In fact many times throughout the bible when God wanted a special job done a child was born. This shows that God is a God of planning, birthing, preparing and calling people with purpose.
Jeremiah was told:
Key Scripture: Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
In the same way Isaac, Moses and Samuel, Eve, Esther and Mary were all children born for purpose.
In God’s eyes, every person is born for purpose, then prepared, positioned and called according to that purpose.
You see:
God has a plan
He will succeed
Each person has an opportunity to participate
We can read the story of Jeremiah or Samuel, Esther or Mary, Peter or Paul and clearly see that these were people born with a destiny. However, not one of these people knew anything about the resident potential in their life until God revealed it to them.
It is easy to study men like David and see the firm hand of God on him throughout his life from early childhood to the end of his days. God was with David when he faced the lion, the bear and Goliath as a young boy and God was preparing him each day in every way for the purpose he was born for.
Esther 4: 14 "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (NKJV)
Esther was told by her cousin that if she did not rise to her potential and choose to participate in God’s plan for her life that doubtless God would then choose someone else to do her work but she would suffer and perhaps invite the suffering of many others.
This morning I want us to look at the callings of four men in the Gospels, specifically the first four men Jesus called to be His disciples. These were people born for purpose. As we study these men and their individual purpose, it is my hope that your calling may become more clear and meaningful. Let’s see if we can find ourselves represented in these men.
Matthew 4 NKJV
18 ¶ And Jesus, walking by the
19 Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
Interesting to note: The first four disciples whom Jesus called were fishermen.
The firsts to be called were Peter and Andrew, they were brothers. Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist and had earlier introduced his brother Simon, called Peter, to Jesus. Andrew, it seems, had a great desire to connect people to people and people to Christ in a one-on-one encounter. (John 1:40ff)
Peter, on the other hand, was a person best acquainted with groups of people and crowds. In ministry Peter would later be the one chosen to speak to the multitudes on the Day of Pentecost and to see multitudes come out into the streets, laying their sick in the way, hoping that even his shadow might touch them and heal them.
What do the scriptures tell us Peter and Andrew were busy about on that day when Jesus was directed to call them to follow Him?
v. 18 “… casting a net into the sea …”
Hmmm, what can we glean about their calling from this picture?
Casting a net is representative of outreach and evangelism.
This element of ministry continued to play heavily in the future God had planned for both of these men. Evangelism and outreach are still a great part of the Kingdom plan of God today.
This same Greek word translated in verse 18 as ‘casting’ is found again in Matthew and Mark giving us a picture of God’s Kingdom plan.
Matthew 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: (KJV)
Mark 4:26 And he said, So is the
Both net fishing for huge numbers and immediate results, as well as sowing seeds one at a time for future harvest are a part of our evangelism and outreach responsibilities. Preaching to the crowds and one-on-one evangelism are both designed for different people with different callings and different destinies. God prepares and positions us and He is ready for us to engage in the purpose we were born for.
Now let’s turn our attention to verse 21 of Matthew 4:
Matthew 4:21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them
James and John were not casting their nets but were rather mending their nets. What does this imply?
Mending represents the Pastoral Care and nurturing given to each person by God through His faithful servants.
Mending in the Greek can be described as: The work it takes to repair, perfect, complete and make whole and useful again. This is the work of a loving Pastor, a caring teacher, a nurturing parent, a true friend or a Godly counselor. It is also the work we can complete on ourselves with the comfort and help of the Holy Spirit.
This same Greek word translated ‘mending’ is found throughout the rest of the New Testament. Here are a few examples:
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Loving and caring figured heavily into the lives of James and John who were the first and the last Apostles to be martyred for their faith. Pastoral in nature John was given the responsibility to care for Jesus’ family on earth. Tradition holds that just prior to 70 AD and the destruction of the temple in
This concept of mending nets is also carried over in to the thoughts of the Apostle Paul’s doctrine to that same church in
Ephesians 4 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
What then is our conclusion?
God has called some to be net casters and some to be net menders … which are you?
You were born for purpose and you have great and perhaps as yet untapped potential.
