SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2020
7:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 Intro
to Matt. 4:18-22)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
4:18-22
Message of the verses: “18 Now as Jesus
was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers
of men." 20 Immediately they 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; and He
called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed
Him.”
We
will take a short look at the first part of this introduction in which John MacArthur
calls “Fishing for Men.” Is it ironic
that Jesus would chose fishermen to go and fish for men? I don’t think so, but we know that many of
his disciples were fishermen.
In
his commentary on this section MacArthur begins with a story, a story that is a
sobering parable of what the church’s concern for evangelism has often been
like:
“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks
were frequent, a crude little lifesaving station was built. The building was just a hut, and there was
only one boat, but the few devoted crewmen kept a constant watch over the
sea. With no thought for themselves,
they went out day or night, tirelessly searching for any who might need
help. Many lives were saved by their
devoted efforts. After a while the
station became famous. Some of those who
were saved, as well as others in the surrounding area, wanted to become a part
of the work. They gave time and money
for its support. New boats were bought,
additional crews were trained, and the station grew. Some of the members become unhappy that the
building was so crude. They felt a
larger, nicer place would be more appropriate as the first refuge of those
saved from sea. So they replaced the
emergence cots with hospital beds and put better furniture in the enlarged
building. Soon the station became a
popular gathering place for its members to discuss the work and to visit with
each other. They continued to remodel
and decorate until the station more and more took on the look and character of
a club. Fewer members were interested in
going out on lifesaving missions, so they hired professional crews to do the
work on the behalf. The lifesaving motif still prevailed on the club emblems
and stationery, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club
held its imitations. One day a large
ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in many boatloads
of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were
dirty, bruised, and sick; and some had black or yellow skin. The beautiful new club was terribly messed
up, and so the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside,
where the ship-wreck victims could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting there was a split in the
club membership. Most of the members
wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities altogether, as being unpleasant
and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted on keeping lifesaving
as their primary purpose and pointed out that, after all, they were still
called a lifesaving station. But those
members were voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives they could
begin their own station down the coast somewhere. As the years went by, the new station
gradually faced the same problems the other one had experienced. It, too, became a club and its lifesaving
work became less and less of a priority.
The few members who remained dedicated to lifesaving became another
station. History continued to repeat
itself; and if you visit the coast today you will find a number of exclusive
clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are
still frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.
Lord willing, we will continue to look
more at this story and how it is about the church in our next SD.
2/23/2020 8:02 AM
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