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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] It.
[00:00:01] Tell you what, that'll break a good sermon. After that prayer, then something's wrong, right?
[00:00:07] Good morning, church.
[00:00:10] What a joy to be together today. Amen.
[00:00:14] We are finishing out our time in the parables today. Next week, we'll step into our Easter season. What we're going to be doing right after that, we'll go into a series on conflict and resolution or reconciliation. I think it'll be really timely for the cultural moment we're in. But for today, we're finishing out this little micro series within Matthew. We're going to finish out Matthew 13 and Jesus's last parable, and we're going to look how it steps back into the narrative flow of the larger book. And I just think God has something cool for us today. But before I get too far there, I do have to ask any Costco people in the room? Costco people? Costco's the best, right? I'm a big Costco fan. Rotisserie chicken life all day long. But here's the thing, guys, this is a weird way to start, but stick with me here for a second.
[00:01:09] When it comes to store memberships, right? Stores that you have to be a member of, I feel like there's basically three teams. You're the team Costco, the correct one, or your team Sam's club, or your team Amazon prime, which, I mean, it's kind of weird. And I know, as I say, that there probably are people in this room who are Walmart plus people. I get that. But I think even, you know, yours doesn't count, right? I think you know that.
[00:01:42] Oh, here's the thing, guys. In my experience, if you have a store membership, then you have a reason why yours is the best, right? Like you've thought through it. You know which one's which. If you're the Amazon prime person, you're like, look, I get free two day shipping and I get streaming services, right? Like I get to watch TV because of my store. If you're Costco, you're like rotisserie chickens. I don't know what else to tell you. What else do you need in life? And if you're Sam's club, I guess you're your, I don't know what your benefit is, but here's the thing, guys. Here's the thing. Some of you are like, I am Sam's club for life and I am never coming back again.
[00:02:25] Here's the thing. If you have a store membership, you have a store membership very specifically because of the benefits it gets you, right? Like you're doing that math in your head of how much does this membership cost and what do I get from it, and does the math work out? And when we talk about our store memberships, we talk about them from that perspective. We talk about what benefits from the membership, bless our family, that make the cost worth it. And if you were having a discussion with someone and they let you know that they were switching memberships because their circumstances of life had changed, the benefits worked out differently, new benefits were offered or benefits were dropped, you wouldn't think anything of that, right? You would probably congratulate, hey, that's pretty smart. Smart move. Yeah, that sounds like that'll be way smarter for you. Because that's why we hold on to store memberships, is because we want the benefits.
[00:03:17] It's not strange to talk about Costco that way, right? But if you apply the same logic to your friends, all of a sudden we have a problem. Right? Listen, Craig's a pretty good friend. I like him. I mean, he pays for my lunch at least a couple times a year. And I'll be honest, at least once a year I'm getting an invite to a ball game. That's pretty good. But I've been getting to know Jim, and here's the thing. He's into pickleball and his gym allows him to bring one friend for free. And so I'm getting free session a week out of this. So Craig's fine, but I'm switching to Jim. Right.
[00:03:55] If you talk about your friends that way, that's not wise, that's not smart, that's not frugal, that's incredibly unkind. Right?
[00:04:05] Because people, relationships, friendships are different than your store memberships. The same logic doesn't apply. So today we're looking at this last parable in Matthew 13, this last parable in this chunk of scripture. There's going to be more parables in Matthew, but in this sermon of parables, it's kind of the last one. And we're going to see how the narrative picks back up as Jesus finishes the sermon. And I think we're going to see this really cool, just great truth about Christ in this text. I think we're going to get a really big challenge for most of us, there's an invitation in that, but it's all going to come back to this idea.
[00:04:45] Do you truly beloved treasure Jesus?
[00:04:52] Do you treasure Jesus? Not what he gives you, not what benefits you receive from him, but his very person is Jesus, your treasure, right here and right now.
[00:05:06] And I think what we'll see is that this is the difference between wheat and weeds. This is the difference between good soil and bad soil. This is the difference between good fish and catfish.
[00:05:19] We'll get there, trust me.
[00:05:22] Because it's the difference between life and death.
[00:05:25] Is your relationship with Jesus more like your relationship with your best friend or more like your relationship with Costco?
[00:05:33] It's a really helpful diagnostic question. So grab a Bible, open up to Matthew 13 if you don't have a bible with you. We have house Bibles around the room. Just look underneath the chairs in front of you. By the way, if you're here today and you don't own a copy of God's word, we really believe in the importance of physical access of God's word. We'd encourage you to take one of the house bibles or talk to one of the pastors and we'll give you a nicer one. We really believe it's important for you to own a copy of the Bible. We're going to be in Matthew 13 today, and our text kind of has three main sections. So rather than read the whole text, I'm going to pray for us and we'll read a section, talk about it, read a section, talk about it until we get to the end. So pray with me, church, and we'll jump into this. Jesus, we need you this morning.
[00:06:14] Lord, we just got to spend this joyful time singing to you, being reminded of your gospel, proclaiming your gospel to one another, this beautiful truth that your blood, your sacrifice made a way to wash away our guilty stains, to wash away every ounce of sin so that we can walk in freedom and life. Enjoy. Jesus, thank you for your gospel.
[00:06:40] As we take these next few minutes to engage your word, we ask, Holy spirit that you would be our discipler.
[00:06:47] Give us ready hearts. Give us open eyes and open ears that are ready to receive encouragement from you and reminders from you, but also challenge from you. Lord, pick at our hearts where we need to be picked at. For those of us who have built calluses over our areas of sin so that we can avoid conviction and avoid repentance. Lord, I pray that in your grace you would pick at those things afresh today. Give us a fresh opportunity to come to you in repentance, to find joy in life.
[00:07:18] Jesus, you are the one who wrote this word. You're the one who illuminates it, and you're the one who prepares our hearts. So we ask you to do this work today in your name, Jesus. Amen.
[00:07:28] Okay, Matthew 13. We're going to start in verse 47, if you want to read with me, it says this again.
[00:07:35] The kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish, and when it was full, they drug it ashore, sat down, gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones. So it will be at the end of the age, the angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Dang. Okay, let's hang out here for a second.
[00:08:06] This is Jesus's closing parable for the section. This is like, I gotta land this sermon. I gotta bring it home. Let's talk about fish and hell. Let's go. But he does. This is how he lands it out. We've talked about this a couple of times, right? But there is this debate in interpretation of Matthew and specifically Matthew 13 about how this scene plays out. Is it this back and forth, or is it easily divided into two sections where he speaks to the crowd and then speaks to his disciples? Or is this back and forth, kind of flash forward flashback of him with the crowds or with just his disciples? And I'll be honest, guys, regardless of where we're at in this point in the text, the point remains the same. Jesus is giving this really important parable that, by the way, essentially just repeats a truth from the sermon. This is essentially the same teaching as the parable of the wheat and the weeds. He's hitting on the same idea because there's something important here. Regardless of if he's speaking to all the crowds or just as close as followers, the implications are the same for us. So let's talk about this for a second. This last parable would have been immediately relatable for his audience. He talks about fishermen using a drag net in the sea of Galilee. Four of his followers are professional fishermen, right? And Capernaum was primarily a fishing community.
[00:09:32] This would have been completely just old hat for everyone listening. And remember, guys, remember our diagnostic question for interpreting the parables, right? Like, what in the story would have been strange to the original hearers? What would have been normal? Well, what's interesting is that this entire parable would have been really normal for pretty much anyone in Jesus'audience. Dragnet fishing in the shallows near the shore was one of the most common methods of fishing in this day and in this region. And pretty much anyone there, regardless of their job, would have seen this a dozen times in the last seven days. So you're going to have to just take a quick detour with me. Let's pause and take a second and talk about ancient Galilean fishing for a few minutes. And I apologize if that just sounds as boring as it sounded when I said it, but I promise, I think this really does help illuminate this for us. So stick with me here for a second. There were essentially three main methods for fishing in this day, and they could increase in complexity and risk depending on the resources you had at hand. So if you're fishing by yourself, there was the kind of fishing that we would recognize, just line fishing. You throw out a line with a hook, you wait for something to bite, you pull it back. That was really common.
[00:10:49] If you had the resources, you could also do drop net fishing, where you would build a small net that was weighted with stones at the end and had a rope on the end, kind of looked like Spiderman's web shooting, and you would toss it out into the shallows, the rocks would pull the net down and you could go out and gather it up and grab anything the net caught. This was a form of fishing you could do by yourself if you wanted to earn beyond just substance to actually make some income. Well, if you actually had a business and had access to boats, drop net fishing could become really lucrative. If you had a boat and you can go out a little bit farther away from shore, you could create these incredibly large drop nets that would be 2030, 40, 50ft wide, and you toss them out of the boat. And the method for this, by the way, is actually really intense. They'd throw these out of the boat and then one of the fishermen would dive into the water and grab the bottom of the net and gather it all up so the rest in the boat could tug it up. By the way, the text seems to suggest that this was something Peter did with his fishing business. Most of the times that Peter is shown fishing, it seems to describe this large scale drop net fishing. This was something that could be very financially lucrative if you had a boat large enough to pull in a net, and if you had a crew large enough to pull in the net. But there was also drag net fishing, and this required at least one boat, but it could be done with two boats. And essentially what you would do is you would create this incredibly long net, I mean, 100, 200, 300 yard long net, and you would connect one end to a boat. And if you had two boats, you'd connect both ends to a boat and you drop it down and make a circle and tug it in. But what would happen really often is that you would leave one end on shore and the other end would go on a boat. The boat would go out about 100 yards and then curl around and just drive itself back ashore. So you've got kind of this horseshoe shape and then you get 910 guys to just drag the net back ashore. Dragnet fishing in certain times of year was incredibly productive because at certain times of year in the Sea of Galilee, whole schools of fish come up into the shallows to get warmed up in the warm water. And when you use a dragnet, whatever is in that horseshoe shape, you get, you get all of it. And so certain times of year, this was the most common type of fishing because you only needed one boat to do it. Anyone who was a laborer could help and you would get a really large catch from it. The catch to this is that you brought in everything. Now, at this point in history, there's 20 to 30 species of native fish that live in the sea of Galilee. And almost all of them had a use. Most could be eaten as food, but even the unclean ones, the Jews couldn't eat. There were industrial uses for them, either harvesting oil or using them in animal feed or things like that. But there was one species of fish in particular in the Sea of Galilee that had zero personal or commercial use for a Jew. And that was the sea of Galilee catfish. I got a picture of one.
[00:14:00] He's an ugly boy. He's an ugly boy. That's three of them. They're still there. You can still fish them. These guys were unclean for eating. They don't have scales, so they didn't fall under acceptable food and they had no discernible industrial purpose. But the problem is the dragnet was so efficient that if you threw the dragnet, you would end up with some catfish. You just would. And so when they pull all the fish on shore, immediately that crew goes about sorting. They sort them all into different categories. They sort them by size. They figure out which ones are going to market, which ones are going to families, which ones are going to industrial spaces. But the catfish, the catfish get thrown into a pile to be burned. You got to burn them because you can't do anything with them. They're already dead. You can't throw them back in the ocean. If you leave them laying there, they're going to stink. So you throw them in a pile and you burn them. Kind of rough for the catfish. He's just hanging out, enjoying his day. He gets drunk up on shore and then burned and then nothing for it.
[00:14:58] Guys, I think what's interesting about this is that this scene is just so mundane for the people living in Capernaum. They've seen this a dozen times. I think the only aspect of this parable that would have stood out as strange to Jesus'listeners, is the fact that Jesus is taking something so mundane and packing it with cosmic significance. He takes the scene that they would have seen regularly all the time and compares it to the end of days and the final judgment, right? I mean, he goes talking about going from zero to 60 in terms of weightiness to interpretation.
[00:15:38] But it's interesting, right, that he saves this one for last. And it's interesting that it's so similar to the parable of the wheat and the weeds. If we think about the process we've been using of interpreting parables, we need to start by asking, what would this parable mean if Jesus were the main character? Well, who's the main character? Well, there aren't really characters in this parable the way we think of it, right. The main character, from a literary sense, really is the dragnet, which is interesting, but we'll stick with that for a second. What would this parable mean if Jesus is the net?
[00:16:10] I think that gets us to a really important place for understanding this. See, jesus'earthly ministry was incredibly widespread. He freely taught, ministered, and healed all who came to him. Guys, what a wonderful truth to consider. Christ was radically generous and open in giving of himself to everyone he came across. In fact, if you read to the gospel narratives, you'll find there are multiple times when Jesus himself was exhausted or tired or his followers were exhausted or tired, and they go, we really need to slow down and take a break. And people would bum rush them. You know what Christ's response always was?
[00:16:52] We can serve these people. We can do it. We can set aside time. We can set aside time. In fact, the way Mark tells the story, I love the way Mark tells the progression of the story, because Jesus kind of sets up his home base in Capernaum, in Peter's house where his mother in law lives. And if you read just the telling in Mark, if you read most of Mark in one sitting, you find this bit where first Jesus is hanging out in Peter's house with just his friends, but then there's crowds gathering around Peter's house. But then there's so many crowds gathering around Peter's house, they have to move the furniture out of the room. Well, then there's so many crowds gathering around Peter's house that they don't have time to eat meals anymore. They have to eat outside of Capernaum. Well, then there's so many people gathering around Peter's house, they start ripping out the roof and drop popping people in to fit more people in. It just gets more and more and more and more. And what you find is that as long as he is able to, as much as he is able to, Christ just freely gives, gives himself continually sacrifices of his own time, his own person, to benefit others. And what an amazing picture of who Jesus is, how he loves and serves us. Amen.
[00:17:55] But what we see is that not everyone who partook in Jesus'ministry were actually kingdom people.
[00:18:04] Right? I mean, Jesus himself said the gate was narrow and few would find it.
[00:18:10] In a later parable that we'll look at in Matthew, Jesus will say, many are called, but few are chosen.
[00:18:17] Just partaking in Jesus'ministry does not make you part of the kingdom.
[00:18:24] And according to our text today, a time will come when there will be a real reckoning, a very real reckoning. The fish will be sorted just like the parable of the weeds. The angels come and they do the Lord's will, and they sort out those who are in the kingdom and those who are not in the kingdom. And, guys, this is a haunting truth. It's a haunting truth. Not everyone who calls him Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[00:18:55] And I think this leaves us, we start with like, oh, what a beautiful truth. Look how gracious and open and kind and generous Christ is. What an amazing truth, the radical generosity of Christ. But it also leads us to this very serious challenge. Just because Christ is radically generous with himself and with his gospel, with his teaching, with his ministry, doesn't mean everyone who partakes is actually of his kingdom. So it leaves you with this really intense challenge.
[00:19:26] How do you know what kind of fish you are? That seems pretty important, right? Like, if you're actually being blessed by Jesus'ministry, how do you avoid being the catfish in this scenario? Right? Some of you are like, I love catfish. Listen, catfish are great. It's fish fry season in St. Louis. Catfish are great. Spiritually speaking, you don't want to be catfish. Right?
[00:19:48] We just got to agree on that for a few minutes. What makes one fish good and one fish bad?
[00:19:56] I think the next two sections of text kind of help illuminate this for us. Let's work through these bit by bit. We'll keep going to verse 51. It says, this is Jesus now speaking directly to the twelve. He says, have you understood all these things? And they answered him, yes. Therefore, he said to them, every teacher of the law, who's become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out his storeroom treasures, new and old.
[00:20:22] In the very last scene of this discourse, Jesus asked the twelve, basically, do you get it? Do you get what I'm saying? He asked them if they understand this teaching. And remember, guys, Jesus himself has said that he speaks in parables purposefully because he's ministering in the spirit of the prophet Isaiah, whose ministry was to those who see but didn't see and heard but didn't hear. Right? Like Christ has said, I am unapologetic about the fact that I'm not plain spoken. I speak in parables because not everyone who sees, sees, not everyone who hears, hears. And so he looks at his twelve and goes, do you see? Do you hear? Do you get what I'm saying? And they no, no. Now here's what's funny about that. On a very real level. We all know they don't know, right? They don't fully know what Jesus is teaching. They don't fully understand his messiahship and its implications. But here's the catch, guys. They do know Jesus and they trust him. And they are all in for his kingdom. They're all in for this ride, whatever it looks like. And so they give Jesus their all in. Yes, we're here for this. We're here for this kingdom, Jesus. We want in on whatever God is doing. You've got all of us. And then you get this very last line, which really isn't a parable in the way that Jesus has been teaching up to this point. It's really more like Jesus is like in the spirit of a parable, speaking to them metaphorically. Right. It's a little too simplistic to kind of fall into the category of Jesus'parables. But it's in the same vein of what we've been discussing. Jesus says, everyone who is a scribe or teacher of the law and a disciple of the kingdom is like someone who has old and new treasures and values them both.
[00:22:17] It's an interesting little metaphor. There's a rabbit hole here that we won't fully chase, but I have to mention it. So pause mentally, and let's think about this for just a second, because I do think one aspect of this seemingly passing comment from Jesus is actually hugely important for believers today. Jesus here affirms the importance of the whole counsel of the scripture. Like, I don't know if you caught that in his response here. If you follow Jesus, you need to have old and new treasures. A scribe is a technical term for an expert in the Old Testament law, a trained theologian. But also you need to be a disciple of the kingdom. You're learning from Jesus. You're learning this new kingdom teaching for believers today. Guys, that really does mean that we are drenched in the full counsel of God in his word.
[00:23:06] The whole Bible is the word of God. The whole Bible is necessary for real growth in faith. You have old and new treasures. So love them and display them both. Amen. Now, not really the point, but I think a worthy, quick little rabbit trail for our purposes today, we're going to move through this scene pretty quickly. But what's important is to see this. Jesus is affirming his followers answer. Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, we know what you're saying. And he affirms that.
[00:23:36] He affirms what it looks like to be the fish in the dragnet. These are folk who are dedicated to the Lord. They are teachers of the law and disciples of the kingdom. They are given over to the work God is doing. Teachers of the law and disciples of the kingdom. Continue on with me. In verse 53, when Jesus had finished these parables, he left there. He went to his hometown, Nazareth, and began to teach them in their synagogues. So they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas and his sisters? Aren't they all here with us? So where does he get all these things? And they were offended by him. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and in his household. And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
[00:24:31] The first narrative at the conclusion of the parable discourse actually thematically picks up directly where the narrative left off. If you guys remember, back in Matthew twelve, Jesus was growing in this conflict with the religious leaders around this region. But it culminates in this conflict with his family.
[00:24:51] They heard about his growing ministry. They heard about his conflict with the religious authorities, and they showed up to talk some sense into him. But Jesus really dramatically and publicly dismissed his blood family, stating that he finds his family amongst those who belong to the kingdom. Those who do the will of the father are Jesus's family. When chapter 13 here reemphasizes this point by showing Jesus last recorded journey to his hometown, he goes to the synagogue in Nazareth. He preaches, and this strange scene unfolds. These people had a very specific mental category for Jesus, right? This is the carpenter's son. We know this guy. We're his family and his friends. They couldn't sync this up in their heads with this mythical teacher in front of them who was full of authority and wisdom and did miracles. They had heard about his ministry by this point, and when they saw him in person, the text tells us these folk were offended by Jesus.
[00:25:55] What an interesting statement. They see him in person, they know him, and they can't reconcile this strange experience, so they just reject him.
[00:26:07] Text tells us that Jesus here severely limits his ministry in this area. The people were so ill disposed to Jesus that they missed out on even many of the common blessings of Jesus'ministry. It's a strange way to land out the text, right? It's kind of like, wow, what a downer. After this beautiful moment of all these awesome gospel truths poured out in the sermon. But I think there's something here for us, guys. I think it comes back to this closing parable.
[00:26:38] Jesus took the kingdom with him wherever he went. His touch was far and wide. Jesus is the dragman. His ministry is very generous. It's very open. But not everyone was a fish.
[00:26:54] Not all were the real family of Jesus in the kingdom. Not all were both scribes and disciples.
[00:27:04] The difference is about being a disciple of the kingdom or not.
[00:27:11] Do you treasure Jesus or not?
[00:27:15] These folk were jesus'own neighbors, and they were more concerned with fitting Christ into the right box than they were with engaging the person who was right in front of them.
[00:27:26] They had every opportunity to know Jesus better than most, right? They had every opportunity. They knew him. They knew his family, they knew his story.
[00:27:36] They had every opportunity.
[00:27:38] But in the end, they really were just like the crowds who showed up just to take from Jesus'miracles. They were no different. No different than the people who just showed up for the free food.
[00:27:50] Beloved, at the end of the day, not everybody wants Jesus.
[00:27:58] That's a huge point.
[00:28:01] The gospel of Christ is freely available. Jesus drags a wide net. His love, his person are there for the taking. But a lot of people just don't want Christ.
[00:28:14] Many who follow Jesus, they do so for what they're getting.
[00:28:21] They want his blessings, they want the free stuff, they want the prestige, the connection, the community. But, guys, Jesus is seeking a family who treasures him, worships in spirit and truth.
[00:28:38] Beloved, we really need to sit here in this for a second to follow Christ for what he gives you right, to follow Jesus, to receive the blessings, to just hang out in the train of the crowd so that you can get in on the free stuff.
[00:28:53] That's the prosperity gospel and that's heresy.
[00:28:57] It reduces Jesus, the God of the universe and the lover of your soul, down to a means to a benefit, if he exists in your life to fit into the mold you have created to give you the stuff that you want. He's no different than your Costco membership.
[00:29:17] He's not actually a person, much less God.
[00:29:22] And by the way, this isn't to say that you aren't motivated by getting treasure, to follow Christ. To be motivated and getting treasure that's actually biblical. The Bible's unapologetical in its encouragement of you to seek the best possible treasure and to live your life in such a way as to get the best possible treasure. But hear this church. The treasure is Jesus.
[00:29:45] The treasure is him. It's being with him, it's connection to him, it's relationship with him. Jesus truly is the treasure that is worth selling everything to have.
[00:29:59] It's what it means to be a fish instead of a catfish.
[00:30:03] Means you love him, means you want to be with him.
[00:30:08] Just notice the things I did not say there.
[00:30:12] Notice what was not included in that category. I'm not saying the fish is the really righteous person who works super hard.
[00:30:20] I'm not saying the fish is the person with the best theology and all the right doctrines. I'm not saying the fish is the person who knows the right Bible verses, who comes to church the most often, who gets in trouble the least, who has the correct politics, who is involved in the correct social issues or anything else that we want to tie to christian cultural identity.
[00:30:42] There's some nuance here that's easy to miss, but it's important.
[00:30:46] The fish are those who follow Jesus for Jesus, not his blessings. But see this, right? Like, they still receive his blessings, they still partake in his ministry and get all the joy that comes with that.
[00:30:58] The heart of this good fish is one that delights in Jesus and longs to be with him. Not one desperate to earn righteousness with religious action. And yet we still do seek righteousness and holiness to glorify God, right? I mean, Jesus specifically calls out that his followers are like teachers of the word and disciples of the kingdom. He calls out their longing for righteousness, their knowledge of the word. But there's an important piece that's easy to miss here. Jesus'followers were fishermen, not scribes.
[00:31:34] To be a scribe in this day was a very specific title that came with an education level, that came with accreditation, that came with accountability. These men weren't scribes, they're fishermen, but they love Jesus.
[00:31:49] And because of their love for him, they're sucking in all they can of the word, all the teaching kingdom they can. And to Jesus, he goes, yeah, hey, you guys are like real scribes.
[00:32:02] You're disciples of the kingdom.
[00:32:04] Do you catch this?
[00:32:07] When you're the good fish, you'll be the kind of person who cares about the bible, who cares about doctrine, who cares about holiness, and you will be enjoying Jesus'blessings. But these aren't what makes you a good fish.
[00:32:20] This isn't what gets you there at the end of the day. The good fish cares about these things because they care about Christ.
[00:32:30] It is all Jesus. It's all him. It's all about him. It's about a heart in love with Jesus more than anything else this world has to offer.
[00:32:39] Even with all your limitations, even with all your struggles, even with all your wrong doctrine, even with all the sin patterns and idols that you still haven't fully given up, even with all the spiritual wrestling you have, at the end of the day, the heart that says, but I want Christ, but I want Jesus. That heart gets Jesus.
[00:32:59] If you want Christ, you get him.
[00:33:04] I think many of us, we read these end times texts, the wheat and the weeds, the fish and the catfish, the sheep and the goats, and we get this deep fear in our hearts, like, oh, my gosh, what if I get to the end and I'm like, shoot, I tricked myself. I thought I was in, but I'm out, right?
[00:33:24] And Jesus even warns people of that. He says that the goats will say, but, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We did miracles, and I'll. Go away from me. I never knew you.
[00:33:35] I think many of us, we read that and it just spikes this fear of going, what if I do something wrong? Like, what if I'm not good enough at being a Christian? What if I've missed some key to get there, and it turns out at the end of it, I just, oh, I wasted the whole thing. I was wrong about the whole thing, guy. That's not how it works. It's not how it works.
[00:33:56] What Jesus doesn't say to the goats is, I know you really loved me and wanted the kingdom, but I hit my quota for today. Get out of here. No, it's not how it works.
[00:34:07] This is away from me. I don't know you.
[00:34:10] And they don't respond by saying, but I do know you and I love you. They respond by saying, but look at all the cool ministry. I did look at my religious life.
[00:34:20] Look how I spent my time and my budget and Christ goes, okay, but I don't know you.
[00:34:30] Beloved. If you want Christ, you get Christ.
[00:34:34] He's not going to tell you no, not going to send you away.
[00:34:38] If you long for him, if you love him, if you desire him and you treasure him, even in your weakness, even in your failures, even in your continued struggle with sin, even in your poor, unformed doctrine, even in your lack of discipleship, even in all the stuff you're getting wrong, if you long for Christ and you seek him, you will get him.
[00:34:59] If you love Jesus, you will not be rejected.
[00:35:03] If you long for him, if he's your treasure, he's not going to tell you no.
[00:35:09] If you're concerned about being a catfish, the question is just this.
[00:35:15] Do you want Jesus?
[00:35:18] Do you love him? I can't tell you guys how often it comes up in discipleship for me, for church folk who will just say, I don't know, like, I just struggle with security in my salvation. I just struggle with feeling secure in Christ.
[00:35:33] I come back to this discussion often in discipleship with folk who've grown up in church because of that fear of going, what if I mess it up? Here's the deal, guys. Is Jesus Lord, you confess with your mouth. You believe in your heart, you're good.
[00:35:50] Do you love Jesus? Do you want him? You're good.
[00:35:53] But I struggle with this. But I'm not good at this. But I have this sin pattern in my life. But what about this? But what if I think I love Jesus, but really I don't. Here, I'm going to tell you something.
[00:36:03] If you don't love Jesus, you're not worried about whether or not you got that. Like, you're that mixed up. That's not how that heart goes.
[00:36:10] The heart that doesn't love Jesus isn't worried about whether or not it's getting wrong. Loving Jesus, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Christ is Lord, he died for your sins and rose again. Do you want him? You have him.
[00:36:25] There's security in that. You need to have no fear.
[00:36:28] See, the freedom in Christ wins you. It buys for you this amazing platform upon which you can grow in righteousness and holiness.
[00:36:39] You have freedom to grow in doctrinal fidelity. You have freedom to grow in rich theology and right belief. You have freedom to grow in holiness and righteousness and killing your idols and walking in holy living, not because you're earning anything, but because Christ and his love for you has already secured you safety and a home in him.
[00:37:03] So you can seek those things with joy.
[00:37:06] You can seek those things out knowing I already have the lover of my heart. I'm already safe and secure in him. I'm already washed in his blood. The guilty stains, they are gone. My sin is washed away now because of my love for him. I get to do these things beloved. There's so much, so much security, so much safety, so much joy in the salvation of Jesus.
[00:37:32] It is not a gift that brings about and births fear.
[00:37:37] You need not fear the final judgment if you love Jesus.
[00:37:40] Think about those twelve disciples looking at Jesus and going, oh, yeah, we get it. Yeah, for sure, we get it. No, they don't.
[00:37:49] They had no clue what they were setting up for. They had no clue what the next 510 20 years of their life would look like.
[00:37:58] They had no concept. What did they actually know? They know they love Jesus.
[00:38:05] They know he had the kingdom. They know they wanted that.
[00:38:08] And somehow, guys, that's enough.
[00:38:12] That's enough for Jesus to say, you guys are the true scribes and the disciples of the kingdom. You've got old and new treasures. Come on, let's go do this thing.
[00:38:23] Beloved, there is such safety and security in the love of Christ. You can rest in that today as we land out. You may be wondering why we never went and thought through this parable from the perspective of the church, and that's because there is an invitation in that perspective that I want to land us out with today.
[00:38:43] My hope and my prayer genuinely, I was praying over you guys this morning as I was getting ready for church. My hope and my prayer is that everyone here genuinely does love Jesus and is growing in affection for him.
[00:38:58] And that if you're in this space and that's not where you're at yet, that you would hear the invitation just given to you. Christ loves you. His ministry is open and available to you. If you want him, you get him.
[00:39:11] That is open and available for you today, right now.
[00:39:16] But if you're in this place and you're actually like, I know I'm in Christ, I wrestle with it, or I have this going about, but I know, like, yes, that brings joy to my heart to think of Christ, including me and his family.
[00:39:31] Well, then there is a challenge for us as we consider what this parable would mean if it were about the church, if you were the dragnet. If the church is the dragnet, that means you freely proclaim the gospel in all of your circle, means you minister like Jesus did, means you take the kingdom with you everywhere. You are radically generous with it.
[00:39:57] It means you look at the entirety of your life. Right? The dragnet, guys. It doesn't choose what area, wherever it is, scrapes it all up. So if the church is the dragnet means we minister like Jesus, means we take the kingdom with us everywhere we go.
[00:40:16] What joy to join with Jesus in the work of proclaiming the amazing, free gospel invitation to the world. Amen.
[00:40:25] What joy to join with him in it. Now, as I say that, as I say that, you have to remember, if you're going to join in the ministry of Jesus, you have to expect to be treated like Jesus.
[00:40:38] Not everybody wants him.
[00:40:42] Not everything in the net is a fish.
[00:40:46] Peter, in his letter to the church says, chapter two first, Peter two says, you are called to this because Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example that you should follow in his steps, that you walk like Jesus. If we follow Jesus'footsteps, we should expect that we will find many catfish in our life, that we will find the same sorts of hardships that Christ found. But, man, hear me, guys.
[00:41:13] It is so worth it. It's so worth it. Yes, there's a cost, but it is so worth it. What joy is found when you throw out the net and you do the hard work to wrap it around and you drag it back in labor intensive labor, but then you find good fish.
[00:41:35] What joy to be found in pouring yourself out and taking risks and being bold and proclaiming the gospel over and over and over. And then you get to see a light bulb come on and you get to see a soul awakened to the truth of glory. And you get to see someone come to know Christ and to give him their yes. And to truly know him and love him and seek him just as you do.
[00:41:59] Oh, what a privilege.
[00:42:01] Beloved. That labor is worth it to truly know Christ, to see someone get to know him not as a service they subscribe to or a vending machine, not as a means to an end, but to know him as he is, as know him as you know him, as the lover of your soul, the friend of sinners, the true treasure.
[00:42:21] What a privilege. Man. Come back up. I want to do this, guys. I want to invite us to take a few minutes and just reflect, and I think there's a couple different things we can reflect on as we land out today. If you're in this space and you know that you don't know Christ yet and you're still considering the invitation of the gospel, I would encourage you take a few minutes in this space today and talk to Jesus about the invitation especially. I mean, if you're not familiar with church world, that might be a really weird thing for me to tell you, to just talk to Jesus. But I promise you he'll meet you in that.
[00:42:59] Find some space to pray, be quiet and speak to him.
[00:43:04] See what he says to you about his love for you, about his invitation to you. If you're in this space and you're someone who struggles with security and your salvation, with wrestling with fear like fish or a catfish, I encourage you to bring that to Christ today.
[00:43:21] Share with him your heart.
[00:43:24] See what he says to you.
[00:43:27] That's something that is too hard for you, man. I would really encourage you. Grab one of your pastors. We're spread over the room. Grab one of the deacons. We would love to pray with you about that. I long for each and every one of you to walk in the confidence of the Lord, to rest secure in his accomplished work for you.
[00:43:45] Perfect love casts out fear, beloved.
[00:43:48] You can walk in that security.
[00:43:51] And some of us today need to consider what it looks like to join us, Jesus, in his ministry, to do a dragnet kind of ministry, to actually take the kingdom with us into our world, into our circle.
[00:44:06] Because today, I mean, today our church is going to gather up this afternoon and go do prayer walk and pray for our community and pray for God to move in these houses, in this school, in our community, right here, as there are ways right now, today, for you to join with Jesus in his ministry.
[00:44:22] Consider what that might look like. Maybe ask Christ to bring names to mind. You can pray for, you can seek the kingdom on their behalf. Seek Christ on their behalf.
[00:44:34] Take a few minutes, church, connect with Christ as you need to, and then we'll continue our time with communion.
