I always found it interesting how the Ruler of the Universe and Heavens did his recruiting to the Kingdom. Most people would think if he is someone important, he would study in a university, and rise in ranks of importance. People must have thought, “How could this carpenter’s son be anything special if he isn’t a high ranking official?” Even more, look at who he brought to his ragtag band. People must have thought, “Jesus is just out walking around and apparently got whoever is outdoors standing around not doing anything important. Why else would he be recruiting local fishermen into his priesthood?” God’s mind is so far above ours that we can’t even begin to fathom how his mind operates, and that is part of the beauty.
For what seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God’s weakness is stronger than human strength
1 Corinthians 1:25 (GNT).
Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world; if my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. No, my kingdom does not belong here!”
John 18:36 (GNT).
We know Jesus’ Kingdom did not belong to this world at his first coming. When he returns, his Kingdom will be not only the Earth, but the entire universe, Heaven, Above Heaven, Hell, and every place real or imagined Jesus will have dominion over. This is one of the reasons to get right with him now and start being all about love and selflessness. Your eternity is at stake if you don’t accept that the way is love through Jesus. And if you get on board, and serve him with an undying passion to help everyone and promote and praise him to others, the rewards are better than you could wish for with unlimited wishes. Seriously, not all of us might be humans in the New Earth or New Heavens. There are all kinds of bodies that God could imagine giving you. Get on Jesus Christ’s good side and maybe get some super glorious cool body. And your body is just the beginning. Jesus can alter reality to be literally anything around you. Jesus has the power to do anything! So have love in your heart now, read your Bible, pray, and accept Jesus as Savior. Your future will be better than you can imagine or ask for if so.
Someone will ask, “How can the dead be raised to life? What kind of body will they have?” 36 You fool! When you plant a seed in the ground, it does not sprout to life unless it dies. 37 And what you plant is a bare seed, perhaps a grain of wheat or some other grain, not the full-bodied plant that will later grow up. 38 God provides that seed with the body he wishes; he gives each seed its own proper body.39 And the flesh of living beings is not all the same kind of flesh; human beings have one kind of flesh, animals another, birds another, and fish another.40 And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; the beauty that belongs to heavenly bodies is different from the beauty that belongs to earthly bodies. 41 The sun has its own beauty, the moon another beauty, and the stars a different beauty; and even among stars there are different kinds of beauty.42 This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised, it will be immortal. 43 When buried, it is ugly and weak; when raised, it will be beautiful and strong. 44 When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body. There is, of course, a physical body, so there has to be a spiritual body. 45 For the scripture says, “The first man, Adam, was created a living being”; but the last Adam is the life-giving Spirit. 46 It is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first Adam, made of earth, came from the earth; the second Adam came from heaven. 48 Those who belong to the earth are like the one who was made of earth; those who are of heaven are like the one who came from heaven. 49 Just as we wear the likeness of the man made of earth, so we will wear the likeness of the Man from heaven.50 What I mean, friends, is that what is made of flesh and blood cannot share in God’s Kingdom, and what is mortal cannot possess immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:35 (GNT).
It is worth serving Jesus and sacrificing having a good time now in order to have a good time later when rewarded by God who can do anything. Even more, it is worth serving Jesus because He is love incarnate and the being of goodness. Jesus deserves honor and there is no greater honor that we can give him than serve him in this life with all we got instead of doing what we thought would be fun. And it is worth noting that it is worth serving God and repenting of evil so we can do good just to help others. Helping others gives you a genuinely good feeling when they thank you and you provide for them. So those are three good reasons for serving Jesus, and I am sure there are many others.
The fishermen Jesus recruited knew it was a good thing to follow Jesus. No one else talked like him. No one else did miracles like him. No one offered so much as him. The retirement package was greater than that of a fisherman so they quit their jobs and followed Jesus.
Now, why would Jesus recruit fishermen? We know that many of the high ranking Jewish priests were corrupt then. If they weren’t corrupt, they would not have handed an innocent man over to be executed. If the high ranking priests weren’t corrupt, they wouldn’t be hypocrites for accusing Jesus of blasphemy for using Roman Coin, but having it on themselves too. If high ranking priests weren’t corrupt, they wouldn’t have money changers using scammer scales inside the Temple. Some racists make the mistake to think Jewish people are bad because the high ranking priests at Jesus’ time crucified the LORD of Glory, but those were just some bad actors. You can’t be against all Jews because Jesus himself is a Jew. His apostles are Jews. The first Christians were all Jewish. You shouldn’t have any bias whatsoever against a race because the high ranking Jewish priests at the time were corrupt. If anything, love the Jewish people because of Genesis 12. So the priests were corrupt, and the Roman Authorities were just as bad if not even more so. The perceived elite at the time of Jesus did not have much love or fairness in their hearts, so we can see why Jesus didn’t recruit them or work his way up their ranks.
Still, of all the people, why fishermen? Well, let me tell you something personal I learned about God. We know that God is the God of all. Do you know he is the God of analogies? If you run a business and talk with people who run a business but do not deal with the same product as you, you can still learn a lot. Logistic chains are similar in businesses. Personnel recruiting is similar in business. Employee retention is similar in businesses. Accounting styles are similar. Even the methods you use to create a product might be similar especially today with automation taking over in factories. If you talk to someone of any trade, you learn stuff that sometimes even applies to your own trade.
As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers who were fishermen, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew, catching fish in the lake with a net. 19 Jesus said to them, “Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.” 20 At once they left their nets and went with him.
Matthew 4:18 (GNT).
They once caught fish, but God called them to catch men. What do we know about fishing? What do we know about evangelism? Well in fishing, you go to where fish are, attractively bait a hook, and drop it near the fish. If any fish bites, you tug hard to hook em, then drag em into your cache. In Evangelism, you also have to go where people are. You can’t evangelize in a lonely, dry empty desert. You can pray there, but you’ll make about as many converts as going fishing there. ;) So you go where the people are. You attractively bait your hook by giving them something that sounds awesome, and you tailor your bait for what you want to catch. Then if anyone likes it, you set the hook by telling them what Jesus calls us to do. And then you reel em in with play like a fisherman would do by guiding them towards all Jesus wants from us. And if they like it all, you have a disciple, who in turn’s job is likely to be a Fisher of Men.
People may have made fun of Jesus for his recruiting methods. He had no madness though. Jesus always knew what he is doing. He knows what he is doing now. He’s up in Heaven watching you, hoping you’d embrace the call to love and goodness. There are rewards beyond what you could imagine, pray, or wish for. We must give up our selfish grasp on this world. We must stop doing any evil. Jesus forgives us of our past evil. Then we should seek to help everyone we can. We should read the Bible. We should pray in many ways and have faith. Jesus loves you! Jesus rules! Jesus is LORD!
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