The Making of Men-Catchers
“AND HE SAITH UNTO THEM, FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU
FISHERS OF MEN.” — Matthew iv. 19.
CONVERSION is most fully displayed when it V^ leads converts to seek the conversion of others: we most truly follow Christ when we become fishers of men.
The great question is not so much what we are naturally, as what Jesus makes us by his grace: whoever we may be of ourselves, we can, by following Jesus, be made useful in his kingdom.
Our desire should be to be men-catchers; and the way to attain to that sacred art is to be ourselves thoroughly captured by the great Head of the College of Fishermen. When Jesus draws us we shall draw men.
I. SOMETHING TO BE BONE BY us. “Follow me.”
1. We must be separated to him, that we may
pursue his object. We cannot follow him unless we leave others.
Matthew vi. 24. We must belong to him, that his design may
be our design.
2. We must abide with him, that we may catch
his spirit.
The closer our communion with Christ, the greater our power with souls. Near following means full fellowship.
3. We must obey him, that we may learn his
method.
Teach what he taught. Matthew xxviii. 20. Teach as he taught. Matthew xi. 29; 1 Thessalonians ii. 7. Teach such as he taught, namely, the poor,
the base, children, etc.
4. We must believe him, that we may believe true
doctrine.
Christ’s own teaching catches men; let us repeat it.
Faith in Jesus on our part is a great force to beget faith.
5. Wo must copy his life, that we may win his
blessing from God; for God blesses those who are like his Son.
II. SOMETHING TO BE DONE BY HIM. “I will make you.” Our following Jesus secures our education for soul-winning.
1. By our following Jesus he works conviction and
conversion in men: he uses our example as a means to this end.
2. By our discipleship the Lord makes us fit to be
used.
True soul-winners are not self-made, but
Christ-made. The making of men-catchers is a high form of
creation.
3. By our personal experience in following Jesus
he instructs us till we become proficient in the holy art of soul- winning.
4. By inward monitions he guides us what, when,
and where to speak.
These must be followed up carefully if we would win men.
5. By his Spirit he qualifies us to reach men.
The Spirit comes to us by our keeping close to Christ.
6. By his secret working on men’s hearts he speeds
us in our work.
He makes us true fishers by inclining men to enter the gospel net.
III. A FIGURE INSTRUCTING us. “Fislicrs of men.” The man who saves souls is like a fisher upon the sea.
1. A fisher is dependent and trustful.
2. He is diligent and persevering.
3. He is intelligent and watchful.
4. He is laborious and self-denying.
5. He is daring, and is riot afraid to venture upon
a dangerous sea.
6. He is successful. He is no fisher who never
catches anything.
See the ordination of successful ministers. They are made, not born; made by God, and not by mere human training.
See how we can partake in the Lord’.* work, and be specimens of his workmanship: “Follow me, and I will make you.”
HOOKS.
I love your meetings for prayer, you cannot have too ro any of them: but we must work while we pray, and pray while we work. 1 would rather see a man, who has been saved from the gulf below, casting life lines to others struggling in the maelstrom of death, than on his knees on that rock thanking God for his own deliverance; because I believe God will accept action for others as the highest possible expression of gratitude that a saved soul can offer. — Thomas Guthrie.
Ministers are fishers. A busy profession, a toil some calling, no idle man’s occupation, as the vulgar conceive it, nor needless trade, taken up at last to pick a living out of. Let God’s fishermen busy themselves as they must, sometimes in preparing, some times in mending, sometimes in casting abroad, sometimes in drawing in the net, that they may “separate the precious from the vile,” etc. Jeremiah xv. 1 9, Matthew xiii. 48; and no man shall have just cause to twit them with idleness, or to say they have an easy life. — John Trapp.
The minister is a fisherman. As such he must fit himself for his employment. If some fish will bite only by day, he must fish by day; if others will bite only by moonlight, he must fish for them by moont. — Richard Cecil.
I watched an old man trout-fishing the other day, pulling them out one after another briskly. “You manage it cleverly, old friend,” I said: <£I have passed a good many below who don’t seem to be doing anything.” The old man lifted himself up and stuck his rod in the ground. “Well, you see, Sir, there be three rules for trout-fishing, and ’tis no good trying if you don’t mind them. The first is, Keep yourself out of sight; and the second is, Keep your self farther out of sight; and the third is, Keep your self farther still out of sight. Then you’ll do it.” “Good for catching men, too,” thought I. — Mark Guy Pearse.
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of thy tone:
As thou hast sought, HO let me seek
Thy erring children, lost and lone.
O lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wayward feet;
O feed me, Lord, that I may feed
Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.
0 strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the Rock, and strong in thee,
1 may stretch out a, loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea.
O teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious tilings thou dost impart;
And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.
F. R. Havergal.
The best training for a soul-saving minister is precisely that which he would follow if his sole object were to develop the character of Christ in him self. The better the man, the more powerful will his preaching become. As he grows like Jesus, he will preach like Jesus. Given like purity of motive, tenderness of heart, and clearness of faith, and you will have like force of utterance. The direct road to success in saving* souls is to become like the Saviour. The imitation of Christ is the true art of sacred rhetoric. — a H. s.
Mr. Jesse relates that certain, fish give preference to bait that has been perfumed. When the prince of evil goes forth in quest of victims, there does not need much allurement added to the common temptations of life to make them effective. Fishers of men, however, do well to employ all the skill they can to suit the minds and tastes of those whom they seek to gain. — G. McMicJiad.