Just Ordinary Men

 MATTHEW 4:18-22

          Often when we read passages like this and others that speak of the disciples and how committed they were to Christ they make us think “what extraordinary men these disciples must have been.  The way this passage is written it sounds as if Jesus just stumbled on the four men, asked them to follow him and they just dropped everything in life and immediately followed him.  If it happened like this then these men were either crazy fools or brilliantly insightful.  No ordinary person would meet a perfect stranger and throw away his life’s profession simply because a perfect stranger asked them to do so.  If they were not fools them we would think that they had to have some inside information or some unknown insight about who Jesus was.  Since we know that they were not fools then they must have been super spiritual and in some way God must have revealed to them who this stranger was. Why else, we think would they follow this man?  Reading this makes us believe that these men were different kind of people than we are; that they are of a different breed.  This kind of thinking then leads us to feel that we cannot and should not be expected to perform in the same manner as they.  From the first introduction of Peter, Andrew, James and John here in Matthew, it appears that they just decide to follow Jesus without any doubt and without any real information about who he was.  Since we know they were not fools, then they must have been very special and extraordinary men.  But today I want to help us to see that they were just ordinary men.  They were ordinary men from the very beginning, throughout the ministry of Christ, throughout their own ministries and even to death.  They were just ordinary men being used by an extraordinary God.  The title of today’s message is “Just Ordinary Men”. 

          I want to start by showing that the account given in Matthew 4 is only a brief glimpse of the full event.  In actuality, Jesus was not a complete stranger to them.

JOHN 1:35-42

          Now this it appears is where Peter first met Jesus.  Andrew who was a disciple of John heard John give testimony of Jesus.  As a disciple of John, He had an established relationship with him.  He trusted John, had followed him and possibly understood that John was to be the forerunner for the Messiah.  When John announced that Jesus was the Lamb of God, Andrew and the other disciple got up and followed Jesus.  There does not seem to be any discussion about what they should do or about the statement that John made.  This probably is because in John’s discussions with his disciples he had already spoken to them about this.

JOHN 3:25-25-28

          In verse 28 John reminds them that before Jesus even showed up on the scene he had already explained who the Messiah was and what his mission as it relates to the Messiah was to be.  Basically he is saying to them, “you should not be bothered by the fact that many are now following after him and not me.  For this is the way it is supposed to be.”  So back in John 1:37 when Andrew started after Christ he was accepting the testimony of his trusted leader.  Andrew in verse 41 goes and finds his brother and takes him to meet Jesus.  So when Peter first meets Jesus there is no mention of him being on his boat or even out fishing.  In fact Jesus does not appear to be just passing by.  Andrew takes Peter to meet Jesus.

LUKE 4:38-44

          We begin this passage with Jesus healing Peter’s sick mother in law and note he was at Simon’s house.  If you will go back an read Luke 4:15-37 on your own you will see that by this time Jesus had already began to teach in the synagogue, he had already declared the anointing of God to be upon him and had proven this to be so by healing the sick and casting out demon.  The demons even came out crying that Jesus was the Holy One of God.  Luke 4:37 says “And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.” 

          But in verse 38 Jesus leaves the synagogue where he was teaching goes to Peter’s house to relax and there finds his mother in law sick.  He heals her and she gets up and ministers to his needs.  The point I am trying to make is that there is some relationship already present at this time.

LUKE 5:1-11

          This passage gives a more detailed picture of the call of Peter to follow Christ.  He was not some stranger who came along and picked up these men.  They knew him.  Here we find that they were ordinary fishermen.  Being a fisherman was no easy task.  These men had worked all night long and here it was far enough into the day that people were following Jesus and these men were still at work.  You see these men fished at night and then they spent whatever time was needed during the day to mend and prepare the nets to go out again when nightfall came.  These were hardworking, industrious men who had families to feed and provide for.  They were just ordinary people like you and I.  They had jobs and responsibilities just as we do.  You see we cannot make them be a special breed of people because then that excuses us from following their example and committing ourselves to God’s service. 

          Jesus being by the lake and needing a platform from which to preach entered into Peter’s boat and had the boat move away from the shore.  Now some of us would have argued or began to pout at this point.  We would say, “Man I am tired.  I have been up all night.  I finally got this boat clean and ready to go back out.  I got the nets mended and prepared for tonight and I can finally go home and rest and you want me to go back out so you can preach to these folks.”  Now it is not just Peter who is affected by this.  He and his brother Andrew were in a partnership with James and John.  Now imagine James and John are on the shore saying what is he doing.  Man I am tired.  He better come on here so we can get some sleep before time to go back out.  Though Peter and Andrew pushed away from the shore as Jesus asked they are still just tired men who want to get some rest.  Many times God will ask us to go an extra mile when we already feel worn to a frazzle.  Some will not move an inch let alone a mile.  It is not that we are trying to disobey God, but rather we are delaying his request until a time that is better for us.  It would be like Peter and Andrew saying to Jesus, “Lord we know that you need the boat to preach from, but how about coming back in a couple hours after we have had a nap and we will be glad to do it.  It is just not convenient right now Lord.  I’m tired and I need to rest. 

          But what did Peter and John do?  They pushed off from the shore and gave Jesus a stage from which to preach.  How long did Jesus preach we don’t know?  But it was long enough for him to feel the need to sit down.  Were Peter and Andrew ready to go home, probably so.  But for sure they were too tired and frustrated to want to go fishing again.  They had fished all night and caught nothing.  Imagine their disappointment.  They are human just like us.  To work all night and have nothing to show for it.  We hate it when we work all month and be broke the day after pay day.  We say that we have nothing to show for our work.  But truth be told we have what we have committed to paying for.  We have secured material items on credit and now we must work to pay for them.  But Peter and Andrew worked and did not earn a penny for their toiling.  If they had bill they would still need to be paid and mouths would still need to be fed.  They were just ordinary men and I sure they were disappointed.  But there is a lesson to be learned here for us mere ordinary people.  Even when we are in the depths of disappointment we can not give us because Jesus has a solution for every situation in our lives. 

          Look at what Jesus instructed them to do.  Row back out into the deep.  Here is another opportunity to resist.  Let down your net for a catch.  Some say the fact that they caught these fish is not a miracle.  They believe that this lake had special pockets where fish would hid during the day and that Jesus was simply able to spot one of those pockets.  If it is not a miracle, tell me why Peter and Andrew who were fishermen by trade had to wait on a carpenter to tell them where to drop their nets.  If it was not a miracle why was Peter feeling so unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus.  If it was not a miracle why were all who were present astonished at the number of fish they caught. 

          Peter and Andrew were ordinary men tired and disappointed at their fruitless efforts.  But ordinary men who will yield to the instructions of God can be used to do extraordinary things.  Note that in all of the instructions given to them, they were not asked to do anything hard.  They were asked to deny their flesh, forget that you are tired and ready to go home.  They were asked to forget their circumstances, forget that you have fished all night and caught nothing.  They were asked to forget that they had already made preparations to do something else.  They had prepared the nets for fishing that night.  They were asked to forget their disappointment and respond to Jesus anyway.  Peter did not act as if he expected a different outcome.  So we cannot say that he acted in faith.  He showed no faith.  But he did act in obedience. Peter and Andrew knew that Isaiah 1:19-20 says, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: [20] But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”  When we yield to him, Jesus will take ordinary people and work miracles with them.  He took a bunch of failing fishermen gave them a great catch and then said now that you that you see that catching fish with my help is easy work, I am going to teach you how to catch men.  You see fish was important to Peter and Andrew.  If Jesus had come to them first with the idea of catching men they would have said something like “how in the world can we catch men when we are fishermen who can’t even seem to catch fish.”  They were disappointed and discouraged but Jesus would not leave them in that state. 

          Peter and Andrew, two ordinary men, put themselves in the position to be blessed by Jesus by yielding to his will and obeying his instructions.  The Bible is filled with examples of ordinary men and women that God used to do extraordinary things when they followed the instructions of God.  We often look at others and it is easy for us to believe that God can work in them and cause miracles for others.  But like Peter we see ourselves as not worthy enough for God to use us.  Peter in verse 8 employs Christ to go away from him because he is an unworthy sinner.  But note Peter thinks himself to be unworthy of God’s blessing; we on the other hand reach out to God all the time to be blessed by him but then declare ourselves to be unworthy to work for him.  But look at what these ordinary men did when presented with the opportunity to learn from and work with Christ.  They forsook all and followed him.  They took up a new profession.  They became catchers of men.  It is because they were willing to accept a new profession that we are here today.  These ordinary men have made such an impact on the world.  It is because of them that Heaven will be populated.  Every Christian stands on a foundation established by them.  They have helped to lay the foundation for all that we believe and know to be true of Christ.  It is because of these ordinary men that we were fished out of the sea of sin. 

            Yes we too are just ordinary people.  But we serve a God who takes ordinary people and does the miraculous.  James 5:17 says “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”  God took an ordinary shepherd boy and turned him into a giant slayer and a stuttering murderer and turned him in the leader of a nation.  In Rahab he took a gentile prostitute and turned her into an ambassador of good will.  In Mary he took a virgin Jewish girl and made her the mother of God.  And God can take you, and ordinary person, once sold unto sin, but now washed in the blood of Jesus and transform you into whatever he desires.  He only asks your permission to do so.  An ordinary person in the hand of God becomes a master tool with many purposes.