Joining with Jesus in the Way He’s Made You to Bring Heaven Here

By Shane Bennett

So many fish! image of a catch of fish

I’m an amazing kayaker. In my mind, that is. In the physical realm, not so much! I once picked up a beautiful, hand-made wooden kayak at a garage sale. The first time I tried it out, I managed to balance and very gently paddle it… on a pond. For my second effort, I took it to a way-back cove in our local reservoir. I had managed to gain a semblance of control amid the slight lake ripples when a nearby DWAB (dad with a boat), decided to pack up the family beach picnic and roar out of the cove full throttle.
 
As I hopelessly watched the tsunami roll my way, I remembered with distress a snake I’d seen swim by—and realized I hadn’t seen it get to the edge. After dumping into the water, I slowly headed to the shore, one arm swimming, the other holding onto the upturned boat. Only then did I muse, “Maybe kayaking is not for me.” 

What about you? What do you wish you were better at? On the other hand, what is one thing you do better than the average person? These are fun and universal questions to kick around. I ask them today because I want to share how Jesus met Peter in the midst of what he could do and what he was going to get really good at doing. 

Who’s The Better Fisherman?

Luke records for us in chapter five that Jesus was teaching the crowd God’s Word. Oh, how I wish that phrase was in blue, underlined, and linked to a full transcript of the talk! 

Whatever he was saying must have been pretty good, because the crowd kept closing in until Jesus asked Peter if he could hop up on his boat. Peter agreed, but it turned out Jesus was starting an epic version of “if you give a mouse a cookie!” 

Jesus finished his teaching and asked Peter to row out a bit and let down the nets. Torn between knowing how (and when) to fish and thinking Jesus was pretty cool and maybe not wanting to wash the nets again, Peter obliges. 

The resulting catch began to break the nets, even threatened to sink the boats. Ponder this for a minute: Did Jesus cause the fish to gather in Peter’s nets? Or did he create fish that hadn’t been there just moments before? And if so, when they landed on dining tables the next evening, were they not the best-tasting fish anyone in Capernaum had ever had?

Peter, for his part, read the room, dropped to Jesus’s knees, and begged him to depart, explaining, “I am a sinful man.” Peter realized this wasn’t a matter of trying a little harder, maybe losing a few pounds and he’d measure up. No, Jesus had just double-trumped him at the very thing he was good at! Jesus was on a whole other level. Best to face the music honestly. 

Seeing Jesus in action should naturally make us wonder how far we fall. It’s scary to feel afresh how amazing Jesus is and then realize what a train wreck we may be. I believe we need this occasionally, but the weight can be devastating. May we move quickly from “amazing Jesus” to “I’m a train wreck” to the realization that Jesus lifts our face, our eyes, to his and says, “You are forgiven. I choose you.” 
 
And he does choose us, like he chose Peter, “Don’t be afraid. You’re going to be a fisher of men.” 

(Parenthetically, good thing Peter’s job was fishing and not selling cars or working as a short-order cook!)

Five Styles of Contagious Faith

As a reader of Missions Catalyst, I would guess you’re a fan of the idea that disciples of Jesus are still called by him to gather people into the kingdom of God. Although I’ve not been the best example, I couldn’t agree with you more. I love it when Paul says we’re ambassadors of Christ. I believe when Jesus tells us to pray “Father… let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” we’re agreeing to do our part in that. 

But sharing our faith can be hard, confusing, frustrating, and fraught with guilt and shame. Here’s something that has encouraged and energized me lately:

Mark Mittelberg, author, academic, and partner-in-crime with Lee Stroebel, writes about five styles of contagious faith. He says when we think about sharing our faith, we feel most natural in one of these five approaches

  • Truth Telling: Someone with this style is more direct and hard-hitting. They might like knocking on doors of strangers or walking up to people and doing surveys in the shopping mall or meeting new people that just moved in. This type of person is bold about getting to the point, talking about spiritual matters, and so forth.
  • Reason Giving: Someone with this style tends to share evidence and answer questions. They may help with more of the cognitive side, the intellectual side, of Christianity and help people realize Christianity is true and it makes sense. Some people can open the doors and build friendships; others answer questions.
  • Story Sharing: This person likes to tell their testimony and share their story. They talk about their experience with Christ in a way that can influence and affect the experience of the other person.
  • Selfless Serving: This person helps others and makes a difference in people’s lives in tangible ways. That helps open doors to also share about the love and truth of Christ.
  • Friendship Building: This approach is seen in someone who’s more relational and connects with people in natural ways, but through those relationships then begins to share their faith. 

Which of these styles most resonates with you? Definitely friendship-building and story-sharing for me. Hearing that Jesus wants me to share him in ways that emanate from who I am is freeing for me and makes me want to give it a fresh go. I don’t anticipate bringing in nets full of people like Peter did (3,000 in one day!), but I want to do my part. There’s a lot of pain and fear swirling around these days. Jesus would like to replace that with abundant life.

One thought on “Joining with Jesus in the Way He’s Made You to Bring Heaven Here”

  1. I like this evangelism broken down into different approaches. Creator God gave so many unique personalities in the receivers and in the senders; in His people. As long as we walk in the Spirit, as long as we seek after Him who is Truth, the fruit will produce through us which of course, brings Glory and Honor to the Father of All.
    This sends us directly to The Spirit who has a plan for us today as we Abide in Him.

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