On that day when Jesus stepped out and began to choose disciples were Peter, Andrew, James and John the only ones fishing? It is a critical question. How we answer will probably go a long way to forming who we think this God is and How he goes about making decisions. We do know for absolute certainty that Jesus walked up and said for them to follow Him and they said yes. And off they went. We also know a few other things because they are not in scripture. We know that the four did not ask Jesus into their heart. We know Jesus did not ask them to pray a prayer. We know that they did not tell Jesus that they believe in Him and then go back to their jobs. And we for sure know that Jesus did not join them at their work. We know this because He asked them to come join Him at his work. And off they went. So we can conclude that either Jesus put the entire fishing economy of the region into a recession when the four followed Him or there were in fact other fisherman and Jesus never bothered to ask them to follow. In truth Jesus cruised the streets daily, going from town to town, and apparently He did not ask most of them to follow Him either.
There are all kinds of directions to take this. We could argue that not everyone is called to the apostle level. We could argue that some are just called to the disciple level or the spectator level. We could do that or we could ask what set these followers apart and how do we sign up for the set apart level because the set apart level at the very end were the only ones left walking with Him. The 11 and some other followers were still all in when everyone else had long gone back to doing something else, following someone else perhaps.
In John 15:16 Jesus says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." That's good news isn't it? He chose and they said yes and He did it so they can bear fruit and that fruit will abide. In verse 5 He says, "I am the vine you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
Here is what we for sure know. Peter, Andrew, James and John did nothing to be asked to follow. They were not special, they were not the best fisherman (fast forward to when they went back to fishing and caught nothing til Jesus showed up and told them which side of the boat fish hang out on.), they did not earn the call. They did say yes when they could very well have continued in their no. So it seems to work a little like this. Jesus says follow me and some of us say yes and some of us keep saying no. But long before we say yes or no we already know that He is God. The truth is that every single one of us, even those of us who say yes, used to say no. We all were rebels, we all were haters of God. We all made Him our enemy. We were all dead. And while we were all dead, while we all hated God we knew there was a God and we all said no. We know this is true because in Romans 1:18 and 19 we are told, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God had shown it to them."
Here is God's love: He has made himself known to every single person who has ever lived. He has revealed Himself to everyone who will ever live. He revealed Himself to the Jews and to the Gentiles alike. He showed Himself to Hindus who made gods to look like the things of god. He made Himself known to the Greeks who created a team of gods to explain all things. He revealed Himself to muslims and aztecs, to mayans and athiest. He has revealed Himself to everyone already. He has already called out to everyone and very few have said yes. But there are some, there are a few, who are wandering among us just waiting for someone to tell them what they already know.
We are like the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar in the matrix. We are offering to unplug all the no's and yet there are only a few yes's. And this is what we are made for. God could have done it an infinite number of ways and yet this is His way. He has made Himself known and all have declared themselves to be hostiles. But there are a few of us that are awakened in the mystery that is how God moves and we say yes. We say yes to the unbelievable and we do the unthinkable. We start trying to set all the captives free and sometimes they too awaken.
It makes absolutely no sense that this is how it works. And when my God makes absolutely no sense then I know I am following something so other than that it must be real. There is none like Him.
Did Jesus cruise up and down that beach that day asking all the fisherman to follow? He didn't need to. Every fisherman already knew who God was. Every fisherman had already declared Him as enemy. But there were four who were about to say yes. There were four who were never going to be the same again. Jesus didn't need to ask all the fisherman to follow, just the four who were going to say yes. There are those among us who are ready to say yes and He already knows who they are. God has revealed Himself to everyone and everyone has said no. There absolutely is not a single yes to the revealing of God. Our task is to go to the no's (that is everyone) and we are to offer to unplug them. Here is the rub. Only the ones who are prepared to say yes will say yes. We won't talk them into their yes. They have always longed to be a yes they have just always been held captive by their no. Each and everyone of us who has said yes absolutely knows that we were a no longing to be a yes. Each and everyone of us knew there must be more than this.
We always ask the wrong questions. We are always asking if God this and God that then why this or why that. All we really need to ask Him is who is ready to be unplugged and then go do it. The why matters not at all. The why of God only distracts us from our unplugging job.
