At the Beginning

The first two men that Jesus called to be apostles were Simon Peter and Andrew. Jesus told them that if they followed him he would make them fishers of men. Simon and Andrew immediately put down their nets and left their past lives behind them.¹

This was a call to disciple making. Jesus began his ministry by fishing for twelve men and he continued disciple making throughout the entirety of his ministry. He also made it known right from the beginning that those who followed him would be called to do the same.

In the Middle

This was more than just a catch phrase that Jesus threw out there once because he thought it sounded good. While he didn’t use the fishing analogy again, there are several examples of Jesus promoting disciple making all throughout his ministry. Here are a few of them:

Luke 8:16:

¹⁶ “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

In this verse Jesus is talking about spreading the word about the Kingdom of God. We are called to be a light to the world. We are to spread the word of God. We are to be fishers of men.

Matthew 9:38:

³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Here Jesus is lamenting the fact there are not enough people working in the mission field and has asks his disciples to pray for more workers. What is the harvest he is talking about? He is looking for more people to be fishers of men.

Matthew 10:5:

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,

In this verse Jesus sends out the apostles to the Jewish towns to actually fish for men.

Luke 10:1-2:

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Now Jesus, again lamenting the lack of workers, sends out seventy-two of his followers to be fishers of men.

We can see from these examples that part of Jesus’ message throughout his ministry was to call people to spread the word of God.

That call did not end when his time on this earth was over.

At the End

When Jesus’ work on this earth was complete and it was time to ascend into heaven he told his disciples to go out into the world and make disciples of all the nations.

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”²

These were Jesus’ last words to his followers. He began his ministry and ended his ministry with a call to disciple making, and this final call did not end with the apostles.

And Yet Even Now

This shows us how important disciple making is. It is so important that this task was not meant to end when Jesus’ original apostles were gone. This is a command to all of his followers, not just to clergy, and that includes you and I. We are also called to be fishers of men.

Everybody needs Jesus Christ in their lives, in their hearts, and in their souls. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but how are they to believe in the one of whom they have not heard?³ This is why disciple making is so important, we need to reach the lost in the world.

We have this good news of salvation, we have this joy and hope, and we have this faith. It is our obligation to share this so we can lead others to Jesus Christ. We should be excited to share it.

Yet many times we hesitate because we do not want to be rejected. We live in this world and we want to get along with everybody while we are here. It is only natural to want to get along with people, to make our path in life as easy as possible.

We don’t like to make waves because it makes us and others uncomfortable. But Christ made waves, and he expects us to do so as well.

⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.⁴

The fish always fights when the fisherman first catches it in the net, and people will fight when you cast a net around their worldview. But as fishers of men it is our responsibility to try to bring people into the safety of the heavenly shore.

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1. See Matthew 4:19-20 ↩︎
2. Matthew 28:16-20 ESV ↩︎
3. Paraphrase of Romans 10:13-14 ↩︎
4. John 15:8 ESV ↩︎