This lesson comes out of Luke 5:1-11 and 5:27-32. It is the story Jesus’ gathering His first disciples. In one instance, Jesus uses a miraculous catch of fish, in the second, Jesus performs a cultural miracle of reaching out to (of all people) a TAX COLLECTOR! In both accounts, we see an important theme of abandoning/ignoring worldly riches (distractions) and following Jesus.

John Piper provides a nice capsule summary of the idea the disciples becoming fishers of men, which defines discipleship at a pragmatic level:

1) By Jesus’ power and authority
2) multitudes of people
3) will be caught for eternal kingdom blessings
4) by the followers of Jesus who
5) teach the word of God
6) obey the commands of Jesus
7) humble themselves
8) treasure Christ above all

Memory Verse: As soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.  Matthew 5:11

Handout:  Jesus Makes Fishers of Men

Narrative:

One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.  His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”  And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”

Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”