“When Jesus was going by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net, for they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men’ ” (Mark 1:16, 17). There were hundreds of fishermen along the coasts of Galilee. He did not call all of them. He called only four – Peter, Andrew, James and John. We are all called to be witnesses for Christ. But to enter into full-time ministry for the Lord, one must be specifically called by God. You cannot say, “I want to be an evangelist or a teacher.” God has to call you for that ministry and equip you for it. God sovereignly calls His servants even today. Every ministry in the Body of Christ is important, just like every part of the human body. Some parts like the face can be seen, whereas others like the kidneys and liver are unseen. In the Body of Christ too, some ministries are more visible than others.
" A disciple is a learner and a follower. All through his life he has to learn from Jesus and follow Him."
In Matthew 11:29, Jesus said, “Learn from Me.” Here He said, “Follow Me.” These are the two things that a disciple has to do. A disciple is a learner and a follower. All through his life he has to learn from Jesus and follow Him. In the army they march saying, “Left, right, left, right.” We have to say, “Learn, follow, learn, follow” – until Christ returns. If you are only learning but not following, you will be like a man who tries to walk only with his left foot, marching to the command, “Left, left, left, left”!! But the true disciple of Jesus learns and then practices what he has learnt. If you don’t practice what you learn, you will only produce others like yourself – who march on one foot. We can never say that we have learnt enough. Until the end of our life we have to learn from Jesus.
The second part of that verse is a promise. “If you follow Me, I will make you….” Think of that expression, “I will make you.” This is like a potter making a vessel. Potters don’t make all vessels of the same shape. God also makes us in different shapes. Don’t ever ask God to make your ministry in the shape of some other brother’s. God will never do that because He makes each vessel in a unique shape. If you seek to have someone else’s ministry, you will hinder the shape God is trying to make out of you.
I’ve repeatedly told people in my church, “Don’t ever try to imitate my ministry – because God wants you to be unique. He wants you to be you.” God wants only one person like me in His church – and He wants one person like you.
If you follow the Lord, He will make you what you are supposed to be. That is the Lord’s responsibility. In the case of these men, they were to be shaped into fishers of men. In your case it may be something else – perhaps a help in the church. Some are called to be apostles, some prophets and some evangelists. Evangelists are the fishers of men. Some, like Paul, are everything: apostle, prophet, teacher, shepherd and evangelist. But it is rarely that God gives one person all of these special gifts. Most of us usually have only one gift. In the early days the apostles had to have so many gifts, because there were so few gifted people in the church. But with the expansion of the church, God has distributed the gifts more widely. But whichever your gift is, the principle is still: “I will make you.” We must allow the Lord to make us what He wants us to be.
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