Please take your copies of God’s Word in your hands and turn with me to Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13. Matthew’s gospel chapter 13 – page 819 in the church Bibles. We are going to be turning our attention to the words of verses 47 through 50. Before we do that, let me invite you to join with me as we go to God in prayer. Let’s pray together.
Holy Spirit, we so badly need Your ministry. Before us is spread Your Word. Help us hear Your voice. Help us see the One to whom You always point us, on whom You always shine the spotlight – the Lord Jesus Christ. Warn us, awaken and alert us, and grant us grace, how we pray every one of us to run to Christ and rest on Him. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Jesus, speaking to His disciples, said:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Amen, and we praise God that He has spoken to us in His holy and inerrant Word. May He write its eternal truth on all our hearts.
The “House of Fishing”
In 1986, two Israeli brothers who worked the north shore – they were fishermen; they worked the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, men called Moshe and Yuval Lufan, noticed something sticking out of the mud on the beach during a particularly dry season – the waters of the Sea of Galilee had retreated further than usual. It turned out to be a small fishing vessel that dated back to the time of Christ. Up till this point, historians had really relied on the Biblical data for all their information about the fishing boats of the region and fishing practices, and now here was confirmation – a boat from the very region that Peter and the disciples made their hometown in Bethsaida. The town is known as “The House of Fishing” on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps they had sailed in that boat or seen it tethered in the docks. Whatever the case, it was to such a boat and to the sort of fishing practices that it was used in that Jesus is referring here in Matthew 13:47-50.
Everyday Imagery and Kingdom Truths
Would you look at the text with me please? The process that Jesus describes in 47 and 48 would have been intimately familiar to the disciples to whom He is here speaking. This is their daily trade. Shallow-drafted, flat-bottom boats like the one that Moshe and Yuval found on the beach in the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, shallow-drafted, flat-bottom so it can come in right close to the shore, would have been put out into the water, pulling behind them a large net – hundred feet or so long – with corks along the top to keep it afloat and weights along the bottom so that as it’s drawn out into the lake it is kept at its full span to catch the fish, and then the boat would move in a great arch. One end of the net would be tied to the shore and it would move in a great arch out into the lake and then to another place on the shore so that it would scoop up in a great sweep all the twenty-four different species or so that live in that part of the Sea of Galilee. And then once the catch has been landed, the hard work of separating, sorting through the fish would begin. Some fish, according to the Law of Moses, had been designated ceremonially unclean. If they had no scales or fins they were forbidden for Jewish people to eat and so they would be discarded. Other fish, we might call them “trash fish” – you know, full of bones and inedible – they would be discarded. And the others would be put into a container and prepared and shipped off to market. It was the most humdrum work-a-day scene familiar to the disciples as familiar as anything else in their ordinary lives. The calluses on their hands as they listened to Jesus preach are calluses that they won by rowing those boats out into the lake and pulling on those very nets that Jesus references. They have lived these details.
And as we see Jesus make use of those details, those everyday details from the lives of the disciples themselves, we get a glimpse, don’t we, of just how skillful a Gospel communicator our Savior really was. He has totally disarmed them. They know all about this stuff; it is familiar and intimate. He is describing their occupation – the occupation of most of their adult lives, actually. So when He uses it now to speak about the most solemn and urgent issues He has slipped in under their guard. He’s disarmed them completely; He’s already well inside their comfort zones. There’s nowhere for them to hide. They have to face the challenge of His message. That’s part of what makes this concluding parable in our series of studies in the parables of Matthew 13 so very important and provocative and pointed. Jesus is not here talking to the massed crowds that had attended on His ministry in the first half of the chapter. Verse 36 reminds us, doesn’t it, that they have all, the crowds have all now been dismissed. Jesus here is alone with the disciples. And by using the details of their lives – this is their stock and trade, this is their livelihood that He’s describing – using the details of their own lives, the conclusion is unavoidable that His message, the message of this parable isn’t for everyone; it’s for the disciples. It’s for the visible church. It’s for those who claim to be followers of Jesus.
It teaches three big ideas. First in this parable there is a word about the church’s mission. Secondly there’s a word about the church’s nature. And thirdly a word about the church’s destiny. The church’s mission – our work in the world. Our nature – what is the church like? And our destiny – what waits for us at the end of the age?
I. The Church’s Mission
Let’s think first of all about the church’s mission. “The kingdom of heaven,” Jesus said, “is like a net thrown into the sea that gathers fish of every kind.” According to verse 49, the fish are people so the net that’s cast into the lake can be nothing other than the Gospel cast into the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is to be cast wide and indiscriminately. That’s our task; that’s our mission. That was the work of the disciples before they’d been called to follow Jesus. They were fishermen. But He’s said to them, Matthew chapter 4 and verse 19, remember, “Follow Me and I will make you” what? “Fishers of men.” So when He picks up this picture of fishing on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, the disciples know He’s talking about them, about their lives and their work. This is their task that He’s explaining.
Evangelism: The Ordinary Business of the Kingdom of Heaven
And that means a couple of things. First of all it means that just as fishing was the ordinary business of their daily lives, so evangelism is the ordinary business of the kingdom of heaven. Just as fishing was the ordinary business of most of their lives, so evangelism, fishing for men, is the ordinary business of the kingdom of heaven. Our great occupation as a church has to be mission. I think it’s Elias Medeiros at the seminary who likes to say that “Mission is across the street and around the world.” That’s our calling and that’s our task. We’re called to go cast the Gospel net and catch people, all kinds of people. We are not being faithful as a church if we are not finding fresh ways and old ways of bringing the good news about Jesus Christ to Belhaven and Fondren and West Jackson and the medical community and Belhaven University and Mississippi College and Ridgeland and Madison and the whole Metro Jackson area to the neighborhoods where you live. We are fishers of men if we are followers of Jesus. We have no warrant from the Lord to leave our nets coiled on the shore. We have no warrant from the Lord to leave our nets coiled on the shore. This is the church’s mission.
Our work isn’t social; it’s not therapeutic. Our task is not to be the moral policemen of the community. It’s not to be social workers for the city. Our work is clear and specific. We are to get the Gospel net into the water to catch as many people for the kingdom as we can. We are to say to everyone, “There is a Savior for you. You’re dead in sin, you stand under the wrath and curse of God, but there’s a Savior for you in Jesus Christ. He has borne the wrath and curse of God on the tree at Calvary in your place. Trust Him. Flee to Him. He can save you. I have good news for you.” I have a net to cast – it’s called the Gospel of grace and we are to go and proclaim it to all people. We have no warrant from the Lord Jesus to leave our nets coiled on the shore. When did you last cast the Gospel net and speak about Christ to the lost? When did you last bring someone to church to hear the Gospel? When did you last open your mouth and speak for Jesus? Evangelism is to be the ordinary business of the kingdom of heaven. It’s the church’s mission.
A Gospel for All People
And secondly, all of this means that we are not to restrict our targets. Notice that carefully. The dragnet can’t be selective, can it? By definition, by its design it catches all kinds of fish. If you were standing on the shore and Peter and the others put out into the lake to go fishing one day and you were to ask them, “What are you fishing for?” they would all stop and look at you, nonplussed in amazement, and shout back, “Fish! We’re fishing for fish! We’ve got this dragnet so we can’t be selective – we catch what we catch!” The Gospel doesn’t lend itself to selectivity. It’s to be broadcast. It is to be cast wide. The Gospel net is indiscriminate and general. It’s for all people. As Thomas Boston used to like to say, “Go and say to every man, ‘I have good news for you. Christ is dead for you. There’s a Savior for you in Jesus Christ.’” We are to cast the Gospel net wide.
It’s wise, like fishermen know the best places to fish and the best times of day and the habits and customs of their target fish. It’s wise to think strategically about evangelism to understand the people we’re trying to serve – what are their issues and struggles and preoccupations and approach to things – that’s wise. But granting all of that, we must never hesitate to share the Gospel out of consideration for a person’s difference from ourselves. We mustn’t restrict our attempt to fill our nets just because we’re not sure of someone’s moral or educational or social or cultural background. We must look them in the eye and lovingly and winsomely and warmly offer them Jesus. Now let me confess to you very frankly, I have hard work still to do in my own heart in this whole area. I suspect you do too; I think we do as a church. But this is our calling; this is our mission – to go spread the Gospel net wide that we may catch all kinds of fish.
II. The Church’s Nature
Then secondly notice there’s a word here not just about our mission but also about the church’s nature. Again verse 47 you see that the fish are “of every kind.” That is, of the twenty-four species of fish in the lake the fishermen catch some of them all. The kingdom of heaven, you know, has invaded the world in the coming of Jesus Christ – broke into the world when Jesus stepped onto the scene. He has inaugurated the kingdom and it can be seen. It is made visible; the world can glimpse it. They see what it looks like or at least they ought to see what it looks like when they look at the church. the dragnet of the Gospel scoops up all kinds of people – rich and poor, old and young, educated and uneducated, the hurting and the happy, black and white, the healthy and the sick, singles and marrieds, CEO’s and soccer moms, right? All kinds of people are scooped up in the dragnet of the Gospel and into the church. The church of Jesus Christ makes visible the kingdom of heaven when it gathers together people from everywhere at every stage. And that means First Presbyterian Church isn’t for one type or one class or one segment of our society. First Presbyterian Church is for Jackson. It’s for our world. It means that if you’re visiting with us it’s for you – the kingdom of heaven is for you. We are for you, whoever you are. Now it’s not always easy to do that. We haven’t always gotten that right. There’s no guarantee that we won’t always get it right in the future either. We’re a work in progress. It’s true. But this is our vision. This is our calling. This is who we are to be – a window in a dark world where anyone may look to glimpse another world, the kingdom of heaven, where fish of every kind, people of every stripe and standing belong. The nature of the church.
A Mixed Assembly
But look down at verse 49. At the end of the age when Judgment Day comes, the separation of the good fish and bad fish take place. Here the distinction between the fish isn’t simply that of different kinds and species but it is the separation of the edible and clean fish from the unclean and inedible fish, or as Jesus explains the metaphor, the separation of “the evil from the righteous.” Now He’s talking about the visible church. Do you see the implications of that? The dragnet of the Gospel gathers in a great indiscriminate catch. Fish of all kinds are landed and in the net there are some fish that can only be rejected but they’re in the net until the separation comes. In the visible church, sitting under the sound of the Gospel week in and week out, gathered as a result of Gospel ministry there are some who are not going to heaven. There are true and false converts. There are real and counterfeit believers. There are those who have attached themselves to the church, been caught in the net as it were, for all kinds of reasons other than repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The church is and will remain a mixed assembly of regenerate and unregenerate people, born again and hypocrites until the end.
An Imperfect, Striving Church
And that is at once enormously sobering and immensely helpful, isn’t it? Enormously sobering as we’ll see in just a few moments because the shoreline is fast approaching. The final separation is coming; getting nearer every day. And not all who sit in the pew find a home in heaven. Sobering. But it’s also immensely helpful to us in this way. It helps correct our inappropriate expectations about the church. We are so easily scandalized, aren’t we, when we find sin among saints. We’re outraged when the church doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, when its ministers fail, as we inevitably will, when its officers let you down, when its members offend. But Jesus is here helping us to remember that the visible church is both divine and a human institution. It has, to be sure, the sanction and authorization of the Word of God. It is inhabited by the blessing and presence of God. It is entrusted. It is the custodian of the means of grace. But it’s still also instituted by our Lord in such a way that sinners can administer it – fallible men who can’t see hearts. There will always be a mixed multitude of believers and unbelievers until the end, and knowing that ought to help us adjust our expectations so that we’re not surprised when the church that now is, fails to be the perfect church that one day will be. The parable of the dragnet ought to help us practice patience with the church of Jesus Christ – an imperfect church, even while we strive together, to be who we’re called to be.
III. The Church’s Destiny
The church’s mission, the church’s nature, and then finally the church’s destiny. Look again at verses 49 to 50. “So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is the most solemn part of the parable; it echoes almost verbatim the words of verses 41 and 42, the parable of the wheat and the tares. Jesus here is reminding us that the true character of those who belong within the visible church will not remain hidden forever. The angels at the end of the age will oversee a great separation. We don’t distinguish in the preaching of the Gospel. It is indiscriminate and universal but God distinguishes in the last judgment. It is personal and it is specific. The sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, the good fish and the bad fish – there is a great division coming.
A Warning to the Unconverted
The text before us is teaching that unconverted, outward Christians, Christians in name and appearance only, visible church members who don’t really know Jesus, they’re like chameleons. They’ve learned to blend in, they know the words, they can ape the behavior, but their essential character, while hidden to the eyes of others, cannot be hidden from God. He will judge and the unconverted will be discarded to eternal wrath. And that, notice carefully, is where the accent falls at the conclusion of this parable. It is a sober warning to the disciples, to the visible church. The dragnet is being drawn in toward the shore. Every day it comes closer, and one day soon the great catch will be landed and the separation will occur. If you’re in the net but you are not converted what a terrible destiny awaits you.
Refuge from Coming Wrath
Look what Jesus says. “You will be thrown into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It’s a picture of hell. Some people wanting to minimized the horror of the image will quickly point out this is a metaphor; it’s just a metaphor. Heaven’s not really a furnace. Which is true; it is a metaphor. Hell really isn’t a furnace, but that does not help; in fact that’s worse because the reality will far, far exceed the metaphor. Jesus isn’t saying these words to the massed crowds. He’s saying them to the disciples, to the church, to us. There’s an alarm sounding. It’s not a drill. The building you’re in is going to burn to the ground unless you get out. What do you do? You don’t take a calculated risk, you know, “This is another drill. I’m sure it’s going to be fine. Turn up the volume and drown out the sound of the alarm.” Of course not. You get to safety and you warn as many people along the way as you can. Take a look around. Take a look around. There is every possibility that there are some people sitting in the pews in this room heading for hell today. If they continue in their present course they will be lost. Can you hear the alarm sounding? This is not a drill. Hell is real and sitting in church with an unconverted heart offers no immunity to its flames. But there is a place of safety – His name is Jesus. He has quenched the flames for all who will turn to Him and trust in Him. No one need die or perish or face the wrath of God; no one. There is a Savior for you in Jesus Christ! The alarm is sounding. Please don’t leave without having fled for safety to Jesus. Please don’t leave without having gone for your safety to Christ.
The church’s mission and the church’s nature and the church’s destiny. Let’s pray together.
Our Father, we pray for those who are here whose hearts are unchanged. O Father, by Your Spirit would You work and cause the dead to come to life, cause the slumbering and unconcerned to be alarmed and make us all, all of us, flee for refuge to Jesus. Thank You that there is a safe place for sinners – only in Him. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.