I cannot remember when I first saw, or heard, this sermon title, but it made a big impression on me. At first, my response was I thought, “Yes that is right that we are to be fishers of men.” I believed that back then and I believe it now. We must get better, as a congregation in doing personal work! The reason being is that there are people dying every day who are outside of Christ and they have absolutely no hope of being in Heaven.
Some might say that there are so many who are lost that we can never reach all of them so that they may have salvation. Because of that thinking, some might have the attitude that since we cannot save all of them, then we cannot make a real difference to bring many of them to Christ. I beg to differ! That reasoning is just a “cop out.” If someone had not taken an interest in us to bring us to Christ, then we would not be Christians today! We would be lost with no bright future ahead of us eternally. We would have lost Paradise and Heaven itself. But, for us, we had someone who was willing to sit down with us and show us the way of salvation. That is why we are Christians today!
The old maxim, “We are found to find another, we are taught to teach another, we are saved to another” is certainly applicable to us today when we consider that there are so many people around us who are outside of Christ, just waiting to have the opportunity to obey the gospel and be saved from their sins.
Are we really fishers of men, or are we keepers of the aquarium? Let me suggest that we are BOTH! If we do not share the gospel with others they certainly will not have the opportunity to obey it and be saved. On the other hand, we also have the responsibility to be “keepers of the aquarium,” that is, to help those who are saved to stay saved. Therefore, our responsibility is both to the lost to bring them to Christ, as well as to the saved to help keep them saved. Why? Because we want them to remain faithful so they will continually have the hope of salvation.
Think about it!
Kevin Williams
