Did you hear about the fisherman who donned his waders, grabbed his rod, baited his hook, and cast his line … into the living room aquarium? Obviously he hadn’t read The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fishing, had he? Because anyone who knows anything about fishing surely knows that if you want to catch fish, you’ve got to go where the fish are. You don’t fish in an aquarium—where the fish are already caught!

When he had finished speaking, [Jesus] said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish.”

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, we’ll try again.” And this time their nets were so full 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 too much of a sinner to be around you. … " Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people.”1

When I was a boy growing up in Sabbath school, I learned a song based on that promise of Jesus: “I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men; I will make you fishers of men, if you follow Me.” Maybe you learned it, too.

But while we’ve learned the song, have we learned the lesson the Savior taught Peter that morning—a lesson we won’t need our waders for in this new year of global evangelism—a perfect lesson from the Master Fisherman just in time for our 2004 Hope for Our Day commitment!

Jesus’ lesson is this: “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”2 And that, my friend, is God’s call this new year for you and me. Away from our comfortable shorelines, away from our oxygenated aquariums, away from our Sabbath congregations. And out, out, out—into the deep waters of a lost world. At Andrews University we’re hearing Jesus call us twelve miles “off shore” and up the road to an inner city. Out beyond our comfort zone and away from our sheltered harbor.

"Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.”3 Because catching lost people has always been God’s passion. And God knows landlubbers and shorehuggers don’t catch a lot of fish. You’ve got to go out into the deep water where the fish are.

Which is why God is so big on inner and outer cities. Because cities are a sea of fish! I was in New York City on a preaching assignment a few weeks ago. Did you know that one out of every 300 people on earth lives within fifty miles of the Statue of Liberty! God must really love New York. And Detroit. And Chicago. And Indianapolis. And Madison. And all the cities and towns near you and me.

Not as big as New York, to be sure, but aren’t they just as needy?

I don’t want to be misunderstood—but could it be that God is more passionate about the fish in the sea than He is the fish in the aquarium? More passionate about the lost than the saved? Didn’t Jesus tell us, “Heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed”?4 Didn’t He himself once declare, “I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.”5

No wonder He’s calling us this new year into “deep water!” Congregations and aquariums are stocked with the saved. It’s the deep water of the seas that are filled with the lost. “Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish.”

Now it’s true—you could drown out there, if you’re not careful. Because, let’s face it, it can be dangerous out in the deep. They can broil up some mean storms out there that can threaten your little skiff. Raging waters that a sterile, tranquil, placid, oxygenated aquarium never experiences. But such is the price of real fishing!

And be warned—a boat-load of deep-water fish can be messy, slimey, and stinky. Because the fish you catch out in the deep may not be like the fish we are here in the aquarium—Leviticus 11 “clean” fish with fins and scales—filleted and fried and frozen! You know the type. Sweet little shore-hugging minnows like you and me.

Let’s be honest. If you take Jesus’ admonition seriously and throw your net in deep waters, you could end up with fish that are “unclean.” Because when you’re out “finding Nemo,” you may net more than a clown fish. You may hook an unclean one! The kind of fish that could really spoil a nice septic aquarium.

Unclean, unkept fish with alcohol on the breath or at least in the back seat of the car—“drunk as a fish.”

Throw the net in the deep inner and outer cities, and you’ll catch fish with sexual dysfunctions and deviancies and even transmittable diseases. Unclean, unsuccessful fish on their third or fourth marriages. Like the fish Jesus caught once by a well in Samaria: “Let’s see, lady, you’ve had five husbands—and the man you’re living with now is not your own.”6 But He caught her anyway! Which, of course, gives the rest of us sinners some hope. Stinky, messy fish that have failed in love and life just like her—we all are.

Throw your net in deep waters, and you’ll catch fish that wear their lures like glittering jewelry—hooks in their tongues, rings in their noses, and alluring tattoos all over their bodies. Very unclean—these fish in the deep.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, pastor—as soon as we get ‘em in here, we’ll skin ‘em and scale ‘em, and clean ‘em up just like us.” I was afraid of that! “And what’s more, if we don’t like them, we’ll toss them out!” I was worried about that, too.

You see, Jesus told a story once upon a time about a fish net, and in the parable the fish net drags into the church all kinds of fish, clean and unclean. But please notice who does the cleaning and sorting and judging in Jesus’ parable:

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that is thrown into the water and gathers fish of every kind. When the net is full, they drag it up onto the shore, sit down, sort the good fish into crates, and throw the bad ones away. That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the godly, throwing the wicked into the fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."7

Jesus’ point is clear: the skinning and scaling, the filleting and frying—it all happens at the end—and is done by celestial visitants much wiser than you and I. So in this year of global evangelism, let’s let the angels do the sorting—and we will do the fishing. That’s our mission.

Jesus is unequivocally clear: “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch. And don’t be afraid—for I will make you fishers of people.”

You know why? Because fish are our Father’s business, that’s why! Which means that when you have God for your Father, you’ve got fishing for your future. No matter what your profession is or is going to be—or what your education is or was or isn’t.

In fact, we can’t be “about our Father’s business” without fishing. Because fish are our Father’s business. Clean and unclean. In the aquarium of the church, and on the high seas of the world. Fish are our Father’s business. And if we in these Great Lakes states are going to be like Jesus about our Father’s business, then fish are our business, too!

Let me tell you about a young student friend of mine here at Andrews University—his name is Bo. And Bo has a passion for Jesus and a love for lost people. Which is why you’ll find him every single Sabbath afternoon up walking the streets of Benton Harbor, fishing for people, for Jesus. I don’t recall what Bo’s major is. But Bo’s life is proof to me that Jesus’ promise is true: “I will make you a fisher of men and women … doesn’t matter to me how much or how little education you have … because it isn’t about personal smarts or academic degrees. … I will make you a fisher of people.” That’s the promise of the Great Fisherman of Calvary to Bo and you and me.

To me, Bo is the fulfillment of these words in The Desire of Ages, found in the very chapter devoted to this fishing story:

"There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, by putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. … Men of the highest education in the arts and sciences have learned precious lessons from Christians in humble life who were designated by the world as unlearned. But these obscure disciples had obtained an education in the highest of all schools. They had sat at the feet of Him who spoke as ‘never a man spake.'"8

Want to be about your Father’s business, like Bo? Then this new year why not ask Jesus to teach you, like Bo. For there really is no limit to the usefulness of a fisherman, who’s been taught how to fish … by Jesus.

Dwight Nelson is senior pastor at Andrews University's Pioneer Memorial Church.

1. Luke 5:4–8, 10 NLT

2. Luke 5:4 NIV emphasis supplied

3. Luke 5:4 The Message

4. Luke 15:7 NLT

5. Mark 2:17 NLT

6. See John 4:18

7. Matthew 13:47–50 NLT emphasis supplied

8. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 250, 251