The Wrong Type of Fishing

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Matt. 4:18-20

The Purpose-Driven / Seeker Sensitive model of evangelism (if it can even even be called evangelism) attracts so-called ‘seekers’ to their churches by radically changing the nature of church. Gone are hymns, and Biblically expository sermons. They have been replaced with culturally appealing rocks shows and practical self-help / life improvement sermons. The model of fishing that these new ‘fishers of men’ employ is Bait Fishing. This is the type of fishing that ‘tricks’ unsuspecting fish into believing that they are about to partake in their favorite meal but instead they find themselves being killed by a well hidden hook. It is important to understand that the primary weapon of bait fishing is deception.
Bait Fishing is precisely the method employed by Purpose-Driven / Seeker Sensitive ‘evangelists’. They’ve discovered that they can convince un-believers to come to their churches IF they deceive them by hiding the ‘church hook’ in culturally relevant self-help stage shows. These churches are experts at marketing. They purchase newspaper advertising and send out thousands of mailers promising to give non-Christians the secrets to achieving ‘Red Hot Sex’, financial freedom, and a less-stressful life. But, Biblical Christianity does NOT offer or promise ANY of those things. The truth is that many a marriage has been ripped apart because one partner has converted to Christianity while the other persisted in their un-belief. Many Christians around the world and in the U.S. struggle to pay their bills or even to afford the basic necessities of life. Faith in Jesus does not include a guarantee of wealth or financial freedom, nor is financial status a sure sign of one’s standing before the Lord. Jesus himself warns of the dangers of wealth and the love of money. Furthermore, the Bible does not offer Christians a less stressful life. Around the world Christians are persecuted and martyred for their faith. Rather than offering stress relief, confessing Jesus Christ in many portions of the world is a guarantee for experiencing life threatening danger and the stresses that go with knowing that you have been marked for death. At its core Purpose-Driven / Seeker-Sensitive “evangelism” engages in lies and deception (bait fishing). That alone should disqualify it from being used in ANY church. So what was Jesus talking about when He told the disciples that He would make them ‘fishers of men’?
The fishing that Jesus calls His church to engage in is the same type of fishing that the humble men of Galilee were familiar with. This type of fishing requires them to leave the safety of the shore and head out to the deep water, where the fish are. Once there, they cast their nets into the sea and drag the fish into their boats. There is no disguising a net. There is no deception involved in net fishing. One minute a unsuspecting fish is swimming along with its school minding its own business the next minute it is being dragged against its will into a boat.
Isn’t this exactly what Jesus said in John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
The greek word for "draw" is the word helkuo. Here is how BDAG defines this word:
“to move an object from one area to another in a pulling motion, draw, with implication that the object being moved is incapable of propelling itself or in the case of persons is unwilling to do so voluntarily, in either case with implication of exertion on the part of the mover”
Net fishing drags unwilling fish into a boat. Evangelism that utilizes Net Fishing does the exact same thing. The net that the church is called use is God’s Word. The focal message that we are to use for our nets, according to Jesus, is the message of ‘repentance and the forgiveness of sins’ (Luke 24:46-48). If our nets are to be effective at dragging in fish we must preach both repentance (the law) and the forgiveness of sins (the gospel). To omit either of these key points is the equivalent of using a net that is full of large gaping holes. Holes make a net useless.
The evangelism / fishing that our Lord calls His church to engage in is Net Fishing. He doesn’t ask us to engage in deception nor would He ever. Instead, he calls us to maintain the integrity of our nets by maintaining the integrity of His Word. We are then to take the nets out into the deep waters of our world and culture and cast them out. God will provide the fish. He will send them into the net. When He does, we are drag them into the boat. There is no need to change the church and deceptively make it more attractive to unbelievers. Instead, when God sends the fish to our nets and we are to drag them in and feed them on the living word of God and spiritual songs that exalt Jesus Christ, sound Christian doctrine and the proclamation of Jesus' gospel and His works.
Net fishing is the ONLY type of fishing that Christians are called to engage in. To be an effective Net Fisher one must always maintain the integrity of the net. Bait Fishing on the other hand, depends on lies and deception. Bait Fishing is the Devil’s method of fishing because Satan is, “a liar and the father of lies.”
What does your evangelism utilize, Nets or Deception?