"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Tag: Great love

Nets & Fruit. John 21:6

And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.”

Okay, so what do nets, and fruit have in common? And where-on-earth is she going with this? I’m delighted you asked! Why don’t you grab your coffee, settle in, and allow me to explain? Ready? I’ll start with the answer to your question, then dig-in from there. So, it turns out that the answer to what connects nets and fruit is twofold—a mirror image. The cornerstone of their relationship is obedience & connection! Let’s continue, and we’ll see where this twofold relationship leads us

The heart of scripture—a very large part of it at least—is steeped in this one foundational and eternal Truth found in 1 Samuel 15:22. God wants our love (heart, mind, soul, and strength), our obedience, over some gift or service we might offer Him.  “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

But why? Why are obedience and connection so important to God? I believe scripture bears out that the answer to this is, in part, triune. Its first strand, the life-giving heartbeat of obedience, is a genuine love for our Beloved. Thus, our love of God compelling us to obey Him. Obedience’s very breath—surrender. Its thoughts, the sole joy its meekness offers our beloved. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” –1 John 5:3. And the second strand, faithfulness, comes then, and, wrapping itself around such a love says, “I too love deeply and seek only to remain bound to my beloved.” “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”—1 John 2:3-6. And, then, lastly, obedience’s’ final and most reflective quality is that of honor. And the eyes of honor cast their light in such a way that only the beloved is illumined in their stare. “And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.…”–Colossians 1:18. These triune strands perpetually interlocking, one with the other—resilient. Fixed in their fidelity and devotion, a bond fashioned by their common cause, obedience. Their fibers fixed, yet flexible, always seeking to accommodate each new command of the Beloved—His every desire.

And, when they’re cast then, where the Lover of our soul’s bids us cast them, His blessings inevitably flow—our nets overflowing then, receiving from His never-ending source. “Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.” –Deuteronomy 30:9-10.” In plain speak: obedience will cause your nets to become so full they’ll be bulging at the seams! And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.” –John 21:6.

Now, alongside the fundamental lesson obedience teaches in today’s verse, ever generous, it goes further still by introducing us to connection, its sacred companion. And, as a result of this one introduction, our souls will soon be thusly fortified. The question posed this day, soon answered. Obedience will have succeeded in pointing us towards the mysterious, life-giving consequence of having a connection with the Beloved.

In today’s verse, we witness the bountiful catch the disciples shared when they obeyed Jesus’ command. Certainly, our Father delights in blessing His children in numerous ways—material blessings, much like this catch, being but one of them. The disciple’s nets would never have been filled so had they not listened to—been connected to, obeyed the One who instructed them exactly where to cast those nets. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” –John 21:3. There’s a lesson in this verse for each believer. For every pastor and evangelist and teacher and prophet. We are not our own. We have been bought with a great price. And nothing—not one thing we do will ever have an eternal impact—aid in helping to escort one soul from death to life, if it’s us deciding where it is we’ll go, and what it is we’re willing to do. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” –John 15:1. We must be wise and guard our heart’s friends. We must be ever mindful of our motives for seeking after God. May our obedience to, and our desire for, our Beloved, never spring-up, like some unruly weed, from a place of self-seeking. Obeying Him simply because we might somehow be rewarded. Remember this, we serve El Roi—the God who sees me—who knows my heart, and its every desire. May our obedience then, my obedience, be born from a genuine desire to draw ever closer to the One from who all blessings flow…

And, as with obedience so too connection. We are reminded throughout Scripture of the supreme importance—the intrinsic necessity of remaining connected—joined—united—intertwined with, a literal part of, our Beloved. Quite literally infused with His very essence. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” –John 15:5.

He tells us quite clearly that without this connection to Him, in Him, with Him—outside of this life-giving union—we can do nothing. Not one thing of eternal value that is. We can do plenty in terms of being selfish and destructive. Just ask Adam and Eve. They can tell you firsthand about what happens to a soul that chooses to break its connection with its source—with El Roi. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” –Genesis 3:17-19. And in Matthew 7, we hear Jesus share His heart on the absolute, paramount importance of our maintaining our connection with Him. Equally, however, He makes crystal clear the eternally, terrifying consequences of our having deluded ourselves into thinking that we are in fact connected—have this relationship—are grafted into Him simply because we’ve served on a few committees. Went on a missions trip or two. Or have prayed for the sick and lost even. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”—Matthew 7:21-23.

If we were paying attention to what happened in the Garden right before Adam and Eve were banished for their disobedience, then we witnessed the Father’s eternal connectedness to His creation on loving display. (This Messiah who came, and will come again, that all men might have access to a connection with Him—made possible through the obedient sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by the Blood He shed on His Cross for all mankind, putting an end to death and the grave once, for all.) Even here, amid Adam and Eve’s dis-obedience, their deliberate dis-connect, we witnessed this God that so loved the world making a way for us, His children, to be able to return back to Him. In the thick of man’s rejecting their Divine connection, in the very epicenter of man’s disobedience, we witnessed God’s, unfathomable love. His redemptive plan, even then, to offer Jesus to this sin-full, dis-obedient, world on display—so that you and me and him and her might be able to come home again. He shed blood. A foreshadowing of Christ. Putting to death animals that He might wrap Adam and Eve in their bloody skins. “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”–Hebrews 9:22.

God did this so that you and I, if we’ll but obey and slip-on Christ’s Bloodied sacrifice, His Righteousness, might be re-connected eternally, back to the Father.

Friend, if anything you’ve read here today has touched your heart, know that it’s because God loves you and is offering Himself to you. Asking you to connect with Him directly—sincerely, as your Lord and Savior. I pray that you’ll obey. I’d love nothing more than to meet you soon and very soon when we have all been gathered up in Him. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” –Romans 10:9-10.

Unfaithful. Hosea 1:2.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of [her] prostitution; for the land commits great acts of prostitution by not following the Lord.”

I’ve heard it said that It is important to remember that grace is not merely unmerited favor, but it is favor in spite of merited judgment…

Our Scripture is shocking I know. Not exactly the nice “after Easter message” you may have been expecting. I get it. I do. But if you’ll just extend me a little grace, I promise you the same Jesus we just praised and hailed and exalted last week—will show-up here today. Our Savior will come bursting forth as surely, as plainly and eternally, as He did that first Easter morning!

I recently read a compelling point made by commentator James Montgomery Boice concerning today’s Scripture. It opened my eyes afresh as I took in his reflection. It pointed me, with laser precision, directly toward the whole raw, deep, eternal Truth that is laid bare before us within the Book of Hosea. Boice’s arrow most definitely hitting its intended target: If Hosea’s story cannot be real (because ‘God could not ask a man to marry an unfaithful woman’), then neither is the story of salvation real, because that is precisely what Christ has done for us…

This quote instantly took me straight back to the pure, innocent, devoted, crucified Christ that I’d recently just beheld hanging on a criminal’s tree. In an instant, I found myself staring into His eyes caked with blood yet so soft still, full of a love and compassion, a tenderness, that quite literally brought me to my knees. This Godman, this Christ, was hanging there because of me. I felt the Truth of this in my soul. My sins the nails that had pierced His hands and precious feet. Innocent. And yet the Truth I saw so clearly expressed in those eyes pierced my heart. I couldn’t escape them. I didn’t want to. I never want to not know—live one second that I breathe the very air He created, outside of the Truth I saw in those eyes: “MaryEllen, my love for you is what held me—to that Cross.”

Our God—my God, this Christ that left heaven behind so that He could wrap Himself in the temporary-ness of human flesh that He might feel every thing, everything you and me feel; every need I have, we have, you’ve ever felt. From hunger and pain to cutting betrayal and great love—such inexplicable love. Thirst, hunger, heat, cold, loss too—He felt all of them. Did I mention knowing rejection by its first name? Jesus felt everything. Every hot Israeli day and it’s partner, the cold night. Every hour of deep longing for a people He came into this world specifically to die for—to make a way for, as no other ever could. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” –Matthew 23:37.

If only they’d have welcomed Him. If only they would have accepted the ring He came asking them to slip on. If only they’d have taken His name and remained faithful to Him. It is this God—this Christ, this Bridegroom that comes to Israel in the book of Hosea. That comes to you and me and him and her and says I know you’re a prostitute. I know that you’re unfaithful. I know that while you are still here, wrapped in your sin-full flesh there will always be “others” in your life—standing in between us. In Hosea, God teaches us—however frankly, not only how He feels about us, more the lengths He will go to, to make us His own. You see He knows our frame, our sinful state, as surely and completely as He knew Israel’s sins and idolatry—their whoredom. Strong words I know, but Truth is biting at times. And as we witness in the language of Hosea, God can and will be as frank as He so chooses to be to get our attention…

By the start of Hosea’s first chapter, Israel has already wandered far from God. It’s been chasing after the Baal’s. The gods of this world. Those things they thought would bring them pleasure, would satisfy their deep hunger. Sound familiar? It should. We are each guilty, on some level, of this very sin! “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?” –Ezekiel 16:15-16.

Is it any wonder then that at this pivotal moment, Gomer is introduced to us? This woman who, representing Israel, has broken her vows, her covenant to remain faithful to this innocent Prophet of God. In Gomer, we witness the condition of Israel’s heart —a people He has chosen for Himself—a wanton and rebellious people God has chosen as His own. But don’t judge them too harshly, because in Gomer a mirror is also handed to you and me—reflecting back to us our unfaithfulness. And, as painful as it may be to look into, if we, like Israel, like Gomer, are to truly repent of our whoredom—our idolatry and sin-full wonderings, our spiritual adultery, then look into it we must. “So I bought Gomer back for 6 ounces of silver and 9 bushels of barley. Then I told her, “You must stay at home with me for many days. You will not be like a prostitute. You will not have sexual relations with another man. I will be your husband.” In the same way the people of Israel will continue many days without a king or a leader. They will be without a sacrifice or a memorial stone. They will be without an ephod or a household god. After this, the people of Israel will come back and look for the Lord their God and for David their king. In the last days they will come to honor the Lord and his goodness.” Hosea 3:2-5.

Our God is long-suffering and merciful, yes, but let us never forget our Husband is also just—and jealous of His bride…

In this first chapter of Hosea, we witness the not-so-shadowy figure of the Messiah—the Christ that will come, emerging. This Jesus who will come to us while we are yet filthy and wallowing, like some unrestrained beast, in our sins. A God who is not put off by the foul-stench of these, our many sins. In this first chapter of Hosea, we meet this God who sees past all of our stuff —our every sin, our shame, lies, and our hustle, to the person He has created us to be in His Son Jesus. He bids us then to follow after Him.

Just as we are, He calls us to Himself…

Yet, as with Gomer, His great love for us refuses to leave us in the state in which He found us. Even after His bearing witness to every thing we’ve ever said and done, still, He wants us to come to Him. To not let our stuff stop us from accepting His marriage proposal. To just get up and run to Him—leaving our filthy past in the dust! And get up and follow we must! He loves us far too much, has paid too great a price to ransom us, to leave us continuing to roll around in the same filth in which He first found us. “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” –Romans 6:21-22.

Despite how degrading and repulsive it may have felt to Hosea to be asked by God to marry Gomer, out of obedience to Him, he did it; regardless if it made sense to anyone, himself included. God had commanded Hosea to go and marry this harlot—not die for her. Jesus would soon be sent to cover dying for her. In Christ’s taking a bride from amongst a polluted, sin-drenched, wanton world, we witness the nascent beginnings of His great obedience to do the will of the Father also—however contrary the Father’s will may appear to us in sending One that is sinless to marry one so full of sin. If we were paying attention, we would have caught God’s intention to send us Christ, back in the garden when He covered Adam and Eve in bloody animal skins. But that’s for another day…

In Hosea, we see the foreshadowing of Christ’s donning His wedding suit—a human body, mere flesh, and willingly, obediently, lovingly, stepping across time and eternity at the Father’s behest. Not only to save Israel but also you and me too; we were a great part of why He came at all. To give us His name. To bestow upon us rights, privileges, and honor we’d otherwise never have known. He gave us our place in this world—and the next. In Hosea’s loving-kindness to Gomer, we are privileged to catch but a glimpse of this Jehovah God’s great love, both for Israel—His firstborn, and for you and me, branches grafted into His precious Body. And yes, even for that one too…

“For rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” –Romans 5:7-8.

Friend, if you are here today and there is something in you that’s saying, “wait, if God can love a prostitute then there’s hope for me too” you’re right! There’s room for us all at the feet of Christ Jesus! And yes, He’ll take you just as you are. No need to try and get cleaned up before you come. I was a Gomer, and He met me right where I was. Won’t you ask God to come into your life right now? Why wait? “Yet the number of the sons of Israel Shall be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.” –Hosea 1:10.

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