Why are we following Jesus? It should be either for fishing or for mending. We need to realize that this is a case showing us the first principles. We all should be either Peter and Andrew or James and John. Otherwise, according to the principle we are not a genuine follower of Jesus. To be a proper follower of Jesus we need to be either a fisher or a mender. This means that we should either bring people in or build them up. The Lord has not called us for going to heaven, but He has called us to be either a fisher or a mender. It is by following Him as a fisher or a mender that we are in the New Testament service. If I am called to be a fisher, I should be fishing all the time to bring people in. If I have been called to be a mender, I need to learn how to build people up, how to perfect the saints, and how to add something of Christ to them that they might be in harmony in the Body. We all need to be fishers or menders.
The Lord is doing a work to build up His New Jerusalem—this is His ultimate intention, and this is what He cares for. He calls people to follow Him simply for the completion of His building. For the completion of His building He needs to have fishers to bring in the materials and menders to build up the materials into a building. We need to forget all the concepts we have received in the past. Did Jesus ask Peter to follow Him for any reason except that He might make him a fisher of men? We all need to see the Lord’s purpose in calling us to follow Him. It is either to participate in the fishing ministry or to take part in the mending ministry.
Recently the Lord has brought a number of people into the church in Los Angeles from all directions and from many kinds of backgrounds and cultures. We do have a real mixture, and because of this there are many problems. Those who have come are genuine brothers and sisters; yet they have many problems. They need the mending ministry. In these days the fishing ministry has been more prevailing than the mending ministry. However, this does not mean that we do not need the fishing ministry. We need it all the more.
We prayed that the Lord would bring in more Ezras with more groups of people, and the Lord has answered our prayers. Now we urgently need some menders to attune these young ones and make them suitable for the church life. We need the menders to attune them, to prepare them, to feed them, to bring them up, and to add something more of Christ to them. We should not consider that this is a matter only for the elders to take care of. There are only a few elders. We need the menders to mend them and to complete them for the church life. Then we will have all the materials built into the building.
Today we all need to be on the Sea of Galilee. None of us should still be in the temple. We should not be temple-people, but sea-people, either fishing or mending. Here in Los Angeles we have a huge Sea of Galilee with many fishes. We need to fish them in and build them up; therefore, we need many fishers and menders. We all need to take this matter to the Lord. We should either be a fisher or a mender. If the Lord calls us to be a fisher, we should be a fisher. If He calls us to be a mender, we need to be equipped to be a mender. Then we could equip others. The Lord needs to mend us so that we can mend others. The Lord called only fishers and menders to follow Him—there were no others. If we are not willing to be a fisher or a mender, we cannot follow the Lord in the New Testament service.
When the Lord appeared in Galilee, outwardly He was a little Nazarene, but inwardly He was a great light shining, and this great light became an attraction. Do you remember how Peter and John followed Jesus? They immediately gave up their boats and their father and followed Him. They simply followed Him. For us to be a fisher of men and a mender, the Lord’s building should be of first importance in our lives, more important than our jobs or our education. They gave up their job and their father to care for God’s interest first. This is quite clear. They followed Jesus because He had an attracting power. He was a great light shining upon Peter and John, attracting them to Himself. After Peter heard the call of the Lord, he immediately left his job and followed Him. The shining of the great light caused all the disciples to follow Him.
Then the Lord Jesus took the disciples up to the mountain and spoke to them what is called the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5—7). There was a multitude there with all the disciples, but the Lord addressed Himself mainly to the disciples. He told them that they were the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-14). Those who had been attracted by the great light became the light. They became the light by following the great light. In addition, they were the salt also. Salt is used to kill the corrupting germs of this earth. Salt is for ridding the earth of its corruption, and light is for the enlightening of those in darkness.
If we would be fishers and menders, we need to be the salt and the light to kill the germs of today’s earth and to enlighten those in today’s darkness. If we lose our taste as the salt, then we will become a powerless fisher, unable to bring people in. We need to be “salty,” so full of the taste of salt, that we may be good fishers. Furthermore, if we are still in darkness and have not been enlightened, it is rather difficult for us to fish or to mend. To be fishers and menders, we need to be enlightened and even to be the light.
How can we be the salt to kill the corrupting germs and the light to enlighten those in today’s darkness? There is no other way but by being identified with Christ. He is the life-giving Spirit, and He is the One who puts us into the Spirit. To be the salt and the light we need to be put into the Spirit. Outwardly, we are mere human beings, but inwardly we have the life-giving Spirit, and we have been baptized into the Holy Spirit. If we repent and enter into the kingdom of heaven, we will declare that Christ is the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and the Bridegroom, and we will be one with Him in the Spirit. Then we will be the salt, killing all the germs, and the light to enlighten those around us who are in darkness. We will be the real fishers and menders who are the proper and genuine followers of the Lord.
The last book of John’s ministry is the book of Revelation, and that book is the ultimate consummation of God’s building. Peter was the first apostle in the New Testament service, and John was the last one recorded in the New Testament. In Acts the materials are being brought in, and in Revelation a city is built up. These two, the fishing and the mending, are the main ministries in the New Testament service in following the Lord Jesus.
However, the fact that there are two ministries does not mean that if you are a fisher, you should not be a mender. Peter was a fisher, but he nevertheless said something in his Epistles about the building. His word concerning the building up of the spiritual house in 1 Peter 2 is very clear. Furthermore, although John’s ministry was the building, he was the writer of one of the Gospels, and his Gospel also speaks about reaping the harvest (John 4:35-38). Reaping the harvest is comparable to fishing in the matter of bringing people in.
Sometimes we need to do the fishing, and sometimes we need to do the mending. We should bring people in, and we need to build them up. In too many cases, however, the matter of fishing is given full attention, and there is very little mending, if any. Without the mending, a lot of materials may be brought in, but there will be no building. Either the materials will be scattered, or they may be piled up. To be piled up is one thing, but to be built up is another. A heap of material is quite different from a building. To pile material up requires no mending, but to build up that material requires much mending, perfecting, equipping, and attuning. Therefore, in the church we need first the fishing ministry and then the mending ministry.
These four Galileans saw the great light at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry. It was this great light shining upon them that attracted them. It was also this great light that shined into them and made them the light. Eventually, all the followers of this great light became the light, because the great light had been wrought into them.
This is the way to follow the Lord Jesus in the New Testament service. It is not by working for Him that we follow Him. We need to be attracted by His shining, and we need to be transformed by His shining so that we become the light. Then we can be fishers and menders.
The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate issue of these two kinds of ministries. This is the Lord’s intention, and this is what the Lord is doing today. It should be like this, and we need to be in this flow. We need to have the great light wrought into us so that we become the light, sharing either in the fishing ministry or in the mending ministry.