Today we are going to look at another parable of Jesus that speaks to the simplicity of the Christian journey. Matthew 13:47-50 says: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (NASB)
The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary explains the verse as: "the Gospel draws within its pale, and into the communion of the visible Church, multitudes who are Christians only in name; and that the injury thus done to the Church on earth is to be traced to the wicked one. But further, while the former parable (the merchant seeking a fine pearls) gives chief prominence to the present mixture of good and bad, in the latter, the prominence is given to the future separation of the two classes." How true are these words; the visible church we attend is composed of good fish and bad fish. Anyone who has spent any time in a church knows this to be true. What should our approach be to those that appear to be "bad fish?" It is really quite simple. Jesus has told us in the parable that we will be together until the final separation. It is not our place to kick them out. It is our place to love them the way Jesus loves them. While this may be difficult, it is our mission to walk as He walked and He walked in love.
Today focus more on your walk of love to those in your church family and less on their behavior that may convince you that they are bad fish. Deal with them the way Jesus would deal with them. Now this is not a message of conventionalism (i.e. tolerance); Jesus did not tolerate sin, He confronted the woman at the well for her own good. When you walk in love, you may have to confront sin the way Jesus did. Tomorrow we will see how to confront sin to bring about change in others. Today, the focus is on your walk.
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