For this month I (Mikaela) will be writing March’s blog on Mending their Nets. I have been studying the book of Ephesians with my women’s Bible study and something was said that really stood out to me the other day. It was that the word equip originates from a Greek word that meant to mend the nets. I found this quite interesting on many levels.
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11-13 NLT
Now I tried to look that up to see if there was a resource to quote about mending nets but all I was finding was just mending or preparing and not specific to nets. But for this blog I really like the analogy of mending each other’s nets.
At my women’s group we were talking about Ephesians 4 and specifically verses 11-13 where it talks about equipping the church. We talked about how much better is it to mend the nets together. How much better it is to equip the body of believers together and not as one solo person who gets burnt out. It is so much better to have others helping with the task.
I think this was so striking to me as we were talking about using our gifts God has given us. Some of the ladies present were saying they feel that they are being convicted to use their gifts through this. Before they thought they did not need to use their gifts because others in their churches had better versions of the same gifts. They were saying how they tend to fall back into such a passive roll. I believe most of us think this at some point in our lives. They were being convicted to use their gifts because they realized that those who may have what appears to be a better version of the same gift may become burnt out.
Then there are others of us who need to remember that the whole body of believers are meant to be there for each other and it does not fall on one person’s shoulders. That was specific to me needing to share this, speak it out, and soak it up. I say that because I have the personality and tendency to see someone in need and think, “Well, I have to help them!” And we fall into the trap of thinking we need to be their knight in shining armor on a white horse coming to their rescue!
But reflecting on equipping as this “net mending,” it sounds so silly to me to think I could do it or should do it on my own. To “mend a net” sounds much better to do in a community rather than mending the net alone. This is not making a pretty blanket for your niece or nephew, but fixing fishy, salty, falling apart nets. It changed my mindset of “look at me I can save people” to “why on earth would I want to do that alone?”
I know that first mindset sounds strong, harsh, and conceited. It is something I am trying to break in myself. I tend to stay quiet so people do not see how prideful I am or can be. And trust me, I know that it is only Jesus who saves people. It was more on the smaller scale for me. The temptation to be the one to come to people’s “rescue” in their time of need with immediately stopping whatever else ministry wise I am doing is strongly apparent within me. When it is better to see or find someone else who can step forward to come and mend their net rather than myself thinking I need to always be the one to come and save said person. It is better as the body of Christ to come into fellowship to help one another in our needs so that we can all use our gifts to mend the net.
This new thought on net mending keeps me from saying, “I have mended all your nets look at me I am such a good leader.” And I got to thinking that the only person by himself who can mend all our nets is Jesus. He is our net mender. He mends our nets in such a way that they can go deeper and go out in rougher conditions. Or if we have been through a rough season, he can give us a whole new net. He can give us the gifts we need for the season we are heading into. He has been the one to equip us and now we can be fishers of men.
1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 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.
8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
Luke 5:1-11 NLT
I know for me so much of the time when I think of fishing and being fishers of men, I think one at a time. Because that is all that fits on one fishing rod. Reflecting on the above passage I realized He said this to fishermen who used nets, they would have understood that fishing for men was not just a one at a time ordeal. Once they really got to know what that meant they could have expected that when they are fishing for men it would be adding to their numbers by the thousands. That is amazing! In the study notes of my Bible for Ephesians 4:12 it states, “God's gifts are given so that believers will build up the church. To equip God’s people to do his work; All believers are called to active Christian service” (NLT Illustrated Study Bible).
Thinking about the comment that a few of my friends were making about how they do not step up to their giftings, made me think what is it that I can do to help with mending their nets. Not mend their nets myself but help them to mend their nets. Both myself and the other leader of this group were out of town recently for this weekly meeting. From the comments left in the group chat the holy spirit aided them to step up and have a fruitful meeting. How wonderful!
The broader version of this topic has been on my heart lately. The topic of building up the church, the body of Christ, building up leaders. Breaking down the lines of denominations because all of us believe in Jesus. I pray this with Jesus about unity in the church. Using our gifts and encouraging the timid to use their gifts. Teaching kids to use their gifts now and not wait until they are an adult. We need to be praying for our leaders and praying for God to reveal our own gifts. We need to be praying how can we be helping the body; how can we be encouraging our brothers and sisters to come out of the shadows and mend our nets as a community being the body of Christ.
“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps each other part grow, so that the whole body is health and growing and full of love.”
Ephesians 4:14-16 NLT
“He makes the whole body fit together.” Amen!
To God be the Glory
Written by Mikaela Shipley