CHRIST, THE OBJECT OF UNDIVIDED ATTENTION
[p. 297] CHRIST, THE OBJECT OF UNDIVIDED ATTENTION
Beginning with Abel and right down through the types, one person is outstanding in each epoch and such affords an object for faith, as typical of Christ. So faith is tested in an object, one object for undivided attention; that is what is in the mind of God; He would draw that out in us. One could cite many instances, even in hostile instances, when it was said of Christ, that the eyes of all were fixed on Him. And what has been said suggests all this. Moses became an object, even for the many persons who did not go with him, but specially for those who sought the Lord. Others stood in the doors of their tents, and looked after him, but that leaves us in our tents, where we may be surrounded with idolatrous or other influences. They stood in their tent doors and looked after him, for one who is representing God here below is capable of affecting even such people; and yet it adds nothing to them at all, save that it makes them more responsible.
Now this verse has, you might say, in the Lord’s ministry, reference to what we call business. We are resident, most of us, in this great business metropolis. It is the recognised business metropolis of the country, perhaps, in a way, of the world, and this item of the Lord’s ministry fits in peculiarly with this community. It is a place where there is the idea of holdings or belongings, blocks of property and stocks, bonds; persons engaged in these things are numerous comparatively, although their holdings may dwindle or become enlarged overnight. It is a centre of that kind, an immense centre, and we are in it and sure to be affected by it. Only as in the Spirit do we emerge [p. 298] from and survive such influences; especially as business advantages and results add to us, and it seems to be quite legitimate to our mind to enjoy such things, but what is legitimate is often most harmful, because it eases the conscience. The conscience is not brought into it.
And so this section begins with the idea of the business of a certain man, the fishing business. It is one of the fishing scenes of the Scriptures, and the Lord is seen entering into it in the beginning of the chapter. It says, “And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s”. Now this is a remarkable scene, for the Lord is engaged in His own fine that He came here for. He is “The Word” Himself, and is engaged with the word of God, we are told. He was never deflected in the least from His own proper service by any incident. The Lord was always engaged with what should engage Him, the word of God here. Many were present to hear; it was evidently an interesting time, and the Lord takes advantage of two empty boats, boats that had been used well, used profitably. Their owners, or the fishermen, were gone out of them, it says, and were washing their nets; that is, they were clean business-men, as we might say, for as in a business centre like this unless this cleanness affects us, we shall not be available for what the Lord is engaged in. We may turn aside in the evening several times a week, or perhaps not more than once a week — business would hold us otherwise perhaps. But here, although Simon was evidently one of those washing the nets, well employed, he was not far away. The boat was under his eye, and as the Lord entered to use it, he was ready to take part in what the Lord was [p. 299] doing. He was drawn, in spirit, from the height of business activity, to be with the Lord in what He was doing. There is a readiness to turn aside to what the Lord is engaged in. He is not affected by the buzz of business in a boat, not in the least. He is supreme; He walks on the waters; He is going on with His own line of things. How suggestive all that is to me, dear brethren! We are occupied with the Lord’s things on the Lord’s day, but He is occupied with them on Monday, and all the other days of the week. It is His own line, and He is never deflected from it. Peter, although his boat is empty, is there; he is not far away, and the Lord is going on with His fine of things, not Peter’s business, and He is quite ready. It says, “He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him”, for he was near by, “that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship”. That ship would scarcely be mortgaged. You can understand that it would be free; the Lord would regard it in that light. It was Peter’s. And he was available to the Lord, and the Lord sits down there undisturbed.
Now I speak of all that, dear brethren, so that it might come to us in our setting here, because whatever the business may be, it is to be washed; it is sure to affect the brethren unless it is washed; so that the proof of superiority to it is that I am ready to join with the Lord in what He is doing. It is not what you are doing, you are washing your nets, and doing well, but it is what the Lord is doing. He is setting forth the word of God, and that is what I am to do. I am to leave my end of all my matters; whatever I have, and allow the Lord liberty there, and He will have liberty there, and what an honour it is that He should wish, dear brethren, that there is nothing to repel Him in my business circumstances. Peter is ready.
[p. 300] Now I just mention all these things briefly to suggest all this, and the result of the Lord’s coming into one’s circumstances in this way, really, as I might say, on the Monday, in the height of business pressure. I turn aside and lend myself to the Lord, and He accepts it in effect; He seeks it, and is it not so, that He is ready? He will always seek it from the most occupied person; the Lord will say, ‘I would like your attention; I am going on with something; I am not ignoring what you are doing, but I am going on with something, the greatest possible thing; that is, the word of God’. The word of God is brought in where man’s mind is so full, and though one’s mind is so occupied and full, one is really delivered in the midst of that, from the height and the pressure of business; one is free to be with the Lord.
Now that is the setting, and you all know the story of how Peter is reached here. Luke gives us a peculiar history of Peter, not like that given by Matthew and Mark. This is how he is reached, not to enlarge upon it but only to show that in this setting there were partners. Partners are testing to each other, and if we have partners in business, that experience ought only to qualify us to be partners in spiritual things, and that suggests that spiritual things are a partnership. There are two words used; the first word is that the partner is available; he could beckon to him; that is, I can call on the brethren; normally, I can call on the brethren; I can beckon. He beckons to his partner. The Lord had given him great prosperity. Peter did not lose anything in these matters, nor shall we ever lose anything in turning aside and saying, ‘Lord, Your matters are greater than mine; You are dealing with eternal matters; I am dealing with temporal’. The Lord will see that you do not suffer, nor did Peter suffer. He had a great catch, and the partners were near. Would to God that we might just get this little thought of the partners! There are [p. 301] two words, as I said, the one is that they were each moving along, each having his own part, but that they were at the beck and call of the brethren; they were ready; they came, and this matter was suggested. The Lord did not help them to fill the ships; it is for you to do that. You say, The Lord will do it, but it is for you to do, and in matters that are needing adjustment amongst us, it is for us to settle amongst us. The Lord did not do anything in regard to the sinking of the ships. They did; they were partners. And then in verse 10, they shared together in astonishment, and that is what I call the real responsibility of partnership; that we shall share together in some work of God. They were astonished, we are told. It is a different word used for partners, because it means sharing good things. It is not like simply getting things, and having friends to help adjust matters, but to share the good things of God, as common partners, as in Acts 2. It says in verses 9, 10, “He was astonished, and all that were with him ... And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon”. You see they were partners. It is another word there, not simply what we had here tonight; not simply that we beckon to one another, but that we are sharing, sharing here in the things of God. It is for all; we share alike. “He was astonished, and all that were with him ... also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon”. That is the state that is brought in, the happy result of the work of God; the great miracle of the fishes, equally enjoyed. And what does this astonishment lead to? A greater appreciation of Christ, that He is the undivided Object of their attention. That is the idea; that we become one in contemplation of the Lord. And so it says, “Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men”. That is, it is not a question of grabbing after what this great city affords; it does [p. 302] afford immense opportunities for ability, if one knows how to use it; nowhere on earth are there more opportunities for material things than in this city, but the Lord says, ‘That is all over; it is what I am going on with’. He brings out the value of men, real men.
Luke brings that out: “Good will toward men”, not wealth, material belongings, but men. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”, Luke 2:14. This is what the Lord seeks, and the word of the Lord affects men; it brings the word of God into men and changes them completely about, and makes them more like a race after all.
Dear brethren, this is a wonderful thing to my mind. The Lord says, ‘You will be catching men’; not, ‘You will seek to do it’, but ‘You will be doing it; you will succeed’. What an opportunity to turn aside, wholeheartedly, to see the great line of things that the Lord is engaged in, and have an active part in it; then it says, “When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him”. That is what I am thinking of, one of the finest things you can get, at the very height of their prosperity, they forsook all. So fully was the Lord in their hearts and minds, that they forsook all, the one Object fills the minds as Colossians puts it, “Christ is everything, and in all”. So they forsook all, and they followed Him.