Smell Like Fish

Fishermen aren't afraid to get wet!

Jesus invited his first followers to be fishers of men. Fishermen aren't afraid to get wet. No matter how bad the weather gets, you'll almost always see a boat on Lake Springfield, or some dedicated soul sitting on a five gallon bucket in a downpour.

The whole idea of getting wet is that if we're going to be used mightily of God, we have to be willing to go where the fish are! If we don't get out on the water (and into the world) there will not be, nor can there be much of a catch!

Brad shared a book with me called "Eats with Sinners." I wonder if you ever feel like the author Arron Chambers who says, "Interactions... don't just happen for me; I have to make them happen... now I'm a professional Christian, serving as a preaching minister. I interact with lots of other Christians-- professionals and lay people. I play fantasy football with Christians, sit next to Christians at my daughter's volleyball games for the private Christian school where my wife coaches, laugh with Christians, argue with Christians, and play Xbox 360 one Friday night a month with Christian guys. My wife and I host a small group of people from our church on Wednesday nights, and my family and I go to the beach with our moderately dressed Christian friends. Whenever we go to our parents' homes and spend time with our siblings and their families, we are surrounded by Christians. The next time I need a physical, my Christian doctor will conduct the examination. I eat most of my meals with Christians." (Page 11, "Eats With Sinners")

The latest buzzword being whispered among pastors is how we need to become more missional. That means getting wet. Getting out into the world. How does that happen? If you are in a small group, one of two things needs to happen. First, your group can take on a shared mission. Answer, "Together we will..." Second, your group can encourage each person to find and live out their own mission. Ask each person, "What's my mission? How can I live this?"

Jesus' approach is the best and the only effective way to become missional.

John 3:16 (NIV) says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son..."

John 1:14 (NIV) says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

Luke 19:10 (NIV) says, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

John 20:21 (NIV) says, "Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

Matthew 28:18 (NIV) says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

We have to be willing to smell like fish!

So what's next? In addition to getting wet, we have to be willing to smell like fish. You can be out on the water all day long and never smell like fish. But boy, when you smell like fish, you really smell like fish! The only way I've found to get rid of the fish smell is dish soap.

Speaking of fish smell, a while back I got into fishing for catfish. Catfish love shad. The deader and smellier the shad, the better. Sometimes it can be hard to find schools of shad on the Lake. So one day, I was at Walmart and noticed they were selling shad by the dozen in tiny bags. What a great idea! I don't have to catch shad every time I go fishing. I can just keep them in zip-lock bags in the garage!

Here's a word to the wise-- don't store shad in zip-lock bags at room temperature! It took days to air the garage. Lara was not happy. Even the dogs knew I was in trouble. And Lara didn't much like me tossing the dead shad under the bushes in the front yard either! Lara's rule is that I can catch anything I want on the lake, but I have to leave it there!

On a serious note, we're talking about smelling like fish. There are only two ways you can smell like fish. You can smell like a fish if you're catching fish or you can smell like fish if you swim with fish.

Jesus smelled like fish because of the first reason, because he was a fisher of men.

In John 1 Jesus is with Peter and Andrew at the lake, and with Philip and Nathaniel under a fig tree. In John 2 he is at a wedding in Cana where he turns water into wine. In John 3 he's with Nicodemus in his home at night. In John 4 he is with the woman at the well, then enters a Samaritan village, then later heals the son of a Roman official. Jesus was always fishing out there and rarely, if ever, in here.

In Mark 2:14-17 (NIV) we find Jesus walking alongside the Sea of Galilee. "As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the 'sinners' and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?' On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' "

Jesus reeked of fish smell. You might smell like fish if you're fishing for men. We cannot catch a fish unless we're willing to touch (or be touched) by a few fish. In Luke 7:36-39 (NIV) it says, "Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-- that she is a sinner.' "

Jesus was willing to risk his reputation in order to touch people who were far from God. But what about us? What are we afraid of? It's not the healthy who need a doctor, it's the sick. It's not the righteous, but the unrighteous. If we're not willing to get our hands a little slimy by loving people far from God, there will not be, nor can there be, much of a catch.

Smelling like fish requires wisdom, discernment, and prayer.

But smelling like fish isn't as simple as it sounds. It actually takes a lot of wisdom, discernment, and prayer. In John 17 Jesus prayed that his Church would be in the world, but not of the world. Isn't that the tension? Being in and among, but not of? We usually err in one of those two directions!

In John 17:15-19 (NIV) Jesus prays, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

How do we smell like fish without swimming with the fish?

The main reason we should smell like fish is if we're catching fish. The other reason has absolutely nothing to do with Christ's mission whatsoever! Sometimes we smell like fish because we're swimming with the fish. Maybe your life smells awful fishy, but for all the wrong reasons. Maybe your one who swims like a fish, lives like a fish, talks like a fish, acts like a fish, and jokes like a fish.

So what does it look like to be in the world, but not of the world? To smell like a fish, without swimming with the fish?

Matthew 11:18 (NIV) is an interesting verse. Jesus says of John the Baptist, "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' "

John the Baptist was a teetotaler. You'd never catch him making a run on a buffet. You'd never catch him with a cup of beer in his hand. He lived a life of sobriety and complete moderation. Yet at the same time, droves of people were flocking out into the wilderness to hear his preaching. John was actually more popular than Christ during his time. But why?

John's purity made his life all the more relevant, and his preaching believable. It's becoming more rare, but I think it's valid for us as Christians to abstain from drink, and live lives of moderation in regard to food, clothing, and material things. There is something undeniably impacting about living a simple, godly, and sober life that draws people to God.

But here is a note of caution. If you live a simple, sober, godly life, people will feel threatened, and they'll think you live in an alternate universe run by demons. As Peter laments in 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV), sometimes we can be left feeling like, "aliens and strangers" in this world by virtue of our virtuous lives.

Was Jesus a glutton and a drunkard?

But consider the rest of what Jesus says in Matthew 11:18-19 (NIV), "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners'.' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

Whereas John abstained, many take this verse to say that Jesus freely ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners. This may very well be the case. Christians are sharply divided on this issue.

There are several things we do know about Jesus. Though he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, he most certainly was not a glutton and a drunkard. At the very least, he was comfortable around food, and comfortable having beer splashed on him. He'd be a NASCAR fan today. At the most, Jesus drank a little wine. But he was never controlled by wine. He didn't need to have a glass of beer, not like many Christians today. He certainly never got drunk. Instead, he was filled with, and controlled by, the Holy Spirit.

Now why I am saying all this? A lot of Christians use this verse and others like it to indulge in a fishy, compromised, and at times, out-of-control lifestyle. Sometimes we Christians are guilty of using our freedom as a cover up for evil. Our cover story is that we're hanging out at the beer tent, or at Hooters, or at the bar, or at some unsavory place because we want to be relevant. In reality, we may just want to swim with the fish.

Here is what Jesus actually says in Matthew 11:19 (NIV). "Wisdom is proved right by her actions." Wise actions always produce a harvest of righteousness. If your approach is right and your heart is right, your nets will be full. Your indulgence will spawn tangible fruit for God's kingdom. But if your approach is wrong, there will be no fruit, no harvest of righteousness, and no catch to speak of. You've heard the phrase, "Show me the money!" Well, show me the fish!

What did people find compelling about Christ?

I'm not going to give you any rules on how you should conduct yourself among fish. My personal style (that I'd commend to anyone) is closer to that of John the Baptist than how some suppose that Christ lived. But I will say this. What people found most compelling about Christ was his love. His compassion. His sheer generosity. His gracious spirit. His tenderness, mercy, and forgiveness. Yes, his righteous indignation at the first sight of hypocrisy. His moral outrage over the oppression of the poor. His unequivocal proclamation of truth. His holiness. His purity of speech and thought. His zeal for the things of God-- that he was without sin. People were profoundly struck by Jesus' availability, his proximity, his accessibility, his inclusiveness, and his humility.

What they were not struck by was whether he had a beer in his hand, some body piercing, a tattoo, a Jesus t-shirt, had a certain swagger, or wore a particular brand of blue jeans. Ultimately, people see through the superficiality of all these things. The only reason we'd ever care to get close enough to smell like fish isn't to become a fish, but to lead fish into the glorious, saving presence of our God and Savior.

It takes great discernment to smell like fish, to be in the world, but not of the world. Our presence cannot be permissive, nor can our presence be judgmental and aloof. Both Jesus and John the Baptist struck that balance of grace and truth perfectly. They were able to call people away from their empty way of life into the way of God.

In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us to be salt and light. Light both penetrates and drives out darkness. Salt enhances the flavor and desirability of a thing. When you are with people far from God, are you swimming any differently? Are you causing others to swim any differently? Is the wisdom of your approach producing full nets, or is it leaving you and others entangled in sin?