The Dragnet
Have you heard the phrase, “Now, But Not Yet” ? Hold on to that thought for a sec.
At Backyard Conversations, we are working our way through a series of blogs that focus on the teachings of Jesus that describe the Kingdom of God.
As we have seen, Matthew 13 is filled with these stories. Jesus is making it clear that merely “inviting Jesus into our heart” is just the first step in our new lives in Christ. He demands every part of us, not just a home in our heart. His expectation is that in “giving our lives to Christ” we understand that we have abandoned the allegiance of our soul from the fallen world’s system and broken values.
Jesus demands that we obey His commandments (John 14:15) and that we then pursue His Kingdom priorities (Matthew 6:33, Matthew 9:8, Mark 10:21, and dozens more).
Some of his parables are short and to the point, like the one we explored in our last blog.
In a little book by GE Ladd called The Gospel of the Kingdom, Ladd uses the phrase “Now, but not yet” to describe the paradoxical reality that the good news of the coming Kingdom under the reign of Jesus is here at last on earth, (the “now” part) but will be fully realized some day when Christ returns (the “but not yet” part).
To drive home this duel reality, Jesus tells parables that teach into “the now” but also some that speak to His future, fully manifest Kingdom. Like this one that speaks to a moment in the future:
In the parable the net is full and taken to shore where the fishermen would begin separating the edible, saleable fish from the worthless fish. The edible would be placed in containers to keep fresh in order to transport. The inedible were simply thrown away. The people of Jesus’ day, especially around Galilee, had seen this happen all of their lives.
In this parable Jesus goes ahead and actually takes the comparison one step further in order to reveal the similarities that exist in the spiritual realm. He explains that this parable points to the end of the world and a time of judgement. Since He said that the kingdom is like a net thrown out to catch fish, the judgement here refers to the people, who are in the kingdom, the ones who have been taken in the net.
We know that the “net” is the gospel, which is cast out into the world bringing in all kinds of fish (people) into the kingdom. Jesus says that at the end of the world the angels will separate the true disciples (good fish) from the false disciples (bad fish). The good go into the containers (the many rooms of the Father’s house), the bad will be thrown away (into the darkness with bitter weeping).
Jesus teaches that all kinds of people find their way into the kingdom – for a while. The net brings all in. The requirements to be a participant of the church allow for seekers of course but it also permits even insincere or evil people to be included if they want to. We ought not to be surprised or discouraged when we see someone naming the name of Christ but not acting like a Christian – Jesus said this would be normal.
It ends up being pretty simple:
We are not done with this look into the future Kingdom. The next time we have a backyard conversation we will be in Matthew 25 chatting about sheep and goats. Good Fun!
This is Dave Scherrer and thanks for connecting here at Backyard Conversations at One Hundred-Fold Ministries!
At Backyard Conversations, we are working our way through a series of blogs that focus on the teachings of Jesus that describe the Kingdom of God.
As we have seen, Matthew 13 is filled with these stories. Jesus is making it clear that merely “inviting Jesus into our heart” is just the first step in our new lives in Christ. He demands every part of us, not just a home in our heart. His expectation is that in “giving our lives to Christ” we understand that we have abandoned the allegiance of our soul from the fallen world’s system and broken values.Jesus demands that we obey His commandments (John 14:15) and that we then pursue His Kingdom priorities (Matthew 6:33, Matthew 9:8, Mark 10:21, and dozens more).
Some of his parables are short and to the point, like the one we explored in our last blog.
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Matthew 13:52
“And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure both what is new and what is old.’”
In a little book by GE Ladd called The Gospel of the Kingdom, Ladd uses the phrase “Now, but not yet” to describe the paradoxical reality that the good news of the coming Kingdom under the reign of Jesus is here at last on earth, (the “now” part) but will be fully realized some day when Christ returns (the “but not yet” part).
To drive home this duel reality, Jesus tells parables that teach into “the now” but also some that speak to His future, fully manifest Kingdom. Like this one that speaks to a moment in the future:
-
Matthew 13:47-50
47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In the parable the net is full and taken to shore where the fishermen would begin separating the edible, saleable fish from the worthless fish. The edible would be placed in containers to keep fresh in order to transport. The inedible were simply thrown away. The people of Jesus’ day, especially around Galilee, had seen this happen all of their lives.
In this parable Jesus goes ahead and actually takes the comparison one step further in order to reveal the similarities that exist in the spiritual realm. He explains that this parable points to the end of the world and a time of judgement. Since He said that the kingdom is like a net thrown out to catch fish, the judgement here refers to the people, who are in the kingdom, the ones who have been taken in the net.
We know that the “net” is the gospel, which is cast out into the world bringing in all kinds of fish (people) into the kingdom. Jesus says that at the end of the world the angels will separate the true disciples (good fish) from the false disciples (bad fish). The good go into the containers (the many rooms of the Father’s house), the bad will be thrown away (into the darkness with bitter weeping).
Jesus teaches that all kinds of people find their way into the kingdom – for a while. The net brings all in. The requirements to be a participant of the church allow for seekers of course but it also permits even insincere or evil people to be included if they want to. We ought not to be surprised or discouraged when we see someone naming the name of Christ but not acting like a Christian – Jesus said this would be normal.
It ends up being pretty simple:
- If you believe and respond to Jesus in faith – you’re in the kingdom.
- If you disbelieve or refuse to respond – you’re out of the kingdom.
We are not done with this look into the future Kingdom. The next time we have a backyard conversation we will be in Matthew 25 chatting about sheep and goats. Good Fun!
This is Dave Scherrer and thanks for connecting here at Backyard Conversations at One Hundred-Fold Ministries!