When you read the four gospels, you see several “calls” of the twelve disciples.  There isn’t one of them that says, this is when he was saved.  When was John saved?  Well, it was, um, I’m not sure.  He was saved, but I’m not sure when it was.  What about Peter?  The same.  They were all saved, but Judas, but it isn’t clear what the moment of their salvation was, like someone would know when the Apostle Paul was saved.  That is clear.

I’m guessing that there are readers that think they do know the exact moment when some of the twelve disciples were saved.  For the sake of argument, let’s say that Andrew, John, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel were saved in John 1, which one might call the first call.  I would be fine with that.  I don’t know, but I would be fine with calling those five saved in John 1.  John 1:37 says, “they followed Jesus,” confessed that He was the “Messias,” “the Christ” (1:41), and “thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (1:49).  Jesus said, “Follow me,” and they did.

The second calling, however, sounds very similar to the first, just like it was a first calling, and I bring you to Matthew 4, just after Jesus began His ministry (4:17-20):

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

That also sounds like a salvation call, which also reflects what the Lord Jesus taught in Luke 9:23-25:

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

“If any man will come after me” is salvation language.  Someone who “comes after Jesus” is a saved person.

I direct you though to the Matthew 4 passage.  When someone follows Jesus, He keeps following Him.  That doesn’t mean he will never sin again, but he’s given up His life.  His life is Christ’s, and the language for that is “deny self,” “take up cross,” “follow me,” and “lose life,” as in Luke 9.  In Matthew 4, Jesus adds, I will make you fishers of men.

I’m asserting that if Peter really started following in John 1 that he would continue following Jesus in Matthew 4.  Someone following will keep following or else he wasn’t saved, and the Lord Jesus Christ will make him a fisher of men.  Following Him meant becoming a fisher of men.  Everyone following Jesus He will make a fisher of men.  One is supposed to assume that genuine believers will be fishers of men.  If they are not fishers of men, this implies that they are not saved.

Most churches have no expectations of their members to evangelize.  Most professing Christians have never won anyone to Christ.  They rarely to never preach the gospel, but their salvation isn’t doubted.

The judgment of someone’s salvation has moved away from what scripture says is following Christ.  Jesus preached the gospel in Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Caesaria-Philippi, Perea, and Tyre and Sidon.  He preached it everywhere, but His “followers” preach it next to nowhere.

Church members, as I see it, are less concerned about following Christ and really helping people in an eternal way, which is actual help, as they are into sentimentality and feelings.  Their Christianity is about whether the church makes them comfortable and happy, a place to make friends in a mainly non-judgmental fashion.  The idea of following Christ is hardly in their vocabulary.  They don’t think they should be expected to be a fisher of men.

Following Christ is not some arbitrary arrangement, based upon a personal whim.  It includes all the Lord and Jesus and Christ activities, what He would be doing that we would be doing if we would be following Him.  Instead, people set up a Christianity that they favor and submit to that.  When real Christianity clashes with the replacement, they treat that like the violation of following Christ.  In fact, it violates them.  They aren’t getting their way.

Some would like following Christ to be the music of their choice, not the kind that pleases God, but some kind of worldly rhythm that’s fun for them, that makes them feel good.  They turn following Christ into that which will still be popular with the world, solving people’s social or societal problems.  Following Christ doesn’t have to be much different than not following Christ.

Can leaders expect fishing for men, or do they need to turn following Christ into something else?  They know.  It’s got to be something else.  They’ve designed church around very few to no people being fishers of men.  What’s really important is not hurting feelings and being sensitive, especially to felt physical or psychological needs.

As a result, people who don’t follow Christ think they follow Christ.  They don’t answer the call, because it is a call to be a fisher of men.  It is a salvation issue.  Salvation is not by works.  You don’t get saved by being a fisher of men.  No.  You come after Christ, deny self, follow Him, and He makes you a fisher of men.  You know that when you follow Him, that He’s called you to be a fisher of men.  You want that, because it’s also what Christ Himself does.