John 1:35-51
(What do you Seek?)
V.35-37
Again,
the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as
He walked, Looking
= to fix his gaze John zeros in on the man Jesus
Repeats his statement he
said,"Behold the Lamb of God!" 37 The two disciples heard him speak,
and they followed Jesus.
A)John the
Baptist stated his mission as being the forerunner to Christ
B) He was the
voice of one crying in the Wilderness -
1) Not worthy to lose his sandal strap
C) I need to
decrease so that He might increase
John was all about the Promotion of Christ not the
Promotion of Self
A)Goal for
people in ministry: Get people following Jesus Point them to Jesus
B)Timed Release Discipleship is not yrs
1) not into on going counseling Get
people as stable as possible as quick as possible
C)The goal of ministry is not
to get People following You.
1) Problem with a lot of ministries They are so
centered on a personality
D) John wanted no part of that
1) So here with two of his own disciples he declares
See that Guy he is the man!
E) And as his disciples left him to go and follow
Jesus 1) At that MOMENT - John could step back and declare
The preachers eye should be on his
master while he points to his master.
They preach Christ best who see him
best (Spurg)
V.38-39
38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to
them, "What do you seek?"
A)I have
always been fascinated by the questions God asks of man. What do you seek?
B)These four
words go right to the heart of life. It is the most profound question in
anyone's life: "
1)What are you looking for?" Did you ever ask
yourself, "Why am I here? What do I really want out of life?"
C)That is the
most penetrating question you can ask yourself.
1)What do I really want out of life?
D)Some would answer I seek health, others
wealth, others to feel
good, feel secure, safe, feel self-worth, 1)What are you seeking? A wife,/husband, a
better job? E)
Help with raising your kids? More friends, a better personality, a way out of
debt?
The answer
Seeking you
A)What we are
craving found in Jesus
B) 2
Corinthians 1:20 All the promises Yes & Amen
They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when
translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"
39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came
and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about
the tenth hour).
A)Jesus gives a simple invitation: Come and See
B) It was an
invitation to investigate. "Come and find out.
1) Take your time; ask what you want; make up your
own mind."
C) Jesus is
into invitations:
Come & See! (1:39) A call to discipleship not service, that comes
later.
Come & Drink! - (7:37) A call to believe.
Come & Dine! -(21:12) A call to feast w/Him! {Jesus
D) That is the progression we want to see people making Investigate
then taste and see
.
1) Learn to fellowship
I was talking to Dan
Lietz who is going to be teaching Bible next year What our young people need
more than anything is to really experience Christ
A)Too many 3rd and 4th Generation
believers grown up in Christian homes it is not real to them
B) We need to pray that it becomes real Camps
Retreats
1) Head to the heart
They have a real encounter with God
C) I was 2nd Generation: My dad was on his way
to hell he deserved it
1) God saved him
delivered him from Alcohol Changed his life
New man / Kinder / patient
D) That HUGE IMPACT on
me Any time I was faced with doubts I would think about my dad God must
be real no one else could change a man like that
E) But there came a
point in highschool my faith went beyond my dad God spoke to me
1) His word came alive
His presence real
2) Miracles in my life
Our Young people
need that Desperately Apologeitcs is good Experience Jesus -
A)That is why when you
talk to the ones who have been thru a divorce or heavy trial
B)God brought them
through it they Know it there is a difference
C)These guys had a
radical encounter with Jesus on this day and they never left -
1)What they found was so fascinating they could not
tear themselves away .
D)Their lives were so radically changed when they
accepted His invitation, they even remembered the very hour their pilgrimage
with Jesus began.
E)According to John, it was the tenth hour when they
went.
1) Roman time 4pm / Jewish time 10am
2) 10am all day all it took !
V.40-42a
40
One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him,
"We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And
he brought him to Jesus.
A)Andrew finds Peter and brought him to Jesus
B)How many of you were brought to Jesus by someone?
Friend parent neighbor
1) Andrew is always bringing others to Jesus He is
the first evangelist
C)When ever we read of Andrew he is always bringing people
to meet Jesus!
1) Peter
2)Andrew brought the boy w/ the fish & loaves (6:5-9).
30 Andrew brought the Gentiles to
Jesus (Jn.12:20-22).
D)Didnt
preach before crowds but he still made an impact
1) Sometimes we place a big emphasis on making a big
impact God use you radial way
E) Ordinary way: Day to day = Disciples are good
proof of that =
The people we esteem in the Church are often the ones up
front
A) The ones who are in the lime light { Peter
B) Behind so many of them is an unsung hero { Andrew
It was a man by the name of Edward Kimball who had a burden
for a young shoe salesman by the name of
Dwight Moody
A)Kimball was persistent the Young man Moody ended
up coming to Christ became the famous DL Moody Evangelist
B) Set in motion an incredible run - Moody, uneducated and
untrained, yet yielded to God, led Mordecai Ham to the Lord.
Mordecai Ham, though not a great evangelist, was
faithful to his task to preach and shared at a farmers meeting in NC
and only one young man responded his name,
was William Graham to the Lord. And Billy Graham has won countless numbers to
Christ
Another example
In the late 1800's and early 1900's,
Alexander Whyte pastored a large church in
When he heard Whyte's message, he was so
impressed that he returned with Rigby to the evening meeting. As the preacher
spoke, the man trusted Christ as his Savior.
The next morning, as Rigby walked by the
home of Pastor Whyte, he felt impressed to stop and tell him how his message
had affected the other man's life. When Whyte learned that his caller's name
was Rigby, he exclaimed, "You're
the man I've wanted to see for years!" He went to his study and
returned with a bundle of letters. Alexander Whyte read Rigby some excerpts --
all telling of changed lives.
They were men Rigby had brought to hear
the gospel.
Listen you might not be eloquent in your speaking or
even able to remember very many facts about the Bible A)But you can say Come
and See ! That was Andrew Just bringing people to Jesus
V.42b
Now when Jesus looked at him, He said,
"You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which
is translated, A Stone).
3 words describe Peter coming to Jesus: Sought,
Brought, & Caught!
A)He was sought by
his brother, brought to the Messiah, & caught by what he saw & heard!
B)So Simon came. Jesus immediately seizes on the meaning of his name: "So
you are Simon
1)["Simon" means a listener, a hearer, one
who is constantly listening to what is going on around him],
C) you shall be called Cephas." Cephas is Aramaic,
the language that Jesus and the disciples spoke, which is very close to Hebrew.
D) Cephas means "a rock," and John
translates it here, using the Greek word for rock, Peter.
What Jesus is saying to him is, "So you are Simon. You
are now a listener.
A)You are tuned to what everyone around you is
saying; you are easily affected by the opinions and attitudes of others."
B)Rush / C span / ORielly / Hanity Combes -
C) But that would Change remember when Jesus asked
his disciples who are men saying that I am?
1) Interesting that Peter responds Some say Elijah
others prophet the opinions are vast
far and wide
D) Who do you think that I am Peter said you are
the Christ the son of the living God
1) You are the one waiting for !
Jesus said Peter that didnt come from you but that came
from my father supernatural revelation -
Peter
A)Peter was learning to tune into the right voice
B) Peter on roof top
1) Prayer walks
C) { Jesus sees
your possibilities question is who are you going to tune into?
In the hands of Jesus, a man like that can become as
solid and steady as a rock.
When such a man hears the right voice, and follows him above
all other voices, he becomes like Peter
A)a strong, solid, dependable, secure person -- a
rock!
B) On the following day more disciples are added. V.43 Phillip
The following day Jesus wanted to go to
C) Notice that John specifically says, "Jesus found Philip," not "Philip found Jesus."
1) Jesus found him.
D)John tells
us that Philip came from
(and, presumably, James and John, since they
all came from the same area).
E) So Why does John tell us this? Why does he put it
this way?
1) Leads us to ask another question: , "Why
didn't Andrew and Peter bring Philip to Jesus?"
F)They had just found the most exciting person they
had ever met, the one who satisfied all their expectations.
1)He was the Messiah, the Promised One for whom the
nation had been waiting for centuries.
2) Why didn't they bring Philip to him?
Stedman Morgan agrees Possible Suggest to you.
A)The answer is, Philip is the kind of man nobody
ever remembers to bring.
B)He is quiet
and shy; the kind no one would ever think of.
Easy to forget Wall flower
1)The only record of his actions is found here in
the Gospel of John; the other gospels simply list him as one of the disciples.
C) He was intelligent -- he asked some perceptive
questions of Jesus later -- but he is virtually invisible.
D) No one ever thought of Philip, so Jesus found
him.
Hope for shy people
But Phillip snaps out of his shyness after meeting Jesus 2nd Evangelist
44 Now Philip was from
A)By the way, Nathanael is not listed in any of the gospels as being part
of the apostolic band,
B) The reason
is he is called by his patronymic (the
name of his father) "Bartholomew."
1)"Bar" is the Aramaic for son: "the
son of Tolmai,
C) Nathanael Bartholomew is his full name is. Dads
shadow
So Phillip goes after his friend
A)Philip bases his appeal to Nathanael on the
Scriptures: "this
is the one of whom Moses and all the prophets spoke, the Messiah."
B)Then he identifies him in a local context,
"Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
1) That was too much for Nathanael, because he came
from Cana of Galilee,
C) Cana was more popular in that day
46 And Nathanael said to him,"Can anything good come
out of
A)
B) Naz was
off the beaten path,
C)Possible
theological bent to his question
1)Messiah is to be from Bethlehem Micah 5:2
D) Phillip doesnt have an answer so he simply
responds Come and see
Nathaniel is described in the following section, Verse 47:
47 Jesus saw
Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite
indeed, in whom is no deceit!"
A)What would Jesus say about You? How describe ?
B)Jesus knows what is in men. (In the third chapter
we are told that he did not need to have anybody tell him about someone because
he knew what was in man.)
C)The word translated deceit guileKJV is Jacob in the Septuagint.
1)Jacob was tricky. He tricked his brother Esau out
of his blessing and birthright,
1) and his uncle Laban out of the better part of his
goods.
D) Selfish / self seeking / self promoter -
1) But after wrestling one night with the Lord,
What is your name ? Confession
E) Nathaniel wasnt as Jacob In fact it seems from
this account he was seeking God -
48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"
Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you
were under the fig tree, I saw you."
In Jesus day, it was traditional for students to
study under fig trees, the fig tree being the national symbol of the nation
I believe Nathanael was very likely studying Genesis 28
the story of Jacob in the wilderness . . .
A)On the Run a Rock for a Pillow Dream of a Ladder
Angels ascending and descending
B) Jacob woke up and said Truly God is in this
place, and I knew it not,; and he called the place
C) God is here, even though I didnt know it.
The surroundings are barren and rocky physically,
and my circumstances are not good personally yet God shows me He is still
with me presently.
D) Nathaniel is blown away by this
V.49-51
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him,
"Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of
50 Jesus answered and said to him,
"Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?
You will see greater things than these."
51 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of
A)Think back
to your story, Nathanel, said Jesus. The ladder you were reading about is Me.
B)I am the Stairway between the heavens and the
earth. I am the Way to eternity.
1)Upon Me the angels ascend and descend.
As we close this tonight there are three observations I
would like to make that apply to us:
A)The first is:: these were ordinary men. There is nothing unique about them.
B)They were
not special men; they were not unusually intelligent men.
1)They were just like us -- ordinary persons.
C) Didnt go to
1) Just ordinary guys
The 2nd thing
that strikes me is: They were all different
A)Jesus sees
in Andrew one who is inquisitive - Looking searching details come see whole
day.
B)Sees in Peter one who was impetuous Listener tuned into
to everything many voices
1) If Peter will just get tuned into me he can
become a Pillar
C) Phillip was shy and forgotten the kind of guy
who gets lost in a crowd others forget
1) Nathaniel man of integrity
straight shooter but he knows it too
D)Jesus spoke differently to each of them. He
understood them. He took them for what they were.
1)He did not try to make them all fit a pattern or a
mold.
Ministry teams All different Picture of the Diversity that is in Christ
The
final observation is: that is the way Jesus knows us today.
A)These guys were brought
together for a plan and purpose blend together
B) Called to be his
disciples
C) Initial introduction a
few weeks later he would call them to a deeper commitment
1) Leave their boats and
come and follow him