Apostle Philip: Seeing Beyond The Ordinary Series

Twelve Ordinary Men

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Today we are going to continue the sermon series on the Twelve Apostles by examining the life of Apostle Philip. Before I begin I want to acknowledge that the book “Twelve Ordinary Men” by John MacArthur was used as the foundation for this sermon series. Ever wonder how to reach the sceptics of this world, you know the ones who do not believe in absolute truth but at the same time believe in many gods and paths to heaven? Ever feel like reaching such people is beyond your abilities and as such evangelism should be relegated to the “professionals”? If that is the case then what does one do with 1 Peter 3:15 that says “WE” all should get prepared to give the reason for our hope that we have or Lord, Jesus Christ? When God sends a “seeker” to our doorstep whom better to witness to them than one whom lives the Word and has developed a relationship with them? After all, what skeptic would ever ask us about Jesus if they did not first see Christ’s word being carried out in our daily lives? In examining the life of Apostle Philip in today’s sermon we are going to find out that we as His ambassadors and royal priests have been given the power to witness to any seeker whom God sends our way!

Background on Philip

What little that can be known about Philip comes mostly from the Gospel of John. Philip is a Greek name that means “lover of horses,” his Jewish name is not known. Philip’s genealogy for instance is not given anywhere in the Bible or historically. Like Andrew and Peter, Philip was from the town of Bethsaida (John 1:44) where all of them probably attended the same synagogue. According to John MacArthur, Philip was most likely a professional fisherman along with Nathaniel, Thomas, and the other four apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John (John 21, Mark 1:21, 29; Luke 5:10) who were fishing partners. Philip’s name is listed in fifth place in each of the lists of Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-18; Luke 6:12-15). Apostle Philip is not to be confused with Philip who was one of the seven deacons of the early church in Acts 6:5. After preaching in various areas, Philip most likely “settled in Hierapolis, a city of the Roman province of Asia, and died there, though whether his was a natural or a martyr’s death is uncertain.”

Calling and Leadership Style

The day after Jesus called Andrew, John and Peter; Jesus found Phillip and told him, “follow Me” (John 1:43). Since Philip’s calling took place near Bethany, beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing (John 1:28); it is likely that Philip was one of his disciples. Philip, who had been seeking “the One Moses wrote about in the Law” (John 1:45), not only dropped everything to follow Jesus but also showed he had the heart of an evangelist by telling Nathanael, his friend “we have found” the Messiah! From Philip’s Calling (John 1:43-51), the Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6:1-14), the Visit of the Greeks (John 12:20-36) and The Upper Room (John 14:5-14); we learn that Philip was a “process oriented, by the book, practically minded” kind of guy that was so obsessed with “identifying reasons things can’t be done” that he often overlooked the miraculous. While Philip started out as a pragmatic and cynic, he later matured in the faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit “multitudes came to know Christ under his preaching.” The remainder of this sermon is going to examine each of the above stories and the evangelical lessons that can be learned from them.

Philip’s Calling – Lesson One: “Evangelising Your Friends” (John 1:43-51)

On his way to Galilee Jesus meets Philip and says “Follow Me.” Philip then went and found his friend Nathanael and told him that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, was indeed the Messiah written about in the Law. Nathanael was skeptical to such a proposition! Since “Nazareth was not mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, Midrash or contemporary pagan writings,” why would the Messiah be born in such an insignificant place? Not even the people in the synagogues of Capernaum (John 6:42) or Nazareth itself (Mark 6:1-6) believed that was possible! In response to Nathanael’s skepticism, Philip chose not to try and win over his friend by argument but instead took Him to see Jesus. When Jesus predicted that Nathanael would become a person without deceit, Nathanael asked Jesus how He knew him? Jesus said “I saw you under the fig tree” which was either a reference to Hosea 9:10 or more likely a reference to one of Nathanael’s times of prayer, meditation or study at his how town. Jesus’ supernatural knowledge of Nathanael broke his skepticism and Nathaniel immediately acknowledged Jesus both as the Son of God and king of Israel. Jesus finished his discourse by promising Nathanael a vision, Jesus was the link by which the “realities of heaven will be brought down to earth” (John 3:13), that would forever help him overcome “his disdain for the familiar and commonplace.”