Come And See Series

Title: Come and See

Introduction

As a Christian father and follower of Jesus one of my greatest concerns is my family’s faith. It is my hope that when my time ends on earth and their time ends here on earth that I will get to see them again in eternity. And I dare say, “I don’t think I am alone.”

Go to just about any funeral and the family left behind will say thing like “She’s dancing with Dad now”; “He's hugging Suzie now”; "He's with his sister."

In fact, you are probably here today because you either believe that there is something beyond this life or you are exploring the possibility. And if the funerals I have been to are any indication, you want to make sure you meet your family there.

And it leads to a question. How do I make sure my family is there with me? If that is important to you, I want to invite you to explore with me our text from the gospel of John.

Text:

John 1:35-50

John 1: 35-37

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

We saw that same phrase, “The Lamb of God” in the previous verses we studied last week. We concluded that it was an O.T. reference to the sacrificial system of the Jews in which Jewish families would present a lamb to be sacrificed during the season of Passover to have their sins removed - at least for another year. John the Baptist uses this imagery to describe Jesus. Verse 37.

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Textual Notes:

Last week we talked about John the Baptist and how he understood his role was to serve as a witness to the light. We see that again this week. John points his disciples to the true identity of Jesus and he wasn’t about to selfishly hang onto those who were following him or call them his own. It was never about him, or HIS ministry, or HIS followers. Instead, his ministry was focused on the inauguration of the Kingdom of God in the form of Jesus. He had a different perspective than gathering his own little group of followers.

There’s a valuable lesson that we can learn from this passage. Our goal must not be about making “followers of John Sears.” We want to invite people to come and meet Jesus. Our goal is not be to make “Elm Street-ers.” Instead, our goal as the church is to declare “Look at the Lamb of God” and to point people to follow Jesus. And if people are going to Monroe Street, or West Side, or Lakeside, or Southside, and they are meeting Jesus, THAT is a Kingdom win. We should not seek to flip them to our church if they are in a place where they can learn to be a better follower of Jesus.

Back to our text, listen to what happens.

John 1:38-39

38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

Text Notes

I have to tell you I would have loved to be privy to this conversation. I would love to have a detailed account of what Jesus shared with them. The word for word transcripts are not recorded anywhere in the N.T. Unfortunately, we don’t know what was specifically said. But we see the results of one of those disciple’s time with Jesus.

John 1:40-42a

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus….

Illustration:

Those of you who have children, do you remember how you felt when the Dr. said, “Your pregnant?”

For some of you it was probably a shock; for others you hoped to hear those words. Dads, do you remember when your wife told you? I remember – and after I got over the initial shock and as my wife’s tummy grew in size, I began to eagerly anticipate that child entering the world.

I had questions. Would it be a boy or a girl? What will she look like? Will she have my eyes, or my nose, my ears…Lord please don’t curse her with my ears. There was an anticipation taking place in the coming of my children. And as excited as I was, I know it was probably even greater for you moms as you carried that child to term.