Journeying with John, It’s a Trip (JWJ-10)
Finding Jesus
John 1:43-51
I had to smile this week as I came across some cynical statements that I thought you would enjoy - a few of them I had not yet heard.
If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
He who hesitates is probably right.
No one is listening until you make a mistake.
Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Two wrongs are only the beginning.
Some people just have a way of seeing things that the rest of us miss. This morning I want us to read in the gospel of John about a cynic - a cynic that found Jesus.
Please open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of John as together we finish looking at the first chapter of that book. John, chapter 1, and I would like to read for us from verse 43 to 51.
This morning’s account is one of the most intriguing you will read in the Bible, and I believe as we open this passage together the Holy Spirit is going to give many insight into these Scriptures that you have never had before. This story is so personal and spontaneous that it must have been a story that Nathaniel told again and again about his first meeting with Jesus.
John 1:43-51 - Read - Pray
This morning I do not have any points that form an outline. I did at one stage during the prep - but they seemed too forced, so I dropped them. But I want to talk with you from this passage about “Finding Jesus”
Has it ever occurred to you that it appears if God is so random in His actions and selections – this passage certainly takes me there. I mean, stop and think about it.
• A sovereign God creates millions and millions of angels knowing that one third of them would rebel - and start a war that would ultimately cost millions and millions of soul eternity in Hell.
• He makes a world perfect by even His standards and then turns it over to humans that He knew would mess it up.
• He chooses a people to be His own and then has them crushed and taken off into captivity.
• He sends His Son whom He loves into a world knowing they will kill Him by the most painful death known to man.
• In our passage this morning Jesus walks down the street and randomly chooses disciples. These are 12 people that the entire church will grow from. Somebody said that would be like the President stopping his motorcade one day in the middle of Washington, pointing to some random person in the crowd and saying, “I would like you to be my finance minister.”
Have you ever looked at how random some of God’s ways are? It looked random from where we sat - did it not? How many of us when we look at our lives see the mess – it always looks random until we get to the end. In process, God’s ways often look random - and sometimes painful. But precious believer - in all things God is working for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
Not everybody is out looking for Jesus. The truth is that there are many Atheists who do not believe that this is a God, and many Agnostics who believe there is a God but that He cannot be known. Well those people are not out looking for God this morning. I would suspect that nobody here this morning falls into one of those two categories otherwise it would make no sense for you to be here - unless you really like the free coffee.
But over the years I have learned that those looking for God fall into a number of categories.
The Critics - you get the critics - these people believe there is a God but somewhere along the way the pain of life or the bad experiences of church life of religion just wigged them out - and they developed a critical spirit. Having a critical spirit is a terrible thing because it closes the door to value you may receive or change you may enjoy or revelation you may need.
The Skeptics - these people do not believe - it is not that the have a critical spirit - their problem is not in the realm of intellect, but their problem is in the realm of faith - they simply do not believe that you have the answers.
The Cynics - these are people how have tried and it did not work, they got involved in the church and got hurt. They believed the ideal of Christianity, and somewhere along the way it got messed up for them. The difference between a skeptic and a cynic is that a skeptic never had hope, so they find it difficult to believe, whereas a cynic once had hope, lost it, and now finds it hard to believe.
I love what JFK said about this when he noted, “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.”
The Romantics - romantics are an interesting breed - they have enough reality to know there is truth to look for, but not so much that they are limited by the sterile boundaries of the obvious. They have an idealistic mind-set - and are looking for utopia in church - unless they change their minds they will become cynics.
Somebody said it well when they noted that ‘most cynics are simply crushed romantics.’
The Honest Seekers - I love the seekers because often when you find them they are diligent, they are humble, they understand their need of Jesus.
In our passage this morning we are introduced to a man who was, I believe, a cynic. Now remember what we said about Cynics - they are people how have tried and it did not work, they got involved in the church and got hurt. They believed the ideal of Christianity, and somewhere along the way it got messed up for them.
Let me tell you what I believe about Nathaniel - and why I believe he had become a cynic - and how Jesus ministered to him in such a rich and powerful way that he was instantaneously transformed from a Cynic to a Believer.
Jesus finds Phillip and says to him, “Follow Me.” And immediately Philip does. And one of the first things he does as a follower of Christ is go to his old friend, Nathaniel. Where is Nathaniel? Sitting under a fig tree. Phillip says to him, “Come, we have found the Messiah.” And Nathaniel responds by saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” I do not believe he was being nasty or funny. The Bible said specifically that the Messiah was going to come out of Bethlehem. And Nathaniel knew the Scriptures. And so did Phillip.
How many of you know that bad theology will rob you of ‘truth’ experiences?
You see, I believe that there had been a time when Nathaniel had been a believer - a man of faith. He was diligent and he was hungry. He had been looking for God. But somewhere along the way that inner yearning had been so crushed that he became a cynic.
Like so many Israelites, he bound up his sense of purpose and worth the fact that he was a Jew.
• Was he not part of those who had received the covenants of Noah, of Abraham of Moses?
• Was he not of those to whom the prophets had all prophesied about the bold and wonderful plans and purposes of God?
• Was he not of the people God had chosen from all the peoples on the face of the earth?
• Was he not meant to see the favor of God in the land of the living?
But . . .
• Instead of freedom Israel found themselves in bondage.
• Instead of victory the God of Israel seemed to be no match for the gods of the Greeks and the Romans.
• He had enjoyed tremendous hope, and yet he suffered only disappointment.
• Prophets and teachers wandered throughout Israel proclaiming that the Messiah was coming, yet the Jewish faith seemed bound by Roman chains.
And he had, quite frankly, become cynical. His attitude was "show me the money; I’ve heard all the stories, and they no longer impress me, I am looking for something that is real."
It was not that he had given up hope of believing - it is just that it was hard. He had believed so much, and tried so hard, and hoped for so much - and it all seemed to be a pipedream - no anchor in reality, out of touch with life in the real world. It promises much, but delivered so little, spoke of many and lofty things - but never brought much to the table.
May I ask you this morning - do you feel like that? Has life’s disappointments take away your hope? Did you once believe so hard - and now you ask ‘why?’ You once ran so hard, and now you are not sure what for! It is not that you have walked away from God, it is just that you have well . . . become cynical.
So there is Nathaniel - he may have been sitting under a fig tree - but I cannot but wonder if that is not also an idiom that comes from the Old Testament. You see, in Zachariah 3:10 “In that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.”
In Micah 4:4 speaking of the victory and glory of those who look to that God for deliverance the prophet says that they will “sit under their vine and under their fig tree.”
In Scripture the fig tree is symbolic of effective victory and abundant provision. It was in the Old Testament used to describe what people would do when they had attained the very things that Nathaniel had been yearning for, the very things he had hoped against hope for, believed despite circumstances. Committed to despite opposition.
As a matter of fact, the history books tell us that Israelites would go and sit under fig trees to bring about the prophetic fulfillment, to express faith and trust and to regain hope.
“Nathaniel,” says Jesus, “I saw you. I know your heart. I know your hope. I know your pain. I know your disappointment. But Nathaniel, you may have been beating up in yourself, critical of your thinking, disappointed in the fact that you had not stayed true to the one time passion. You may see pain and regret and guilt. But Nathaniel - let me tell you what I see - I see no guile.”
Phillip said, “Come and See”
Come and see souls redeemed
Come and see lives transformed
Come and see heaven opened
Come and see the randomness of life explained
“You will see greater things than these.”
Not sure that the greater things are about bigger and better miracles, but and Nathaniel enjoying even greater revelation.
You see, I cannot help but wonder if Nathaniel had not been meditating of the Jacob passage at the time when Phillip came to find him, at the time when Jesus saw him under the fig tree. This statement by Jesus that Nathaniel would see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending is an obvious reference to the Genesis 28 passage where Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending.
Now watch this - in that same passage the Lord speaks to Jacob in that dream, and He makes three promises to Jacob.
• First, the land on which he sleeps is the Promised Land, and his many descendants will have it for their own.
• Second, God promises that in Jacob’s seed all nations will be blessed: Among his descendants, the Savior will be born.
• Third, God promises His presence and faithfulness: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." (Gen. 28:15).
Now was that not the very thing Nathaniel was cynical about?
Was ‘under the fig tree’ not the place where Jews would sit to bring about the fulfillment of the prophetic word to Jacob?
Was that not the very reason Nathaniel raised the issue of Nazareth?
Was not the whole issue that Nathaniel was dealing with as he meditated upon the Old Testament passage Jacob’s deceit of his father when he stole his brother, Esau’s blessing? That was known amongst the Jews as Jacob’s guile or deception!
Yet how does Jesus greet Nathaniel? “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
May I tell you what I see Jesus doing?
I believe Jesus was saying to Nathaniel, “I know your heart. I know that you have become cynical? And know how strongly you once believed, how big you once dreamed, how sure you once were, and how passionate you used to be. And I know the pain and the disappointment and the hurt that you now have. I know it look random confusing and wrong. But here is the deal - I will build that great nation, although not like you expected. I am the Messiah, but not like the limited one you have been waiting for. Nathaniel, I am not the Messiah you hoped for, I am infinitely greater than that - I am the Messiah you were created for, the very Messiah you need.”
I believe that same Jesus says to us this morning, “It is not about finding Church or finding religion or finding a better way to live - but here is what is was about - it is about finding Jesus.”
When you find Jesus you find the freedom you are looking for.
When you find Jesus you find the life you are looking for.
When you find Jesus you find the truth you are looking for.
When you find Jesus you find the satisfaction you are looking for.
I believe this passage is about the disciples in general and Nathaniel in particular coming to the realization that Jesus is the One they have been waiting and looking for. He was the Messiah in every way the needed Him to be - perhaps not in the ways they wanted Him to be or even believed He would be - but in every single way they needed Him to be.
That is why Phillip ran and said, “We have found the Messiah.” That is why Nathaniel falls, as it were, to his knees and makes the most profound theological statement beyond any revelation that Peter ever made of Christ, “You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” As a matter of fact, Nathaniel says things here that would take the church hundreds of years to come to understand - and nobody else in all the Bible makes a statement as theologically profound and spiritually deep about Christ as does Nathaniel here.
Why? Because Nathaniel finally found Jesus. And here is what he discovered - it was not random at all. You will never find Jesus but that you discover Jesus was looking for you.
And so it is this morning as we close.
For some of us, it may look random. The pain may be real, the promises fading. There may have been a time when we seemed to believe more fervently, love more passionately, strive more effectively, give more freely - but the truth is we have become cynical. Jesus sees, and Jesus knows.
What we need this morning, is to find the God who has been looking for us, to reach to the Messiah who knows us, who sees us, and who loves us.
Would you pray with me please?
Amen.
