John 1:35 – 51: It only takes a spark - Bringing others to Jesus.
It only take s a tiny spark to ignite a fire and only takes one individual filled with the Spirit of God to ignite others into becoming followers of Christ. It was one man John the Baptist, who saw Jesus passing by and proclaimed, “ look the lamb of God. ” When two of his disciples, responded, and began to follow Jesus one of those Andrew then found his brother told him they had found the Messiah, and brought his brother Simon Peter along to see for himself. Then the next day Jesus looked and found Philip who in turn brought Nathanial to Jesus who believed that Jesus was the Son of God eventually 12 disciples had been formed from those 12 developed to seventy disciples which went out to the villages from the 70 came 120 as on the day of Pentecost that number burst through the roof to 3000, later we read 5,000 came to believe. And commentators say over 10,000 had come to Christ in that first year of the early Church.
Friends It only takes a spark, it only takes an individual filled with the passion for Christ & for the lost to be saved, to ignite a mighty work for God right here in this chapel. Friend’s God wants that spark to be ignited in each one of us. And we can be ignited for God in a diversity of ways, when it comes to telling others & leading others to Jesus, let’s take a look at the passage in front of us to see just that.
1) The spark ignited in John the Baptist- public declaration (35 -39).
Public declaration: From the very beginning of Johns life, even from inside his mother’s womb John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit (Lke 1:15) the spark had been ignited in Him, before he was even born, God had a specific ministry for him to do, (Jer:1:5) as Jeremiah before him, he was set apart as a prophet of God. John was the fore runner to Jesus; he would prepare the way for the Christ, with a baptism of repentance, pointing others to Jesus. John was a public figure, in society, crowds listened to his ministry, he wasn’t afraid of publicly declaring Jesus as the lamb of God (v36) before others, as he does here once again.
Life Application:
Some Christians not all are called to a very public ministry, although God doesn’t call us as Prophets as in the OT sense of the word today, he does call us to prophetic ministries as Pastors, teachers, evangelists, proclaiming declaring the Word of God in this way, this type of spark is a very public ministry, where the declaration of God’s Word is very visible before others, ( whether a pastor before his congregation, an Evangelist in the open air or huge arena or a teacher in a class room/ conference setting) Again like John this type of ministry should never be pointing to oneself but always to Jesus, making much of Him.
And here we see the effectiveness of his public declaration before others two of his own disciples (37 -39 ) after hearing they follow Jesus and begin to sit under the ministry of Jesus and become his disciples the spark had been ignited in the hearts and minds of Andrew & possibly John (not mentioned). Spark begins to fan into a flame & spread. So in this public declaration there is a greater opportunity to communicate to the masses but also to the individuals within the crowds who will respond.
2) The spark ignited in Andrew - personal witness (40-42).
Personal witness: (41-42). We see Andrew has a very different approach from the public declaration, but one which is probably one of the most effective ways, in seeing others won to Christ. It is an approach all Christians are called to partake in, the personal witness of Christ too others. But the first thing that Andrew did before he was to go and seek out his brother and tell him he had found the Messiah (anointed One) and then he personally led him to Jesus.
Personal encounter: (38-39). But before we are to witness in this way there is something we must learn, we must be those who have sat at the feet of Jesus, we must know Jesus for ourselves, note the whole day was spent with Jesus before he even went to witness to his brother, he got to know Jesus for himself before he spoke of him to others.
a) Life Application: Personal encounter: We will only be able to speak, if we’ve genuinely gotten to know Jesus for ourselves, spent time with Jesus, then were equipped, like Andrew to tell others like our own brothers/sisters, sons/daughters, mothers/fathers.
b) Personal witness: Andrew speaks of the Christ to Him , and leads him to Christ. Friends that’s where we need to all start with our own families we too can led them to the Christ, through our own personal witness, that might be straight away after your own conversion, it may well be over a lifetime of witness, or a sudden commencement of witness, but whatever it is we are all called to witness it this way, never give up, don’t leave your family in the dark, don’t allow them to think you faith is of no importance to them, the consequences are unthinkable. It’s upon our shoulders if we negate such a responsibility, to never speak of Christ to them. Be like Andrew and lead others to the Christ
3) The spark ignited in Jesus - providentially seeks out Philip (43-44).
The next day John tells us that Jesus (43) decided to leave for Galilee, where he found Philip and then called Him to follow Him. Was this just a chance meeting? Just a coincidence? Not at all Jesus knew who he was to meet that day just as He knew when he travelled through Jericho he was to meet a man called Zacheaus (Luke 19:5). This was Gods divine providence enfolding out before us, the gathering of the twelve disciples. This simply was the destiny of Philip, that before the time he ever knew. These were the plans of God before the foundation of the World that, Philip on this day, in this region of Galilee, would too be called to follow Jesus in the region of Galilee. (Jn10:27. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me). By the voice of Jesus himself.
This is the profound promise found in Romans Rom 8:29-30. For those whom God foreknew he also predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified He also glorified. Which speaks of God providential call upon the lives of those whom He chooses? From eternity start to eternities end. He has his hand upon those whom he calls and seeks them out.
Sometimes we hear of God himself simply breaking into the lives of people not through any human means , possibly through a dream a vision, ( Asian community) a circumstance in life , which brings a divine revelation, whatever means its as though God/angel of God f breaks into the person’s life, they meet Jesus for themselves. (Acts: 10:3. Cornelius 9; 5. Apostle Paul on the rd to Damascus).
4) The spark ignited in Philip - to personally unpack the Word to Nathanial (45 – 46) .
The Word of God: As a result Philip is moved to witness too and he finds Nathanial, on finding Nathanial, philip unpacks the OT scriptures, he leads Nathanial through the Jewish scriptures. Pointing to the one Moses spoke of and the prophets spoke about.
Life application: We too can speak in this same manner to others we too can reason with others from the scriptures themselves, which point to Christ in the OT and find its fulfilment in the NT, the scriptures convey a message. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit allow those you speak with too read it as you unpack it before them and stand back and watch it work as they read, after all: faith comes by hearing the message, the message is heard through the Word of God (Rom 10: 17).
• We also see this form of witness in (Acts 8:26- 35) With his namesake Philip the deacon and evangelist of Jerusalem as he catches up under the guidance of the Holy Spirit with the Ethiopian Eunuch on his return Journey from Jerusalem , he unpacks the Word of God and points him to Jesus.
• Also consider Jesus on the road to Emmaus, he opens up the Word to a couple of disciples (Lke 24:27) And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them that was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.
Finally with Philip we see an open invitation for further exploration: Philip reasoned from the scriptures – yet despite this - Nathanial was openly sceptical (46) Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip then, simply invites Nathanial to “come & see” for himself. He doesn’t force the issue but leaves Nathanial with an open invitation come and see.... As a result Nathanial encounters Jesus for himself and sees that Jesus knows him right through as a result he (v49) declares Jesus to be the Son of God, the King of Israel, he too become a follower of Jesus.
Life application: Sometimes it may just mean to leave off the scriptures but just leave people with an open invitation to come and meet Jesus for themselves at our services, events , cafe Church, check it out for yourself, no strings attached, as a result others are ignited and become part of the fire.
5) Is the spark ignited in you? - Jesus sees into the inner man & women (47 – 51).
Jesus sees the inner You and me he sees what were really like, he sees with were are spark prepared to create a fire or simply a dude match (47- 48). He wants us to be encouraged to follow Him, he knows our heart responses to Him, he desires us to become more like Him and his disciples in our own witness day to day, whether that means the public declaration of Him before the crowds, the simple one to one witness to friends and family, the unpacking of the Word before others or the simply invitation come and see for yourself, Jesus wants us all to be active in sharing our faith and leading others to Jesus .
Friends, he wants you to be his disciple with the Spirits divine spark which will ignite others to eternal life, he wants us not only to add others to his kingdom, but to bring about the multiplication of the kingdom of God. 1x2x4x8x16x32x64 and so on.....
Friends we too shall see even greater things (50) we believe because of what he has told us ~ we too shall see greater things:
a) People being saved & added to His Kingdom and being changed from glory to glory .
b) Our risen Lord returns to gather his Church.
c) We who are His, shall be changed with the Lord forever, with a multitude of others who caught the divine spark and created a fire for the Lord Jesus Christ, here upon earth throughout the centuries of time.
But until then let’s be about our Masters business proclaiming this wonderful gospel to others, whether publicly, privately, personally inviting others to meet with Jesus; let’s be the divine spark that God is able to use for is glory. Inviting e others to come & see for themselves Jesus.
Amen
