Who Were The First Followers Of Jesus?
John 1:35-51
Most of you know my story how in 1993, I sold everything, gave up my job, and went to Russia as a missionary to follow Jesus. I lived in a residential area in the southeast part of Saint Petersburg. There were around 100,000 people in this one mile long area. It had twelve story apartment buildings.
Once we were settled in, I found an interpreter and then made posters saying, “if you want to find out about the Bible come hear American pastor Ray Geide on Wednesday and Saturday evenings at the local community center.” The first evening two mothers showed up. The second evening they brought their children and others came. Marina and Nadia came that second evening. Marina and Nadia continued to attend our meetings for some time, the others didn’t. Marina and Nadia were my first followers. I would later train Nadia’s brother, Sergei, to be the pastor. This is much like what happened with Jesus.
Our story in the book of John this week shows us Jesus gathering His first followers. I have titled this sermon, Who Were the First Followers of Jesus. Do you know who they were? There were five of them. It begins with two disciples.
1. Two Disciples
John 1:35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
John 1:36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
John 1:37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
John 1:38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
John 1:39 “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.
So John the Baptist sees Jesus. This is probably the next day after he baptized Jesus. He tells two of his disciples, “Look, the Lamb of God.” We don't know if John told them to follow Jesus or not. It doesn't say that he did. But they go and walk behind Jesus. A little creepy. They are stalking Jesus. Jesus turns around and sees them behind him. He says, “What do you want?” They ask, “Where are you staying?” Jesus says, “Come and see.”
This probably was at the Jordan River somewhere. There were a lot of people there. Some probably slept outside under the stars. Others may have stayed with people who had houses around there. There were no Holiday Inns or Motel 6s. We don't know where Jesus was staying. But these two disciples most likely stayed with Jesus that night.
This event led to a third follower, Peter.
2. Peter
John 1:40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.
John 1:41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
Here we are told who one of the two disciples was, the two disciples in point 1. It was Andrew, Peter's brother. Many think that the other disciple was the author of this book, the apostle John. That is not the John previously mentioned here. He was John the Baptist. They are two different people, John the Baptist and John the Apostle.
Andrew went and found his brother. He told him that they had found the Messiah. How did he know that Jesus was the messiah? We don't know. Most likely they had been following John the Baptist because they saw him as the predecessor of the Messiah. So when John said that Jesus is the Lamb of God, they understood that to mean that He also is the Messiah.
Not only did Andrew tell his brother about Jesus, he also brought him to Jesus.
Jesus calls Peter Cephas which is Hebrew for Peter. Peter is Greek for Rock. So Jesus was calling Peter Rocky. “You will be called Rocky” or “the Rock.”
The next follower is Philip.
3. Philip
John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
This is the next day after Peter came to Jesus. Evidently Jesus had already met Philip before because now He finds Philip and tells him to follow Him as He goes to Galilee. He got a personal invitation from Jesus.
The last follower is Nathanael.
4. Nathanael
John 1:44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.
John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Up to this point, it seems that Philip had not told his brother about Jesus. Now he is leaving with Jesus, so he has to tell him. Even so, he sort of beats around the bush. “We have found the one that Moses wrote about, the one that the prophets also wrote about.” He didn't just say that they had found the Messiah. Maybe he was expecting a negative response – a negative response is what he got.
John 1:46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
This was a good response from Philip. He could have argued with his brother, he could have explained why he thought Jesus is the Messiah, but he didn’t. He just said, “Come and see.” That is simple, and it worked.
John 1:47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
John 1:48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
John 1:49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
Jesus took care of Nathanael's negativity with a compliment and a little divine knowledge. “Here truly is an Israelite with no deceit.” That’s the compliment. And “I saw you under the fig tree.” That was divine knowledge. We don’t know what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree or why Jesus saying this had any significance, but it changed Nathanael’s attitude.
When it comes to dealing with people, answering their spiritual questions, or even inviting them to church, we often don’t know what will work and what won’t, but God knows. We may not know what to say, but God does. We need to trust Him. We need to trust Him to give us the right words.
John 1:50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”
John 1:51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
What does this mean? Nathanael never saw this, did he?
Look at the secondary quotes here, where it says, “heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on.” This is a quote from the Old Testament referring to the time that Jacob saw this very thing (angels ascending and descending on a ladder). Maybe Nathanael knew this.
In the story, after Jacob saw this, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Wow. As I have said before, Jesus is here. Surely the Lord is in this place and we are not aware of it. Maybe that is why Jesus quoted this. Because it was true in His time too.
Jacob also said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Wasn’t this true of Jesus? Maybe this was the point that Jesus was trying to make with Nathanael.
Isn’t this also true of this place?
“Surely the LORD is in this place, and we are not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
So there you have Jesus' first official followers. We can learn from the way that they came to Jesus. Two just started following Him. One was asked by Jesus to follow Him. Two were brought to Jesus by their brothers.
People are introduced to our church in the same way: some just come, some are invited, some are relatives.
The word “disciple” is in the beginning of this passage and it is used often of these followers. What does it mean?
5. A Disciple is a Student
The common thinking is that a disciple is a follower. That is true, and that is not true.
The English word “disciple” is actually an old English word that has changed in meaning. Back when it was put in the Bible, it meant student. The Greek word behind disciple has the same meaning, student. A disciple is a student.
The disciples that we have seen today in this story were students. They were there to learn. This is how people learned back in those days. They found a rabbi and they learned from him.
The Great Commission says that we are to make disciples. We are to make students. This is what we do in AWANA, in Youth, and in Sunday School. We really should be doing more of it. We need to go find people, bring them in, and make students of them, students learning about Jesus and His ways.
Conclusion
We have seen the first five followers of Jesus and how that started. They became students of Jesus and helpers of Jesus.
What could Jesus have done without them? Hmm. Jesus needed His followers.
Last Sunday I introduced you to Jesus. I told you that He is the Lamb of God. Who decided after hearing that that they would start following Jesus? OK, I know. I am not John the Baptist?
But what if John the Baptist were standing here? What if he told you that Jesus is the Lamb of God? Would you give up everything? Would you leave everything behind? Your house, your job, your career, your retirement, your comfortable life, to follow Jesus?
What if your brother told you that Jesus is the Messiah? Would you walk with Jesus for days to follow Him? Would you convince your brother, your sister, your children to follow Jesus?
What if Jesus Himself came to you and said, “Follow Me?” Would you leave it all behind?
What if Jesus complimented you and shared some divine knowledge? Would you follow Him? These first disciples did. They left their wealth, their families, their businesses behind. They became poor. Many would end up dying for Jesus.
Jesus still needs followers today.
It concerns me that today people will only follow Jesus if they have time left over, if they feel like it, and if it is something they want to do. Just to get them to come on Sunday morning and on Wednesday evening, or to volunteer, is like pulling teeth. Is this an American problem? Is this an American Baptist problem? Is this a younger generation problem? Is this an older generation problem. I don’t know, but it concerns me. Where are the disciples who give their lives, their future, for Jesus?
Without followers, this church will die, Christianity will die. This church is not asking you to do much. Come to church on Sunday morning and on Wednesday evening, that’s it, maybe a little more if you are serving here. But that’s it. Jesus asks for much more. He wants your life, your all.
I introduced you to Jesus last Sunday. Now I am telling you that Jesus is saying, “Follow Me.” Will you hear Him? Follow Me. To you. Follow Me. To each one here. Follow Me. Will you?
