(Sermon began with a group of people standing on a sidewalk looking upward) Back when I was a boy, there was a TV show that always began with this group of people on a sidewalk - pointing and looking up in the sky. Does anyone know what TV show this was? (SUPERMAN) “Look! Up in the sky…. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s superman”
Now, back in 1969, a social psychologist named Stanley Milgram who decided to test if people on a busy street could be prompted to ALL look up at the sky at the same time. What he did was hire groups of actors who were instructed to just stop on a busy street in New York … and then stare up at specific window on a nearby building. When the actors stopped and stared so did a number of other people on the street.
Years later, another social psychologist did the same experiment where he filmed pedestrians reacting to actors – who stopped for a minute and stared at a building-mounted camera. He found that - on average - 27 per cent of the passers-by looked in the same direction as the actors. (https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/what-are-you-looking-at-people-follow-each-others-gazes-but-without-a-tipping-point)
Now, what these experiments demonstrated was - IF you can get people’s attention they’ll often look at what you think is important.
In our text today –Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized and John said “Behold, (look) the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
(THEN) The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold (look) the Lamb of God!” John 1:35-36
(LATER) Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." John 1:45-46
LOOK! BEHOLD! COME AND SEE! These are not deep theological statements. These statements in Scripture are a declaration that – a lot of times – all you need to do is get people’s attention. Just get them to look at Jesus. And IF they can get them to look at Jesus… that simple action can change people’s lives.
ILLUS: A famous preacher (E. Stanley Jones) once said: "The early Christians didn’t say 'Look what the world has come to.' They said 'Look what has come into the world' (Jesus).”
LOOK! BEHOLD! COME AND SEE JESUS!
ILLUS: Back in 1979, there was a movie called “The Jesus Film”. The object of the film was to reach as many people as possible with the story of Christ. It was a simple story of Jesus as described in the Gospel of John, and the creators of the film put it out in over 2000 languages. They displayed it in tribal areas of places like Africa and India where they’d have an electric generator to run the projector and often show the movie on bedsheets. But they also showed it in movie theatres in Europe and Asia and the USA.
And the film had some intriguing results.
For example – in Oslo, Norway one of that nation’s most notorious neo-Nazis and wanted criminals turned himself in to authorities confessed to having blown up an anti-racism center a few years before. He confessed to it! Why? Well, his lawyer said “It was the film that made him realize that he had to show his hand… It has been a long process, but the Jesus film made the difference.”
In Palm Beach, Florida: A 53-year-old man walked into a sheriff’s office and confessed to having robbed a bank in the city two years earlier. He had gotten away with $25,000, and police had no leads on the case. But the thief said he’d decided to come clean after seeing the Jesus film
Now why had these men confessed and changed their lives? Because they had come and seen the story of Jesus, and it had changed their lives. (Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader, p. 271-272)
But what is it about Christianity that changes people? What is it that shakes up people’s lives? Well, it’s Jesus, You see, all the other world religions teach that if you could just clean up your life - that God would love you. But the Bible teaches us that “We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (WE WERE NOT CLEANED UP) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” Ephesians 2:3-5
(GOD CLEANED US UP EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN TRESSPASSES)
How did God do that? By sending His Son to die for us.
ILLUS: A man was visiting his daughter one Christmas and when he walked into the family room and saw his little grandson standing up in his playpen, crying. His face was red and tear-stained. And when young child saw his granddad, his face lit up and his hands reached out… and he pleaded, “Out, papa, out!” What grandfather could resist that? And so he walked over to the playpen and reached down to lift his little buddy out of captivity. Just then, his daughter walked into the room sternly said, “Billy, you know better. You’re being punished. -- Leave him right there, dad.” And she marched back out of the room.
The man didn’t know what to do. His grandson’s tears and outstretched hands tugged at his heart, but he didn’t want to interfere with his daughter’s discipline either. So here he was - standing in the same room and not being able to do anything, but he couldn’t leave without feeling like a traitor. THEN HE HAD AN IDEA! Since he couldn’t take Billy out of the playpen, he decided to climb in with him.
And that’s a very clear picture of what Jesus did for us…He climbed in with us.
We didn’t deserve heaven, but Jesus (who was God in the flesh) came to earth to become just like us so that we’d understand how much God loved us. Someone said it this way: "Jesus was tired and thirsty just like us (John 4.67). He grieved and he wept just like us (John 11.33-35). He was tempted just like us (Hebrews 4:15). He suffered and died … just like us (John 19.28-30)." (https://disciplefirst.com/Jesus-was-god-in-the-flesh-im-not/)
So, how do we introduce people to Jesus? I mean, do we have to understand theology or something? Do we have to take 2 or 3 years of college in order to do this right? Well, it’s always a good thing to know more about Jesus and the Bible. But you don’t need to know a great deal just to bring people to Jesus. I mean… take a look at our passage today.
John the Baptist says “Behold, (look) the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) And that’s pretty much all He says. “Behold – come and see - just LOOK at Jesus.
(LATER) Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and SEE." John 1:45-46
Come and SEE! Just come and BEHOLD who this Jesus is!
So, how do I do that? How do I get people to look at Jesus? Well, one time-honored way is to invite folks to church with you. There’s a verse in I Corinthians that gets overlooked a lot. The church in Corinth had a conflict because there was a group of people who were bragging about a gift they had, that others didn’t. It was a fairly flashy gift – the ability to speak in languages they’d never learned (it’s called the gift of tongues). And it was a legitimate gift in early church. But these tongue speakers felt their gift made them more important than others in the church, and so Paul set the record straight and told them their gift wasn’t THAT important.
“(If) the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” I Corinthians 14:23-25
In other words, if you do church right - if you don’t distract from Christ by “showing off” and trying to point to how important YOU are (which is what the tongues speakers had done) – then people will bow before Jesus. Just get out of the way! Then outsiders who come to Church will SEE JESUS (they won’t see US) and they’ll be convicted and fall on their face in worship of God. So bring people to church – and point to Jesus
Another thing I learned from our passage today was this: we need to meet people where they live! John the Baptist (for example) said “Behold the LAMB OF GOD.” Now, the Jews knew what he meant by that. John the Baptist meant that Jesus was the Messiah… the Promised King. Jesus was the answer to all their problems.
Now (pause) Biblical terminology about Jesus IS IMPORTANT, but our culture is different than the one we read about in Scripture. You tell somebody nowadays that Jesus is the Lamb Of God and you’ll get blank stares. People in our culture don’t understand it. They’re not looking for the Lamb, or the Messiah, of the promised King. But what they ARE looking for an answer to all their problems and that’s where you CAN introduce Jesus - because JESUS is the answer to people’s needs. He’s the way the truth and the life!
ILLUS: I recently listened to a British preacher (named J.John) talk about going to the grocery store. He and his wife had gone to just pick up some milk and bread and they were kind of in a hurry. So, when they go to check out, they find that all of the cashiers were busy with folks who have carts full of groceries they want to buy. But then – THERE was the “10 items or less aisle.” And they only had 2 items – THIS WAS GREAT!
But as they stood in line, there was a lady in front of them that was having serious problems getting her coupons out and getting her money out to pay her bill. And finally, the woman gets everything out, and pays for his groceries… and the register runs out of paper! The preacher watches in agony as the cashier struggles to get the new paper loaded into the machine. And he’s looking at the other lines, and those people were moving along. But not him! He’s stuck in the 10 items or less aisle. And he’s thinking “OH COME ON!” Finally, the cashier gets the paper loaded, and the preacher is about to step up… and he said it was as if God laid His hand on his shoulder. And into his mind came this thought: “This woman is struggling. Her life is a mess… and I can help her.” So the preacher starts out complimenting the cashier about how she loaded the paper. He marveled: “I couldn’t have done that!” And at that moment, the woman begins to weep. She opened up to him (as he’s standing in the check-out aisle) about how her life was falling apart and she didn’t know where to turn for ANSWERS. And the preacher smiled and said “I know a place where you can get answers. Would you like to come to church with me on Sunday?” And SHE DID! She went with him.
That woman was troubled… and Jesus had promised: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
My point? Meet people where they are. Tell them about a Jesus who has the answers to their needs - about a Jesus who cares for them – about a Jesus who can give them peace in their hearts and rest for their souls.
CLOSE: I want to close this sermon by talking about a man who talked about Jesus. His name was Charlie Kirk - and a few weeks ago, he died at the hands of an assassin. At the age of 18 Charlie set out on a mission to change the way America’s youth thought about life and morality…and Jesus. He listened to people, and then he responded by telling them what he thought about whatever topic they raised. His critics were always given first place at the mic, and he would listen to them—sometimes telling his supporters to be respectful even when the person with the mic was harsh or disrespectful to him.
And one of the things that impressed me about Charlie Kirk was that he always started out his sessions with these college students by talking about Jesus… because he knew that Jesus had the answers these students needed in their lives. Jesus was the most important thing Charlie wanted his audience to know about. He said “I realized (what was at stake) in the 5th grade. I'm a sinner, I'm selfish, I'm broken and only thanks to Jesus's perfect sacrifice, coming and living a perfect life that I get something I do not earn but has been given to me, this free gift of eternal life.”
I’m told that, after Charlie died - not only has his organization grown - but more importantly a lot of people have started going to church because they wanted to SEE this Jesus that Charlie loved.
CLOSE: Now this sermon is the 3rd in our series about the fact that our lives aren’t our own. We’ve been bought by the blood of Jesus… and we belong to God now. So our time isn’t our own… we need to use our time for God. And our money isn’t our own… we need to invest it for Jesus. And this week – our testimony isn’t about us… it’s about Jesus. We need tell people: LOOK! BEHOLD! COME AND SEE JESUS!
