FOLLOW THE LEADER
John 1:35-51
S: Discipleship
Th: My Life as God’s Light
Pr: WE ARE TO FOLLOW JESUS.
?: Why?
KW: Reasons
TS: We will find in John 1:35-51 four reasons why we need to follow Jesus.
The ____ reason why we need to follow Jesus is He is the…
I. SAVIOR (35-37)
II. TEACHER (38-39)
III. MESSIAH (40-46)
IV. LORD (47-51)
INDUCTIVE
RMBC 1/21/01 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Expectation (5)
Frank believed that five was his spe-cial number. He was born on May 5, had five children and lived at 555 East 55 Street. At the track on his 55th birth-day, he was surprised to find a horse named Numero Cinco running in the fifth race. So five minutes before the race, he went to the fifth window and put five thousand down on Numero Cinco.
Sure enough, the horse finished fifth.
Well, poor Frank…
His trust was in a number, or the fortune behind a number…
Not very reliable, was it?
You know…
1. We look to follow that which is reliable.
But sometimes we learn the hard way, don’t we?
We don’t find that the path we are taking is not trustworthy until it is too late.
ILL Personal—Dog
Nothing teaches us more about trust, I think, than a dog. I have to admit that I am amazed at our dog, even though I am no dog lover. But our dog is a real people person, and he is, literally, always underfoot. When we move to one room to the other, he follows. If we lay down on the couch, he lays down on the floor below us. If we are eating, he is laying down under the table, very hopeful for something to come his way.
I don’t fully understand why, but he trusts us. Even if we fail him, by not feeding him or not walking him, he is always looking to us for his needs and friendship. Anytime that we call, he is there, ready to go.
It brings to mind, this question…
2. Who do you trust?
Who do you depend on?
Who can you rely on?
Is there anyone that is always there for you?
ILL Notebook: Help (crazy Indian)
There was this man who overheard a conversation about God between two believers. He interrupted them and told them he didn’t believe in their God and could they just keep it down. So, they engaged him in conversation about God and he said, “Yeah, I tried your God one time. I asked his help once when I was stuck in the desert. Dying in the glaring sun, I cried out for God’s help." One of the men said, “Well, something must have happened. You’re here now.” The guy said, “Not really. Some crazy Indian came along and saved me.”
I wonder, sometimes, how often I misinterpret the help that is offered to me.
We call it coincidence or luck, but what we need is an open mind.
We need discernment to understand what is going on around us.
OUR STUDY:
As we continue our study of the gospel of John, we come today to the end of chapter one.
For the last two weeks, we have been considering the person of John the Baptist.
The Baptist was a different kind of guy.
He was not at all like the religious types of that day, or our day for that matter.
Instead of looking for popularity, a following and a nice comfortable building to meet in, he preached out in the wilderness with an uncompromising message of repentance.
And he did not seem to care if you believed him or not, he was just doing his job.
His job was to prepare people for the One that was coming.
He was forward looking, and as we come to our text this morning, we find that he is ready.
Note our text…
(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!” (37) When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
John the Baptist discerned what was going on.
He gets it right.
He is an amazing type of guy, because when Jesus arrives on the scene, John shifts gears.
It is time to decrease.
It is time to be less.
It is time to point to someone else.
It is time to see God on the move.
So John tells two of his disciples, that it is time to move on.
We know that one is Andrew.
The other, is most likely the author of this text, the apostle John.
“There He is!”
“There is the One I have been telling you about.”
“Look the Lamb of God.”
“Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
So…
1. John the Baptist announces that Jesus is our Savior.
They would have understood it as so.
They understood the significance of the lamb.
In the old covenant, it was the innocent lamb that took on the guilt of sin.
The lamb was killed so that the Israelites would know the terrible cost of the reality of sin.
For Andrew and John, they knew salvation was at hand.
So they followed the instruction of their teacher, and went to Jesus.
(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 spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Jesus sees them coming and asks, “What do you want?”
“What are you after?”
I wonder if they knew what they really wanted.
I wonder if they knew what they were after.
Certainly…hope…a hope to see God on the move.
It was a time of economic, national, and perhaps most important of all, spiritual desperation.
They needed a leader they could trust.
So…
2. The two disciples investigate the new teacher.
This is not a tentative inquiry.
They want to know Jesus.
They want to know where He was staying, for they were looking for a long talk.
They wanted to investigate why the one they had been following, John the Baptist, was so excited about Jesus.
You know what I really like here…
3. Jesus invites their scrutiny.
“Come…and you will see.”
That is Jesus’ response.
Jesus makes sure that they know He is accessible.
He invites them to check Him out.
“Let’s visit.”
They come, and it must have been a remarkable visit.
They must have been absolutely captivated.
For look at the response…
(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. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
ILL Notebook: Jesus (Jesus’ grandma)
Did you hear about the child who came home from her first time at Sunday School? Mom wanted to know how things had gone and what the little girl thought about the experience. She was hoping that her daughter liked it and would want to continue going. So Mom asked, "How was it?" The little girl replied, "Oh, it was fine and it was fun. But I think my teacher was Jesus’ grandma!" The mother looked surprise and asked, “Why do you say that?” And the little girl replied, “Because she kept showing us pictures of the baby Jesus. And He’s all she talked about.”
4. The encounter with Jesus persuades them that they have found the Messiah.
Andrew may not have been the most persuasive guy in the world, but he was persuaded.
He was persuaded enough to go get his impetuous brother, Simon.
“Simon, you have to check this guy out…we have found the Messiah.”
Although, it is not mentioned directly, it is apparent that John also went to get his brother, James.
The English translation doesn’t help us here, but the Greek text tells us that Andrew was the first one to get his brother, giving us the implication that John also went to get his.
Anyway…Andrew brings Simon and immediately, he gets something out of it.
He gets a new name, “Rock.”
We call him Peter.
Now, we know it is going to be years before he shows any rock solid characteristics, but Jesus gives Peter new vision and new character.
He offers him a new life.
And the story goes on…
(43) The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” (44) Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. (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.” (46) “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
Jesus finds Philip.
I kind of like this, because, apparently, Philip is the kind of man nobody ever remembers.
He is quiet and shy.
But Jesus sees his importance and reveals Himself to Philip.
Philip may not have been voted most likely to succeed, but just like Andrew and John, he was persuaded.
He became, as one commentator said, “a lighted torch ready to light another torch.”
Philip goes to Nathanael.
We are not made aware of why he goes to Nathanael.
It is probably that they were very good friends.
Nathanael’s full name was probably, as we consider the other gospels, Nathanael Bartholomew, or literally, Nathanael, son of Tolmai.
Philip is very convinced!
“This is the guy!”
“He fulfills all the prophecies.”
“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.”
Now I wonder if Nathanael was getting a little excited, until Philip tacked on that last piece of information.
Nazareth?
“Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?”
You see, Nathanael was from Cana, just a few miles away.
And as far as he was concerned, coming from Nazareth was like coming from the wrong side of the tracks.
It was like a cross-town rivalry.
Nazareth was a dusty, little village, hardly worth the acknowledgement.
But there was something more to Nathanael’s skepticism.
It is apparent that Nathanael is knowledgeable about spiritual matters and knows there is no prophecy about the Messiah and Nazareth.
The Messiah was not coming from Galilee.
The skeptic in him is not predisposed to accept such an extravagant claim.
But Nathanael is going to learn a great lesson here.
It is that…
5. Sometimes great things come from strange places.
I really appreciate Philip’s response here.
It is, “Come and see!”
He doesn’t fall into the temptation to argue with his friend.
He just tells him, simply, “Come.”
“Come and see.”
(47) When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” (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.”
Jesus stops Nathanael right in his tracks.
For Nathanael learns this important truth…
6. Jesus knows us.
For Jesus describes his heart and character accurately.
There was nothing false about this guy.
He was not a deceiver.
Nathanael didn’t play the politics game.
You didn’t have to guess where you stood with him.
He was straightforward.
And as far as Jesus was concerned, he was a true son of Israel, a very high compliment, indeed.
For it is as if Jesus is saying, “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob.”
Then Jesus testifies that He saw Nathanael under the fig tree.
Being under the fig tree, in ancient Jewish times, was either literally or figuratively, a place of reflection, study and meditation.
You were under the fig tree if you were looking for God.
And though we are not told exactly, there seems to be some outstanding spiritual experience that Nathanael has had that no one knows about…except for Jesus.
Nathanael’s conclusion is quick and decisive…
(49) Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Nathanael doesn’t hesitate in his conclusion.
He attributes to Jesus a religious title, “Rabbi.”
He attributes to Jesus a divine title, “Son of God.”
And he attributes to Jesus a national, sovereign and messianic title, “King of Israel.”
He sounds pretty convinced to me.
Yet, this will not be the end of it.
You see…
7. When Jesus becomes our Lord, we haven’t seen anything yet.
Nathanael knows that Jesus is his King and Lord.
But I really like Jesus’ response here.
Jesus promises even greater things.
It is as if He said, “Nathanael, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
(50) Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” (51) He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus refers to the vision of Jacob found in Genesis 28.
It is the dream we call, “Jacob’s ladder.”
And the thought that is here is of the communication between heaven and earth.
Jesus says to Nathanael, “There is all kinds of traffic on your behalf between heaven and earth. And Nathanael, I am the ladder. The realities of heaven are brought down to earth through me.”
You see, Jesus is Jacob’s ladder.
APPLICATION:
1. Come and see…
That is my invitation to each of you this morning.
Come and see…
1.1 Savior
Come and see the Savior.
Come and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
1.2 Teacher
Come and see the Teacher.
Come and learn from the Rabbi whose knowledge cannot be surpassed.
Come and sit at the feet of the One who knows you better than you know yourself.
1.3 Messiah
Come and see the Messiah.
Come and investigate the one who fulfilled prophecy after prophecy.
Come with all your skepticism, with all your doubts.
Come and see…
1.4 Lord
Come and see the Lord.
Come and see the One who makes the rightful claim of King of kings and Lord of lords.
ILL Notebook: Evangelism (get me anybody)
There was a woman who won a considerable amount of money in a contest. She was so excited she was shaking. And she was so excited she couldn’t remember anybody’s number. So she dialed the operator and said, “I just won $100,000! Get me anybody!”
You can’t help and notice that this was the attitude of Andrew as he went to get his brother, Simon.
You can’t help and notice that this was the attitude of John as he went to get his brother, James.
You can’t help and notice that this was the attitude of Philip as he went to get his friend, Nathanael.
It was something that had to be told.
Come and see…
And follow…
2. FOLLOW THE LEADER!
Jesus calls on each one of us today to follow Him.
He says, “Follow me…”
He call us to be His disciples.
And what a calling it is, for it is in this calling that He gives us meaning and purpose.
With that meaning and purpose, our lives become brilliant, colorful, exciting, and effervescent, all because of Jesus.
Come and see…
And follow a Leader worth following.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Come and see…the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world—the Savior who has come to take your sin.
Come and see…investigate, scrutinize and examine the One who has fulfilled prophecy after prophecy—He invites you to do so—so that you may know Him as your Messiah.
Come and see…the One who knows you better than you know yourself and find out that you can follow the Leader—the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now…may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
