Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
It has been a few weeks since we last looked at the Gospel of John together. We are at the very beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus. This is the time when John the Baptist announced Jesus as the promised Christ and when Jesus began to call those who would be part of the twelve disciples or followers who would be with Him throughout His public ministry.
And I hope at least some of you remember that we have been looking at this section of chapter 1 under the theme of Witnessing 101. 101 courses are introductory courses at university. And in this section we have a case study of how to be a witness for Jesus. But we will come to that in our second point as we look at the example of evangelism that we see in this passage.
We want to begin though by just walking through this passage to understand and enjoy and benefit from what is described here. Most of what we read here is a plain account of certain events that happened. So we just want to look at those aspects of this passage that are perhaps not quite as obvious or easy to understand. So the first half of our time together will be an explanation of events and then we will look at the example of evangelism.
- One of the fascinating things about the life of Jesus is that the Bible gives us four accounts of His life in the different Gospels. And each Gospel author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had a slightly different perspective or purpose in recording the events of the life of the Lord Jesus.
- Well this means that sometimes you get what appear to be disagreements or discrepancies between the Gospel accounts. And so, for example, in Mark’s Gospel, we read, “after John (the Baptist) had been put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee… As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.” And of course, it is the same Andrew and Simon that we read about here in John’s Gospel, but John the Baptist is not in prison here and there is no mention of fishing boats. You can see then why Bible critics say that the Bible contradicts itself and is unreliable.
- But congregation, this is simply untrue. John is telling us about an encounter between Jesus and these men that happened before the one that Mark tells us about. They are two, separate events. I won’t go into all the details, because commentaries do that very well, but there is probably about a year between what John records and what Mark records. So here in John is when they first come into contact with Jesus and what we read in Mark is when they leave their ‘day jobs,’ as it were, and become ‘fulltime’ disciples.
- Well, let’s look next at the first encounter with Jesus recorded in this passage. John the Baptist is with two of his disciples.
- And a disciple is a follower. In those times, if you liked the teachings of a man, you would follow him around – where He went, you went, and what he taught, you taught.
- And we are told the name of one of these two disciples – it is Andrew. Interestingly though, John does not give us the name of the other disciple. You will see in v41 that he is with Andrew when they go and find Simon, for Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah.” But we are not told the other disciple’s name. The likely explanation for this is that the other disciple is John, the author of this Gospel, and he simply does not want to draw attention to himself in any way. And we say this because there are five other places in the Gospel where John mentions “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” instead of naming him. And though that might sound like a bit of a brag to us (look at me!), it must have been so obvious to everyone who knew Jesus and John that Jesus had a deep love for John that this is a way John could refer to himself without mentioning his name.
- Well, the key thing, in terms of this first encounter with Jesus is that John the Baptist tells his disciples that it is time for them to switch their allegiance to Jesus. So he points them at Jesus and says, “Look, the Lamb of God!” And this title is connected with what John said in v29. It is an announcement that Jesus is the Promised Messiah who will somehow deal with the sins of God’s people in a way that the lamb sacrifices of the OT pointed forward to. And this was enough for Andrew and John. They began following Jesus. And He asked them what they wanted and they asked Him where He was staying, and He replied, “Come and you will see.” So they went with Him and spent the day with Him. The tenth hour is probably 4pm, according the Jewish clock, which meant that Jesus would have hosted these two for that night, as Jewish hospitality dictated that you did not kick people out to find somewhere else to stay that late in the day. And we can be sure that there was a lot of taking that day and that the conversation would have been astonishing and wonderful for these two disciples who were now enjoying the company of Jesus.
- So as we come to v40, it is the next day. And being with Jesus has been so wonderful that Andrew is keen for his brother Simon Peter, to meet Jesus. So Andrew and the other disciple go and find Simon and they say to Him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
- Now, we will only come across specific mentions Andrew doing something two more times in John’s Gospel. But both of those times he brings people to Jesus. Andrew truly is a man who brings people to Jesus. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful way for history to record you? Wouldn’t you like to be known as someone who brought people to Jesus? You can’t do this physically, as Andrew did, and you cannot make someone a believer, that is the Holy Spirit’s work, but you can be someone who the Holy Spirit uses to bring people to faith; someone who tells people about Jesus. And we shall say more about this in our second point.
- Well, as Simon meets Jesus, we are told that Jesus changed His name to Cephas, which is Peter in Greek. It means Rock.
- Now boys and girls, I wonder if you remember others in the Bible that had their name changed by the Lord? Abram – Abraham/Sarai – Sarah/Jacob – Israel. And just remember Jacob-Israel for we will come back to that later. And there are a few other accounts in the Bible where Kings changed the name of their subjects. So Jesus changing Simon’s name says something about His authority. Right? I mean, if I came up to you and said from now on you will be called Mildred or Reginald, you would tell me go and jump in the lake. I have no authority to just change your name. But these men clearly recognize that Jesus does. So even this name change is revealing something about Who Jesus is.
- Well, from v43, we see that Jesus heads to Galilee and that there, rather than someone being brought to Him, He finds someone – Philip. And he says to him, “Follow me,” and Philip does. Now Philip is a Jew but he has a Greek name. And later on in John’s Gospel we shall see that some Greeks from Galilee came to Philip and asked him if they could meet Jesus, and he and Andrew told Jesus about their request. So even Philip’s Greek name will be used by the Lord for His kingdom purposes.
- But Philip also wants others to experience Jesus. So in v44 we read that he finds Nathanael.
- Now, it is probably the case that Nathanael was also known as Bartholomew. And we say this because if you have learned the song, “There were 12 disciples, Jesus called to help Him…” you will know that there is no mention of a Nathanael. And this is because the lists of the twelve disciples that we have in the other Gospels do not include a Nathanael. But Bartholomew is always mentioned immediately after Philip.
- Anyway, Philip says to Nathanael/Bartholomew, “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.”
- But at the mention of Nazareth, Nathanael is quite unimpressed. He says, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Now, I have to be very careful here, because I don’t want to upset anyone who has connections with the town, but when I lived in Wellington, Eketahuna was often the butt of this sort of a comment. Who would want to live in Eketahuna? You play rugby like you come from Eketahuna! You obviously got your education in Eketahuna! I think I may have heard Aucklanders refer to Hamilton in similar ways J Its not very nice, really.
- Well, we will come back to this moment in our second point, but notice that Philip does not argue with Nathanael about Nazareth, he simply says, “Come and see.” Philip will let Jesus speak for Himself. And Jesus does. And He too does not leap to the defense of Nazareth. He just says, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” So what does Jesus mean with these words? Well, remember that Philip has introduced Nathanael to Jesus as the one Moses wrote about in the law. And Moses wrote about a great prophet to come in Deut. 18. So Jesus is demonstrating prophetic or divine insight here. Earlier we recalled that Jacob had his name changed to Israel. Well, if I were to ask you to describe Jacob/Israel’s character, what one word would you use that pretty much sums up his whole life? Jacob told one lie after another. Nathanael though is clearly a man who is totally devoted to telling the truth. And Jesus knows this without having met Nathanael before. And on top of this, when Nathanael asks Jesus how He knows this, Jesus tells him that He saw him under the fig-tree before Philip called him. So Philip’s testimony, Jesus’ knowing His character and where he was sitting, which only God could know, are enough to convince Nathanael. He says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” For Nathanael, a true prophet must be the true Messiah.
- Well, that brings us, finally, in connection with our first point, to vv50-51. Jesus promises Nathanael that he shall se greater signs that the one he has just seen. And then He says, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
- And this, congregation, is revelation language. In the prophets and in Revelation, when we read about heaven being opened in some way, it is always in connection with God revealing something about His person or His will.
- And these words are why we read from Genesis 28 They quote a part of Jacob’s vision of the ladder that stretched up to heaven and had angels going up it and down it. Jesus is saying that He is the great ladder – the link between heaven and earth/God and man. He is greater than Jacob. He is greater than Moses. He is the true Israel. He is the Lamb. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God. He is the King of Israel.
- But do you notice what name is missing from all the titles of Jesus that are used in this passage? Saviour! You see, it is not enough for these disciples to know Jesus as the prophet and the Christ and the Son of God and the King of Israel, as great and as important as those titles are. He needs to be known as Saviour. That is why Jesus uses this language. It is only when the disciples recognize Jesus as the only way to the Father, by His work on the cross, that they will truly know Who Jesus is.
- And it is the same for you and me today. I always like to ask my catechism students to tell me what they believe about Jesus. And very often they will say something like, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And I always say, Wrong pronoun! Don’t say “our,’ say “my.” You must say and believe that Jesus died on the cross for MY sins. For it is only when you know Jesus as your Saviour that these other titles have their full significance!
Well, far more briefly then, let’s spend a few moments thinking about the example of evangelism that we have in these verses.
- We noted in vv19-34 that John the Baptist loved others enough to tell them about Jesus. And this is where evangelism starts. You want people to know Jesus and to have eternal life, and you do not want them to go to hell. So evangelism begins with love. And then we saw that evangelism is telling others about Jesus. Living a good life and debating moral issues, etc, is what we call pre-evangelism, but evangelism itself is telling others about Jesus; about sin and salvation. And John the Baptist is our first example of this and then we just see it repeated from one person to the next person in this passage.
- And it is worth reflecting a bit more on who these first evangelists tell about Jesus. In Acts 17, we see the Apostle Paul stand on the street corner in Athens and preach about Jesus. So there is a time and place for street preaching or handing out gospel tracts and leaving people to ponder the message. But that is not the type of evangelism we see in these verses. The evangelism we see here is what is sometimes called family and friends evangelism: John tells his disciples, Andrew tells his brother, Philip tells his friend. And we know that Peter at least was married at some stage, so we can be sure he told his wife. And those who are married and who are parents must tell their children.
- Immediately after Jesus had ascended to heaven, the church in Jerusalem numbered around 120 people. By the year AD400, there were churches in every city and town and village and Christianity was the religion of the Roman Empire. Why? Well, God certainly used travelling evangelists like the Apostle Paul. But it was the ones who heard the gospel from Paul who then told their families and their neighbours, who then told their families and workmates, that led to the explosion of Christianity across the world. One author referred to them as informal
- And we make this point because sometimes we can get or be given the impression that to be a witness for Jesus means you have to go and find a jungle tribe somewhere in the world. But brothers and sisters, this passage makes it plain that the mission field is very much in your home and in your wider family and with your friends and neighbours and workmates and classmates.
- The famous evangelist, Billy Graham, died recently. I heard it said that he preached to over 250 million people during his lifetime. Isn’t that amazing? Praise the Lord! But that number is peanuts compared to the number of children who have been won for Christ by the preaching of their parents! (Foxton reunion 46 people who profess faith in Christ)
- And this is so, first and foremost, because God is a covenant He is very plain about His desire to be the God of parents and their children and grandchildren, etc.
- But this is so, also, because while handing out evangelistic rallies and handing out gospel tracts is kind of anonymous, telling your family and friends about Jesus means you must walk the talk yourself. And this is because they know you, warts and all. And if they see that knowing Jesus has changed you and that it effects how you think and talk and behave, well, that adds tremendous weight to what you tell them about Jesus.
- Now, it goes without saying that none of us live perfect lives. And the fact that we must seek forgiveness in Christ every day is an important part of our witness. But if it is the case that your ordinary language or behaviour gives your children or your schoolmates or work colleagues an excuse to reject Jesus, then rather than being a witness for Christ, you are being a witness against And you should repent of this and ask the Spirit of the Lord to help you change where change is needed.
- Well, one final, practical point before we close. John the Baptist pointed his disciples to Jesus. And the rest of these men pointed their family or friends to Jesus. They didn’t have a ‘technique,’ they didn’t have a ‘set spiel,’ they simply said, Come and see for yourself and brought people to Jesus. And you and I cannot do that, physically. Jesus is now in heaven. So what must we do? Well, what is this book? It is the revelation of Jesus. It is the living word of God that reveals Jesus. So we say, Read the Bible. We say, in here is where you can see Jesus. One of the best ways to help people see Jesus is to read the Bible with them.
- And if you want some guidance on how to do that, take a look at David Helm’s book, One to One Bible Reading. It is a small paperback he wrote to help Christians learn how to read the Bible with non-believers or new believers or with each other. You can get through it 1 hour. A lot of it is freely available online. He uses the acronym COMA as a tool for reading the Bible with others. Any passage – What is going on in the Context? What Observations can you make about people and places and events? What does this passage Mean? And how does this passage Apply to me?
- And if a person is interested in knowing what salvation is all about, you also have the Heidelberg Catechism with all of its Bible proof texts and its very personal tone as another evangelism tool.
Brothers and sisters, young people and boys and girls, this passage has revealed more about Who Jesus is. We see here the importance of personally experiencing Jesus as your Saviour and several examples of family and friends evangelism. May the Lord bless His word to His people. Amen.