Come and See - John 1:43-51

Intro

I have told this story before that we started the year 2020 with a trip to Disney world.

I have a confession.

I have never gotten the hype behind Disney.

Like I get it I wanted to go as a kid.

But the thought of standing in line in Florida for hours for a 3min ride or a photo sounds like torment.

Friends started sharing tips helping us plan

I shared skepticism with some folks who simply said, “Just wait til you go.”

We went and I loved it! I was constantly surprised (clean, fast passes, friendly staff)

All my crazy Disney friends were right!

We all know this instinctively.

Someone will share something they love and they sell us on it.

How much more do we listen when someone really has experienced life change?

We’re in the midst of a short series asking the question How do I love my neighbor.

Last week we looked at the question who is my neighbor?

Scott Saul’s says it really well:

Your neighbor according to Jesus, is anyone who is near and anyone who is in need. _Scott Sauls

We looked at the parable of the good samaritan seeing that Jesus has loved and served us and propels us to love others.

Here we are week two in our new neighbor hood…it’s exciting right?

I want to look at Jesus again and see how we are called even more specifically to love our neighbor.

Big Idea: Invite others to come and see the one we follow.

That’s what I want you to really have on the forefront of your mind.

Invite others.

Let’s go to our text and see first we are called to follow

I. Called To Follow (v.43-44)

John 1:43–44 (ESV)

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

As we investigate this call to love our neighbor we have to remember that neighbor love starts and ends with Jesus.

Last week we talked about the reality that Jesus is the better neighbor who pursued and loved us.

What is fascinating about this is context.

In this day to follow after a rabbi you would go and seek them and ask them to follow them, to learn from their teaching.

But Jesus, he is the one doing the calling.

Jesus said to Philip, “Follow me,” and he says the same to every one of us.

Coram Deo there is no Christianity without personal discipleship with Jesus.

There is no neighbor love without following the better neighbor

Far too many people today who give no evidence of following Jesus believe that they are Christians because they had an intense experience or responded to an altar call long ago.

But to be a Christian is to follow Jesus Christ; if you are not following Jesus, then you should not consider yourself a Christian.

All these men became disciples this way: by following Jesus. They called Jesus “Rabbi” and committed themselves to learn from him.

We must do the same, and when we gather for worship, we must be taught by God’s Word.

So let me ask simply...Are you learning from Jesus?

Again too many professing Christians make little or no attempt to increase their biblical understanding, and resist having their cultural concepts challenged by Christ’s teaching.

What’s the result?

It’s a weak and ineffective church.

To be a Christian is to follow Jesus’ example.

When he says, “Follow me,” Jesus means that we are to follow his manner of life, his attitude toward others, and his submission to the will of the Father.

Indeed, to follow Jesus is to go where he went, to the cross where he died to the world and where we die to sin.

“If anyone would come after me,” Jesus declared, “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Are you willing to have your lifestyle changed and your priorities turned upside down?

Let me just be really blunt If not, then you cannot be a Christian.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” _Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For Bonhoeffer, that meant standing up to the Nazi regime in the Germany of his day, for which he was put to death.

For believers in the Arab world today, it means the prospect of violent death.

For Americans, it may mean forsaking materialistic self-absorption in order to serve and give.

To be saved, we must follow Jesus, taking up the cross.

Most of all, following Jesus means relying on him for our salvation.

Jesus used the image of a shepherd leading his sheep.

Sheep depend on the shepherd, and we totally depend on Jesus.

We rely on his blood to wash away our sins and on his righteousness to clothe us for glory.

We rely on his Word for truth and his Spirit for power.

We rely on his favor with the Father to make us beloved children.

That is why the cross, though an instrument of death, is in fact a doorway to life. Jesus declared, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:24).

Jesus calls us to follow him.

Coram Deo if we are going to do this thing…if we are going to bring the gospel to this neighborhood, to this county…it starts with bringing the gospel to our hearts.

Search your heart are you following Jesus?

Have you heard his voice through his word calling you?

Do you walk in repentance and faith?

An analogy that has stuck with me is a cheesy one but the point it makes is plan.

THE PLANET Mercury is hot. Pluto is cold.

Why is Pluto cold and Mercury hot?

Mercury is really close to the sun and Pluto is a long way off.

The farther you get away, the colder things become, but the closer you get, the hotter things are.

You may say that you are not a Pluto Christian or a Mercury Christian.

Maybe you are an Earth Christian where things get hot and cold.

You may be a seasonal Christian who has changes depending on whether it is winter, summer, spring, or fall. God is looking for some Mercury Christians.

He is looking for some folks who want to get close and stay hot all the time because they stay close to the Son.

Follow Jesus Coram Deo, that’s where this starts and how we go forward.

Because once you experience the goodness of Jesus you want others to know that truth.

You invite them to come and see and that’s exactly what we see Philip do.

See second

II. Come and See (v.45-46)

Look at verse 45

John 1:45–46 (ESV)

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.”

Philip encountered Jesus and once he meets him he has to share it with others.

So he goes and get’s Nathaniel and tells him about Jesus.

Only problem is that Nathaniel…well he is skeptical.

First of all he isn’t a big fan of Nazareth.

It’s like a Chapel Hill vs Durham kinda thing.

Can anything good really come from that place.

Perhaps when you’ve shared Jesus with your friends and they’ve been skeptical for different reasons then where Jesus is from.

Maybe there have been reservations because of the people who make up the church.

Maybe the reasons they have are cultural or historical.

But here is what I love and what I would challenge you on.

Philip doesn’t seek to answer all of Nathaniel’s questions…he invites him to come and see.

In our desire to show the love of Jesus with others have we taken them to Jesus?

Listen I am not saying we shouldn't seek to have answers or brush up on apologetics.

But often we can get so caught up in answering questions that it can become more about winning an argument then about inviting others to come and see.

I gave out a book called Intentional - A book that has helped me to implement the come and see principle.

The gospel is about Jesus Christ, and so in every evangelistic conversation we should try and take people to Jesus. He is the one we want to talk about. He is the one person that everyone needs to know about. He is the way we know God, the way we come to God and the one in whom we can have life. So, whenever we're asked a question about what we believe - whatever the question - we'd do well to ask ourselves, 'What did Jesus say on this issue? or, 'How can I answer this question from the life or lips of Jesus? Answering a question like this does three things:

1. When I take people to Jesus, I am taking them to the one who is the focus of the gospel.

2. If the questioner doesn't like the answer, their issue is with Jesus, not me.

3. Having spoken about Jesus, it's then very natural to talk more about Jesus as the conversation progresses.

(_Paul Williams)

Tony Evans shared anaolgy that I find helpful

THE REASON why we don’t do more evangelism is that we’ve lost our concern for the lost. Most people are not concerned that they are lost.

They’re like the little boy at Disney-world who was enjoying Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

He was enjoying the Ferris wheel and the roller coasters.

He was having a marvelous time and in the midst of the crowd got separated from his parents.

When he got separated from his parents, he didn’t know that he was lost because he was having so much fun on the rides.

Satan has so constructed this world order to give you enough distractions so that you don’t know you’ve gotten lost in your spiritual Disney-world.

We’ve got a world full of people who don’t know that the fun in this world and all this world is offering them—the movies, the parties, the clubs, the social relationships, the money, and the job—is all a satanic camouflage to keep them from realizing that they have been separated from God.

Mankind spends so much time having fun that they don’t know that they are lost and headed for destruction.

However, the parents of this particular child were looking for him.

They knew he was lost at Disneyworld. They went to an officer and told security that they couldn’t find their child.

The security man led the lost child, who didn’t even know he was lost to his Parents.

God wants to find lost people.

We are the security guards to bring lost people into contact with the God who wants to regain fellowship with them.

That’s our task in evangelism. Bring them to Jesus.

We are the ones God has chosen to deliver this message.

Coram Deo let’s be like Philip and invite others to come and see,

“Come and see how Jesus is at work in my life.”

“Come and see this community that Jesus has called together at my local church.”

“Come and see the one who has turned my world upside down.”

If we do not have Philips, then, under God’s providence, we are unlikely to have Nathaniels.

Who do you need to invite to come and see?

Whose skepticism are you willing to face because you know the one who can bring hope beyond hope to their life?

so what happens when Nathaniel finally meets Jesus.

Well we see third

III. Jesus Finds Us (v47-51)

Verse 47

John 1:47–51 (ESV)

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

As Nathanael approached Jesus, the Lord said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47).

Nathaniel is taken aback by this and takes the bait asking Jesus: “How do you know me?” he asked.

“Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’

Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ ” (1:48–49).

It is hard for us, in reading this account, to see how Jesus’ words could lead to so strong a faith.

But remember that Nathanael was in the presence of Christ; the impact of this encounter would have involved more than the mere words.

And Jesus revealed a superhuman knowledge to Nathanael.

Many commentators suggest that Nathanael might have been praying under the fig tree.

Or perhaps he was thinking about things that he had been hearing about a coming Messiah.

Maybe he was considering going out to be baptized by John the Baptist, as others from nearby had done (see John 1:44).

Here’s the thing we don’t know, but Nathanael knew, and now he found that Jesus knew the inward things of his heart.

Coram Deo, The same thing happens to us when we come to Christ through his Word.

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

That is the very thing Jesus did to Nathanael.

Friend, if you bring your heart to Jesus in the manner that Nathanael came—sincerely, without deceit—his Word will persuade you, too, that he is the very Son of God.

Jesus’ words to Nathanael show that when we think we have found Jesus, it really is Jesus who has found us.

This word, found shapes the action in this portion of John’s Gospel.

Andrew found his brother Simon, and said, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41).

Jesus found Philip and then Philip found Nathanael, saying, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote” (1:45).

But through all these various means, it really was Jesus who was finding his disciples.

He later explained, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (15:16).

“Before Philip called you,” he told Nathanael, “when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (1:48).

The same is true of every other believer.

In a famous set of parables, Jesus compared himself to a shepherd who goes out seeking the one sheep who had wandered away, then to a woman who searches a house for a valuable coin that had been lost, and finally to a father who rejoices at the return of a lost child.

It is for this that Jesus came into the world. He says over every new disciple, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost” (Luke 15:6).

This morning might that be you?

Every Christian who finds and follows Jesus can have the comfort of knowing that they were first personally found and chosen by Jesus.

After this initial interaction Jesus tells Philip that he is going to see more.

It is said that seeing is believing, but Jesus shows us that believing also leads to seeing.

If these disciples could see all that would occur in the years to come with Jesus—the miracles and great confrontations, and especially his death and resurrection—they would have been more than amazed.

Likewise, if we will believe and follow Jesus, we will see glorious things in the church.

Wanna love your neighbor bring them to Jesus.

Because following Jesus leads to seeing him work in power.

The average Christian who sincerely follows Jesus and serves faithfully sees miracles happen in response to prayer, sees hardened sinners turn sweetly to Jesus, sees the lowly lifted up, and sees proof after proof of the grace and power of God at work through Jesus Christ.

If you will follow him, you, too, will see greater things than you could ever imagine.

Jesus concluded with a statement that has puzzled many:

John 1:51 (ESV)

And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

This refers to an event in the life of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob.

Jesus probably referred to Jacob when he called Nathanael “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (1:47).

Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.

His name meant “grasping” or “deceitful,” which described Jacob’s character.

But when he finally submitted his heart, God changed his name to Israel.

So Jesus was saying here that Nathanael had no Jacob, but only Israel, in him.

Now Jesus adds that Nathanael would have experiences very much like those Jacob had.

Jesus refers to a vision that Jacob received while fleeing from his brother, Esau.

Jacob was alone in the wild and exhausted, so he lay down with his head on a rock to sleep.

God came to him in a vision of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with “the angels of God … ascending and descending on it” (Gen. 28:12).

God promised him blessing and confirmed his covenant with Jacob; Jacob, in turn, named the place Bethel, “the house of God” (28:17, 19).

Jesus now names himself as that ladder by which God’s mercy comes from heaven to earth: “You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51).

To have heaven opened is to have God’s approval.

When Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and God said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

We are likewise approved by God only through Jesus Christ, who makes us God’s beloved children.

He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Jesus is Jacob’s Ladder, the Mediator and Savior, who reconciles heaven and earth.

This is what we need Coram Deo, the hope of the world.

Conclusion

Want to be a good neighbor? Invite others to come and see the one we follow.

Will it be scary at times?, will they have questions? Absolutely!

This vision also speaks of angels descending from heaven to earth, and it shows how Jesus secures God’s help for us in this world.

That is what Jacob needed to learn as he fled away from his home, and what Nathanael needed to know as he left everything to follow Jesus.

We need to know the same—that when we take up our cross and follow Jesus, the angels of God come speeding down to help us on the way.

Symbolically, Jesus also speaks of the angels ascending back from earth up to heaven.

This reminds us that through faith in Christ, we have access to God, and that our prayers speed upward to the throne of grace above.

My brother buys and sells old books.

One book I have from him tells the story of John G. Paton

Paton and his wife were groundbreaking missionaries in the New Hebrides (He-bra-des) islands, their lives frequently in danger.

Paton had encounter Christ and was willing to take risks to invite others to come and see.

On a dark night about a hundred years ago, they were surrounded by cannibals determined to take their lives.

Terrified, they got on their knees and prayed to God for help.

They heard the savage cries and imagined the horrors drawing near.

But morning came and the natives had retreated into the forest.

The Paton’s did not learn how they had been saved until about a year later, when the tribal chieftain came to faith in Christ.

Paton asked him why the tribesmen had fled.

The chieftain answered, “Who were all those men who were with you?”

The missionary replied, “There were no men with us. It was just my wife and myself.”

At this, the chieftain became upset: “There were hundreds of tall men in shining garments with drawn swords circling about your house, so we could not attack you.”

Coram Deo…we can expect this kind of divine help and care through Jesus Christ.

When Jesus said in John 1:51, “I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man,” the you was plural.

Jesus was saying Y’all will see.

He was speaking not merely to Nathanael, nor merely to those first disciples, but to everyone he calls, saying, “Follow me.”

If you hear that call and follow Jesus, know that the same power that brings angels care speeding to earth.

The same power that reconciles heaven and earth.

The power that put breath in the lungs of a dead man.

Is the power that takes up residence in you.

Don’t keep this to yourself.

Tell others.

Invite them to come and see.

Application Questions

What steps am I taking to follow after Jesus? Is there an area I have grown apathetic in, where do I need to repent?

How can I invite my neighbor to come and see Jesus?

How am I comforted to know that Jesus has found and chosen me? Do I believe that?