Following Jesus | John 1:35-51

INTRODUCTION:

Simon says game

What does it mean to be a Christian? To be a disciple of Jesus.

Disciple means follower. To follow him and his teachings.

Today we are going to look how discipleship happened at the very beginning.

PROPOSITION:

Follow Me as I follow Christ.

We lead people to Christ. A wonderful case example of how God and men work together leading people to Jesus.

John 1:35–36 (ESV) 35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

Amazing time to live, John the Baptist (greatest man: Matt 11:11) calling out to Jesus the son of God.

Prophets speak God’s word. John was doing that. He makes a declaration about Jesus.

Behold, the Lamb of God! - Behold, the lamb of God. Repeats v29: lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world

Hebrew 9-10 - Christ’s sacrifice was for all time.- Great study if you have time. But we see that Jesus was the lamb of God. Who laid down his life like a lamb sent to be slaughtered.

Whereas Isaiah, Jeremiah were having to do full court long shots about the messiah (and making them). John had it easier. It was basically “That’s him!”

That was his, but it all of our jobs. Lead other to Christ.

John 1:37–39 (ESV) 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

V. 37a “Two disciples” - 1 is Andrew. We do not know the other one. (Probably John, he was from same town and did not refer to himself often)

V. 37b - “They followed Jesus.“ - 2 disciples start following Jesus. Of course they did - If your teacher says another teacher is the Lamb of God. Go follow him.

V. 38 - “What are you seeking?” - First word Jesus speaks in the gospel. What is your answer if he asked you that? Jesus asked what are you looking for? Basically, “can I help you?

V38b - “where are you staying?...come and you will see”

Come and you will see. Will be a common theme.

He doesn’t give him mapquest directions, He just say come with me.

We often one details instructions.

V39 -Tenth hour- 4pm. Right before dinner. The first of many dinners. They were going to share their life with Christ.

An interesting conversation, funny if it were today.

What was happening though is they were asking to be his disciples.

Disciples were more than students. They wanted to be the rabbi or teacher. So they would follow him everywhere.

They were following physically and spiritually. There was not much of a difference in those days.

If you want to learn from someone you sit in front of them. If you want to be like someone who follow right behind them.

There was a saying that said you should follow your rabbi or teacher so close you become covered in their dust and you drink from their words.

Following illustration: Have someone follow me awkwardly close.

If you want to learn from someone you sit in front of them. If you want to be like someone who follow right behind them.

This is what discipleship looks like. Close encounters with the teacher.

You don’t believe in Jesus if you aren’t following Him.

John 1:40–42 (ESV) 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

The gospel was already spreading.

Messiah means Christ is Greek. Christ means the anointed one.

It did not take long for Andrew to realize he was the messiah.

They had been waiting for thousands of years. Since Gen 3:15

In fact, one genuine encounter with Jesus is all it takes to know.

Once you know the natural reaction is to tell others.

Andrew brother is Simon, who gets his name changed to Peter.

42 - Cephas” (which means Peter). Jesus abruptly names him Peter. Cephas in Aramaic, Peter in Greek. Means rock.

Matthew 16, explains why Jesus called him Peter, he was going to be a rock for the church. But here, John shows Jesus had the authority.

If we are following Jesus and He had followers, we must also lead people to Jesus.

John 1:43–44 (ESV) 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

43b - Follow me - Here we find Jesus directly witnessed to Philip. This does not usually happen anymore because Jesus does not live in human form. But can.

He did not command us to do something he did not do.

44 - Bethsaida - 600-800 people. Small fishing village.

James, John, Philip, Andrew, Peter came from this small village.

It was in Galilee that discipleship was developed.

Known for its passionate followers of God, along with the villages of Korizen and Capernaum.

Jesus did not care about jobs or credentials he likely went there because they knew how to follow and be a disciple.

He doesn’t care about what you did or haven’t done. He only cares about will you follow me. That’s it.

NATHANIEL- v45-51

John 1:45 (ESV) 45 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.”

45- Philip found Nathanael - The message keeps spreading. If you have a genuine interaction.

M&M illustration - We can’t help but spread it.

45- “we have found” - Where we get our english word for “Eureka”

45-him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote-45b- All of Scripture points to Jesus - John 5:39 states “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,”

John 1:46 (ESV) 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Nathanael’s hometown was Cana, a small town.

Nazareth was another small town, not directly by it. Nazareth was another small city. Probably 2,000. we really don’t know why Nathaniel says it.

46- Can anything good come out of Nazareth? - This might be an indication that Nathanael knew his OT, Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Combined with Philips extra definition.

Regardless: Prejudice here. This was not racist, but geographic. We joke about how much better St. Pete is than Tampa.

46 - Come and see - Notice difference between Philip and Nathanael reaction -

Philip followed immediately.

Nathanael was apprehensive

Everyone responds differently to the Gospel.

All we do is keep pointing people to Jesus

John 1:47 (ESV) 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”

Why would he say that? Was Nathanael really without deceit? He was full of prejudice!

That's all we know. This verse is linked to the previous statement. Jesus was agreeing with him. Yes Nazareth is sinful.

Mark 6:4-6 “And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6And he marveled because of their unbelief.”

Was he prejudice or prideful? Yes. Was he correct: yes.

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

We don’t know what the significance is.

Clearly meant something: You don’t say someone is the son of God if they just guess you were sitting under a fig tree in the recent pass.

v48b “the fig tree,” - The fig tree was a place known for rest and contemplation.

Some say he was reading about the Messiah while sitting under the tree, other traditions say his mother hid him under a fig tree as a child to escape Herod's killing of baby boys. All speculation, but clearly something happened. Jesus proved that he knew Nathanael and that he was God.

49- Son of God! You are the King of Israel! - Once again, it did not take for people to realize who Jesus was.

One of the points of the book of John is so that the world might believe. John makes this clear from the get-go:

Titles for Jesus: Lamb of God.v36 - Rabbi v38 - Messiah v.41 - v49 -Son of God! You are the King of Israel!

John’s purpose was to help you believe in Jesus. Do see a trend?

John 1:50–51 (ESV) 50 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.” 51 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.”

Jesus’ response - you ain't seen nothing yet!

He has same reaction that we do, You believe just because I knew you were under fig tree? Just wait.

Genesis 28 allusion.

V47 - Israelite - not the common phrase. Jacob was renamed Israel.

V47 - Deceit - Jacob means supplanter or deceitful. Jacob was known for being deceitful.

Nathaniel though had no guile.

Jacob has a vision that angles are going up and down ladders to heaven.

Many people think he was reading this under the fig tree.

don’t know, but Jesus was saying you are going to great and mighty things. Greater than Jacob.

Jesus had a greater link to heaven than Jacob’s vision of ladder to heaven.

Jesus sees you and is calling you to follow Him.

Will you follow Him? Not just believe, Nathaniel was there reading his Bible. He knew, but he wasn’t following Him.

CONCLUSION:

CONCLUSION

This is how the message spread. Believers leading others to an interaction with Jesus. Everyone will be different, everyone will have different levels of apprehension, but at the core our mission is “Come and see”. Its saying as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “follow me as I follow Christ”.

If we want to be true disciples, if we want to covered in the dust of our Rabbi, where we want to look and act like him. You know what else he said? Matthew 16:24 “ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

If you want to follow him you have to be willing to kill your desires, kill your ambition, kill everything for the sake of following Christ. But why? Because the trade-off! You can seek fame and fortune and live it up. You can seek a happy simple life and try to enjoy yourself. And face eternal judgment and damnation. Or you can follow Christ. Give up this life a much better one to come.

There are two applications today:

1. for the unbeliever. Follow Jesus. The reason you are here today is for Jesus to say follow me. Why else are you here?

2. For the believer, who are leading to Jesus who are you pointing to Jesus. Do people even know you are a Christian? If you are there should be no hiding it and be evident for all to see.