Come and See

Matthew 10:1–4 ESV

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

We are getting into some of the more obscure disciples, Philip and Nathaniel/Bartholomew

Nathaniel is probably Bartholomew’s first name

Nathaniel - Bar (Son of) Talmai

Philip Invites Nathaniel to follow Jesus

John 1:43–50 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. 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.” 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.”

Now we don’t know what all this conversation between Jesus and Nathaniel means

Of course Nathaniel seems to be predjudiced against nazareth.

“In whom there is no deciept”

Nathanial likes the truth.

“I saw you under the fig tree”

We are not sure what Jesus is reffering to here

It could have been a moment of Crisis for Nathaniel

A prayer that he said

or a memory

But Jesus Saw him, and that is enough for Nathaniel to follow Jesus whole heartedly.

Philip was one of Jesus’s early disciples, Joining Jesus shortly after Andrew.

He was from the same town,

Philip is interesting, His name is a greek name, perhaps named after one of the Herods.

He is the only one of JEsus’s disciples to have a greek name.

Which is probaly why at one point, he is acting as a liason between some greeks and Jesus

John 12:20–23 ESV

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Philip was approached by these greek speaking jews, and he introduced them to Jesus.

Philip was all about helping people see Jesus

and He wanted to see God the Father

John 14:6–11 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

JEsus tells Philip that he has seen the father,

Because when you see Jesus, you see the father, Because they are one.

And Jesus even says don’t take my word for it, look at what i have done!

This is probabl refering to the last time Philip questioned Jesus

when he fed the 5000

John 6:1–13 ESV

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

Philip wanted to see great things happen, and he wanted to share that experience with others

In the book of Acts we see this pattern continue

But I think i should mention, there is debate among scholars and even in church tradition as to whether the Philip mentioned throughout the book of Acts is the Disciple Philip.

I think they are the same person and I’ll tell you why.

Acts 6:1–6 ESV

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

Hellenists are Greek speaking Followers of Jesus

and they are often being ignored by the Hebrew/aramaic speaking followers of Jesus so the complain

So the apostles (the 12) select seven greek speaking men to be in charge of distruibuting good to the greek speaking part of the church

One of them is named Philip, and this could be a coincidence, but we have already seen that Philip has a heart for the Greek speaking people,

It is also likely that he volunteered to train the others to care for the widows.

But it is noted that many think this is a different Philip.

When the Church was being persecuted, Philip was the first to reach out to the Samaritans

And he did signs and wonders, like Jesus said his disciples would

Acts 8:4–13 ESV

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Philip Introcuded a Sorcerer to Jesus, and got him to give up his magic

Now unfortunately we learnt that this man was just looking for power,

but Philip kept preaching

And Philip would preach with people he met on the road

Acts 8:26–40 ESV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Philip was able to point the ethiopian eunich to JEsus through this prophecy in Isaiah

This is Isaiah 53, and it points to Jesus’s suffering and death,

Take time to read Isaiah 53 this week, and try and find as many connections to Jesus’s trial punishment and execution, it is full of them.

In fact start at Isaiah 52:13 and read from there.

Philip does this with this man, and he is imediately baptized at the first chance he gets.

And As Philip is lifting the guy out of the water, he is teleported to another town. So what ddoes he do? he keeps preaching.

Philip lived to show people how to find Jesus

Sometimes the invitation is simple “Come and See”

Some times it takes a little work, like with the greeks

Sometimes it take God’s power moving through you, like in Samaria

And Sometimes it takes a handy conversation with people you meet on the road.

According to tradition,

Philip eventually found himself preaching in Phrygia (Part of modern day turkey) and he introduced the locul proconsul’s wwife to Jesus

THe Procusul was jealous and had him arrested,

He was eventually crucified in Hieropolis, reportedly being crucified upside down (like Peter was) and even while hanging on the cross he continued to preach and invite people to Jesus.

Nathaniel/Bartholomew

We don’t really know much about him from scripture, other than he was a man who had no deciept.

According to tradition he traveled throughout the world

Going as far as India, where he left a copy of the Gospel of Matthew

But the bulk f his ministry was in Armenia (East of Turkey, North of Iraq and Iran)

He helped lead the king of Armenia to Jesus

And the kings brother ordered him to be arrested, skinned alive and beheaded.

But His conversion of the King of Armenia made Armenia one of the first Christian Nations

to this day, there are refugees from Armenia living in Jerusalem, who’s families have been following Jesus for almost 2000 years.

They make the most amazing pottery and easter eggs.

And that is all because Bartholomew was not afraid to speak the truth.

Church we can follow in their footsteps, by simply being willing to go to people and saying “come and see”

Invite them to church or to bible study

Invite them to dinner at your house and talk to them about Jesus

FInd people you can help along the road and speak with them

Invite them to know Jesus

And by Knowing Jesus they will know the Father.