Discipleship

Intro

John 1:19-51

Have you ever thought about what it means to follow Jesus. We talk about it at church on Sundays, but have you ever really thought about what it means? It wasn’t just a one day a week commitment for the disciples, it was a daily journey with the Saviour of the World! And the more seriously they took the role, the greater of an adventure they had. The same is true for us today. If we take seriously the call to discipleship, greater and greater adventures await us. But it is no trivial matter. As with the disciples, it is a matter of life or death. But there is something even more significant on the table… namely eternal souls. Following Jesus is a journey of faith whereby we carry the gospel with us and call others to follow Jesus.

Here are a couple of quotes to get us thinking about discipleship and our relationship with Jesus.

Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.

Billy Graham

Salvation without discipleship is ‘cheap grace’.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Lutheran Pastor)

For the message this morning, I want to draw our attention to the structure of the passage revolving around 4 days… We will look at each day in turn as they progressively reveal to us the nature of discipleship, beginning with John the Baptist, shifting to His disciples, progressing further to where Jesus begins to gather His own.

One quick note before we dive in that will hopefully help save some confusion moving forward. Because John the Baptist is an important part of this text, and it can be confusing to talk about John the Baptist, vs the author of the gospel, we will refer to John the Baptist as simply “The Baptist.” And when I say “John,” I am mostly referring to the author of this gospel.

Day 1

John 1:19–28 NASB95

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. “It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The focus here is on John the Baptist, but if you pay close attention, there are some subtle hints as to the identity of Jesus Christ. Let’s see if we can’t point them out a little better.

On day 1, the Baptist has an altercation with some religious leaders… the very same groups that would later have problems with Jesus Christ Himself. His ministry had caused quite the stir and word had spread. He was baptizing a lot of people, and not just the ones that the religious leaders would have assumed. If you were to study the topic, you might discover that baptism was practiced in the culture at the time, but it was used as a way for Gentiles to sort of become like the Jews, which meant that Jews didn’t have to get baptized. But the Jews were coming out in droves to get baptized. Why? The Baptist preached a message of repentance from sin, which apparently was missing from the teachings of the religious leaders and the people could sense it in their hearts. They were keenly aware of their sinfulness and that it was causing problems, but they had no means of publicly declaring their intention to turn from those sinful ways. Therefore as the Baptist came on the scene preparing the way for the Lord, and the people flocked to him and were baptized!

As much as I would love to turn this message into one about how important it is to get baptized, it really is a secondary topic to that of discipleship here in the text. However, as a good Baptist, I do want to offer that should any in the congregation this morning feel God leading you towards baptism, please talk to me after the service as I would love to see more follow in the footsteps of Jesus… and if He was baptized, we ought to be baptized as well! Back to the topic of discipleship and John the Baptist.

As his popularity rose, people’s anticipation of the coming Christ grew with it and many thought that perhaps he might be the Messiah. While the Baptist’s coming was prophesied about, John redirects their attention to the passage of the forerunner of the Messiah. In verse 23, the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:3 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” Repeatedly, he has rejected the expectations of the people. He denies being the Christ (v. 20), Elijah (v. 20) and the Prophet (also v. 20). It is interesting to note that John denies being Elijah, while Jesus talks about things a little differently in Matthew 11:14 ““And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.” But perhaps Luke’s gospel spells it out better and reconciles the two passages in Luke 1:17 ““It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”” John is not Elijah, but he is coming in the spirit and power of Elijah.

John’s mission is to be used by God. He is a voice declaring to the people to make way for the coming Lord.

Day 2

John 1:29–34 NASB95

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Note that John’s gospel never describes Jesus’ baptism, but it is clear that the Baptist is connected to it. Thanks to the testimony of the other gospels, we know that he not only Baptised Jesus, but that this account is a report of what he witnessed when Jesus came up out of the water.

The focus of the passage shifts to discipleship. We see before us a conversation the Baptist is having with his own disciples about Jesus. Upon seeing Jesus in the distance, the baptist tells those gathered around to “behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This messianic claim about Jesus is significant and people would have done well to heed the words, but the Baptist goes on to further describe how this Jesus is the one for whom he has been preparing the way for.

He takes some time to describe the difference in power between himself and Jesus. The baptist baptizes with water, while Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And he shares what he saw, in that the Spirit descended as a dove out of heaven and stayed with Jesus. The curious might be interested to compare this to the baptism accounts in the other gospels.

The baptist boldly declares “this is the Son of God.” And ultimately, this is exactly what a disciple of Jesus does… we point to Jesus. We live our lives so that others would see Jesus in us and that they would want to have Him in their lives too. John the Baptist’s ministry was all about pointing forward to Jesus Christ. The disciples’ minsitry is all about continuing to point forward to Jesus. You can compare it to a game of follow the leaders. You begin to follow someone who is following someone (you could go on and on here) who is following Jesus. Ultimately, while you call others to follow you while you follow Jesus, the goal is that they follow you until they can follow Jesus on their own and then lead others to do the same!

Day 3

John 1:35–42 NASB95

Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” 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. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

As the narrative shifts away from the Baptist, we see him literally tells some of his disciples to start following Jesus instead. The effect is immediate and they start following Jesus on the spot.

Jesus takes notice and they have a brief conversation and they start to follow Him that day. One of the two is identified as Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. The identify of the other is never stated, although that in and of itself could be a hint as to which of the disciples he might be. John never identifies himself in the gospel, instead often referring to the twelfth disciple as the Disciple whom Jesus loved. It is possible that this could be John. And the other gospels bear witness to the fact that Jesus’ first disciples were Peter, Andrew, James and John, as the fishermen who were called to be fishers of men.

Interestingly, the main focus of this part of the passage is not Andrew, nor the other unnamed disciple, but Andrew’s brother Peter. Andrew, right away, goes and gets his brother Peter and brings him to Jesus. This is a common theme with Andrew as every time we see him, he is bringing someone to Jesus… a good trait for a disciple to have don’t you think?

When Jesus sees Simon, He takes one look at the man and names him… a significant, yet subtle theme you can find throughout scripture. Simon, son of John is now called Cephas, or Peter. Kephas in Aramaic means Rock where as Petros in Greek also means rock. Peter, therefore, is in a sense a nickname, akin to “Rocky.” Nicknames often point to some feature of a person’s character, although Peter’s character would take some work before it becomes a solid and secure feature upon which Jesus would build His church.

Day 4

John 1:43–51 NASB95

The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of 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 any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to 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 and said to 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 and said to him, “Because I said to you that 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 the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

The final day of John’s four day adventure shifts focus to yet more disciples. Traveling to Galilee, Jesus finds Philip and issues the simple command: “Follow Me.”

Ultimatley, that is what discipleship is about. If you could boil it down to just one instruction, and that only two words, “Follow Jesus” would be how to do it.

But as Philip obeys Jesus’ command to follow, one of the first thigns he does is follow in the footsteps of Andrew (who went and brought Peter). Philip goes and finds Nathanael and tells him how they have found the one who has been prophesied about… the Law and the Prophets point to Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. It would seem that Nazareth was not all that popular as Nathanael’s response betrays his disdain for the region. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

In terms of calling on possible disciples, this represents a logical possibility that we might come accross. In inviting people to follow Jesus, some will question why they should. Look at Philip’s response for inspiration for how you could respond, should the occasion arise. “Come and see.” Come and see for yourselves whether Jesus is real and whether Him taking away your sins makes any difference in your lives.

Miracoulosly, as Jesus approaches Nathanael, in all of his skepticism, Jesus’ words cut past all of it and he calls Him a true and honorable Israelite, full of the truth.

Jesus demonstrates a touch of His Omniscience (all-knowing power) as He declares that He was watching even as Philip called out to him, able to let Nathanael know that he was even aware of the fig tree he was under.

Nathanael is convinced and makes a declaration about Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel. These would be very bold words to declare at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

Jesus’ response to him let’s him know that he hasn’t seen anything yet. Jesus’ declaration in verse 51 is something all disciples should consider as they follow Jesus. “You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

I feel like I could go into much greater depth into this single response of Jesus, but for the sake of time, I will simply point out that Jesus is telling His followers that they are about to embark on the journey of their lifetime and they will soon discover that Jesus is indeed the Son of Man, a messianic title and how it applies.

Conclusion

As we bring things to a close this morning, this passage spanning four days in the life of Jesus Christ gives us a unique glimpse at discipleship.

Firstly, John the Baptist was a unique figure in history. He fulfilled his prophesied role of preparing the way for the Lord. He preached a message of repentance from sin and practiced baptism as a symbol of that life change. Baptism for us still has similar markings, although because Jesus was baptized also, we not only follow in His footsteps when we choose to be baptized, but we also identify with His death and resurrection. Perhaps we might have a baptism service sometime soon and go deeper into that topic. John’s ministry was about pointing people to Jesus. While people came out asking if he was the Messiah, he denied it and pointed to Jesus.

Secondly, John the Baptist participated in the baptism of Jesus. And yet John’s gospel doesn’t directly describe it, but rather shares how John reports to those following him what he saw when Jesus was baptized. God told John ahead of time that when he sees the Spirit come down from heaven and remain on a man, that would be the one for whom everyone was waiting… the Messiah. And John the Baptist clearly declares that Jesus Christ is the one. He declares Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He declares Him to be able to baptist with the Holy Spirit. And he declares Him to be God’s Chosen One.

While John the Baptist was not a direct disciple of Jesus, he embodies much of what discipleship is all about. Point to Jesus. Direct people to Jesus. Deny yourself and exalt the Son of God!

Thirdly, as Jesus’ disciples start to gather, take note of what they do from the earliest moments of following Him. They don’t have a fully realized doctrinal foundation, except for a few that were following John the Baptist before following Jesus. They simply came to Him and followed Him around. And they brought others to Jesus. Jesus is the one who takes us… those who follow Him and shapes and guides us and aids in our development so that we can accomplish great things. He names Simon Peter on the spot. Not that Peter was at that point the rock on which Jesus would build His church, but that he would begin to become that which He had in mind from the beginning. He shapes and forms us and renames us as He sees fit.

And finally, whether Jesus gives us exactly what we need before we start following Him or not, know that when you choose to follow in His footsteps, you will have no greater adventure in life than living for Jesus. So point to Jesus and share about His good news! Bring people to Jesus so that they can see for themselves the amazing things that God can do in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Salvation is God’s gift to us because Jesus died for us on the cross. Discipleship is our gift to Him as we take up our cross, die to self, and follow the Lord in everything.

Warren W. Wiersbe