Following Jesus

Introduction

Long ago, there used to be an expression that went something like this, “ You are covered in the dust of your master.” That was often a compliment given to a scholar or apprentice to a trade, who was doing really good work and the good qualities of their good teachers were rubbing off on them and it was showing. That is, you are staying so close to your master and place such good attention, and doing what he does, that the dirt and dust on you is the same that came off him. This is something that used to be a complement for early church leaders to, and would have been a desired compliment for the early disciples. You are clinging so close to Jesus, asking questions, seeking to make your mind think and act and do like him, that you are becoming very much like in the ways that you can. So then, let me ask you. Where did the dirt and dust on you come from? What or who has rubbed off on you? If the answer isn’t increasingly like the Lord Jesus, then something has gone wrong with your walk, and it is time to get back on track. In today’s text, we will see how Jesus called his first followers to follow him. They would have moments in their lives both good and bad, but the trajectory was always a general increase towards Christlikeness, because Jesus calls each and every believer to a different life.

Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. I ask these things for your glory and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

Today we go further into the text of The Gospel (The Good News) according to John, and in fact, though He doesn’t name himself, we are introduced to John in today’s text.

In last week’s text, we saw how John began this gospel, giving a description of who Jesus is and was, describing Him as having and was the fullness of God who came to dwell among men in flesh and blood and time. We saw John give this account, sometime between 85-95AD as there was no message he could think of for both Jews and Gentiles to come. That is, the light of the world has come to men, and that light is the light of God in Jesus Christ the Lord, the God-Man, the Son-of-God. From this light, we can know peace and goodness, each and everyone of us who accepts Him, and finally mankind with His presence got to behold the fullness of God.

There was much to bite off and chew upon in those deep and yet very familiar text in our bibles, so I hope that its familiarness never causes you to glance over this deep and profound text, which the understanding of will help either build or strengthen the foundation of your faith.

In today’s text, we continue into the chapter and begin to see more of a narrative from the first hand source (as John, the apostle and writer of this book was present), so we have eye witness and recorded truth and proof that these events both happened and were very much real. In our text, we see Jesus begin His ministry, though not in the open and very public way that He will in the chapters to come, as He begins to call His first disciples to follow Him, the disciples who would be the founders and leaders of the early Christian church. So, as they saw Jesus face to face, studied under Him closely, and were called to teach other Christians to do just the same as He had taught them. Because of this, it’s clear to each and every one of us today, that we take much away from the life of the apostles and early disciples, and need to apply their lessons they both learned and taught to ourselves for the advancement of The Gospel and the The glory of God. One of these first lessons we see even in this early on in the chapter is that Jesus calls believers to a different life. So, let’s jump in and From the text, I want you to see and do these actions as you follow Jesus.

Message

The first action to see and do is to: Testify about Jesus 29-34

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. 33 I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”[p]

You will probably notice in today’s verses, the frequent use of the words, “the next day,” meaning John gives a chronological order how these events happen. It’s very much worth noting, that in the events that happened here, which we see outlined in the other gospels, it appears that Jesus baptized was very recently baptized (perhaps even the previous day) by John the baptist, and certainly these events were certainly the day after he was questioned by the priests and levites about who he was and why he was baptizing people. On this day, the day after the events, John’s ministry changed. He went from saying that “the kingdom of God is coming soon” and “the messiah” is near to “it is here now! The Messiah is here, look, there He is!” Here is how I know, when God sent me here to proclaim this ministry and news, He also told me that the person I see the spirit descending and resting on will be the one! Well, remember that just happened! There He is! I have seen these things, and I tell you today, even though I only just now knew this person to be one, I am testifying this to you.” Jesus is the messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins.

Now, the thing about testifying is, if you truly love, if it has really got a snag on you, you can’t help but tell others about it. Just think about the grandparents, they can’t help but tell everyone who wants to listen about how great, amazing, sweet, and perfect that their grandchildren are. They can’t help it, because it is so important and special to them! Boys and men, think about when you got that new and favorite baseball card or yu-gi-oh card, you had to tell and show everyone who would listen about it didn’t you? Girls and ladies, when the easy bake oven came out, I bet if you got one you couldn’t help but show it to everyone, and unknown to you, your mother loved it too, seeing you become so interested in cooking/baking!

Jesus calls believers to a different life. He calls to do something different, to stop testifying so much about the things that this world has to offer, and instead to testify and share about how all those earthly things are not as great as we think they are. Because, there is something much more important than the comforts and pleasures of this life, but the reality of life eternal or death eternal, and the only way to receive life instead of death is by accepting the sacrificial payment of Jesus Christ on the cross. We are to each and everyone of us, no matter position, no matter resources, point to the cross, and tell everyone who will listen to us, look, there He is, Jesus and He can forgive you your sins and pay the payment for your penalty. All you have to do is accept His sacrifice and confess Him as Master, Savior, and Lord. We are to testify of God’s great offer of forgiveness, Jesus calls each and every believer to this in life.

The next action to see and do is to Follow Jesus with purpose 35-42

35 The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”39 “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.[q]40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah”[r] (which is translated “the Christ”), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John.[s] You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”[t]).

The day after what had just happened, once again, we see John the Baptist doing what was now his ministry, pointing people to Jesus, look! There He is! 2 of John The Baptist’s followers saw Him do that. One of which was Andrew, the brother of Peter, the other of which was The Apostle John (the author of this book, the brother of James, one of the sons of thunder/sons of zebedee). John here tells how he and Andrew followed Jesus and asked him a question. That is, where are you staying, in other words, we want to follow you. They weren’t just asking so they could go, “oh yeah, i’ve been there before or that’s a nice place.” They asked with a purpose, they wanted to follow Him and learn from Him. When asked, Jesus answered them, Come and you’ll see, that is, yes come and follow me, and they did! They stayed with him for the day, and on the first opportunity, Andrew had to go tell the person closest to him what had happened and what he had seen, this of course was his brother Simon. Finding Simon, he tells him that he found the messiah and took his brother to see Him. When Simon met Jesus, he gave him the name, Cephas, which translates to Peter. Here you see people seeking and being called to Jesus with purpose.

Going about something without a purpose, without a reason, is a sure recipe for failure or disaster. Just like a person who gets a building and opens a business, but doesn’t have a purpose for it, soon they will be putting a "business closed” sign up, because they didn’t have a purpose, they didn’t have a reason, so there was no need, appeal, or reason for the business. So, it never got off the floor, it failed.

So then, believer. What is your purpose for following Jesus? We all know the Sunday School answer, because it’s good, because it’s the right thing, because Jesus is truth. We know these things, but sometimes our actions show that we either don’t really know it, don’t believe it, or much more often than should be, many actually became followers of Jesus for the wrong reasons or the uniformed reasons and it’s not uncommon for local churches to be filled with followers like this. It’s no secret to anyone that churches everywhere are declining in the western world, yet those that remain and do come tend to be more radically devoted to Christ than the typical church 20 years ago. Why is this? Well, listen to what several people who study and church attendance and culture have defined. They have, over the last 50 years noticed a trend. In this, they have identified that from the years 1964-1994, being a Christian was viewed favorably in our nation and culture. Then, from 1994-2014, it was a neutral thing to be a christian, it wasn’t really that big or identifying of a deal. Now, from 2014-the present day (though the tide seems to be turning in the last year and half) it is actually viewed as a negative and bad thing to be a Christian. So, perhaps a great many people came along because it was convenient or helped social and societal standing. That is, those people were chasing something else, their purpose was different. Jesus calls believers to a different life. He calls us with purpose, to bring God glory, To Honor Him, to be the kind of disciple that loves God, loves people, and makes disciples. So then, what is your purpose? Do you have one? Is it maybe misguided? Let me charge each and every one of us to look deep and reflect on these questions and what our purpose of being a christian is.

Another action to see and do is to Seek to know Jesus 43-51

43 The next day Jesus[u] decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” 46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered. 47 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered. 49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Leaving the area of the banks of Jordan, Jesus and his followers left for Galilee. Along the way, Jesus came across Philip, and told him to follow. Philip then found Nathanel, and told him who he had found, the one Moses, the law, and the prophets wrote about it! This is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth! Come on! I love Nathanel here, look at his question, “can anything good come out of Nazareth”? That is, you’re joking, that place isn’t all that great and is known for bad things. Are you really telling me the messiah is coming from there?..... I dunno….. Nathaniel told Him, well come and see, you will see! Nathaniel’s response showed he had reasonable doubt of Phillips' words, but he wanted to see and know the messiah badly enough, he was rightly seeking for the messiah, so he decided to go and see just for himself.

Clearly, Nathaniel was open to the idea, as unlikely and probably silly as it seemed to him. When first meeting Jesus, look what happens, he is given a great compliment on his conduct and character from Jesus, something only someone who knew him would do. Then, when asked, wait, how do you know me? Jesus replies with knowledge that He has always seen and always known him, pointing out to a time (which was probably recent, that he sat under a fig (which in their time was often a time of rest/meditation/and prayer for the Hebrew people. Jesus said, I know you were there, I saw you, I heard you. Nathaniel, who seconds ago was a skeptical and cautious doubter, was a strong believer! He cried out in response, you are God, you are king of Israel! Jesus tells him and all of them around them, if you think this so great, just you wait, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Jesus calls believers to a different life. Nathaniel’s reactions are a great example here of this. He was seeking after God with all intents and purposes of finding Him. This meant that everything he thought he knew, understood, and saw could be proved null and untrue if it meant he finally got to see and be close to the messiah. So then, is there anywhere that is untrue that you are holding or have held onto that is keeping you from seeing and receiving what God has shown and made clear? Maybe it isn’t clear because you didn’t come with an open mind, but a shut mind. If this is you, let me urge you in these moments, to stop and truly pray to God that He would take away your distractions, take away your worry, take away your fear, and open your eyes and ears wide so that you can receive what is being shown and revealed. Even don’t be afraid to ask questions, just as Andrew did. This is part of seeking God, being willing to put everything as you see and understand it aside, that God’s glory and seen, sought, and perceived from ourselves as we seek to say more of God, and less of me.

Conclusion

Beloved, if you truly love God, if you truly love Jesus. Then you must understand these truths, you have been called to something different than the rest of the world, but something that is the same for all believers. You are called to testify about Jesus, pointing others (and ourselves) to Him on all occasions. You are called to Follow Jesus with purpose 35-42

, this purpose will be one that’s purpose is to bring God glory and honor, and usually has something to do with loving God, loving people, and making disciples. You are also called to Seek to know Jesus 43-51, this means putting Him and His will before all of our wants, comforts, desires, and asking instead that Jesus’ will becomes our own wants, comforts, and desires. It means saying “More of God, and Less of me” over and over again throughout our lives. Jesus calls believers to a different life. So then, live that one instead of anything otherwise.

With all of that being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God, though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do is accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.