Come and See - Spectator or Follower

Come and See – Come and Follow Speaker: Nicholas Booth Date: 16 September 2018 Text: Jn 1: 35-49 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Introduction – Start By reading the Scripture! • Spectator or Follower. We might start as spectators, but we hopefully progress to be followers. Spectator: somebody who watches or observes, especially somebody who watches an activity or event Follower: a supporter or admirer of a person, cause, or activity • Cricket as a youngster compared to now as an adult. I just don’t seem to care enough to bother with watching a one day international let alone a 5-day test match. I enjoy the atmosphere of a match when I go, but don’t make the effort to get along to a match. When it comes to sport, I am just an occasional spectator but when it comes to Jesus, I am a committed follower. • Followers are pretty one-eyed when it comes to their side and they will take every opportunity to tell everyone about how good their team is… Come State of Origin time every year QLD’ers become fanatical about their team. You really get to see this when you are a NSW supporter in QLD. I’m just saying! Today, I want to talk to you a bit about not just being an occasional spectator when it comes to Jesus. I’m asking you to become a full-blown fan. If you are just starting out coming to Church, you might be in the come and see phase. I would hope that you and all of us become those who become followers of Jesus. • Be You - The essence of our be the message campaign. Being Authentic in your witness. Your life is as much the message as the words that you speak. Live your life in such a way that adds credibility to your words. Your witness is more than just words and even possibly 99% the example that you live. • Be Bold/ be persistent, don’t be obnoxious! It took 3 months of invitations from my brother before I went to church and youth group. Don’t only ask once and think that someone’s not showing up is the final say in the matter. The average person sitting in this room is hammered with 254 advertisements a day, commercial messages. Billboards, radio, television, Internet. The more tech savvy you are, the more that you read, the more that you get. Some of you may actually be a 1,000-plus advertisements a day that you are bombarded with. And what happens in our world is that information is moving so quickly. Information now doubles so rapidly. Half of all available information on planet earth is from Adam and Eve up to around the turn of the millennium. And they’re telling us that within our lifetime, we could see that reduce itself to the place where information is doubling every two weeks, and the amount of advertising will just increase exponentially, we get hammered with so much information that we completely lose sight of what’s important and what’s not. That is why people don’t believe ads and have mainly stopped believing News media. The people that we do believe, however are our friends and family when they tell us something. This is the way that people have come to filter fact from fiction. It is by giving greater value to is word of mouth. That is why it is so important: Television, Telephone, How about… we tell a friend. It is not about telling everyone at every moment about Jesus, but it is about taking the opportunity when it arises. I believe that God will use any genuine effort on our part to speak his message of Love to people who need to know it. What’s at stake if we don’t? 1. Inviting people to Church is actually part of inviting them to relationship with the Jesus. You know, the same Jesus that You are following. Illustration of Youth Ministry in Victoria, I’d encourage my youth group to tell their friends about what they got up to on the weekend. A friend asks “What did you do on the weekend? I went to Youth group, We went bowling, we played some awesome games…It was so much fun.” I went to Church on Sunday, it was awesome! Try saying that to you work colleague… it will blow their concept of church out of the water! We should make the most of genuine opportunities to invite our friends, families, neighbours and colleagues to Church. You might pick a special weekend service like Easter, Christmas or our carols events. They are good, but truthfully, Jesus is here every weekend and will impact the life of someone who is seeking. • Andrew and Phillip are notable in the Bible as being the quiet achievers of the disciples. They aren’t mentioned often other than in relation to others in the group. Andrew as Peter’s brother and Phillip as one of the 12 disciples. However, on the three occasions in the Gospels when they are mentioned on their own, they are bringing people to Jesus. Oh, that we would be known for bringing people to Jesus. • Come And Bring. So My challenge to you if you can handle it is. Don’t just be an inviter, go the step further and be a bringer. Many of us invite people to Jesus once or twice then give up. We might have more success if we brought them instead of expecting them to turn up to church. The times that I have had the most success at winning people to Christ has always been when I went out of my way to bring people along to Church with me. 2. Show people Jesus through your life I wrote recently in one of the Blogs from the campaign about Thomas. From doubting T – Believing T. Some people need to see Jesus to believe… We are how they get to see him! It takes incredible courage to say to someone. Come and See Jesus- when we are actually saying - I’ll show you him through my changed life. • Be real, be Relevant and be Relatable Talk about how Jesus has made a difference in your life, let them know how Christ is relevant to your own struggles and how he has helped when times have been tough Our actions speak volumes to others, and if contradictory, can often drown out the words that we might be trying to share. Remember, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. We should also be aware that just doing actions without being bold enough to let people know why, can leave them confused. They will give credit to you for being a good person, without ever having known how good your God is. When our words and actions line up, they become the evidence of Jesus’ power to bring real change in both ours, and their lives. I want to encourage you today to look for ways show God's love to your friends and family, to neighbours and colleagues, and even to strangers. • Beside (spend time with non-Christians). Be a friend. It’s very hard to influence people who are away from Christ if we don’t hang out with them. Do remember though, we become like people we associate with. If all your time is spent hanging out only with people in • Believe (Spurgeon) Expect that what you share about Jesus will find a receptive ear. Maybe not every time but it is true that many people are looking for the truth about God but are looking for a credible witness. • Be Prayerful – Pray that God will give you opportunities to speak into your friends/ colleagues lives. ◦ You don’t have to know much about Jesus, the simple act of following Christ is one way that we help others to see Jesus ◦ Have you ever noticed that most people do not have a problem with Jesus, they have a problem with Church as they understand it. This gives us the greater necessity to live for Christ out in the real world because this is how people we know and care about, get to see Jesus. ◦ We have a world that is wanting and needing to see Jesus (whether they know it or not). 3. Jesus wants followers, he is not committed to spectators • A spectator watches out of interest, a follower is committed to the cause. Have you ever noticed that Followers are always pushing the case for their cause and trying to get others to see things their way. • A casual interest in Jesus is insufficient when it comes to gaining eternal life. And consequently, living a casual form of Christianity fails to impact on others in helping them to find eternal life. • Our goal needs to be to help people move from being spectators to followers. “Come and See” always leads to “Come and Follow” • Followers will even lay down their lives for a cause. In a world full of numerous visions for many different things, a cause holds people’s attention and commitment long after a vision has faded from view. • Followers influence others to follow Christ both by their words and by their lives. John 4 “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did” 4. Every follower of Jesus is a missionary. We are all part of Mission: save the world. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17: 18 Jesus looks at us and says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” You are called to be a missionary. Missionaries always keep their focus on the bigger picture of God’s saving purpose in this world. It doesn’t matter where you work or what you do, whether it be in a timberyard, a schooyardl or an office, every missionary understands that they are here to connect other people to God’s saving and transforming purpose in Jesus Christ ◦ You are the greatest hope that your family and friends have. Your following Jesus provides the example of Christ that the world so desperately needs. We live in a relational universe where we’re connected to all kinds of different people. It is these people who we are most likely to influence for Jesus. ◦ People without titles and prominent positions are the ones who most often make an amazing difference in people’s lives. You might not feel like you have much to offer. Offer yourself to Jesus – and then let Jesus use you to influence others. Jn 12:20- 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus... 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; Remember - Following Jesus is never about you but always about Jesus. Conclusion You are a witness! We need to be a good one! Will people know the correct Jesus to follow if they follow your example? At the end of the day, no person can ever be forced to believe. But if we do our part and invite and bring. Ask our friends/family Come and see? When was the last time you had a genuine conversation with someone about Jesus? Altar call You have heard me talking about how people come to Jesus and maybe you have never actually made this step. Today, I’d like to ask you on behalf of Jesus, On behalf of your friend or your family member. Come and See, even more, Come and Know this Jesus today.