Called Into Relationship

I. INTRODUCTION

A. PILGRIMAGE

1. In just a few weeks, it will have been one year since my two week trip to Israel. In some ways it seems like it was forever ago, but in other ways, I can call to mind my experiences just like it was yesterday.

2. The purpose of that trip was not simply to see the holy sites and put actual pictures with the words we read in the bible - though it did that.

3. This trip was designed to be a pilgrimage - an intentional spiritual journey where we would experience God in a deeper more profound way.

a The hope was that the Holy Land would be for us a “thin” place - a place where the boundary between heaven and earth almost disappears because of the nearness of God.

b And as I walked where Jesus walked, I did indeed feel closer to Jesus than I ever had before.

c When I reached out and touched the rock where Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, I was overcome with emotion and understood more profoundly than I ever had the depth of love Jesus has for me and what that love cost.

4. On that journey, I came near to Jesus, and in doing so, he came near to me.

B. In our passage this morning, we see two people who are on a journey as well - a pilgrimage of sorts. They are searching for something. Searching for meaning. Trying to find a way to a “thin” place - a place where they can find the Messiah of God.

II. SCRIPTURE

A. The Seekers

1. One of our persons on this journey is named Andrew while the other is not named.

2. They have been with John the Baptist, for awhile, perhaps believing him to be the one promised by the prophets long ago. They have listened to his teaching and received baptism from his hand.

B. One day they saw a man named Jesus walking by and heard John say a curious thing about this man:

1. Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel. - John 1:29-31

2. This must have raised a question in their minds.

a “Who is this Jesus?” and made them wonder:

b “Perhaps John isn’t the one, especially if he claims this man Jesus to be one who ranks ahead of him?”

C. The next day John and his followers again saw Jesus walk by. Again John pointed out to them that Jesus was the “Lamb of God.”

1. This second time peaked their curiosity, and they began to follow.

2. If John was not the one, perhaps Jesus could be.

D. Jesus noticed that they were following and so he turned and asked, “What are you looking for?”

1. Notice that Jesus did not ask “who they were looking for” but rather what.

2. Perhaps he was asking, “What kind of messiah are you looking for?” Or “What are you looking for from me?” We can’t be sure.

3. But what is clear is that Jesus’ question revealed in them an emptiness that they were seeking to fill by coming to him.

E. Their response is curious. They ask, “Where are you staying?”

1. Jesus had just asked them a question that cuts to the core of a search for meaning and what life is all about, (what are you looking for) and they want to know about his accommodations.

2. But perhaps, their question was not about whether Jesus was living in a house or a pigsty but rather about where they might find him.

3. The Greek word here is “Meno” and one translation can mean “continue to be present.”

a Perhaps they were answering Jesus’ question (what do you want) by saying, “We are looking to find a place where the messiah will be continually present to us.”

F. Jesus’ answer to their question about where he is staying, is an invitation. “Come and See.”

1. Come and see where I stay;

2. Come and see what I am about.

3. Come and See if you will not have abundant life by following me.

4. Come and see where I will continue to be present.

G. They did come and see where he was staying, and they remained with him that whole day -

1. And as it turns out the rest of their lives.

2. In fact their experience of Jesus immediately turns them into witnesses.

3. Andrew, went to his brother Peter and told him that they had found the messiah.

III. APPLICATION

A. I believe that the key moment in this passage is Jesus’ question: “What are you looking for?”

1. It is a question posed by our Lord that cuts to the heart through all of our pretensions.

2. This is a question for all of us today.

a Why did you come to church this morning?

b What are you looking for?

1 From Jesus? From the Church? From those around you? From yourself?

B. Are we not all on a pilgrimage to a place where each of us can find THE THING that is missing in our lives?

1. Is this not why you are here this morning?

a Perhaps you are looking for peace, security, or comfort;

b Perhaps you are looking for happiness, hope, or meaning;

c Perhaps you are looking for understanding, answers, or questions;

d Perhaps you are looking for the right three step process toward becoming

1 a better spouse,

2 a more faithful friend,

3 or even a disciple of Jesus.

C. However, if any of these things are what you are looking for; you are looking for the wrong thing.

1. if any of these things are the object of your journey, you are on the wrong journey.

D. The Proper Focus

1. The object of our journey, the destination for our pilgrimage, must be only Jesus himself.

a Not, peace, not security, or happiness, comfort, hope, understanding, or answers.

b I am not saying that these are not good things. They are and they are important.

c But while all of these things are important, the Christian life is primarily about being called into deep, intimate, and abiding relationship with the Lord of the earth and the savior of the world.

d The 1st Corinthian passage says, “God is faithful, by him you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

1 (FELLOWSHIP - shared association, communion, intimacy

2 Fellowship with Christ means that believers share his death and experience the new life that corresponds to his resurrection (Rom. 6:1-11; Phil. 3:8-11), sustained by the hope that at his coming they will forever be with him (Harpers BD)

2. This relationship with Jesus must be the first thing.

a If we get the first thing first, all of the other things we are looking for will fall into place.

b Remember the words of Jesus, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” - Matthew 6:33

E. I believe that this deep, abiding relationship is what Andrew and the other were asking about when they asked Jesus,

1. “Where are you staying.” “Where are you abiding?” “Where are you going to continue to be present?”

2. They had found the Messiah, and they wanted to be near him, in relationship with him forever.

F. Our journey toward Jesus must also include this question: “Where are you staying? Where will you continue to be present.” For we must be where Jesus is.

G. Jesus’ answer to Andrew is his answer to us.

1. Jesus invites all of us to Come and See what he has for us.

2. BUT Too often we follow at a distance, being close enough to Jesus to hear his teaching, but never close enough to live with him in his abiding place.

H. The dangerous part of this is that we can be following at a distance and not even realize it.

1. We can get so caught up in doing all of the important disciplines of the faith that these disciplines become what our faith is about rather than the intimate relationship to which Christ calls us.

a We can read our bible, say our prayers, attend church, serve in some ministry, and many more wonderful things, and still not be close to Jesus’ abiding place.

b “We can master any number of Christian precepts and still miss the most important thing of all, the very thing for which we were created: intimacy with God.” John Eldredge Waking the Dead pg. 96.

c There are after all, those troubling words Jesus spoke to those who were doing all the “Right” things: “then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.’” - Matthew 7:23. Knowing God, and being known by God, is the point.

2. We are called into intimate relationship with God not into a list of Christian tasks.

a Bible Study, Prayer, Fasting, Fellowship, Worship are all means to the end of a growing intimacy with God.

3. Jesus wants disciples who will live with him and allow him to live within them.

IV. FINDING THE ABIDING PLACE

A. So what are we to do to find the abiding place of Christ; to follow so closely that we live in him and him in us?

1. I am very reluctant to give you a list; because I have pointed out that intimacy with God doesn’t come from a list. I will give you some ideas, though

B. We need first to make sure that we have the right goal of our journey and focus of our pilgrimage.

a First things first. Seek Jesus first.

C. Then We need to open ourselves to the revelation of God.

1. Just as Andrew was seeking the messiah, so Jesus was seeking followers.

a Jesus still does; he wants people to follow him; He wants to reveal himself to us.

2. So how do we open ourselves up to hearing God?

a Listen For His Voice - We assume God still speaks

1 Jesus wants to speak to you; he wants to lead you to good pasture.

2 We must pray for discerning ears and be willing to enter the difficult work of listening, but Jesus will speak to you.

b We Pay Attention to our hearts

1 God often speaks to us in the leading of our hearts.

2 Example of listening to the promoting of the heart.

c We get alongside of those who walk with God.

1 Scripture

a We walk along those who have gone before us through the Bible stories

1 We approach scripture not so much as a manual of Christian principles, but as the testimony of God’s friends on what it means to walk with him, through many different episodes.

2 We walk along those who have walked with God since the bible.

3 We find trusted mature Christian friends.

V. CONCLUSION

A. I honestly believe that all that we hope to find by being involved in church will be met when we first allow ourselves to be drawn into this intimate relationship with Jesus.

B. On our journey, If we make the effort to come near to Jesus, he will come near to us

1. Behold I stand at the door and know, and if any hear my voice, I will come into them and dine with them. - Rev 3:20

C. Taste and see the Lord is good / Good to those who hunger after Him

D. Drink and be filled from the Living Well And never thirst again

E. On that journey, I came near to Jesus, and in doing so, he came near to me.