Come and See

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John 1:35-49

What do you think of when I say the word Evangelism?
Some of you might think about events
Heading out to the Strawberry Festival and sharing 3 Minute Story
Or heading out with a group and going door to door in a neighborhood or apt bldg
Some of you might think about Evangelistic aids
Tracts
Formulas like the Romans Road
Some of you might think about Evangelists
Billy Graham Crusades
Old Southern Baptist “Revival” with an Evangelist
And each of those things have a part in evangelism
But they are what I am going to call special evangelism
They are not the regular, normative expression of Evangelism
Evangelism, by definition is the sharing of the good news
Evangelism is the first step in Discipleship, which is the task given to the church
Matthew 28:18–20 ESV
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And if we aren’t careful, we read these verses, and we understand this to talk about Special Evangelism
Brandon, it says “Go and make disciples”
That sounds special
That sounds like a program
Francis Chan
Making Disciples is far more than a program. It is the mission of our lives. It defines us. A disciple is a disciple maker.

Prayer

John 1:35–39 ESV
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which 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.
So as Jesus is walking by, John the Baptist calls out and says “Behold, the Lamb of God”
And the two disciples close to him hear this, and the leave John and follow Jesus
On the Basis of John the Baptist’s Testimony, two of his disciples follow Christ
Now remember, John’s position is that of forerunner
It is John’s calling from God to point people to the Messiah
And that sounds special
And John’s position is special because he is the one, foretold from the Old Testament that would pave the way for the Messiah
But what John is doing is not special
It is the job of every believer to testify and point to Jesus
We are to be walking testimonies of Christ and His work
And we have to be careful here, because when we talk about our testimony
we can have this picture of this polished, very put together story of how God saved us out of a gutter, took us from being a drunk and a drug addict, and set us on a higher path
But John’s testimony about Christ here isn’t like that at all
It’s simple. “Behold the Lamb of God”
We see the same thing in 1 Corinthians 2, where Paul writes
1 Corinthians 2:1–2 ESV
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Paul is talking about how God chose the low and despised to shame the wise, and he says, I didn’t come to you with eloquent speeches or lofty thoughts.
I just came to testify about Jesus and His death
I just came to tell you about my savior, and what He did.
Take a look again at John
Even though John’s testimony about Jesus was simple, it was effective
The two disciples of John standing there with him immediately leave John behind and follow Jesus
John 1:40–42 ESV
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which 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 means Peter).
Vs 40-42
One of the two who just left John the Baptist and followed Jesus, named Andrew, goes the next day to go find his brother Simon.
William Barclay
The Gospel of John, Volume 1 Sharing the Glory (John 1:40–2)

Having himself found the friendship of Jesus, he spent all his life in introducing others to that friendship. Andrew is our great example in that he could not keep Jesus to himself.

Simon, at the testimony of Andrew, is brought to Jesus
Again, look at the testimony of Andrew
“We have found the Messiah”
He just began to follow the man the day before
John Calvin
Andrew has scarcely a spark, and yet, by means of it, he enlightens his brother.
Andrew doesn’t even have the ability to demonstrate how Jesus meets all the predictions about the Messiah
But after spending one day with Jesus
He is convinced of who Jesus is, and the first thing he wants to go is to grab his brother and bring him to Jesus
With Andrew we see how easy it can be to evangelize
We only need to tell people what we know
The reality is that we are all evangelists
That’s true biblically, but it’s also true in other aspects of our life
We are evangelists in our entertainment
When we find a show or movie that we love, we tell everyone we know about it
“Have you seen this show? You really should watch it”
“I love this band, you should really listen to their new album”
We are evangelists with our belongings
“Oh you are looking at getting a truck, you should get a real truck and get a dodge”
“Oh let me tell you about my InstaPot, it’s amazing”
We are evangelists in our relationships
“You have to meet this new guy I’m dating, He’s so sweet”
“If you guys are going to sell your house, you should use the lady we used, she was great”
We don’t know everything about any of these things
I can’t tell you every spec on my Truck anymore than you can tell me every recipe that your InstaPot will make
And yet, that doesn’t stop us from spreading the news about them
And Andrew didn’t know everything about Jesus that could be known, but He knew one thing. This is the Son of God.
And so that’s the message he brings to Peter
John 1:43–49 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!”
Vs 43-49
Jesus calls Phillip, and Phillip’s response to meeting Jesus is to go tell Nathaniel.
Nathaniel is unwilling to accept Phillip’s testimony
And we need to understand that is going to be true with us as well
Not everyone is going to jump for joy when we tell them about Jesus
So then, how do we respond?
Phillip responds by telling him to come and see
He invites him to meet Jesus
And we are seeing the same thing we saw with Andrew
Phillip doesn’t have every answer
He doesn’t have 8 years of schooling
In fact, his testimony is not entirely correct
He calls Jesus “The son of Joseph”
But Jesus is not the “son of Joseph” he is the “Son of God”
In fact, in John 6, a group of Jews try to discredit Jesus by saying that He was the “son of Joseph” and therefore couldn’t have come from Heaven
But look what happens
Phillip is witnessing to someone who is skeptical to the message
He shares a message that is flawed in its presentation
And yet,
Nathanael is brought before Jesus
And look at verse 49
Nathanael declares “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel”
We need to really remember this story
Because we can be so afraid of saying something wrong that we say nothing at all
And yet, as we see in this passage, God will bring His children to himself
In spite of opposition, in spite of our flaws
Our obedience in sharing the message is used by God.
That obedience is shown throughout this passage
Just believers in Jesus reaching out to others, inviting them to come and see
John Stott
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John 4. Jesus Gains Two More Disciples, Philip and Nathaniel (1:43–51)

That has been the foundational principle of truly Christian expansion ever since: new followers of Jesus bear witness of him to others, who in turn become disciples and repeat the process.

This is the basis of normative evangelism
Sharing who you know with those close to you
And it is the whole emphasis of this “Who’s Your One” campaign
To find one person, who God has placed close to you
Who doesn’t know Jesus and needs to hear the Gospel
And to dedicate this year to telling them about Jesus
To tell them what Jesus tells the two disciples
To tell them what Phillip told Nathaniel
“Come and See”
This morning, some of you already have people who are represented here on the cross
Some of you need to add the names of someone
I’m going to pray
And then Im going to ask you to keep your heads bowed, and eyes closed
And to spend this time praying for your one
Praying that they would come to know Jesus
Praying that the Lord would use you to help lead them to Him
And if you need to add your name at the cross, that you would come up and do that as we pray
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