John #10 Soul-Winning 101
That you May Believe … and Have Life
John #10
John 1:29-51
It has been good to be gone to be with and encourage missionaries that we support with our tithes and offerings. To let them know we are praying for them as they lay their lives down for the Kingdom of God and on our behalf as a cooperating Southern Baptist Church.
We listened to their stories heard of their victories and struggles.
Then we had the pleasure of being with our church member and really “Freelance” Missionary, Marina Medrano. Marina lives in a suburb of San Salvador, Los Planas. On Monday she goes into the worst part of San Salvador’s downtown, an area called Iberia. It is gangland central. Most won’t drive through there, she takes a bus down there. Gets off the bus and walks down into this part of town. She is without fear for two reasons, she loves the people there and two, she serves a greater Master. On Wednesdays she takes 4 buses, and four hours of commuting time to get to our mission in Guarnecia. She teaches bible study there. She is assisted by 17 year old Iris and 13 year old Ernesto. These two might as well be 23 and 27. They are mature, intelligent, trained and committed. They teach the children the gospel of Jesus Christ. Among the many other things she does throughout the week, on Saturday she either has fellow servants who take her, or she boards a bus again for Guarnecia. From there she rides a cart to Los Jobos and then walks two hours to another village where they have begun another Bible Study. When it is over, she spends the night. On Sunday morning she leads a Bible Study at New Life Los Jobos. Then in the afternoon, back to Guarnecia for worship and bible study there at 3:00. This is all followed by either a 2 hour car ride or a 4 hour bus commute back to San Salvador. Many weeks Marina is joined by a seminary student, a young man about to graduate with his doctorate in veterinary medicine, an engineer, a pastor. Why would these gifted people give up their days, their free time? Why would Marina leave a simpler life here in the states and return to the people she loves in El Salvador for these years. She hasn’t seen her children in two years.
Why would our missionaries, 6000 of them outside of the united states, leave the comforts of life here to go abroad, live sometimes in fear, often times in great difficulty, all the time in separation from comfort, ease, and simplicity. Why would they go to great lengths to share the gospel in ways that are relevant? Why would they be translating and communicating the gospel into indigenous languages so people can hear the gospel in their heart language not just the accepted language.
Let’s finish John chapter 1 today. There are many things we could look at in these last verses. But I want us to see one simple thing here and then move on to chapter 2 next week.
I want you to see something similar in the lives of three leading characters in this story.
Let’s read a lengthy passage beginning in verse 29 of chapter 1
Read 1:29-51
Let’s look at these three identified guys and see if we see familiarity
1. John
We know that when this is written, John has already met and encountered Jesus. Not only that but he has already recognized and placed his faith and hopes in Jesus. But how did he get to that place?
John says, he didn’t know him until he baptized him. But he came with a purpose of revealing him
He says “I wouldn’t have known him except the one who sent me to baptize told me …”
John 6:44 – “no one can come to me unless the Father sent me draw him …”
John was ready to meet Jesus because God had revealed himself to John.
God had called John as a prophet calling in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Messiah.
Then God said, “you are going to baptize one tomorrow. The one whom the Spirit lands on, in the form of a dove, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy”
God revealed himself to John and John also understood from the Old Testament, who the Messiah would be.
So, what did John do about it?
Was John worried about losing his following now that the Messiah had appeared?
Nope, he points Jesus out to his own disciples and says “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one who I said I wasn’t worthy to untie his shoes”
It appears that these disciples didn’t follow Jesus right away, so, John decides, “oh well, I tried” … right?
NO … the next day he points Jesus out again, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
And THIS time, when they heard it … when it sunk in, and they followed Jesus to investigate for themselves.
That brings us to …
2. Andrew
Now … there is some disagreement on these two disciples as to whether these two mentioned are Andrew and Philip or Andrew and John our author. Some believe it was John because James and John are often mentioned with Andrew and Peter.
However because there are two mentioned and because Andrew’s story is followed by Philip’s story … it has always seemed obvious to me that these two disciples were Andrew and Philip.
But let’s look at Andrew’s story first.
God revealed himself to Andrew, first as with any Israelite, in their study and teaching of the prophets.
So, when John said “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
It took Andrew a day to get it, but he got it.
What did that phrase mean to Andrew. It meant he recognized Jesus was the Messiah.
Perhaps God drew his mind to the teaching of Isaiah 53 of the coming messiah.
“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
“Look the Lamb of God …”
But they are following at a distance so Jesus takes the initiative and asks, “what do you want”?
The answer isn’t that great … but Jesus doesn’t just give an answer and move on, he invites them in …
“Come and See …”
And he does
Andrew spends the day with Jesus from 10:00 to the end of the day.
And it is obvious from that moment, he was convinced that Jesus was what he was looking for and had believed in him as Messiah.
So Andrew finds his brother, Peter.
Now, Andrew isn’t as prominent as his brother Peter. Peter is mentioned in 183 verses in the New Testament. Andrew is only mentioned 14 times.
But what we learn of him is this. When Jesus says “Follow me” he drops everything and follows”. And he brings people to Jesus. In John 12, he brings a Greek to Jesus, in John 6 he brings the boy with 5 loaves and two fish to Jesus.
He was a man of faith and a man who brought people to Jesus.
So, Andrew here does the natural thing. He has found what not only he, but his whole people, had longed for the coming of the Messiah.
Now that he has found him … he goes to his brother.
It is the FIRST thing that he does. He’s got to tell someone and he begins with those close to him. Maybe Andrew wasn’t married at this point. Since later we learn that he lives with Peter’s family, so maybe he wasn’t married. But whatever, he goes to his brother.
“We have found the Messiah”
And he BROUGHT him to Jesus.
More than just a verbal witness, he brought him to Jesus
Who will you bring to Christ?
You may not think you are the type personality to have much of an impact on the world. But who will you bring to Christ?
They might be the one to impact the world
Edward Kimball was a lot like Andrew. He was just a Sunday School Teacher for a teenage boys class in the mid 1800’s … unless you’ve heard me tell his story, you’ve never heard his name. He had a young man that came to his class because his Uncle made him go in order to work in his shoe store. Ed Kimball was burdened for him. He went to the store put his hand on his shoulder and with trembling lips said “I’m concerned for you.” That’s all he could get out and he was sure he failed. But that young man couldn’t believe that a guy he barely knew was so concerned for him. In the back room. D. L. Moody gave his heart to Christ. Moody became a great evangelist and traveled the world and pastured in Chicago. Moody met FB Meyer in Liverpool England and later invited Meyer to preach in America. While in America, under his preaching, a young minister named J. Wilber Chapman accepted the challenge to be willing to follow God wherever, and became a powerful evangelist. While preaching in the early 1900’s, a professional baseball player named Billy Sunday came to Christ and he too became one of the great Evangelist, the greatest of his generation. He had a powerful impact on a group of believers in North Carolina. After his crusade the continued to pray for God to move there again. In 1934, Mordecai Ham held a citywide revival and during that week, a tall, handsome young man gave his heart to Christ and his name was Billy Graham.
Edward Kimball just was concerned for a teenage boy in his Sunday School Class.
Save, 14 verses, the world wouldn’t know of Andrew, but Peter had a powerful impact on the world.
But there is one other man in our story …
3. Philip
Philip heard John preach
Philip heard the witness of John
Philip spent the day with Jesus just like Andrew.
Philip needed an extra touch from Jesus
Different personalities respond differently and the good news is that God calls us
Jesus on his way to Galilee and Found Philip. And he says Follow me
Jesus didn’t have to tell Andrew, at this point, to follow. Jesus said come and see and Andrew went.
But Philip wasn’t there yet, so Jesus found him and called him and NOW Philip knew who he was
Philip had read the prophets. He knew that Moses promised “a prophet like me” will come …
He knew that Daniel promised he would come
Isaiah promised he would come.
Jesus said in John 5:40 that the “scriptures testify about me” … in 19:36 he says “the scriptures would be fulfilled” ..
Jesus in Luke 24:27 used Moses and the Prophets to reveal himself to those on the way to Emmaus.
And so Philip, though he had a Greek name, was very familiar with Scripture and received Jesus as the fulfillment.
So what did he do?
Philip found Nathanael and told him what he had found and believed.
And good old nate, the skeptic, said “there can’t possibly be anything good from Nazareth.”
Well Philip had learned from Jesus … he didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep, he didn’t go beyond what knew and he said
“Check it out for yourself” … “prove it right or wrong”
“Come and See”
And Philip learned an important lesson that day … we don’t have to defend Jesus, we don’t have to prove Jesus, we just have to explain and bring them to Jesus.
And Jesus revealed himself to Nathanael just like he had to John, Andrew, Peter, and Philip.
So, … Nothing deep here … but what is the common theme that runs between all three of these stories …
Meet Jesus
Share Jesus
A Natural Response
When we meet Jesus, are forgiven and set free by him, why would we not want to share, it is not the Pastor’s Job, or the Deacons, or some other Special group … it is the job given to every Believer
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NIV)
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Conclusion
There are three words used here quite frequently
Listen now. We have a tendency to be a little self-gratifying when we talk about coming to Christ.
I saw the Lord
I saw the Light
I came to know the truth
I came to know the Lord
I found the truth
I found Christ
I found God
But remember, it’s not about you, it’s all about him
> Before you saw him, he saw you
Hagar named him “The God who sees me” and said “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Gen 16:13
You can’t see him until he sees you, and that the revelation we come to … I have seen the one who sees me, I didn’t even know
Like Jacob when he saw the ladder, he said “I didn’t know the Lord was here”
> Before you knew him he Knew YOU
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart …” Jer. 1:5
Ps. 139 says
“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; … such knowledge is too wonderful for me … you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb …”
> Before you found him, he found YOU.
The Lamp of the Lord searches the Spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being – Pr. 20:27
I will get up and go about the city, through the streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves
Song of Solomon 3:2
And the natural response of one, seen, known, sought, found, forgiven, and set apart, is to tell somebody else.
According to Mark Mittelberg, director of evangelism at Willow Creek Community Church of suburban Chicago, “God knew what he was doing when he made you. He custom-designed you with your unique combination of personality, temperament, talents, and background, and he wants to use you to reach others in a fashion that fits your design.” For example, says Mittelberg, consider these six people in the New Testament:
• Peter’s Confrontational Approach—He was direct, bold, and to the point.
• Paul’s Intellectual Approach—He could be confrontational, but he was a well-educated man who could reason from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that Jesus was the Christ.
• The Blind Man’s Testimonial Approach—The man in John 9 didn’t know a great deal of theology, but he could say, “One thing I know: I once was blind and now I see.”
• The Samaritan Woman’s Invitational Approach—Leaving her water jug at the well, the woman in John 4 went into her village and invited her friends to come and hear the man “who told me everything I ever did.”
• Matthew’s Interpersonal Approach—In Luke 5:29 Matthew put on a big banquet for his tax-collecting buddies in an effort to expose them to Jesus. He relied on the relationships he’d built with these men and sought to further shore up their friendships, inviting them into his home and using his channels of friendship for evangelism.
• Dorcas’ Service Approach—In Acts 9, we meet a woman who witnessed by serving others in Jesus name, making clothes for the needy and helping the poor.*[1]
You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to open your eyes to look for opportunities
Open your ears to hear a the voice of one search
Open your spirit to the leading of God … and don’t worry about the outcome …
ILL >> Tell the Story of the Necklace in the Market at Antigua
Will you open your heart, open your eyes, and open your mouth to share Christ with someone else?
You don’t have to be a preacher
You don’t have to be eloquent
You don’t have to be perfect
Just tell someone “look, there’s the one who can take away your sin”
Tell them “I’ve found the anointed one who sets us free from captivity to sin”
Tell them “I’ve found the one that was written about by the prophets, was promised for thousands of years, Jesus, from Nazareth, raised in Mary and Joseph’s house, he is the one you are longing for.
I’ve found what you have looked for, in a place that perhaps you have looked down at. Yes, something good can come out of church …”
Is that too hard?
It’s a natural response
You know you want to share your faith
If you don’t, it’s probably because you are scared, or because you think you won’t or can’t be effective.
The most effective witness is one who has seen God, met Christ and been changed, who tells someone else what has happened to them.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again
They can argue with you about theology
They can argue with you about religion
But they can’t argue with you about what has happened to YOU!
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* Mark Mittelberg, “Discover Your Evangelism Style,” Discipleship Journal, Issue 95, September/October 1996.
[1]Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (780). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.