PCI Essentials Part 1 - Come
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Pray
Introduction
If you were with us last week, you will know that Paul is off on Sabbatical for the next 2 months, which means that for the next 9 weeks we are going to look at the PCI Essentials series, which is a look at discipleship - what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
On Wednesday coming, at the midweek at 8 o’clock, we will be discussing this in more detail along with a video clip that PCI has produced, so I would encourage all of you who can make it, anyone who is curious about discipleship, anyone who wants to deepen their walk with Jesus - whether seasoned veteran or just starting out on their journey, or even anyone who isn’t a disciple of Jesus, but is wondering what it’s all about - please come along on Wednesday evening where you can talk about this further.
Today is week one and it has been given the heading, COME. Come and see. Come and see who Jesus is.
This is the first step on the road to discipleship…even before Jesus calls the disciples, they come and see him first. They have an encounter with Jesus.
And this encounter is life-changing.
Pause
The passage that we’re going to look at this morning is in John 1 when Jesus meets some of his disciples for the first time.
And what we need to know about John’s gospel is that John has written his gospel like a courtroom drama.
If you’ve read John Grisham books, or watched the Good Wife, or Suits or any of the other myriad of courtroom dramas, you’ll be familiar with what happens in court.
In a court of law, there are witnesses, who come up onto the stand, who swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And they give evidence - they testify to what has happened, whether that’s a crime or whatever. These are people who have been at the seen of the crime - who have witnessed what has happened, who have been involved in some way perhaps. They are first-hand eye-witnesses.
Sometimes the witness is the perpetrator themselves - being brought up onto the stand to be asked questions and interrogated as to what exactly happened.
As well as the witnesses you have evidence - finger prints, objects found at the scene of the crime - hair follicles, weapons, blood. These are analysed and assessed - DNA analysis is done to ascertain who’s blood it is. Fingerprint analysis is carried out and so on. The evidence, coupled with the testimony of the witnesses provide the case that is brought to the judge.
And it is the judge who presides over the court. The judge is the ‘main man’ (or woman). They have the final say. They are the ones who do the sentencing. The judge is the one who looks at the evidence, who listens to the witness give their testimony and who makes a decision on the matter at hand. They are the ones who judge what has happened and pass judgement on the case - guilty / not guilty.
The judge makes the judgement baed on the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses.
Pause
And that’s how the book of John is written.
Now, in the book of John, YOU are the judge. The reader is the judge. And what you are judging is whether or not Jesus is the Son of God. You are judging whether or not Jesus is the Messiah - the chosen one that the Old Testament was writing about. You are judging whether or not this man, Jesus is worth following.
Is the man worth giving your life for? Is there any benefit in following this man, Jesus?
And in the book of John, the characters are witnesses.
Jesus is the defendant. He is the one on trial…what will we do with this man Jesus?
And John has written this book really carefully...
Because, Jesus is the witness to the Father. A witness to God himself...
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
And then John the Baptist is a witness to Jesus...
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
And in our passage, Andrew and Philip are both witnesses of Jesus. Andrew goes and gets Simon Peter, and Philip goes and tells Nathaniel essentially the same message...
We have found the Messiah, the chosen one of God of whom the Old Testament wrote. We’ve found him…come and see.
And of course, throughout the rest of the book, the disciples themselves are witness of Jesus - of what he does, what he says. And Peter himself says this in Acts 2...
32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
…we have seen it with our own eyes.
And so in the book of John, there are all these witnesses of Jesus - people who spoke to him, who saw him, who saw what he did. People who had an encounter with Jesus and went away changed, and people who witnessed him not only die, but come back to life.
And when you see something like that with your own eyes, you want to tell people. There’s undeniable evidence there that Jesus is more than human - he MUST be who he says his is, because nobody can do the things he did - especially rise from the dead, and not be something more than human.
And so these witnesses wrote down what they saw. That’s why we have the gospels - an account of Jesus from eye-witnesses.
And, like I said, in the book of John YOU, the reader, are the judge. You are the one who needs to take this evidence and pass judgement. Is Jesus more than human? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Did he do these amazing things - is Jesus the Son of God? Does he offer life and life to the full?
Did God so love the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life?
The evidence is there, the witnesses have testified - it’s up to the reader to make the judgement…what will you do with Jesus?
Pause
Now, let’s have a look at what Andrew and Philip did with Jesus...
First of all, at the start of our passage, John the Baptist has his own disciples. In verse 34 he says something critical...
34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
Once again, there’s the testimony of John - Jesus is God’s Chosen one - the Messiah.
And John points this out to his disciples and they follow Jesus...
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
And in the text, they literally FOLLOW him. They are curious about him. They aren’t disciples YET - they aren’t followers of Jesus as we know it. They are walking behind him.
And then in verse 38, Jesus turns around and talks to them. Jesus meets them half way. He turns around and asks them - what are you looking for? Or, another way to translate it is, what do you desire? What do you want?
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
What do you want?
So these disciples went to see Jesus and he meets them half way - he asks them straight-out…what do you want? What are you looking for?
And this is the FIRST thing that Jesus says in John’s gospel.
In Mark, the first thing Jesus says is ‘repent’. In John, the first thing Jesus says is, ‘what do you want?’
And that’s the big question - when we come to see Jesus, what do we want? What do we expect?
When you go to church, what do you want? What are you looking for?
When you read your bible, what are you looking for?
When you worship, when you sing, when you pray, what are you looking for?
Pause
These disciples didn’t want a passing word on the street, they wanted a personal encounter - a proper meaningful encounter. So they asked, ‘where are you staying?’ Essentially saying, ‘I want to stay with you.’ And Jesus replied, ‘come and you will see.’ And they went and stayed with him.
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.
So they went to see Jesus - Come and see. Like Philip says to Nathaniel a little later…Come and see.
And Jesus says, ‘come…and you WILL see.’
If you genuinely come to Jesus, and are looking for a genuine encounter with Jesus, you will see just what he can do.
Pause
Next thing that happens is that Andrew runs and get his brother, Simon and brings him to 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).
So whatever encounter that Andrew had with Jesus, it was enough to make him realise that Jesus IS the Messiah, the one of whom the Old Testament writers had spoke.
Don’t forget, at this point Andrew is not yet a disciple of Jesus, neither is Peter. This comes later. This is just the first, initial encounter with Jesus.
But that encounter was enough to convince Andrew. and it changed Simon’s life...
Because Jesus changed Simon’s name…and that was a big thing.
You see, today, many people pick names out of random. I like the sound of that name, I’ll call my child that. Not everyone does, but in a lot of cases, that’s exactly what happens.
Back then the name was given to someone as a kind of prayer over that person’s life. It described the inner essence of that person, or what their parent’s hoped for their child.
The name meant something. Jesus looks at Simon and says, ‘uh uh - I’ve a different name for you. I have an alternative hope for you. Your inner essence is going to change because you have met me.
Jesus looks at Peter and sees, not what Peter IS, but what he will become. He looked beyond the surface and into the inner depth of Peter. He saw who he was but also who he would become in Christ.
And in Christ, Peter would become the rock on which Jesus will build his church. The ROCK, which in Greek is Petros where we get the name Peter.
Pause
When we encounter Jesus - a meaningful encounter. Jesus looks and see’s not just who we are, but who we can become in him.
[Jesus does not only see who we are, but who we will become.]
And that’s a good thing, because anyone who has their initial encounter with Jesus, comes to him as sinners in need of a saviour. They come with nothing to offer him - with NOTHING to bring to the table.
No amount of success, no amount of money, no memberships to any organisations - none of that matters. Jesus sees beyond the surface to the sinner inside.
But at the same time, no amount of sin, no amount of failure, no amount of unworthiness - none of that matters, because Jesus sees beyond that too. Jesus sees past the sinner and sees who you will become in HIM.
And who do we become in him?
Check out what Paul says...
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
This is for anyone who is IN Christ.
Pause
Now, a similar thing happened when Philip went to Nathaniel and said, ‘come and see.’ We don’t have time to go into this in any depth, but Jesus also could see right into the heart of Nathaniel...
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
And again, Jesus saw further - he sees deeper. He sees the future for Nathaniel as a follower of Jesus. Borrowing imagery from Genesis and Jacob’s ladder, Jesus says...
51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Pause
So what does all this mean?
Well, you are the judge. Andrew, Simon, Philip, Nathaniel are witnesses of Jesus, who himself is a witness to the Father in heaven.
These people had an encounter with Jesus and were left wanting more. They were hungry to follow. They even went and got other people to come and have an encounter with Jesus. ‘Come and See.’
But This encounter with Jesus wasn’t a passing conversation...
Many people had passing conversations with Jesus and didn’t have a true encounter with him. Many people were around Jesus and crowded him, but not everyone had a true encounter with him.
When Jesus asked John’s disciples, ‘what do you want?’ that was significant. What do YOU want?
Because people might be thinking that coming to church is an encounter with Jesus. It CAN be, but for many people, it’s more like a passing conversation, like the crowds who were in Jesus’ presence, but didn’t really encounter him.
In many churches, people come and sing and listen to the word of God, but it’s like the passing conversation - it’s not a true encounter with Jesus.
But the scary thing is that many people think that that IS a true encounter with Jesus.
So when it comes to church, again, what do you want? What are you looking for? What is your desire?
I’m inviting you to come and see, but coming and seeing means encountering Jesus.
But what does THAT look like?
Well, this is hard to describe. But, like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said, when talking about obsenity, ‘you’ll know it when you see it.’
Because an encounter with Jesus is life-changing…not just name changing - LIFE changing. You’ll be left wanting more and wanting to bring others to him.
The danger in our churches, is that some people can use the minister as their own personal Jesus. And that by having the minister come and visit and pray, they think they’ve encountered Jesus because the minister has been over.
Now in many cases they do encounter Jesus.
But our job as ministers is to make ourselves redundant. So that when things go pear-shaped, you don’t call us, but you go straight to the source - to Jesus himself and encounter him for yourself.
An encounter with the minister is NOT an encounter with Jesus. An encounter with me is NOT an encounter with Jesus. Sure, we can lead you to him, but don’t mistake having the minister over as being your encounter with Jesus. We need to encounter Jesus ourselves - personally.
Jesus is saying, ‘come…come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come and see.’ Come and see what I can do in your life. Come and see what you can become in me.
So...
What do you want? What are you looking for? What is your desire?
My prayer is that we would all COME and see - that we would all have a true, genuine encounter with Jesus Christ that leaves us hungry to follow him and learn from him.
Pause
On Wednesday, on the video clip there’s a testimony - a witness from someone who encountered Jesus through reading the bible. Come on Wednesday to hear the full story - but this encounter changed her life. A genuine encounter with Jesus does that.
Come and see Jesus. Come as you are, not as you’d like to be. Come as you are, not in your best gear, hair combed and well dressed - Jesus looks beyond that to the sinner behind it. But he looks beyond that too, to you who could become IN him.
YOU are the judge. You’ve heard the witnesses give their testimony about Jesus. You’ve seen the evidence...
What will YOU do with Jesus? You’re the judge…what sentence will you pronounce?
Let’s pray.