Greater Things to Come
For the Lord’s Day:  the 23^rd of May 2004

John 1: 35-51

Introduction:  One of the things we want to study on Wednesday evenings later this summer is evangelism.  Now, you all know that there are books and programs to make this task understandable and effective.  Yes, we have much to learn, yet it is not all that simple.  There is no sure fire formula.  After all, the Holy Spirit is the key to converting God's own through the conviction of sin and the need for a redeemer, even Jesus Christ.  Of course we may be used for this purpose and we ought to be ready for such use, and that is what our preparation will be about. Today we will consider God's call to the first disciples.  Let us turn to the Gospel of John.

“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.” (John 1: 35-39)

As in the whole first chapter, John the Baptist points beyond himself and his ministry to the One who way he has helped to prepare.  He describes Him as the "Lamb of God", referring to the sacrificial role that Jesus is eventually to fulfill. Two of the Baptist’s own disciples follow Jesus.  Notice that Jesus does not wait for them to speak, He greats them with a question.  Further along in the text, we read that the very next day Jesus searches out Philip.  This is divine initiative. 

“It is like a famous painting which pictures a dangerous mountain ledge with Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and Confucius.  Just below the ledge, barely hanging onto a slippery rock is a man.  While Buddha, Mohammed and Confucius are discussing the nature of the man's problem, Jesus is pictured as leaning dangerously out over the ledge with outstretched hand to save the poor man from his predicament.  This is the main difference between Christianity and all other religions.  This is the real nature of God in Christ.  Always, the initiative is His.”  Augustine once wrote: "we could not even have begun to seek for God unless God had already found us."  Because of John the Baptist's witness, these men already appreciated the greatness of Christ. 

Development: The two addressed Jesus as "Rabbi" which means "My Great One".  In Jesus' time, this phrase was used rarely and only for the greater teachers.  Jesus invites them to "come and see".  These words in the language of His time are an invitation for teaching.  Philip's call is only slightly different: "Follow me".  It is enough to set his mind afire.  This is the nature of Christ's call.  How often we miss the mark in our personal evangelism by asking people to choose.  We ought more often to pray to God for their souls.  Is there someone whom you would like to see saved, then spend time in prayer.  Because, only God can save!

Our friends and loved ones cannot choose, it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that it becomes possible.  Yet, our witness is valid because the Holy Spirit works through us and God's Word to bring about conversion.

In  John 1: 40-42 we read that Andrew hurried to share the good news.  This is typical of Andrew:  Of the three times that Andrew is mentioned in the Gospel accounts he is always bringing someone to meet Jesus.  Here it was his brother, later a boy with fish and loaves or two inquiring gentile Greeks.  Calvin raises a question in his commentary when he wonders why we who know so much more than he did in this verse, fail to go out of our way to share Christ's story.  Once I read a story about a new congregation in the PCA Messenger.  Through the witness of this particular group a young lady found faith in Jesus Christ.  She immediately brought a neighbor.  The neighbor brought her husband and a niece.  The niece brought a friend.  And on it went: until eleven new people had found a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  This is how the Gospel is propagated.  It is what brother says to brother, husband to wife, parent to child, friend to friend, far more than what preacher says to listener, that carries in it irresistible persuasive power.  This is the most important work of the Church of Christ.  And yet, this is not the normal situation.  In one church a young couple came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ only to find that their new found joy was not appreciated nor even understood.

Now in our verse forty-two Jesus gives Simon a new name.  This new name is not given in the usual sense of nicknames because these are usually earned. American Indians often named their babies from events that occurred at the time of birth.  But in this case the name is prophetic of what Simon will one day become. Cephas was not a common nickname.  One commentator suggests that a good modern translation would be "Rocky"!  Now this is not in character for the original Cephas.  After all he is observed as hot-headed, impulsive, rash, and unstable.  He wasn't ready to be an object of strength to the new kingdom.  How many of us fit this mold when we are barely converted?  Originally, I was hot-tempered when it came to standing up to the liberals in the old denomination, and I was made to pay for it with a decade pit pf the pulpit.  We all have to remember that once Christ calls us, we are like a lump of coal, yes diamonds are made from such raw material, but even diamonds have to be cut and ground so that fifty-six different facets are in place to reflect the light that comes into them.  And yet, Jesus looks beyond the character of those who come to Him,  and promises that upon this rock and others like Peter, eventually He would build His church.  How many of us have felt inadequate to the task of building up His kingdom.  And yet, by God's grace we can learn to behave better and thus become fit tools for His planned expansion of Christ’s Church.

In John 1: 45-50a, we see the experience of Nathaniel is somewhat different from that of Peter.  We must appreciate that everyone of us called into the Kingdom comes in by a different route.  God is big enough to meet us each and everyone where we are.  Notice that Nathaniel has some wrong ideas about who and what Jesus really is!  Very many people have learned wrong ideas about this King of Kings.  In spite of this, they find a saving faith and in time they can learn the essential truths.

In verse forty-six Nathaniel was contemptuous.  He evidently knew his Old Testament which did not foretell the Messiah's coming from Nazareth.  Philip wisely chose not to argue, but just invited him to "Come and see". When Nathaniel approached Jesus could see him as he really was.  Just as He knows us as we really are.  Now there is something similar in this passage to an age gone by.  Years ago when horses were king of the roads and fields, many people were absolutely terrified of the animals.  But it was not a fear of being hurt, no it was because the animals could sense the character of a man more accurately than other humans.  Thus it was that people who did not have the personal authority to control the animal would be exposed by plain "horse sense".

But there is much more going on here than this.  In the near east the shade of the fig-tree was the natural summerhouse where people would retire for rest and contemplation.  It is in these moments of solitude that we are truly ourselves. Jesus knew who and what Nathaniel was.  At the very least Nathaniel was an Israelite who would go and see if there was a possibility that the Messiah should come from Nazareth. And he is pleasantly surprised.  When he recognizes the divine power at work he believes.  And so it is for all of us, once we were lost in sin and death and the next we are His for all eternity.  C.S. Lewis reports that “on the day he was converted he left on a motor trip a non-believer and when he returned that evening he was a believer.  And that was all there was to it, there were no discussions, no contemplation, only the witness of the Holy Spirit in his life.” And so Nathaniel becomes a believer just as Peter and John, Andrew and Philip.  But, let us go further.

Application:  In the context of our last two verses we are reminded that there is something more to this Christian faith, there are indeed Greater Things to Come!  “’You will see greater things than these.’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’”

Here Jesus promises something even greater than knowing Him in this life.  And what is this something greater?  It is like this, no matter what our first experience is with Jesus Christ, each day we spend with Him brings us something more.  The Christian life is like a little old lady who was once asked how painful it must be to grow older.  She answered that growing old was like climbing a mountain, the higher you climbed the greater was the vision.  In a like manner Calvin comments that “Jesus is pointing to something continuous which was henceforth to always exist in His Kingdom.  Because, the Kingdom of God which was once closed to us, has in Christ indeed been opened.  Every sign by which God now shows Himself present relates to this opening of heaven.”  How do you understand all of this?  Very simply:

When you know that you hear God's Word,
when you know that Jesus died for your own sins,
when you know that you belong to Christ,
when you sense his presence in worship,
when you step away from sinful thoughts and actions,
when you grow in grace.

This is part of that something greater.  The gates of heaven are indeed open and through Jesus Christ we have access to the heart and mind of our own Creator, even God the Father who has sent His own Son Jesus Christ to open the gates of heaven so that we may enter in. When we come, we must come like David and enter into the Kingdom through humility and faith.  Then like David, John, Andrew, Philip, Peter and Nathaniel we too can have peace with God through Jesus.  May this experience be yours now and always.  Amen.                   

Logan County Mission (PCA)     01 Jan & 29 Dec 84 - Christ Covenant Reformed  (PCA)     18 Dec 88
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PREACHING RESOURCES

 Brown, Raymond E.  The Anchor Bible: Gospel According to  John.
Parker, T.H.L.  Calvin's Commentaries: The Gospel According to St John.
Tasker, R.V.G.   Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Gospel According to John.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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