John Chapter 1 Verses 35 – 39

 I love the fact that John had people around him that encouraged him in

his ministry and sought to further the work and purpose he stood for…

And I love so much more that John was intent on having them not

follow him but rather point them to Jesus. It really doesn’t matter how

much folks love you or work alongside you to help you. They will

always love you more and work harder as they get closer to Jesus.

 Man, that sounds so self-centered. It sort of is in a practical way. It

feels great to be loved and to be believed in! Who doesn’t like that! I

love people flowing love and joy and kindness and goodness and

faithfulness and longsuffering my way! Don’t you?! Well, newsflash,

those things aren’t a fruit of Matt’s impressiveness! At least not for

long! So, figure this out! The BEST thing for them, and for YOU, and

what the Lord wants is for you to point them to Jesus in all things!

 John the Baptist knew a lot about Jesus. He no doubt grew up with

Him and He was family, but the one thing, (that he now repeats), is

everything to Him. The fact that Jesus is the Lamb of God! There is

so much about Jesus that I have learned, that I know and that I

absolutely love. But none compare to the fact that He gave Himself so

that I can be forgiven.

 In light of all facts about Jesus Christ, (and God in general for that

matter), all of them pale and comparatively aren’t even there in the

face of the love of God which has secured eternal life.

 When something gets more important than that, we get critical,

annoying, off track, distracted…, all the things. Why? Because all

God is, every bit of Him is wrapped up and revealed in the cross of

Christ. The most appropriate position and prayer of the human heart is

not one of maturity, intellect, righteousness or right living…, because

in truth, we are none of those things… The most appropriate position

and life flavor of the human heart is gratitude…

 What do you seek? The simplicity of it all is mind boggling. First

words to His first two potential disciples, and there are only four.

Matt, I so personalize this, what do you seek? In light of all of life,

may I offer the best response to Jesus? It’s simpler than His question

but even in that…, its not. What do you seek, Matt? You, Lord. That’s

it… Just You…

 He knows everything I need. All my hurts, all of my open soars, my

scars, my fears, anxieties and frustrations. Check this out, He knows

them ALL…, and I don’t. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful

above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it.” My heart

is deceptive… to whom? Not you. To me… On my best day my world

is jaded, faded, misinformed and underinformed! But the Lord, He

sees even to the root cause, source and entirety of it all!

 Matthew 6:31-32, “You worry so much thinking, “What shall we eat,”

or “What shall we drink,” or “What shall we wear?” For after all

these things the gentile seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you

need all these things!” So, what am I to do? Trust the Lord with it all?

How? Make sure I cover all bases in prayer and study to memorize

everything about God… Ok, and you’ll still miss things…

 Those things are good for sure but they can’t be primary because they

aren’t. Primary? Simple. Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the Kingdom of

God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you.” All of

Christianity, the strength of faith and the position of maturity is all

answered in this simple question posed to all of us all the time from

Jesus. “What do you seek?”

 You may think they were caught off guard. I don’t think so. They

respond, “Rabbi, which is to say Teacher,” in other words, “Tell us,

show us, teach us what we need to know,” “Where are you staying?”

They didn’t want to clean His house for Him or check out His

collection of Pokémon cards! This was not a question of geography.

This answer was simply to say, “We want to be near You.”

 It’s actually quite the perfect question… And it’s met with quite the

perfect answer. “Come and see.” The invitation is scandalous because

it is satiated with grace. No application required, no membership fees

due, no qualification review…

 The Ancient of Days, the King of kings, the Perfect and Holy God

Almighty there in their physical presence, and it’s not all about sorrow

over sin, recounting of regret, cleaning up the filth of the flesh, it’s

none of those things. It’s just a simple, “You are welcome with Me.”

Makes me rewrite my idea of Christianity every time I seriously

contemplate grace…

 We are pre-wired to seek justice in the place of mercy. To seek equity

in the place of forgiveness. Why is that? Perhaps because we are pre-

wired that way… That’s definitely our first and fallen nature. The

unregenerate heart understands those things quite naturally and well.

What the unregenerate heart does not understand nor agree with is

grace… Check out God’s heart, in need of no regeneration…

 Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge

of God more than burnt offerings.” And the entire lot of man, Micah

6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the

Lord require of you but to DO justly, to love mercy, and to walk

humbly with your God.” So much of Christianity has led me almost to

be a separatist from those that offend with their sin… But Jesus

separated Himself from those that thought themselves righteous…

 This response of Jesus is scandalous and perhaps it should cause us to

rethink our Christ-Likeness… I think it should.

 Come and see. I think I do better with see and them come. HA!

There’s a call of faith here… If you want to see, then come on… And

that’s how faith works. If it was see first and then come along…, well

that’s not quite faith, is it…?

 I want to be close to Jesus because that is all of everything… I can

have everything and miss that and I’ll actually have nothing… AND,

that takes faith. Come along… all the way along… and you will see.

You’ll actually find what you seek… Whatever it is!

John Chapter 1 Verse 40

 Interestingly enough, most believe that the other of the two that heard

Jesus speak and followed Him was John himself. John never names

himself in his gospels but instead calls himself the one Jesus loved or

the other disciple who outran Peter. So, this could be John and

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, the first two disciples of Jesus.

John Chapter 1 Verses 41 – 42

 We know almost nothing about Andrew in the scriptures but that

doesn’t degrade his importance. He is the one that ends up bringing

Peter to Jesus. And then, it ends up being peter that brings a TON of

people to Jesus. May I just say something on that… Please don’t

underestimate the importance of the ministry of the quietest person in

the church. It takes only one moment of opportunity with perhaps even

a family member, for that quietest of saints and the smallest

contribution to ministry to turn the world upside down…

 Jesus sees Simon coming to Him and Jesus does something that He

always does, only He can do, and man, He does this so well. He

calls it just like it is. He tells Simon exactly who he is right then, in

that moment, at Simon’s point in his life. The name “Simon” means

listening…

 Peter was a man of formidable presence. A leader amongst leaders.

Living his life as a working-class fisherman operating around the Sea

of Galilee. His father was Jonah, (interesting name for a fisherman),

and he worked alongside his brother Andrew in Capernaum. Married,

unschooled, unwealthy…, listening for what it is, his purpose in life…

 Jesus says to him, “I see you.” And, you SHALL be called Cephas.

An Aramaic name and word meaning rock. Translated in the Greek as

Petros and for us in the English as Peter. All that Peter had been

born to be, Jesus could see it right then. Peter could not although he

was listening for it. And, this is great, it would be some time until

Peter stepped into this persona.

 Jesus could see it right then. Just as He does with you. Sure, He sees

me exactly where I am at now and knows all things, good and bad…

But Jesus always does this, He is the only One that can do this,

and He’s so good at it…, He sees me not only in my full purpose of

life but in full perfection with Him at His Father’s house! Just as He

sees you. Want to know what you were born to do…? Ask Him what’s

my/your name…. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb, I

knew you…” So, He is the one that named you originally… Seek Him,

ask Him…

John Chapter 1 Verses 43 – 46

 Nazareth wasn’t known for good folks, and, everyone knew the

prophecy of Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you

are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come

forth to Me, the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from

of old, from everlasting.” So, all were expecting the Messiah to come

from Bethlehem… Little did they know that Jesus was born there…

 Phillip gives the best defense for criticism of Jesus. Come and see!

It’s one of the best things to do if you want to evangelize a friend,

coworker, family member. Invite them into your life! To see your joy,

your dignity, your energy, your positivity, you lack of negative

comments towards others and the world, your service of all people

around you…. (That’s the normal life of a Christian, by the way…)

Or, invite them to church!

 By the way, Phillip sounds a lot like whom? You got it. Jesus! Another

aspect of the normal life of a Christian! Check out what Jesus does

with Nathanael… This is SO good!

John Chapter 1 Verses 47 – 51

 That is Jesus’ first self-proclamation of who He was and is… He

refers back to the vision of Jacob in Genesis 28, commonly referred to

as Jacob’s Ladder when Jacob made the confession in Genesis 28:16,

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it…”

 But back to Nathanael, “How do you know me?” The word in the

Greek…, how do you understand me? How do you know me by

experience? “When you were under the fig tree, I saw you…” “Under

the fig tree,” was a common saying in the day for someone in prayer

or someone seeking the Lord. Sort of like how we say today, “I’m

going to hit the hay.” I don’t own any hay… That means I am going to

go to bed…

 The hint and implication here is that Nathanael was in a time of

seeking God. Perhaps asking who he was, what did God want of him,

why was I ever born, is there something God is unpleased with…,

God, do you see me? And here comes Jesus, “I saw you; there’s no

deceit…” All of the answers and so incredibly personal to

Nathanael…

 This, if you open your heart to worship, to receiving the teaching of

the word, to prayer, this is how God operates. He wins souls not by

crowd-think… But by personal, individual, one-on-one miracle like

moments like this… Someone got me to Jesus and this is exactly what

Jesus did in my life…

 So, I’m not trying to win arguments or make myself feel more

righteous by condemning the sin in any other person’s life… None of

that is effective evangelism. Just get them to Jesus. And if you want to

know all the things about you and all the things about all the things…,

get to Jesus!