Sunday Gathering - John 1 : 35-51 - Andy Holingum - Sermon Only

morning everybody. Nice to see you. So we are back in John 1 this week. If you've got a Bible,

if you want to turn to that. We've got dust on our Bibles. Run your iPhones. Turn your iPhone

app to it. That'd be great. And we're going to be picking it up. We're going to finish chapter 1

today yes yeah so uh all being well so uh if you can find verse 35 that'd be great but uh before

we get into the passage so so we're in the book of john and if this is all a bit new to you uh that's

the that's the fourth book in the new testament so it's the fourth book we've got that tells us

about the lifetime of jesus that tells us the stuff that he did when he was here on earth

2,000 years ago and this is John's version of the account so as we said before he's got a different

slant than the other three guys that write about Jesus's life and that's fine and good because

we'd all do the same if we went away somewhere and then came back and gave our accounts of things it

would be slightly different right so so this is John's version of events and we finally get to

John talking actually presenting Jesus to us today and what Jesus is actually about and what he's

doing. And this passage is about Jesus, the first people following him in particular. So we're going

to encounter Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathaniel and possibly a fifth person who is unknown. And

they become the first followers of Jesus. So just before we get into the passage, what are the sort

of things that people follow today? What do you follow? What do people follow? Influencers.

Oh, you're so modern.

Football. Football teams, yeah?

People follow the news.

Wow. What else?

Social media, yeah, all that kind of stuff.

Well, you might follow a car on the journey, mightn't you?

If you're going in convoy somewhere, you follow a car and all that kind of stuff.

So as you think about those things and following those things,

do you think that's kind of what following Jesus is about?

Or is it something different?

Making everybody think early on a Sunday morning.

Is it like that? Is it like following people on social media?

Is it like following a band or following a football team?

Or is it something different?

Well, this passage is going to give us a few snippets as to what following Jesus looks like and what that's about.

And I've actually got at least four, maybe five things that I've pulled out of here.

And there are other things in this passage that help us understand what following Jesus is about.

So we start off in verse 35.

John tells us this.

he says, the next day John, I remember he's talking about John the Baptist, not John the

writer of this letter, the next day John the Baptist was there again with two of his disciples

when he saw Jesus passing by and he said, look the Lamb of God. I don't know, I'm amazed at the way

my mind works, but it kind of comes up this image of, you know, Jesus walking by. Hi John. And John

sort of saying, look the Lamb of God. And so we read in the next verse, when two of John's

disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. And turning around, Jesus saw them following and

asked, what do you want? So the first thing that actually helps us understand what does it mean

to follow Jesus? Am I following Jesus? The first thing is Jesus is asking us the questions.

What do you want? He says, he turns around and says, what do you want? So the first thing he says

is what the first words that John gives us that God incarnate speaks on earth is what do you want

what are you looking for and actually that's what the original Greek actually means what are you

looking for you know as you follow Jesus what is it that you are looking for and I guess in many

ways God still speaks the same words to this world today what is it that you are looking for

You know, maybe Andrew, we don't know it's Andrew yet,

but maybe these two disciples, they just followed Jesus safely.

Maybe they kind of thought, what John says is interesting.

We'll kind of follow this guy safely.

And do you remember, were you one of the people when you were at school,

you wanted to sit on the back row of the classroom?

Yeah, keep your head down.

And when the teacher asked the question, I'm working really hard, you know,

not looking up and hoping they don't pick you.

And those two disciples are kind of following Jesus in that sort of way.

They're kind of, you know, let's keep safe here.

But Jesus turns on them and looks at them in the eye and says, what is it you want?

What are you looking for?

And it's like their cover is suddenly blown.

And, you know, why is Jesus asking them that question?

Well, maybe he's asking them that question because maybe he's wondering, are they rabbi hopping?

Are they hopping from John the Baptist to Jesus?

And maybe they go on to somewhere else.

people church hop today. Maybe Jesus is asking, are you just doing that? Are you following me

just because you've got nothing better to do? He's asking them what is in their heart as they follow

Jesus. It's a great question, isn't it? And it's a really important question to ask ourselves today.

Why am I following Jesus? It's a risky question, right? For a lot of reasons. Why am I following

Jesus today are we following Jesus because our parents did it are we following Jesus because

I've just always done it are we following Jesus because well the church seems friendly they seem

like nice people you know it's interesting straight away Jesus is not passive about how we follow him

all those other things we talked about at the beginning that we follow today we remain in

control of right that we can decide to ease in or back off from it or whatever but here as we

follow Jesus. He's not passive about us following him. He's asking us, what are you looking for as

you follow Jesus? What is it that you are looking for in your heart? And so it's Jesus asking us

this question. It's like our cover is blown. But also in asking the question, Jesus is cutting

through the culture of the day. So when John writes this, which is like 2,000 years ago,

the Jewish culture of that day, at that time, there were lots of these rabbis around in the

land and they gathered around them disciples. So every rabbi had a bunch of disciples that sat

with them and listened to their teaching and got on. So it was a very cultural thing for them to

gather around a rabbi and listen and discuss stuff, discuss the political situation of the world and

what they thought about the Romans running them and all that kind of stuff. But Jesus cuts through

that because he knows how radically different following Jesus is going to be from following

a rabbi at that time. And he cuts through the culture of the day to help these guys understand

following me is going to be very, very different. I mean, we're talking about Andrew here. Church

tradition is that Andrew ends up following Jesus and is crucified on an X-shaped cross. We're going

to meet Peter in a few minutes. Church tradition is that Peter, at the end of his life, was crucified

upside down because he didn't consider himself worthy of being crucified in the same way his

savior was you know the cost involved in following Jesus is far far different from just getting along

and doing the other stuff in the world that the people in the culture of the day are doing and so

Jesus is challenging them are we following Jesus because we want him to fix us because we want him

to hold our hand or are we following him to take us wherever he wants to take us whatever the cost

a big question isn't it and I think so often and I do get concerned at times that in the

in the in our generation we've we've domesticated Christianity to something that is more palatable

to something that is about me to something that about how Jesus can help me and we turn it into

things that I just want emotional highs or I want Jesus to fix me and Jesus here is saying

have you counted the cost what is in your heart why are you following me what are you after

I remember as a young man I can still remember as a young man listening in my early 20s to somebody

talk about these five American missionaries in their early 20s who were passionate about

following Jesus and who got hold of this that actually it's Jesus or nothing no matter where

he calls us to do and what he calls us to do they were all in and as young men they pursued him and

they felt the call of God to become missionaries and they eventually felt the call of God to become

missionaries to an unreached people group in the forest in Ecuador in South America and they

they ended up going to what were called the Orca Indians in that place in the 1950s

and they they landed and they built a camp near the tribe and they reached out and they made

contact but after a few days the tribe came and killed every single one of them the cost

they counted the cost and they considered it worthwhile and one of them wrote this well-known

saying that is that is well understood he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain

that which he cannot lose he is no fool to give what he cannot keep as in my life his life to gain

that which he cannot lose eternity with Jesus and there is such a cultural shift in our heads

sometimes it seems that what we have turned Christianity into and how we worship Jesus today

seems so removed from this element of the cost of following him and actually if we spent time

looking at how Christians are passionate about Jesus

in other nations of the land

and the persecution they experience because of that.

And then I compare that to the things that we moan about.

And I think, oh, we've lost the plot.

I didn't like the worship this morning.

Really? Really? Is that what it's become?

You know, that person sat over there is upsetting me.

Really? Is that what we've become?

We've lost our way when we think following Jesus

is about fixing things to make it how I like it.

And the call of Jesus on our lives is, have we counted the cost in following him?

And are we ready to go where he is calling us to?

Because there is so much out there that he's doing and that he's asking us to get caught up with him.

But have we counted the cost?

And so I think God this morning asks each one of us as we follow Jesus.

He says, what are you looking for?

What is it that you are looking for?

Same thing that this passage teaches.

Let's move on a little bit.

turning around Jesus asking the question what do you want they said rabbi John helpfully tells us

that means teacher they say where are you staying it's kind of like again I just think you know if

the son of God appeared and says right you can ask me one question what's it going to be I mean

where are you staying isn't high on the list right that's not the kind of thing I'd be asking

but anyway they're kind of rumbled because Jesus turned on them and asked them this question and

where are you staying? Come, he replied, and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying

and spent that day with him. It was about the 10th hour. Andrew, that's one of the two, Simon Peter's

brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing

Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him we found the Messiah, that is the Christ, and

he brought him to Jesus. So the second thing if we're following Jesus that we are experiencing is

we are moving from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus right at the start of this day Andrew

describes Jesus as rabbi you are teacher rabbi uh where are you staying and that kind of at the end

of the day having spent a day with Jesus you are the messiah you are with the mess what has happened

in that day what has Andrew experienced in that day that's transformed his thinking from you are

teacher to you are the son of God you are the Messiah you are the anointed one you know we're

not told what's happened but what happens when we get in the presence of Jesus and we spend time

with him is he is he shifts our hearts and he shifts our heads and he shifts our minds to

understand something more about who he is and we begin to get to know Jesus rather than just

knowing about him and my heart's cry this morning is that we become men and women in this generation

who learn what it is so much more to know Jesus and not just know about him. You see the whole

point of the alpha course we're going on is not that you learn head knowledge about who this Jesus

is, it's not that you learn what textual criticism is so you know the Bible's reliable, it's so that

You begin on a journey where you're going to know Jesus,

the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of God.

And actually, we are all on that same journey, right?

And the frustrating thing is sometimes it feels like

the more you know Jesus, the more you realize you don't know.

So you skip back again.

And that's such a challenge.

But it's about moving, and it's about spending time with him.

That's what's happened to Andrew.

He spent a day with Jesus, and he's shifted.

He's not just a teacher.

He's not just a good teacher.

You are the Son of God, he exclaims to his brother.

We've found the Messiah, something so much bigger.

So maybe the question this morning for you and for me is,

so on that scale of, you know, Jesus, you are a teacher,

to Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Son of God, where are we?

On that scale this morning of knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus,

Where are you and I?

As we follow him, that is number two that we see.

Where are we?

Are we shifting from knowing about Jesus to knowing him?

Number three, we move on in the verses.

Where did I get to?

Yeah, so Andrew goes to his brother Simon Peter,

and then in verse 42, he says,

and he brought him, he brought Simon Peter to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said,

you are Simon, son of John.

you will be called Kephas which when translated is Peter and Peter means the rock not the actor

okay just to be clear this is a statement about what Peter is going to become and that's the third

thing about following Jesus are you hearing Jesus talk to you about what you will become

in him are you hearing what he is calling you what you will become and how you will be changed

to be used by him so Andrew brings his brother Simon to him and immediately what we see is Jesus

Jesus doesn't say follow me like he has done to the other guys or he's going to say in a minute to

two more but he simply says to Simon you will be called Peter you will be called the rock because

Jesus is saying something in the future that this guy will become a rock as a follower of Jesus

he will become solid and reliable as a follower of Jesus and he will become the rock on which the

church is going to be built. He sees a Peter who in the future will stand up in Jerusalem and preach

to thousands of men and women. He sees a Peter who will be a pillar of the church as it explodes

in the first century AD around the Mediterranean. And he sees a Peter who will become the man who

leads the apostles of the early church. But not right now. This guy, Simon Peter, what is he?

He's a fisherman on Galilee, right?

He just makes his life locally in Galilee.

He's learning his trade, perhaps.

You know, I'm guessing he's a young guy.

You know, maybe he knows about boats.

He understands about the weather on Galilee and when to go,

take your boat out to get fishing and when not.

He's probably got a band of mates he gets together with in the evening

and hangs out and has drinks and has a few laughs.

And he's probably thinking, I'm going to get married and I'll have kids

and then I'll hand the business on to my kids

and then I'll reach old age and be looked after a bit

and then I'll die and that'll be it.

That's Simon's life.

But Jesus appears in his life

and begins to see something very, very different.

Very different.

Simon would have laughed if he'd understood

what Jesus was talking about, right?

If Jesus had said to him, Simon, in four years' time,

you're going to stand up in Jerusalem

and be preaching to thousands, the capital city of the land.

He would have said, no, right?

So there's two things here.

Actually, there's more than two things here.

You know, following Jesus lifts us out of the accepted routine

of what life is about, of how you thought it was going to be mapped out,

and opens up a panorama of opportunity and experience in following him.

It does.

And we've got to begin to say,

are we hearing Jesus speak to us about what he has in store for us?

Are we exercising faith to trust him for that and to hold on to it?

because Jesus begins to see something that we don't and that he's calling us to do that.

You see, when Jesus looks at you or me, he doesn't see a person defined or limited by our own

expectations. He doesn't see a man or a woman restricted by our circumstances or our history

or our qualifications or our achievements or our failings or our physical health or our mental

health, or dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Whatever phrase you use to say, I can't do this because I've got this

going on in my life, Jesus sees beyond that, and he says to Simon Peter, you are the rock, and my church

is going to be built on you. I'm just a fisherman, God. I just pick fish out of water, you know, just hang

out with my mates in the evening. I'm just a local Barnsley lad. Don't go anywhere else in the world.

what do you mean I'm going to be preaching in London to thousands

and become the guy who encounters emperors and kings and leaders?

Outrageous.

It's outrageous.

But Jesus is well able to do that in you and me

because Jesus is building his kingdom, his church.

He's not building your kingdom or mine.

He's building his kingdom and his church,

and he's calling you and I up into it.

And so he's well able to say to us, Simon Peter, you're the rock.

It doesn't matter what you are today.

This is what you are going to become.

And I want us to be stirred by that,

whatever age we are as we sit here this morning,

and we may think we've lived most of our life or not.

That doesn't matter.

Jesus is still calling us forwards to become men and women

that he has purposed and that he has called us to be,

and not to be constrained by the narrow vision

that we have about ourselves.

He sees a person who, as they follow Jesus,

will become the man or woman that he has called them to be that's number three number four if

we're following Jesus the next thing we'll see is that Jesus connects with us where we are at

so moving on the next day verse 43 Jesus decided to leave for Galilee finding Philip he said to him

follow me Philip like Andrew and Peter was from the town of Bethsaida Philip found Nathanael and

told him we have found the one moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote

jesus of nazareth the son of joseph it's interesting in this instance we're not told

much more about what happened but we read that jesus found philip right it's the other way around

to andrew and peter they found him but in this instance jesus found philip we don't know what

that means and jesus simply says follow me and again it's that that whole sense of throwing his

lot in with jesus you know following me is not i'm going to carry on doing what i'm doing and

just add jesus to the rest of my life it's throwing the lot in with jesus and and doing that are you

all in but then philip goes and finds his mate nathaniel you see there's no there's no keeping

this jesus private we're not meant to to just have it as a private little religion that was a personal

thing we do. But if we found, truly found this same Jesus, then it's got to be worth talking to

other people about and letting them know. So he goes to Nathaniel and he says to Nathaniel, this

guy I have found, he is worth following. What he has to say, what he does, how he lives his life,

what he's about. Now Philip was in a culture, as we're reading here, where the most, a lot of the

people at that time, they knew and understood the Old Testament, right? It was part of the Jewish

culture they knew what it was what was in it and they knew it spoke about a messiah coming

and so philip goes to nathaniel and says hey know that guy that the old testament is talking about

i think i found him and that would make a lot of sense to nathaniel now if you go out into

jordan thorpe or baitmore today and say hey i found a guy the old testament's talking about

right it would be irrelevant right it's not pertinent it's not relevant today uh you know

Because we don't live in a culture like the one that John is describing

and that Philip and Nathanael lived in.

We live in a different culture.

So we need to engage our brains a bit about how,

what is the connection points that Jesus has with the world in which we live in,

with the tribes that we mix with today,

with the people that we rub shoulders with today.

You know, we wouldn't say we found the person that the Old Testament talks about,

but we might say, I found someone who finally makes sense of life,

of why we are here, of what our purpose is,

who makes order out of chaos we might say I found someone who finally has a really clear and

definite moral and ethical compass when all of that stuff is up for grabs generally in the world

today I finally found someone who addresses my deepest needs I found someone who identifies

with my struggles and refocuses my lives I found someone who is more reliable more trustworthy has

greater integrity than anyone else around I found someone who has the authority and the grace to

challenge my deepest issues which keep me out of sorts with you. I've found someone who cuts

through the superficiality of this world that we use to block out the reality of life and I've

found someone who is an anchor in the shifting sands of this modern world and there are other

things and I just want to say that's your homework this week. In your groups this week talk about

how what would be the connection points with your friends that don't yet know jesus to introduce him

into the conversations what is it about jesus that actually is relevant to the culture in which

you live and you move today and have a think about that in your groups that's number four jesus

connects with where we're at number five moving on the last few verses so nathaniel says in verse

36. Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nathanael asked. Come and see, said

Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, here is a true Israelite in whom there

is nothing false. How do you know me? Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, I saw you while you were

still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the son of

God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus said, you believe because I told you I saw you under the

fig tree, you shall see greater things

than that. He then added, I tell you the

truth, you shall see heaven open

and the angels of God ascending and descending

on the son of man.

Nathaniel, what a guy, right?

I love him. Can

anything good come out of Nazareth?

You're talking about Jesus here, the son

of God, you know? Can anything good come

out of Nazareth? You see, Nathaniel is

a Yorkshireman, right?

A spade's a spade.

Straight talking, no messing,

none of this mask stuff, none of this

saying one thing and meaning another

Nazareth, can anything good come out of that

and interestingly, notice Philip

doesn't get into a debate with him, he doesn't

start saying, well actually there are some good things

in Nazareth, doesn't get into

a debate with him, he says, well come and

see Jesus and find out for yourself

come and meet Jesus

and Jesus says to him, here

is a true Israel in whom there is

nothing false, that's language

of the day for saying, Nathaniel

you're a guy who plays a straight bat what you say you mean and there's no messing with you and

Nathaniel says to him how do you know me and then Jesus says this is an amazing thing I saw you under

the fig tree before Philip came to you whether that's he saw him in his spirit or with his eyes

or whatever we don't know but probably in the spirit and he sees him and that blows Nathaniel's

mind and he goes wow you know that you truly are the son of God and you know whereas it took Andrew

a day to go from rabbi to messiah it seems to take nathaniel one sentence of jesus of a

supernatural encounter with jesus is saying i saw you under the fig tree and you know and philip is

and nathaniel is blown away you know and it's that moment when you realize jesus knows all about you

there's no escape he knows everything everything you think everything you think about everybody

else. Everything you do, everything you say, the words that come out of your mouth, and you realise

he knows everything. He knows everything that you've been through. He knows everything that

has shaped you into the man or the woman that you are today. And knowing that, he then says,

follow me, follow me. What a God we've got. What a saviour. What a saviour. Follow me, he says.

follow me and so nathaniel as i say has this same revelation as andrew you truly are the son of god

but jesus answers something very interesting he says you are amazed nathaniel because in faith you

you were blown away by the fact i said i saw you under the fig tree i want to tell you you are

going to see greater things in faith as you follow me and i just long for just to grab something of

that this morning for you and for me that actually what we have seen has blown us away in our lives

and we're so grateful to Jesus but he says the same to us that in faith we will see greater things

in him as we pursue him he tells something of what Nathaniel will see in the future whether

that's in this life or in the life to come but and we don't know what that is but he's giving

him a picture of what he will see as he exercises his faith and nathaniel is just an ordinary guy

he's not given to emotion he's the salt of the earth and yet jesus promises him he's going to see

greater things you know as we take jesus as his words we embrace the fact he knows all about us

and there's nothing hidden his promise to us is that through faith we will see amazing things

that he will do and my question this morning is what do you want to see i think jesus yet

challenged me what do i want to see well i want to see lives healed i want to see we pray for the

sick and they get healed that'll be a good start right i want to see that we talk to people about

jesus and they're convicted of sin in their lives and they're set free i want to see that the ravages

of evil that is so prevalent in lives and lifestyles across these estates

crushed and the grace and the love and the mercy of God truly being community transformation in a

way that no government plan or policy ever will do. I want to see men and women cry out to God

for mercy and rejoice that they find a saviour who loves them, who cares for them and is passionate

about them. I want to see the fruit of God's Holy Spirit growing in the lives of us, his church,

so that that love and that joy and that peace and that kindness and that goodness

and that faithfulness and that gentleness becomes more and more evident in us

as we relate together and as the world outside looks on

and to see sin defeated in lies.

I don't know what it is you want to see,

but Jesus is encouraging us, maybe even egging us on.

You know, you have seen greater things in your life already,

but what do you want to see with me as we go forward?

So just to wrap up,

as I've looked at these things about following Jesus,

it reminds me,

so Angie and I have been watching a little bit

of the Winter Olympics.

It's like the only sport we ever watch,

so we only watch sport every four years.

But we watch this skeleton thing.

It's weird, right?

If you don't know what it is,

basically, you lie down flat,

you wear a full-body lycra suit,

for a start,

so you've got to be the right shape.

then you get what seems to me like a long tray

and you put the long tray

on a bit of ice that's going down

that angle and you lie flat on it

and then you whiz down this icy

slope, right, reaching

speeds of 80 miles an hour

with your chin centimetres

from the ice, right, and you're going around

curves and all this sort of stuff and it's amazing

to watch and we got a gold medal

which is great, but

the thing I noticed about that and the thing I

tie it into the talk this morning

is those guys, they stand at the top of that slope.

And it's like they're deciding.

Because once they commit, that's it.

They're on.

They're on that tray.

They're going down.

Whoosh!

And there's no stopping until they get to the end.

And I think the challenge of Jesus for his church this morning, for us,

is are we ready to commit?

Are we ready to stand at the top of that slope?

Are we ready to commit and run and jump on that thing?

I'm washed off.

That's his invitation to us this morning.

Amen.

There you are.

Thanks, Andy.

Just a few notes.

I'm going to preach it again.

Jesus does go right to our heart, doesn't he?

And they question you, are we ready to follow him and not just watch him?

So easy to be spectators of Jesus.

And yet, the dynamic of stepping in, just as Andy's described so clearly there.

Jesus sees things in us that we can't see ourselves.

and that's what limits us sometimes isn't it we look at ourselves and we think we this far and

no further but Jesus sees things that we don't see what do you want to see are we ready to commit

those are the questions and there is always opportunity for response there is always

opportunity for people who are moved by the word to come forward to come and make their own response

to God and for somebody to come alongside

and pray and I want to give you that opportunity

if anything that Andy has said

has challenged, convicted

motivated, spurred you to

come and to make that physical response

but equally I don't want

us in our hearts to

feel again like we're spectators

we don't want to be spectators of Jesus

we don't want to be spectators of his word

and I believe there is a response that each of us

has to make and it may be that we're not all

coming here back there, I don't want

any of us to step back and

not think that this word is not relevant to us

because it is and so we're all

going to respond this morning in worship

Chris and the guys are going to

lead us and we're

just going to take some time just to absorb

what Andy has said, what God has

spoken to us and as I

said the floor is open if you

know you need to make a physical

response then do

do that as well

God you have to take

changing names

the names and the labels we give ourselves the names and the labels other people give us

become a limiter jesus gives us names that provide possibility and potential just feel that people

that are struggling with that that understanding that labeling that whatever whether it's personal

whether it's what other people have done jesus is speaking a word of faith into our hearts this

morning as we choose to follow

him the possibilities

are endless

and we'll be amazed and surprised

at what he can do so the question we take away

with us what do you want

what do you want amen

amen we're going to close our service

there doesn't mean that God is leaving us

but we're going to close

with the words of the grace

may the grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ and the love

of God and the fellowship

of the Holy Spirit

be with us all now

and evermore. Amen.

Amen. Have a wonderful

week following Jesus.

And yeah,

I'll see you again next week.

Amen.