Called to Follow and Witness Jesus | John 1:19-51

October 21, 2013

Book: John

INTRODUCTION

When Jesus started his public ministry, he called people to follow him and to be his disciples. Jesus is portrayed as the Light of the world and the source of life and Jesus extends an invitation to all. And to all those who follow Jesus, he gives another mandate; go tell others about Jesus and bring them to his light. We are called to follow and witness Jesus.

OUTLINE

The Testimony of John; 1:19-34

John and the Jerusalem delegation; 1:19-28
John’s testimony to Jesus; 1:29-34

Jesus’ first disciples; 1:35-51

Andrew and Peter; 1:35-42
Philip and Nathaniel; 1:43-51

John 1:35-51

³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” (Andrew and Philip just follow Jesus and Jesus turns around and asks them, “What do you want?”)

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

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.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). ⁴²And 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).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. ⁴⁵Philip 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.”

⁴⁶“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

⁵⁰Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” ⁵¹He 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.”

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus:

John 1:35-39

³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷When the two disciples (Andrew and probably John the Gospel writer) heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

John 1:43

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus calling his first disciples. It may seem that these disciples just drop everything whatever he was doing, checks out and all of a sudden now is among the followers of Jesus. But what we don’t understand is that John the Baptist has been preparing these disciples. They were John’s disciples and John was teaching them the Good News. They were all waiting for the coming Messiah. Based on the many prophesies of the Old Testament. The expectation of the Messiah was intense. People were looking for a Messiah or Christ (in Greek). They thought John the Baptist was the Messiah and asked him and he denied it, 1;19-20. Now that they are going after Jesus, they are going with the preparation of John’s ministry under their belts. When John said pointing to Jesus, “Look the Lamb of God.” They knew here was the Messiah they were waiting for and they followed Jesus.

Follow Me – A Divine Call To Journey With Jesus

John 1:43

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Follow me’ is all that is recorded of that conversation. We do not have an exhaustive record of all that transpired in the conversation between Jesus and Philip. Instead what we have is an accurate summary of the most compelling and important part of that discussion. The heart of Jesus’ message is ‘follow me.’

Jesus calls people to follow him.

John 10:11

I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:27-28

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

On another occasion in John 12 Jesus said:

John 12:25-26

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life whoever serves me must follow me and where I am, my servant also will be.

Obviously, the stakes are very high when we are talking about losing our life. When we are talking about the call to self-sacrifice to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Jesus did not say, “Listen to me.” Listening is cheap. Even Jesus enemies listened to him and many ignored what he said and others were infuriated by it.
Jesus did not say “Agree with me.”
He did not even say, “Believe me.” The book of James tells us that even the demons believe and tremble that there is one God.

Following Jesus comes at a cost.

Jesus wants to be your first priority in life, pre-eminence.

See the context of this call in Matthew

Matthew 4:18-22

¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

We see here that following Jesus is a costly affair.

By calling these men to leave their boats, Jesus was calling them to abandon their careers.
When He called them to leave their nets, He was calling them to abandon their possessions.
When He called them to leave their father in the boat by himself, He was calling them to abandon their family and friends.
Ultimately, Jesus was calling them to abandon themselves.

The men were leaving certainty for uncertainty, safety for danger, and self-preservation for self-denunciation. Let’s put ourselves in the positions of these eager followers of Jesus in the first century. What if you were the one stepping out of the boat? What if you were the potential disciple being told to drop your nets? And what if it were your father asking where you were going?

The call to follow Jesus is a call to forsake everyone and everything other than Him. It’s a call to a radical abandonment. – Pr. David Platt, Ex-President of International Mission Board

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

John 1:40-42

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). ⁴²And he brought him to Jesus.

John 1:45

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.”

In other words, Andrew & Philip now are not just a believer, but he is an effective witness, an effective evangelist as we are all called to be.

Find: In both cases they find someone as if they were lost. They find him and then say in this case introducing Nathaniel to Jesus, “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.”

Three Ways By Which People Follow Jesus:

Gospel Proclamation. John proclaimed the gospel – Behold the Lamb.

Direct Intervention. Jesus found Philip and said, “Follow me.”

Personal Invitation. Andrew calls his brother Simon and Philip calls Nathaniel. Find people.

Extend The Invitation To Others To Come To Jesus.

As a disciple, I am supposed to invite others to Jesus.

John 1:46

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

What to do if you are a new believer? You do not know to teach the word of God?

Invite: Call them to our community. Jesus is portrayed as crucified. They see the glory of Christ.
Share your testimony.
Pray for them.

As Jesus’ disciples we are all supposed to be doing this. That is the Great Commission: Go and make disciples. Go and invite other to be disciples. That is why we have the Holy Spirit – to empower us to be a witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

If You’re A Christian You Are A Witness.

“Every heart with Christ is a missionary, every heart without Christ is a mission field.” – Count Zinzendorf, German Priest, leader of the Moravian Church in the 1700’s.

I am supposed to be a Witness of Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to go to Nepal to be a witness. Wherever you or I find ourselves, we are called by Christ to be ambassadors of Christ, and the first thing any disciple does is confess Christ for the benefit of those he or she loves.

The news is too good to keep to ourselves. If you found the cure to cancer and then there is a loved one struggling with a cancer, you don’t just say well he will figure it out. If you love the other you will share the news that has been so transforming and helpful in your life.

We must be like the lepers outside Samaria in 2 Kings 7. The city was starving to death because of being besieged by the Armenian armies. God had made them run away and they left all their provisions behind and the lepers are just enjoying it; eating, drinking, taking the silver and gold and clothes and hiding them and having a wonderful time and then they said to each other we are not doing right.

2 Kings 7:9

Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

God has called us to be witnesses of the Gospel.

Example Of Witness

John, the Gospel writer gives us three example of how God uses people as witnesses.

There is John the Baptist and then parallel there is Andrew and Philip. Both the stories of Andrew and Philip are very closely parallel. Let us just think about these witnesses.

John’s Witness About Jesus

Background; 1:6-7:

John 1:6-7

⁶There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe

This was the purpose of John. He is not the light. He is pointing to the light.

John 1:8

He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world

John’s Witness To The Priests And Levites:

John 1:19-28

¹⁹Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. ²⁰He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

²¹They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

²²Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

²⁴Now the Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. ²⁷He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

²⁸This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

John’s Witness to His disciples

John 1:29-34

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

³²Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ³³And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

John calls Jesus the Lamb: John uses the language ‘lamb’ to describe Jesus. He sums up the language of the OT about the sacrificial lamb, perhaps focusing on the Passover and all the other temple sacrifices involving the lambs.

Jesus takes away the sin of the world from the OT; by forgiving the sin of those who turn to him, but by judging those who do not and removing sin from the world. Both of those are part of the work of Jesus Christ.

John’s Witness

Jesus is the Redeemer. Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; 1:29
Baptizer of the Holy Spirit; 1:32-33 (Jesus in the farewell narrative of the Spirit as the one who will come along to continue with the disciples the presence of God that Jesus has been manifesting.). The Spirt comes down and remains upon Jesus, 1:33. This happened when John baptized Jesus.
God’s Chosen One; 1:34

John 1:32-34

³²Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ³³And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”

Jesus is Lord.

John the Baptist points to Jesus as the Lord. By that he means Yahweh, the personal name of God.

John 1:23

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 40:3), “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’

In the Old Testament, the word there is the Hebrew word Yahweh. John the Baptist is using that name now translated into Greek just the normal word Lord using that word to apply to Jesus. This is one of the many cases in the New Testament where Old Testament passages that refer to Yahweh are directly applied to Jesus using the Greek translation of Yahweh as Lord.

Witness of Andrew & Philip

So the first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon whose other name is Peter and tell him we have found the Messiah that is the Christ and we have brought him to Jesus. Simon Peter was not content just to say something, he actually dragged his brother to Jesus. Parents ministry that is the same, Mother and father bring your children to Jesus.

You Witness by Asking People to Come and See

John 1:35-39

³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

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.

After spending all day with the Saviour, the first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him we found the Messiah and he brought him to Jesus. It was a transforming ‘come and see.’ Likewise when Philip has hid discussion with Nathaniel:

John 1:43-46

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁶“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

So ours is a come and see faith, and the ultimate proof for it is not my life and not your life, but Jesus the incomparable person and work of Jesus Christ himself.

John 1:47-51

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

Well in fact Nathaniel has no guile and he is a model for the seeker. Real faith does not begin by pretending you don’t have doubts and so on self-consciousness, he reveals what is a key problem for this claim about Jesus. He is coming from the wrong town.

Jesus is God: Jesus Knows Our Thoughts.

Jesus marvelled his compliment about this man that there is nothing false in him and he is just the moment before he insulted Jesus that anything good comes from Nazareth. V46.

Well, that is how Nathaniel is. He is totally unfake. He is real, and he admits his doubts and in the end, Jesus then says you know what I saw you under the fig tree before Philip even spoke with you. ‘Under the fig tree’ is an expression in Jewish figures of speech on meditating on the scripture or spending time in prayer or “you were in your prayer closet.”

Jesus knew Nathaniel and his thoughts. We see this again in the gospel of John time and time again.

He has an encounter with the woman at the well of Samaria and reminds her of her entire history and then she goes out and says come see a man who has told me everything I ever did. He hears Thomas’ doubts after the resurrection and then voices them before Thomas does himself and it just sweeps Thomas off his feet. How can anyone know my inmost thoughts, my inmost doubts but Jesus does.

John 1:50-51

BACKGROUND

This is mentioned in Genesis 28. Jacob’s ladder is not really a ladder, it’s a staircase. It is not even a staircase, they did not have staircases quite like how we think of, it is a term that describes a step pyramid. A staircase that has stairs that only the Gods can negotiate. In Mesopotamia, they made pyramids with these steps going up, well the one in Babylon the first a 100 feet, you got to have a big leg to go down a 100 feet and the next one is 50 feet and they go up six steps at the very top is a temple where the God is supposed to come down and then walk down these steps in order to then minister to you, bless you or do whatever.

Jacob had a dream, he had just been running away from the father he had deceived, from the mother with whom he had conspired, from Esau who wanted to murder him for having stolen is birth right and then now the death bed blessing of his father. Esau had every right to want to kill Jacob. Jacob was on the run. He was not going to a spiritual retreat. He was running away from his past that was an abysmal wreck.

Then he has this dream, and the dream is of this staircase that he could never climb up, but you know what is happening, it says the angels are ascending and descending and God comes down and stands right next to Jacob in his dream and says, “I am going to bless you Jacob more than you can possibly imagine.” You think he is going to come down and judge him? No he comes down and blesses him, promises everything out of the Abrahamic covenant to bless him.

Jesus, the Way

Jesus said that is who I am. I am the staircase from heaven to earth. You could never climb a single step on your way up, but God comes down. You expect by all rights that he will come down and judge, but I am going to come down and bless in ways you can scarcely imagine, and surely ways you and I do not deserve. That is who Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. The one apart from whom no one goes to the father except by him.

CONCLUSION

In John 1:19-51, we witness the compelling call of Jesus to follow Him and be His disciples. As portrayed in the Gospel, Jesus is the Light of the world and the source of life, extending an invitation to all. Those who heed this call are entrusted with a dual mandate: To follow Jesus closely and, in turn, to go forth as witnesses, bringing others into His transformative light.

We learn that being a disciple involves actively following Jesus, responding to His divine call, and, in turn, inviting others to join this transformative journey. The disciples’ actions, from finding family members like Andrew did to extending invitations like Philip, demonstrate that witnessing is an integral part of discipleship.

Moreover, Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus reveals the profound knowledge Jesus possesses about our inner thoughts and doubts. This underscores that following Jesus is not about feigned perfection but embracing authenticity, knowing that He understands our hearts.

The call to discipleship is not a one-time event but a continuous, sacrificial journey, as emphasized by Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24. It involves self-denial and following Jesus.

In conclusion, discipleship is a call to actively follow Jesus and to extend the invitation, with the assurance that in Jesus, we find the way, the truth, and the life.

Reward:

Mark 8:38-39

³⁸If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

But whoever acknowledges me before men I will acknowledge him before my father in heaven.

Called to Follow and Witness Jesus | John 1:19-51