Title: It’s Not That Complicated!
Text: John 1:43-51
The Big Idea: Jesus simply says, “Follow me.”
Introduction
Sometimes I think we make much more of what it means to be a Christian than is necessary or even intended.
Perhaps you’ve been following the hiring of Josh McDaniels to replace Mike Shanahan as the head coach of the Broncos. Despite his youthfulness, McDaniels has quite a resume. He was the third member of New England Patriots’ coach Belichick’s staff. He moved up the ladder quickly from being a personnel assistant in the scouting department, to assistant on the defensive coaching staff, to quarterback coach, to offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. He is a skillful and proven coach at the age of 32.
Generally, when we look to fill a position we are immediately inclined to look for a strong resume, proven performance, and potential.
However, Jesus is not an NFL franchise owner on the look for a new head coach. Jesus is not the chairman of GM, Ford, or Chrysler, in a hunt for a new CEO who can remake the American auto industry into a viable competitor in the automobile market. Jesus is not even one of two boys on a playground choosing sides for a game of softball or soccer… if he were, who among us would be early picks, and who among us would be the left-overs neither picker wants to pick for his team?
It isn’t anything like that with Jesus… it is true that in our story today, Jesus seems to happen upon or discover those whom he invited to follow him. It is true that we have a sense of being picked or chosen or elected to be followers of Jesus. However, it is also true that those of us who choose to follow Christ, do so because we have discovered who Christ is.
Jesus is for many of us, a discovery.
1. Jesus is an unfolding discovery.
Those who initially became followers of Christ, discovered who he was and is. They discovered, as we discover:
Jesus is the Word
• In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God… So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. John 1:1 – 2 and 14
Jesus is the Lamb of God
• The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 (Repeated in 1:35-36)
Jesus in the Messiah
• Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, had heard what John said and then followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah (which means the Christ).” John 1:40-41
Jesus is the One Spoken of by the Prophets
• Philip went off to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth.” John 1:45
Jesus is the Son of God
• And Nathanael replied, “Teacher, you are the Son of God – the King of Israel!” John 1:49
Do you see how the identity of Jesus unfolded to those who followed him? He was the Word of God; the Son of God; the Lamb of God; the Messiah; the one spoken of by the prophets; Jesus; and King of Israel.
On Wednesday, Bonnie and I took a little day trip and while in Colorado Springs we stopped by Living Hope Covenant Church and there displayed on four banner poles along the walk that led to the entrance of the church were banners celebrating Jesus as: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.
In the Christmas story Jesus is identified as “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” In the same context he is called “Immanuel” which means God is with us in Matthew 1:21-23.
The memory of those powerful lines from Handel’s Messiah ring still in our ears, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” And then there is the more contemporary expression of loving devotion in the reflective singing of Jesus Christ as, “Redeemer, Savior, Friend.”
The gamut of discovery defies our imaginations, but within the gamut from “King of Kings and Lord or Lord and Redeemer, Savior, Friend,” we discover and are drawn to Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world.
But who could possibly rise to meet the criteria necessary to be identified by over 100 descriptive names in the bible? Certainly not Jesus of Nazareth.
2. Jesus may prompt reasonable doubt.
• “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come out of there?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip said. John 1:46
The city of Nazareth is about 88 miles north of Jerusalem. It is near the border of Lebanon, not far from the Sea of Galilee. Today it is the largest of the Arab cities in Israel with approximately 40 percent of the population Christian and 60 percent of the population Arab. Nearly 60,000 people live in modern day Nazareth. But when Jesus lived in Nazareth it was a bustling little Podunk of maybe 500 people. Given the off-handed comment of Nathanael, we sense that Nazareth was hardly on the map. “Can anything [or anyone] good come out of Nazareth?” Nazareth was not a destination of choice.
Have you ever traveled I-76 from Denver to Nebraska? I always note the signs along the highway that identify communities to the east and west. I sometimes wonder who lives way out there. Certainly there are those places like Ft. Morgan, Brush, and Sterling… but there are also places like Grover in Weld County with a population of 153. There are places like Iliff in Logan County boasting 213 people. Paoli, in Phillips County, takes up all of .3 square miles and recorded 43 people in the 2,000 census. Paoli makes nearby Haxtun, which covers .5 square miles and boasts 900 plus residents, seem like a regular metropolis. And then there are places with names that are noted in the records simply as “populated places” where a few people live. Stoneham for example, was settled by Belgium immigrants in 1876 and there is Crook, Colorado… there are many places like Stoneham and Crook that are little more than wide places in the road. They are small unincorporated communities or towns located here and there in the sparsely populated plains of northeastern Colorado.
Each and every small community has its local color and characters. Each community has its history. Good people live in every community. Every community can boast of sons and daughters who have gone on to make good in a big world. Winterset, Iowa has its John Wayne. Hope, Arkansas has its Bill Clinton. Tupelo, Mississippi has its Elvis Presley. Norfolk, Nebraska has its Johnny Carson. Plains, Georgia has its Jimmy Carter. But try to imagine what you would think if someone came up to you and said, “I’ve just met the Son of God and he hails all the way from up there in Phillips County Colorado from a town called Haxtun.”
It seems in Jesus’ day, being from Nazareth was something like being one of
those bib overalled, pomade hair greased down, straw chewing, hick, hillbilly, Foggy Bottom Boys in “Wherefore Art Thou Brother.” To be from Nazareth was to be just another unlikely guy from just another obscure, little, backwater town.
But Jesus had a way of dispelling doubt in the hearts of even the most skeptical.
3. Jesus dispels doubt.
• And as they approached, Jesus said, “Here comes an honest man – a true son of Israel.” “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. And Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” And Nathanael replied, “Teacher, you are the Son of God
Jesus described Nathanael as an Israelite without guile or deceit. By that he meant Nathanael was Nathanael. There were no layers to Nathanael. He was who he was. He was forthright and plain spoken. You always knew where you stood with Nathanael.
Nathanael was a skeptic and he made no attempt to hide is skepticism. So Jesus related to him on a level that spoke to his skepticism. When Jesus knew him and spoke of having seen him sitting under a fig tree engaged in conversation with Phillip, though he was not present or privy to the conversation, Nathanael was immediately impressed. Jesus was the real deal.
John Madden is my favorite football commentator. He has played football, coached football, and has commentated football games for CBS, FOX, ABC, ESPEN, and is currently color commentator with Pat Summerall on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. I don’t know that anyone knows the game or the players of the game better than John Madden. So I pay attention when Madden talks about football and football players. When John Madden is fully convinced that a player is truly a good and great player he refers to that player as “the real deal.”
Skeptical Nathanael is convinced that Jesus Christ is “the real deal” when he says, “Teacher, you are the Son of God – the King of Israel.”
As soon as Nathanael makes this discovery, he becomes a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
4. Jesus compels us to follow him.
• The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, be my disciple.” John 1:43
Within the context we see how the disciples were compelled to follow Jesus:
• Then two of John the Baptist’s disciples turned and followed Jesus. Jesus looked around and asked, “What do you want?” They replied, “Where are you staying?” And Jesus said, “Come and see…” John 1:37-39
• The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, be my disciple.” John 1:43
• And Philip said to Nathanael, “Just come and see for yourself.” John 1:46
One of my favorite stories is of a young woman making application to attend a prominent university. Her heart sank as she worked through the questions on the application form and especially so when she came upon the question: “Are you a leader?”
She had never thought of herself as a leader and though she knew being a leader was important to her being considered for enrollment at the university, she reluctantly answered, “No, I am not a leader.”
A few weeks later she received a letter from the university registrar. It read, “Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms received this year indicates we will have `1,452 new leaders attending our university. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that we have at least one follower.”
There is a high premium placed on leadership in our culture but interestingly enough, Jesus was not looking for leaders. Jesus was looking for followers.
On my Facebook profile there is a place where to state one’s religious views. My statement is simple… “Christ follower.” That is the essence of being a Christian… the lived out expression of my faith is that of one who follows Jesus Christ.
When I was preparing for ministry, Billy Graham was really hot stuff. Some of my classmates held their bibles like Billy Graham held his bible. They mimicked Billy Graham in stating, “The bible says…” They even tried to capture his intonation and cadence of speaking. They were trying imitate Billy Graham.
Jesus did not say, “Come, imitate me.” In crossword puzzles “aper” is often used as a synonym for mimic. Jesus did not say, “Come, be an ‘aper’ of me… I’m not looking for “monkey see, monkey do” people. I am looking for followers. In fact, Jesus never said “be like me” to anyone. But he often said, “Come, follow me.” (Are We Called to Be Mirror Twins of Jesus?, Homiletics Magazine, January 2009, p.27)
So, what does it mean to follow Jesus? If it is not to be Hal Holbrook impersonating Mark Twain or Tina Fey acting like Sarah Palin or Frank Caliendo mimicking George W. Bush or an Elvis Impersonator in Las Vegas… what does it mean to follow Jesus?
If being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or being transformed by the renewing of our minds is not to turn us into a bunch of little Christs scurrying all over the place being like Jesus, what does it mean to follow Christ?
It is obvious that following Christ does not mean we become Christ clones. Not a single disciple ever became the mirror image of Jesus Christ. Peter never became a Jesus look-a-like. John never impersonated Jesus Christ. And Nathanael certainly did not leave a lasting impression of having mastered the art of perfectly playing the role of Jesus Christ in real life.
In February of last year the Chicago Tribune reported on the life work of a man named Ted Neeley. Ted Neeley has played the role of Jesus in the musical Jesus Christ Super Star for nearly 40 years. In the interview Neeley said, “Jesus got it right the first time. I’m still a working on it, you see. I’m a performer. I am pretending to be something which I am not.” (Kelley L. Carter, “After 40 Years, Jesus is a Work in Progress, Chicago Tribune, 2/15/08, PreachingToday.com)
A disciple is not a performer or actor. A disciple is an adherent or a learner or a follower. Jesus once said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Let me teach you or learn from me, because I am humble and gentle and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
In what we call the Great Commission Jesus said, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” Matthew 28:19-20
In John, speaking to his closest followers he said, “If you love me, obey my commandments. Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them and we will come to them and live with them.” John 14:15, 21, and 23
Being a follower of Jesus Christ does not carry the onerous burden of playing the part of Jesus Christ or impersonating Christ or mimicking Christ or being a Christ look-a-like. Being a follower of Christ is learning what Jesus thought and taught and obeying those teachings.
If you were one of Jesus’ first followers, it would be difficult to be more obscure or lesser known that Nathanael. He is mentioned in John 1 where Jesus first met him and he is mentioned among the disciples who went fishing with Peter in John 21.
The story tells us that several of the disciples were there – Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two other (also nameless) disciples. Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. John 21:2
Was Nathanael a spellbinding, parable teaching, story teller? Was Nathanael a great healer of the sick and caster out of demons? Was Nathanael an impetuous and outgoing Peter? Was Nathanael the disciple that Jesus thought of as his closest friend? No… he was none of those things. But what he knew is that Jesus was a teacher and the Son of God. And, he was a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. He listened, he learned, and he obeyed the teaching of Christ.
Conclusion: John Ortberg tells of he and his wife renting a car in a part of the country with which they were not familiar. The rental agent said, “You can have a GPS system with this car if you like.” Have you ever used a GPS? You just plug it in, punch in your destination, and a nice woman’s voice comes on and tells you how to get to where you are going. (Ortberg thought he could get wherever he needed to go but his wife thought otherwise, so they got the GPS.)
When you have a GPS, you just trust the lady speaking to you from the box and do what she says. If she says, “Turn left,” you turn left. If you do not turn left she will say, “Recalculating your route. When safe to do so, execute a U-turn.”
That is something of what it is like to be a follower of Christ. You listen, you learn, and you obey every turn. When you don’t… the Word of Christ will say, “Okay, now you need to make a U-turn and get back on the right road.”
Being a follower of Christ is to heed the Word of Christ. It is to hear the Jesus say, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads you to life.” John 8:12
Being or becoming a great Christian is not that complicated. It does not require previous experience, success on the playing field, a packed resume complete with influential references, a dynamic personality, or leadership skills. What is required is a willingness to be a submissive, obedient, follower of Christ. Are you willing?
