John 1: 35 – 51 / Come and See
Intro: A little preschooler came home from her fist time at Sunday School. Her mom wanted to know how things had done and what the little girl thought about the experience. “How was it?” --- “Oh, it was fine and it was fun. But I think my teacher was Jesus’ grandma!” --- “What makes you think that?” --- “Because she kept showing us picture of baby Jesus and that’s all she talked about.” (Illustration from “The Honest Skeptic” by Roger Thomas, SermonCentral.com)
I. VS. 35 – 38 John points his disciples to Jesus.
A. “What do you want?” – Jesus asks what are you seeking? What do you want from me?
B. This world seeks fulfillment and contentment. People look for $, power, drugs, alcohol, sex and other false avenues of contentment. What are you seeking this morning?
C. John’s 2 disciples answer Jesus’ question with “Rabbi, where are you staying?” --- They are wanting to spend time with Jesus, to get to know Him.
II. Vs. 41 – As a result of staying with Jesus Andrew was so excited he had to share the news with his brother, Simon.
A. (immediately) The first thing Andrew did was bring his brother to Jesus. --- No fancy speeches or prayers, he simply brought him to Jesus and let Jesus do the rest.
B. Can you picture Andrew? --- “I have to tell Peter. Andrew is excited. When was the last time you were excited about Jesus?
C. We need more Andrews, people who are excited and faithful about bringing people to Jesus. We cannot change people, but Jesus can. We cannot make unfaithful spouses faithful, or alcoholics stop drinking, or drug addicts stop using or abusive parents to stop violence. We can’t do any of this; but, Jesus can. Our job is to get them to Jesus.
III. Vs. 44 – 46 Philip’s experience was a little different than Andrew’s. It didn’t go quite as well. Nathanael was a “hard sell”
A. I’m from Fayette City, PA. It is a small town located on the Monongahela River close to nothing! .
B. I think Jeff Foxworthy was talking about my hometown when he said, “You might be a redneck if . . .” I want to change that a little. You might be from Fayette City if, . . .your baby’s first words are “attention K-Mart shoppers”. . . your family tree does not fork . . . if your wife has ever said, “Come move this transmission so I can take a bath.” I want to read you a letter I recently received from my mother. .Dear son,
I am writing this slow ‘cause I know you can’t read fast. The coat you want me to send you, your cousin said it would be a little too heavy to send with them heavy buttons; so we cut ‘em off and put ‘em in the pockets.
We got a bill from the funeral home, said if we didn’t make the past due payment on Grandma’s funeral bill, up she comes.
Your cousin Jim has a lovely new job. He has over 500 men under him. He’s cutting grass at the cemetery. Your cousin Ophelia had a baby this morning, I haven’t found out if it’s a boy or a girl, so I don’t know if I’m an aunt or an uncle.
Your uncle Cletis fell in the whiskey vat at work. Some men tried to pull him out, but he fought them off playfully, and he drowned. We cremated him and he burned for 4 days.
Three of your friends went off the Charleroi bridge in a pickup. One was driving, the other two were in the back. The driver got out. He rolled down the window and swam to safety; but the other 2 drowned as they couldn’t get the tailgate down.
Not much more new this time, nothing much happens here. Love, Mom
P.S. I was going to send you some money, but the envelope was already sealed. (Letter adapted from “The Honest Skeptic” by Roger Thomas on SermonCentral.com)
C. The point here is that even though the situation seems hopeless, that should not keep us from trying.
Conclu: It isn’t your job to make people believe. IT IS YOUR JOB TO INVITE THEM TO COME AND SEE!
