Living the Good Life
Jesus came for one purpose
John 10:10b
“…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Learning about Living the Good Life
Finding the Source of Significance – John 1:1-13
Satisfying the Hunger for Approval – John 1:14-34
Discovering Your Purpose for Being – John 1:35-50
Understanding the Root of Happiness – John 2:1-11
Focusing on the Valuable – John 2:12-25
John 1:35-50 (The Message)
That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”
The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”
The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”
They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.
Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
This is the story of five humble men
Here are exhibited to our view the infant church in its cradle, the petty sources of the River of Life, the earliest blossoms of Christian faith, the humble origin of the mighty empire of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Five humble men discovered their purpose because they were willing to understand that there is more to life than fish
I heard an interview by Brett Favre this past week. He talked about his father and football. The reporter asked, “How has your father’s death affected you and the others on the team?” (It was something like that.) Brett responded that he had always said that there is more to life than football. At least that he had always said that because he knew that he should - but now with his father’s passing he has begun to understand that it is true and there really is more to life than football.
For Brett Favre it’s about football and the Green Bay Packers. For Jack Nicholson it’s about making movies. For Andrew Fasdow it was about making money. For Andrew, John, Simon, Philip and Nathaniel it was about fishing.
It was about getting up every morning and going out onto the sea of Galilee when the mist was still on the lake and the overnight winds had calmed. While the horizon was just beginning to lighten they would find their favorite spot and toss the nets over the side of the boat and as the sun began to rise they would anticipate the first fish being pulled in.
In the afternoons it was about drying those same nets, mending the torn sections, and telling the stories of the day to their partners and friends. The catch would be taken to market and exchanged for handful of coins to take home.
In the evenings they would play with the kids and prepare for the coming day when they would do it all again. It was a good life. It was a great life. But there is more to life than fishing.
What is it for you? What is that life is more than? What is that demands your time and consumes your attention but fails to satisfy your soul? What is your purpose for being?
God did not make you for football, making movies, creating wealth or for fishing. You were made with a purpose. So what is it?
This Sunday we look closely at five humble men who were willing to understand that there is more to life than fish.
Each was a disciple
Disciples are learners
They were disciples before they ever met Jesus.
These guys were hungry to learn and get some answers about life spiritual things. And just because they were fishermen doesn’t meant they weren’t intelligent or sensitive about matters of importance. These guys were seekers of truth and could smell out a rotten fish from a great distance.
They could discern what is right and what is wrong and we see it in their rejection of the religious men of the age
Religion is about the appearance of piety
I believe that one of the main reasons people today don’t want anything to do with church or hang out with church people is because we have developed a keen sense of religion instead of an impassioned desire to learn from the master. Too many people are willing to settle for the appearance of piety instead of the uncertainty of following someone that is leading them to an unknown destination and an unknown cost.
These guys didn’t know where they were going but they knew what they didn’t like.
They had seen the emptiness of the Pharisees and the rigid and religious rules that made them look pious only by contrast with others who couldn’t follow them.
They had seen the bloated and self absorbed focus of the Sadducees on power and prestige.
These men were much like the young boy in the story who saw that emperor had no clothes.
They saw the emptiness and were looking for something that was more than an empty husk.
That’s why when John the prophet happened along they followed him. They listened to his impassioned message and when he commanded them to be baptized as a sign of their repentance – they didn’t argue – they obeyed.
Beavercreek Christian Church
Didn’t know where they were going but they knew what they didn’t like!
MCC is much the same…
Each was different
There are five men mentioned in this passage.
There were five different purposes and yet each was the same
Let’s look at these five humble men
John
John is the apostle that was the closest to Jesus
We usually think of the 12 apostles as being the inner circle. Jesus preached to the masses. The healed the hurting and taught the people. Jesus trained up his disciples. Matthew records that he sent out the “seventy”. He called 12 to be his appointed apostles and here we see the first five – two of which became part of the inner circle of three – Peter, James, and John.
And John was the closest of all the disciples to Jesus.
Perhaps it was because he was the first to hear the words, “Here is God’s Passover Lamb”
Right from the beginning of Jesus ministry there is a hint about where it will lead. The Passover lamb was killed and the blood taken to mark the doorposts and lintel so the death angel would not enter and take the firstborn son in every house.
John knew that OT story and he saw Jesus with those eyes from the first moment and he wanted to learn more so he followed.
Now I know he didn’t really understand because as we follow them over the course of three years with Jesus we see many evidences that point that out – but John caught a glimpse of the future and he followed after Jesus.
Where did it lead?
It led to three years of incredible experiences with Jesus. They got to be part of something the likes of which the world had never seen.
There was an upper room where a cup and a loaf were shared and John laid his head on the chest of Jesus. It sounds a little weird to us today because it is foreign to our culture. But it is not unlike too football players putting their heads together in the end zone after a good play.
I watched the movie Black Hawk Down and when two weary soldiers finally made it the safety of a stadium they stood and one put his head on the chest of his friend and they shared the moment of relief and weariness. This was John and Jesus.
And the next day John stood at the foot of the cross with Mary, Jesus’ mother, while all the others hid in the dark corners of the city.
And one day not long after the journey led him to testify with the others to the empty tomb that he and Peter found early Sunday morning.
It lead to years of soldiering on. Preaching, teaching, and serving in the name of Jesus. Finally, on the little island called Patmos he recorded the revelations of Jesus before he died.
Andrew
Andrew is the one who brought his older brother Simon to Jesus He was with John and when invited to follow him he left and found Simon saying, “We’ve found the Messiah!”
We see little else of this man except that he was always bringing people to Jesus.
It was Andrew who brought the little boy with the five loaves and two fishes when Jesus fed the 5000. It was Andrew with Philip who brought the Greek men seeking Jesus to him.
Where did it lead?
Andrew walked with Jesus for those three years. He along with Peter, James, and John, pulled Jesus off to the side and asked him to explain about the times of destruction to come. It is said that Andrew eventually died in southern Greece – perhaps still bring Greeks to Jesus at the end of his life.
Simon
Your name is Rock
Last week at the communion time we had some quotes on the screen. Some were from MCC’ers. One of the last ones was by Max Lucado, a marvelous Christian pastor and writer. His quote said, “Jesus loves you just the way you but he loves you too much to leave you that way.”
That quote tells the story of Simon. Jesus, when he met Simon said immediately and with a prophetic voice that from this time forward he would be known as “Cephas”. Literally, “crag” or rock. This word refers to a large out cropping that rests on bedrock. Peter would be that for Jesus.
When you follow Jesus you start to change.
Peter spent much of three years changing. It wasn’t all that long after meeting Jesus that Peter declared that he was the Son of God in what we call the “great confession” Yet, in the next breath, because of a really stupid thing Peter said; Jesus called him Satan and told him to get behind him.
Peter was changing – but he had a lot of changing to do. Impetuous, bombastic, and arrogant, I imagine Peter as the one among the 12 that the majority just put up with. He was a constant irritant.
Do you know any followers of Jesus like that? My Grandpa tells the story of Ed Erskine, a young man who grew up at Rock Lake. He was rotten kid who once smashed his fist through a drywalled partition just for the fun of it. My grandpa had to fix the wall. Somewhere in a High School Jesus took hold of that man and he became a pastor and minister. He served for many years faithfully in one of the toughest and most rewarding paths a person can follow. Lee Bracey
Where did it lead?
It was a fabulous walk for Peter to follow Jesus. It led through his home in Capernaum where Jesus lived with him and his wife. It led across the mountains, into the villages and across the sea of Galilee – literally!
He strode with confidence and the bluster of a man bent on becoming a hero into the cohort of soldiers to lop off and ear when they arrested Jesus. He walked alone at the edges during the trials of Jesus where he cursed His name.
There was the wonder of the moment when he and John looked into the empty tomb and there was the incredible pain of standing on the beach with Jesus who asked him three times, “Peter, do you love me?” And then a gently charge, “Feed my sheep.”
And when the moment came to tell the world the privilege was given to a humbled rock of a man named Peter to preach the first sermon and see 3000 baptized into Jesus.
He like the others died for the name of Jesus. It is said that he was crucified in Rome – head down because he did not think himself worthy to die like Jesus.
Philip
Here is a man who searched and studied the law
How many would know that the Messiah was to come from Nazareth? Certainly not Nathaniel! But Philip knew. He was a disciple who inquired and checked things out. He was the first to find the Greeks who were looking for Jesus. And yet Philip was a quiet sort. He didn’t bring the Greeks to Jesus. He told Andrew and together they brought them to Jesus.
Not all disciples are like Simon.
Many disciples serve quietly and simply do what needs to be done. They have no need for notice. They don’t get upset when their work while appreciated and important is taken for granted. In fact, if you try to make a big deal the get out of sight as fast as they can.
Many years ago in Marquette flowerbeds appeared around the church building.
And where did it lead?
Here is another who brought others. It was Philip who brought Nathaniel
Nathaniel is was a “man without guile”
That means he said what he thought and he did so without dressing it up much. When Philip told him that Jesus was the Messiah and from Nazareth Nathanial was less than impressed. Nathaniel knew Nazareth as a little Podunk nothing of a town. It’s kinda like expecting a great basketball team to come from Trout Creek in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. At one time they had 4 boys who each scored over 4000 points during their careers in HS – all playing at the same time!
Yet he was a man who when he met Jesus was willing to admit he was wrong.
I saw you under a fig tree You will see much more before this is over!
Where did it lead?
Don’t know much about Nathaniel. (Might be Bartholomew since we have his name and little else. Popular history says he preached and died in India.
Each was willing to follow Jesus
Different paths – same leader
What we notice is that each was different and followed a different path but each man followed Jesus
Start as a disciple. Come and see for yourself. It’s a wild ride
Where will your path lead?
Jesus said “Come and See”
I can tell you a little. You will learn much about God by following Jesus. You will find a path that is different from every other person who has ever lived
You will find your purpose being
It is to worship and serve him
It is unique
It is the same
Come and See
A Ministry of Prayer
It will be a lot like the greeting time
Esther is going to play for a few minutes and I want to invite you to pray for each other – some of you will join together in small groups of 2, 3, 4, or more.
Some of you will pray and meditate quietly alone
Some of you will come forward and pray ask for prayer
Pray for God to reveal to each person here there purpose for being…
After a moment or two Esther will lead us in a song and we will come into a time of communion with our Father God
