The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “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. Andrew, 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 have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And 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).

The next day 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.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.“Come and see,” said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “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 will see greater things than that.” He 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 1:35-51

When your life feels like it's going a million different directions, it helps to have a way. We need principles to live by. Many religions or cultures have some sort of way-- but what is distinct about Christianity is that Jesus IS the way.

"Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?' Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" (John 14:5-6) 

Three elements involved in being Jesus' disciple: to think, follow, and marvel.

Think

In vs 46 Nathaniel responds with doubt, perhaps based both in something personal and theological. Philip's reply is "Come and see". He is inviting Nathaniel to come, consider the evidence, and decide for himself.

Follow

In vs 37-38, Jesus asks the people what it is they're looking for. They reply, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" Following Jesus is all about staying ("Remain in me, as I also remain in you." John 15:4).

To be a disciple is to be a student, an apprentice. What is involved in that practice?

  • Submission
    • submitting to the wants of another, 
    • Jesus pushes us along a certain way, even to places we don't want to go. 
    • "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."  Luke 9:23
    • Jesus is saying, "If you want to follow me, you've got to die a little."
  • Attentiveness
    • Disciples need an attitude of expectancy, patiently waiting for something to happen.
    • To be an apprentice of Jesus, we have to stay with him and watch.

Marvel

vs 49 - Nathaniel marvels at Jesus because of the knowledge that he reveals, but Jesus replies that even greater things await him if he stays with Jesus: "...you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man."-- a reference to Jacob's dream of the ladder to heaven.

If you stick around Jesus long enough, you will encounter much to marvel at.

Application- How to Follow Jesus

Stay with Jesus on the cross

  • living the way of Jesus means living a life of sacrificial love
  • doing for others what is needed because Jesus modeled it for us first 

Stay with the people Jesus stayed with

  • do life with other disciples
  • people often come to Jesus through a friend
  • the outcasts, the excluded, those on the margins

Seek Jesus in scripture

  • Luke 24
  • Acts 2

Stay with Jesus by the Father's side in prayer

  • the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father

 

Missed this Sunday's sermon? Watch it here!

 

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