I went to a Christian High School. This meant that we had religion class at our school. It meant that we discussed the Bible and God as we learned. It also meant that we sometimes got into arguments about how we should understand what the Bible has to say about something. People ask why I’m Covenant having grown up Lutheran and I like to point to my High School experience to explain it. Yes, I went to a Lutheran church, but I also went to a Christian Reformed High School with Baptist and Pentecostal friends. Trying to make these different things come together made me very comfortable in the Covenant.
One of the arguments we would have at our school was often between the Christian Reformed teacher and the Pentecostal students about predestination verses free will. Predestination is the idea that God is in control. It is the belief that God has everything planned out and that God chooses his followers specifically. Predestination acknowledges God’s sovereignty. The Purpose Driven Life is rooted in an understanding of predestination. It believes that God has a plan for you and your life. And there is much in the Bible that supports predestination.
But then there’s the issue of free will. This is the idea that we are given a choice of whether to follow Christ or not. This is the idea that we are not robots following some pre-conceived plan, acting out some play that has already been written. This is an important belief also, and again, there is much in the Bible that supports the concept of free will.
My friends and my teachers would argue over which of these were accurate understandings of the world around us: are we chosen by God or do we choose God? And I realized that I had to say, “Yes!” Yes, we are chosen by God! Yes, we are called to choose God! God is in control and he has given us free will to decide for ourselves. It doesn’t totally make sense, but I have to agree with both predestination and free will.
I. Special Disciples
It is a bit strange to think of being one of the disciples. They were all ordinary people. They all had ordinary lives and ordinary jobs. None of them were too highly educated; they had their preconceived ideas and prejudices. One of them, Nathanael, had a local pride, a territorial idea that caused him to lash out when he hears where Jesus is from, in essence saying, he’s not from around here, what good is he. This is just one of the many idiosyncrasies that we see in the disciples over their three year walk with Jesus. Each of them has their own issues and problems. Each of them has areas of their lives that aren’t fully given to Jesus right away, even though they follow him. Every one of them runs away when Jesus is arrested. Peter, who we remember as the one who denied Jesus three times, did so because he was the only one to follow those who arrested Jesus, and therefore he was the only one who had the opportunity to deny Jesus. The others had all run away and were hiding somewhere.
And yet, even though they were all broken people who lived their own messed up lives, they were the twelve apostles. They were the disciples who we read about, who followed Jesus in his earthly ministry and who began the church after Jesus had left. All but one of them was killed for their faith, with that one, John being exiled to the Greek island of Patmos to live out the end of his days. And so I wonder what it is that made these followers of Christ special. I ask what it is that we can learn from them when we look at their lives. And I realize that what makes them special is that Jesus chose them to follow him, and they did.
II. Chosen by Jesus
Philip and Nathanael, whose call we read about this morning, are not the more famous disciples we read about. They are a pair that blends into the background behind John and Peter. Nathanael doesn’t even show up in the other Gospels and isn’t listed as one of the twelve disciples at all, though perhaps he is one of the others and had multiple names he went by. They weren’t the first that Jesus called and they aren’t the last. And yet they have something to teach us, something powerful. Jesus says two words to Philip that change his life, and change it powerfully: follow me! Now, before we think that Jesus just walked up to Philip out of nowhere and said “follow me” and walked off and Philip just stood and did what he was told, we need to look at this a bit closer. That kind of response wouldn’t be healthy, it would be scary. You would wonder what kind of people Jesus had chosen to be the leaders of his church if all he had to say was two words and they would stop everything and follow him. No, instead we are told at the beginning that Jesus was looking to leave from where he was. He was by the Jordan River or the Sea of Galilee, having spent time with John the Baptist, and had been having discussions with those around him. Jesus was about to leave and he specifically sought out Philip to tell him to follow him. You have to imagine that the day before, Philip was part of the group that Jesus had been spending time with. You have to imagine that Philip had obviously gotten to know Jesus and know what he was about. So, Jesus then came up to him and told him to “follow me” and Philip did. This becomes more clear when Philip goes to his friend, Nathanael and tells him what he thinks of this man he is going to be following, “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.” How could he have come to this conclusion if he hadn’t spent time with Jesus already? So Philip had gotten to know Jesus, and when Jesus chose him, when Jesus said “follow me”, he dropped everything and followed.
What makes the apostles special? When Jesus chose them, they chose to follow. Jesus was constantly telling people to follow him, and many did, but many chose not to as well. There was the rich young man who was too tied to his possessions, or the man who wanted to bury his father before he could join Jesus. They both were called by Jesus, and they both chose not to follow. Here is where Philip specifically illustrates my point about predestination and free will. Philip was chosen by God. Jesus specifically came up to Philip and said “follow me”. Obviously, Philip was predestined to be one of the disciples. But Philip also had a part to play in it. He had to decide whether he would follow or not, and he chose to follow. Jesus chose him and he chose Jesus.
We are all put in the place that Philip was put in. Jesus has introduced himself to us. We have seen him in our interactions with other Christians, we have experienced him in worship and prayer. And he calls for each of us to follow him. Jesus has chosen you to be his disciple. You are given a choice of how to respond. You have been chosen by Jesus, what are you going to choose.
But you know what, there’s something even greater that happens next. I’m not going to get into Nathanael’s bigotry or Nathanael’s decision to follow Jesus. It’s powerful. Jesus tells him a bit about himself and he realizes that Jesus is something special. Jesus uses the force he needs to get himself across to Nathanael. And it is such a simple thing, he tells him what he was doing before he saw him. And Nathanael’s response is one of obvious faith, but I’m not going to focus on that today. Instead I’m going to continue to focus on Philip.
III. Come and See
You see, Philip, having chosen to follow Jesus does not leave it at that. He doesn’t just leave everything and run after Jesus. You’d think that is precisely what he should do. There is another place in one of the gospels where Jesus calls a man to follow him and the man says he needs to bury his father, and Jesus tells him that that is not good enough. Jesus wants his full devotion now. This is not the case with Philip. Jesus calls Philip to follow him and Philip is so filled with what it is that he is about to do that he needs to bring others with him. He goes to his friend and tells his friend about Jesus. Philip instantly becomes an evangelist. It’s not good enough for him that Jesus has called him. He needs from the bottom of his heart to share Jesus with those around him. This excitement for sharing Jesus with those around you is something I’m not sure we see so much anymore. I often see the excitement in newborn Christians. They are excited about what Jesus has done for them, they are excited about being chosen, and they want others to experience the love and grace that they have experienced. I have actually found myself put off by the enthusiasm of a newborn Christian who I felt was being too pushy with his faith. And I have asked God for forgiveness for this thought. We all should be that excited about having been chosen by Jesus and we all should be sharing Jesus with everyone we can. Philip even gives us the means to do this. Philip comes to Nathanael and tells him the good news about Jesus, Nathanael scoffs and brushes off what Philip has said. What Philip does next is a lesson to each of us. He doesn’t sit there and argue with Nathanael. He doesn’t give up. He doesn’t go back to the other disciples and talk about how evil a person Nathanael is because he hasn’t accepted Jesus and is not living the life he should. Instead he simply says three wonderful words that should be the center of all evangelism today: Come and see!
Three simple words, filled with meaning, filled with hope. Philip is saying to Nathanael, “Don’t take my word for it. Don’t let my experience be the center of your faith. Instead experience Jesus for yourself.” By bringing Nathanael to Jesus, Philip was giving Nathanael the opportunity to have his own relationship with Jesus. Philip didn’t try to force his own experience of Jesus on his friend, instead he offered Nathanael the chance to see and know the wonder that was the Messiah.
Come and see evangelism is what we need to be about. This doesn’t mean that we are all about having people come and see us. No, we are introducing people to Jesus so they can come to meet the Savior face to face. But to have a come and see evangelism, we need to make sure that our relationships with Jesus are in the right place. Because we don’t have the physical teacher that was Jesus that we can take people to. Instead we have stories about him and his teachings. We can show them him through the Bible. But that is not something that people necessarily are going to really get into. How many of you, honestly, enjoy sitting down and reading through the Bible? For those of you who do it, it sometimes is a bit of a chore, something that you have to push yourself to do. Now, you’re a follower of Christ, and you have difficulty with this, imagine someone who doesn’t know Christ. Are they going to be able to really connect with him through the Bible? Perhaps, if they give it a chance, but it is not the ideal way.
So we have to come up with other things that we ask people to come and see as we encourage them to see Christ. That is a part of what the Church is supposed to be. It is a place where people can come and see Christ. Do people see Christ in our church? Do they meet him when they see us? Do they experience him in our actions and in our words?
How can we be a come and see church? How can we be a place where people come in contact with Jesus and exclaim like Nathanael, “You are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!”
Your job as a Christian, as someone who has been chosen by God and as someone who has chosen Christ, is to tell those around you to come and see. That doesn’t necessarily mean inviting them to church. And it doesn’t necessarily mean telling them that they need to accept Jesus as their personal savior. What it does mean is that you are to introduce them to Jesus, your Lord and Savior. What it does mean is that you are to find a way that they can experience God the same as you have. Then you are called to leave it between them and God. Philip did not force the issue, he invited Nathanael to come and it was the conversation between Nathanael and Jesus that brought them together. Let us live as Jesus’ chosen followers, and let us live out a call in our lives for those around us to come and see the Jesus that we know. Amen.
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