Mark 1:21-28 "Authority"

Have you ever heard someone speak or teach and realized that what they had to say was specifically for you? Have you ever realized that God was using someone to speak his word to your heart? I honestly have to say that it has been a while since I’ve had that happen to me. Now, part of the problem for me is that on Sunday mornings I am the one speaking and not the one being spoken to. At the same time, I do have to admit that God often speaks quite clearly to me as I am preparing a message and I find myself changed by what it is that he has to say to me.

But the real problem I have is that I often don’t go into a lesson or a message that I am about to hear with a listening heart. Instead, I take the tools I learned in seminary with me and my own biases and thoughts about how someone should speak, and I find myself critiquing how they say something instead of listening to what it is that they have to say.

This is a real loss for me, something that I believe holds me back. Because I am not going in with a teachable heart, God isn’t as able to teach me. And unfortunately, this is a common problem among pastors. We see preaching in terms of competition instead of trying to hear what God has to say to us. Now, it is funny, because when I go to a conference like the one I am going to this week in Chicago, I am usually able to turn that critical mind off. Maybe it is because they get big-name speakers who I know I am not in the same league as. Maybe it is because I am able to see myself in a different context, as a learner instead of as a fellow teacher. Either way, I do find that I am able to grow when I turn off the negative expectation. Maybe it’s just that the speakers we have at Midwinter Conference don’t manipulate their audiences in the same way that many pastors I hear seem to do.

But, in spite of the reason, I wonder if we truly prepare ourselves to hear God speak through each other. Or do we all make the mistake of letting our thoughts about the one who is speaking get in the way of the message that we need to hear? So, this morning, let us ask God to make all of our hearts teachable. Let us ask God to speak to us through his word and with authority.

I. Mark’s first Miracle

Jesus began his ministry in a surprisingly normal way. He had been baptized by John, he had spent forty days in the wilderness and he had been tempted by the devil. He then called his first disciples to follow him. After all this, Jesus went to synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.

It is always interesting to look at the structure of the gospels. You know, that in the gospel of John we are told that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. But Mark doesn’t mention that miracle. Mark, instead chooses to focus on a different aspect of Jesus’ life. The first miracle that Mark records, after having been baptized, having been tempted, having chosen the first of his disciples, was a miracle that happened on the Sabbath in the midst of Jesus’ teaching.

So Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, in the place of worship, and we are told that there was a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit. Now it has been common in modern times to dismiss evil spirits as superstition and say that the people of Jesus’ day blamed real, physical problems on evil spirits. Those who hold this view argue that many psychological problems were misunderstood as demon possession. The argument isn’t that Jesus didn’t heal these people. They will say that he did. But they will also say that evil spirits had nothing really to do with the situation. It is an interesting argument, but one that in the end I find to come up lacking, particularly in this case.

You see, this man possessed by an evil spirit doesn’t show some mental disorder, rather what we see is a man who seems to know a bit more about Jesus than the others around him. Instead, what we see is someone who has inside information that there is something special about Jesus. The evil spirit that possessed this man recognized Jesus for who and what he was; and this is obviously not some mental disease that Jesus healed, this is obviously something else. And so, if we truly accept that the Bible is telling us the truth in this story, then we need to accept that Jesus caste an evil spirit out of a man while he was teaching at the synagogue.

But again, I wonder why it is that Mark chooses to talk about this exorcism as the first miracle he mentions that Jesus does. We know that Jesus had probably done a few miracles before this, he had at least done the water to wine bit, but Mark chooses to set this one apart and make a big deal about it by mentioning it first.

I think there is actually a fairly simple explanation as to why Mark starts with this miracle. He is showing that Jesus’ miracles in and of themselves aren’t what is important. Instead he is tying Jesus’ first miracle to what is really important in Jesus’ life: his teaching.

II. Teaching with Authority

This miracle does show something about Jesus. It is something that is very clear to those who are present. It is so clear that they comment on it among themselves. They realize that there is authority in Jesus’ words. They realize that Jesus’ teachings mean something. They see that Jesus can even command evil spirits and they must obey. This miracle forces the people around Jesus to pay attention to his words because his words so obviously have power.

Do we acknowledge the power that is in the words and teachings of Jesus? I’m afraid we don’t always give them the authority they’re due. We focus on the fact that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead and sometimes tend to ignore his life up to that point. This is somewhat understandable. After all, what Jesus did on the cross for us is huge. But Mark wants to make it clear to us here that Jesus was more than just a sacrifice. Jesus spoke with an authority that was unlike the authority of those around him. Jesus performed miracles to show that he had power and authority over the things of this earth. And Mark, as well as the other gospel writers, spends a lot of space telling us what it is that Jesus had to say.

So, if we, like those who saw Jesus caste out an evil spirit on that Sabbath morning, accept that Jesus spoke and taught with authority, then we need to take the teachings of Jesus quite seriously. This is honestly something that is quite hard to do. You see, Jesus’ teachings are often hard. When someone looks at the Sermon on the Mount, one thinks that Jesus is calling for something that is impossible. Many Bible scholars believe that through Jesus’ teachings on righteousness, he is showing that it is impossible for us to be righteous on our own, so that we will understand the need for salvation.

Unfortunately, I find this to be the easy way out. This belief allows us to ignore Jesus’ commandments. It allows us to be comfortable with the fact that we aren’t able to stand up to the measure that Jesus has put before us. It’s true that we cannot stand up to that measure, but we should never be comfortable with this. When Jesus tells us that when we are lusting after someone who we are not married to, we are in our heart committing adultery against them, we need to take this seriously. When Jesus tells us that when we are angry with our brother, we are as good as killing them in our mind, we need to take this seriously. When Jesus tells us that we are to follow the Old Testament practice of tithing 10% of our income, we need to take this seriously. When Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, we need to take this seriously. When Jesus tells us that we need to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, instead of seeking after the things of this world, we need to take this seriously.

Jesus’ teaching, his word has power to it. When Jesus commands the evil spirits, they find that they must obey him. And yet, Jesus has given us commands that we feel fine disobeying. When this happens, are we being less faithful than demons? Now that is a scary thought.

So we need to allow Jesus’ authority to speak to us. We need to read and hear Jesus’ words and act on them. We need to be faithful to the teachings that Jesus has given us. God spoke through Jesus. God taught his people about what he wanted his followers to live like in Jesus’ words. We cannot turn our backs on Jesus’ teachings, on his words. We need to acknowledge Jesus’ authority. We talk about having Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If we really want Jesus to have this role in our lives, we need to follow his teachings, and the only way to follow his teachings is to spend time with them, getting to know them. Learn the words of Jesus. Make yourself intimately familiar with his teachings. Then you will see that he speaks with a true authority that even you can follow.

III. In the Synagogue

There is something disturbing and jarring about this scripture, though. It is something that isn’t readily noticeable, but it is worth noting. Here we have Jesus in a synagogue preaching and an evil spirit shows itself. The question that disturbs me about this is what is a possessed man doing going to synagogue. You would think that in a place of worship, people would be protected from the influence of the devil. And yet, here in scripture, we see that there was a man under the influence of the devil, gathering with the faithful to worship God.

Now I’m not about to talk about demon possession today, for I believe that the devil has learned to be much more subtle in his approach, especially in a society that is so scientifically minded. But at the same time, I do believe that we allow Satan into our lives more than we realize.

When we do not accept the authority of Jesus’ teachings, when we choose to do our own thing and follow our own path, we are opening a door to the devil. When we allow addictions into our lives, we are opening a door to the devil. When we give into hate, pornography, violence, deceit, we are opening a door to the devil. And unfortunately, we have all opened those doors, or doors like them. It is a part of our sinful nature that we choose the things we think we want rather than the things that are good for us, the things God wants for us.

But we cannot let our sinful nature become an excuse for us to live in sin. No, we need to allow Jesus to speak to us with authority and caste the evil out of us. We need to allow Jesus’ teachings to dwell in our lives so that we can move past our own sinfulness. We need to be faithful to our Lord and Savior.

So let Jesus speak to you. Listen closely to his words. Find the power and authority that only he has. And follow his commands faithfully. This is our call as followers of Christ. This is the life we have chosen as Christians. It is not an easy life, and we often fail. The good news is that God loves us no matter what and will be with us no matter what. But we are still called to be faithful and live under the authority that Jesus’ words hold. Even the evil spirit in today’s scripture obeyed Jesus. And because of this, the people in that synagogue, who heard Jesus teach, realized that there was power in Jesus and his teaching. May we see this same thing and respond with faithfulness to what Jesus teaches us. Amen.

Psalm 62:5-12 "Refuge"

One custom in churches throughout the ages is that the church was a place of refuge; it was a place of sanctuary. It was a place where someone was safe. If someone needed to be protected from the law, from those in charge, from people who were unfairly using their power, they would flee to the church for protection. I think of Quazimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, running into the cathedral crying out “Sanctuary, Sanctuary,” looking for protection for his very life. Of course, that is a fictional story, but it is something that did play out in different ways throughout Europe the last two thousand years.

This practice of sanctuary came from an earlier practice that was set up in Old Testament law for there to be cities of sanctuary, where people could go to be safe. But I think having the church be a place of sanctuary is really something where we got it right. Are our churches today places of sanctuary? Legally, no. Someone can be arrested in a church just as easily as any other place. We have set up other ways to try to keep people safe by giving all people the right to trial and by reigning in what those in power are allowed to do. The criminal system is not perfect, but it is a whole lot better than it ever has been in the past, and churches aren’t needed as places of sanctuary for the falsely accused anymore.

But hopefully, churches are still places of sanctuary; hopefully they are still places of refuge. Hopefully when someone enters a church they feel safe, they feel protected. If our churches aren’t this, then we need to do something to make them safer. But in the end it isn’t the church itself that should be the refuge we seek, either. Rather it is the God that is worshipped in this church that gives all people refuge; it is the God that is worshipped in this church that offers all people salvation. So this morning we are going to look at the God of sanctuary and remember that he is the one to turn to in all things, he is the one who gives us rest.

I. Waiting in Silence

The NRSV translation of the Bible begins this Psalm a bit differently than the NIV. It begins by saying that for God alone my soul waits in silence. I really like that imagery of waiting for God in silence. I think it has something to say to us. The NIV takes a different approach, saying that my soul finds rest in God alone. So finding rest and waiting in silence are tied to each other, and they are tied to each other in a powerful way. But what does it mean to wait for God in silence? In today’s scripture we see God described as a rock, a fortress, a refuge. We are told that we can trust in God, we are told that we will find deliverance and honor through him. And the writer of this psalm waits on these things, waits for God in silence. This is an odd way to wait for God.

Now a child who waits for something, doesn’t always do so in silence. “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” The child waits quite vocally, letting their impatience be known, thinking that by vocalizing their waiting, things might go faster. And by being vocal in their waiting, they become quite annoying. It is not much different for us. I think that one of the joys of childhood is that you can often get away with doing and saying things that you might not be able to get away with as an adult, but which adults also feel. We all tend to be impatient in our own ways; we all tend to want things to happen sooner rather than later. We have a hard time waiting in general, let alone waiting in silence. We want things now! We have fast food, we have overnight mail, we have instant email. I have sent someone an email in the past and been somewhat upset because it took them over an hour to get back to me. How silly. We could all learn from the Psalmist what it means to wait in silence.

Waiting in silence does have something to do with rest, so the NIV translation isn’t wrong, it is just lacking something. You see, when you learn to wait for God in silence, you will find rest. But it isn’t easy to wait for God in silence. Sometimes it seems that he may have forgotten us. Other times we just want to speak up so that we can hear ourselves. We sometimes think that if we make more noise about what it is that we want, God will hear us better and answer us sooner. But the Psalmist has a different idea. The psalmist knew that he could trust God and therefore he was willing to wait in silence. He was willing to allow God to work in God’s own way and in God’s own time. He would ask God to be with him, he would ask God to guide and care for him, and then he would wait upon the Lord, and then he would rest.

II. Worrying / Trusting the Wrong Things

This is a bit different than what we expect our relationship with God to be. This is a bit different than worrying about the things that we have to deal with. We often tie our prayers together with our worries. We often pray and ask God to work, and then we continue to worry about the things that trouble us. And because of this we find no rest. No, we can learn from the Psalmist. We can learn from how he trusts. We can learn from what he believes. He puts his requests before God and finds rest in the fact that he knows God will work. Finding rest in God isn’t about the fact that God will take your troubles away from you. Finding rest in God is not about life being perfect. Finding rest in God is about allowing God to deal with the things that trouble you and therefore learning not to worry about them.

Now I have mentioned one of the problems we have… we like to put requests before God and then continue to worry about them. I like to define worry as spending time and energy focusing on things that you cannot do anything about. And unfortunately, we tend to spend way too much time doing this very thing. It is made very clear throughout scripture that worrying is not the Christian thing to do; it isn’t the Godly thing to do. Now I wouldn’t necessarily call worry a sin. It isn’t the same as killing or committing adultery or lying. But it is a lack of trust. It is a relationship with God that is not what it is supposed to be. We are told that we are able to cast our cares and our worries on God and trust that he is strong enough to hold them. In Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about tomorrow, for it will take care of itself. This seems almost cavalier in its simplicity. It seems like it is too simplistic for the real world. Jesus may not have had to worry, he lived two thousand years ago, but we know better today. But when you look at the world Jesus faced, you realize that they had much to worry about, maybe more than we do. They didn’t have the illusion of control that we have. And when Jesus told them not to worry, he was telling them to do something foreign to the way they lived. He was telling them to trust a God that they could not see. And Jesus modeled this trust in his own life. He traveled around from town to town without having a place to stay. He counted on others and God to provide his food and a place to lay his head each night. He did not gather up riches, he didn’t save for a rainy day. Instead he lived in the present and put all his energy into his mission.

But there is another problem that we can have as well. The first problem is to worry about things instead of trusting in God, the second is to trust in something or someone other than God. Psalm 62:10 tells us that even if our riches increase, we are not to set our hearts on them. In verse 9 it tells us that people are not worth putting trust in, for they will fail you. We spend a lot of time putting our trust in the things of this world. We spend a lot of energy making sure that we are able to take care of ourselves and those we love. Again, this makes sense to a certain degree. If nothing else, we want to be sure that we can count on ourselves. And yet, we discover that we cannot count on the things of this world at all, and we definitely cannot count on ourselves. We have seen people who put their trust in the things of this world have everything taken away from them. I think of the people who worked for Enron or some of these other companies who trusted that their company would take care of them, who trusted that their pensions would be valid, and the company lied and then folded and they were left with nothing. Trusting in this world is trusting in something arbitrary and unreal. It is trusting in something without substance. It is trusting in something that does not have control. The same is true when we trust in ourselves. We think we are in control. We think we can handle everything that is sent our way… but there is so much in this world that is out of our control, there is so much that we do not have the power to affect. Why trust in someone or something without power when you can trust in God who has all power?

III. Power and Love

The psalmist says it in verses 11 and 12: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love.” This is why though we cannot trust in the things of this world, we can trust in God. Power belongs to him. God created this world. It is through him that the sun rises each morning, it is through him that the stars shine, it is through him that the rain comes in the spring and the crops grow and even the snow falls. This in itself is somewhat scary, for these things seem somewhat arbitrary.

There are times of drought, there are natural disasters, and there is pain, illness and even death in this world. Where is God in that? Sometimes it is hard to see him. Sometimes it is hard to believe that a good God is truly in control. It is important to realize that though God is in control, we also live in a world of sin. And when sin entered the world so did these things that trouble us. Now this doesn’t mean that we can look at someone who is sick and figure that their sickness comes from some secret sin in their lives. There are some Christians who believe this. There are others who take this to an extreme. But this belief is just not biblical. Jesus was taken to a blind man and his disciples asked him, “Why is this man blind? Is it because of his sin or is it because of his parents sin?” The disciples believed that the man’s blindness must be a result of sin. They were doing him a favor by not just automatically assuming that the sin that caused his blindness was his own. Jesus responded to their question with a resounding, “Neither!” The blindness that this man faced was not his own fault, it wasn’t the fault of his parents. Rather, it was the fact that he lived in a world full of sin. And Jesus went on to say that this man was blind so that God could be glorified. And Jesus then healed this man.

We also live in a world of pain and suffering, we have things that torment us, and we realize that living through them will just allow our understanding of God and his mercy to be greater when we reach heaven and live in a world without sin, without pain, without loss.

God is a God of power, God is the source of all power. And yet, he allows us to live in a world where we are not always able to see his power clearly. And we hear the good news that the Psalmist shares, that God is also a God of love.

So don’t trust in the things of this world. Don’t trust in money. Don’t trust in the rich and powerful. Don’t trust in the low and weak. Don’t trust in yourself. Instead, trust in the sure refuge that we have. Trust in the Rock and Salvation that is available for all people.

This is where we find our hope. This is where we find peace. Our God is a God of power and love and therefore we can trust in him. Therefore we can rest in him, therefore we can stand with the Psalmist and call God our refuge, our strength, our fortress. Therefore we can wait silently on God.

John 1:43-51 "Chosen"

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.