Jesus and His Disciples

We are still at the beginnings of John’s Gospel. John is still laying the groundwork for his presentation of Jesus’ life and ministry. He highlights things in our text that he will develop in the rest of his Gospel. So, we’ll be looking at themes that John is going to explain and illustrate more fully as he shows Jesus dealing with people. John does all of this by telling us about Jesus gathering His first disciples. What we’re going to do this morning is focus on what Jesus says to these men. Our text is John 1.35-51.

Before we work our way through Jesus’ words to these men, we need to put them within the proper framework. Who are these guys? What does John tell us? First of all, they are Jewish men, Israelites. What that means is that they are not like many of your neighbors, unbelieving pagans. They are men who are in a relationship with God, a covenantal one. They are just like Abraham and David and Isaiah. But they are unlike so many others in the history of Israel. The men in our text give evidence of being among those who worked at being faithful to their God. So, two of them, Andrew and his unnamed friend, were disciples of John the Baptist. They, like their teacher, were eager for the coming of the promised Messiah. In this they were like Simeon to whom the baby Jesus was presented. ‘Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.’ This applies not just to Andrew and his friend. It seems true of all of the men in our text. Note how they speak to their friends about Jesus. They don’t say, ‘Hey, we’ve found this interesting guy’. They say, ‘We have found the Messiah’ or ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote’. That says something about the speakers, and it says something about those they are speaking to. So, to use a phrase often applied to some of the Old Testament people of God, these men were among the faithful remnant. So, Jesus is, at least here, calling believing Jews to be His disciples.

And that leads to this. Jesus functioned as a prophet among the people of God of His day. That doesn’t cover everything, but it does cover a lot. So, for example, consider the striking parallels between Jesus and the Old Testament prophet Elijah. What did Elijah do? He called Israel back to faithfulness by teaching the people and doing miracles among them. Isn’t that what Jesus also did? He was calling Israel back to her God by teaching the people and doing miracles among them. This explains that question asked of John the Baptist. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ They didn’t ask him if he was a prophet but the Prophet. What’s this? This is all about an Old Testament promise. Listen to what Moses told the people. ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen.’ God promised a prophet like Moses. All the Old Testament prophets were partial pictures of this prophet, The Prophet. John the Baptist was not that prophet. But Jesus was. He was The Prophet, was sent by the Father to Israel that they might once again be faithful to their God. That’s why Jesus called the Jews of His day to repent just as the Old Testament prophets did. And as with all of the other prophets that God sent to Israel, there would be those who would listen to Jesus and those who would not. The men in our text are among those who listened. They were among the faithful remnant waiting for God to act.

I think that it can be helpful to translate this into more modern terms. I think that we can say it this way: Jesus was sent to call for a revival of the Church of His day. When there is a revival certain things happen. Faltering saints renewed their vows and were able to be more faithful. Some of the unbelieving, the faithless, among the people of God were converted. Pagan unbelievers, those outside the Church, were drawn in and also converted. Sadly, there was also opposition, especially from within the Church. So, think about the Gospel accounts. Isn’t this is what you find? And as you remember what happened in the book of Acts, where the revival really takes off, I think you’ll agree that the same dynamics apply. So, the men in our text were the first among the faithful Jews affected by Jesus.

Now we’re ready to consider what Jesus said to these men. And we’ll start with Jesus’ question, ‘What are you seeking?’ Let me just briefly touch on the point that I made last week. Jesus says to these men, ‘Whatever else you may do with your life, the point of it all is to be Me.  Seek Me. That’s the only thing that makes sense because it is in Me that you will find the life of God.’ And He is clear when it comes to how to seek Him. ‘Come and you will see.’ They are to come to Jesus in faith. As they do that they will experience the gift of the life of eternity. That’s a quick summary of last week.

Next, there’s this. Jesus meets Andrew’s brother, Simon. ‘Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).’ So, what’s going on here? Simon approaches this man that his brother is so excited about, and the first thing that Jesus does is change his name. We’ve talked about this name thing before. A change in the name is related to a change in the person. Here, just remember Abram who became Abraham. Do you see what Jesus is telling Simon? ‘I’m going to change you. I’m going to take who you are and make you into a rock. You’re going to become someone who will be solid and dependable. I guarantee it.’

Do you see what John is doing? He is giving us a peek at who this Jesus is and what His agenda is. Jesus changes people. He changes people in profound ways. Simon is reckless. He acts firsts and then thinks about it. At one moment he shows great insight, and then in the next it’s clear that he has no clue. And when the chips are down, Simon utterly fails. Jesus is going to change all of that. Jesus is going to change him. This Simon will become Peter. He will become the bold and pointed preacher to thousands. He will stand unafraid before those who have the power to torture and kill him. Simon is going to become a rock. He is an example of why Jesus has come. Jesus has come to change people.

Now, there is something quite striking about this interaction between Jesus and Simon that is different from the others in our text. Did you notice that Simon says nothing here? We hear from all the others. Not here. Simon says nothing and he does nothing. It’s Jesus who does all the talking and doing here. What is John saying by this? Jesus acts with authority. He doesn’t ask for permission. Simon is one of His men just because Jesus wants it that way. Later in this Gospel we’ll find Jesus saying, ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you.’ Jesus chose Simon. Jesus here acts as Lord and He does that because that’s exactly what He is. He is Lord. But He is not a dictator. He exercises His Lordship as an expression of His grace. He changes Simon and does him much good. So, here is an example of sovereign grace, Jesus as Lord changing people, doing much good to them. And this is something that we’ll see again and again as we work our way through John’s Gospel.

Who’s up next? Next we have Jesus’ words to Philip. ‘Follow Me.’ Jesus meant that literally. He was calling Philip to walk with Him. ‘Come be with me. Watch Me, and listen to Me. Come not just to learn some skills from Me but to become like Me. Come, follow Me.’ This style of teaching, spending time in the presence of the teacher as he went here and there, was not unique to Jesus. Whenever a rabbi invited a new follower, all of this, and more, was assumed. How many times in the pages that are to follow will we see these men watching Jesus, listening to what He is saying. And how many times will Jesus surprise them and challenge them. That’s all included in, ‘Follow Me.’ And as these men did follow Him, they became like Him.

Now, let’s move on to Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael. It’s interesting to see how this comes about. Philip goes to Nathanael and tells him about Jesus. And what is Nathanael’s response? ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ What is this? To put the best spin on it, Nathanael is somewhat skeptical about what Philip reports to him. If you wanted to be brutally honest instead, it appears that there is some prejudice behind the comment. Evidently, Nathanael considered Nazareth as being on the wrong side of the tracks. But then, as he approaches Jesus, what does he hear? ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ Of all the things that Jesus could have said, He points to one of Nathanael’s virtues. He’s a straight ahead, honest man, an example of what a faithful Israelite was supposed to be. In this Jesus reveals some more about Himself. Jesus came for sinners, but He doesn’t go around saying, ‘You’re a sinner’ and ‘You’re a sinner’ and ‘You’re a sinner’ and then get specific. He gathers some faithful men around Him, sinners all, and then He encourages them. Instead of saying something about Nathanael’s snide remark about Nazareth, Jesus praises his faithfulness and honesty before all the others.

But, Nathanael is still a little skeptical. He responds to Jesus with, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus proves that He really does know Nathanael. ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ This Jesus could not have known unless, like the prophets of old, He was sent by God. So, Nathanael is convinced that Philip’s report is accurate. ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Nathanael is convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Now, notice how Jesus responds. It’s a gentle rebuke. ‘Because I said to you, “I saw you under the fig tree,” do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ Jesus makes another promise here. ‘So, you think My ability to know about you is a big deal? You haven’t seen anything yet. You need to expect more.’ Jesus promises greater experiences of the power of God. And again, this is what we find in the rest of John’s Gospel.

So what have we found? John has given us some basic themes in Jesus’ ministry: the life of God found in Jesus, the changes that come by sovereign grace, the intimacy of following Him, highlighting the virtues and not the sins, and having greater expectations.

Now, all of this is very interesting I’m sure, but how does it do us good? What we’ve done here is a little literary analysis, showing what John intends to develop later. And it’s also good to be able to examine Jesus’ style of ministry. But what we need is a blessing from the text and not just some information. So, toward that end I’m going to ask a question that has to do with these themes about the ministry of Jesus. John has told us how Jesus ministered when He was here. How does Jesus do ministry now? Has anything changed?

As I thought about this a bit this is what I came up with. I know that I used to have a certain way of relating what happens now with what happened back then in Bible times. That was the golden age of the acts of God. He was very busy doing this and that. So, there was a massive flood, a series of conversations with folk like Abraham and David. He called people, like Isaiah, to speak on His behalf. And there were all these miracles. And this golden age spanned from when Adam and Eve walked the Garden to the death of the Apostle John soon after he wrote the book of Revelation. That was then. Now – today – is not a golden age. Now is just ‘now’. It’s as if God turned it all off – or almost all of it. Whatever He does today is piddling stuff in comparison to the golden age. No one confuses these days with those. And that’s just the way it is.

That’s how I used to think. I am coming to see that that is just wrong. There are still some things that I need to work out, but I think that what I need to say is that God didn’t turn anything off. In fact, nothing has changed. I can’t find a verse that says that it has. There will be those who will say, ‘But Jesus isn’t here any more. That has changed.’ Well, that’s true – in a sense. He isn’t here in the flesh, but He is here by His Spirit. And, believe it or not, that is actually an improvement over those days. Back then, Jesus was limited to being in one place at a time. Now, He is in billions of places at the same time. He is with each of His saints – by the Spirit. And that’s not metaphor. It’s reality. So, there’s no reason to think that anything has changed when it comes to Jesus’ style of ministry. He’s still doing and teaching – except He’s able to do that better.

Now, if that’s true, then it seems to me that everything that we saw in Jesus’ interaction with these men in our chapter applies to us. What Jesus said to each of these men, He says to us: life of God, change by grace, following Him, virtues and not sins, expectations.

I’m going to pick just one of these, the last one, and say something about how it applies. I think that it is fair to say that Jesus’ mild rebuke of Nathanael also applies to us. There may be exceptions among us, but it seems to me that our expectations are too low. So, let me ask you, what do you expect? As you consider your future and that of your family, as you consider our future as a church, what do you expect? To use the language of our text, do you expect ‘greater things’ from Jesus? How would you finish this sentence? ‘It would be really good if…’ When I was writing this part of the sermon I told myself that I had stop and finish that sentence myself. It seemed only fair. So, I stopped, sat in my rocking chair and thought about it. This is what I came up with. ‘It would be really good if there were more.’ The word ‘more’ has a history with me. It’s like my phrase, ‘wanting to be famous’. In this context it means that it would be really good if there were more of the life of God, more of the intimacy of following Jesus, more change by His kind and sovereign grace, more highlighting virtues instead of sins and even more of this expecting more. I know that however that works itself out, it won’t be easy. In fact, it will be hard. Bear in mind that Jesus uses evil to produce more of His gifts in us. He uses evil to bring about great blessing. So, in finishing the sentence in the way that I did, I am not assuming that life will become smooth and simple. But I do believe that the difficulties of experiencing this ‘more’ are worth it. And while I’m not sure about this, I’m guessing that if this ‘more’ happens among us it just might look like a revival.