Video Teaching
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Full Transcript
Video Teaching
This particular sermon happened at a Church picnic, so apologies for the lack of picture and subpar sound quality.
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Introduction
- These four stories all show different disciples being called into ministry by Christ:
- Andrew and Peter join Jesus through intellectual inquiry
- Peter follows Jesus because of a personal invitation from someone he trusts
- Philip joins Philip abruptly because of his experience meeting Jesus
- Nathanael overcomes his skepticism after seeing a miracle
- The close proximity of the stories help illustrate the diverse ways that people come to faith in Christ
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
- In the ancient world, discipleship was immersive—students followed a teacher to observe how they lived and embodied their teachings. This approach emphasizes that profound truths should transform one’s whole life, not remain abstract. The speaker contrasts this with modern education’s focus on fact acquisition and suggests discipleship offers a valuable lesson in witnessing wisdom lived out.
36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
- John refrains from retaining disciples for personal benefit (labor, prestige). Instead, he directly points them to Jesus, modeling ministry that prioritizes others’ growth over personal gain.
- This contrasts with common tendencies of leaders to hoard followers; John advocates sending people to the best source for their development.
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “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.
- “It was about four in the afternoon” (verse forty) is a pretty specific detail. This, along with the fact that John never names himself in his gospel and this particular disciple is unnamed, suggests this unnamed disciple was John.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
- In his book The Inviting Church, church growth expert Roy Oswald asked a number of congregants why they worshipped at the church they did if they weren’t raised there.
- 86% started attending because a friend or family member invited them;
- 6% came because of a program;
- 6% were invited by a pastor,
- 2% due to advertising.
- Peter’s journey is statistically common! So many people relate to Peter, but the Church needs more Andrews to invite others.
- Peter (originally Simon) comes to Jesus through his brother Andrew’s invitation: “We have found the Messiah!” Andrew is only mentioned twelve times in the Bible, and four of those are just in lists! Of the remaining eight narrative mentions of Andrew, he’s bringing people to Jesus in three of them. He has a gift for connection and evangelism. The Church needs its Peters and Pauls, but we also need our Andres!
42 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).
- Jesus renames Simon to Cephas (Aramaic for “stone”; translated into Greek and then English as “Peter”), signaling a break from old to new identity and commissioning him as a “rock” on which Jesus will build his ministry. This affirms Peter’s gifts and shows that Jesus is giving him meaningful work.
- Everyone wants to make a difference in the world! We are not just called to sit in pews for Jesus, but change the world for Him.
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
- Philip’s calling is incredibly abrupt! Jesus says, “Follow me,” and Philip does just that. The abruptness suggests an immediate, vivid experience with Jesus that was enough to get Nathaniel to worship Jesus without a prior relationship. For some, a direct encounter is decisive.
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 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.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
- Nathanael resists at first, ignoring the ties that Philip makes to the prophets and Moses. fixating on the detail that he’s from Nazareth, and that’s not a particularly reputable town. Philip wisely avoids debating issues that don’t really matter and instead invites him to “come and see.” His goal is not to win a debate, but to win Nathanael over to Christ by introducing them.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
- Jesus greets Nathanael as “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” showing that he knows his character, and says that he saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him. Given Nathanael’s reaction, obviously this wasn’t a mere overhearing of someone else’s conversation; it was miraculous!
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 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.”
- In verse 51, Jesus is referencing Genesis 28 (Jacob’s ladder) to declare himself the bridge between Heaven and Earth. If knowing a name is so impressive to Nathanael, he should be ready to see the full nature of the Son of Man, which is infinitely more miraculous.
Full Transcript
In this little passage this morning, we have various stories about apostles coming to faith in Christ and following Him. I love that we have all of them one right after the next, getting to see all the diversity in those stories packed together. I think it’s good to remember because we’re all passionate about following Jesus. We want to share our faith with others. It can be easy, when you want to evangelize, to remember the exact circumstances under which you started following Jesus and to try to recreate those in the lives of others. That doesn’t always work because they have different circumstances! They’re at a different place in life! You have no idea what they’re going through. There are so many different things that happen in different people’s lives that lead them to start following Jesus. Let’s jump in.
We’re going to see the first of the four stories. We see Andrew make his decision to start following Jesus. It’s not just Andrew. It tells us that there are two people involved in this story. One is Andrew; he’s identified in verse forty, but there is also a second disciple who is never named. The majority belief is that this was probably the apostle John. There are a few reasons for that.
First, John never refers to himself directly in the Gospel that he wrote. He always refers indirectly, and there are different guesses as to why he did this. Some say it was because he was so humble that he did not want to put his name forward as though he were some great guy. He just wanted to share it without highlighting himself. Others say maybe it was a creative choice that he made so that people would have the opportunity to put themselves in his shoes as they read and feel like they were right there. Who knows? Regardless, he never refers to himself directly, and this disciple is strangely never directly mentioned. That’s a point in John’s favor.
Another thing that leads a lot of people to believe that this was probably John is that, in verse forty, there’s a level of detail that’s just uncommon. It says it was about four in the afternoon. That’s very specific, almost so specific that you wonder, were you there? Was that you? Do you know this personally? I think it was probably John, but we don’t need to double down on that. That’s not really the point. We know for certain that Andrew was one of these two.
We find that these are two people who come to start following Jesus because they are curious. They want to know more. Intellectual inquiry leads them to start following Jesus. I know we have some kids with us this morning. Kids, how are you doing? I know there is no children’s church this morning, so you’re going to have to help me out. How many of you are curious? Do you ask your parents a lot of questions? If you are a question asker, give me a hand. There we go. I see one. Maybe that’s a future Andrew right there.
So we’ve got these two, Andrew and probably John. They are question askers. They ask questions: Why am I here? Who is God? What am I doing? How do I live life well? They’re asking a lot of questions, and asking those questions leads them to seek a good teacher. They end up as disciples of John the Baptist.
It’s a good reminder that Jesus wasn’t the only one with disciples in the ancient world. In the ancient Mediterranean region, great teachers (if they were really good) ended up with disciples. The logic was that you can learn a lot by listening to a great teacher. Maybe you just go to their lectures and listen a little bit. But if you’re really serious about learning, you don’t just attend the lectures–you become a disciple. You follow them around. You see the way they live. You see the way they act.
If the truth they have is really that big a deal, it should change their whole lives. It shouldn’t just be this floating idea that you can hear and tuck away in your mind. It should be something that your whole life speaks to. So if you really want to learn what they are teaching, you become a disciple. You start following them. You watch how they live and how they embody the truth they’re talking about, and you learn to live according to that truth. It was very common for great thinkers in this era to have disciples, and here we see that John the Baptist has a couple of disciples in these two soon-to-be followers of Jesus. That’s where our story starts.
As an aside, isn’t it interesting how they thought about learning in that discipleship model? So much of our model for education is built on just learning facts. That’s good. I’m not anti-fact. But how much more important is it for people to see a wise life well led? I think that’s a model of education we could all learn from.
In any case, our story begins with these two disciples.
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.
That is so unselfish of John the Baptist. How rare is it to see someone actively point people toward opportunities that are good for them? It is so common to see people in positions of authority trying to keep everyone under them so they can get the most work and harvest their labor. John had every reason, personally and selfishly, to keep these men as his disciples. Disciples would help you do things. These are two people who are hands for the road; that’s helpful. They certainly bring him some prestige. It would have been tempting to say, “We’re going to point people to Jesus, but you personally don’t have to go. You’re going to help me get other people there.”
John is not like that. He is selfless when it comes to the cause of ministry. He’s thinking about the people with him and saying, “You could learn better over there. Your growth and development are with that man. Go to Him. Don’t waste time with me.” Incredibly unselfish.
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
That is a piercing question, one that I think all of us are asked as we come to Jesus today. What do you want? What brought you to worship this morning? Do you want to be happy? Do you want to be healed? Do you want money? What do you want? Some answers to that question are better than others. I think the apostles give one of the best answers there is. What do they want? Just time with Jesus. That’s all they want. They respond,
“Rabbi,” which means Teacher, “where are You staying?”
He replied, “Come, 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.
Right there we see these first two people start being followers of Christ. Whatever they saw in that conversation, whatever it was they were seeking to learn, they realized by just spending time with Jesus that this was the best teacher they could possibly have. This man knew things that were worth their time. They didn’t go back to John. They didn’t even think about it. This was the new path they had been set on. That’s one story.
Now we move on to another. We get to see the moment when Peter the apostle decided to start following Jesus. Peter is one of the most popular Bible characters there is, and it’s easy to see why. He has a lot of stories because he gets a lot of things wrong. Peter is always trying his best, and he’s always messing up, and Jesus has to bail him out. That’s relatable. We all make mistakes. We all need Jesus to bail us out sometimes. His name is not Peter to begin with; it’s Simon. Jesus is going to rename him in just a moment. Peter comes to faith not through intellectual inquiry, but because of a personal invitation. He’s invited by someone he trusts to start following Jesus. In this case, Andrew. Andrew gives him an invitation: “You have to come see Jesus. This is incredible.” That makes a difference to him.
Personal invitation makes such a difference. I saw a study the other day talking about why people attended the churches they did. If people were at a church they did not grow up in, this study asked them, “What made you start attending this church?” Eighty-six percent said it was because a friend or family member asked them to start attending. Eighty-six percent! Six percent said they started attending because of a program they thought was really good. Six percent said they started because a pastor invited them. Two percent said they started because of advertising. Eighty-six percent! Personal invitation makes a difference. That is one of the most common ways people start actively following Jesus in their lives, and here that’s the way Peter comes to faith.
Simon Peter’s brother, Andrew, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.
The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” And he brought him to Christ.
The man from our first story immediately goes and finds Peter and brings him to Jesus.
Andrew is not in the Bible a lot. He is named twelve times, and four of those twelve mentions are just in lists of the disciples. So he is only actually named in a story eight times. Of those eight, three are because he is bringing people to Jesus. That is something he seems to be good at. He is good at connecting people to Jesus. That is something he seems to be gifted to do, and this is one of those times. He brings Peter to Jesus. He may not be in the Bible a lot, but he probably deserves a little more recognition. A lot of people want to be like Peter. A lot of people want to be like Paul. Maybe we need more Andrews in the world.
In any case, the first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.”
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.
That is the moment when Peter starts following Jesus. It’s a little bit of an odd moment for a lot of us because we wonder, why is He renaming him? What is this about? Usually in Scripture that happens to show a break between the old self and the new self. You are so radically different that you need a new name because you’re that new. Here He chooses the name Cephas, which is Aramaic for “stone.” That is the name Simon will go by from now on: Peter. Cephas, stone. In other words, this is a rock. “You are a rock on which I am going to build My ministry.” In that, He is really doing two things. Jesus has both built up Peter and put him to work.
He encounters Peter and does not treat him like any random man. He does not say, “Good to see you. Hope I see you around.” He knows him personally and sees the value in him. He is not just another name, not just another person in a crowd. He is uniquely gifted to do something important, and Jesus treats him that way.
At the same time, He puts him to work. He says, “You are the rock. You are solid. You are someone I am going to build My ministry on.” It may be a compliment, but it is not a compliment you get to live into by doing nothing. He is going to have to do some work to live up to the fullness of that compliment, and that is exciting for him.
Sometimes we forget how much people want to change the world. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: one of the biggest reasons I find people leave the churches they are at is because they feel like they are just being asked to sit in a pew. No one wants to just sit in a pew. That’s boring! They want to change the world. That does not mean they necessarily need to do it through church programs. It means that wherever they are in their lives, whatever they are doing, they need to be equipped to make a difference. Jesus is offering Peter the opportunity to make a difference in the world, and Peter is all in. Peter starts following Jesus.
Now we have two down and two to go, two more apostles, two different stories. We have seen intellectual inquiry. We have seen personal invitation. Now we get to Philip’s story, which is so short that we will just look at it and then talk about it after.
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, He said to him, “Follow Me.”
That is it. That is the whole thing. Incredibly short. That is all we get. Jesus finds him and says, “Follow Me,” and he does.
When you look at different commentators thinking through this passage, one of the things people are curious about is whether Jesus knew him before this moment. Had they ever met? Sometimes Jesus knew people before offering them this formal invitation to discipleship. Is this one of those instances? Did Jesus already know Philip? Did He already have a relationship with him? Or was it totally out of the blue? Who can say? But the way the Bible tells the story, it seems intended to be abrupt. It does not say, “Jesus saw Philip, whom He had known for a long time and felt pretty good about.” It deliberately tells it in a way that emphasizes how jarringly fast this is. Out of nowhere, Philip is in.
That is how it goes for some people. There are people who have vivid personal experiences that are hard to put into words. Something about that moment, something about that experience, tells them, “I need to start following Jesus. This is it.” That appears to be the case with Philip. Whatever it was like, whatever the details were, he meets Jesus. Jesus says, “Follow Me,” and he is in. That experience with Jesus alone was enough for him to start following.
Now we come to the last person. This one has the longest story. We go from the shortest to the longest. This is Nathanael. Nathanael ends up being an apostle despite having no interest in it initially. He is the only one of the four who is actively resistant to the idea of buying into this whole Jesus thing at all.
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.
Think about all the things Philip said. “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.” There is a lot there that is exciting. The Nazareth detail is not really the point. It is just the town He is from. It is not the important part, and yet that is what Nathanael gets caught up on. He is not curious about the prophecy. He is not asking about the main things. He is caught up in details. You could imagine a world in which Philip started debating those same details with him! Maybe they get caught up in a debate about whether anything good can come out of Nazareth. What a waste of time that would have been. This is not actually about Nazareth. Who cares about Nazareth?
Philip does not get caught up in the details. He does not waste time debating Nazareth. Instead, he invites Nathanael to see Jesus for himself. He is essentially saying, “Do not tell me who you think Jesus is, what you think He is going to be like, or how you imagine this is true or not true. Just come and see for yourself.” That is what he says:
“Come and see.”
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
In other words, this is an honest man. He is a straight shooter.
Nathanael is thrown off and says,
“How do You know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Occasionally you will hear someone try to read this passage in a way that removes the miraculous element. They suggest that maybe Jesus simply saw him under the fig tree from a distance. That does not make sense. If you read this without a miraculous element, you are reading against the grain.
Imagine you were standing under a tree behind us, and I saw you and later said, “I saw you over there.” Would you fall to your knees and say, “The Son of God has arrived”? Of course not. It is not impressive if the tree is right there. There is something impressive about this. You do not fall to your knees and declare someone to be the Son of God because they noticed you standing nearby. Clearly, wherever this fig tree was, it was somewhere you could not see from where Jesus was standing. This is a man who has shown that He knows Nathanael’s character and knows things about him that He should not be able to know.
This man who was caught up in the details meets Jesus and sees that He is more than expected. He decides to start following Him. Nathanael declares,
“Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Jesus responds, “You believe because I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” Then He adds, “Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
That is a reference to Genesis twenty-eight, to Jacob’s ladder. Jacob dreams of a ladder with angels ascending and descending, a bridge between heaven and earth. Here Jesus references that and says, in effect, “I am the bridge. I am the bridge between heaven and earth. You think it is impressive that I know details about your life? That is not even the most exciting thing. Stick around.”
Four different stories. Four different ways we see people start following Jesus. I have seen in you a passion for evangelism. You are excited to share your faith, and that is good. It is helpful to see the diverse ways people come to faith because there is no one particular methodology that works. No one person is so clever, so witty, so good at talking, or so friendly that they can make someone come to faith. No one comes to faith because of a method or a personality. The only essential person involved is Jesus. That is the common thread in all these stories. In each one, someone takes another person to Jesus so they can meet Him for themselves. Whether they have reservations, enthusiasm, or no prior interest at all, that personal encounter makes the difference. That is what matters.
As we think about evangelism and harness that passion, remember this: in this city alone there are about eight thousand people. Statistically, a little over half would identify as Christian, and about twenty-five percent would be active church attenders. That means roughly six thousand people are not involved in a church family, and about four thousand may not be Christian at all, statistically speaking.
If we want to share our faith, the key is not you. You are not the key. You are not the thing that is going to change the world. You have been invited by Jesus to change the world with Him. The Savior is already here. You do not have to carry that burden. You do not have to feel clever enough, smart enough, or charismatic enough to convince anyone of anything. All we have to do is invite people to come and get to know Jesus for themselves, regardless of what they think He is or where they are in life. Jesus will not disappoint. If we want to be effective evangelists, the key is simply inviting people to come and see. Amen.
Classic Theology 