Please turn in your Bibles to John 1:35-51. Last week John the Baptist was absolutely clear that he, himself, was not the Christ. Then when he saw Jesus, he directed our attention to him. John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This morning, we’ll see the Lamb of God title referenced again. I mentioned last week that every single title for Jesus used throughout the book is introduced in chapter 1. So, as I read, listen for those various titles.

Also, listen for all the action verbs and commands… like come and see, follow, and find. There are quite a few.

Reading of John 1:35-51

Prayer

A few months ago, Amy and I went to hear Atlanta Symphony. They were performing Rapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. You may or may not be familiar with it, but United Airlines has used it for several decades as their theme song, so you would probably recognize it. It starts with a free-flowing jazzy clarinet solo, which is really its main melody. Then after various instrumental and piano versions of it, the full orchestra adds another melody, a more rhythmic melody – it’s been called the train theme because it keeps a consistent tempo. Then there’s also the romantic theme, which is different from the other two. It has a more of a moving lyrical feel that draws you in.

The beauty of Rapsody in Blue is how the musical themes overlap and come up in different ways with different instruments including piano and strings and brass.

In many ways, the Gospel of John is similar. Different themes come up and overlap as Jesus’ life and ministry is revealed. One of those is the basic narrative of what is happening. It centers around Jesus’ interactions with his disciples and his teaching and miracles and what was happening in Jerusalem. Throughout the book, Jesus instructs his disciples, confronts the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, and ministers to sinners and suffers.

Another layer includes the deep theological truths about God and salvation. For example, we learn about Jesus’ identity, and about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus and God the Father will send, and we learn about being grafted into Christ – how he abides in us and us in him.

And then finally there’s a third layer – a third musical theme. It focuses on how to follow Jesus. We are given positive and negative examples – examples of believing and following Jesus and examples of rejecting him and not following him. Last week, John the Baptist modelled humility and what it means to direct others to Christ.

Well, our text this morning has the full display of how these themes interact and overlap, you know, kind of like an orchestra…. So, what I want to do this morning is make three passes through the verses.

First, we’ll begin with the narrative – what was actually happening as Jesus called his disciples. By the way, it is through the story that God teaches us about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. So, we ‘ll consider that first.

Second, we’ll consider how this text furthers our understanding of Jesus’ identity and purpose – that theme is all throughout.

And then the third pass will be the practical. We are each called to bring others to follow him.

So, three points.

#1 - The observational: Come and See

#2 - The theological: Find and Believe

#3 – The practical: Bring and Follow

1. Come and See (the observational)

So, #1 – the observational. The first thing to observe is how quickly these events have been happening. Remember from verses 19-28 that a delegation had been sent from Jerusalem. They asked John the Baptist about his identity and why he was baptizing. Now look at verse 29. It begins, “the next day.” The very next day, John saw Jesus and testified to who he is as the Lamb of God… on whom the Spirit of God had descended.

Now look at verse 35. Same thing. “The next day.” And jump down to verse 43. Again, “the next day.” All this activity was happening pretty quickly and in different locations near and around the Sea of Galilee. Furthermore, as we sensed from the reading, there are exciting things happening.

In verse 36, John the Baptist reiterates that Jesus is the Lamb of God. And then the handoff. Two of John’s disciples begin to follow Jesus. They immediately recognized him. And they call him Rabbi, you know, Teacher.

We’re told that one of John the Baptist’s disciples was Andrew, who is Peter’s brother. It’s very interesting that we’re not told the other disciple’s name. All the others in this chapter are named.

I believe the unnamed disciples is very likely the apostle John. I mentioned a few weeks ago that the apostle never names himself. That was a common practice for narrative writing at the time. In fact, in the book of Acts, written by Luke, he similarly never names himself. Except, we are given glimpses of his involvement. A couple of passages in Acts use the first-person plural pronouns “us” and “we.” Luke was there.

In these verses in John 1, it makes sense that this unnamed new disciples is John, himself. I already mentioned him not being named as a clue. But let me give you two more reasons.

· First, the events from verse 19 to the end of the chapter are unique to this Gospel account – they are not referenced in the other three. John was likely an eyewitness.

· Second, we’re given a lot of detail about John the Baptist – and it’s not just here in chapter 1, but also in chapter 3 and 4 and 5. Remember, this unnamed disciple had originally been a disciple of John the Baptist. If this is the apostle John, it would make sense why he knew so much about John the Baptist’s ministry.

Now, we don’t know for sure, but it certainly fits the situation.

Well, after Jesus' brief dialog with them, he invites Andrew and this other disciple to come with him and stay. Verse 29 mentions it’s about the 10th hour – that means it was about 4pm.

And the very first thing that Andrew did was to find his brother Simon Peter. And he tells Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” I mean, can you imagine the excitement. These guys were likely in their mid to late 20s. They had studied about the Messiah since they were boys. John the Baptist had directed them to Jesus, and now they met him in person.

At the very outset they recognized Jesus as the Christ. It’s then that Jesus gives Simon his new name – Peter which means rock in Greek. Or Cephas in Aramaic. By the way, many of John’s readers would have likely known of Peter – he was prominent at the time. He was one of Jesus inner three disciples and therefore has an important role throughout the Gospel of John – so this is like an introduction.

Well, we come to the next day, and Jesus has travelled north to Bethsaida. He then found Philip and called him to follow. Did you notice that Philip didn’t even question it. No, instead, he went and he found Nathaniel. And with an excitement similar to Andrew, Philip told Nathaniel, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth…”

And Nathaniel said, “can anything good come out of Mississippi?” Just kidding about Mississippi. Amy’s family is from Mississippi, and it’s a great place. But you know, for some reason, Mississippi tends to be the butt of jokes.

Nazareth was a small, poor town. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had moved there after fleeing to Egypt for a time. Nazareth was therefore where Jesus grew up. It wasn’t in Judea. It didn’t have the sophistication of a larger metropolitan area. So, Nathaniel was skeptical. Philip responded, “come and see.”

Nathaniel had never met Jesus, but when Nathaniel approached him, Jesus noted that Nathaniel was an upstanding Israelite. Which, of course, took Nathaniel off guard. And so he asked, “how do you know me?” And Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

We don’t know why Jesus seeing him under the fig tree was so significant, but whatever it was, Nathaniel’s initial skepticism turned into belief. And he’s exclaimed, “Rabbi… Son of God… King of Israel.” Jesus then said to him, you believe because I said I saw you? … well, you will see greater things than these.

We’ll come back to the angels descending and ascending in a few minutes.

But let me note two important things. #1 Yes, God used his disciples to bring other disciples to him, but it was all under his sovereign purview and plan. Did you notice that before Philip even got to Nathaniel, Jesus had already seen Nathaniel? All of this was orchestrated by Jesus before any of it had come to pass.

#2 - The other thing is that the disciples’ immediate response was to recognize Jesus and follow him. They didn’t yet fully understand Jesus’ identity nor what it meant for him to be the Messiah. That would come over time… and wouldn’t really come to a full realization until after his resurrection. But at the outset, Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathniel, and likely the apostle John were drawn to Jesus through the testimony, excitement, and invitation to come and see him… and when they did, they recognized him as the Messiah.

2. Find and Believe (the theological)

Which brings us to the second layer. #2. The theological melody which has been playing this whole chapter. I’m calling this point “Find and Believe” because we’re given an unfolding revelation of who Jesus is as the Word of God and the promised Messiah.

Really, this melody will run throughout the whole book. But in this first chapter, John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has given us different categories of Jesus’ nature and purpose. He’s given us the wholistic picture of Christ, which he will then work out in the rest of the book.

Have you ever watched an old Bob Ross video? You know, the painter. He begin...