John 1: 35-39 "Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, behold the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, "what do you seek? " They said to Him, Rabbi (which translated means teacher), where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour." (NASB)
I want to explain a little about the gospel of John so that it can lead us to a better understanding of what God is saying to us through this passage. The disciple John wrote this gospel and it was written in his latter years, approximately 50 years after his time with Jesus. That's quite a while, and what intrigues me about it is that after all that time, he remembers to the hour what time he met Jesus. (verse 39) What an impact and thing to behold, not meeting Jesus like we do, but literally meeting him in the flesh.
Verse 35 tells us that these two (John and Andrew) were disciples of John the Baptist and when they heard John proclaim that Jesus was the lamb of God they followed Jesus. Not follow as disciples, at least not yet, but they wanted to see where he was staying and I'm sure to know if he really was the Lamb of God as John the Baptist proclaimed. They were seeking the One whom the Jews have always been seeking, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Now I love how Jesus turned to them and asked, "what do you seek?". Jesus will always turn to those who honestly and faithfully approach him and he will be straight forward. The pharisees and Sadducee's always came after Jesus to "trap him" or get him to "mess up". They were always rebuked and never given the answers they sought, rather they were given the truth of Him and the Kingdom of God. Many others came to Jesus such as the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18. Jesus knew this young man's heart. He loved money and the fact that he was rich and comfortable, and was willing to follow Jesus, but only because he had nothing to worry about. Jesus called this young man, and us, to be willing to give up all we have for him. To sell all, to walk away from family, to pick up our crosses daily and follow him is the kind of following Jesus wants us to be willing to give. John Wesley once said, earn all that you can, save all that you can, so that you can give all that you can. I'm not saying you can't have money or family, just that we have to be willing to give these things up if led in that direction.
Notice he told John and Andrew to come and they did and ended up staying with Jesus. That's the same message for us today. To approach Jesus with the right motives for his glory and not our own. Our benefit through Christ is a mere byproduct of glorifying him.
I am not saying that we are not to confess our sinfulness to God. For we are to. I am not saying we should not claim Christ as Lord for we definitely should. But I do have to point out that Jesus never turned to Andrew nor John nor the rich young ruler and say, pray this little sinners prayer, believe and go on with your life. Jesus never said that to anyone ever. Jesus always said things like I have just discussed. Take up your cross daily or sell all you have, repent and believe , and of course, follow me. Following him is not a one time deal, it's a lifestyle choice. It's a constant walk with Him down a narrow, lightly traveled path that leads to salvation in the kingdom of Heaven where he has gone to prepare a place for us. This path is rocky and it's not always full of riches and healing as many try to claim and on this path we will stumble on the rocks and boulders, but that end prize of being in the presence of Him who created us is worth any pains or troubles we endure.
My prayer is that we turn to Him with honest and true motives. That we seek Him for His glory and not for our own benefit. I pray we act like Andrew, and go and tell our brother, and all of whom we know for that matter, that we have found the Messiah! (verse 40) Let us pick up our crosses and follow Him so that we feel His touch and guidance in our lives every minute of everyday.
With prayers and blessings always
Chris
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3 comments:
Very, very good post - very well written - a reminder to me that we need to live for Christ and be witnesses wherever we are at all times - we don't have to go into other countries to be missionaries - we are instructed to be Christ like and be a witness for Him wherever we happen to be - we have opportunities all the time - all we need to do is listen to the Holy Spirit. I am talking to myself because I often miss opportunities - God Bless you - keep blogging - Love, Aunt F
Yep, a very good post. I've sometimes seen that leading people to Jesus and our Lord can be more subtle than walking up to strangers with bible in hand and asking them if they believe. The little things we do and the words we use in our lives influence others greatly perhaps giving them pause to consider why we as Christians are different. A good example is a story (joke?) Joyce Meyer likes to tell of a lady who was stopped for a traffic violattion. Walking up to the car, the policeman see her Jesus fish, the God Is My Co-Pilot sticker, her church bumper sticker, and so on. The woman starts ranting and raving, using unimaginable words and gestures, so he arrests her. After she had been in jail a while, the policeman let her out explaining her arrest was all a mistake. He said that after seeing all her proclaimations of her christianity on her car and then suffering her tirade and insults, he was sure the car was stolen.
I sometimes wonder if more would follow Jesus if they truly understood His love and forgiveness. Our walk with Him can be rocky at times causing us to backslide a little at times, but we only have to pickup ourselves up, sincerely pray for His forgiveness, and work to not let it happen again.
I ahve heard that story before Mike. How true it really is. So often we talk the talk and forget or even refuse to walk the walk. It's really a shame. Christians are all unredeemed sinners trying to live the life Christ calls us to. We will and may fall here and there, but that is no excuse to to act like the person in this story. How is it so many claim Christ on Sunday morning and live so worldly the rest of the week? Lets strive to live as "lights of the world", because people are watching and noticing. If we claim Christ, we must live as he lived (1 John 2:6 paraphrased)
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