Come and See

Sermon preached on Sunday Jan 29, 2006

Pastor Victor E. Sawyer

Today I would like for us to go on a journey – The Discipleship journey, that means we will be stepping on the road with Jesus, and Jesus will be calling us just as he called the  twelve disciples. We will follow him into Bethsaida  and then into Capernaum, and all the towns and villages around Galilee. Jesus begins by calling the disciples two at a time. Bishop Schol has lectured on the Discipleship Adventure, and so today we begin that adventure, that journey.

Through this journey we discover and encounter the story of God’s presence in our lives and the world. And as we go through this journey I want you to take note of where we see the five faiths;

Faith celebration - touched by God through worship

Faithful connections – transformed by God through Relationships

Faith Development - Shaped by God through study and spiritual disciplines

Faithful Service – Gifted by God to serve others

Faith sharing – Led by God to be a witness

What would make 12 ordinary men leave their jobs, their homes and their families to follow someone they did not know?  Faith celebration: they were touched by Jesus through worship.

What would make these men, men from all walks of life, bind together with one agenda, one purpose, one goal, one mission? Faithful connections … Relationships

What would make these men grow spiritually, and stay the course? How did they determine their priorities? - Faith development – Study and spiritual discipline

From the lips of the savior, the one who is the author and finisher of our faith.

What would make them be willing to give their lives for the one who died for them?

Faithful service - they were willing to serve others.

How were they able to spread the Gospel to the other parts of the world? Faith sharing. They were led by God to tell their stories, be witnesses to me, “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, even unto the uttermost parts of the earth”

Every adventure must begin with a vision; every journey has a destination. Jesus had a vision; that he would call them together, teach them, pray for them and in the end they would build the church.

With this vision, Jesus started  the journey, alone. In this Scripture in John Ch. 1, we see how we come to Christ. Some of us find Christ because they looked for him, because you are determined to find Christ, and you heard Him say:

     “Seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you”

You become a seeker, and someone said to be a seeker is the next best thing to being a finder. ”Happy seeker, happy finder”.  When you seek, you get some help. The first two disciples had some help. Andrew was directed to Christ by his mentor and  teacher, John the Baptist; friendly hands help and point and guide.  Andrew decided that he was not going to keep the joy to himself, so he went looking for his brother, Simon. He found his brother, and he brought his brother to Christ- transformed through relationships.

Some of us find Christ not because of our own search, but because those who know us bring us to Christ. He went to bring his brother; led by God to be a witness.

Andrew knew that faith sharing must begin at home.

Have you talked to anyone in your home about Christ?

Do you read the bible at home with your husband, with your wife?

Do you read the Bible to your children?

In our days when family ties are not strong, when children are given the independence to do whatever they like, go to bed when they are tired of watching TV, get up in the morning if you feel like it, come to Sunday school if you can make it, come to church if you can get dressed by the time I leave, Andrew is teaching us that it is your responsibility to go home and bring your family to Christ.

We are suffering from spiritual anemia and scriptural poverty,  and the devil knows that that is our Achilles heel, our weak spot, and so Satan tries to make us prisoners of addiction, compulsive behavior, low self esteem, and at the end of the day

we are feeling guilty and hopeless, we need someone to tell us about the Messiah

A few weeks after I arrived here last july, Ray Brown and I rode around together. Ray was just pointing all of the congregations all around us: churches , mosque, the synagogues, temples, etc. Ray said the UM Men has visited everyone of these congregations.  And that is good; that is a show of brotherly love. But we need to go back, and visit them again and again.

And there are some who are found by Christ, like Philip. Christ got up and went looking for Philip. Christ found him, and he said to him: “Follow me”. And Philip followed and Jesus taught him, and Philip experienced worship – faith celebration.

Philip said, I am going to look for my best friend Nathanael; he found him, and he said to Nathanael: We have found the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. He was sure because just a few moments with Christ is enough to be transformed through study and spiritual disciplines.

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Have you gone looking for a Simon or a Nathanael to bring to Christ?

Have you invited anyone to come and see?

I believe that in everyone’s life, there is one event that shapes the rest of your life.

I know we cannot predict how a single event can change a person’s life. A chance word spoken by a brother or sister may change your entire future. An impression made on the mind of an innocent child by some nameless person who crossed his path one time, never to be seen again can point that child in a different direction.

It is impossible to know when a moment is the moment, when an act is the act, when an issue is the issue, when a turning point is the turning point. Sunday School teachers, you don’t what impact you are making with that one explanation you gave.  You don’t know that when you told the story of your life, you helped someone.

Nate did not believe Philip; we are shocked by his response:

Can anything good come from Nazareth? But don’t worry about his response. Philip said “Come and see”. Jesus told Nate about himself. One word from Jesus and Nate is convinced. Nathanael is the same person as Bartholomew. John is the only Gospel where he is called Nathanael; In Matthew Mark and Luke he is called Bartholomew.

We do not know this for sure, since it is not in any of the four Gospels, but one tradition says that Philip is the one who said to Jesus: “Let me first go and bury my father…”.

Philip did not argue; he gave the invitation: Come and see; see for yourself ; test it yourself.  And if you have invited someone and they have said to you Nothing good will come if I go, don’t give up on them.

When they ask can anything good come out of the Bible?

Can anything good come out of the Sunday school?

Can anything good come out of the church? Just say “come and see”.

  It is hard to walk with God, and some of us need more help and encouragement than others. Things happen. Problems, difficulties, good fortune, doubts, questions, all of these sometimes breaks down our commitment to Christ.  We begin to feel like the Apostle Paul: the good that I want to do I do not; the evil that I do not want to do is what I do.

Philip looked back on his life and he would never forget that day that Jesus called him.

He looked back on that day that Jesus called him, and he spent those few minutes or hours with Jesus. That was the moment, the act, the issue, the turning point in his life.

The early church tradition said that he was the one who said to Jesus when Jesus called him, Let me first go and bury my father.

He followed Jesus for three years; he never looked back.  I am sure he had no regrets.

I am sure if he had to do it all over again, he would accept Jesus’ call and follow him for three years.

How did he die?