Four Signs of Jesus:
2-“Come and See” Invitations
John 1:29-42
by Jim Westmoreland
This morning, we continue the four-message series on Four Signs of Jesus. The second sign in the early ministry of Jesus is “Come and See” Invitations. How many times in our lifetime has someone said to us, “Come and see.” Maybe it was a neighbor friend’s new bicycle, or the snake they had caught in their back yard, or a friend’s new house or new baby. We are curious, and we want to see and find out in a personal way.
In the second half of our reading this morning we meet two disciples of John the Baptizer. These men had some interest in religion. A lot of people have a little interest in it anyway. Not many are bold enough to say that there is no God and that “nothing matters, not even me.”
These men hear John call Jesus the “Lamb of God.” As Jews they recognize this vivid image as an allusion to the suffering servant language found in the Hebrew scripture. In fact it was usually associated with the coming of the Messiah, whom they looked for to rescue them from foreign domination and restore Israel to greatness among the nations. I guess I would be curious too and want to know more. So, out of curiosity these two disciples of John follow Jesus. Not commitment. Not conviction. Just plain, old curiosity. Who is this man Jesus? What does he have to offer? And what, if anything, can he tell us about the purpose of life.
They had a healthy curiosity. Have you ever noticed how naturally curious children are? They why they have such magnificent mental development, because they are curious, open, ready to learn and not afraid to grow. Tom Peters said, “The challenge is to regain our childhood curiosity and thirst for learning. We were really interesting at age 4, pretty interesting at age 7 and phenomenally boring at age 35 -- let alone at 51 ..."
Maybe, that is one reason that Jesus said that we had to become like little children to enter the kingdom of God.
Some of the greatest heros of the Christian faith started their faith journey out just as uncertainly as the two disciples of John. St. Augustine spent years wandering, intellectually and spiritually, indulging in every appetite of the flesh, until finally he committed his soul to God. He was never absolutely "sure" in his head. But, somehow, he was willing to trust his heart, as expressed in his famous prayer: "O Lord, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." G. K. Chesterton was a feisty, frenetic journalist who set out to disprove the orthodoxy of the Christian faith—only to find himself years later embracing and become a very forceful and active defender of the Christian faith, the very thing he had tried to demolish. There is a place for you in the Christian faith, in the family of God.
When John’s two curious disciples begin to follow Jesus, Jesus turns to them and meets them where they are. He doesn’t proselytize or push or manipulate or control or judge or punish. Instead he engages them, asking a question that gets to the heart of our human experience: Jesus asks,"What are you looking for?" Encouraged by his approachability, by his humanness, by his openness, Andrew and his friend decide to follow Jesus a little bit farther. And so they ask Jesus a question: "Where are you staying?" A give-and-take relationship is begun. Jesus responds to them again, "Come and see." The new disciples do go and do see, and they end up staying with Jesus all day—the beginning of a staying-with-Jesus for the rest of their lives.
"Stay." "Remain." These are crucial words in the Gospel of
John. They have the same root as the word "abide"—perhaps the
5most important word in John’s vocabulary. Abiding, resting,
staying, remaining—an intimate togetherness, over time, in the
presence of one another’s company— allowing experience and
familiarity and trust to cement a relationship that the mind
cannot even fathom. This, my friends, is faith. But it begins with
curiosity. It is rooted in companionship. It often leads to
commitment and conviction. But it all begins with curiosity.
Jesus is not only the Word become flesh. Jesus is the Way
become flesh. Jesus is a journey Subtle, emergent, flexible and
flowing, Jesus is a journey toward the answer to the most
important question of our lives: "What are you looking for?"
In the first half of the 20th century Sigmund Freud biased liberal intellectuals against religious commitment. He labeled such commitment as a crippling neurosis, impeding the ego development of healthy adults. In fact, until 1994, the American Psychiatric Association categorized deep spiritual commitment as a personality "disorder." But the universal yearning of the human spirit has proven more powerful than the psychiatric establishment, and we now know that we are in the midst of a spiritual reawakening that has flooded our secular bookstores with Chicken Soup to nourish every conceivable nuance of spiritual hunger. And yet, at the very same time, commitment to religious institutions continues to decline. But, my friends, to "know" Jesus requires community—for it is within the church, the Body of Christ, that the story of Jesus is told, that Jesus’ story gets up and walks around, and eventually makes its way out into the world where it really belongs.
Knowing Jesus is not about intellectual certainty. It is not about
ethical perfection. It is not about somehow declaring that
organized religion is the best thing since sliced bread. On the
contrary, to "know" Jesus is to embark on a journey, to ask
ourselves the question "What are we looking for." To know
Jesus is to come and see, to remain with him, to abide with
him, to simply hang out with Jesus for a while, and see what
happens. To hang out with him in worship, to hang out with him
in Bible Study, to hang out with him at the soup kitchen doing
ministry for others, to hang out with him in the ups and downs
of being a part of an imperfect but open group of people called
the church.
Two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to his congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta about his death in what would oddly enough become his eulogy.
"Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral," Dr. King told his congregation. "If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that's not important. I'd like someone to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like someone to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to be able to say that I did try to visit those in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity." Dr. King concluded with these words: "I won't have any money left behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind."
Did Martin Luther King have that level of commitment when he
first began his ministry? It's doubtful. He had youthful
enthusiasm to be sure. He had strong convictions. He was well
brought up, with an outstanding preacher as a father. But people
who are truly captured by the spirit of Christ didn’t get there all
at once, but after years of walking in Christ's footsteps. Our
faith is validated and grows as we "come and see."
Come and See does not end at the beginning, but it begins a journey of following Christ.
The summer after high school, Max was working in the West Texas oil fields, helping to lay pipe. Lunch time in the oil field was an interesting time. “For thirty minutes in the heat of the day,” Max says, “that oil patch became sin city – replete with foul language, dirty jokes and a deck of cards to gamble with.”
One day, a supervisor walked toward the workers. Did he have a job for them that couldn’t wait, they wondered. “Uhh, fellows...” he said. The workers turned and looked at him. “I, uh, was just wanting, uh...” They could tell he was uncomfortable with whatever he was trying to tell them. So he tried again. “Uh guys, I just wanted to tell you our church is having a service tonight...” “What?” Max thought to himself in disbelief. “He’s talking about church? Out here? With us?” “I just wanted to invite any of you to come...” he said. There was silence among the workers. Several stared at the dirt. Others just looked at each other. Nobody said anything. “Well, that’s it,” he said. “If any of you want to come, let me know.” After saying that, he walked away.
Max and the other workers began to laugh. Four years passed
and Max had reached a point in his life where he had to decide
what he was going to do. His college years were drawing to a
close. He admits to having drifted away from the church. But he
felt God drawing him back. He wanted to talk with his friends
about it, but he was afraid they would laugh. That’s when he
remembered the supervisor in the oil field. That man’s love for
God had been greater than his concern for his reputation. “So I
came home,” Max says. He followed God’s urgings, opened his
heart to God and changed his life and, today, Max is the pastor
of one of the largest churches in San Antonio, Texas, and the
best selling author of dozens of books. We know him as Max
Lucado.
It doesn’t matter where you are in your journey Jesus asks us, “Where are you going?” And when we sort through the clutter and the things that compete for our time and attention that keep us wrapped up in ourselves, and we finally decide to look up and seek His way, then Jesus says to us, “Come and see!” It is His invitation to relationship, to become or to resume to the life of a disciple, an active follower of Jesus. Today, will you be willing to change your life and put Jesus Christ in the center of your life as you come and see. Amen.
Century Christian Church, January 20, 2008 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
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