Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20050612.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING IN JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part VII: Trusting Jesus' Sovereign Lordship Over Our Discipleship
(John 1:35-51)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Often as I give these sermon introductions, you may I mention the shortcomings in religious leaders or Church groups as we focus on human need. With such a focus, it is easy to become discouraged over these shortcomings, to wonder if and how God can make the Church even continue to thrive!

(1) For example, John F. Mac Arthur, Pastor of Grace Community Church of the Valley in Panorama City, California, in a book edited by John H. Armstrong, The Coming Evangelical Crisis, p. 179 reported that the "Toronto Blessing'" in Evangelical Charismatic circles has taken an amazing, alarming twist: it seems, and I quote him, "whole congregations laugh uncontrollably for no rational reason, bark like dogs, roar like lions, cluck like chickens, or jump, run and convulse. They see this as evidence that the power of God has been imparted to them."

(2) Another unnerving example was named by George Houghton, Th. D. of the Faith Baptist Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa. He reported in the July-August Biblical Evangelist, p. 6 that some evangelicals "especially in academic settings" tolerate "deviant sexual lifestyles, particularly homosexuality."

(3) Near the end of his life, Christian philosopher and pastor, Francis Schaeffer, wrote the book, The Great Evangelical Disaster in which he "warned that watershed issues had arisen that demonstrated that evangelicalism was in serious trouble." (Ibid., Armstrong, p. 17) At the time, other Christian leaders felt Schaeffer was overstating the point, that he was disappointed at the end of his life and was venting some feelings! That is not the case anymore; Armstrong writes: " . . . the trends he cited then, and the issues he raised in particular, are not only still with us, but by all indications the importance of addressing them more directly has not gone away." (Ibid.)



Well, in view of the SHORTCOMINGS of much in Christian circles today, be it shortcomings in regular Christian laymen or even in LEADERS, HOW can the CHURCH THRIVE?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "If I consider the spiritual FRAILTY of the Church, I wonder HOW the Church can ever THRIVE! Is there any hope?"
  1. GOD SOVEREIGNLY CONTROLS the HUMAN MESSENGERS sent to present His truths to Christ's disciples, John 1:35-36, 29-34:
    1. God sent John the Baptizer publicly to introduce Jesus to Israel by signaling through the miracle of the sign of the dove that Jesus was God's Son and Savior of the world, John 1:31-33, 35-36.
    2. Yet, John the Baptizer was not perfect: while in prison at a later date, he came to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, Matt hew 11:2-3!
    3. Yet, God led even the imperfect human messenger in John the Baptizer to point his followers into following Christ, John 1:37!
  2. JESUS canALWAYS SOVEREIGNLY FILL the need His disciples have for FULFILLING FELLOWSHIP with GOD, 1:35-39 KJV:
    1. When two of John the Baptizer's disciples (John and Andrew) began to follow Jesus, Jesus turned to ask them, "What seek ye?" (1:35-38a)
    2. They responded, "Master, where dwellest thou?" (John 1:38b) to which Jesus replied, "Come and see." (John 1:39a)
    3. Well, this brief, introductory conversation came to frame the whole theology of the Apostle John, and that throughout his earthly life:
      1. In asking, "What seek ye?" Jesus implied, "What are you seeking in life for your fulfillment?" as He spoke of the needs in the heart.
      2. John's response, "Master, where dwellest thou?" uses the verb, meno ("dwell"), a favorite in John's writings that appear sixty years LATER to describe fellowship with God, Bib. Kno. Com., N. T., p. 275, 267; Hoehner, Chr. Asps. of the Life of Christ, p. 44.
      3. Jesus' reply of "Come and see" suggests the meaning, "First come to Me, and then you will find such fellowship through Me." (Ibid.)
    4. Thus, the Lord Jesus framed John's entire theology that he would carry sixty years later in that first, brief conversation he had with Jesus; this reveals our Lord's INFINITE capacity to meet the needs of the heart timelessly as He did for the Apostle John!
  3. JESUS can SOVEREIGNLY MATURE His own, John 1:40-42:
    1. With John, Andrew had left following John the Baptizer to follow Jesus, and he led his brother, Simon to Jesus, John 1:40-42a.
    2. Jesus immediately renamed Simon "Peter," signifying he would become a key party in the Church, John 1:42b with Matthew 16:18.
    3. To rename Simon this way just when Jesus first MET him in light of Peter's MANY and GREAT spiritual failures TO COME as noted throughout the New Testament Gospels, Acts and Epistles shows us Jesus divine sovereignty over the GROWTH of His disciples!
  4. JESUS can SOVEREIGNLY disciple His followers above the CULTURAL or ETHNIC CHALLENGES involved, John 1:43-44:
    1. When Jesus called "Philip" as a disciple in John 1:43, he called a man with a Greek name, Ibid., p. 276! Philip's parents had compromised their Hebrew with Greek culture to the dismay of Orthodox Hebrews!
    2. Yet, this did not hinder Philip from being able to follow Jesus; Christ is sovereign over even the ethnic or cultural barriers of His disciples!
  5. JESUS can SOVEREIGNLY overcome ERRANT BELIEFS in His disciples to lead them UNTO His blessed TRUTH, John 1:45-51:
    1. Philip reported to Nathaniel that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (as Philip errantly assumed him to be) was the Messiah, John 1:45.
    2. Nathaniel doubted the Messiah could come from Nazareth, a city with "a negative reputation at this period," John 1:46a; Ryrie St. Bib., KJV.
    3. When Philip invited Nathaniel to "Come and see" like Christ had first invited John and Andrew (John 1:46b with 39a), Jesus corrected the errant beliefs Nathaniel had about Jesus' genealogy and reputation:
      1. In first meeting him, Jesus said Nathaniel had no guile, a statement Nathaniel doubted as he felt Jesus did not know him, John 1:47-48.
      2. Jesus then revealed Nathaniel had thought about Genesis 28 where Jacob fled from Esau after stealing his birthright only to have God give him a vision of angels descending from heaven, thoughts he had under a fig tree before Philip called him, Jn. 1:48b, 50-51, Ibid.
      3. Nathaniel replied that Jesus was God ("Son of God") and Messiah ("king of Israel"), 1:49; Jesus had removed all error Nathaniel had regarding Jesus' genealogy and reputation!
      4. Then, as God had encouraged Jacob by the descent of the angels, Jesus encouraged Nathaniel, predicting he would see the angels ascending and descending on Him in the Kingdom, John 1:50-51.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ (Jn. 3:16) and (2) heed Him all our lives for fulfillment of the heart (John's writings)! (3) If we fret about the Church, focus on Christ's power to build His Church REGARDLESS of the problems involved, and relax!

Lesson: Be it the imperfect human messengers of the truth His people may face, their lifelong needs of fellowship with Him, their sinful weaknesses or ethnic heritage challenges or even errant theological views, God can sovereignly conquer ALL of them to disciple His people!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Some weeks ago while researching a project relative to my Bible studies, I was glancing through a secular history textbook and read the assertion that Christianity was "derived much from other than Jewish sources" in the form of religions "of Persian origin." (Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations, 6th ed., 1963, p. 254).

I knew this claim was errant: it countered all I'd learned in ten years of study in Bible College and Seminary not to mention another 29 years of Pastoral study, but I lacked the information to prove it!

Well, just after typing up the first draft of this, I was glancing through Merrill F. Unger's 1962 work on Archaeology and the New Testament when I read pages 22-23 on what archaeological finds have revealed on the origin of Christianity and Oriental religions!

I quote him there: " . . . Discoveries of the past generation in Palestine, Syria and Egypt have . . . gone far to demonstrate the uniqueness of early Christianity as a historical phenomenon. Instead of Christianity turning out to be only one of many various sects of similar nature which professedly proliferated in the eastern part of the Roman Empire in the first century A. D., as was the contention in former decades, it appears as a unique historical phenomenon, like the religion of Israel which preceded it . . . Numberless synagogues, churches, and pagan temples have been found in Syria and Palestine, but there is a conspicuous absence of other religious structures. Egypt has yielded early written evidence of Jewish, Christian and pagan religion. It has preserved Manichaean and other Gnostic sects, but these are all considerably later than the rise of Christianity. The total array of archaeological evidence thus presents the Christian faith as unique as a historical phenomenon, like the faith of Israel that preceded it and formed the indispensable introduction to it." (Ibid.)

So, in KEEPING with TODAY'S sermon, in LETTING my CONCERN go UNMET for WEEKS, GOD directed me to that section by Dr. Unger JUST AFTER I TYPED the FIRST DRAFT of THIS SERMON all to ANSWER the question I had as HOW I might DEFEND our Christian faith against the implication that it was formed in part from Oriental religions. GOD thus indicated He SOVEREIGNLY disciples ME as He is YOU to come to His TRUTH and HOLD it, and He is leading us IN this SERMON!

May we trust in Christ and RELY on His oversight of us all!