Follow Jesus, the Messiah!

John 1:35-50
Related Sunday School Lesson Family Bible Series, December 12

One of the challenges that will often occur in evangelistic churches is the struggle to balance evangelism with discipleship. Pastors of strong soul-winning churches are constantly confronted with the need to disciple new converts. Well-intentioned believers will express concern that the evangelistic church has become too "shallow" and has forsaken the "deep water" of discipleship.

In this week's lesson, the Apostle John recounts two days in the life of Christ that put the tension between evangelism and discipleship into perspective. As we see in this week's lesson, the desire to follow Christ and to share Christ are inseparable. In the first portion of this text, the Holy Spirit records at least five stages in the process of following Jesus and leading others to follow Him.

The Proclamation, vs. 35-36

Andrew is often referred to as a great soul-winning disciple. Every time we see him in the gospels he is bringing someone to Jesus. Yet it is easy to forget that someone brought Andrew to Jesus. In this case, it was the proclamation of John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God." It was the second time in as many days that the baptizer had openly proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah.

In these two verses we see God's plan for winning the world to Himself. He has chosen to use us. Paul would write to Timothy that it was the young pastor's job to teach sound doctrine to other men who would in turn teach Biblical truth to others (II Timothy 2:2). Though Andrew is about 30 years ahead of the pastoral epistles, he is putting the principle on display for us.

Peter would later preach the great sermon of Pentecost and thousands would be ushered into the kingdom. Yet Peter owed his salvation, in human terms, to Andrew, who in turn owed his salvation to the proclamation of John. As believers we must be committed to proclaim with our lips and our lives that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God.

The Determination, vs. 37-39

Based on the preaching of John, the two disciples made a decision to follow after Christ. They had already purposed obedience in their hearts. Jesus said, "come and see" and they came and they saw! Jesus said, "follow Me" and they followed Him. Therein is true discipleship. It is pure and unadulterated obedience.

The two disciples did not ask for an explanation. They did not have to take a 12-week course on Wednesday nights in order to understand "Lordship theology." Such is usually the testimony of the new convert. There were many things these two young men had not learned about life in the family of God. One thing they thankfully had not learned was to be disobedient to a direct command of the Lord.

The Humiliation, v. 40

Do not miss the humility contained in verse 40. One of the two disciples in this story was Andrew. The other is not named. He is known in this verse merely as "one of the two." He refers to himself in other places as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." There is little doubt that the other half of this dynamic duo is none other than the human author of this gospel, the apostle John.

With inspired humility, John remains anonymous throughout this gospel account. Someone once stated that we would be surprised how effective we could be for Christ if we were unconcerned about who received the credit. The important thing is not who was doing the bringing but that the bringing was being done!

The Invitation, vs. 41-42a

The fact that Andrew first went and found his own brother is a reminder that the gospel travels fastest within relationships. Some have taken this simple truth and embraced so-called relational evangelism at the expense of giving a gospel invitation.

I have known some Chris-tians who have been "building relationships with the lost" for decades and have yet to share Christ with their friends or family. Whether we are using a gospel tract, a marked Bible, or some evangelism training technique, at some point we must get to the point of giving an invitation to be saved.

Yes, Andrew works within an existing relationship. But he realized that the type of evangelism that does not eventually include a confrontation, a proclamation, and an invitation was never evangelism in the first place. Andrew gets right to the point. "We have found the Messiah!" And then he brought Peter to Jesus. It is worth noting that the same pattern is essentially repeated in the life of Philip and Nathanael in verses 43-51.

The Transformation, vs. 42b

Much has been made over the name change that Peter received. As revealing as the new name is, the real miracle was a change in his nature. Peter had met the Master and he would never be the same again. Our unsaved friends and loved ones need to experience the same change that Peter received that day.

The Lord Himself declared that if we are following Him we would be fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). Some are content to learn the Bible without ever sharing the truths they have learned. That is not discipleship. That is disobedience. The believer who is only concerned with going deeper while never going out is not going as deep as they think they are going.

Jesus said in John 10 that His sheep know His voice and follow Him. Let's recommit ourselves to following the Chief Shepherd on a daily basis. And let's take some other sheep with us as we follow the Messiah!