John 1:45-51
Philip
now went off to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the
Messiah!—the very person Moses and the prophets told about! His name is Jesus,
the son of Joseph from Nazareth!” “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can
anything good come from there?” “Just come and see for yourself,” Philip
declared. As they approached, Jesus said, “Here comes an honest man—a true son
of Israel.” “How do you know what I am like?” Nathanael demanded. And Jesus
replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Jesus
asked him, “Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you
under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. You will even see
heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”
“Just come and see for yourself,” Philip declared. As they approached, Jesus
said, “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel.” “How do you know what I
am like?” Nathanael demanded. And Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig
tree before Philip found you.” Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of
God—the King of Israel!”
Food for thought!
Philip
could not keep the good news of Jesus to himself. No one does keep a monopoly
on Jesus; Jesus must be shared with others. Begin with your friends. Don't
preach to them; just invite them to Christ. So Philip went and found his friend
Nathanael. He told him that he believed that he had discovered the long
promised Messiah in Jesus, the man from Nazareth. Nathanael was contemptuous.
Nazareth was a quite undistinguished place. Nathanael himself came from Cana, another Galilean town, and he was well aware of the jealousy between town and town and rivalry between village and village. Nathanael's reaction was to declare that Nazareth was not the kind of place that anything as good as Jesus was likely to come out of. Philip was wise. He did not argue. He said simply: "Come and see!" We all can learn from this incident. And the first lesson is that not very many people have ever been argued into following Christ. Often our arguments do more harm than good.
The only way to convince a someone of the supremacy of Christ is to confront him with Christ himself. On the whole it is true to say that it is not preaching which has won people for Christ; it is teaching or the presentation of the story of the Jesus. The problem is that there is an awful lot of preaching than teaching in today's sermons; no wonder today there are more preachers than teachers in our churches. The truth is that Jesus did not say: Go and preach! He said, Go and teach! (Matthew 28:19).
What is the difference between preaching and teaching? Well, preaching is proclaiming good news, announcing something that has happened, that completely changes the situation of the listeners. This is what Philip did to Nathanael. Teaching on the other hand is explaining the implications of the news, helping people with concepts and ideas they don’t understand, and telling people what they need to do in response, given their various situations. This what Jesus did to Nathanael. He told him: “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel...I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you. ...Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”
Like Philip did to Nathanael, may our preachers help us get to the only teacher we have, our Lord Jesus Christ, to him be glory and honour and power, for ever and ever.
Nazareth was a quite undistinguished place. Nathanael himself came from Cana, another Galilean town, and he was well aware of the jealousy between town and town and rivalry between village and village. Nathanael's reaction was to declare that Nazareth was not the kind of place that anything as good as Jesus was likely to come out of. Philip was wise. He did not argue. He said simply: "Come and see!" We all can learn from this incident. And the first lesson is that not very many people have ever been argued into following Christ. Often our arguments do more harm than good.
The only way to convince a someone of the supremacy of Christ is to confront him with Christ himself. On the whole it is true to say that it is not preaching which has won people for Christ; it is teaching or the presentation of the story of the Jesus. The problem is that there is an awful lot of preaching than teaching in today's sermons; no wonder today there are more preachers than teachers in our churches. The truth is that Jesus did not say: Go and preach! He said, Go and teach! (Matthew 28:19).
What is the difference between preaching and teaching? Well, preaching is proclaiming good news, announcing something that has happened, that completely changes the situation of the listeners. This is what Philip did to Nathanael. Teaching on the other hand is explaining the implications of the news, helping people with concepts and ideas they don’t understand, and telling people what they need to do in response, given their various situations. This what Jesus did to Nathanael. He told him: “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel...I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you. ...Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”
Like Philip did to Nathanael, may our preachers help us get to the only teacher we have, our Lord Jesus Christ, to him be glory and honour and power, for ever and ever.
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