Year B -  Epiphany 2 John 1:43-51

There are two different sermons on this page...

18/01/09

1 Samuel 31 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.  2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel.  Samuel answered, "Here I am." 5 And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."  But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.  6 Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."  "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."  7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.  8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."  Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place.  10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"  Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Revelation 5 1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."   6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,  because you were slain,  and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.  10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

John 1:43-51 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." 48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." 50 Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51 He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

PRAY

A young woman wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application form that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Candidate: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

Today's readings is about God revealing himself to people who follow Him.

1 Samuel 3.1 In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

But God is always near and he revealed himself to Samuel.  Eli helped him to discern who was calling him. In our darkness we must wait and listen and help one another to hear what God is telling us and respond in trust and obedience. "Speak, for your servant is listening."

John 1. Nathaniel is difficult, not prepared to think that God would work in ways that agreed with his expectations. 46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.

We might be like Nathanael, a cynic. But as his story shows, a cynic can be transformed.

Philip found Nathanael and told him they had found the one whom Moses and the prophets pointed to. Jesus of Nazareth.

When he met Nathanael Jesus saw the good in him and drew it out. "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."  Jesus knows each and every one of us intimately and wnats to bring out the best in us.

There is a bit of Nathanael in all of us. Somewhere or other there may be the thought "Knebworth! Can anything good come from there?" Or "St. Martin's! Can anything good come from there?" Or even "St. Mary's! Can anything good come from there?" If we have even an trace of that attitude we limit God and we limit ourselves.

There is a danger of us following society.  Of thinking that we need to be a leader, that we  are masters of our own destiny, that no-one should tell us what to do.  We see this in the anti-authoritarian attitude in our society where little or no respect is given to people like teachers, politicians, or religious leaders, unless they do what we want them to do.

President Bush picked up on this in his final speech this week.  He said "there are things I would do differently if I were given the chance, yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind , I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right.  You may not agree with the tough decisions I've made, but I hope you'll agree I was ready to make the tough decisions."

We can be critical, cynical, self-opinionated, but ultimately none of us are perfect.  If we were President of the United States, or manager of Norwich City Football Club, or teacher of our children, we would make mistakes. We all make mistakes.  None of us are good enough.  Who can we turn to?

Revelation 5 points to this. No-one was found worthy to break the seals and open the scroll apart from Jesus.  He is worthy to receive the praise, worship, honour and devotion recorded in verses 13-14.

13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:   "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb  be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"  14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

True worship and service involves humility and, therefore, challenges our self-assertive human nature.  Humility involves a realisation that there is someone better than us.  That we haven't got all the answers.  That, like Nathanael, our presuppositions are wrong.  

Lets us come before the living God, who reveals himself to us, particularly through the person and work of Jesus.  Let us acknowledge that only he is worthy of glory, honour and praise.  May our whole lives be a response of worship to who he is and what he has done for us.

May our lives be characterised by the words, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

5/1/06 year B Epiphany 2 : John 1:43-51

43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." 48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." 50 Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51 He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

PRAY

A young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Candidate: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

Today's reading is about finding followers. Those who will follow Jesus.

We might be like Philip, eager to tell people.

We might be like Nathanael, a cynic. But as his story shows, a cynic can be transformed.

Philip found Nathanael and told him they had found the one whom Moses and the prophets pointed to. Jesus of Nazareth. 46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.

There is a bit of Nathaneal in all of us. Somewhere or other there may be the thought "Knebworth! Can anything good come from there?" Or "St. Martin's! Can anything good come from there?" Or even "St. Mary's! Can anything good come from there?"

If we have even an trace of that attitude we limit God and we limit ourselves.

As we read in our Scripture cards for this year that were handed out last week;

Ephesians 3 ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

God has the power to do things we cannot imagine. Perhaps there was a time when we could not have considered becoming a Christian but we came to faith. Perhaps we cannot see ourselves being like Philip and saying to others, "Come and see Jesus".

I have some mind boggling news for you. You do not have to convert people! Indeed, you cannot convert people. This is God's job and he will convict people of sin and enable them to respond to Jesus by His Holy Spirit. Doesn't that make you feel better? More relaxed?

Cynicism and fear can limit ourselves. His power "is at work within us", verse 20. Although it is not our job to convert people God does call us to be witnesses to Him. This includes the need to be like salt and light in the world. To live as followers of Jesus by following his teaching in the way that follow God's ways and love everybody. Many Christians think that this is what the faith is really about and telling others about Jesus is someone else's job, especially the Vicar's!

I would like you to picture that you live in a desert. But this is not too much of a problem to you because you know how to cope in these conditions and where the water holes are. Imagine that you come across a stranger in the desert, ill equipped and unaware of the nearest water hole. What would you do? You might give him advise on, say the best way to dress or travel, then point him to the nearest watering hole. Not to do this would be unloving.

God calls every believer to tell where the water is. The streams of living water that gush forth from Jesus. Not to do so is to be selfish, unloving. If we do not do this we are denying others the opportunity of knowing Christ and we are also threatening the future of the church.

You see we are all the church. The body of Christ. We have a responsibility to Jesus as our head and to one another as fellow members of that body. It is up to all of us to minister and witness for God. To build up the health of the church and the size of the church.

I wrote in the Parish News of the challenge of the early church in Acts 2. I said it was a WELL church. Can anyone remember what the WELL stood for?

Worshipping; Evagelising; Learning; and Loving.

We are called to be Evagelising, reaching out with the love of Jesus to Knebworth and the world.

It would help us enormously if we were all convinced of the necessity for this and God's ability to carry this out by His Spirit with our help.

Albert McMakin was a twenty-four-year old farmer who had recently come to faith in Christ. He was so full of enthusiasm that he filled a truck with people and took hem to a meeting to hear about Jesus. There was a good-looking farmer's son whom he was especially keen to get to a meeting, but this young man was hard to persuade. He was busy falling in and out of love with different girls, and did not seem to be attracted to Christianity. Eventually. Albert McMakin managed to persuade him to come by asking him to drive the truck. When they arrived, Albert's guest decided to go in and was spellbound and began to have thoughts that he had never known before. He went back again and again until, one night, he went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ . That man, the driver of the truck, was Billy Graham. The year was 1934. Since then Billy Graham has led thousands to faith in Jesus Christ.

We cannot all be like Billy Graham, but we can all be like Albert McMakin - we can all bring our friends to Jesus.

The best thing to say to people is, "Come and see!" This is what Philip did to Nathanael. We are introducing people to a person, Jesus. Not an institution. We are inviting people to have a personal relationship with Him, not join a religion.

This is also what John the Baptist did and two of his disciples acted upon his words, went to Jesus and spent a day with him. Their time with Jesus led them to conclude that Jesus was the Christ and one of them, Andrew, excitedly informed his brother, Simon, whom he brought to meet Jesus for himself. In doing this he introduced to Jesus one who would be the solid foundation of the early church. Just a few words affected eternity. Just like Albert McMakin.

We have the duty and joy of being witnesses for Jesus. Sharing our story, pointing to him. It is not our job to convert people, that is God's job, and the sooner we realize this the less pressure we will feel about witnessing. We just need to be open to God's Spirit to give us the opportunities to speak about Jesus and we may be surprised about how God can work with feeble, weak individuals like us. We can see this in the life of Peter. As he got up to give his first sermon he faced people jeering and accusing the disciples of being drunk. Yet some three thousand came to faith on that day.

We need to pray for God's Spirit to work in other people to bring them to faith.

We need to pray for ourselves, that God's Spirit will give us the opportunities and strength to witness for Him. We have a God who is in the business of transforming people, and He will transform us by His Spirit if we give him the opportunity.

We do not need an in depth knowledge of the Bible and theology. People want to hear our story. To know that our faith is real and relevant to living today.

We live in an age where there is an interest in people, sometimes to a point of intrusion. But this can give us a chance to share our faith story. We all come to faith in different ways and this is an encouragement to others who are considering the Christian faith for themselves.

God can work in a way that surprises us. As we were preparing for to launch the Alpha Course last September I gave programme cards to some neighbours and invited them. Two of them came back to me and said that, although their personal circumstances stopped them coming to that course they would be interested in the next one that we run.

Let us thank God for Jesus who enables us to ascend to heaven, verse 51 , especially as we gather round the table this morning..

Let us thank God for the example of Philip and others who pointed people to Jesus.

Let us thank God for the millions of Christians throughout the ages who have spread the good news of Jesus. Perhaps we are here because of individuals who have done this to us.

Let us thank God for giving us and others His Spirit . To open our eyes to what Jesus has done for us and to start to make us more like Jesus.

Let us also ask God to give us the opportunities and the strength we need to live and witness for him.

PRAY