Last month, I had the honor of sharing a small 15-minute sermon with my church family at our annual church picnic. This is, without a doubt, one of my most favorite types of church gatherings, and you'll find out why below. I don't think this particular Sunday we were able to record the sermons for our weekly podcast, so here are my actual notes of the sermon itself, as requested :) I left all of the "extra" stuff in, so you could get a feel of what I was thinking about as I was sharing it.
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Good morning! What a special privilege to share the Word of God with you all this morning, and on, what is quite possibly, my favorite type of church service ever - the kind with a potluck afterwards! This morning I’m going to be sharing out of John chapter 1, vv. 43-50 (NLT version). It’s a fairly short passage, but it really impacted me when I read it a couple weeks ago, and has continued to as I’ve been studying for this sermon. I’m going to be jumping around a little bit, so be sure to have your Bibles open and ready!
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43 "The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 'Come, follow me.' 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.
45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, 'We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.' 46 'Nazareth!' exclaimed Nathanael. 'Can anything good come from Nazareth?' 'Come and see for yourself' Philip replied. 47 As they approached, Jesus said, 'Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.' 48 'How do you know about me?' Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, 'I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.' 49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!' 50 Jesus asked him, 'Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.'
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I’d like to point out a few things that we find out about these two men while reading this story:
First, let’s talk about Philip: * Jesus was the One who found Philip, and he immediately turned around and found someone to tell about Jesus
* Philip proved his faith in Jesus by seeking to share it with his friend, Nathanael.” From Matthew Henry’s Commentary: * Philip says to Nathanael: “We have found Him!” when in fact it was Jesus who had found both Philip and Nathanael even before they had known to look for Him.
“Come” is an all-inclusive invitation here, first from Jesus to Philip, and then from Philip to Nathanael. Philip is offering the same invitation to Nathanael that Jesus has just offered to him, to “come”. And that same invitation that Jesus offered these 2 men over 2,000 years ago, He freely offers to us and those all around us to this day.
* Philip is so excited that he’s found Jesus, the One who fulfills all of the Old Testament Scriptures, the One whom the Jews have been waiting for!
I’m not sure what life would have been like for these men to leave everything in their life to have faith and follow Jesus, but I do know that, even now, Jews can be disowned from their families for professing their faith in Jesus, or as they call Him - Yeshua.
- I have kind of a weird "hobby", if you'd like to call it that, and it's watching Youtube videos on a channel called One For Israel. I particularly love the videos of Jewish people who have found Jesus - Yeshua - as their Messiah. A lot of the people in these videos share similar backgrounds: they were raised in pretty devout Jewish homes, and they were raising with thinking that Yeshua is NOT their Messiah, and to think that He is is pretty much blasphemy. I love watching these videos, though, because Jesus finds these people and completely transforms their lives. Some people are at their rock bottom, but when Yeshua comes in to their lives, they have so much joy, peace, and understanding. It's really inspiring! I could watch these videos for hours. Check out their YouTube channel here.
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Next, let’s look at Nathanael: * “Nathanael was a fisherman, like most of the other 12 disciples. Fisherman are characteristically known to be courageous, and they stick to their job, no matter how difficult it may be” - which I’m sure really came in handy being a Disciple! * In the passage we just read, in verse 46, Nathanael starts out as a doubter of Jesus, and scoffs where he thinks He is from, or where he thinks His birthplace of Nazareth (when in fact it’s Bethlehem), but within a matter of 3 verses, he is proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and King of Israel!
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As I was reading this passage, I was imagining it in a local, modern-day setting so I would be able to understand it better. When Nathanael says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, I would imagine someone saying, “Can anything good come out of Tacoma or White Center?” It’s easy to doubt someone when you have a preconception about where they’re from, and the reputation that that city carries.
A quick search on the historical context of Nazareth had me understanding why Nathanael was so quick to jump on the train to bash it. One source that I found said that, “To be a Nazarene meant to be looked down on and rejected.”
But Philip, as excited as he was, wasn’t going to let this negative remark bring him down. Instead, he imitates Jesus’ reply and says to Nathanael, “Come and see”.
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I love how Jesus’ invitation of “Come” is all-inclusive. It’s for everyone! No one is left behind or forgotten.
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As Nathanael approaches Him, Jesus almost sounds like He is beaming with pride as he announces, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” Nathanael has nothing to hide - he is who he is. He’s not disguising himself to be something that he’s not. He’s truly a genuine type of guy.
Have you ever met anyone like that before? It kind of makes me think of Chip Gaines from Fixer Upper. Chip’s true to himself and seems completely genuine, no matter what. He's honest, he doesn't beat around the bush, he knows who he is. He seems like the type of guy that people would like to hang around with because he's not going to flatter or lie to them.
Even though we know next to nothing about Nathanael yet, what JESUS has to say about him speaks volumes.
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* Verse 48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” - Now this is the part of the story that I have always been confused about. We go from Jesus affirming Nathanael about his character, to Jesus mentioning the time He saw him under a random tree, and then Nathanael’s like, “WHOA. How do You know me?!” [It’s just always seemed like such a strange answer to me!]
- The word “see” or “saw” here in the Greek is referring to seeing with the mind, like Spiritually seeing, and to perceive. Jesus may have not physically walked by the fig tree as Nathanael was sitting there, but He saw him in His mind’s eye. He is God, after all, and isn’t He all-knowing AND perceiving?
- I like to imagine Nathanael sitting under the fig tree as his special, maybe even secret, place that he likes to go to be alone with God. I imagine it being peaceful and quiet. Do you have a place like that? Right now, my area is my bay window in my dining area where I have a built-in bench. It’s definitely not a secret place, as Seth likes to wake up almost as early as I do and crawl all over me and give me morning hugs and kisses, but it’s where I go to meet God in the morning. And I know that He meets me there, too. He talks to me, and I feel His presence there with me.
As in the case with Nathanael, I love that Jesus doesn’t miss details. He recounts that time that Nathanael was sitting under the tree, perhaps praying, meditating, or studying Scripture, or maybe just talking with God. Maybe God spoke to him directly that specific day, telling him of great and wonderful things and promises. Or maybe he was crying out to God, and it almost felt like God may not have been listening to him. Whatever the reason is, for Jesus to bring that back up again when they meet in person is just to incredibly precious to me. - Perhaps Jesus mentioning the time under the fig tree sealed the deal in Nathanael’s heart that God alone is the only one that could have known this, and could have seen me there. - This exciting confirmation is followed up in v. 50 with a promise from Jesus: “You will see greater things than this.” What Jesus has personally revealed to Nathanael is truly wonderful and exciting. And the even better part? There are more exciting things to behold as they, and we all, chose to follow after Jesus daily.