Come and See

The Church: God’s Plan for God’s People

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

January 28, 2024

Come and See

Turn with me to John 1. I thought preparing this message was going to be an easy one but I found myself struggling to even get started. We’re looking at God’s plan for the church and this morning was slotted to talk about the mission of the church. I’m excited about this message cause I believe it’s such an important part of what the church is – God has given us a rescue mission. I even came up with what I thought was a great title: Gathering Momentum in the Mission. I like that! I want that! And I hope and pray that God helps us gather momentum in that mission!

So what was the problem? Why was I finding it hard to get momentum on a message about gathering momentum? I believe with all my heart that the church has a mission but I am also concerned that the American idea of a missional church often boils down to artificial and superficial things like high quality production, professional concert-level worship, and feel good messages that are more TED talks than biblical exegesis. One pastor told me his outreach strategy was to make church the most exciting thing happening on a Sunday next to the NFL. I’m not against these things per se, but I am concerned about whether they are making disciples as effectively as they are drawing crowds.

Then, on a more personal note, as I look at the “let’s do the mission together!”messages over the years I think they’ve been biblical enough but challenging to know how to live out in a practical way. Questions like these come to mind:

• How do we actually lead people to Christ?
• How do we share the gospel when it’s hard to even bring Jesus up in a conversation? How do we get that conversation started in a way that doesn’t seem forced and awkward?
• In a world that is far more skeptical and sensitive to hype how do we keep it real?
• And how do we do the mission together as a church? What does that even look like?

I didn’t want to lay a mission message on us that didn’t try to give us some handles to help us live out the mission in real-life, practical relationships. Something that we as a church community can find authentic and practical ways to do together.

So as much as I love the title Gathering Momentum in the Mission, I’m going to save that title for another day and instead I’ve titled this message Come and See and let’s turn tothe gospel of John chapter 1 starting in verse 43 where we find Philip, Nathaniel, and Jesus.

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:43-46Pray.

There’s a lot of finding in these verses. Jesus finds Philip, who finds Nathaniel, and tells him “we have found the Messiah – the One Moses and the prophets wrote about!”

From Philip’s perspective, he found Jesus, but from Jesus’ perspective he found Philip. Both are true. Philip found Jesus because he was searching for the Messiah and Jesus said seek and you shall find. But Jesus had decided from before time began that Philip would be one of his twelve disciples so on a certain day Jesus decided to leave the Jordan, go to Galilee, and find Philip. The Bible says we love because He first loved us and it’s also true that we find because He first found us.

Philip could not have gone to Nathaniel if he hadn’t encountered Christ for himself first. This reminds us that we can’t lead people to a Savior we’ve never met ourselves so the first step to leading other people to Christ is finding him as our Savior first.

Do you know Christ as your Savior? I didn’t ask if you go to church, read the Bible, or were brought up in a Christian home. Do you know Jesus as your Savior and best friend? Do you trust him to guide you in life and lead you safely to his eternal kingdom?

Never doubt that if you take one step to find Jesus he will take a hundred steps to find you. If you’ve had a troubled or questionable past you might wonder “does Jesus even want me? Will he take me?” The answer is the more troubled and sin-stained your life the more he wants you. Jesus came for the sick not the healthy. Jesus promises that anyone who comes to him, he will never cast away.

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of history, said, “It is you who cast out the Savior, not the Savior who casts you out. The bolt to the door is on the inside, it is you who have bolted it, and it is you who must undo the bolt, and invite the Savior to enter your heart. He is willing enough to come in, wherever there is a soul that wants Him…”

Jesus is a Savior to all who want him as their Savior. And when we unbolt the door and ask Jesus into our lives, we will find that it was the Holy Spirit who opened our eyes to see our need for a Savior and the Holy Spirit who opened our hearts to receive him. We found him because he first found us.

Philip found Jesus because Jesus found him. And the next thing Philip does is go and tell his friend Nathaniel that they’ve found the Messiah! Philip is overflowing with excitement about Jesus and wants to share him with his good friend.

1. Share the overflow of Jesus’ love and grace with those in your life

People are less trusting today and often with good reason. People won’t trust a stranger handing them a tract on the street but if they know you they’re more likely to receive the gospel from you, especially when it comes from the overflow of his love and grace in your life. You don’t have to preach at them, just share your story with them.

My father had a large role in leading me to Christ and I remember he used to tell everyone about Jesus! He was a teacher at a community college and so many nights he’d come home with another story about a student who came to him to get his advice and he’d witness and pray with them. He annoyed some people cause he’d always talk about Jesus but as one person admitted to me, they knew he was sharing cause he was excited about Jesus. People came to him cause they Jesus at work in his life.

I used to share Jesus more freely too when I was in high school – maybe partly because I’ve wised up some but also because I was so lit when I was a new Christian. I led one of my friends to Christ and another friend who used to mock me in a good-natured way approached me years later to tell me he had received Christ as his Savior.

When you’re excited about something you want to share it. Share the overflow of Jesus’ love and grace with those in your life. Share your story – how Jesus has changed your life. How he’s meeting you with forgiveness, hope, and love. Reflect on all that Jesus is for you and let it overflow. People around us need the good news of a Savior. Sometimes they won’t want to hear it and then you just let it go. But other times God’ll have them in a place where they want to hear it. Our job is to witness, not convince. A witness is called to testify of what they’ve seen, not to convince the jury of what they’ve seen. That leads us to a second important thing Philip does…and doesn’t do.

2. Invite people to come and see!

Nathaniel answers Philips excitement with skepticism: can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nathaniel is a straight shooter – he doesn’t hold back, he speaks his mind. That can make for awkward moments but I’d rather a person who says what they think than a person who plays mind games. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? It seems a strange statement but Nazareth was a small town that was looked down on and its citizens held in low esteem. I saw a small example of that in Santa Marta when we went with the Columbian pastors to an outdoor restaurant that had a small band playing. The band leader started a friendly rapport with the pastors and when he asked where they were from and it was mentioned that Pierre was from Soledad, the band leader jokingly said Soledad is in a different country and everyone laughed. It was good natured and Pierre laughed along but it wasn’t a compliment.

Nazareth and its people were mocked and despised. What kind of good can come out of it? What kind of good can come out of Soledad? The kind of good Jesus is. Jesus came as an outsider, an outcast. He was despised and rejected, looked down on by the religious establishment and the socially connected. Isa. 53:3 says of Jesus: Like one from whom people hide their faceshe was despised, and we held him in low esteem. God chose the foolish and the weak to confound the wise and strong.

Now Philip could have gone down a rabbit trail or gotten all defensive, but he just said “come and see!” Grace Community Church, that’s what we want our witness to be. We don’t want to be the argumentative church, or the defensive church, or the apologetic church. We want to be the “come and see!” church. Come and see Jesus for yourself! We want to shine the light of his grace and love in our community and let Jesus do the rest. We share the gospel, we shine the light, we witness to what he’s done for us, but then we pray and ask Jesus to reveal himself to them. That’s what happened to Nathaniel.

3. Pray for them to meet Jesus

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” vv. 47-51

Jesus commends Nathaniel’s integrity causing Nathaniel to ask, “how do you know me?” Jesus answers, “Before Philip called you I saw you under the fig tree.” That’s all Nathaniel had to hear – he’s convinced! “You’re the Son of God, the King of Israel!” Before Philip called you I saw you under the fig tree…What happened under that fig tree? What did Jesus see Nathaniel doing? Praying? Meditating? No one knows – it was between Nathaniel and Jesus, but whatever it was, it was a personal connection that convinced Nathaniel that Jesus is God.

People have their public face that everyone knows, but we all have the private moments that no one but God and us know about. Private fears. Hopes. Sadness. Dreams. Insecurities. Despair. As I get older, I become more aware of the brokenness all around us even when we can’t see it. Jesus sees it, we don’t have too. But invite people to come and see and then pray that they encounter Jesus for themselves.

Our job isn’t to convince, our job is to invite people to “come and see”. There is so much emptiness and hopelessness and people numbing themselves to the pain of daily life and Jesus is the Savior their souls desperately want and need even if they don’t believe it. I didn’t title the message gathering momentum, but I pray that this year we gather momentum in the mission because people desperately need Jesus today.

1. Invite unchurched people into your life – don’t have to be perfect just be authentic
2. Invite unchurched people to come to church with you – people don’t respond to strangers invitations to church much anymore but many people will come to church if invited by a friend. There is power when believers gather in Jesus’ name, in worship and hearing God’s word. Invite friends and neighbors to church. My friend Steve mocked Christianity until he came to church – then he asked Jesus into his life as his Savior.
3. Let’s together continue to be what we are: a warm and welcoming church. You might be the one who makes the difference in a first-time visitor’s experience here. Story of woman invited to CFC and was about to leave when a woman approached her and invited her to join her.
4. Let’s plan at least two community outreaches this year to connect with our community and neighbors.

People should matter to us because people matter to God. Out of the overflow of our joy, let’s invite people to come and see Jesus for themselves.