True Followers of Christ - John 1:43-51

There are a lot of similarities between last week’s passage and this week’s passage. In last week’s passage, Jesus called disciples. In this week’s passage, Jesus called disciples.

The similarities are even closer when you consider the fact that both passages have one disciple tell another about Jesus. Andrew told Peter about Jesus. Here we read that Philip tells Nathanael about Jesus.

There are a lot of parallels between verses 35-42 and verses 43-51.

Last week, Andrew and Peter were encouraged to follow Jesus by John the Baptist. John the Baptist’s encouragement led Andrew and Peter to eventually ask Jesus where he was staying, to which he said, “Come and you will see.” I’ve always found that to be a curious interaction. Jesus asks them, “what are you seeking” and they respond with, “where are you staying?” They respond to Jesus’s question with a question.

They may have wanted to speak privately with Jesus or perhaps they didn’t know what they were seeking. There was something magnetic about Jesus. They were being drawn to him by the Holy Spirit.

But when Jesus said to them, “come and you will see,” he responded to their question. It wasn’t necessarily a didactic, explicit call to follow him.

And that’s where these two passages differ.

Jesus’s call to Philip and Nathanael is more explicit. He directly tells Philip to “follow me” and Nathanael follows him as a result of their interaction. They both drop everything in order to follow Jesus. That’s the sense we get from the text. Interestingly, Jesus tells Philip to “follow me” and that’s exactly what he does. He follows him. Nathanael is really the same way. When Philip speaks about Jesus, Nathanael expresses a level of doubt that seems to go away once he meets Jesus for himself.

Thesis: A true follower of Christ is prepared to give everything up to Christ, prepared to confess Christ, because they see the sufficiency of Christ.

You’re prepared to Give Everything Up to Christ (vv. 43-45)

If you’re anything like me, one of the first things that stands out in this passage is in the very first verse that we read. Verse 43, records Jesus telling Philip to, “follow me” and he does it. Now, we’re told in verse 44 that Philip is from Bethsaida where Andrew and Peter are from, which might suggest that Andrew and Peter had told Philip about Jesus.

But what’s amazing about the passage is that Philip drops everything to follow Jesus. All Jesus says is “follow me.” Jesus gives him no background, or explanation about what he plans to do. And Jesus certainly doesn’t twist Philip’s arm. Philip doesn’t write a pros and cons list. He didn’t force Jesus to sell him on the benefits of following him and Jesus offers no persuasive arguments.

Nevertheless, text suggests that there was an immediate effect. Philip drops everything only to run and tell Nathanael that they found the Messiah.

Obviously the Holy Spirit was already at work in the heart of Philip. That’s the only explanation that makes any sense. Why else would Philip just drop everything if the Lord wasn’t stirring his heart?

It’s such a dramatic event. He drops everything for Jesus Christ. I think a very natural question that arises from verses like this one is: does God expect this from me? Do I need to drop everything, sell all my possessions, and be a missionary in India?

A number of years ago, David Platt wrote a very popular book called Radical, which essentially encouraged just that. His argument was that American Christianity was too comfortable and we need to be taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. Christians should live radically.

It’s one thing for an individual to feel called to missions, it’s another thing to force that calling on everyone. It’s not something that you can universalize.

But a verse like this would appear to support that. Look at Philip, he dropped everything to follow Jesus.

But I don’t think that should be what we get out of this verse and others like it. There’s a big difference between prescriptive and descriptive passages. There are passages of Scripture that tell you and me how to honor God and so on (those are prescriptive because they tell you how to live), but descriptive passages are those that simply record events. That describes a story or situation.

This passage is obviously descriptive. We’re learning about Philip’s reaction to Jesus, but nevertheless, this is God’s Word and there is something that we should all learn here.

These verses don’t tell you to give everything away for Christ, rather, it asks you, are you prepared to give everything away for Christ?

No doubt we’re all blessed. I forget all the statistics, but if you drive a car you’re in the top 1% of the world.

I don’t expect anyone here to quit their job and give everything away to the poor. But Christians should be willing to give their possessions, careers, relationships if Christ calls them to do it. If the situation arises you’d be willing to do it.

I don’t think it’s far fetched for any of us to imagine a situation where your faith in Christ conflicts with your career. It’s already happened. People have lost careers for not baking cakes and saying prayers on fields.

Christian brothers and sisters around the world face this scenario.

I pray that none of us are faced with these decisions, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibilities. Are you willing to lose everything for Christ? To give it up? To drop everything for the Lord?

Everything we have is a gift from above therefore we hold on to it loosely.

The treasures of our Lord are far greater than the treasures of this world - that’s why he’s worth following.

You’re prepared to Confess Christ (vv. 46-49)

In a similar way, if you’re prepared to lose everything, you need to also be prepared to confess Christ. You need to be prepared to publicly say, “I trust in Christ for the salvation of my eternal soul.”

And that’s exactly what Nathanael does. He moves from skepticism to bold confession in the presence of others in a very short period of time. Verses 46-49 are full. There’s a lot going on here.

And just for the record, Nathanael is Bartholomew. It’s likely that Bartholomew’s first name was Nathanael. So, when the other gospel writers speak of Bartholomew, that’s who we’re talking about here.

Nathanael gives this amazing confession in verse 49, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But the events leading up to his confession are really curious.

Initially, Philp tells Nathanael in verse 45, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

But Nathanael expresses skepticism when he asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Likely, he understood that the Messiah was supposed to be from Bethlehem. But not only that Nazareth was and continues to be nothing. Nobody cared about Nazareth then and we don’t know hardly anything about Nazareth now. And that’s probably why Nathanael asks: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Obviously, he thought little of Nazareth. They didn’t even have a Wal-Mart or Starbucks.

We’ve all probably expressed prejudiced views about places we’ve visited. This place is great, this place stinks. But what’s closely connected to that, is we make assumptions of people simply based upon where they’re from. People that live in our dream spot, in our minds, have picturesque lives. People that live in places we don’t like, they probably have miserable lives.

We make judgements and have stereotypes.

What sort of people do you think live in New York City? Los Angeles? Craig County? Shawsville?

There’s a town near Myrtle Beach called Anor. I always found that to be the most unfortunate name for a town. You better believe I have preconceived notions about people from Anor.

But don’t lose sight of my point! We all have unfair expectations and preconceived notions that we put on people simply based upon where they’re from. Needless to say, Nathanael revealed his prejudice against Nazareth. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

But Philip’s response to Nathanael in verse 46 is gold. “Come and see.” It’s a simple invitation and a wonderful template for engaging someone about Christ or sharing the gospel. We’re just arranging a meeting. We’re just bearing witness. We’re just telling the truth.

And the Scriptures are the best evangelistic tool at our disposal. Sometimes we just need to be willing to encourage someone to “come and see.” We just need to be willing to arrange the meeting.

Because at the end of the day, Jesus’s words about himself are the most powerful. Those are the most life changing. Telling someone about Jesus is great, and we should do it. But wouldn’t it be even better to get someone to read the gospel of Mark with you? That’s why we should encourage people to explore the riches of the Scriptures. After all, the Bible is the Word of God, isn’t it?

But nevertheless, Nathanael goes from skepticism to confessing Christ as the Son of God… because of a fig tree? It’s a fascinating exchange.

Because Jesus begins his interaction with Nathanael by saying, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”

It seems like an odd statement doesn’t it? Jesus had the Old Testament patriarch Jacob in mind. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and the whole nation of Israel came from the twelve sons of Israel.

But there’s one character trait that really sticks out whenever you read about Jacob: he was a liar. Famously, he steals the birthright from Esau through lies and deception.

So, Jesus makes this statement about the integrity of Nathanael, because it appeared to be in short supply. There weren’t very many men in Israel who weren’t deceitful or duplicitous.

Not a whole lot has changed has it? It seems that honesty, integrity, and a genuine love for the truth remain in short supply. We live in a narrative age where the means always justify the ends. You have permission to do or say whatever it takes so long as it supports the narrative we want to tell. Everything is constantly being spun in order to obfuscate, deny, or cover the truth.

And fundamentally, narrative control is a denial of objective truth. If there is no objective truth then means always justify the ends. This way of thinking has crept into the life of the church as well.

I’ve seen ministers of the gospel outright lie. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. In a moment of weakness we’re all liable to sin. But why does it feel like Christian holiness and integrity are no longer desirable virtues?

Just because you struggle with something doesn’t give you permission to indulge your sinful desires. Knowledge of sin isn’t a permission to sin.

This is what Paul refers to when he says, “may we sin so that grace may abound, by no means!”

I recently heard a speaker at a conference say this: “We tend to think that our beliefs impact the way we live, but the way we live also impacts our beliefs.”

Nathanael was a man of integrity and Jesus knew it. “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asks the next natural question: how do you know me?

And Jesus tells him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” And it’s after this statement, Nathanael confesses Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel. All because Jesus said he said he saw him under the fig tree.

Jesus is clearly revealing some degree of supernatural knowledge. The divinity of Jesus peaks through in a small way, because Nathanael was alone.

What was he doing under the fig tree? We don’t know.

It’s really all speculation. The Bible commentator Matthew Henry suggests that perhaps Nathanael was in contemplative prayer. So Jesus is essentially saying to Nathanael, you called upon the name of the Lord and here I am.

It’s like Nathanael was seeking the Lord and here he is - literally. Because if you seek the Lord, you will find him. If you search the Scriptures for Jesus Christ, you’ll find Him.

But one of the more interesting aspects of Nathanael’s confession is that he did it in front of many people. When Jesus says ‘you’ in verse 51 it’s actually plural. He’s saying ‘you all’ or ‘y’all.’

But indication is that many people are around. It’s not just Jesus, Philip, and Nathanael. There are several or a lot of people around them.

Which means Nathanael made a public profession of faith. Public professions happen in church all the time, but what about outside of church? It’s much harder.

I don’t necessarily think it’s appropriate to work your Christianity into every conversation. But I think we should all be prepared to do it. We should all be willing to discuss our faith publicly and openly.

And if push comes to shove, you’re willing to announce to the world that you trust in Christ.

Because you see the sufficiency of Christ (vv. 50-51)

But you and I should be willing to give up everything and confess Christ because we understand the sufficiency of Christ. We understand that being in communion and fellowship with our Lord is more than enough.

Jesus explains to Nathanael and those around why he’s enough and why he’s worthy of our worship.

Nathanael was blown away simply by the fact that Jesus revealed a tiny glimpse of his divinity when he said he saw him under the fig tree.

But rather than discouraging Nathanael by saying, “that was nothing! You’re pathetic if you think that was something special.” He encourages him.

“You will see greater things than these.” His words are an incredible statement of fact. You will… It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but rather, ‘when.’

Think about all the miracles Jesus performed. He turned water into wine, healed the sick, and raised the dead to life. Jesus seeing Nathanael under the fig tree was small compared to those miracles.

But he tells Nathanael what to look out for in verse 51. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

He’s bringing up the Old Testament patriarch Jacob again. He’s making reference to Jacob’s ladder. And I’m not talking about the wood on the strings that flips down. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then just ignore that reference.

But Jesus was referring to Genesis 28, where the patriarch Jacob had a dream where he saw a ladder that descended from heaven to earth. And on the ladder, angels were ascending and descending upon it.

And the clear indication from his dream is that God would bridge the gap between heaven and earth.

Jesus is telling Nathanael, the gap between heaven and earth has been bridged by him. He’s the ladder. You and I ascend to God through Jesus Christ. He is how people on earth have access to heaven.

Notice too that Jesus is referred to as both the Son of God and the Son of Man. Heaven and earth colliding in the person of Jesus Christ.

He’s expanding upon his statement, “You will see greater things than these.”

This is the greatest thing. Man’s salvation to God’s glory. It’s the ultimate miracle and the easiest one to overlook.

The fact that you’re a Christian is a miracle. The fact that I’m a Christian is a miracle. Whether you heard the gospel because God gave you godly parents that consistently took you to church or you got saved because someone shared the gospel, whatever the case may be, your salvation is a miracle. Every true follower of Jesus Christ is a miracle.

It’s clearly the evidence of God’s grace. Christ’s hand is reaching out to pull you and me to heaven. That’s why you’re here. Plain and simple.

Conclusion

Incredibly, when you read about Philip and Nathanael all they care about is fellowship with Christ. They’re not worried about anything else.

Understanding the gospel and who Christ is and what he’s done will strengthen you and me when we might have to lose something for Christ, or when we have to boldly confess him. Because at the end of the day, being a follower of Jesus Christ may cost something of you. It may require giving things up. It might require some form of self-denial. It may require you to say something that makes other people uncomfortable. But communion with him, fellowship with him, is always worth it.