Our Father, we come into your presence and we ask you again to open our minds to what we began within worship this morning, the heavenly throne room, the glory of Jesus Christ, the first in the last, who speaks words that heal and that bring new life. We pray that this morning as we open the scriptures, we would encounter you and that's what would happen in us and what we continue to happen in our church, an unleashing of more and more of that new life. Help us to hear, give us ears to hear, and to heed what you were saying to your church. We pray this in Jesus name.
We're going to be looking this morning at the Gospel of John, chapter 1, and this text is also printed in your bulletin if you'd like to follow along. I'm going to read a story very early in the ministry of Jesus where he calls his disciples. I'm calling this discussion this sermon this morning, a vision for greater things. We're going to start reading in verse 43. The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, follow me. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethesda. Philip found the Daniel 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. Nazareth? Can anything good come from there, Nathaniel asked? Come and see, said Philip. But Jesus saw an Nathaniel approaching. He said of him, here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false. How do you know me, Nathaniel asked? Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Then Nathaniel declared, rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. And Jesus said, you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. 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 God. This is the word of the Lord. I'm an oldest child and when my parents third baby was born, my sister Andrea, our little house in Douglasville had to be expanded, needed a lot more room. And I remember my parents coming and saying, God is extending our family. Wonderful things are happening because we are extending our family. You are going to get a new bedroom. And I remember being so excited about that. Well, my dad was one of these blue collar sheet metal workers like to do it himself. In fact, he did so much himself that I don't know how to do anything because he did it all himself. He decided that he was going to extend the house. I was so excited until I came home from the first grade and saw wooden studs looking out into the woods in the backyard in my bedroom with plastic staple to it. And realized, and I realized people may have an actual image of horror there, but I certainly did. When I realized I'm going to be living here with nothing between me and the aliens and bears and other things, but this sheet of plastic. And as my father continued to build, and it did all turn out okay, I lived under construction. Now, I tell you this story to say, I think there's probably a similar experience right now in our congregation because there's a sense in which there's been a tremendous amount of energy given to what the scriptures call the church to be. Core leaders have wrestled for a long time with that. They have involved a significant number of other leaders in those discussions as well. And there was a tremendous enthusiasm about the vision. And yet, it's rather stark when you show up, and there's nothing between you and the bears but a plastic sheet and the blowing in the wind. That's what it's like to live under construction. I sympathize with that, and what I'd like to do this morning is reflect on a story that I think hopefully encourages us as a church that has to live in the midst of a construction project, where things are coming together, coming into place, but there's still things that need to happen, still things that need to be built, and therefore, it gets a little frustrated. Now, if you're here this morning and you're an outsider or you're a visitor to Entown, I think this is a good thing for you to think about with us because I think it really tells you something about the identity of this congregation. When I came here, one of the things that really drew me to Entown was that, and the very first things I read about it, and this really dates back to the very beginning of the founding of this church about 16 years ago, and even prior to that, for emitter church, the church that gave birth to this, one of their core values was to say, we're a church, this change oriented. That is one of the things we actually value, talk about up front all the time, because if we're change oriented, we embrace change. Now, it's a very important thing to say. Change, the kind of change that we're talking about, was not change just because we get bored, but it was change because there are things we believe that don't change. Institutions that change, programs that change, only do so or should only do so if they do so because there are things they believe don't change. That is that there are core things. There are core values, core commitments, things that we are so committed to that under no circumstance will we let anything keep us from pursuing those things with passion. Now, some of those core things that in town are being a church that it doesn't exist for our own needs, but for the needs of others. A church that really does try to lead people into experiencing a transforming relationship with Christ, being a church that's committed to study and deeply seeking the things of God, the things of Scripture, and not only that, being a church that deeply seeks after community. Now, as we don't into looking at change, experiencing a building project, one other thing, I think there's a caveat, there's a warning that goes into any community at the experiencing change, and the warning is this. When we're experiencing change, we look at our structures, we look at our programs, and it's kind of two dangers. The one danger is to so cherish the old structure program. You cherish it so much that you lose sight of why it existed. You lose sight of the purpose. And there's a similar temptation on the other side, and that is to so hype a new program, so hype a new change, and get so giddy about, you know, everything's coming up roses, and you think about, oh, new thing, new thing, can't wait to tell you about it. You hype it so much that you do the same thing. You get so focused on the program, and what the program and the liver, that you at the same time miss the reason you're doing it, and that's what it's all about. You know, one of the wonderful things about the church, if it is what it claims to be, the body of Christ, people who come together in his name, and Jesus is really here, is that God is going to be coloring outside of the box all the time. He's going to be doing things not only in spite of programs, but all around them and without them. Programs, structures in a church are only tools of intentionality, toward those greater ends of coming to know God, coming to know his word, and being his community. Those are the things we must cherish if we follow Jesus. Those are the things we commit ourselves. Those are the things that we have to be passionate about, not the programs. That's not just the word about the old, that's the word about the new. Frankly, programs come and go. They always will. Structures come and go. They change. You know that when you read the book of Acts to the time you read the pastoral epistles, the structure of the church looks completely different. What they're doing in terms of deacons and axics looks completely different in terms of what they're doing and the letters of Timothy. Why? Did their values change? No. But they were flexible enough to say, we're going to be passionate and ruthless and relentless about these purposes because that's what it means to follow Jesus. Now, let's look at this story. This morning, story out of life with Jesus, because I think this story lays out what I think are some of the foundational dynamics that go back to, not only the founding of this church, but I would say to the Testament itself and at center a reality that's very simply this. What you must desire in a church, the thing you must value above anything else in any church is this, the transforming presence of Jesus Christ in people's lives. A church that loves the scriptures and loves people regardless of who they are, whether they be believers or non-believers, regardless of what they've done, that the absolute thing you are committed to that you live for and ultimately the main thing and the only thing you really care about is that you see that we're committed to following him and experiencing the transforming presence of Jesus Christ. Now, what will that always look like if you're cherishing that value? If you really cherish it, what will it look like? You see it in the story first. You will see him regularly transforming outsiders. If the presence of Jesus is truly being unleashed in your midst, you will regularly see him transforming people who are outsiders who don't know him. We have here the story of the call of the first disciples. Andrew, and the one thing I find interesting about the story we get to is we don't get a lot of meat that I would love to get. I would love to speak to the Holy Spirit some time about giving us more details. I'd love to know more about the call of Peter and Andrew and kind of what happened where they were, what they it was, but we don't get a lot of the tale till we come to Nathaniel. Only sees, and Andrew hears about Jesus as a disciple of John the Baptist. He goes and tells his brother Peter. He reaches out to him and they bring him to Jesus and Jesus calls him to become a follower. Then Jesus moves on and as he moves on, he encounters someone named Philip. We don't know who Philip is. We just know that he encounters and calls him. This obviously written after the resurrection of Jesus when everybody knew who Philip was. He calls Philip and Philip then goes and tells Nathaniel. That's really the focus this morning is the conversation with this man, Nathaniel. The one thing I see wonderfully instructive to the church here about Jesus being a presence in a church that really transforms people who don't believe. Remembering that about him is this. Nathaniel really shows legitimate skepticism. When he hears, we have found the one, the king, you know, we found the Messiah. The one that Moses told us about, the one the scriptures told us about. Nathaniel, I think very appropriately, evidences legitimate skepticism. I think this is something we need to understand about people who are not believers and I hope you see this as a value in our church here. If you don't consider yourself a Christian, is that intelligent honest questions deserve honest answers. Skepticism in another self is not a sin if a person is truly seeking and you see this in Nathaniel. Nathaniel, frankly, considers the source. I mean, he's a devout Jew, believer in the God of Israel and he hears that this guy is coming out of Nazareth, which was sort of like the roughest neck of the woods in that part of the world and what he says is Nazareth. I didn't realize anything even good can come out of Nazareth much less than Messiah. Maybe he was even thinking we expect the Messiah to come out of Bethlehem as a son of David. In other words, he has legitimate questions and you see a response to him that so shows that Philip has been with Christ because he takes the very words that Jesus used earlier with Andrew, which was this, if you want to know more about me, come and see. And there, just begin to see the link, the miraculous way that God works to bring people into his into salvation so that they really begin to experience this transforming life. It's really another person loving them enough to say to them, come and see. And that's the stuff of miracles and that's where we read because that happens. Of course it's all condensed, but we read in the 49th verse, Nathaniel, because of this miracle says in verse 49, Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel. That's one of the more obscure miracles, I think, because all we know is that when Jesus says to him, I see someone who has no guide. Somehow that's so tapped into the character of Nathaniel that it just literally blew his mind. He didn't know what to do with it. And then that was somehow linked to a miracle where Jesus could say, not only do I see into you and who you are in a way that opens you up in my presence, but I saw you in somehow he eludes to an incident under a fig tree that he can only have known in a supernatural way. And when that happens, Nathaniel just gets kind of nailed to the floor and immediately loses all of his doubts and follows Christ. That process is basically what happens anytime, somebody who's not a Christian becomes a Christian. You come with your questions, you come into the community where Jesus is present, in this case today, now that means in a local church where he's experienced among his people. And as you bring them around, they bring their questions, they bring their concerns, and what happens when a source of converts is exactly that. Jesus transforms them by opening up the deeper secrets of your heart, showing you who you are, showing you what you're long for and transforming you. Now here's a simple point, this text shows us that believers who are committed to following Jesus are committed to building bridges to people like Nathaniel. Now remember what I said about programs and how we can't confuse programs with the thing itself? Notice I didn't say everybody's committed to a bridge group. What I said was believers must be committed to building bridges to people like Nathaniel. And when we start something like a bridge group, all that is is a tool for intentionality. You may find other pathways more effective for you. That's fine, but here's a tool for intentionality. What we're saying is that we really want to try to use strategic and significant gatherings in our church. Whether those are gathered by age and stage, and I've had some people say, you know, some of these bridge groups are starting to look a lot like AFCs because they're age and stage. That's fine. Let them be age and stage. Some of them are gathering off-side in neighborhoods. That's fine. A lot of people have expressed a real desire to see them on Sunday morning because of the wonderful convenience of being able to have it all wrapped here together with child care and those things. That's all great. But the point is this, whether it's the group or something else, the value is what's matter, what matters, and what you've got to allow the word of God to wrestle with your heart on this. You must personally, if you follow Jesus, be committed to building those bridges. That's what he calls you to. That's how you experience the transforming presence of Christ. Now, can I just throw one pastoral word in about that? Because when we talk about building bridges, there is an instinctive question from Christians that you get universally, which is about what about fellowship? Wait a minute. If I devote myself, if I give up my Sunday mornings or something like this, what about fellowship? Where will I get carrying fellowship? Now, the answer everybody's heard, of course, is we believe that the New Testament model of believers gathering in homes is a rich and powerful model of fellowship that we really desire people to look at community groups, biblical hospitality modeled in your home as something that everyone would open themselves and consider. But can I say just something else? I don't think there is a deeper bond of fellowship. I don't think there is a deeper experience of community or fellowship than that which comes from pointing people to Jesus. Let me say that to you again. You will not find a deeper experience of fellowship. You will not find a deeper experience of community than following Jesus and His apostles and their example for crying out loud. I mean, think about it. How many times do you think Peter and Andrew looked at each other? Now, do you think they had deep fellowship, St. Peter and St. Andrew? I'm going to go out on a limb and say they did. How many times do you think Peter looked at Andrew and said, thank you. Thanks for coming to me that day. And the one I really love to think about is Philip and Nathaniel. Imagine after they both came to become followers of Jesus, followers of the way, gave their lives to him, continued to point others. How many times do you think Philip probably took Nathaniel? Maybe they were all sitting in a community group and somebody's home sharing a meal and somebody, you know, you didn't know who said it, but somebody went, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Okay, anything, we remember you. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? The sweetness of their fellowship came out of caring about people. Don't you say nothing will bond you to somebody and caring about them to tell them about Christ, to leave them to Christ this morning. I'm so excited. We've got three people, three adults who are coming this morning to profess that they have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something, there will be no sweeter fellowship than the fellowship of the people in this body who are instrumental in leading them to the Lord. Doesn't get any deeper and doesn't get any sweeter. First of all, first point, if we follow Jesus, we will be committed to seeing him transform people who are outsiders. But number two, let me say this and just so you're worried, this is a two point sermon, not a three point. Number two, this text shows you that Jesus Christ is committed to transforming the insiders and if you're his follower, caring for you in such sweet, shepherding ways, that no matter where you've been, you should always expect them to take you deeper. No matter where you've been, you should always expect them to take you deeper. Look at what you read in verse 50 and verse 51. Now Nathaniel becomes a believer. He's an insider. And Jesus says, look, you believe because I told you I saw you under that fig tree. All right, now you're a believer, but you shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth. You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Now this, by the way, this story of angels coming up and down, do you remember what that's tied to? That's a great Old Testament Bible story, the story of Jacob. Jacob, by the way, his name means grab after scheme or canine. Jacob was a twin and when he came out his hand was sticking out and his parents probably thought, yeah, he's trying to grab after his brother. Let's call him yaku, let's call him the one who snatches after things. Well, they were prophets because that kind of guy was. He was a grabber and a conniver. But he had an encounter with God that transformed him. And when it did, it was at a place called Bethel, he called it the house of God. He had a vision in which he saw angels coming and going down right upon him into his life, changing his life. And he literally God changed his name. And that's where we first hear the word Israel, which was his personal name. The patriarch Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes was given the name Israel, which means he struggles with God. He's given a new name, his character's transformed. Now, here's the interesting thing. Jesus sees Nathaniel and says, you're not a Jacob. That is, there is no deceit. There is no grab in you. I see who you are. But I also see that you need me. And Nathaniel comes to him and Jesus says an amazing thing. Nathaniel, you will actually see the angels coming and going. Remember Jacob in that story? Jacob was under. Jacob had a dream. Jacob had a dream about angels coming and going. What Jesus says to the believer is no, you are going to see heaven opened. You are going to be experienced in real life, the power of God unfolding in your life and in the midst of your community. You see, what Nathaniel was going to see was not literally angels going up and down on the ladder. We've read the whole New Testament. It's not in there. That never happened. What Jesus did do immediately was go to Cana and perform a miracle. What Nathaniel, what it meant was Nathaniel, if you follow me, by looking at my life, by watching me work, just be where I am, be in my presence. And this is what I promise you. You were going to see heaven, remember how we read these baptism last week? Heaven was torn open and it wasn't going to be closed back. All heaven was going to break loose. That's what Nathaniel witnessed. For the rest of him, he was saying something about the rest of his life. And if you were a Christian believer, Jesus Christ guarantees you something if you follow him. Heaven is torn open because he has gone to the cross for you, because he has risen again for you, because he has baptized his church with his spirit and he is present with us. You cannot stop him from pouring out this experience and this reality for those who are willing to follow him. You can't hold it back. That's what the promise was to Nathaniel. You know, when Jesus assessed this to him, the NIV woefully misses the ball. When it uses this phrase, I tell you the truth. Because the literal language there, the Old King James translated it very well, verily, verily. The Greek word we use for Amen. Jesus says, Amen, Amen. I say to you, and what that was, that was the way that it was like to pull an EF button. Let me say this twice. Put this in the bank. This is absolutely certain. Follow me. And heaven is going to explode in your life. The power of God is going to surround you, and you will be an instrument of transforming people, and you yourself will be transformed. Amen, Amen. Pleasily, NIV again, a great missionary to India. Trans, look at this and he said, the picture the Lord gives us is one of actual traffic between the life of God and my world. When you think about those angels moving, don't you see what he's saying? Traffic, divine traffic in your life church between the life of God and your world. As we look at Nathaniel, let me just say this to you. If you look at Nathaniel, don't you see that one of the issues is not only do we forget that Jesus really does desire for us to be instruments to bridge people. Not only do we forget that, but friends, we forget his desire to constantly bring his people and show his people greater things. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of the resurrection of Lazarus. Because here you have people who come to believe in Jesus. They know what he's capable of. Mary and Martha, remember the sisters of Lazarus, and when he comes to the tomb, Martha stands there and he says, Martha, do you believe? And she says, oh, yes, I believe you're going to raise us all from the dead. And what she does is she just gives the standard Christian litany, which we all live so comfortably with. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesus rose spirit. But why do I want to talk about it? No, you know what I mean? In other words, she kind of just sort of gets comfortable with all those promises. And what Jesus does is when he says, roll the stone forward, he looks at her the believer and he says, Martha, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God. Now that is what I want to ask you. Do you believe that? That if you believe, if you seek him and if you follow him in those simple things that New Testament calls us to, do you believe that you will see the glory of God? Do you believe that in whatever you give yourself to in following him, the angels of heaven are going to put all kinds of spiritual traffic in your life. Are you going to see the glory of Jesus Christ? You see, when Jesus came into the world, the whole point of following him was so that we might see the glory of God. We can't see God's glory any other way. If you're not a Christian here this morning, let me just tell you that. You know, you try to look at the sun. You will not only get a headache, you'll lose your vision, you'll burn your eyes out. You can't take it in, but if you put a filter on, you know, have you ever done that with a telescope? If you put a filter on, you can look at the sun and you begin to see all kinds of energy and beautiful flares, creative shapes, unbelievable power, unbelievable glory. Well, that is exactly what those first disciples saw in Jesus Christ. God filtering himself in flesh so that in following him, seeking to be like him and taking the simple things he calls us to, we might truly see the glory of God in our lives. Let me close by telling you about a movie. There's a lot of Jesus movies out there. You know, Christmas and Easter, they show them. My very favorite one is one by the great Italian film director, Pesolini. It's called The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. And if you ever get a chance to see it, see it. And the thing that is most powerful about it is this for me. Anytime you see Jesus teaching, Pesolini completely breaks down what you usually think of. We usually think of Jesus sitting, you know, maybe in a, in a lotus position with a bunch of people sitting down around him, taking it all in, taking notes, you know, with a little outline printed out. You know, or something, you know, Jesus, this is a ministry of Jesus. But Pesolini does is this. Jesus is always on the move. He's always going somewhere, reaching out to people. And the disciples and followers are always right behind him. And everything he teaches, he teaches over his shoulder. So when he's teaching, he's speaking over his shoulders. And what he per, what he, what he penetrates and salts throughout everything he says is follow me, follow him to lead you in being a bridge. Allow him to lead you and giving yourself to one another in love, giving yourself to others so that we might see that glory of God, ascending and descending on this church in ways that we've yet to imagine. That's pray. Our Father, as we gather this morning and we know that in just a minute we're going to be seeing the fruit of this vision that has long been part of in town. We know we're going to see people who are professing faith in Christ because there are people who care. Would you take that and fan it into a flame in our hearts? Would you make that a flame, and a flame that burns, not just to the outsider, but just as Jesus lived, we would live both for them and for one another. We pray this in Jesus name.