You are Not the Holy Spirit (John 1:43-51)
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Jeremy: [00:00:00] Well, this is our last week in John chapter one. If you've been with us thus far, we've made it to the end of the chapter, and next week we're moving on to chapter two. And Chapter two begins with an incredible story. That I can't wait to dive into. But today we're gonna look at the second part of a story we began last week where Jesus is calling his first disciples to him, and it happens over a few days.
We're gonna pick up on the very next day as Jesus has been interacting with some of his first disciples. We're gonna start reading in John chapter one, verse 43. It says, the next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, come follow me. Philip was from Beida, Andrew and Peter's hometown.
Now Philip went to look for Nathaniel and told him, we have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about. His [00:01:00] name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth, Nazareth, exclaimed Nathaniel. Can anything good come from Nazareth? Come and see for yourself. Philip replied, I love this exchange. Now, last week we saw Jesus use the phrase, come and see when some of the first disciples came to him.
Here we see Philip is using the phrase. And so in this story that again, between last week and today we see John including that phrase two different times, come and see. What we realize here is that all of us are equipped to help people see Jesus. Now, in my time in ministry, I have found that, that we have to come up with all sorts of excuses, all sorts of reasons why we're not actually equipped.
We actually cannot do this. And there's a variety of reasons why. One of the most common reasons I hear people say is, well, what if I, I try to show someone [00:02:00] Jesus and they're not interested? Here, I would say this is what happened to Philip, right? He invites Nathaniel and Nathaniel's first reaction is where did you say Jesus is from?
Like, no, not interested. Don't think so. This is not our guy. This is not the guy we've been looking for, and yet Philip is going to persist. Maybe you say, well, I, I don't know what to say. Maybe you think, I don't know enough theology, I can't debate them if they come at me with some great argument. Now, no matter why, you may feel like you are not the person to bring someone else to Jesus.
I wanna encourage you with a statement that I heard many years ago, and I think about this idea a lot, and I share it with people a lot because it is a very freeing idea. And the idea is simple. You are not the Holy Spirit. Now, some of you're going, well, duh, Jeremy, I'm aware of that. But this is a reminder.
[00:03:00] In those moments when we feel like it's up to us, I've got to do something, I've gotta be so good or so compelling, or make sure I present everything right about Jesus. It's a reminder, you are not the Holy Spirit. You just get to invite people to see what you have seen. We make it so complicated. We add all sorts of rules and regulations
you gotta do this formula or that, and it's not about any of those things. It's about showing people what you have seen in Jesus. And this story is a reminder that each and every one of us is equipped to do that. Now let's keep reading in verse 47. Says, as they approached, Jesus said, now here is a genuine son of Israel, a man of complete integrity.
How do you know about me? Nathaniel asked. Jesus replied, I could see you under the fig tree [00:04:00] before Philip found you. Then Nathaniel exclaimed, rabbi, you are the son of God, the King of Israel. Now, Jesus asked him, do you believe this? Just because I told you I had seen you under this fig tree. You will see greater things than this.
And then he said, I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the son of man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth, just this incredible exchange when they begin to see Jesus. They start to realize who he really is.
But here's a question. How does Nathaniel go from being a stranger to Jesus one moment and then worshiping him the next? What is it that clicks for him? 'cause this conversation escalates rather quickly. Well, notice the question he [00:05:00] has for Jesus in verse 48. We just read it. He says, how do you know about me?
See, this is what happens when you meet Jesus. You are fully known. We explored this idea last week that when you are known by Jesus, you are known like you have never been known before. Now, I read an article recently that talked about how you can tell a lot about someone. About where they position their bed in their room.
Now, I don't know your situation, but see if this lines up in your experience as well. Like in this first example, this would be the way you'd put a bed for a single person, right? So this is the placement of a bed in a room if you're single. Now, number two. The second illustration would be how you would place a bed for a couple.
So if you had two people showing a bed together, this is how you would position it in the room. But then it gets more interesting, like this illustration is for people who don't know [00:06:00] fear, no wall of protection around you anywhere. You just put it right in the middle of the room and you go for it.
And maybe that's, something you want to aspire to or How about this one, people who should be feared when you put your bed the obvious wrong way, like what message does that send? I love this, but Jesus doesn't need to see Nathaniel's bed to know about Nathaniel. He is seeing him from afar, and he is fully knowing him, and Nathaniel is shocked by all of this.
Now, there's some interesting details in this story. The fig tree is a common place for prayer, and that's where we find Nathaniel when he begins to learn about Jesus. If Nathaniel was underneath a fig tree, when Philip called him, the chances are that he was in prayer, and in particular he could have been praying for the Messiah.
Now you go, well, why? Well, there's a, a Jewish thought in that time that said this,
he [00:07:00] who, when he prays, does not pray for the coming of the Messiah, has not prayed at all. So a common prayer for an Israelite, a good Israelite would be to be praying for the Messiah to come and notice when Jesus does meet him, he refers to him as a true Israelite.
Now, it could be, and I would suggest this is likely that Nathaniel was literally praying for the Messiah to come. Jesus sees this and then he meets. The Messiah and Jesus acknowledges you are a true Israelite. You are saying the prayer you should say, and it has been answered. And so not only is Nathaniel being known, but he's having this moment of, I just prayed about that and then I met you.
You ever had a prayer answered like that where you're praying something and then this immediate revelation of this is the answer to what you were praying for.
See, when Jesus tells Nathaniel that he saw him under the fig tree [00:08:00] praying, the implication is that Nathaniel put these two together in his mind and this moment clicks for him. Only one person could have heard his solitary prayer for the Messiah far away, and it would be the Messiah himself. Now this story reminds us today of a powerful truth that nobody is past hope.
Nobody is past hope. Now, Philip might've thought, Hey, Nathaniel's not interested. He might've dismissed him after his initial reaction, but notice Nathaniel eventually is going to worship Jesus. So my question to you today is, who is someone in your life that you think may be past hope? Especially as our country is more divided than ever.
Maybe there's someone around you you think will never change. I wanna give you a real simple application this week. What if you began [00:09:00] praying for that person? Just praying for them, praying for good things for them.
As you pray those prayers, I promise you what you'll notice is that your heart will begin to change for that person. The way you think of that person, even the way you feel toward that person will begin to change. And if you wanna be so bold, you can follow that prayer up with this prayer. God, would you use me in their life?
Would you somehow use me to help them see more of you? Even if it's a person you think they will never come around, they will never see this. You could begin praying, God, would you somehow use me in their life? And maybe that is a prayer that you'll get to see answered. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
