John Chapter 1 - a few thoughts
I am reading through the book of John in preparation for Passion Week. We are going to show the new movie called "the Gospel of John" to our church on Maundy Thursday, so I wanted to refresh myself with the text. I know this is cliche, but even after reading John chapter 1, 100 times, I still find God speaking to me in new ways, revealing things I hadn't seen before - and usually pressing application upon my mind that probably wasn't yet relevant in my life.
Two main thoughts jumped out at me in the 2nd half of the chapter...
#1 - the humility of John the Baptist...he goes from being the religious star, the Billy Graham of the day, to watching his disciples literally leave his side - vs. 37: "When the two disciples heard him(John the Baptist) say this, they followed Jesus." And of course after this, we really don't hear much more about him until he is in prison about to lose his head. Talk about having things go south in a hurry! What captured me though, was the fact that JOHN was the one who initiated the demise of his own career. Which is the humility thing...and what clearly demonstrates the sincerity of John's motive and the sincerity of the message he proclaimed - "to make straight the way of the Lord". The other element of humility was in how he did not hold tightly to those whom he led. The application of this to me personally was very convicting. It is so tempting to hold on to volunteers, relationships with people, etc...because it is what makes us feel comfortable. I think that is the case in many if not most employment situations - where the emphasis is on what you can and are doing for the organization, instead of the organization looking out for your own interests first. In this case, John the Baptist gave up two of his prime disciples and didn't just let them go, he encouraged them to go follow Jesus - and to do whatever Jesus called them to do. I want to have that kind of attitude toward those who serve under my leadership...
#2 the other major thought that jumped out from this passage was that Jesus didn't call 4 if not all 5 of the first 5 disciples. To sum it up...John the Baptist "called" Andrew and John. Andrew called Peter, and Philip called Nathaniel. It seems Jesus called Philip, but since Philip was from the same town as Andrew and Peter, I would speculate that Andrew and Peter probably either directly or indirectly led Jesus to Philip. The relevancy of this to me is the striking example that Jesus gives us of how he wants us to be about His ministry of making disciples. Yes, it is Jesus and His Words/teaching that we are called to hear and follow, but Jesus wanted to and still wants to use us to do the calling, and also even the modeling and the instruction. Matt 28 - "go", is better translated, "as you are going" - that we should be making disciples all along the way, in direct 'calls', and indirect modeling of our relationship with Christ. Jesus doesn't need us to call men to himself, but He WANTS to use us. Am I looking for those around me that Jesus would have me say "come and see"...am I looking for those around me that maybe I should encourage to pursue Jesus and "let them go" from under direct care and training?
Anyways, I know this isn't all that terribly insightful, but it spoke to me this week. Hope it encouraged you....
-b-
posted by Blackie's Tour @ 10:31 AM
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