In the last devotion, we started talking about sharing Christ with others. We talked about sharing Him with family. This daily devotional looks at how we are to witness to friends.
Nuggets
- We are to be a witness to our friends.
- The decision to follow Jesus is our own.
Devotions in How to Love Our Neighbors series
Sometimes, friends can be like family. Sometimes, they are just people we care about deeply.
Either way, those people still need Jesus. It is still our task to witness to them.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Leading Our Friends to Christ
“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 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.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see’” (Jn. 1: 43-46 ESV)
We are to be a witness to our friends.
It sounds like one day Philip was visiting in Galilee. That was his lucky day because Jesus called him to be a disciple that day.
It also sounds like Jesus just accidentally found Philip. He didn’t.
It was always in Philip’s plan to be a disciple of Jesus. He still had to be the one to make the choice, but God knew what that choice would be when He developed Philip’s plan.
Like Andrew, Philip was excited about being a disciple of Jesus’. We don’t know if Philip had family or not, but he found the next best person — his friend Nathaniel.
We need to have already built a relationship with the person to whom we are witnessing. They are less likely to listen to us if they don’t know us.
I love how quickly Philip joined the group. “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’” (Jn. 1: 45 ESV emphasis added). It just mentions Philip in verse 43.
The group now consisted of Andrew, Peter, and John who found Jesus. John the Baptist may or may not have still be around.
Beith brought up the fact that Philip called Jesus the son of Joseph. He saw this as ignorance on Philip’s part.
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Well, Jesus was the son of Joseph here on this earth because Joseph stood as his father. He didn’t get it wrong from that way of thinking.
Yes, God is Jesus’ Father. That way, Philip’s thinking wasn’t complete.
We want to make sure we are providing true information when we witness. We sabotage our witness when we don’t.
But we can’t ignore the fact that Philip was still a witness. He may have met Jesus only that day, but he still shared with his friend his new-found joy.
Nathaniel obviously had some preconceived notions. “Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see’” (Jn. 1: 46 ESV).
On what were those prejudices built? The S.S. Times gave us a list. Part of it was based on the region of Galilee. Part of it was Nazareth itself.
- The region of Galilee was felt to be home to people that were, as the S.S. Times put it, “… rude, illiterate, and devoid of culture.”
- They were accused of not holding to doctrine.
- People of Nazareth were looked upon as ignorant rabble.
- They had little in common with the Judaean rabbis.
- Today’s vernacular would say they were hicks from the boondocks.
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Sometimes, we will run into people who respond as Nathaniel initially did. He was skeptical and prejudiced. He pushed back.
Maybe Nathaniel knew about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. In his mind, Nazareth was not Bethlehem.
Don’t we do that? We think God is going to work in a certain way. When something entirely different happens in our eyes, we refused to see it.
Philip didn’t let Nathaniel’s initial response deter him. He said the same words in verse 46 that Jesus told to Andrew and John in verse 39: come see for yourself. Philip knew that Nathaniel had to have personal knowledge of Jesus so that he could make a conscious decision to follow Him.
Philip witnessed to Nathaniel the correct way. “This is what I know. I’m not going to argue with you. Come see for yourself.”
Nathaniel gave up his prejudices enough to go with Philip. He gave them up completely at Jesus’ words.
Spurgeon said that Nathaniel’s prejudice were based on Philip’s wrong information, so they were not consequential in this instance. Maclaren said that they were harmless and natural. Neighboring villages can have jealousies and rivalry. (Just think about Friday night football!)
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The foundation of our salvation is based on faith. But we also have to do the work that God has assigned to us.
Faith alone isn’t enough to keep our salvation. The faith must lead to our personal holiness.
Works alone isn’t enough to get it in the first place. We have to have faith to do the work to which God is calling us.
The blessings are in the obedience.
But the Sunday Morning Bible Study unit has been about love. We get the faith because of love. We do the work through love. We are obedient because of the love.
The Decision Is Ours
“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!’” (Jn. 1: 47-49 ESV)
The decision to follow Jesus is our own.
In writing his gospel, John brought out about Nathaniel’s prejudices. Jesus never mentioned them.
Instead, Jesus called Nathaniel “… an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’” (Jn. 1: 47 ESV).
Beith thought that was because Jesus knew Nathaniel was genuine and guileless. Jesus saw that he was searching for the truth.
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Agreed. But I think Alexander’s interpretation is probably closer to Jesus’ meaning. He wrote, “Nathanael was so called not because he was a descendant of Abraham, but because he resembled the patriarch in his faith and piety.”
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Nathaniel had the faith of Abraham. And we know Abraham was a Hall of Famer (Heb. 11: 8-10).
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
But doesn’t that highlight how different we are from Jesus? In today’s world, we would latch onto Nathaniel’s prejudice and narrow mindedness and fry him.
Again, Jesus didn’t even mention it. Jesus saw what was in Nathaniel’s heart. He saw what he was going to become.
Jesus’ knowledge of Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree seems to have sealed the deal for Nathaniel. But it started under the fig tree.
Why had Nathaniel chosen to sit there that exact moment? We know he was alone. Maybe he was taking a minute out of his hectic, trying day to regroup.
Did Nathaniel follow Philip to Jesus because of indifference? Could he have cared less that the Messiah was here, much less from Nazareth?
Or was Nathaniel searching for the Messiah then? Was the fig tree his prayer room? Was he praying to God to send Him soon? Maybe he was studying Scripture to be the best Jew that he could be.
Whatever Nathaniel was doing — even with his first snarky remarks — he was ready to come to his Savior. When he came, he listened and received.
Do we have the equivalent of a fig tree to go sit under to seek God? Do we have a prayer room? Where is our secret place to meet God?
We need someplace where we can be alone and communicate with God. Remember, seeking God is reading, studying, meditating, and memorizing. We can do that easily if we are sitting in the middle of our Grand Central Station.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
The big thing that convinced Nathaniel that Jesus was who Philip said He was is the fact that Jesus sees us and knows our thoughts. Jesus told him where he had been sitting — under a fig tree.
Nathaniel must have heard some of John the Baptist’s sermons. Otherwise, would he have been calling Jesus Rabbi and the Son of God?
We have to give credit where credit is due. Nathanial went from skeptical to enthusiastic. He exhibited the faith of Abraham.
Making the Connections
Okay, let’s connect all the dots.
- Jesus appointed John the Baptist to prepare the way for Him.
- John the Baptist taught Andrew and John.
- Both acted on the teaching and followed Jesus.
- Andrew witnessed to Peter.
- Jesus called Philip Himself.
- Philip witnessed to Nathaniel.
Do we have to wait for someone to witness to us? No, we can search for God on our own.
But it helps if someone is there to answer questions for us. Think about Philip and the eunuch (Ac. 8: 26-40).
Either way, it is the working of the Holy Spirit that prompts us to search, instructs us in what we need to know, and convicts us to turn to Jesus.
Our part is to be obedient and be there for the other person.
Well, there is a little more to the last part. We are there to show others how to imitate Jesus, so that they can imitate us.
Thomas told us this. He built his argument on Proverbs 23: 7. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he …” (Prov. 23: 7 KJV).
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The newer translations want to make this into our being calculating. But that isn’t it.
This is talking about character, to me. It isn’t just our choices. It is who we are.
We are to be like Jesus. We are to love others. We are to love them so much that we witness to them.
How Do We Apply This?
Spurgeon told us what we are supposed to do after Jesus calls us. We are to “Follow Christ —
“(1) In doctrine.
“(2) In faith.
“(3) In action.
“(4) In ordinances.”
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We should take a look at the men that Jesus called — not just these, but the entire Twelve. They found Jesus through different avenues. They had varied backgrounds.
In other words, it was a diverse group.
Jesus came to save all the world (Jn. 3: 16). There is a very diverse world out there. We need to witness to all.
That means the same witnessing technique won’t work on everyone. We have to know the person to whom we are witnessing to know what will speak to them the most.
- We have to know Christ to accept Him.
- The more we know, the more we will be grateful for Him.
- The more we know, the more convicted we will be.
- We should imitate Philip and bring other’s to Christ.
- Personal knowledge and attachment eliminates prejudice.
- We have to be sincere.
- We should be as teachable as Nathaniel was.
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I know. How many of us would like to stay under Nathaniel’s fig tree and not go out and call others to Christ? Don’t we want to stay in our prayer rooms, where we feel the closest to God — and the safest?
But the Homiletic Magazine reminded us that — one day — the secret side of our religion is going to be made public. Once we hit eternity, there won’t be need for fig trees and prayer rooms.
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Everything will be out in the open.
Father God. It is one thing to witness to family. It is harder to witness to friends. Help us, Lord, to boldly share Your love with our friends. Amen.
What do you think?
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