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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, our study together of
John, John chapter one, day five, verses 43 to 51. You might remember yesterday,
we looked at Jesus' call of Andrew and John, and then his call of Peter, and how
that call changed everything in their life and invites God's direction and
decision for us to change everything in our lives. Today, we're going to look at
Philip and Nathanael and what God's call to follow me did in their lives.

First a man by the name of Philip. By the way, this is not the Philip the
evangelist in the book of Acts, this is Philip the disciple, verses 43 and 44 of
John one. 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 Bethsaida. Just a few verses about Philip, we learn more about
him in the gospels.

But as you look at the story of Philip, there's something exciting. There's
something exciting about how the message got there, and also about how his call
fit the character of Philip. How did the message get there?

In this case, it was a personal encounter with Christ. I know people like this
today. They've heard about Jesus.

They've been invited maybe even to faith in Jesus by a friend, but they've held
it at arm's length for maybe even some time in their life. But then in some
moment alone, it all becomes clear. They sense the presence of Jesus with them
right there.

Maybe in their bedroom late at night. Maybe in their car driving somewhere.
Maybe on an airplane when they're on their way to another part of the world.

Maybe just in some lonely moment in an office. It all becomes clear. Jesus is
here.

And in that personal encounter with Jesus, all that's been told them before
becomes clear and they commit in that moment. That's what happened with Philip.
It was a personal encounter with Christ.

And his call, Jesus' call fit the character of Philip. We learn from the rest of
the gospels that Philip was a pretty laid back kind of guy. He was a let life
happen kind of a guy.

And Jesus comes to him and he says, "Follow me. " He seeks him out. He doesn't
wait until Philip finds him.

He goes and he finds Philip and he says, "Follow me. " You know, there are a lot
of people in life who like to blaze trails, but there are others who don't want
to blaze trails. They want a map.

They want somebody to say, "Here, show me the direction. "I'm ready to go. "I
just need someone to show me the way.

" When Jesus said to Philip, "Follow me," he was saying, "I'm the way. " Here's
the map. Follow me.

Jesus is saying, if you're wired that way, Jesus is saying to you, "Good news.
"I will show you the way. "Follow me.

" Now, by the way, if you talk about these men following Jesus, there's a
question some people have. Were these men married? When they said, "I'm going to
follow Jesus," did that mean that somehow all of a sudden they left their
families and their responsibilities?

And, you know, was that like a good deal for them somehow that they didn't have
to earn a living anymore? And maybe they had some kids at home and it was real
noisy and they didn't like it. What was this really all about?

Well, remember in that day, the idea of being a disciple of a teacher was a very
common thing. It was a job that people had. And it did not mean that you left
your family, you left your responsibilities.

It did mean that you committed yourself to follow that teacher, and you would be
like maybe somebody on a long business trip away from them, but you still had to
make sure that those responsibilities were taken care of. So those of the
disciples that were married, and there were some we know that were, they did
continue to take care of their families. Philip followed Jesus.

And when you follow Jesus, that changes everything. And then a man by the name
of Nathaniel followed Jesus. I love this guy.

I love the way that he starts his relationship with Jesus. Refreshingly real,
refreshingly honest. In verses 45 to 51, Philip found Nathaniel, and he told
him, "We 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. And when Jesus saw 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. " And then Nathaniel declared, "Rabbi, you are
the son of God.

"You're the king of Israel. " Jesus said, "You believe because I told you "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 man. " Now, how did the
message get there with Nathaniel? And what barrier did it have to break through?

And how did Jesus' call fit his character? How did the message get there?
Personal evangelism.

Just like Andrew went to Peter, Philip went to Nathaniel. But Philip gets a
different response. When Andrew went, Peter said, "Oh yeah, let's go and see.

" When Philip goes, he says, "Nathaniel, this is the one. " And Nathaniel says,
"Nazareth? "Nothing good could come from there.

" How do you handle a negative response when you tell someone else the good
news? There's no better example, I think, than Philip. He just says, "Come and
see.

" He doesn't try to prove anything. He doesn't argue anything. He doesn't act
offended.

He just says, "Come and see," with a smile on his face, I think. And when
Nathaniel went to see, there was a barrier that had to be broken through. He had
a barrier of prejudice.

He said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth? " And what's this about
Nazareth? Well, Nazareth was a small city, and it was on a road over which the
Roman legions traveled frequently.

And this small town that came to have a bad reputation, a bad reputation in
morals and religion, and it didn't really meet the needs of the armies as they
traveled through. So there came this saying, "Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? " And Nathaniel was just repeating what everybody believed about
Nazareth.

And saying Jesus of Nazareth, that sounds really cool to us, but that's more
like today saying Jesus of South Central LA or Jesus of Las Vegas Strip. It was
an area of the world that had some very negative connotations to a lot of
people. But I gotta tell you some good things I know have come out of South
Central LA.

So good things God has even done in the Las Vegas Strip as he's reached people
for Christ, even in desperate situations. God can work in desperate places.
There are people today who are prejudiced when it comes to Jesus Christ.

Well, not that he was born in Nazareth. They're prejudiced against what it means
to be a Christian. They feel like Christians are people who feel like they're
too good for this world, they're pie in the sky, judgmental people.

What do you do when you meet someone like that? What if you are someone like
that, who feels like that? Come and see, come and see.

Christians are people with real problems, just like you, who found a real
relationship with God that makes a real difference in this real world. When you
find someone who's prejudiced against Christians, just say, "Come and see, come
and meet with my small group, come to a party with my friends, come and see, and
then see for yourself. " The way to break through the barrier of prejudice is
those words, come and see.

And then when he did come, Jesus' call fit the character of Nathaniel perfectly.
His character, he's an internally centered guy, a melancholy kind of guy.
Melancholy means you care and think deeply and you also see the problems easily.

And Jesus' call was the perfect call, always is. I see your heart, he said to
him. I see, that word means I perceive, I understand.

He saw everything about Nathaniel. He says, I see that you're an Israelite. He
knew his background.

He says, I see that there's nothing false in you. He knew his character, no
false thing. When he says you're an Israelite in whom there's no false thing,
he's referring back to the Old Testament.

Remember Jacob, the father of the Israelites, the one from whom the name Israel
came, Jacob's name was changed to Israel. Jacob was a schemer, he had false
things in it. So in one sense, he's saying you're an Israelite without any of
the Israel in him, without any of the Jacob, the schemer part in him, you really
want to do the right thing.

And he says, I saw you under the fig tree. He not only knew his background and
his character, he knew his heart. Now, what's this thing about the fig tree, by
the way, and why is it so important?

Why is Nathaniel so impressed with it? If I walked up to you and said, wow, I
saw you eating pizza at Costco, you wouldn't fall on your knees and say, wow,
how did you know that? What's going on here?

You have to understand the fig tree. In the Jewish teaching of that day, they
were taught, they were commanded to find personal places of worship where during
the day they could spend time with God, a place where they could be alone, where
they wouldn't be interrupted. And for many people in that day, the place that
they found to be alone, uninterrupted to spend time with God was underneath the
branches of a fig tree.

If you've seen a fig tree, the branches go all the way to the ground and they
form almost a small tent, a round tent. You can get in underneath those branches
and no one would see you. So when Jesus says, I saw you under the fig tree, he's
saying, I saw you worshiping.

I saw your heart to worship God. I know what you prayed. I see your desire for
spiritual things.

I understand your questions. I can see clear through to your heart. Nathaniel,
his personality was, he was one of those people who longed to know that someone,
anyone in this world understood him.

And he found out Jesus did understand him. There are people who need to know
that someone understands. Maybe you right now need to know someone understands.

Someone understands the hurt that I face, the pain that I feel, that this world
seems to be crashing down around me, that it doesn't work out always like I want
it to work out. And Jesus says, good news, I understand. In fact, Jesus says,
good news, not only do I understand, not only is it great that I see you and who
you are, but you're going to see even greater things than that.

Express a little faith and you're going to experience a great faith. And Nathaniel
expressed a little faith in Jesus and Jesus said, you're going to experience even a
greater faith. What I like about this story is that Jesus seems so unfazed by
all of the emotions of Nathaniel.

He doesn't give much concern to Nathaniel's doubt and he doesn't give much
credit to his immediate turnaround. It's very interesting to me and certainly
something to learn from that the exuberant expressions of faith from his
disciples are often, not always, but they are often met with Jesus with a
statement that sounds something like, well, you think that's impressive? Let me
tell you what's really significant and impressive.

The lesson to me is don't get too caught up in your own exuberant faith
expressions. Like God's going to say wow to that. They're not the point.

God's the point. Jesus is the point. In verse 50, Jesus said you believe because
I told you 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 man. That's from the story of Jacob's
ladder in Genesis chapter 28, where the angels were descending and ascending
onto the earth. But here Jesus says they're going to be ascending and descending on
me, on the son of man.

Jesus is saying I am the fulfillment of God's promise to Jacob. I am Jacob's
ladder, what it was all about. It's all about Jesus.

In fact, as we've walked these last couple of days through what Jesus had to say
about how he could change people's lives as they followed him, it's interesting.
There are nine titles for Jesus used in this passage. He's called the lamb of
God, the rabbi, the teacher, the messiah, the promised one.

He's called the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about. He's called Jesus
of Nazareth. He's called the son of Joseph, the son of God.

He's called the king of Israel. And number nine, he's called the son of man.
It's all about Jesus.

In these last two days, we've looked at Jesus' call to his disciples and that
everything changes when we follow him. And how some of us approach that, all of
us approach it in different ways. Some people relate their way to faith.

We call them sanguine, relationship-oriented people. Everything changes when you
follow him. Other people struggle their way to faith.

They're more choleric. They're more passionate about life and making sure that
their passions are fulfilled and their ideas get done. Everything changes when
you follow him.

Some people journey their way to faith. That's the phlegmatic personality, the
personality that says I need a map. Everything changes when you follow him.

And some people, like Nathaniel, question their way to faith. The melancholy
personality that always has to have the questions answered. Jesus answers the
questions.

He lets you know why you can't yet have the answers, but they will come someday.
Everything changes when you follow him. Let's pray together.

And I invite you, just pray this simple prayer from the old song. I have decided
to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back. Jesus, in your name, I commit, I recommit to follow you. Amen.