Sermon Notes on John 1:43-51

For what are you looking?

There are two ideas that I’d like you to remember as we are looking at our text for today.

1) If you aren’t looking for something you probably won’t find it.

2) You will find what you seek.

Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Why not? It was the place where he grew up. He might have gone looking for some old friends. He might have gone to join the resistance and take on the Romans. He might have gone to be with his mom and his family. There were all kinds of reasons Jesus might have gone to Galilee, all kinds of things he might have been looking for.

You can tell a lot about what someone is looking for by what they actually find. What did Jesus find when he went to Galilee? Jesus found Philip. Jesus found a man who was ready to be one of his disciples and he invited Philip to follow him. You don’t have to look too deeply to see that Jesus went to Galilee looking for disciples.

Philip was also looking for something on that day. In fact, Philip was looking for a few things. First, Philip was looking for God’s Messiah. How do I know? Well, Jesus didn’t cast some kind of spell on Philip. He didn’t hypnotize him. I believe that, because Philip was looking for the Messiah, when he saw and heard Jesus, he realized that he was the real deal. Jesus was the one he was looking for. When Jesus invited Philip to follow him he was asking Philip to do something he was hoping to do for a long time.

Once Philip found the savior he went looking again. This time he went looking for others he knew who were in need of a savior. He found his friend Nathaniel and invited him to follow Jesus.

And guess what, Nathaniel went looking too. He went with Philip, looking to see if this Jesus really was the savior of the world. He was not disappointed.

There is something that I have noticed as I have done ministry here at All Saints. A person has a much higher likelihood of finding something when they are actually looking for it.

You have probably met people who seem to always find something about which to complain. They are always negative, always griping. It seems that their eyes and their hearts are tuned to find things that are wrong. Because they are looking for problems, they find them. When something is difficult or when something goes wrong they will quickly point out what mistakes were made and who was responsible for them and too often they spend a lot of time spreading this negative energy around.

You may also have met people who have no idea what they are looking for. They wander from project to project and pastime to pastime just hoping to be satisfied in some way.

And then there are those who aren’t really looking for anything. They just go from day to day doing what they have always done, without even worrying about why they do it.

I believe what we are looking for matters to Jesus. He wants us to have a different set of eyes. I think there are a few things for which Jesus wants us to be constantly looking.

First, like Philip, Jesus wants us to be on the lookout for him. When you get up in the morning and you head out into the sub-freezing temperatures and snow you have a choice. You can see the inconvenience and the discomfort or you can see the beauty and the hand of the Word who was in the beginning with God.

Second, he wants us to be looking for disciples. When you are making your way through a crowded line at the grocery store you can see a bunch of obstacles that are standing between you and getting home more quickly or you can see children of God, some of whom might welcome the invitation to be disciples. You could see an opportunity to share the love and light of Christ.

Third, Jesus wants us to be looking for ways to help his people grow in their faith. Each of us has a unique way in which we can be a blessing to God’s people. Each of us has a gift that we can share to help people grow in their faith and in their relationship with God. We aren’t going to discover the opportunities we have to give and to help unless we are looking for them.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that Jesus wants us to ignore negative things. When we are looking for disciples, when we are looking for Jesus, negative things are going to happen. Obstacles will show up. But when we see them as something to be dealt with, learned from, and left behind, we can get on with what is really important to us and to our Master.

When you are going through motorcycle safety training they teach you about “obstacle fixation”. It’s what happens when you focus your complete attention on that rock or that pot hole that is in front of you. Do you know what happens when you focus your complete attention on an obstacle? You have a strong tendency to steer right towards it and collide with it. A much better strategy is to take note of it and then intentionally steer toward the path that will lead to safety.

Over the next several months God is going to be bringing lots of opportunities into our lives that will be challenging. They might even appear to be obstacles. Some will have to do with the very shaky economy and the deep recession that the world is facing. Others will have to do with the transition we are about to face. Some will be things that we could never have imagined.

What we see in those challenges is going to depend on what we are looking for. I am going to pray that, like Philip, you will look for and find Jesus. I am going to pray that you will look for and find those who would like to be his disciples. I am going to pray that, just like Jesus promised Nathaniel, you will look for and see the great things God is going to do. Amen