The First Disciples

It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon and the Baptist was with two of his disciples- one was definitely Andrew and the other was, probably John the author of the Gospel. The Baptist had made quite a splash in the area, not just because of his open air baptisms in the River Jordon but also because of his teaching and unabashed challenge at the power that be. he was standing up to the bully Herod- that puppet of Rome- calling him an adulterer due to his near incestuous relationship with his sister-in-law and calling the religious leaders of his day “brood of vipers” he was preaching hell fire and damnation calling for repentance calling on men and women to share their possessions and challenging- the army, and the tax collectors to act ethically and be content with what they had and he was baptising those who responded in the river and what is more when he baptised Jesus , the son of the carpenter, the sky was torn open and a voice declared him to be “My Son, in whom I am well pleased”. WOW now that was a real impact. But now there is an element of confusion- it “looked like” John was the Prophet Elijah or Moses, at least and maybe even Messiah Himself but he nailed that by declaring for all to hear that he was NOT any of them, just a voice, making the way prepared for Messiah. No, I am definitely NOT Messiah or even Elijah or Moses but He is- pointing to Jesus the son of the carpenter- he is the “Passover lamb of God”. He is the one who “takes away the sin of the world”. Here is the confusion- no one had expected this- no one had expected that Messiah would come in this way and no one, but no one had expected that he would take away the sin of the world. The sin of Israel- YES The sin of the world- NO- for goodness sake that includes the Gentiles- what sort of a god would forgive the Gentiles? This one, says John What’s more he now says to those who had left all to become his disciples- I want you to go to Jesus, the “lamb of God”. I want you to become his disciples- my task is finished. To recognise that your job is finished is very difficult- to recognise that the work you have done is to be handed over to another person is very difficult. Some ministers find it very difficult to hand over their work to another but that is exactly what John does. That is the implication of his acknowledgement that Jesus has surpassed him even though he was before him. God had opened his eyes to see that this Jesus was much more than another Rabbi, much more than his cousin- he was the one. Just as Goid opened the eyes of the Apostle Paul many years in the future so he opens the eyes of the Baptist- it took the 12 disciples a lot longer to recognise this but God has revealed it to him and that is what we are called to do in our churches- to reveal Jesus- HOW? By reading the word of God By praising Him By preaching I all these ways we are pointing to Jesus.. BUT the supreme way is to let people see Jesus in our lives. We are His witnesses- perhaps the only witnesses that some people will ever see.. Some will never read the Bible Some will never come near a church But they will see you. John pointed away from himself and to Jesus and that is our task also.- the application for you and me is that we reveal Jesus to all those who enter our lives If John says “GO TO JESUS” Jesus says COME AND SEE Jesus takes the initiative- the usual way for a young boy was to search out a Rabbi he thought would teach him but Jesus turns that on its head when he makes the first move and he chooses the 12 of his band. For him he wanted a band of men who would spend the next three years with- he was to become their mentor. For the next three years he ASSOCIATED with these men: They ate with Jesus The wept with him Slept with him Laughed with him In short they became family. John sends them to Jesus and so they sidle up to him discreetly and Jesus asks them, as he sees them coming- What do you want? I think they probably wanted to spend some time with Him, to ask him some penetrating questions and to see how he would react to certain circumstances and decide if He really was the one John said he was. So Jesus says- “COME AND SEE” They asked- “where are you staying?” The truth was that he had many places where he stayed but he said that he had nowhere to lay his head- he had nowhere he could call home- his home was really with His heavenly father, who was in heaven. So they went with him and became his band of disciples- they went for afternoon tea and stayed til He died. Our lesson is that we need to take the time to spend it with Jesus.- we need to take time to pray to him to read His word to have fellowship with him and I turn this means we need to give time to His people. Jesus tells us to make other disciples and to teach them everything he has taught us. As we see Jesus do so we are to “Go and Do” they are to go into all the world- starting with Jerusalem and Judea and crossing the boundaries of culture, tradition and politics. Acts 1:8 Now we have Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter who came and saw Jesus, spend an afternoon with him and decided this was for him and he hoped that his brother would feel the same and so he goes off to tell him all about this man Jesus. A perfectly natural response and one, which we should want to repeat for ourselves.- v42 HOW ARE WE TO TAKE JESUS TO OUR FAMILY? Pray for them and teach them when they are young- it is important to pray with them before they go to sleep and especially important, if possible, for fathers to read to them- or some other father figure in the family or church.- especially for boys. Whenever possible both parents should play a part in the spiritual life of the children- too many fathers are absentee fathers. We all need to learn about being good parents and that means, among other things- - praising your child when you catch them doing something right - laughing with them - setting boundaries for them which will protect them - refusing to duck the difficult issues - forgiving them when they are wrong - saying sorry whenever you are wrong Give them a good example- demonstration is crucial- James 4 Be available for them- to talk to, to answer the questions they have. Jesus gave Himself to the disciples and that is what we are to do also- for our own family but also for the family of God- to love even if we are not loved in return. Jesus invested His time in the lives of His disciples and he told us to do the same. It was this small group of believers who took the Gospel message and turned the world upside down. Now it our turn to turn this community of distrust, misery and mutual animosity into a place where God reigns. WOW that would be something!!