MPC
10th February 2019.February 10 - John 1:35-46 - "Invite!"
MPC
10th February 2019.
Phil Campbell
I was looking back through my emails for the last time I got an invitation. Which as it turns out was to an Australia Day BBQ at a friend's place. They'd provide the drinks and the sausages. We'd provide the pav.
When I say we, obviously I'm talking about the one of us who can cook!
There was no pressure. We didn't have to go. But we checked our social calendar. Still empty. Booked it in. And it was great. That's literally the pavlova we took.
Invitations are easy. Getting invited to things by your friends is fun. Think back. To the last time you were invited.
Number 1, it's nice to be included, isn't it? To be thought of.
Number 2, no matter how busy we are, seems like there's always space to fit something in with a friend.
Number 3. There might be an excuse for pavlova.
Now you might think when it comes to inviting people to follow Jesus with us, that's different.
That it's not nice to be thought of. That there's no space in other people's calendars to fit something in with a friend. That there's definitely. Not going to be pavlova involved.
Which is maybe due to a mindset that we've picked up in the last generation or a model we've seen that gives an invitation like that all the credibility of an invitation to a free lunch with a Gold Coast timeshare salesman.
Let me tell you. Unless you really want to buy a lifetime of timeshare holidays, there really is no such thing as a free lunch.
That's not the sort of inviting we're talking about. We're talking about the sort of inviting friends do. The sort of inviting that's been going on right since two of the first followers of Jesus realised they were onto something good. And invited their friends to come and have a look. But more of that in a few minutes.
This is week one of our launch series. If you were with us late last year, we introduced what we're calling our big four words as the backbone of our ministry model. Four things. That we're committed to doing as the core of what we're on about as a church. Built around our four key words,
Invite. Grow. Love. And send.
And look, I know there are people who are dubious already. At the thought of creating a focus; of setting particular priorities. About the dangers of highlighting any four things over the other two hundred things that happen in a church.
Lou and I are working through a book of daily bible readings by John Stott. And he made a great comment on a passage from Genesis 1 that was talking about creation.
He said that God created the garden and he made it to grow. And then he gave us the job of tending it. To bring order to it.
My dad was a great gardener. He'd always plant things in rows. I'd help him driving in the stakes. Running wire along for the beans.
He'd always know exactly when to water. He'd always know what to plant in what month. And when things were ready to pick.
In his first letter to the Corinthians the apostle Paul says church is like a garden. And he says leaders like Apollos and himself do the planting and watering. While God gives the growth.
Sometimes a bit of organising. Is good for the garden. Sometimes a bit of focus just helps make sure the things that need to be done; like the planting and watering; are the things that are getting done.
And over this four week series, we want to show you how invite and grow and love and send are four priorities that come right out of the New Testament.
We haven't just made them up. And they're not just minor things we're promoting as majors.
They're four words that spell out a pathway; that's a pathway to being healthy followers of Jesus and a healthy church. Or that you can shape into a cycle.
As we invite people to follow Jesus with us. As we grow more like Jesus together. As we love with servant hearts; and then equip and send you out. As ambassadors of Jesus to whereever you live or you work or you go to school; or to the Congo or Japan or the other side of the world. Or to Ithaca to help restart a church; or to Queensland Theological College as a ministry student... gearing up to invite people to follow Jesus. All over again.
So today. Word number 1.
Invite. Which comes with a phrase. That says we're inviting others to follow Jesus with us.
And because we live in an age of icons for everything on your microwave or your iPhone or your favourite hipster coffee shop... as a very simple reminder... that as we're inviting others to follow Jesus with us, we'll be praying that God adds to our number.
That as we plant and water; as we hold out the invitation to follow Jesus with us; God will give the growth in his time, in his way, in his season.
If you're here this morning and you're not following Jesus already, I don't want you to go home in any doubt. We're a church that's mad keen for you to take the invitation seriously to join us in following Jesus.
We're not ordering you to. We're not hatching a plan to set up a Christian caliphate and give you no choice. We're not trying to brain wash you and manipulate you to sign up to a sect. We're not trying to get your money. Or sell you something.
We're just friends saying to friends, hey, following Jesus is fantastic. And I don't know all the answers.But so far in following Jesus I've found some of the answers.
Not all the answers. Because we've still got plenty of questions. But enough answers to say to a friend, come and see.
So let's watch it playing out in our bible passage from John chapter 1. Because at verse 35 where we started, Jesus has got no followers at all. And John the Baptist is the hottest ticket in town. He's drawing huge crowds.
And yet it seems John has been constantly talking up Jesus instead of himself.
He's at Bethany on the far side of the Jordan River. And he's already said to the crowd, there's somebody here who's going to be way bigger than I am. Someone who's going to wash you not just with water. But with the Holy Spirit. I'm not even worthy to do up his shoelaces.
Next day, this is in the section just before we read. He sees Jesus walking towards him, and he says, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." The one who's going to take the place of our Jewish Passover sacrifice. That he'll take on himself the punishment for our sin; that he'll wash us clean.
And the next day, verse 35 where we picked up the reading, this time John's walking with two of his own disciples and he sees Jesus passing by and he says, "Look! The lamb of God." That's not someone you see every day! Make sure you get a good look.
Which they do.
I don't know if you've ever met a celebrity. But sometimes it's easy to get tongue tied.
Like Mark Ruffalo when he met Morgan Freeman at the Oscars. If you can see the picture, you can see the look on his face.
These guys aren't too worried. They just dump John. Turn around. And follow Jesus instead. Jesus sees them, he says what do you want? And they say, verse 37, "Teacher, where are you staying?" Can we come to your place?
To which Jesus replies with an invitation. Come. And you will see.
Now the thing is, words like that are kind of loaded. Because they're not just going to see the spare room in an Airbnb where Jesus has left his backpack. By the time we get to verse 50 they're going to see way more than that. If you read it later on, they're actually going to see that Jesus himself is like the connection point between heaven and earth. God and man. Come and you'll see that.
But at this point, off they go; 4 in the afternoon. And spend the rest of the day with him. Although Andrew, on the way, runs off to find his brother Simon, and invites him to come and see too.
In fact, verse 41 says, it's the first thing he does. Read the words in verse 41, because I want to put it to you, here's what's going to become the New Testament model of disciple making.
41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
The first thing Andrew does is he finds his brother Simon and he says to him, "We've found something! We've found the messiah. The Christ. The anointed one." And he brings him to Jesus.
Now again, will you just notice: at this point Andrew's not a Jesus expert. Heck, he's hardly spent ten minutes with him. He hasn't had any training; he hasn't got all the answers. But he knows enough to know that Jesus is worth a look. And he wants his brother to be part of it as well.
I mean, if it's a fizzer, they can go out for some hummus and a kebab afterwards. It's only a bit after four o'clock.
Interesting though if you're following in verse 42, Jesus has already said come and see in verse 39. The idea of looking and seeing, by my count it comes up 11 times in 16 verses.
And the interesting thing is that before Simon can get a good look at Jesus... Jesus has already had a good look at him. And flips the script. Verse 42,
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).
Jesus looks at him and says, "You're Simon son of John. But I'm going to call you Cephas. Peter. The rock.
Not to be confused with Dwayne Johnson. But the same idea. Because the other gospels explain is because he's the substantial guy Jesus is going to build his church on. As the first apostolic leader.
And he's only there because his brother Andrew invited him to come and have a look.
Now verse 43, if you weren't watching properly the first time; the whole cycle is going to happen all over again. It's the next day. And it's like ground-hog day. In that it's a total re-run.
First step, Jesus calls Philip. "Follow me." And he does.
And next thing you know, Philip, verse 45, finds Nathanael; and tells him. "We've found the one Moses wrote about in the law. The one the prophets wrote about. It's Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph."
Now just to show that inviting isn't always easy, straight away from Nathanael there's pushback. Kind of like, he's from Sydney. How can anything good come from south of the border?
That's what Nathanael says. He's sceptical. He's underwhelmed. He's unmoved by Philip's enthusiasm. Jesus of Nazareth? That dumb little town? How can anything good come from there?
To which Philip says exactly the words Jesus said back in verse 39.
It's the classic invitation for a sceptical friend. Take a look for yourself. I mean, if you've got any friends at all, I know you'll have sceptical friends. And I'll almost guarantee for most of them that the last time they thought seriously about the claims of Jesus, if they ever did... was as a kid. Or they got to the confirmation class when they were 13, and then they never had to go to church again. Or they had a boring Religious Instruction teacher at school. Let me urge you, while we've still got RI classes, if you're a teacher, do your best to not be boring!
Look at what Philip says. And again, you don't have to be an expert experienced Christian to say it. This is day one following Jesus.
Nathanael says can anything good come from Nazareth. And Philip simply says... here's the invitation. Verse 46. "Come and see." And he does. And his life is turned upside down.
Now look, it's tempting to say that sounds easy, I know. And yet in our culture, it's not. I know. It's hard. And it's awkward. And Nathaniel's scepticism, it's nothing compared to the withering looks you're going to get from your sister, or your neighbour, or your team members at work.
And yet it's still an invitation worth offering. And one we've gotta keep holding out relationally and authentically and openly to our friends. It's more likely to work in the context of relationship, in the context where you've built up trust. Andrew goes to his brother. Philip goes to his friend.
But you know, maybe you're tempted to say it'll never work. If you're a Christian, so used to being on the defensive, so used to being on the back foot, so conditioned by the media. That even saying coming and see; you think it'll never happen. So many knock backs already that you've given up.
Convinced that no one, ever again, is going to hear that invitation and say yes. No one ever again. Is going to decide it's time to follow Jesus.
Imagine a world like that. In a generation from now. With no Christianity.
No Jesus. A world with nobody confident of their own forgiveness. And no forgiveness to offer anyone else. No grace. And everybody either living in a subconscious fear of judgement. Or even worse, as if there's no judgement at all. And you can do what you like.
Imagine a world with no right or wrong. Except maybe animal rights; or the environment. Worshipping nothing bigger than yourself. Or even worse. Worshipping anything at all. No regard for fairness or justice or telling the truth. Just saying and doing whatever suits you.
Imagine. a world like that. No RI classes in schools. The name of Jesus never spoken. No Christians gathering week by week to encourage one another; no mid week growth groups. Just you on your own. The last Christian on the planet.
Look, let me tell you, it's not the government we've got to worry about. It's not a left wing conspiracy you need to rage against on Facebook.
It's us.
And the thought that maybe we'll never ever get around to inviting anyone else to follow Jesus with us. The thought that maybe we'll never be prepared to say, come and see. To anyone.
Because deep down we're persuaded in our hearts nobody will say yes. And there'll never be another disciple of Jesus in our lifetime. Or beyond.
Look I know that's a dark picture. And I know there are people working with an anti-Christian agenda. But Jesus is bigger than that. And when ever you invite someone to come and see Jesus. He'll actually be at work looking into them. As he did with Peter. As he did if you read on in the passage with Nathanael.
The reality is, in 21st century Australia, bowling up to your brother or your friend or your next door neighbour and saying come and see what it's like following Jesus... maybe not quite so easy. Because for one thing, they're not desperately waiting for the messiah like the Israelites were. Who needs a messiah when you've got Netflix and a 60 inch TV?
And yet I've got a feeling that if you've been following Jesus for a while yourself. Even just a little while. Somewhere beyond the awkwardness you'd love the chance. To be an Andrew. Or a Philip. At the very least, love the chance to be part of a team that's inviting people to come and see; to come and follow Jesus.
As a church we want to be that team. And we want you to be the kind of star player that's in there looking for every opportunity to make contact with the ball.
So maybe for you, you might like to invite a friend along to hear Franklin Graham at the River Stage in a couple of week's time. When his dad Billy Graham came to Australia in 1959, he drew a crowd of 130,000 people to the Melbourne Cricket Ground - the ground record. Half of them were there because they were invited by a friend. They ran a campaign called Be An Andrew. You just have to say come and see.
Maybe you prefer small scale. So maybe you'd like to invite a friend to read through John's gospel with you... a small slice at a time. Over a weekly coffee. We can get you a great resource for doing that. You don't need to be an expert. Andrew had been following Jesus for one day. Learn together; question together. As you read. All you've gotta do is invite them to come and see. You might say nobody's going to say yes to that. But the reality is in England where the resource was launched, thousands of people. Have done exactly that.
Maybe. Just maybe. You could take the plunge and take on a class and become a non boring RI teacher in your local school. Talk to Kylie afterwards. And she'll tell you how.
Maybe this year you could plan and pray to invite a friend to one of our invitation events. Like our Food for Thought dinner. Or a men's fire night. Or women's Summer Sweets and Stories. Just ask them to come and look. Or else, and this is what I really want to push today, or else be part of a team help make events like that happen. Our invite team. That's driven by the goal not of putting on social events. But creating ways to help one another invite our friends to follow Jesus with us.
Or any Sunday... invite a friend to church. I know people say church is weird. But every Sunday we're busting to be as un-weird as we can. And as welcoming as we can. Because we're just ordinary people. Following Jesus. In a way that make sense. Teaching the bible in a way that makes sense.
We really serious about inviting people to follow Jesus with us. So if you're new today, we want to welcome you into our minimally weird church family. To open our hearts and our hands. And welcome well.
And look, I keep hearing from people who say that it's actually great stepping into a church that makes sense to people. Because it's finally made Jesus make sense to them.
And as a final note, if you're part of our church and you've got a passion to welcome well because you really want to invite them to follow Jesus with us; we'd love to talk to you. Send me a text right now. Tell me you're interested.
Christine Keyte sent me a quote the other day.
Hospitality means treating someone like they belong, before they belong, until they belong.
To which Christine added, this is how I feel we should treat newcomers to MPC. I couldn't agree more. So if you feel the same and you want to help make it happen... text me. And before you go, pick up a copy of our welcome teams training guide. And check it out to see what's involved.
Beyond that, maybe you'd like to help us run Startup over three Monday nights? Let us know. We need loads of people to be part of it. Text me. The number's on the screen an in your bulletin.
And then sign up for our Boot-camp training event coming up on the 11th of March. Because we'd just love to have loads of people gearing up to invite others to follow Jesus with us. Like Andrew and Philip. "Come and see." In every small way we can. That's step number 1. In our big 4.