He First Found His Brother - Part Four

Posted 8/1/14 by Donald Barnhouse
SCRIPTURE
John 1:15-28
 
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

LESSON

Have you ever talked with Jesus Christ for a whole evening? Oh, I tell you the truth-I know what it is to sit at my typewriter with my Bible beside me and my books around me, and to listen for His voice and hear the tones of love and to feel my heart swelling until I didn't think I could contain any more. A thousand times I have known it thus, and only when the body becomes cramped or cold does my eye turn to the clock and I realize, with a start, that the night is long gone toward morning. And after such a night, one is constrained to go out and find his brother. Notice that when Andrew first went to Simon he did not begin with a theological exhortation or with an apologetic argument. He did not invite Simon to a religious ceremony. He testified of a fact that he had seen, and he invited his brother to participate in the experience that he himself had been through. He just simply said, "We've found the Messiah." Then he brought him to Jesus.
 
Throughout his Gospel, John also conveys the direct reality of his own experience with Christ by repeatedly using verbs to reveal his inmost heart: "We have heard Him'; "We have seen Him with our eyes"; "We have looked upon Him"; "We touched Him with our hands"; "We saw that life"; "We have seen Him"; "We have heard Him." He uses seven different verbs, showing the involvement of three of the five senses, to describe his personal involvement with Christ.
 
In addition to one of the common Greek verbs for seeing, there is a second verb that describes a close and meditative scrutiny. This is the verb used in the first chapter of John 1:14 when he writes, "We beheld his glory. . . ." Christ used the same verb when He said, "Lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest"' (John 4:35). We cannot touch Jesus as He bade Thomas and the other disciples to do. But we can see Him-we can see Him with the eyes of the Spirit, and we can hear His voice in the Word, and in the tones and longings that the Spirit brings to the ears of our hearts. And with all our heart and soul and mind we can contemplate Him, meditating on the wonder of His being, thinking of who He is, remembering what He has done for us, realizing the nature of the spiritual blessings which He has promised us.
 
When I was a student I had to fill out a report sheet of work done, of hours studied, of the number of Gospels or Testaments distributed, the number of people witnessed to and, God forgive us, the number of decisions brought about. I once met a fellow student rushing out late one Saturday evening. When I asked him where he was going, he replied that he was going over to the park nearby, to do some "personal work" so he could get the quota he had set for himself.
 
Looking back on that now, I can understand why many of those converts soon became victims of backsliding. There had been no true contact between the worker and Christ. Nor was there any true contact between the heart of the worker and the one to whom the so-called witness was given. Consequently, there was no contact between the needy one and the Lord Himself. In fact, the student preparing for Christian work was more needy than the vagrant in the park. For at least the vagrant knew he was needy, while the student thought he had arrived at a level of spiritual maturity.
STUDY QUESTIONS
  • Is it the deep love that you have for Christ that motivates you to spread the gospel? Or is it out of pride? 
  • How can someone tell when they are evangelising with pride?
  • How often do you realize your need for Christ? Do you consider yourself well off apart from Christ? 
  • What does John teach us here about a deep need for Christ?