Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 7 Study # 1
March 26, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: The beginning of "discipleship" is found in the answer to Jesus' question: What are you seeking?
Introduction: In this brief paragraph, we are introduced to the issue of "discipleship" by Author-John. And, like I did in the previous paragraph, I am going to jump ahead of some of the material in order to address the key question that Jesus asked two of Witness-John's disciples as they responded to their "teacher's" second identification of Jesus of Nazareth as "The Lamb of God". That question is this: "What are you seeking?" This question is not "What is God seeking of you?"; this question is also context-specific so that the superficial answer is given in the form of another question ("Where are you staying?"); but this question is, essentially, "What is the underlying 'want' that is driving your decision to follow Me?" Jesus could have said, "Why are you following Me?" That was, after all, why He turned to them to ask His question. But, He, apparently, wanted them to tell Him the answer to the deeper question: "What are you seeking that causes you to follow Me?"
This question is not superficial, but the answer the disciples give Him is. This morning we are going to look into the fundamental meaning of Jesus' question.
- I. Author-John's Focus Of Attention.
- A. On the face of it, he was focused upon the two of Witness-John's disciples who "followed" Jesus to the place where He was staying at that time.
- 1. He uses "follow" twice in these five verses and twice more in the next paragraph of this record.
- 2. He relates how this "following" ends up with the two spending the night in the place where Jesus was staying.
- a. He does not tell us where Jesus was staying.
- b. He does tell us that the two stayed where Jesus was staying because it was relatively late in the day.
- c. And He does tell us that the two disciples understood Jesus to be a "Rabbi" (translating the Hebrew word into Greek -- thus indicating that Author-John was anticipating Gentile ignorance of Hebrew).
- 1) This is the first "hint" we are given to the answer to our question: "What are you seeking?" has part of its answer in the disciples' perception of Jesus as a Teacher; they were seeking the understanding that this Teacher could give them.
- 2) Another early "hint" is the fact that these two are called "disciples of John"; which meant that they had embraced (to some degree) the message of John as a "teacher".
- B. Because there are four days deliberately linked by Author-John in this context, we have to understand that he wanted his readers to consider that the answer to Jesus' question was the reason that these four days marked a "beginning" of the relationship between Jesus and certain men.
- 1. On the first of the four days (1:24-28), Witness-John's focus is upon The One Coming After him in terms of His enormously superior moral character.
- 2. On the second of the four days (1:29-34), Witness-John's focus is upon Jesus as The Lamb Of God Who takes the burden of "sin" off of the shoulders of those who have accepted his message.
- a. This is the beginning of Witness-John's expansion of his message so that his disciples might begin to understand "How" God can forgive sinners without sacrificing His own "Justice".
- b. This is the explanation of "How" Jesus' moral character is enormously superior to John's: He is willing to sacrifice Himself to an extreme degree for His enemies.
- 3. And on the third of the four days (1:35-42) we have the focus of our study this morning.
- 4. And on the fourth day (1:43-51 Jesus purposed to go into Galilee and called Philip to "Follow Me."
- II. At Issue On This Third Day Is The Question: What Are You Seeking?
- A. This question has multiple layers.
- 1. What were you seeking when you became disciples of Witness-John?
- 2. What are you seeking now that you have turned to another "Teacher"?
- 3. What are you seeking that keeps you from giving a better answer than "Where are you staying?"
- 4. What is really driving you?
- B. The answer to the question has to go through the layers and get to the bottom line.
