John 1:43-51, "Can anything good come from a small town? Come and see..."

Pray-
John 1:43-51
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."
49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
50 Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51 He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Joke: A boy gives his pastor a quarter- the pastor asks little Johnnie, why did you give me this quarter-
The boy said "you need it"
Why do you think that?
My dad said you’re the poorest preacher he’s ever heard.
The same words- can mean different things to different people
a Person’s reputation- a town’s reputation can be understood very differently by people of different vantage points
Nathanael understood Nazareth to be a dead end town- "no-where-ville"
History understands Nazareth to be the home town of Jesus the Christ
Life is a struggle of conflicting realities.
Example- Evil is real, but not as real as GOOD- because evil has no eternal reality. Evil has its roots not in God- but in created beings perverting good things that God has made.
So bigotry is very real- but love will always win out in the very end- because bigotry is a perversion- a non-God originated idea- God created people- and then people start to think some of us are better than some others- this evil is not going to last forever.
As if Bethsaida is better than Nazareth- simply because of reputation
Or make it Palouse and Garfield- Potlatch and Troy- the truth is the same
So there are Conflicting realities in this life
We are going to focus in on one Reality Conflict
Reputation "Reality" vs. Resurrection Reality
1.reputation means= commonly held estimation- public
2. "Opinion" Reality
3.Your family’s opinion of you-
Your opinion of yourself
4.We allow reputation to speak volumes
5.I know the statistics of
My family- two children, two parents- My town and zip code-
My church
Resurrection Reality
1.Resurrection Means= life coming out of death
2.Reality that survives death
3. Only God knows our FULL potential for Good-
4. We should allow God’s word to speak volumes
5.A family, a town, a church- is much more than a set of statistics we often place artificial limits on the good we can do- its not up to us- or even stats- its up to God
Intimidation vs. Invitation
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"- Nathanael’s words, were words meant to challenge or intimidate Philip’s hopeful statement
How often we do this- Someone says they have found something good in their life- something hopeful- and we respond with a cynical, biting intimidating statement- "I’ve found the savior- he’s from Nazareth" Oh great- Nazareth. Or we hear or say, "I met Jesus." And the response is great, woopee- that's original!
Our human trait of focusing on the negative- rather than the good news
But Philip and Jesus are inviting people- Come and See, Come and follow me- Jesus even compliments Nathanael- though Nath. Had insulted his home town- he doesn’t respond with intimidation, he responds with invitation- inviting Nath to a new way of living- living in a world where people really know each other- not just by reputation- but by God’s plan
where people really forgive each other- not to look good- but because they know life is more than just appearances
where people really help and love each other- not to gain advantage- but because we believe that we are created precisely to do two things- love God and love each other
It’s not about man-made religion- that is being from the right town, the correct tribe,
[Aside here- we don’t intimidate people into coming to worship= we invite- We don’t badger people- laying on the guilt- be kind]
saying the exact right words at the right times. NO- it’s all about following Jesus- and seeing and living life as it was meant to be lived- and invite others to see God’s love for us and His plans for us. we don’t want a super religious church or a super-religious town, No we want more people trying to live life like Jesus would if he were in our shoes
You are invited to meet Jesus?
Have you invited anyone to meet Jesus lately?
We should not take this invitation lightly
It is an invitation to see greater things
To see beyond the world’s reality- to God’s reality
To see beyond the rumors of this world- to see real truth
To see beyond who people say you are- who you say you are- and instead see who your really are in God’s eyes- a beloved child of God
Jesus Reality- tells us that God thinks we are all priceless- we are all worth the sacrifice of Christ
Come and See- An Invitation to see Greater Things
There is an invitation for you today on the insert.
Invitation- is it your day to start following Jesus? Come and see? He knows where you’ve been and he has a plan for you? Come and See.