12-28-2025 - COME AND SEE - John 1 14:43-51

Lou Hernández
Jan 4
9 min read

MESSAGE BY PASTOR DANIEL PARK

FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC

+++++

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J. Magda- Laci M. Gloria F, Miguel A H. Silvia H, Manuel D, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M, Oscar ND. Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

+++++

As another year comes to an end, the inevitable end-of-year best-of lists, recaps, rewinds, and wraps are upon us

Something that always interests me are the “Word of the Year” mentions
- dictionary.com's Word of the year, isn’t even a word: 6-7
- Oxford’s word of the year is, “rage bait
  - Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.
- The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2025 is… para-social
  - involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence
  - Merriam-Webster’s Word of the year is, “slop”
    - digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of A I.

There’s quite a common thread isn’t there?

The pervasiveness of social media and the drive for engagement of people for profit

Whether we like it or not, use it or not, know it or not, relationships in the 2020’s has gone digital and is very different from even 15 years ago

The Church, for the most part have stayed fairly traditional
But then COVID came along and forced it into a new age

I cheekily call myself a techno-evangelist

I like technology, I like to utilize it to make my life easier, better, more fun and interesting
And it was fascinating to witness churches (and pastors) being dragged screaming into utilizing more technology
But I also noticed some alarming things with the rise of online worship
It decentralized worship, which made it convenient
It also made it more accessible, to a point where it devalued or even erased the element of personal relationships in spirituality
It made worship - consumable

God could have sent an angel to every single person on earth to notify them of the Messiah’s arrival

And that they should all like, subscribe and turn on notifications because the Christ has some GOOD NEWS for them! But God did it the hard way, the slow way, the painful way
Because salvation needs more than engagement and likes
Salvation requires love, sacrifice and new life

God sent His Son, and Jesus CAME to the world so that we could SEE Him, to KNOW Him, and believe in Him

And this is a pattern for us, to grow in Christ

Jesus CAME so we could SEE Him

As someone who is technically minded, analytical, and result oriented, I firmly believe that good teaching is not how people come to know Jesus

Nor great worship (whatever that means) - and I say that as a worship leader of 25 years.

In teacher-disciple relationships, it was usually the student who would seek out a teacher to follow and study under

Even today, a lot of people choose to attend a certain institution to study under a particular professor
But Jesus, came and sought out sinners in need of salvation, and called those He chose to be His disciples
In verse 43 Jesus DECIDES to go to Galilee and FINDS Philip and tells him to “follow”
There is obviously a lot here behind the scenes that we don’t know about Jesus deciding to call Philip

And then, Philip goes and finds Nathanael and tells him, “We have found the Messiah, and His name is Jesus, from Nazareth, a son of Joseph”
Funnily, Nathanael is sceptical for some reason that the Messiah would come from Nazareth
Maybe it’s if someone told you, I have found the most amazing Chinese restaurant with 3 Michelin stars in ALDERGROVE
- A little random
To which, Philip says, COME AND SEE

Jesus and His teaching did go viral

Think about it, if Jesus came today and he went around healing blindness with mud made of spit, feeding thousands of people with 1 happy meal, turning water into wine
There would have been people with smartphones to take pictures and videos to post all over the place
Jesus would have been packing out auditoriums and stadiums with people wanting to listen to Him speak
BUT, the real work of discipling was not in those times
Jesus taught His disciples in more private and personal times, between those miracles and teaching thousands of people.

Jesus wanted people to come and see personally

He taught them personally

When Philip realised who Jesus was, but Nathanael wasn’t convinced, Philip didn’t try to persuade Nathanael with arguments and knowledge

Philip just said, you come, and see for yourself
Come and meet Jesus
Because Philip knew that as a disciple and follower, his job wasn’t to teach anyone
It was to bring people to the Teacher.

Salvation and growing in Jesus begins and continues with seeing and meeting Jesus for ourselves

And if we know Jesus, we want people we know to come and meet Jesus as well
For our friends and family to be saved by Jesus
By beginning a relationship with Jesus

As Philip and later Nathanael came and met Jesus, they realised that Jesus already knew them inside and out, because before they came to see Jesus, Jesus already SAW them far in advance

Disciples invite people to come and see Jesus, but ultimately, it is Jesus who calls everyone

Sometimes reading the calling of the Twelve disciples it seems almost random
But none of it is random
Jesus knew everyone of them before calling them
He was purposeful, sometimes more obviously than others - like with Philip

Seeing Nathanael coming towards Him with Philip, Jesus pays Nathanael a huge compliment:

“Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
A true Israelite
A true patriot

How do you know me? Nathanael asks

“I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you” Jesus says

The short sentence is loaded with extra meaning

When Jesus said, before Philip found you:
Jesus was saying that He knew Nathanael already
I saw you, I knew you before Philip thought about looking for you and calling you
Philip found you because I had already called you

The fig tree is also very symbolic

It’s kind of like the oak tree in western literature
It represented and was often sought out for prayer and meditation in seeking after God
A lot of commentators are convinced that Nathanael was in fact praying and enquiring after God for the messiah
So Nathanael was a man who had a burden of love and intercession for his country and people
- Jesus specifically calls and identifies Nathanael as an Israelite, not just a man
- And Nathanael, somehow convinced, immediately calls Jesus,
  - Rabbi (teacher)
  - The son of God - LONG before Peter says it
  - The King of Israel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlr05RdQgQQ

Nathanael is the real MVP disciple

Nathanael is not just being held up as a model Israelite, but also a model disciple

Not only is he someone seeking after God and His kingdom,
Nathanael is described as “a man of complete integrity” or "in whom there is no deceit”

First, he is honest and does not lie

Lying is for self-preservation
Lying is essentially about maintaining one’s own pride
A person of integrity knows how to be humble instead

It also means lacking guile - sly, cunning intelligence

A calculating wit
Calculating for the benefit of yourself
Often to benefit at the cost of others
Because the most important person is me

But the greatest deceit is hypocrisy

To say one thing and do another
This was what Jesus hated about the religious leaders and teachers of His day
Mahatma Gandhi supposedly said: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
- This happens when disciples don't live as disciples.
- When disciples think they are the master instead .

For Nathanael to be a person of complete integrity and have no deceit means that he was emptied, and ready to receive from God and to be filled by Him

To be taught and shaped by Jesus
As he spends more time with Jesus.

In the same way Jesus saw Nathanael, Jesus saw us too

That is why you are here, listening to this
You were invited to come and see for yourself because Jesus saw you and knows you

Jesus already knows us

He knows us all our greatest achievements, skills and gifts
And He knows all our fears, failures, and disappointments

And He may be convicting you of some mistakes

But only because He wants to forgive you of those mistakes
Because He wants to you see how much He loves you and cares for you
So much so that He died, so you could live a new life
As a child of God

And as a child of God, we WILL SEE heaven

Nathanael, held up as a model Israelite is now contrasted with the original Israel - Jacob - whose very name means deceiver

v. 51 is very reminiscent of Jacob's dream at Bethel on his way to his uncle's house in Gen 28
Where God confirms His covenant with the line of Abraham
The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Jacob's name would later be changed to Israel and father a nation that is set apart for God
The people of Israel were meant to be the avenue through which the families of the earth will be blessed
But Israel became proud
Inward looking
They took God's blessing for granted, continually forgot God, rebelled against God and His laws
The laws that were meant to teach them how to live

for God
Now God's own son, Jesus, came, and with him, the heavens open up and the Son of Man establishes God's kingdom here on earth once and for all in the hearts of those who would believe in the Son
And Jesus began this with the calling of His disciples - that continues to this day

Nathanael, one of Jesus' first disciples saw the beginning of this new Israel, that goes beyond a nation and people, expanded not by birth, but discipleship and relationship

And we are Jesus' disciples the same way Nathanael was and we expand this new kingdom by calling people to join the body, formed under the head which is Christ

Do you see it? Look around you.

You, as a disciple are building the kingdom of God
Sometimes I wonder if we think too small when it comes to the kingdom of God - too simple
Especially our place/role in it
You build it by being the blessing to the families of the earth as God intended His people to be
And the greatest blessing is the Good news of Jesus.
To find your brother, your sister, parents, friends, your teachers, your students
And invite them to come and see Jesus
And believe in him

Then they will also see

Can we reflect on our state of discipleship?

Do we consider ourselves as disciples?
Why are we here? What does it mean to call ourselves Christians or to come to church?
Reflect ourselves against the mirror that is the Word of God
See our reflection for what it is

We are being reminded of our calling as a disciple.

Following Jesus is challenging
Even Nathanael, as glowing was his commendation when called, ran away when Jesus was dragged away and sentenced to death.

Can we consider our hearts in light of our first love?