Conversion Experiences

Read John 1:35-51

In this part of John, John focuses on the disciples' conversion experiences, specifically five of the 12. John demonstrates in this passage that first of all, conversion experiences differ, and secondly, the different instruments that God uses for witnessing.

We can learn a few lessons from this passage on sharing salvation. First of all, when sharing Christ with others, we see from this passage that different personalities need different approaches (we will look at this more closely in a bit). We also see that only the Holy Spirit can effectively lead us in witnessing. In addition, we see that no method or system works every time. Ultimately you have to seek discernment from the Holy Spirit for each time you are witnessing.

           

The first two men mentioned in this chapter heard a preacher (Andrew and John), Simon and Nathanael were brought to Christ by other individuals, and lastly, Philip was found by Christ himself. Looking at these five men's experiences, we see God's instruments for witnessing. First of all, God uses the preaching of his followers, secondly, he uses the personal work of individuals, and sometimes, even if the first two are present, he uses circumstances to draw his people to him. We also see that Christ's way of addressing these men who became followers of him varied according to the individuals' needs and personalities. For the first two men, he tested their motives by asking them "what do you seek?" He let Peter know that He knew all about him but would transform him. He simply commanded Philip to "Follow me." And he spoke a gracious word to disarm Nathanael.

Now, when I taught this in class, I took time here to discuss their own salvation. So, before we dig farther into each of these men's conversion experiences, I will share with you some of the applications we discussed in class. After we discussed salvation and I gave the students a chance to write their conversion experiences, we discussed some signs of salvation. First of all, upon meeting Christ, we see that the disciples wanted to be with Jesus all of the time, which is a sure sign of salvation. In addition, we discussed that sometimes your interest and desire for Christ may wane, but that we have hope in Christ and the fact that He will not let us go.

*OK, Let’s look at how Christ  met His disciples’ specific individual needs.*

Looking at John 1:40-41, we see the conversion experience of Andrew. In this passage, it says that he is one of two who heard a preacher (this preacher was John the Baptist). We assume that this is John the Apostle because the writer does not give a name. In this passage however, looking at Andrew, we see that he is satisfied with Christ and has so much joy in Christ that he immediately needs to share it with others ( a sure sing of his salvation). If you think about it, we tend to advertise the things we enjoy. So, if we are satisfied in Christ and enjoy our relationship with Christ, it is only natural that we will have a desire to share Christ with others.

Next, look at John 1:42. In this verse, Christ empowers Peter. Obviously, in this brief conversation with Christ, we see that Christ was aware of Peter's personality and his strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps Peter was thinking, "I can't follow him. I'm too weak; I curse, lie, and cheat; I'm only a rough uneducated fisherman." However, we see Christ calm those fears by telling Peter, "You shall be called Cephas," which translated means rock. Christ is demonstrating the fact that He can take a man who would be considered unfit and make him into one of the great leaders of our church.

Moving onto John 1:43-44, we see the conversion experience of Philip. If we look at Luke 19:10, we see that Philip was a doubter. However, even despite the fact that Philip had doubts in life, we see that the simple command of Christ's to "follow me," rang with so much authority and power for Philip that he simply followed Christ in blind obedience. In fact, he then sought out Nathanael, who we will come to in a minute. The incredible part of this passage is that Philip had not met Christ before, yet he left everything to follow this stranger upon Christ's simple command. Not only does this demonstrate Philip's blind obedience to Christ, but Christ's power and influence (Mark 1:22 states that Christ "taught them as one that had authority, and not as scribes.").

The last one that we will look at is Nathanael in John 1:43-51. In this passage, Christ sees Nathanael and declares him to be an "Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Guile means to be "open and honest." Now, backing up, when Philip comes to find Nathanael, Nathanael is sitting under a fig tree. In 1 Kings 4:25 and Micah 4:4, the fig tree is used as a place of safety. This is symbolic because Nathanael is called away from the security of the fig tree to the greater security of Christ. Of course, these is a lesson in here for us in the fact that we need to learn to leave the security of our money, homes, popularity, etc, to follow Christ.

Not only does the fig tree represent security, but it was also the traditional place of mediation for devout Jews and rabbis. Because of its great shade, it was a most comfortable place to meditate on the Old Testament law. Obviously, Nathanael was a very devout Jew. So, when Philip came to him speaking of the Messiah, Nathanael challenged Philip and said, "can there be any good thing that comes out of Nazareth?" Philip, being new in his faith, handled this doubt/question well by simply taking Nathanael to Christ. When he does meet Christ, Christ answered Nathanael's objections by displaying omniscience and omnipresence, demonstrating that Christ knows all about us, including our hearts.

Reflection: Can you identify with any of these men's experiences? How did you come to know Christ? How is your life a testimony of God's instruments of witnessing?