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The Skeptic Guide – Encounters With Jesus 2024/25

Resources


Today’s Bible Readings: John 1:1-5, John 1:36-51 CSB

Encounters With Jesus Book:

Copies are in the church or you can find it at one of these links:

Koorong: https://go.hornsbya.xyz/ewj-koorong

Amazon: https://go.hornsbya.xyz/ewj-amazon

Transcription


Voices, lots to continue over Morning Tea.

We’re going to have our Bible reading now, and it is from John chapter 1, and there’s two sections, verse 1 to 5 and 36 to 51.

I’ll give you a moment to find it, if you’d like to follow along.

So it’s John 1, 1-5, and then 36-51 on page 942.

Thank you.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

All things were created through him, and apart from him, not one thing was created that has been created.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

And then from verse 36.

When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, Look, the Lamb of God.

The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, What are you looking for?

They said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying?

Come and you’ll see, he replied.

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day.

It was about four in the afternoon.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him.

He first found his own brother Simon and told him, We have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ, and he brought Simon to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, he said, You are Simon, son of John.

You will be called Cephas, which is translated Peter.

The next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee, and he found Philip and told him, Follow me.

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathaniel and told him, We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and so did the prophets.

Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nathaniel asked him.

Come and see, Philip answered.

Then Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him and said about him, Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.

How do you know me?

Nathaniel asked.

Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you, Jesus answered.

Rabbi, Nathaniel replied, You are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel.

Jesus responded to him.

Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree?

You will see greater things than this.

Then he said, truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

Now, our series over the next five weeks, like during the holidays and into January, is Encounters with Jesus.

Got a little graphic there.

Unexpected Answers to Life’s Big Questions.

Over this series, we’ll be looking at Jesus encountering various people and offering answers that may be unexpected.

That’s why it says Unexpected Answers to Life’s Big Questions.

This will be a good series, though, to invite people to.

It will be geared toward those seeking answers, spiritual answers.

It will be good for Christians, us as well, as we want to know how to share Jesus with others.

And it’s based, part of it is based on a book.

So there’s a book with the same title, Encounters with Jesus by Tim Keller.

I’m going to unashamedly quote from this over the next few weeks.

There are copies up the back, or a few copies.

If you would like to take one, not a problem.

You might want to read it or give it to a friend.

If you want a copy, if there’s none there, let me know.

Write on the comment cards.

Let me know so that we can get some more.

I think I’ve got a few more in order.

So please do take one of those and you can read it as we go through the weeks.

Our first encounter this morning is with a skeptic.

This is what we’re encountering or this is who Jesus encounters.

And it addresses perhaps the most fundamental question, where should we look for answers to the big questions of life?

Where should we look?

Our skeptic, well before we get to them, our skeptic turn with me to John 1.

It’s on page 942.

Yep, 942.

I know John 1 is on 941, but let’s look at 942.

The next page.

Because before we get to our skeptic, there is a man named Philip.

Have a look at what it says in verse 44.

He says there, We have found the one, this is Philip speaking, Moses, who Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth.

Philip is saying, he is the one with the answers.

This is where we are to find God.

Or he’s saying, he says in his way, he says, we found the one Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets.

Essentially, that means it’s shorthand for saying, the law and the prophets is the Bible.

He’s saying, we’ve found this one, that all of the prophecies point toward, all of what we know about points toward.

He’s a person named Jesus, son of Nazareth, sorry, son of Joseph in Nazareth.

Here is where you look for meaning in life.

Phillips reckons he’s found the answer.

He’s found the place.

So now we get to our skeptic.

How does Nathaniel respond?

What does he say in the next verse, verse 46?

Really?

Can anything good come from Nazareth?

You can almost hear the pfft underneath all the pfft, don’t even bother.

Is there anything really, really worthwhile here?

Or even, it’s beneath Nathaniel.

Arta, disdain and contempt.

Because what’s vital to know here is that Nazareth is the backwater of backwaters.

You know, there are people, always people that we look down on, dependent on where they come from.

And you know, that if there are people that we look down on, then there are people that look down on us, and then there are people that the chain goes on, you know.

And the irony here, or the funny thing is, Nathaniel is from Galilee, which is up to the north.

And the people in Jerusalem, from the city, probably look down on the people from Galilee, where Nathaniel is from.

But you see, Nathaniel is from Galilee, and when you’re from Galilee, there’s always someone else, and they’re from Nazareth.

And that is just even more out in the boondocks, you know, way away, way.

There’s always someone else lower to look down upon.

There are the right people, the smart people, the suitable people, and then there are those others, the ones that we don’t want to associate with or that we don’t want to know.

And the way that we signal that we’re with the right people and the smart people and the suitable people is to show contempt or to roll our eyes at those or just to ignore the wrong people and the places that they’re mentioned.

And what’s interesting here, what’s even more interesting is Nathaniel, as you know, is a skeptic.

Later on, we find out he’s a seeker of truth.

He probably thinks that he is a rational person.

He’s seeking to understand the truth through logic and reason.

He probably thinks he’s open to finding out about God and to knowing God through logical stuff, through rationality, through learning, look at all the evidence and understanding and everything, but look at what he does.

He actually, it’s not through rationality.

He just says, there’s nothing that good can come out of Nazareth.

Through disdain and contempt, he’s already written off where to find God and he’s not interested.

All of this may come as no surprise to you.

You’re probably aware of Christianity and how it may be viewed.

Maybe you have friends and family who dismiss Christianity and think of it as outdated, regressive, plain stupid.

But here, Nathaniel, the little lesson is, Nathaniel, in being the skeptic, has already dismissed it, ridicule and disdain.

He’s not open to the possibility of where he might find God and he’s already killed that possibility in the relationship where he’s getting, he’s on that track anyway.

Because he’s missing out that maybe Christianity has something for him that’s unexpected.

Maybe it’s not the way that he thinks.

Tara, Tara Parker-Pope in her book on marriage, it’s called For Better, she says, eye rolling is one of the most definitive warning signs a relationship’s in trouble.

Marriage councils look out for it because it signals contempt in the other person.

A successful marriage can handle disappointment, disagreement, pain and frustration, but it can’t handle a complete dismissal of the other, you know, when it gets to the stage of contempt.

And you know that relationships like that, one of the partners trying to get counselling or even being willing to seek help or to listen, it’s just not going to happen.

This is what’s happening here though.

Nathaniel is just wiping it off straight away.

Christianity, forget it, it’s outdated or it’s not interesting or there’s nothing there.

Well, what does Philip say to Nathaniel after he says, because Philip’s putting himself on the line here, he says, I have the answer to life.

I have someone, I found something.

The one, and then Nathaniel just scoffs at him.

Maybe Philip would respond with, you know, you don’t know the truth, or this is really the truth, or you really should know this, but how does he respond?

Verse 46.

Come and see.

Come and have a look.

Come and see the one on whom everything, all life is found.

Because Christianity, this is the unexpected thing.

It’s not about a bunch of teachings.

It’s not about a bunch of morals or a philosophy.

But it’s an invitation at the center of Christianity.

It’s an invitation to come and see a person.

It’s about our response to a person, Jesus.

It’s not a principle.

And this is why in John 1, 1, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Word means logos in the Greek, which means a principle, which for them thousands of years ago, they would have understood.

Yeah, the Greeks would have said, Yeah, I hear this.

And yes, the world is ordered by principle called logos.

That’s how the world works.

A rationality.

There’s a rationality of the universe.

But you know what John says?

He goes on to say, The Word was with God, The Word was God and so on.

Verse 14, The Word became flesh and dwelled amongst us.

John is saying, This ordering principle of the universe that makes the universe tick, which you have to discern to understand how the world works.

John is saying this word is not found in a principle, not a bunch of rules to follow, not a rationality to understand.

It’s found in a person.

Jesus.

And this is why, what this means is, as Christians, we may know others who dismiss Christianity because maybe they think there’s a morality that they don’t want to live by, or they think it’s a bunch of rules, or there’s something they must believe.

They have a bunch of doctrine they’ve got to believe, but at the heart of it, it’s about knowing somebody.

It’s about our response to a person.

Come and see Jesus.

Come and look at the one who has changed my life, who lived a life I could never live.

Look at his life of justice and of mercy and of compassion and of goodness.

Got a little quote here, so I’ll get this from Keller, from that book.

He says, if Christianity was true, a well-lived life was not found in philosophical contemplation or intellectual pursuits, which would leave most people out in the world.

Rather, it’s found in a person to be encountered in a relationship that’s available to anyone, anywhere, from any background, whether it’s Nazareth or Galilee or Jerusalem.

So, Nathaniel, the Skeptic, is invited to meet Jesus and what happens?

Have a look at verse 47.

Then Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said about him, Here is a true Israelite, no deceit is found in him.

And Nathaniel says, verse 48, how do you know me?

Notice, he doesn’t say you’re wrong or anything like that.

He just says, ah, you know me, you have nailed me.

Jesus knows Nathaniel to the very depths of his heart.

And what he’s saying here is, he says, in whom there is nothing false.

Jesus is saying that Nathaniel is a transparent guy, straight talking person.

He’s the kind of person who values truth.

Jesus is kind of putting this in a nice way.

You know the type of people who are like this, who others might have said of Nathaniel that he’s abrasive.

Maybe a lot of people thought he was outspoken or he’s always stepping on people’s toes.

You know, the kind of person that is a straight…

I’m just a straight shooter.

I just speak the truth.

You know, those kinds.

This is what Nathaniel is like.

He values truth.

This is the most important thing for him.

And Jesus knows him to the very bottom of his heart.

Jesus knows us to the very bottom of our hearts.

But look at how…

Look at how he treats Nathaniel in the next verse.

He’s gentle with you.

Look at verse 48.

Before Philip called you, when you’re under the fig tree, I saw you.

Now, what does this mean?

Who knows?

And it’s meant to be who knows.

The author is deliberately giving us this detail about a story of Nathaniel under the fig tree because we’re not meant to know what this is.

He’s deliberately saying it because we know there’s only one person who knows what’s going on, and that’s Nathaniel.

We see that in his response in the next verse.

Because whatever it is, is so significant, so private, and so much part of Nathaniel as well, that it shows, St Nathaniel, this person knows me to the very bottom.

Every motivation, every inclination, every thought.

Now we had Christmas and the idea of God with us and being close.

So imagine someone who knows every part of us down to the very bits that we want to keep quiet.

And how does Nathaniel respond?

Remember, remember he was initially dismissive.

Do you remember how, yeah, sure, Nazareth.

Okay, he, Nathaniel probably has learned quite a lot, and he probably thinks he knows everything.

Remember how dismissive he was, and how does he respond?

Look at verse 49.

Rabbi, you are the son of God, the king of Israel.

Now, is this, is this legit?

Is this a legit kind of response?

Well, who knows, but the Jesus responds to him, you believe, look at that next verse, you believe because I told you about the fig tree.

Basically, Jesus is saying, look at this guy, first, one moment, he’s eye rolling and then the next moment, one total 180, he wants to put his whole life around me.

He’s kind of saying to him, okay, you’re very, very skeptical.

Then the next moment, you’re, you want to adopt me as your king and the center of life.

You’re rolling your eyes at me yesterday and today you’ve had an emotional experience.

I come to Jesus’ moment and you, you think it’s all there.

Jesus, Jesus wants to actually correct him and say, you still haven’t quite got it.

Because the spiritual seeker or the skeptic, I know there are some people that we know that dismiss Christianity, friends, family, and we might think they’re very hard and they’re never going to know God and they’re not interested.

But underneath all of that skepticism, there is this deep desire to connect spiritually.

And we’re searching for God in all different places, trying to fill our lives with all sorts of things, sex, money, power, all the things that we think will be worthwhile.

Underneath that, people very quickly can turn to find God and have some sort of experience.

And maybe we’ve come to know Jesus or we’ve come to Christianity, we had a moment or an experience where we wanted God to help us become a better person or help us deal with our loneliness or we have some other problem that we come to God with, and we come to God but we hedge our bets.

We go, God, maybe you can give me this.

But Christianity is only, it’s not a consumer good, it’s only good and if it’s true, only if Jesus is King and Lord is it then good.

Only if Jesus is who he says he is, then we center our lives around him.

That’s why Jesus says to him, great, I told you the fig tree thing, I gave you the supernatural knowledge and I did the kind of miracle, the trick, that’s great, but you don’t get it.

Because you’re looking for me to do those tricks for you, to do the miracles for you, to solve the problems in your life, and you think that’s the most important thing, I’ve got something much more important for you.

And then he tells him, verse 51, and this is the crux of it all.

What does he say?

He says, I assure you, you’re going to see something better than the fig tree thing, and this is it.

You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

What is that all about?

And why is that better than the fig tree trick?

Because, essentially, Jesus is saying to him, through me, you can know God.

You will know God.

Because Jesus is using a story that he knows well.

We don’t know it quite as well, Nathaniel.

A story about Jacob, who fell asleep, and he had a dream about a ladder, where it had angels going from earth to heaven, connecting with God, from the Old Testament, and basically, it’s the way to get to God.

And Jesus is saying here, notice in the verse, Jesus, what does he say?

Where do the angels go?

Look at what it says in verse 51, what does it say?

You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

Jesus is basically saying, I’m the ladder.

I’m the way to God.

Just like later on in John’s Gospel, he’ll say, I am the gate for the sheep to come in and to be protected.

I am the living water.

I am the true bread that gives life.

He’s saying to Nathaniel, you’re coming to me for these things and these miracles and things.

I’m going to give you something even greater.

My life for you, I will die on the cross for you.

I will take on all that punishment, all the ways you go looking for God in all the different spots.

I am the one who is the living water, living bread, new life.

I am the way to God.

And what’s more important than a miracle or whatever it is I give you is knowing God, your Father.

Because if you have God as your Father, you know His love, His forgiveness of what He has done for you.

You have all the value you need, all of the worth you need.

Then you can deal with all of those other things that you think need to be solved.

Jesus says to Nathaniel, what’s more important than all the miracles, all of these other things is that you know what I have done for you.

The ladder to heaven, the gate to life, the living bread, the water.

The essence of what makes Christianity different from every other religion and form of thought is this.

Every other religion says if you want to find God, you’ve got to improve yourself, you have to have a higher consciousness, you have to connect with the divine, however it’s defined, you have to gather your strength, keep the rules, free your mind, fill your mind, empty your mind.

Every other religion of human philosophy says if you want to make the world right, make yourself right first, then summon all your reason and strength and live in a certain way.

Christianity says the exact opposite.

Every other religion and philosophy says do something to connect to God.

Christianity says Jesus came and did what you couldn’t do for yourself.

He lives in our stead, he dies for us.

Every other religion says the answers to the big questions, here are the answers, but Christianity says Jesus is the answer.

And so many systems of thought appeal to strong, successful people because they play directly into their belief.

If you’re strong and hard working enough, if you follow enough rules, if you do all of the right things.

But Christianity says it’s not just for the strong, it’s for those who are weak and flawed and recognize that deep down our hearts are deeply disordered and we’re incapable of rectifying ourselves.

We need a savior.

Jesus dying on the cross to put us right with God.

The gospel is grace, his free work for us.

Philip says to Nathanael, notice there’s a whole chain of people we didn’t go through, but Andrew and James and John, they all come and come and see, come and see.

He tells others, you got to know what God is and where to find him.

You find him in Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t castigate Nathanael for getting it wrong or anything like that.

He says, come and he says, look, look at what I’ve done.

Let me tell you who I am.

As we go through this series of Encounters with Jesus, it’s a great opportunity for us to consider our friends and family, maybe where they’re at and what they think about God and to recognize that we want them to know Jesus.

We’re not worried about if they don’t understand all the other things or if they think that Christianity is something else.

We want them to find him.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you that we follow a person.

We thank you.