THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOUME 1, NUMBER 31, SEPTEMBER 2, 2001

"WE HAVE FOUND HIM"

In John 1:35 - 51, we find the first account of the fervent, zealous evangelism that "finding Jesus" should prompt in the heart of the believer. The passage reads as follows:

"Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and said to them, What do you seek? And they said to Him, Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying? He said to them, Come, and you will see. They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
"One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).

"The next day He purposed to go forth into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, Follow Me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael said to Him, How do You know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered Him, Rabbi You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these. And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Not all of us have the same talents and abilities and certainly the world would be a very boring place if we did. But there are certain things that all of us who are members of the body of Christ can do. We can all follow the stellar example of Andrew and Philip. Having had the Lord pointed out to him and identified as the Lamb of God, Andrew anxiously sought to learn more about Him, to spend time with Him. But the account indicates to us that the first thing he did was to find his brother, and to share with him the good news, "We have found the Messiah".

When Philip received the invitation of the Lord, he found Nathanael, and told him, "We have found Him…" Even when Nathanael expressed doubt, Philip still encouraged him to "Come and see".

Can't we all do what these men did? We don't have to be eloquent or even particularly comfortable speaking to others, to tell them that we "have found Him". It is not necessary for us to be great public speakers to ask someone to "Come and see". We don't have to be biblical scholars to be able to confidently assert to a friend that we know Him "of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

When was the last time you talked to someone about Jesus? When was the last time you gave someone a tract, or invited them to services? When was the last time you told someone, "Come and see?" If you won't do it, who will?

Gregory Litmer

DIVINE WOOD CUTTERS

The Apostle Paul penned the letter to the Philippians as a Roman prisoner, literally chained to a soldier. Yet in the letter, he makes it clear that his circumstances are actually contributing to, rather than hindering, the progress of the gospel. In Philippians 1:12 - 18, Paul wrote, "Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice."

The word that is translated as "greater progress" in v. 12, or "furtherance" if you happen to be using the King James, comes from a Greek word that is thought to have been used in the first century to refer to a company of wood cutters who went before an army, cutting a path through the forest so that the army could advance. Looking at it from that standpoint, Paul is saying that his circumstances were like divine wood cutters, in that they were actually cutting a way through the opposition so that the gospel might be advanced.
Well, what were those circumstances and how could they possibly work to cut a path for the progress of the gospel? Paul was not free to move about. He was chained to a Roman soldier day and night. It was as though there was a fence around the apostle and limitations had been placed upon him. He had handicaps to deal with, and yet Paul viewed those handicaps as God's wood cutters making a road for the continuance of the gospel.

The gospel was now being proclaimed within the highest levels of the Roman Empire. The Praetorian Guard, which was the imperial guard in Rome and numbered 10,000 specially picked Roman soldiers, were hearing the gospel from the soldiers of their number to whom Paul was chained. Some jealous brethren in Rome were preaching the gospel in an attempt to add to Paul's burdens, but they were preaching the gospel nonetheless. Other faithful brethren, seeing Paul's work and preaching even as a prisoner, were emboldened to be more zealous in their own preaching. Circumstances that to most would have been viewed as a reason for not doing as much in the Lord's service, Paul viewed as preparing the way for the gospel to go to places it hadn't gone before.

Can't it work that way in every one of our lives? Can't those circumstances that seem so bad actually turn out to be "divine wood cutters" that give us an opportunity to advance the gospel where perhaps we would not have been able to take it before? Maybe I am sick and a patient in the hospital or confined to my home with home-care. I have heard of people teaching those who were caring for them the truth, people that they never would have met if they had not been sick. Perhaps I lose my job and have to look elsewhere. Thus, I will get to meet a whole new set of people, and who knows what good I might be able to do. Even if I am being ridiculed because of my faith, I can still, by my response to that ridicule, show the character of Christ and who knows what affect that might have.

The point is, all the different difficulties that come into our lives can be blessings in disguise, depending upon how we view them. I am reminded of Paul's words in 2 Cor. 12:9 & 10, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Greg Litmer