Title: I Will See Greater Things!
Contents
Prejudice - People always think, judge, and evaluate with egocentricity.
Egocentric Thinking - The same goes for married couples... No matter how many years pass, it is impossible for a married couple to assimilate with each other. (The correct meaning of ‘yada’ in Hos. 6:6)
Our relationship with God is the same - If I don't give up my self-centered life before God, I'm actually just a person who has nothing to do with God. Believing in God means shifting the axis of your life from self-centeredness to God-centered.
Pay attention to the appearance of the three men in today's text, Andrew, Peter, and Nathanael. What do they have in common?
1. Pay attention to Andrew.
Originally, he began to follow the Lord after hearing the words of John, a disciple of John the Baptist, proclaiming that he was the ‘Lamb of God’. When we first meet the Lord, we call him ‘Rabbi’. They have not yet realized Jesus as the Messiah. Called Rabbi for anyone to use. However, after following the Lord completely that day, Andrew's title for the Lord was changed.
“He first looked for Simon his brother and said, ‘We have found the Messiah.’”
He is no longer self-centered. I don't know what happened during the day, but to him, the Lord was no longer a rabbi, but a savior. And the first change that occurred in his life when he met Jesus is the way he lives a missionary life of spreading the gospel. This is the reason, motive, and purpose of the church on this earth.
2. Next, pay attention to Peter.
What is strange in today's text is that unlike today's text, in Luke 5:1-11, there is a new scene where Peter, who failed to fish on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, is called by the Lord. In this regard, the question arises as to why Peter was called twice by the Lord. We can quickly see that if we look closely at both texts. In today's text, Peter heard Andrew's words and did not have any doubts about Jesus. But later, through an encounter with Jesus at the shore of Lake Gennesaret, he became a disciple who sincerely followed the Lord. Peter confesses in Luke 5:8: “Leave me, Lord, I am a sinner.” It is a confession for turning away from the Lord with self-centered judgment when he first saw the Lord, and at the same time, it is a confession that changes the direction of his life from self to Lord-centered. From that moment on, he became a disciple of the Lord.
3. Finally, pay attention to Nathanael.
After meeting the Lord, the Messiah, Philip, who lived in the same town with Andrew and Peter, testifies to his friend Nathanael in verse 45 as follows: Nathanael's reaction to this is cold. Verse 46 says:
How can anything good come out of Nazareth? This is because there was nothing more than a slum that had never produced a prominent figure in Israel's history, let alone the Messiah. He can't overcome his friend Philip's insistence and is drawn to the Lord. When the Lord saw him, he said this (verse 47).
The Lord, who already knew about him, knew better than anyone his hunger for faith. That is why he said that he had already seen him studying the law under the fig tree. With these words, Nathanael could no longer be self-centered in the presence of the Lord who saw through her heart. In verse 49, he truly confesses. Then the Lord speaks to him again. Verse 50...
I will see greater things than this! Andrew, Peter, Nathanael... When they insisted on a self-centered life, they saw the Lord and saw nothing. However, when they shift the axis of their lives around the Lord, they witness great things. In the very next chapter, you will experience the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana, and later witness the reality of God's love that saves mankind even as He killed His only begotten Son on the cross. In addition, we not only saw the power of eternal resurrection that overcame the power of death, but also saw the Lord ascending to heaven in the flesh, and witnessed angels promising the Lord's return from heaven. Could there be anything ‘greater than that’?
Everyone is obsessed with himself from the moment he is born, holds onto himself, and lives self-centeredly. However, as long as they deny themselves to the word of the Lord and live centered on the Lord, anyone can become a disciple of the Lord like Andrew, Nathanael, and Peter, and furthermore, they will witness and experience great things. Because the Lord lives.
Could Moses have imagined that the Red Sea would part? Have you ever imagined in your dreams that living water bursts from the rock like a river, and manna and quails rain down from the empty sky? Did Joshua have foreseen that the city of Jericho, like a stronghold, would collapse by itself? Never. No one would have even thought of it. When they went to center on God only because they believed in God, God Himself did that “great work” for them.
Dear Paul Church members,
You must not become an unhappy Christian who lives with his back on God because he believes in God but cannot give up his life of self-centeredness that is useless. Let's become God's children, the Lord's disciples, who have only God at the center. From that moment on, we will all see bigger things. Do you know something? This is because the God we believe in is the Almighty who created the heavens and the earth. Hallelujah! I pray.....
Please stop committing the folly of believing in yourself that you can only take responsibility for yourself for 70-80 years at the most. Let me give up my self-centered life and shift the axis of my life to God. Only by living with God at the center, allow us to see God’s “great things” on this earth, and to enjoy the “great works” of eternity in the kingdom of God on the day God calls us. I pray in Jesus name.