What would you do if your child were in danger and he was not aware of it? Would you just stand there and watch to see what would happen? I don't think so. At very least you would call out to him some type of warning. Hopefully he would listen and obey without any hesitation or argument.
I once heard the story of a missionary in Africa whose little son was playing in the yard. Suddenly his father's voice rang out: “Philip! Obey me instantly! Drop to the ground!” The boy did exactly as he was told without any question. “Now crawl toward me as fast as you can.” Again the boy obeyed. “Now stand up and run to me!” The child followed the instructions and ended up in his father's arms. Only then, when he was safely in his father's arms, did he look back at the tree underneath which he had been playing. Hanging from a limb was a snake some 15 feet long!
Suppose the boy had paused to ask, “Why?” or in a whining tone complained, “Do I have to do it right now?” What would have happened if he had not immediately responded to his father's call?
In our text the Lord Jesus took the initiative to find the Apostle Philip and called, “Follow me.” He wanted to rescue Philip from the eternal danger of sin that he was in. Suppose Philip had paused to ask, “Why?” or in a whining tone had complained, “Do I have to right now?” or had put Jesus off with some other excuse? What would have happened?
But it didn't work that way. When the Lord Jesus called, Philip responded…
I. …by following Him. Philip heard what Jesus had to say and obeyed. In some ways it's much like the reaction of that missionary's boy in Africa. He heard his father's voice and did not question. But he followed whatever instructions his father gave him. Philip did much the same and it turned out for His good.
It's always the same whenever the Lord Jesus calls. With His word He invites you to respond to Him in a life of faith that hears His instructions and follows what He has to say. If you listen and follow, it works out for your good. But if you hear and then take a course apart from Him, it will harm you. Think of it this way. If you've ever walked through a forest in snow that's a couple of feet deep, you know that i t's much easier to go through it if you are following someone who knows what he's doing and is cutting a path for you. The person in front of you is doing all the work. He plows through the snow and makes a track while you simply follow behind. As long as you walk in his steps, you've got it made.
But what if you get tired of following where someone else is leading you, and you decide that you're going to strike out on your own. That's when you find out how difficult it is to cut your own path. It wears you out. And if you don't have the right direction, you'll find yourself lost and left behind. As you feel your strength begin to disappear, panic fills your heart. Then you hear the voice of your friend who has been looking for you. Without hesitation you follow him with joy and gratitude in your heart. Now you trust him, not yourself. He knows the way and as you follow him things will turn out good.
When Jesus called Philip responded by following Him . There was no hesitation; there was no questioning if Jesus knew best; there was only trust in what He said was right. Without Him Philip knew he'd be lost. Faith responded.
It is ever and always that way: Faith responds when Jesus calls. It responds by following wherever the Lord Jesus leads one; it responds in obedience to Him for faith soon learns that Jesus is the right way. He has done everything for you. He's gone through the hardest thing that anyone could possibly go through. Could you pay for sin on a cross? No. But He did it for you and now holds out the benefit of that work in His Word and sacraments. “Look,” He says, “here are the tracks I have made. I have carried you out from under the guilt of sin. I have cut your path through life. It will turn out for your good. Come, follow me.”
Are you trying to cut your own pathway through life? Are you going in the wrong direction apart from God? Do you feel the panic of one who is lost or floundering? As the Scriptures say, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as…people whose hearts go astray and have not known my ways…They shall never enter my rest” (Ps.95:7,10,11).
It's impossible to plow through the burden of sin or the trials of life on your own. Going your own way won't give you rest. But the Savior will. What a relief and comfort it is to have such a Savior who is willing to carry the burdens. When He calls respond in faith by following Him. And know the joy it brings.
II. … by sharing its joy.
After you discover how wonderful it is to have a Savior and you learn to trust His voice in everything, you can't keep that to yourself. If you follow Him when He calls , faith responds by sharing its joy.
So it was that “Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.'”
You see, dear friends, Philip had to share the joy he had found with a friend, and in so doing His own joy increased. It always works that way with faith. Sharing it never diminishes anything; it only increases it.
Think of it this way. I had a friend as a child whose father used to take him and his siblings to pick wild berries. My friend actually didn't look forward to those outings because the thoughts of thorny blackberry vines and hungry mosquitoes dampened his enthusiasm. When he complained about such things to his father, the father only loaded them down with more clothes to wear, and that was almost unbearable on a hot summer's day. But they would go, the whole family of them, scattered along the fringes of the northern woods.
While they were searching one of the children would discover a patch with a great bonanza of the fruit – blackberries by the hundreds hanging on every bush. At first the lucky one who found the patch would keep the spot a secret. Darting here and there he would try to pick as much fruit as fast he could. But the happy one who found it could never keep the excitement inside very long. Soon he'd yell, “Come over here! It's full of them.” Then you'd see the bushes and trees moving everywhere as the family made its way to that spot.
Usually, when they came home from a day like that, the thought of scratches and mosquito bites didn't seem to bother them. Instead each of them rushed into the house because they wanted to be the first to show their mother how many berries they had picked. The excitement and the joy of the find couldn't be held in.
In a similar way When Jesus Calls, and faith responds to Him , a person discovers how wonderful it is to have a Savior. How wonderful it is to share the joy of a Savior! If you hold it in, something's not right. Oh, I know, it's not always easy to share the Savior with others, especially the skeptic. Philip ran into that problem, too. His friend Nathanael responded, “From Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” That's objection, that's doubt in Philip's confession of faith, and such objection and doubt is hard to take. But notice what Philip does. He hears the objection, but he doesn't counterattack with some clever argument, nor does he shut his mouth in silence. Neither of those things works saving faith (1Co.2:4f). He simply responds, “Come and see,” thereby placing his friend's doubting soul into the hands of the loving Savior who alone calls to faith.
The Savior calls us to faith through the power of His Word. In the future He will call us to be with him for all eternity. Then we shall see the greater things Jesus talked about in our text. When that times comes, it won't matter to us how many hardships we had to go through, especially as we sought to share the gospel with others. All we will care about then is the blessedness of being with the Lord and the joy of seeing all the souls that the gospel will have brought in.
When Jesus Calls, Faith Responds by following Him and by sharing its joy. God grant it in our lives for Jesus' sake. Amen.