Our Savior Lutheran Church

Introduction

Last week we discovered that Andrew was a spiritually-minded apostle whose retiring personality removed him from prominence in the band of disciples. We saw how he willingly allowed Peter, James, and John to form the apostolic leadership core, allowing less to become more. Andrew was a trusted, valued behind-the-scenes player. The apostle Philip often appeared alongside Andrew. This week we look at this sensible, pragmatic fellow.

To Get Us Started

Philip and Andrew were friends who looked at life differently. Philip questioned what he heard and wanted evidence. Andrew readily embraced new ideas and trusted what he heard from sources he held to be reliable. They probably complemented one another. Andrew challenged Philip to try new things; Philip cautioned Andrew to be careful.

1. Were you a risk-taker or a cautious type when you were a boy? Give an example.

2. If you were a risk-taker, who in your circle of friends was the cautious type who told you to be careful? If you were a cautious type, who among your friends dared you to take chances?

3. In either case, was your friend from item 2 a good or bad influence? How?

The Word

When John the Baptist pointed Jesus out as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), he lost two disciples. They followed Jesus (1:37). Andrew was one (1:40). In all likelihood, Philip was the other. The two of them appeared together on other occasions in John’s Gospel (6:5-9; 12:20-22). Like Andrew, Philip immediately brought somebody else, in his case Nathanael, to meet Jesus (1:45). There the similarity to Andrew stopped. Philip often measured things with his intellect, wanting to know it really worked. While Andrew readily believed and grew in his faith, Philip struggled mightily. But after asking hard questions and struggling with his doubt, he became a true believer.

A Stickler For Detail – John 1:35-39, 53-46

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. [36] When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

[37] When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. [38] Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

[39] "Come," he replied, "and you will see."

So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. …

[46]The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."

[44] Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. [45] 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."

[46] "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.

"Come and see," said Philip.

A Realist About Problems – John 6:5-11

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" [6] He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

[7] Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

[8] Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, [9] "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

[10] Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. [11] Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

A Pragmatist Reaching For Faith - John 14:1-11

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. [2] In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. [4] You know the way to the place where I am going."

[5] Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

[6] Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

[8] Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

[9] Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? [10] Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. [11] Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Observations

Philip, Andrew’s friend, seems to have been a skeptical man who looked for material, practical solutions to problems. He didn’t have Andrew’s eager response to Jesus after John the Baptist pointed out the Lamb of God (John 1:40-41). He made measured statements about Jesus using Old Testament terminology and genealogical data rather than expressions of personal faith (v. 45). He stumbled over Jesus’ challenge to feed the five thousand (6:5-7) and wanted evidence of His assertion that He was going to the Father (14:6-8).

Philip raised questions countless others have raised through the centuries. In the process of reaching Philip, Jesus clarified issues that have helped his spiritual “descendants” through the ensuing centuries. Once he was convinced, Philip’s pragmatic character made him a strong, stabilizing influence among the apostles as they spread the gospel.

Observation 1

In view of His claims, Jesus Christ cannot be just a great moral teacher.

When Philip first met Jesus, he concluded that he and Andrew had “found the One of whom Moses wrote in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth (John 1:45). He stated in no uncertain terms that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. However, he assigned Jesus human parentage. He had not considered that Jesus might be divine. The idea that Jesus would become the sacrifice that would pay for his sins hadn’t crossed Philip’s mind.

Philip wanted a teacher to follow in place of John the Baptist. He didn’t know Jesus had to be his Savior, nor did he realize what it would mean to call Jesus, Lord. Philip struggled with his native pragmatism and skepticism whenever he had to face another evidence that Jesus was more than a great teacher.

In the end, Philip reached certainty that Jesus was one with the Father, but he had to bump heads with Jesus before he could grasp that startling truth (John 14:8-11). Philip succeeded because he was a sincere seeker. He could not deny the logic inherent in all he learned about the Lord Jesus during three years of discipleship.

Observation 2

Every person who sincerely and humbly searches to know who Jesus Christ really is will discover a satisfactory answer.

The key words in this observation are sincerely, humbly, and search. When Moses recorded the law of God for Israel, he foresaw a time when God’s people would deny Him and “worship man-made gods of wood and stone” (Deuteronomy 4:28). This would bring judgment and captivity in a foreign land. This promise was attached to that prediction”

“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

In Philip’s hearing Jesus elaborated on this same promise:

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10).

Philip’s hardheaded pragmatism kept asking, searching, and knocking. He may have been skeptical, but he also was sincere and humble enough to be honest. Philip’s faith eventually latched hold of the truth about Jesus because he didn’t let personal pride prevent his knew from bending before the Son of God.

Observation 3

Doubts and questions are normal, even for mature Christians, particularly at certain points in our lives.

All of the apostles demonstrated that doubt and unbelief are normal weaknesses in all human beings. Philip’s steely-eyed realism brought his doubt and unbelief to the fore more obviously than all the other apostles, except for Thomas, whose doubts defined his character.

While pessimism marked Thomas’ doubts, Philip displayed doubts that sprang from rational considerations. Jesus was Joseph’s son, how could He be divine (John 1:45)? We can’t feed five thousand people because we don’t have enough money among us to buy that much food (6:7). Sure we’d love to see the Father. Don’t talk as though we’ve seen Him. Show Him to us (14:8). That’s the way Philip’s mind worked.

We face our doubts, too, perhaps when going away to college, struggling with the death of a loved one, or facing a health crisis. At times like these we find out what we really believe about God, what kind of relationship we really have with Him, and what we’ve accepted more or less superficially. At those times we have to struggle with doubt and unbelief until we internalize more biblical truth that will enable us to handle the new demands on our faith.

Philip found answers to his doubt and unbelief. Tradition tells us that after the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church, Philip spent the rest of his life preaching the good news in the provinces of Galatia and Phrygia in Asia Minor. We’re also told that he died at Hierapolis, a city near Colosse and Laodicia.

To Discuss

1. Philip needed evidence. He was a see-it-to-believe-it kind of guy. Which of these best describes how you process new ideas?

2. Philip raised objections at the feeding of the five thousand and in the upper room the night before Jesus died. How do you react to objection-raisers? How do you think you would have reacted to Philip’s personality?

3. Where do you think Philip might have obtained all the information about Jesus that he gave Nathanael in John 1:45?

4. Why do you suppose Philip invited Nathanael to meet Jesus in light of his objections to Jesus being the Messiah (John 1:46)?

5. John wrote that Jesus asked Philip about buying bread to feed the five thousand in order “to test him” (John 6:6). What might Jesus have wanted to find out about Philip?

6. What do you think Philip’s answers to Jesus’ question reveals about him and his understanding of Jesus (John 6:7)?

7. If you had been Philip, what would you have concluded about Jesus from the feeding of the five thousand? What would you have thought about the test Jesus put you through?

8. What does Philip’s request for Jesus to show him the Father reveal about his understanding of the relationship between Jesus and the Father (John 14:8)?

9. What did Jesus expect His disciples to have concluded about His relationship to the Father? On what bases should they have reached that conclusion (vv. 9-11)?

10. In what kinds of circumstances do you expect more evidence from God than He may want to give before you respond in faith to Him?

11. When do you think it’s good to be a little slow to believe, like Philip? How can that caution help you?

12. When do you think it’s bad to be slow to believe, like Philip? How can that caution harm you?

People like Philip, who sincerely demand evidence before they believe, can become some of the most committed Christ-followers once their objections are answered. Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions. Don’t feel guilty for making spiritual teachers work hard to answer you. Just be sure you are humble and sincere in your search for the truth and in your obedience to the truth you discover.

13. What have you found to be some of the best sources of answers to your questions about the Bible and about Christianity?

14. How can we help our searching, unbelieving friends find answers to their intellectual objections to faith in Jesus?

15. What questions about your faith are you wrestling with presently that we can pray about with you?

Next Week

Next week we will look at the character of the apostle called Nathanael in the Gospel of John. He’s the friend of Philip brought to Jesus. The other Gospel writers call him Bartholomew. Nathanael Bartholomew displays a scrupulously religious personality. Sincerely confounded by Jesus, he had to get past some of his rigid traditionalism to receive the “new wine” of the gospel.