Pastor's Corner
From The Pastor's Heart:
"There were
some Greeks among those who were coming up to worship at the feast, and they
went to Phillip who was from
If someone walked up to you
asking that you lead them into a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, how
would you react? Would you quote some verses from your "four things you ought to
know" pamphlet? Would you take them through four or five spiritual laws? Would
you falter for words, not knowing which scripture texts to quote or what really
to say? Would you have a formula approach? Or would your first reaction be
somewhat like Phillip's? His initial response seems to have been a blank stare.
The Greeks had to keep on asking him, "Sir we want to see
Jesus!"
This initial response of Philip
is rather revealing. He was supposedly committed to bringing people to the
Savior. Wasn't that what the Lord wanted him to do as a "fisher of men"? But
they had to be of his own kind. They had to fit the pattern he had envisioned.
These Greeks just didn't fit the image Phillip had of people who could become
followers of Jesus. Surely these particular Greeks were beyond conversion. What
could Christ do for them? So when they approached him with their request, the
words of their cry didn't penetrate.
How readily have we developed
our strategies of people who'll respond to the gospel? Have we put anyone beyond
the reach of God's mercy because of ethnic or social differences, or because of
different upbringing? Do we dismiss the possibility of someone's salvation
because of their current lifestyle, or because they haven't stepped out of their
morality system into ours, or voiced our formula for
salvation?
For quite some time Phillip
couldn?t get beyond this stereotyped thinking. And as long as his mind and soul
remained close, the call of their need didn't penetrate his heart. Notice also
that even when he did hear their cry, he didn't bring the Greeks directly to
Jesus. We're not sure why, but he went first to one of the other disciples,
Andrew. One has to wonder if Phillip felt ill-equipped to lead others
to the Savior and chose rather to seek the support of a fellow disciple. And
while it's appropriate to partner with a brother or sister when sharing the
gospel, it appears that the obvious hunger of these seekers would suggest the
wisdom of Andrew's response, which was to go directly to Jesus.
Perhaps Phillip felt somewhat ashamed
at his personal reluctance to bring the Greeks directly to Jesus; we'll never
know. But he surely saw how Jesus answered the inner needs of the Greeks in much
the same manner He had answered Phillip?s personal need. The words that John
penned in the third chapter of his gospel, and which Phillip had no doubt
heard many times from the Savior?s own lips that "whosoever believeth in Him"
took on specific meaning. The "whosoever" included these Greeks. How much these
verses speak to us. How open we ought to be to recognize seekers after God.
How willing we ought to be to bring them directly to the Lord. Even when we feel
inadequate to explain the plan of salvation or answer someone's questions about
the Bible, all of us can share the good news of what the Lord has done for
us, and to say with the blind man who was asked for theological answers,
"This much I know, I once was blind, but now I
see!"
Pastor
John
Copyright 2008 Summit Christian Fellowship