John 1:37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus
Most of us don’t even realize our own imitators. If you are a parent, your kids imitate you and you probably don’t notice because it is just part of life. I remember talking to a friend of mine whose dad is a fairly prominent preacher whom people just love. This preacher is very unique and distinctive, so sometimes people would try to imitate his dad, do an impersonation. I remember him telling me that none of them ever get it right. Well, the reason they didn’t get it right is because they picked up on some characteristic and exaggerated that, but the son, being next to the real thing all of his life, did not see the similarities.
Either way, influence is a watchword right now. We are all really big on being an influence on other people. The question is, “What place should influence have in one’s life?” In John 1 we read about John the Baptist, a unique man of great influence and power. Something remarkable happened in John’s life. John 1:35 says, “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples.” Why does it say, “Again”? It is because what is about to happen is something that happened before. What was about to transpire happened in the presence of two of John’s disciples. He is the one who had taught them and the one whom they followed. Verse 36 says, “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he [John] saith, Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard John speak and then followed Jesus. That is a remarkable thing!
John lost two disciples that day that he would have kept if he had just kept his big mouth shut, but keeping his mouth shut was not what John was about. John was about bearing witness to Jesus Christ. In fact, in John 3:30 he said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” John teaches us a very important lesson: influence is a means to an end. Influence is not an end to itself. It is not to gratify me or to build me. Influence is a means to an end; we are the means but Jesus is the end.
In this chapter you find a number of men who influenced others. You read about John the Baptist, Andrew, Simon, Philip, and Nathanael, and these are men who became Jesus’ disciples. In one case, Philip found Nathanael and told him about Jesus, and Nathanael replied, kind of puzzled, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip said to him, “Come and see.” He wasn’t trying to argue. He was just making a statement, “This is the Christ. If you don’t believe me, just come and see for yourself.”
When it came to Andrew and Simon, the Bible says that Andrew “first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” So, these are men who followed Christ and influenced others to do the same.
Do you have it straight this morning? Do you think that influence is an end to itself, or do you realize that you are the means and Jesus is the end? There are three question to ask yourself.
How do I see self? The Bible tells us in John 1 that Jesus is the light. John came to bear witness of the light. So, Jesus is the light and John was the witness of the light. John 1:23 says that John said of himself, “I am the voice.” Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Word, and John was merely the voice that gave that Word utterance. So, how do you see self? Do you see yourself as a witness of the light and a voice for the Word, or do you think you are the light and you are the Word? In other words, to what and whom am I directing other people?
How do I focus my energy? How am I using my energies in the lives of other people? In John 1:46 Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see.” In verses 29 and 36 John said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” People came to John because he was a man of great influence and prominence and had done mighty works. So, people came and asked him, “Are you the Christ?” He said, “I am not.” They asked, “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” They asked, “Are you that prophet?” He says, “No.” You can almost hear the rising frustration in John’s voice. They kept coming to him and John kept trying to deflect that attention to the Lord Jesus. So, how do you focus your energy?
How do I judge success? In verse 37 the two disciples heard John speak, and when he pointed to Christ, they followed Christ. So, how do I judge success? The success in John’s life was when people followed Jesus. In John 10:41 people said of John, “John did no miracles: but all things that John spake of this man [Jesus] were true.” Jesus said of John that there was no one born of woman that was greater than he was, yet John’s success was not that people came to him, but that people came to Jesus.
So, influence is a means to an end. You are the means and Jesus is the end.