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Today’s hero is the Apostle Philip because he shows us the gift of a Invitation
Essential Teachers notes:
Philip’s character is pragmatic, realistic and devout without being an extremist – he was obviously familiar with scripture. Jesus seems to push Philip’s limits, test and refine his perspectives. But most crucially, Philip gets evangelism, if he has discovered something he wants to share it. The conversation with the Greeks and Jesus doesn’t really happen, but the fact that Philip moved from a Jewish blinkered view of a messiah to one that encompasses non-Jews is a big change in perspective that links nicely into challenging us to invite different people to meet our Lord and Savior.
Main Passage : John 12: 20-22
Additional Passages : John 1, 6, & 14
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Today’s hero was one of Jesus’s special chosen apostles, his name was Philip.
Philip came from Bethsaida, in Galilee, just like the brothers James and John. We don’t know if Philip was a fisherman but we do know that just like the other fishermen one day Jesus walked up to Philip and said ‘follow me’!
Philip had always read his scriptures and he knew that one day the person the prophets had written about would arrive. When Philip met Jesus he recognised that Jesus must be that person. Philip didn’t know what it meant, but he knew he wanted to be part of it.
Philip must have been shocked that Jesus chose him. I wonder what you do when someone say’s something amazing, or does something amazing?
Do you keep it a secret? OR Do you tell someone?
Philip ran to find one of his best friends Nathanael. He told Nathanael that he had found the person the prophets had written about. He took Nathanael to meet Jesus, and Nathanael ended up being an apostle too!
Philip didn’t want to hide what he had found, he loved telling people about Jesus, introducing them to him. Philip loved when big crowds gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. Jesus was amazing and Philip wanted everyone to know. But most people in the crowd would leave, they would go home to their homes and their jobs. Philip and the other disciples would stay where Jesus was.
Sometimes Philip wanted to run and invite them to stay, but he knew they couldn’t. One day Jesus asked Philip where he could buy bread for a huge crowd, Philip was shocked, there were thousands of people listening to Jesus that day. Philip knew he could work for 2 hundred days and still not have enough money to buy the people one bite of bread each.
Jesus was testing Philip, he wanted Philip to know that with God everything was possible. Later as Philip and the other disciples collected the leftover food Philip started to realise that Jesus was not what he expected. Jesus was much more than what the scriptures had said.
Another day Jesus was talking about the Father God, the great Yahweh. Philip was excited, he really wanted to meet the Father, and so he asked Jesus to show him. Jesus laughed, “Don’t you see Philip?” he asked “Don’t you know me well enough? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”. Slowly Philip was coming to recognise exactly who Jesus was.
Then one day, shortly before the story of Easter happens, some Greek men came to Philip and asked him to introduce them to Jesus. Philip wasn’t sure. Jesus was Jewish, he talked to the Jews, he sometimes talked to the Samaritans who were also sort of Jewish but didn’t use the temple, but these men were not Jewish at all. The prophets had said someone would come to save the Jewish nation, Philip thought that Jesus was that person, so should he introduce people who were not Jewish?
Philip talked to Nathanael about what he should do. He thought back over what Jesus had taught him. He thought about the leftover food, why had Jesus created so much food? Philip started to think about the Father God, how he had created everyone, not just the Jewish people. He thought about how Jesus chose to speak with people who were bad Jews, or even the Romans that everyone hated. Perhaps everybody needed to meet Jesus. Philip waited for a moment then whispering in Jesus’ ear, “There are some Greeks here who would like to talk with you.”
Today’s hero is the Apostle Philip because he shows us the gift of a Invitation
