Lesson 34 · Unit 6 · The Gospel Outward
Walking Someone to Jesus
Nobody is argued in; people are brought.
Open
Do you remember the gold-embossed wedding invitation in your drawer? A date, a place, one line asking for the honor of your presence. Nobody encloses an argument with an invitation — why this wedding deserves your attendance, what trials the couple's love has survived. An invitation does only one thing: it invites. And you went, because you know them, or because you trust the person who handed it to you.
In the Gospels, the road by which people came to Jesus looks strikingly similar. Andrew gave his brother no argument; Philip, thrown cold water in the face by Nathanael, answered with three words: come and see.
Scripture
Almost all of Jesus's earliest disciples were brought in by an invitation. (John 1:40-46; Acts 8:29-31, 35, WEB)
40One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by interpretation, Peter).
43On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Acts 8, another walk that was arranged (verses 29-31 and 35):
Acts 8:26-39World English BibleOpen in the Bible29The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”
30Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.
35Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus.
See
"Come and see": the weight of an invitation
Look at Andrew's four steps: he found him, he went to the nearest person, he said the plainest possible sentence, and he brought him along. Philip ran into skepticism — "can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" — and did not argue against regional prejudice; he said, come and see. Why is that so strong? Because the center of the gospel is not a set of arguments but a person. Arguments have to be debated; a person has to be met. Someone who loses an argument usually hardens; someone who is brought along gets a chance to meet him for himself. So your task was never to argue your friend into silence, but to bring him somewhere he can meet Jesus: a Gospel, a gathering, a group of real disciples, your own changed life. The confidence behind "come and see" is not in eloquence; it is that there is genuinely something to see.
Slow heat and courage
In many Chinese families and workplaces, the gospel is not an evangelistic rally; it is a pot on a low flame. People who share the gospel with their parents often find that ten years of reasoning accomplishes nothing, while one bowl of soup, one apology, one stretch of sitting with them through an illness outweighs a thousand words. This is not compromise, it is respect — in Acts, Philip too first "went near" the chariot, listened first, asked first, and only climbed up and sat down when he was invited. Invitation takes courage, respect takes restraint, and neither can be skipped: if you never speak, the door stays shut forever; if you press too hard, the door gets bolted. You can set yourself a rhythm: at the right season, invite in earnest once — an evangelistic gathering, a meal with a story in it; and on all the other days, let your life be the footnote and your prayer be the slow flame.
One name
Andrew brought his own older brother; Philip went to find a man from his own town — the gospel travels along relationships. So write down a name: the one person God has put on your heart. Pray for him more often than you talk to him: ask that the Spirit would go ahead (before Philip was sent, the man in that chariot was already reading Isaiah); ask for a moment when you will meet; ask that the soil in his heart would loosen. Church history is full of stories like this: people who, after coming to faith, discovered that someone had been praying their name for ten years, or thirty. The longest stretch of the road that brings a person to Jesus is usually walked on your knees.
Deeper
"Come and see"
the invitation formula of John's Gospel (1:39, 46); witness is essentially pointing the way, not winning a debate.
The gospel travels along relationships (oikos)
it spreads through networks of family, friends and hometowns: Andrew went to his brother, Philip to a man from his town (John 1:41, 45).
God's prior arrangement (a divine appointment)
the man in the chariot Philip caught up with was already reading Isaiah (Acts 8:28-29); God is there before you open your mouth.
Intercession
praying persistently for one name is the longest stretch of the road that brings a person to Jesus (cf. Rom 10:1).
Story
In 1934, in Charlotte, North Carolina, a farm worker named Albert McMakin drove an old truck load after load, hauling people to an evangelistic meeting. He had his eye on the fifteen-year-old son of the family who owned the farm — a boy interested only in baseball, who kept the gospel at arm's length. McMakin did not argue with him. He only said: come along, you can drive the truck.
The boy went, for the sake of driving. After a few evenings he walked to the front and gave his life to Christ. That boy was Billy Graham, who would go on to preach the gospel to more than two hundred million people. And history has all but forgotten McMakin: a man who could only say "come and see," and drive a truck. You do not need to become Billy Graham; you only need to become McMakin.
(See Billy Graham's autobiography, "Just As I Am.")
Respond
Reflect — alone, or talk it through together
1In John 1:40-46, what did Andrew and Philip each say and do? What did they not do?
2"Argued in" versus "brought along" — how did you yourself come to Jesus? Who was your Andrew?
3Who is that name? What is holding you back right now — a missing moment, a lack of nerve, or simply not having begun to pray for him at all?
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Pray together
God who seeks people first: before anyone was looking for you, you were already looking for people — you found Philip, you sent Philip, and through someone you brought me to yourself. Put one name into my heart, teach me to pray for him without giving up, and teach me to say those three words at the right time: come and see. Give me the courage to invite and the respect to wait. You are walking ahead on this road; I only have to keep up. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
Walk
This week's actionabout 10 min
Make a "one name" prayer card: write his or her name, your relationship, the one thing weighing on that person right now, and one sentence of prayer. Put it in your wallet or on your desk, and pray it once every time you see it.
Mark it when it happens — this week, at your pace.
Spiritual practice
Pray for that name for thirty days straight, asking only three things each time: that the Spirit would go ahead, that a moment of meeting would come, and that the soil in that heart would loosen.
Memory verse · John 1:46
Nathanaelsaidtohim,'CananygoodthingcomeoutofNazareth?'Philipsaidtohim,'Comeandsee.'
Walk further
The life of Andrew, Philip's walk with the Ethiopian official, the life Billy Graham was given by a single invitation, the theme of prayer, and "Why Follow Jesus?" to read together with a friend.