How many men (and women) are serving God in our churches whose work is unnoticed by the majority? The Lord sees it however, and will reward them openly and generously at His coming. Our churches could hardly function without them. Philip in some ways must have been a man like that. Matthew, Mark and Luke mention him once in the list of all the apostles. John gives us four incidents in which Philip is briefly seen. The first glimpse of this early disciple is in our reading today when Christ called Philip to follow Him. It is very easy to confuse this Philip with Philip the deacon and evangelist in the book of Acts. That Philip preached in Samaria and also led the Ethiopian to Christ. He was prominent in other stories as well. But beyond being listed among the other apostles in Acts 1:13, Philip the early disciple is not mentioned again. Philip's first thought on meeting Christ was "I must tell my friend Nathaniel about this Man." Having discovered Christ for himself, Philip wanted to communicate what it had meant to him. Philip gave a fine commendation of Christ, "Here is the very one whom we've been looking for!" His first attempt at witnessing however was not altogether successful but he knew what to do next. "Come and meet this man for yourself." That's a good lesson for us. If we can't get very far in talking with someone else about Christ, we can always say very simply, "If you just get to know Christ for yourself, you will find out how wonderful He is." Have you met Jesus yourself? Have you told anyone about Him? |
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