Come and See | The Adventure of An Invitational Faith
Movies provide people with a compelling adventure and story that we otherwise could not do alone. 2023 gave us a plethora of films from various genres. Some of these even occurred at the same time. On the weekend of July 21, 2023, two groups of people who would have never met ended up at the movies simultaneously. Some in the theater sought to feel the weight of the heavy story of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Others craved something significantly lighter, looking to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Regardless of the clientele, people sought to engage with some more profound adventure than their lives and experience a story bigger than themselves. Yet, for all the escapism that movies provide (of which I am no critic), we will never experience the story as a participant. When the credits roll, however beautiful the story might have been, or how fun and vibrant the colors were, we immediately wrestle with the understanding that we only watched the adventure, not participating.
For many, the Christian life is simply going to the movies. We watch a story unfold somewhere beyond ourselves, reducing the whole thing to an observing experience on a Sunday morning. Church then becomes a place where we go to get our needs met, viewing the church as something that should provide a good or service to us. Then, in the end, we return to our everyday lives, and although we saw something spectacular, our lives remain unchanged. Yet, the Christian life offers something more profound, a life of not merely watching as consumers but discovering our intended purpose in living a great adventure. Following Jesus, when fully realized in our lives, puts to death the self-centric outlook of our faith and elevates us to a life of joining in the unfailing mission of Jesus Christ. We move from the sit-and-watch, consumeristic mindset to experiencing the overflow of the Spirit within us, which leads us to proclaim, “Come and see.”
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter ).
John 1:35-42, ESV
The Cost of Come and See
John the Baptist understood who Jesus was as he entered the city. As Jesus began His ministry, drawing students any great rabbi would, John proclaimed the truth of the Messiah, exclaiming, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” a clear proclamation that the long-awaited Savior had come. Two disciples, curious about the message of Jesus Christ, inquired where they could learn more. It was then that Jesus invited them to “come and see “Come and see.” Throughout scripture, the disciples routinely lay down their lives, desires, and ambitions to follow after Jesus Christ. They walk away from their careers, hometowns, and every comfort of their life to follow the Rabbi.
The cost of following Jesus has remained the same thousands of years later. We can have that moment of understanding that Jesus is the Savior. We can pray the prayer and even get baptized. All of these are great things. And yet, they are just the beginning of a new life of transformation that occurs by getting out of the way of the Holy Spirit to move in and through us. Following Jesus costs us everything. We put aside our plans, desires, and everything we once thought made for a successful life to follow the Rabbi.
The local church is not immune to this problem as well. Too often, we view baptism, serving on a serve team, joining a group, and giving as the terminal point in a person’s spiritual growth. This mindset often manifests through how we view and treat a church’s services. In my experience in multiple churches and talking to various pastors, we view the average Christian’s honorable duties as something the professionals or someone else should do. Children’s ministry is viewed as “childcare” in a reductionist view that parents should only drop off their children rather than laying down a foundation of faith in children. Youth serve as free labor, doing the tasks of church maintenance, set up, and tear down while also doing the bulk of evangelism in a church because “they need to learn responsibility.” Adults come on Sunday and give up one Sunday a month to serve on the parking team.
Each part is alright in and of itself. We should provide care for children, students should serve, and the parking team is a great time. The heart of the deferment of responsibility to serve and the consumeristic mindset among seasoned Christians concerns me. People view ministry as something someone else does. I could (and have) spent pages and conversations talking about the dangerous nature of this consumeristic mindset, but deep down, the issue is more profound. With all the love and respect, believing that following the Rabbi is about getting a service or experience will lull our souls to sleep and always leave us with a deep longing for more.
The Adventure of Come and See
As Jesus spoke to the disciples, telling them to come and see, you can almost feel the excitement of the invitation. The disciples had just experienced the power of Jesus Christ. Then, rather than being put off or shoved away, the long-awaited Messiah draws them into the first of many grand adventures they would face. From this moment, the disciples would travel across the country and the region. They would square off against the religious elites and be found victorious. They would see the sick healed, the lost found, and the dead come alive. They devoted themselves so profoundly to this adventure that at the end, when faced with torture and death, they held fast to their faith, knowing the greatness of who they put their faith in. These men would change the world by putting down themselves and taking hold of the mission and adventure of following Jesus Christ.
The genuine encounter with Jesus Christ stirs up the longings of the soul for the disciples to leave everything they had to follow Him. They paid the cost of their preferences and their need to put themselves first to take the first step in a lifetime journey. They left businesses, homes, profitable careers, and positions to follow the Rabbi. For the sake of our dying souls, we must put down the consumeristic approach to living as a full member of the body of Christ. This is not about staffing issues, church budgets, or organizational structure but about taking hold of a life overflowing with purpose and adventure from an eternal and victorious God. The invitation to come and see brings alongside others in the process. They understood what we would call “evangelism” as this great experience and encounter with the Messiah that overflowed out of them. They fell in love with the Messiah and the life He offered and had to tell others.
The body of believers is no different today. Where consumerism draws us into a deep lull of the soul, the invitation by the Messiah awakens the depth of our being, exciting us to join the adventure of a life lived according to a larger and greater purpose. Putting down our selfish ambition to make things about us postures us to take hold of the God-sized purpose and mission for our lives. The adventure expands beyond the borders of our tiny world to engage on a global and eternal basis because our God rules and reigns over all creation. When faith becomes more than receiving services during a 90-minute service, we embark on the grand journey of living a life more significant than ourselves. The Holy Spirit gifts and empowers believers to live out their mission and calling. We grow in our faith, getting out of our way to allow the hands of God to move in and through our own to accomplish God-sized tasks.
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
