²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”  ³² Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ³³ And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”³⁵ The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”  ³⁷ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.  ⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).  ⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. (John 1:29-46, New International Version)

Theme:  Discipleship

Context

There are two primary motivations for our 2024 theme (Discipleship):   1) The unmistakable link between the spiritual disciplines and discipleship, and 2) the legitimate concern that sometimes Christians and churches focus on conversion at the expense of spiritual growth.  It is interesting to note that the word “discipline” comes from discipulus, the Latin word for pupil.  Being a pupil is central to being a disciple, so in terms of linguistic origin, there is a strong link between “discipline” and “disciple.”  Where conversion versus spiritual growth is concerned, while efforts to win souls are of paramount importance, it is unacceptable to care about a person’s conversion but not their growth. Discipleship is also of paramount importance. 

To set the stage for our 40 Days of Discipline focus on discipleship, over the next three days we will consider a passage on discipleship from the gospel of John. Our approach will be to focus on key characters in the passage.  Today we will focus on John the Baptist.  

Bible Study Passage

The Scripture passage is provided above. Please spend some time reflecting on the passage with particular emphasis on verses 29 – 36.      

Questions:

1. What are John’s key messages to his disciples and how do they respond?
2. What key role does John play in the decision of his disciples to follow Jesus?

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