394 Who's Looking?

    (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Who’s Looking?”, originally shared on January 14, 2026. It was the 394^th  video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   Many churches include “come and see” on their websites and promotional materials, but is anybody looking? Today, we’re going to find out.

   Have you ever applied for a job? You probably had to bring your résumé.

   "Résumé," is a French word that means “summary”, but it’s not the word French people use when they apply for a job.

   In France, and in many other parts of the world, job-seekers bring their CV, or “Curriculum Vitae”, which is not French at all but Latin for “course of life”.

   Here’s a fun fact: when Sting, the rock & pop singer and bass player, appeared on the TV game show “Jeopardy” in 2021, he had written lyrics to the show’s theme song and he sang them:

“Of all the things in my CV,

Everything in life from A-Z,

But how I wish my ma could see

Here I am on Jeopardy!”

Here I am on Jeopardy!”

   But whatever you bring, résumé  or CV, you are presenting your credentials to do the work you are setting out to do.

   John the Baptist proclaims Jesus’ credentials, the day after John has baptized him, in the text that the vast majority of churches will be hearing this coming Sunday, John 1:29-42.

   The work of Jesus’ 3-year public ministry that has now begun at age 30, with his baptism, will put Jesus in jeopardy with the religious and occupying Roman authorities of Israel.

   Here’s how it starts, on the day after Jesus’ baptism, with the “he” being John the Baptist, in John 1:29,

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

   Here is Jesus, both who he is and what he’s going to do to change everything we know about life, presented in one descriptive phrase: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

   Here’s why:

   Adam and Eve were created for a living relationship with God. Evil entered the world when they rejected the covenant God made with them. Their Sin separated humanity from God. How could that relationship be restored?

   God called Abraham to sacrifice his one beloved son Isaac and, by faith, Abraham was ready to do it. But God stopped him and provided a lamb for the sacrifice in the place of Isaac.

   God called each household among the people of Israel, in slavery in Egypt, to kill a lamb and to paint the blood of the lamb over their door post. That night, the angel of death visited every household in Egypt and the first-born son died. Except, where the angel of death saw the blood of the lamb over the door, it passed over that door, and the people of God were set free from slavery.

   God called the people of God to make an animal sacrifice on the annual Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, as a sacrifice for the sins of all of Israel, the people of God.

   John announces right here, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, and that he will die in our place as a sacrifice so that all of God’s people might be set free from the effects of Sin and have the living relationship with God for they were created restored.

   Jesus, at the same time fully God and fully human being, is the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the world!

   John the Baptist continues with verse 30,

³⁰This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³²And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 

   John declares right there his life’s purpose in his offering of a baptism for repentance. Jesus comes to be baptized so that He might be revealed to the world and sacrificially be baptized as a model of what is necessary for all humanity.

   It was realized in the living reality of the one true living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Jesus’ baptism.

   John continues in verse 33,

³³I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

 ³⁴And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” 

   Then, on the second day after Jesus’ baptism, this happens, starting with verse 35,

³⁵The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 

   Two of John’s disciples had understood what John was teaching and sought to follow a greater teacher, Jesus.

   Jesus responds to them with a question, “What are you looking for?”

   Everybody’s looking for something. Few can name it, and fewer find it. And when they find it, they realize that they haven’t found it, but that they have been found.

   For example, Sally and I have subscribed to Netflix since the pandemic, and we were stuck at home. We still subscribe. But, way more often than not, unless we’re looking for something specific, we say, “Let’s see what’s on Netflix” and spend an hour so looking at trailers without success, give up, and go to bed.

   But, if someone we know recommends something to us, we watch it and we are almost always glad we did.

   Why?

   When you find something good, you tell others about it. When others you trust tell you about something good you check it out.

   John apparently was not looking for a larger following. He loses two of his disciples and is fine with that.

   One of them, Andrew, tells his brother Simon about what he has found, and we see what happens next, beginning with John 1:41,

⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴²He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

   That is the key to evangelism and to church development right there, “We have found the Messiah” the deliverer, the one who can give you what you have been looking for.

   I heard some news people on TV this week talking about an old commercial for Fabergé Organics shampoo. You might remember the pre-social media shampoo commercial where a woman says, “I told two friends” and the screen splits. And then two faces of the same woman say, “And I told two friends.” And the screen splits again and four faces of the same woman say, “And I told two friends,” and the screen splits again, and so on.

   That’s how the Church grows.

   Our media may change, but the personal witness of a credible friend or relative still accounts for 80% - 85% of all the people who come to Christ and who become active members of a local Christian church.

   The key to evangelism is not to find the right proposition or argument, but to introduce people to Jesus.

   Evangelism is, as has been said, just one beggar telling another where to find food.

   “Come and see” is not just inviting people to come to your church.  It is inviting people to come to know Jesus. And when people know Jesus, they want to come and worship Him and tell others about Him.

   Andrew invited his brother Simon to know Jesus and the result was so transformational that Simon’s name had to change; his new name was Cephas (translated Peter), which means “the rock.” It was given to him by Jesus.

   The people who are looking today are not looking for a friendly church home, or an institution they are needed to pay for, or someone else’s legacy to preserve. They don’t need a social or political movement using religious language, or a host of things they can find someplace else and better and for a lower cost.

   Many are not looking for a church at all. They are looking for personal fulfilment. They are chasing a dollar. They are hoping for an out-of-court settlement. They want to spend more time with their families. They are looking for a thousand things that people put at the center of their lives and turn to in times of need that are not God.

   And no matter what they accomplish in life or what they think that they have, there will always be an inner emptiness that can only be filled with one thing, the thing that they were created for: a living relationship with the one true living God.

   How do we present Jesus in a way that people will come to Him and be made whole”

   Psychiatrist Victor Frankl survived a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He wondered why some people survived while others did not. The thing he noticed that most survivors had in common was not health or youth or strength, but purpose. He observed that “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” His “why” was to write his book, Man’s Search for Meaning.

   He said, “When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”

   Does this not describe our age. Civilizations in the West were once known for their great temples and cathedrals, then their centers for the fine arts, then their massive commercial centers. Now, the great cities of the West are known for their sports complexes, gambling palaces, and entertainment centers.

   Why are people looking in all the wrong places to fill an emptiness they can’t define?

   There is what some have described as a “God-shaped hole” in every person when the relationship with God for which we were created is absent.

   Some seek pleasure. Some seek any plausible answer that satisfies for now. Others in some counterfeit thing that looks like the real thing in order to fill that emptiness.

   “Spiritual but not religious.” Rehab as repentance. A life-coach for self-affirmation. Material success in a material world. Financial freedom for security. Artificial notoriety for real fame.

   And yet, to what can they turn when their world view is tested? When they ask themselves or encounter the question, “What are you looking for?”

   Where can we turn to find meaning? Where can we turn when our churches no longer expect or offer life transformation?

   When I was in seminary, I took a class on futures studies. We were taught that, within our lifetimes, one of our biggest challenges as pastors would be helping people find meaning when machines made all work unnecessary. That didn’t happen before I retired, but Artificial Intelligence is now raising questions about what it means to be human. And is it enough?

   What does it mean to be human?

   We are learning more and more about DNA and genes, and the underlying proteins and the underlining metabolomes, and what theologian Leonard Sweet calls “God dust.” But what happens when we can eliminate any genetic trait that we find undesirable? What happens when something we value as a human trait is something that others do not?

   Does answering that we are created in the image of God for a living relationship with the one true living God provide enough of an answer?

   Climate change and the current extinction of animal species has called the sustainability of the human race into question, as has the specter of world war.

   Theology, the study of what we can know about God through reason and God’s revelation, was once called The Queen of the Sciences. The word “science” is rooted in a Latin word for knowledge. How can we know what we know?

   I saw a meme once that contained the text, “Biology is applied Chemistry; Chemistry is applied Physics; Physics is applied Mathematics.” “And,” someone commented. “Mathematics is applied Logic; Logic is applied Philosophy, and Philosophy is applied Theology.” 😊

   We can say “yes, there is meaning, and it comes through a transforming encounter with the one true living God in Jesus Christ.”

   That is our only answer. It is pointing to Jesus Christ, our redeemer and not some little helper meeting our needs.

   Jesus both asks the question of life’s meaning and answers it. He is all that ultimately satisfies, and the revitalization of our churches is contained in Him, and in Him alone.

   People aren’t looking for the church, they see nothing there for them. But the church is the only place where what they are looking for in life can be found.

   The thing is that we can’t look for God. We are sinners. We wouldn’t know where to look or what to look for.

   The good news of Jesus is that God is seeking us everywhere and in everything. He died on the cross to restore the relationship with God for which we were created for all who believe and are baptized.

   All we can “do” is to open our hearts and resonate with that work of the Holy Spirit outside of us. God transforms us. It used to be called our “conversion”.

   God gives us newness of life!

   The Church began as a community of people whose lives were transformed by Jesus, people who loved Him and, because of that love, loved one another. It was their résumé, their CV. He was what defined them.

   We can be that again.