Andrew The Ordinary Series

Colonel Bottomly was rising to the level of general in the United

States Air Force. He was a proud self-sufficient man who needed

nobody. He felt that if you could succeed without God you didn't

need Him. As he rose in power he began to feel he could do as he

pleased, and he did. He bombed across the border in the war in Viet

Nam. It was a violation of the rules of war, but he thought he was

above the rules, and he could do what other morals could not do. He

didn't get by with it, however, and was facing a court martial. His

whole world began to tumble in, and he was filled with stress. He

called his son who was a Christian. When his son explained how he

could become a child of God by receiving Jesus as his Savior, he

prayed right over the phone and became a Christian.

Here was a famous man who became a Christian because of the

witness of an ordinary an unknown man. This has been the case with

many of the famous Christians of history. They are brought to Jesus

by ordinary people. D. L. Moody was brought to Christ by an

obscure Sunday School teacher. Charles Spurgeon was brought to

Christ by an unlettered man. Peter is one of the most famous names

in Christian history. It is hard to imagine anyone who has not heard

of Peter, but he was brought to Jesus by his ordinary brother Andrew.

Andrew never did anything wild and spectacular like his live

wire brother Peter. He never leaped over the side of the boat to

walk on water. He never drew his sword to take on the Roman

army single handed. He never preached to the masses like Peter did

at Pentecost. Andrew was a quiet behind the scenes type of person.

He had no great gifts that make him stand out. He was just an

ordinary guy who loved to introduce people to Jesus. That is about

all Andrew ever did in the record we have of his life. He represents

the majority of Christians who feel ungifted and ordinary.

Some believers like Barnabas are extra-ordinary people. They

are unique, and they have gifts that most do not have. It is not that

ordinary people can't be like Barnabas. They can be like them and

imitate some of their best qualities, but they can never be equal to

them. Andrew did nothing that the rest of us could not do if we

choose to do it. Andrew is connected with evangelism, but we let

this word scare us. We think we have to be very gifted people to do

evangelism. This is a failure to see that we are confusing the gifted

evangelists with the ministry of evangelism. All Andrew did was

invite people to come to Jesus. He was an inviter. He was not a

leader, but a follower but he could invite others to come to Jesus to

see for themselves what He could do in their lives.

We have this mistaken idea that if a person is filled with the

Spirit he will become a dynamic soul winner leaving streaks of

lightening in his path as he blazes across the stage of history. The

New Testament reveals no such thing. Andrew was a quiet sort of

guy who just confronted people one on one and said, "Let me

introduce you to Jesus." Andrew knew Jesus was the Way and so he

pointed others to the Way. He brought Peter to Jesus, and then

Peter left Andrew in the shadow, for Peter was far more gifted. But

Andrew did not fret and complain and feel bad about himself. He

just kept bringing people to Jesus. He is the one who brought the

lad with his lunch to Jesus, and Jesus used it to feed the multitudes.

He is the one who brought the first Greeks to Jesus as well. He was

not the kind of guy who could preach like Peter, but he

could point a man like Peter to Jesus. He could not feed the

crowds, but he could point a lad to Jesus, and Jesus could feed the

crowd. He could not change Greeks, but he could bring them to

Jesus who could change them. Andrew was sort of a middle man.

He linked people up with Jesus and made great things happen. He

did not do the great things, but they happened because he did his

ordinary things to prepare the way.

Do you think anything wonderful and marvelous ever happens

without many ordinary things preparing the way? Do you think a

space craft soars into the sky with its spectacular blastoff without a

thousand and one ordinary people doing ordinary things first? Do