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
you think any great performer could hold you spell bound with their
gifts without the labor of many ordinary people behind the scenes?
Do you think Billy Graham could put on his great crusades without
the help of masses of ordinary people doing all sorts of ordinary
things?
Ordinary people doing ordinary things is the foundation for
human progress. In 1848 it was suggested that a bridge be built
across Niagara. It would save miles of travel and solve many
problems. But the cliffs were too steep, and the water was to wild to
figure out how to begin. Then someone got the bright idea of
offering ten dollars to the kid who could fly a kite from one side to
another. The string could then be connected to a larger string, and
then to a rope, and that to a cable, and they would have a start. The
sophisticated engineers had a field day laughing at such an idea. But
one young boy named Herman Walsh flew his kite across the chasm
and collected his ten bucks, and thus a great bridge was begun with
an ordinary boy flying an ordinary kite, and his ordinary string got
this extra-ordinary project under way. It has been a blessing to
many millions.
Jesus did not choose all Peters, but he choose some Andrews to
be a part of his 12. Our culture says it is no good to be ordinary. If
that is all you are, then you are not special. Never mind the fact
that of the billions of people on this planet most are ordinary. The
only way to be somebody is to be the best is the message we often
get. This leads parents to put pressure on their children. David
Wilkerson wrote, "It begins early. The first time little Tommy hits
a home run in Little League, someone starts grooming him for the
big leagues. When Susan gets a solo part in choir, she's told she is
another Sandi Patti. The children's teachers keep telling them that
every year in school is worth so many more dollars of income. The
libraries overflow with books of how to take 10 easy steps to the top,
how to get power over others with the right mental gimmicks, and
how to make millions without trying."
The great sin of our culture is to be ordinary. But in the Bible
we see the ordinary glorified, and in Andrew we see a specialist in
the ordinary. John mentions Andrew 3 times in his Gospel, and in 2
of the 3 he is called Simon Peters brother. Don't get him confused
with the many other Andrews. This is the Andrew who is the
brother of Peter. Just say Peter and all know who you are speaking
of, for Peter was extra-ordinary. He stands out as unique, and
everybody know Peter. Andrew alone does not stand out, for
Andrews are a dime a dozen.
Nobody ever said I want you to meet Peter the brother of
Andrew. Peter's reputation stood on its own, but Andrew had to be
more clearly identified because he was just ordinary. But
remember, he too was one of the 12. Jesus chose, not only Peter to
be a foundation of his church, but he also chose his ordinary brother
Andrew. Jesus has a place in His kingdom for the ordinary, for they
are always the majority. There are far more Andrews as fishers of
men than there are Peters. There are far more ordinary pines than
there are giant redwoods. The redwoods are marvelous and a
wonder, but the ordinary trees are the key to building the houses for
people to dwell in. And so also it is the ordinary Andrews who are
the key to building the church of Christ.
Andrew did not try to imitate his older and more dynamic
brother. He knew Jesus chose him for who he was. If He would
have wanted another Peter, He would not have chosen him. He
knew Jesus could use the ordinary as well as the extra-ordinary.
Andrew knew he was loved and used by Jesus just by being himself.
He didn't have to be like somebody else. He didn't have to be
somebody different, or somebody better. He was okay in being who
he was-ordinary Andrew.
If anyone had the right to burn with envy and long to be
somebody else, it was Andrew. He had the hardest role to play
among the 12 Apostles, for he was a fourth wheel that came with a
tricycle. His brother Peter and the 2 brothers James and John
became the inner circle. These 3 Jesus chose to be closer to Him
than the rest. Here was Andrew who believed in Jesus first before
Peter, and he too was a brother of one in the inner circle, and he too
was a partner of these 3 in their fishing business, but he was left out
of the inner circle.
I cannot pretend that this would not hurt me if I was Andrew.
He was so close to the three in that inner circle, but he didn't make
it. Yet we do not read of a single word of anger, envy, or
resentment. Andrew could accept the fact that he was ordinary and
not go all to pieces over it. He could do so because he knew that as
an ordinary Christian he could do what really mattered, for he
could bring people to Jesus. It may not be by preaching to large
crowds like his brother, but one by one he could speak to people and
point them to Jesus. And so Andrew became the patron saint of personal
workers. The world is not being won by great preachers.
Most of the people they reach are people that have been prepared
by Andrews. It is the ordinary Christian who speaks to others about
Jesus who touches most of the people who come to Him.
If Jesus was hard on the one talented man who buried that one
talent it is because his kingdom depends on the faithfulness of the
those one talented people. He cannot reach this world with unique
people. He needs the masses of ordinary Andrews if the great
commission is to ever be fulfilled. Some unknown poet wrote:
Common as the wayside grasses,
Ordinary as the soil,
By the score he daily passes
Going to and from his toil.
Stranger he to wealth or fame;
He is only what's-his-name.
Not for him the glittering glory,
Not for him the places high,
Week by week the same old story;
Try and fail and fail and try.
All his days seem dull and tame.
Poor old plotting what's-his-name.
Most of the books are written about the extra ordinary people
like Peters and Pauls of history. But the fact is, it is the labor of the
masses of ordinary Christians that keeps the kingdom of God going.
Take away the Andrews and all your superstars would fall, for they
all need Andrews to succeed. Billy Graham knows this and that is
why the backbone of his crusades is the Operation Andrew
Program. If the masses of ordinary Christians do not bring people
there is very little that Graham can do to reach the masses.
An Andrew has to be a person who can play second fiddle and
love it because he knows that it is essential that somebody does it,
and that it is a valuable part of the whole, even though it does not
get the recognition. Peter was so great and spectacular that we
sometimes forget that Jesus chose His brother too. John Sebastian
Bach was so great that other members of his talented family were
lost in his shadow, but they also blessed people with their gift.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow so eclipsed his brother Samuel that
he is largely forgotten, but he also was a great poet.
Ezekiel Webster is not even remember because of his famous
brother Daniel Webster. It happens in every field of life that the
ordinary are pushed off the pages of history by the extra-ordinary.
There are hundreds of sermons on Peter for everyone on Andrew.
Do you think Andrew is somewhere in heaven brooding over his
place in history? Do you think he regrets being ordinary? He
never showed it on earth, so we can count on it that he does not see
being ordinary as a defect. He sees it as a link to the vast majority
of people for whom Christ died.
Henry Ward Beecher was asked what he thought was the
greatest thing a person could do and he replied, "The greatest thing
a man can do is not to be a theologian or a scientist, but to bring
someone to Jesus Christ." an ordinary man can't be and do a lot of
things like being a great theologian or scientist, but he can bring
others to Christ, and that is truly being great in the eyes of God.
We can't all be chiefs, but we can all be chief winners. That is what
Andrew was. He never became one of the key leaders among the
Apostles, but he was a key influence in the lives of those who did
become the chief leaders.
Andrew had an eye for the individual. Peter fished with the net
and drew in the crowds, but in the midst of the crowds Andrew saw
the individual. He fished for men with a pole. Nobody else saw the
little boy with the lunch in that crowd with 5000 men plus women
and children. Andrew was the one who noticed this little guy. He
was just an ordinary kid and Andrew could spot the ordinary.
Others were looking for the big shot, and people with power, and
money and dignity. They looked for people who could help them
solve the problem, but Andrew says, "I found this lad with 5 loaves
and 2 fish."
The others were no doubt thinking that Andrew can be such a
jerk at times. Here we are having a major problem and he comes
up with a sack lunch. But Jesus honored Andrew's faith in the
ordinary. He took that ordinary lunch and he made it do the job of
an extra ordinary catering service. He did the most massive miracle
of his career with this ordinary boy and ordinary lunch.
Andrew was vindicated, for Jesus said by this miracle that he
could use the ordinary. Anybody can feed 5000 with a herd of cattle
and a field of sweet corn and potatoes, or a ship full of fish and a
field of wheat. But when you do it with a lad's lunch you know that
God has entered history. God gets more glory when He works by
means of the ordinary. When super gifted people serve the Lord
much of the glory gets directed to them. But when ordinary people
serve the Lord, the Lord gets most of the credit.
Andrew not only chose to focus on the ordinary lad with his
lunch, but he made it career to focus on the ordinary. He went to
the Sythians, who were the most barbaric people of the ancient
world. Nobody else would bother with them, but again Andrew
loved the ordinary, and the result is that he became the patron saint
of both Russia and Scotland, for both of these peoples descended
from the Sythians. Out of the Christian history of these people have
come many of the great and famous Christians of history. But this
would not have happened had there not been someone who said that
ordinary people are worth reaching. Andrew was that man. By his
focus on the ordinary he changed the course of history in very
extra-ordinary ways.
Nobody but Jesus can know just how a great an impact this
ordinary man has had in history, and in the kingdom of God. All we
know for sure is that he is one of history's most famous ordinary
men. The flag that George Washington flew in 1776 had the crosses
of St. Andrew and St. George in the place of the stars. There are St.
Andrew Cathedrals and the St. Andrew University. There are
Christians ministries all over the world named after this ordinary
Apostle whose focus on the ordinary proved that Jesus loves and
uses ordinary people for His purpose.
