Andrew - Living in Your Brother’s Shadow"
John 1:35-42
(Watch clip from Friends - season five - "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS" - show first 3 minutes - theme is all about whether or not there are truly selfless good deeds)
Well, that’s a great question and one that we will come back to at the end of this message. We are looking this morning at the brother of Simon Peter, a man by the name of Andrew.
John 1:35-42 “John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus passing by. ‘There,’ he said, ‘is the Lamb of God!’ John’s disciples followed Jesus. When Jesus saw them, he turned and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Where are you staying, Teacher?’ He said, ‘Come and see.’ They went with him to the house and they stayed with him the rest of the day. One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found his brother immediately and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ And he took Simon to meet Jesus.”
There are three great lessons we learn from the life of Andrew.
#1 - He always focused on the mission.
-There are four main occurrences of Andrew in the New Testament.
-Comes to Jesus (In John 1 he is the first of the Apostles to come to Jesus)
-Brings his brother to Jesus (John 1:41,42)
-Brings a young boy to Jesus (John 6:8, 9)
-Brings a group of Greek men to Jesus. (John 12:20-22)
He appears only four times in the gospels. But whenever he is mentioned, he is always doing the same thing, he is bringing somebody to Jesus. He had a passion for bringing people to Jesus. And we have to ask the question, do we have that same passion? Are we overwhelmed with an urgency in bringing people to Jesus?
This past week we had a very challenging episode. I was sitting at work when my wife called in a panic because our four year old son was lost. She is in a genuine panic – she sounded like Beaker from the Muppets. Anyway, I ran home from work – wife crying – kid’s searching – finally found him asleep under a bed.
Anybody been there? Show of hands, who’s lost a kid? Now, I know that it’s bad to lose your kid but hey, at least I didn’t leave my kid at church…(name names)..
But when our child is lost we are filled with a sense of anxiety and urgency and overwhelming emotion. And here’s my question, why do we not feel anything close to that emotion when our family members and those in our circle of influence are spiritually lost?
Why don’t we have a glimmer of that same emotion? Andrew did.
Andrew always focused on the mission. He was consumed with bringing people to Jesus. And we might ask why? And the answer is that he understood the value of what they were going to find. He found a good thing in Jesus and he knew that there was nothing better that he could do then bring people to the Savior.
I’ve mentioned before that each and every Christian needs to do a cost/benefit analysis of
sharing the gospel. Of living the life of a contagious Christian. Cause when we do we’ll
find the same conclusion of Andrew. Hey, it’s worth it. Let’s give it a shot.
I mean ask yourself what is the worst thing that’s gonna happen to me if I raise my evangelistic outreach up a notch or two. And I’ll tell you what it is, in this country anyway, for the most part, the worst thing that’s gonna happen is that somebody might decline your efforts to lead them to Christ.
With the extremely rare exception, that’s about it. And we’ve got ask, is that so awful?
And some of us are paralyzed from living a contagious Christian life, paralyzed from vocalizing our faith and calling for others to make a decision, paralyzed from that because someone might say no thanks. Or might think a little less of us. Might think we’re weird or religious.
And so we fall into a pattern of silence. A pattern of never trying. And for many it’s become normal not to share the good news with other people.
Do you remember the parable Jesus told of the man sowing the good seed, it’s like the good news, but he sewing or planting the good news wherever he goes. And it says he first plants some on hard ground and the birds come down and swoop it up. It
doesn’t take root. Strike one.
And then he plants some on some rocky ground and it grew for awhile but it didn’t have nourishment and so it withered and died. Strike two.
And so then he sewed some among the thorns and it grew up but the weeds eventually choked it out. And so we have strike three.
But he wasn’t out and he didn’t give up just because the first three didn’t take. And he sewed some more and this fell on fertile ground and it took root and sprang up and it produced a huge crop a hundred times more then what was sown.
That’s the way it is with the Gospel. You share it and share it and share it. And sometimes you may strike out but sometimes it takes root. And when it does what incredible ramifications that holds in their life and in the lives they will touch down the road.
Is it worth taking a risk? Oh yea. Take a chance. Realize the value of sharing the gospel. Don’t forget the feeling of seeing someone come to Christ or better yet getting to help someone come to Christ. Andrew experienced that and couldn’t wait to experience it again.
A 90 year old faithful Christian was asked how he did so much for Christ and he said, “I never lost the wonder of it all.” Andrew never lost the wonder and he couldn’t wait to bring people to Jesus.
Listen to me. Jesus summarized his life purpose in 14 simple words: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost," Luke 19:10 (NIV)
Jesus lived it and that carried over to Andrew. He never lost the focus of the mission.
Well, a second great lesson we learn from Andrew was that he overcame the prejudice of his society.
One of the four encounters we have with Andrew is when we find him bringing a group of Greek men to Jesus. These were not Jewish men. John 12 records how these foreigners came to Phillip who wasn’t sure what to do with them so he sent them to Andrew who directly took them to Jesus.
Now we have to understand that Andrew lived in one of the most segregated, prejudiced societies in history but he was able to keep the bigger picture in mind and overcome that prejudice. And that’s another lesson that the church as a whole needs to learn.
Sunday morning has been called the most segregated time of the week in America. It may be over race, or wealth, or gender, or some other distinction, but we need to see that those distinctions are not allowable to a Christian.
The book of James says simply "Don’t show favoritism." One translation puts it "Do not hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory, together with discrimination between people." The profession of the Christian faith is incompatible with an attitude of discrimination.
Mark Twain said, "Prejudice, was the ink from which all history is written," unfortunately there is a great deal of truth to those words. Prejudice has existed throughout history in every part of the world.
Jonah felt it against the people of Nineveh. Peter felt it against the Gentiles. The Jews felt it against the Samaritans, the Egyptians against the Jews, The Pharisees against the sinner. Slaves against owners. Males against Females.
And the world tells us that this must continue. But Jesus tells us there’s another way. The truth of scripture is that God is no respecter of persons. All, according to Paul are made of one blood by the creator of the universe.
And favoritism, segregation, racism, discrimination are wrong because they are inconsistent with the will of God.
Gal. 3:28 says that “in Jesus Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.” And the church should be a picture of that togetherness.
I want you to listen to these words from Acts 13:1-3
“The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of teachers: Barnabas, Simon, nicknamed Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen, an advisor to the ruler Herod & Saul.”
Do you realize that the first missionary group sent out from the church consisted of a wealthy Jew, two Africans, a Gentile Roman from the King’s palace and an admitted killer. Jew, black, slave, free, rich, poor. All working together to serve the Lord. And how contrary is that to the makeup of our congregations today.
The world has told us to get with like kind. To congregate with those of my color, my financial and social class, my religious affiliation. And the world has told us to do that, but who do we listen to, the world or Jesus Christ
And if Christ considered each individual worthy enough to die for, can I consider them worth anything less.
We need to understand that prejudice is a learned trait. It’s what were taught. And maybe your parents taught you that, and your teaching your children that, but somewhere along the line it’s got to stop.
Parents can turn trusting, beautiful, accepting children into mean-spirited bigots and we need to remember the power we have as parents to shape our children.
There’s a song by Oscar Hammerstein II, written in 1949
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You,ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear.
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade.
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be carefully taught
And as a parent you have an opportunity, especially those of you with young children, to teach for the good or the bad.
And when your son tells you that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever and you’re tempted to sell him on Larry Bird, ask yourself. Am I doing it because Larry is white and Michael is black.
When your child wants to root for Tiger Woods and you encourage them to get behind Phil Mickelson ask yourself why?
When your little daughter comes running the isle at Wal-Mart carrying an African American Barbie doll, or an Asian Barbie doll, you have the choice to either say "well honey, now go get the Barbie with the blond hair” or you can make a decision to tell her what a beautiful doll that is and start teaching your child about not being prejudiced.
Somewhere along the line it has got to stop. Because regardless of how or where we were raised, regardless of what we were taught, the bible says, no longer. There is no distinction, Christ destroyed those walls and we are not to build them again. We are on equal ground. God created us all and redeemed us all through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The poem says,
I may be black, I might be white,
I may be free, I might be uptight,
but I am still God’s child.
I may be rich, I might be poor
I may be exciting, I might be a bore
But I am still God’s child.
I may be fat, I might be thin
I may be out, I might be in
But I am still God’s child
Mistreated, unseated, but never defeated
because I am God’s child. I am God’s child.
If nothing else this morning, I want you to know who you are. And this is so important because we are in a spiritual war. And I love what Tony Evans said, "If your in a war, you don’t care about the class, color, or culture of the guy fighting next to you. All you care is that your shooting in the same direction. Are you shooting in the same direction.
Well, Andrew remained focused on the mission. He overcame the prejudice of his society. And then the third and last point is this: He served without recognition.
Remember our question at the beginning from the Friends episode - "are there really any selfless good deeds?" I think the life of Andrew answers that question in the affirmitive. He served faithfully despite a lack of recognition or position or fame.
He did not serve to get ahead. He served because he loved his Lord and because it was the right thing to do.
Now you have to understand the quiet service of this man. When we read scripture, Simon Peter’s name is mentioned 151 times. Andrew’s name is mentioned 13 times. Of the 13 times his name is mentioned, he’s always referred to as Simon Peter’s brother. He’s only mentioned as Andrew once. He’s always second best. He’s always second in line. He’s always living in the shadow of his brother Peter.
And while Andrew was the first disciple to follow Jesus, he is never mentioned first in any list of the twelve disciples.
And the four originals – Peter, Andrew, James & John soon becomes the three amigos Peter, James and John. It is Peter James and John who are invited into the inner circle of Jesus time and time again. Where is Andrew.
Andrew is always behind the scenes, yet you never hear him complain about it. Not once do we ever hear him complain about it. It’s as if he always has a tremendous sense of who he is and who he is serving.
And it’s hard to be known as someone’s
brother. It’s even harder to continue serving faithfully, day after day without receiving acknowledgment or recognition.
St. Augustine, said, "Should you ask me what is the first thing in religion? I should reply, the first, second and third thing therein is humility, humility, humility.
The last scriptural record of Andrew is his mention in the upper room in Acts 1:13, but tradition suggests that Andrew went on to preach in Russia and then in Greece, and history is vague but it seems as if Andrew at the end was put to death for his faith on an x-shaped cross in a country far from home. It almost seems that Andrew died as he had lived -- in obscurity, unknown. But how God used Andrew!
And you may feel as though no one knows who you are and that you will never gain notoriety or recognition for your service to God. But we don’t serve for that recognition. We serve to honor God. We serve because we’ve been given so much. And we serve because it’s the right thing to do.
There is a poem by Ruth Harms Calkin that emphasizes this point. It’s called "I Wonder".
You know, Lord, How I serve You with great emotional fervor in the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You at a Women’s Club.
You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder, if You pointed to a basin of water and asked me to wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman day after day, month after month,in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?
How about you? Would you be willing to perform purely unselfish acts simply because our God deserves it and because it’s the right thing to do? Only you can answer that.
Well, let’s wrap this up. How are we doing in those three areas?
Are we focused on the mission of bringing people to Christ. Are we overcoming the prejudices that are built into our society and are willing serving without recognition or honor or fame because we love God and it’s the right thing to do?
