[One By One]
Slide Text - Personal Evangelism – Bringing People to Jesus, One By One
Slide Graphics – Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper
Note: Parts of this message was developed with the help of the material in John McArthur’s excellent book “Twelve Ordinary Men”
This is a photograph of “The Last Supper”, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1495. It is 15 feet tall and 29 feet wide, painted on the wall of the dining hall (appropriate for the subject) of the convent of Santa Maria de Grazie in Milan, Italy. It was one of the first paintings to portray the subject as lifelike people with real emotions. It is also one of the finest examples of single-point perspective ever painted. The painting depicts the night before Christ’s betrayal. He has just told them that one of them would betray him.
The figures are, from left to right
• Bartholomew, James Minor and [Andrew – today’s subject]
• Judas, Peter and John
• Christ
• Thomas, James Major and Philip
• Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon
The painting is in bad shape because Leonardo was trying a new technique – one that didn’t work well. At the time, most wall frescos were painted using an egg tempura (paint pigments suspended in egg whites) directly onto wet plaster. This meant you had to paint very quickly, before the plaster dried, and the paint would bleed and mix into the wet plaster, making it difficult to make crisp lines. In this painting, Leonardo painted onto dry plaster. He did not know that this would cause the paint to flake off the wall. The painting has been undergoing constant repair since it was finished.
Originally, Christ had feet, but around 1650, someone decided that the dining hall needed another door, and that the best place to put one was right through the bottom of the painting. Luckily, they decided they didn’t need any more windows. The convent was also damaged by bombing in WWII.
There is a story that one of the first figures Leonardo painted was that of Christ, using as a model a young man who was radiated innocence and peace. Over the years he painted the other figures from other models. The last figure he painted was that of Judas. He searched all over for a model who characterized evil, self centered, fallen from grace. He finally found a suitable man in a prison. When the man came to Leonardo’s studio to be drawn and sketched, he looked around in agitation and finally asked Leonardo if the painter remembered him. He had been in the studio years before to pose for the figure of Christ, but had, over the years since, fallen into drunkenness and vice and every sort of evil. Actually, this story is not true. Leonardo painted the picture over a 3-4 year period, and there is no record that he knew the names of any of the models.
The popular book “The Da Vinci Code”, by Dan Brown, is a fictional account of a secret series of “codes” or messages, hidden in Da Vinci’s paintings, revealing that Christ had a child by Mary Magdalene. In the Last Supper, among other things, the effeminate figure to the left of Jesus is, according to the book, not John, but Mary. This makes for a very entertaining conspiracy theory novel, but the “codes” are all completely made up by the author, as he admits.
Today we are going to talk about one of the disciples we don’t often discuss – Andrew, the third from the left in this painting.
[Andrew – What are you Seeking?]
Slide Graphic – Icon painting of Andrew – many of them say “Protocletus” (“First Called”) and have his right hand held in a symbolic gesture, ring finger to thumb, with middle finger slightly bent. The symbolism is the first two fingers represent Christ’s humanity and Divinity. Divinity, the longer finger, is bowed to Humanity. The ring finger and thumb form a circle, representing the church.
Slide text –
35The next day John [the Baptist] was there again with two of his disciples.
36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
38Turning 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 spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two
John 1:35-40a
Andrew was a disciple of Jesus and lived from around 5 AD to 60. Andrew from the Greek means "manhood" or "valour". He was a seeker, a disciple of John the Baptist – who lived in the wilderness on honey and locusts, wearing a camel-skin coat. To follow John the Baptist into the wilderness to study, Andrew must have been very hardy, and very serious.
Andrew was there the day after John the Baptist baptized Christ (John 1:35-36). That day, Andrew saw John the Baptist point to Christ and say “Behold, the Lamb of God”. John had never claimed to be the Messiah, and had always said he was there to point the way, to prepare the path of the true Messiah, who was coming soon. So when Andrew heard John call Jesus Christ the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, he and several others realized what this meant, left John the Baptist, and followed Christ immediately.
The question that Jesus asked the disciples is very interesting. "What are you seeking?“ (KJV) can be seen as just a conversation-starter. But that would hardly be all Christ meant, especially at his first meeting with a man he knew would become one of his 12 closest friends and followers. The question, "what are you seeking?" is the most basic question of life. What is most important to you? Where are you looking for satisfaction and meaning?
The reply of the two men is also important. They called Jesus, "Rabbi", which John tells us means "teacher." But the word “teacher” didn’t mean the same to Hebrews of that time. Rabbi literally means, "My great one". The Jews’ respect for knowledge was so great that the teachers were the great people of their culture.
The two would-be disciples ask Jesus, "Where are you staying?" This seems a strange response to the question “what are you looking for?”. But the Greek word translated "staying" is quite important in John’s gospel. It is the same word that was already used of the Holy Spirit staying, remaining, or abiding on Jesus in John 1:32 and 33. It is the same word that is used in John 15 several times and usually translated "abide." 15:4 - "Abide in me and I in you." 15:7 - "If you abide in me and my words abide in you." 15:9 - "abide in my love." Thus the question, "Where are you staying?" is much more than asking about Jesus’ room at the inn. It was a way of asking, "What is the center and meaning of life for you?" “What is your position?” “Where are you coming from?” “What are you all about?”
"Come and you will see," is an interesting answer. It answers the superficial question, but is also an invitation for them to come and experience what Jesus is all about, where he’s coming from, his meaning and purpose. Jesus is saying that his life would be a witness. Verse 39 goes on to say that they went and saw. They examined Jesus and the life that he lived. That examination became the basis for their conversion.
Other than in lists of the disciples, Andrew’s name is not mentioned very often in the Bible. In fact, he is only recorded by name three other times. We are going to look at all three of those times. All three are in the gospel of John.
[1. Andrew Brings Peter to Jesus]
Slide Graphic – Andrew grabbing Peter by the arm to bring him to Jesus. Note: drop me an email if you would like free copies of some of the original artwork I used. Not exactly professional, but it’s free!
Slide text –
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.
John 1:40-42a
Andrew’s first action after finding the messiah was to run find his older brother and bring him to Christ.
How many of you have brothers or sisters? Do you ever feel like you live in their shadow? If you found something special, do you think you might want to keep it just for yourself, or would your first thought be to go share it with your sibs?
Peter and Andrew lived together in the same house with Peter’s wife and her mother. This was not as odd then as it would be today. Extended family groups often lived under a single roof in a home run by the oldest male. Peter, as we know, was a dominant man – tending to come to the front and take over in any and every situation. Andrew knew this about Peter. He knew that once he brought Peter to Christ, Peter would dominate the relationship and Andrew would be shifted to a background role. It says a lot about Andrew’s character that he did not want to keep Christ to himself, but brought Peter to Jesus without regard to the consequences.
Andrew was not only the first chosen, he was the first to ever bring someone else to Christ. The very first missionary.
Notice Andrew didn’t:
•Go try to communicate the message of Christ to Peter
•Try to prove to Peter that Jesus was the messiah promised by scripture
•Ask Jesus whether it would be OK to bring Peter
•Wonder whether Peter would thing he was an idiot
He just went and found people he cared about, people he already knew, and told them that he knew where Jesus was, and showed them the way.
•
Peter probably gets more mention in churches today. You have been taught a lot about his life. And he is, no doubt about it, a very admirable man – a man who overcame mistakes and was used by God. However, Andrew is probably a better role model for many of us.
•Andrew wasn’t the guy out in front, preaching and saving 3000 at a time – as Peter did at Pentecost. Nothing in the scripture indicates that Andrew ever preached to a crowd.
•He didn’t try to teach scriptural truths
•Andrew was a one-on-one relationship guy. He brought individuals, not crowds, to Jesus.
From this time Peter and Andrew became Jesus’ disciples. They did not stay with him all the time as they did later, but they went to listen to his teaching as often as their business would permit, then returned to their family fishing business again. During this time, Peter and Andrew asked Jesus to heal Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, which he did by laying hands on her and speaking.
Jesus came back into the area near their home later that year. That was when he saw Peter and Andrew fishing in the lake, and called them to be with him full-time, saying that he would make them “fishers of men.” Whereupon they immediately left their nets to follow him, and never left him again.
[2. Andrew Brings the Boy to Jesus]
Slide Graphic A – Andrew grabs boy by the hand to bring him to Jesus. In all these pictures, the figure of Andrew is identical, showing that his character is consistent.
Slide Graphic B – picture of loaves and fishes
Slide Text –
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,
9“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
John 6:8-9
The second time Andrew is mentioned is during the passage describing the feeding of the 5000. Actually, there were 5000 adult men – probably closer to 15,000 people in all
Phillip said they only had 200 denarii (8 months wages for a laborer, or about $20,000)
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
(Matthew 14:15-16)
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
(John 6:5-6)
All the other disciples at a loss, but Andrew brought the boy with five loaves and two fish.
•He didn’t judge whether the boy could be used
•He didn’t wonder whether he was wasting Christ’s time
•He didn’t know what Jesus would do.
•He just brought the boy to Christ.
•He didn’t stand around debating the best way to address the need
•He didn’t measure his resources
Andrew did the best he could, and trusted Jesus to make it work. That’s what Andrew did, he found people and brought them to Christ.
Could Christ have fed the crowd without the boy? Of course, but this is a great example of how God works. He waits for his people to step out in faith, then takes their insignificant effort and multiplies it a thousand-fold. Andrew’s faith and the small gift enabled a miracle. What kind of things might God have chosen to do if you or I had only stepped forward with what little we have and brought it to the service of Christ?
Elisha fed a hundred men with twenty loaves (2 Kings 4:38-44)
[3. Andrew Brings the Greeks to Jesus]
Slide Graphic – Andrew grabs the Greeks by the arm to bring them to Jesus
Slide Text –
20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.
21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”
22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
John 12:20-22
The Third and last time Andrew is specifically mentioned is shortly after the Triumphal Entry. This was after Christ’s last entry into Jerusalem, just a few days before the crucifixion. Some Greeks who came to worship God at the Passover festival addressed themselves to Philip, begging him to introduce them to Jesus. The Greeks probably approached Phillip first because he was the one with a Greek name. “Phillip” is Greek for “lover of “horses”. He would have had a Jewish name also, but the Bible never gives it. Phillip was probably from a family of Jews heavily influenced by Greek culture – Hellenistic Jews. The Greek visitors to the city probably recognized him as someone they could approach easily – almost a countryman.
No one had brought gentiles to Christ before. Philip was probably confused about whether this was acceptable or not. After all, the messiah was supposed to be King of the Jews. So Phillip brought them to Andrew. Phillip knew Andrew never got confused about bringing people to Christ. Andrew was always bringing people to Christ. Every time his name is mentioned, he’s bringing someone else to Christ. So Andrew was now the first to bring a Gentile to Christ – the first foreign missionary
To Andrew, bringing people to Christ was a simple thing. Andrew did not:
•Worry about whether it was Ok to brink gentiles to Christ
•Wonder whether Christ had time for them, whether he was too busy
•Try to question the Greek’s motives for wanting to see Christ
•Try to answer their questions himself
•Worry if they were dressed correctly, or whether they knew how to act in front of Jesus
•Worry about what the other Jews would think
Andrew wasn’t ever confused about who, when, where, or how to bring people to Jesus – he just brought them.
Some people won’t be in the band unless they can play lead guitar. Andrew wasn’t like that. He never got involved in the debates over who was greatest, or who would sit beside the throne of Christ. While the others were seeking greatness and recognition for themselves, Andrew was out finding people and showing them how to find Christ. Andrew wasn’t the dramatic orator, pillar of the early church. And yet Christ chose him to be one of the 12. Not only chose him, but chose him first, before all the others. And though he didn’t seek recognition on earth, the Bible says that his name will be written on one of the 12 gates to the city of heaven – for eternity. He is listed as one of the foundation stone of the church (Eph 2:20).
Andrew’s life was a life well spent. Of those whose individual actions and words are described in the Bible, Andrew is the only disciple whom Jesus never singled out for rebuke. His life was pleasing to Christ.
If any man desires to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. (Mark 9:35)
[Andrew’s Death and Legacy]
Slide Graphics – various pictures of Andrew carrying his cross, shaped like an “X”
According to historians, Andrew began his missionary activity in the Provinces of Vithynia and Pontus on the southern shores of the Black Sea. Later he journeyed to the City of Byzantium and founded the Christian Church there, ordaining the first Bishop of Byzantium, Stachys, who was one of the 70 disciples of the Lord. Andrew preached throughout Thrace (Greece) and as far as Scythia (Ukraine and southern Russia - St. Andrew is the patron saint of Russia).In one of his several missionary journeys to Greece, Andrew visited the City of Patras. Through his preaching and the miracles of healing he performed, in the name of Jesus, many persons were converted to Christianity. Among those healed was Maximilla, the wife of the Roman Proconsul (Governor), Aegeates. Seeing this miracle of healing, Stratoklis, the highly intellectual brother of the Proconsul, also became a Christian, and Andrew consecrated and enthroned him as the first Bishop of Patras.
These conversions to the Christian Faith by members of his own family infuriated the Proconsul Aegeates, and he decided, with the urging of the idolators who advised him, to crucify Andrew on 30 November, A.D. 60, during the reign of Nero. The crucifixion was carried out on an X-shaped cross called a saltire or decussate. he was bound, not nailed, to the cross, in order to prolong his sufferings. Twenty thousand of the faithful stood by and mourned. Tradition says it took him two days to die, during which he never stopped encouraging passersby to turn to Christ for their salvation. Up to the very end, Andrew never stopped trying to bring each person he met to Christ. When he died, his body was removed from the cross by Bishop Stratoklis and Maximilla, and buried with all of the honor befitting the Apostle. Soon countless numbers of Christians made their way to Patras to pay reverence to the grave of Andrew, and when Aegeates realized that the man he had put to death was truly a holy man of God his conscience became so tormented that he committed suicide. In the month of March in the year 357 the Emperor Constantine (son of Constantine The Great) ordered that the body of St. Andrew be removed from Patras and be reinterred in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, which Constantine the Great had built a little before, together with the remains of St. Luke and St. Timothy. By returning to Contantinople (Byzantium), the body of St. Andrew was returned to the City that had first heard the message of Jesus Christ from his lips. Thus he became in death, as well as in life, the founder of the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople.When the Emperor Constantine established the city of Byzantium, or Constantinople, as the new capital of the Roman Empire, replacing Rome, the bishop of Byzantium became very prominent. Five sees (bishoprics) came to be known as patriarchates: Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Byzantium. Now, the congregation at Rome claimed the two most famous apostles, Peter and Paul, as founders. Antioch could also claim both Peter and Paul, on the explicit testimony of Scripture, and of course Jerusalem had all the apostles. Alexandria claimed that Mark, who had been Peter’s "interpreter" and assistant, and had written down the Gospel of Mark on the basis of what he had heard from Peter, had after Peter’s death gone to Alexandria and founded the church there. Byzantium was scorned by the other patriarchates as a new-comer, a church with the political prestige of being located at the capital of the Empire, but with no apostles in its history. Byzantium responded with the claim that its founder and first bishop had been Andrew the brother of Peter. They pointed out that Andrew had been the first of all the apostles to follow Jesus (John 1:40-41), and that he had brought his brother to Jesus. While Peter symbolically came to represent the Church of the West, Andrew likewise represents the Church of the East.
Andrew’s body was kept in Patras. His arm was taken to Scotland by a Greek monk. In the Thirteenth century, when Constantinople was taken by the French, Cardinal Peter of Capua brought the rest of Andrew’s remains to Italy (leaving only the skull in Patras) and placed them in the cathedral of Amalfi, where most of them still remainThe skull of Andrew was kept in Patras until the year 1460 when Thomas Paleologos, the last ruler of the Morea, brought the skull to Pope Pius II. In 1967, under the orders of Pope Paul VI of the Roman Church, the skull was returned as a gift to the Church of St. Andrew in Patras as a sign of friendship with the Greek Orthodox Church with all of the pomp and dignity of the Papal State.
[Andrew and the Union Jack]
Slide Graphics – Flags of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and how they have been combined to make the Union Jack. Optionally, a picture of Austin Powers in the convertible with the Union Jack painted on the hood.
Note: This slide has no spiritual significance, but has some fascinating history about how Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland and how his cross has become part of the famous Union Jack of Great Britain.
30-70 AD Andrew is believed to have travelled as a missionary through the Celtic community of Asiatic and European Scythia
70 AD – Andrew curcified on a diagonal cross by Romans at Achaia
300-325 AD The body of St. Andrew was exhumed by the Emperor Constantine and removed to Constantinople.
368 AD Constantine died. A pious Greek monk, named Regulus, or Rule, is said to have conveyed St. Andrew’s arm to Scotland and deposited them on the coast of Fife where he built a church.
732 AD, a church was built (replaced by a great cathedral in 1160) in the midst of a town named after the saint, St. Andrew’s (best known as the site of a world-famous golf course and club). St. Andrew was henceforth regarded as the patron saint of Scotland, Protector of the Scottish people
909 AD The cross of St Andrew, white on a dark blue background, became the flag of Scotland. It is said to be one of the oldest national flags of any country
1194 AD Richard I of England introduced the Cross of St. George, a red cross on a white ground, as the the national flag of England. England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were separate countries.
1536 AD under Henry VIII, an Act of Union was passed making Wales, in effect a province of England.
1603 AD After Queen Elizabeth I died, King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne and became King James 1 of England. It was a Union of the Crowns, but not yet of the nations. Each country still kept their own parliaments. James referred to his two kingdoms as Great Britain. A problem arose, which flag should be hoisted on the king’s ships.
1606 AD, a royal decree declared that the ships of the Kingdom of Great Britain should use a flag containing the crosses of both nations. When the red cross of England was put onto the flag of Scotland, a white border was added around the red cross for reasons of heraldry. The rules of heraldry demanded that two colors must never be placed on top of each other, or even touch each other.
1801 AD Act of Union of Ireland with England (and Wales) and Scotland . The flag of Scotland (the cross St Patrick) was combined with the Union Flag of St George and St Andrew, to create the Union Flag that has been flown ever since. You may have noticed that the cross of St. Patrick is not centered. This is because it would have layed exactly on top of the cross of St. Andrew, implying that Ireland was superior to Scotland, which was not intended. As Scotland’s St Andrew’s cross was added to the flag first, it was entitled to be more prominent.
Around midnight on Nov. 29, the day St Andrew’s Day, it was traditional for girls to pray to St. Andrew for a husband. They would make a wish and look for a sign that they had been heard. A girl wishing to marry could:
•Throw a shoe at a door. If the toe of the shoe pointed in the direction of the exit, then she would marry and leave her parents’ house within a year.
•Peel a whole apple without breaking the peel and throw the peel over the shoulder. If the peel formed a letter of the alphabet, then this suggested the name of her future groom.
[Importance of Relationships]
Slide Graphic – modern student taking friend by the arm to bring them to Church
Slide Text –
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14You are my friends if you do what I command.
15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:12-15
When we baptize someone, we often show a video of their testimony. The overwhelming majority did not wander in to church on their own accord and see the light as a result of one of Allen or Greg’s messages. Almost all were brought into the church by an individual – a friend or family. Most would say their relationship with that individual weighed more on their decision than any sermon.
Survey after survey shows that, when people visit a church, or for that matter, any group of strangers, for the first time what matters most is the relationships they form, not the message or the activities. If they meet people and make friends, they will return. If they don’t form any bonds, it doesn’t matter how outstanding the message or activities are, they will not keep coming back.
That’s true even with you guys. When you sign up for a retreat, you don’t ask “what are you teaching on?” – you ask “who else is coming.” Your friends are just like you, they want a place “where everybody knows their name”. A place where they will be missed if they don’t show up. A place to belong. Everyone wants this, not just people your age. The reason kids join gangs, drink, use drugs, and many other crazy things is out of a desperate need to be accepted somewhere. Adults become workaholics because they feel accepted and valued at work, not at home. If we don’t accept people here, they will find some place where they are accepted. It’s a hostile world out there.
It’s not just about visitors – our Christian friendships – the people sitting around you now, are more valuable than you probably imagine. Satan will attack them in order to break the unity of our group. If you see people in our group arguing, being mean to each other, or not speaking to each other, it is a big deal. You need to step in and help restore the freindship. Christ commanded us to love one another. At the last supper, with just a few hours left to spend with his disciples, Christ took the time to teach them to serve one another.
What does this mean? In one sense, it means that if the student ministry doesn’t grow, it’s at least as much your fault as Greg’s. Greg can’t meet and form relationships with every student who walks in the door each evening. He can’t go around all week meeting new students and inviting them to Wednesday Night Alive. Frankly, according to the Bible, that’s not his job. A minister’s job is to care for his flock (us) and to equip them to go out into the world. It is our job to go out and bring the lost to Christ.
If you have a friend who is lost, I’m sure Greg or Allen or any of the other staff would love to talk with you about it, to help you reach them. But don’t expect them to take over and go talk to the person without you. You can’t pass that baton. Their job is to equip you to reach your friends, to make sure that our time is spent focused on Christ. It’s your job to be the Andrews who bring your friends to where Jesus is.
Another problem we are going to face is due to the fact that you guys are such good friends. You have unity. You sit together, laugh together. You know about each other’s lifes. That’s part of why you come here every week, to be with your friends. That very closeness can seem like a huge wall to a visitor. It takes a very strong person to break into that kind of a tight group. You are going to have to very consciously reach out to be inclusive, not exclusive. There’s a natural tendency to resent someone new coming into your special group, but you have to fight that. Try to be more open. Have a heart like Andrew, to reach out and get to know people and bring them in.
I’m sure Greg would love to have a student group full of people like Andrew
Our student ministry is ready to grow. Greg has a vision for a “Wednesday Night Alive” service that is an outreach to our friends and community. Maybe you aren’t the one who is going to be out in front teaching spiritual doctrine. Maybe you aren’t the one who sits them down and answers all their questions. But you, not Greg, will be the reason new students come. You can be the Andrew this ministry needs.
•We will be filled with a desire to bring people to Christ – like Andrew
•We will not worry about whether anyone
•Is going to know how to act
•Is going to be accepted by the rest of the group
•Has anything to offer
•Has the right attitude or motive
•We will not get caught up in being a leader, receiving recognition
•We will not resent new people joining our group, changing the dynamics
