Andrew

There seems to be a distinct pattern when it comes to what has been written about the disciples of Jesus. It seems that there was the four fishermen, and then the rest of them. Sure we have accounts of Judas, Matthew, and a few others, but we mainly hear about the inner circle of Jesus… Mainly Peter, James and John. The three of them come with reputations as well, Peter as being brash and often times dull witted, meanwhile James and John come of as pretentious and earn the title of “sons of thunder” for their passionate nature. There is one member of the group of fishermen that is often forgot about, can you tell me who that is?

Andrew. Andrew is the one member of the fisherman circle that gets left out of scripture quite a bit. He is deemed so unimportant that at times, he is referred to as “Andrew, Simon’s brother.” Considering his proximity to Jesus, you would be shocked to think that they would need to make a distinction when there was no other Andrew to distinguish him from!

So you are probably wondering how far I can go on a lesson involving Andrew, and more so, why a lesson on Andrew? I can remember starting out and trying to get involved anywhere, and being told that I did not cut it. Whether it was because I don’t open up fast enough, because I did not quote scriptures to everyone I saw, or because I did not prophesy on command, I just did not cut it. It seems that people have this stereotypical idea of what they think someone should look like. Often times, the standard is set pretty high, and usually it is asking for someone who is charismatic and exudes power. In essence, someone that is like Peter, John or James. So what would have happened if Andrew was not in the picture? What would it look like? Lets see what scripture says about him…

John 1:35-42: The next day John 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 who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter^[j]).

John 6:1-9: 1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

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.

7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages^[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

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 12:20-22: 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 is a reliable source because he was a peer of Andrew and would have given an accurate account of him. Being that they were both fishermen at Galilee, it would not have been a large community of people and they would have known each other. This is why I have focused on John’s accounts of these stories.

So there are a few things that we can learn about Andrew in these verses. Could you name a few of them? In the first story, Andrew is introduced as a disciple of John. He was extremely confident in the testimony of John the Baptist, and he immediately went to his brother to share the good news. When he did, he brought Simon to Jesus and Jesus accepted him immediately and changed his name. If it were not for Andrew, Peter might not have followed Jesus.

In the second story, a large crowd had amassed to see Jesus. The crowd was so large that Phillip claimed that eight months of wages could not feed them. This is when Andrew speaks up about a child that has five loaves of bread and two fish. He wonders how far it will get, but he still speaks up and offers a solution to the problem. If it was not for Andrew, who brought the kid to Jesus, then they would not have fed the masses.

In the third story, it begins to looks as if Andrew was a middleman for Jesus. He tended to be the guy that people went to in order to get to Jesus. What is significant here is that Phillip went to Andrew, instead of directly going to Jesus. We are not sure why, but it is apparent that Andrew was confident in his relationship with Christ and most of what we see Andrew doing is dealing with individuals or small groups of individuals.

There are a few words that stand out to me, and they are relational, individual, and faithful. Relational, because much of his ministry was shown through relationships that he had with people. He was also helping people form relationships with Jesus by introducing them to him. Individuals were Andrew’s specialty. You never see him engaging in major debates or preaching to the masses. While the other three were garnering all of the attention in the major events, Andrew was focusing on people. Finally, he was faithful because he was confident in what he was doing. Andrew was faithful to Jesus and he not only became a disciple right away, but he went out and shared the good news with people in the way that came natural to him. Faithful until his death, as Eusebius claims, he was executed near Athens for leading one of the Roman governor’s wife to Christ. As he hung on the cross for two days, it was reported that he was exhorting people to follow Christ until he died. He died confident that he served the Messiah, and not many people would die for something they were not confident in.

I am teaching this today because I feel that there are many of us out there that feel as if we can not be the minister that everyone expects us to be. When you look at the disciples, they were an eclectic bunch. For instance, Matthew and Simon the Zealot would have been sworn enemies during this time. Zealots would have viewed tax collectors as traitors, and worthy of death. The fact that Jesus had them on the same page working together tells me so much. First of all, I think that it is really interesting because it shows that all sorts of people are needed to reach different crowds of people. For instance, I would not know how to reach out to someone in the upper class knowing that I grew up in a working class family. But someone who understands them would be able to speak to them, know their concerns and struggles, and be able to minister to them. You can see that it many of the early Christians.

Second, I can see that it truly is the grace of God that a tax collector and a zealot can coexist. God’s grace is evident when you look at the rest of the group. So I would like to encourage you to take a look at who the early disciples were, and begin to understand that they are just like you and I. In fact, we might be better off than some of them. However, I think that it is important that you take the time to look at them and you will begin to see that it took all of them to make Christianity go.

The reason I focused on Andrew is because that is who I am. I can do public speaking and I love to teach, but I prefer to focus on people one at a time. It is just easier on me, and as many people who know me can say that my social life is a complex web of individuals. I am not extremely book smart, but I love people and care about those in my life immensely. That is the way I have always dealt with ministry as well. So when I tried to explain this to a few pastors, they accused me of being timid, quiet or shy. I was stunned, because I thought that being an attention hog was a bad thing, and that caring about individuals and being slow to speak and quick to listen would be refreshing to them. That is their loss. So today, I want to leave you with this. Just because you are not the one out there rallying the troops and speaking to the masses, it does not mean that you are not capable of doing great things. You can. Jesus had a place for all his disciples, including Judas, so always remember that you are important.

Love (1 Corinthians 13)

*Read 1 Corinthians 13*

Today I would like to discuss a word that is probably one of the most overused and misused words in the world. Thousands of books have been written on this subject, millions of songs and poems, yet it seems that people still do not have a good grasp on it. We say it to describe a feeling for our significant others, yet we can say the same thing about the steak dinner that we just ate. Two completely different meanings, but that shows how we use the word flippantly.

So how does this relate to the Corinthians? To give you some background, this verse was aimed at the church in the city of Corinth. Corinth was the largest city in 1^st century Greece, and was the capital of the province of Achaia. It was a port city situated on a narrow neck of land that was a route to Rome. As we have learned with many port cities, they tended to attract many different people, religions, cultures and ideas. To properly understand the context of this verse, Paul is talking to the Corinthian church, who is as we mentioned a rather dysfunctional church. It was a typical Roman city that was very well known for it’s sexual trouble, some being so extreme that they were condoning incestuous relationships (1 Cor 5). They also did not quite grasp the idea of loving on another in an agape sense, as they had begun looking down on people who did not perform certain gifts. In fact, those that had the more glorified gifts isolated themselves because they did not want to be contaminated by the others.

With that being said, I think it is important for me to give you a definition of Love that would set the tone for agape love. Before we do that, does anyone know the different forms of love that are discussed in the Bible? There are a few types, but the main ones focused on are agape (true), eros (sexual) and philos (brotherly). My favorite definition out of Webster’s dictionary is “the unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.” That tells me that the interest is for the other persons good, whether it is positive or negative. This is devoid of personal gain or hidden agendas. Imagine if we lived out of that definition. How different would our lives be?

So without further adieu, I am going to go into the scripture reading today. In my walk as a Christian, I have found that even though Christians can quote this scripture, they don’t always live it. So that is why I think it would be really cool to look at each of the words and not only hear your thoughts on what the word means to you, but to get the definition of the individual word.

Patient: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint

Kind/merciful: crhsteuetai of a sympathetic or helping nature

Not filled with jealousy: xhloi , intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness

Does not boast: to talk arrogantly. This is a direct hit on Roman culture as a whole. It was a results based society and people were revered for how great they were. So needless to say, the Corinthians probably did not like this message.

Is not proud: displaying excessive self-esteem. This is completely different than having pride in what you do or being proud of yourself. Can you tell me the difference between the two?

(is not rude) Does not behave indecently or disgracefully: asxhmenei, the Greek definition is pretty thought provoking and a little more detailed than being “rude”, so that is why I have it written here.

Is not self-seeking: One thing that always confused me in relationships is how people would say “if you loved me, you would…” If love is an act that is for the benefit of others, then this obviously cannot fit the definition.

Not easily angered: This can go without a definition, if you consider non-righteous anger. Righteous anger is a different story, but destructive anger is something you should be wary of.

Does not keep record of wrong: What about forgiving and forgetting? This is probably a lesson for another day, but to briefly touch on this, where do we set boundaries in this category? Personally, I have been guilty of shutting people out after they hurt me, and I have found it gives no room for dialogue or growth. So what I have learned is that God allowed us to have memories so that we do not make the same mistakes again, but at the same time we should learn to forgive others. Again, this is a discussion for another day.

Does not delight in evil: One word for people like this… prozac. Need I say more? Anyone that takes pleasure in the misfortunes of others needs a psychiatrist.

Rejoices in truth: The problem I always run into here is that I usually find someone who claims being honest is a license to completely destroy another person. I find that these people are being honest, but there is a more LOVING way of going about telling someone bad news. It is not beneficial. Most of these people are hurting people who are hurting people. That, and if we can see someone through Christ’s eyes, we will see through the sin and can not help but love them for who they are.

Protects: stegoi, bear, protect, cover. A few different words are used in different translations here. But to give you an idea, all of these words involve defending and taking care of others.

Trusts: Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of something. Does this mean that we need to trust in anyone or anything? Not at all! If what we are trusting in is not trustworthy, then we should not do it. The emphasis on reliance of character is important, because there will be people who will come into our life and deceive us, and we must be on guard for those. But if one proves to be trustworthy, we should share our love with them.

Hopes: To cherish a desire with anticipation.

Perseveres: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.

Never Fails: To lose strength, to fade away, to be unsuccessful, to become inadequate. The fact that love never does any of these, what does that tell you about it? It is extremely powerful. So if we are living by love, think about what we are capable of doing.

Agape is the type of love that is used in 1 Corinthians. If you look at what true love is, it is a choice that is made by someone that cannot be satisfied by feelings. I am writing today to challenge you to live a life that is filled with love, and that you make a conscious choice to do so. Love God, love yourself, and from the overflow, love others.

Do you love yourself? Choosing to love ourselves is a difficult subject for many reasons. We have talents, and it is good to recognize what God has given you. The thing is that you have a lot of value to those around you, so it is time that you grasp that and live out of that confidence. Often times people think that if you are confident, then you must be arrogant. As mentioned before, you should never look down on anyone, which is where arrogance comes in. One thing that I tell people is that someone will always be better than you at something, so they can bring something new into your life.

When Jesus said “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39), notice he said “as yourself” and not “more than yourself.” I want you to remember that if someone tries to say that they love you and constantly demand sacrifice on your part without sacrificing, they are not loving you. We should give from the overflow that comes from us, and we should never have to give to the point that we are exasperated.

In closing, I would like to give you a litmus test in the Bible that I always go by. It might seem very hokey to some of you, but it works. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, and see how you line up. Instead of saying “love” or “it”, insert your name. It is really interesting to see what happens! I started doing this a few years ago, and it helped me realign the way I look at life. I also switched out those words with people in my life that I questioned, and started finding that there were some lopsided friendships and abusive relationships happening. From there, I confronted the people who were not matching up at all. So that is my challenge to you this week, is to take a hard look at this test and see if the Holy Spirit reveals anything to you. Have a great week, and I hope that you go in the love of the Lord!