Portraits Of Holiness: Andrew

John 1:35-42

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked.

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”

39 “Come and see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus. 41 He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).

42 Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

Portraits of Holiness: Andrew

A New Series on Holiness. Holiness can be a hard idea to grasp.

But when a person shows us what holiness looks like by their actions, it is much easier to grasp.

Like in school, I always learned best when there was an example of what we were learning.

The people I am selecting are not the BIG characters of the New Testament. We won’t be talking about Peter or Paul, but we will talk about Jesus. We always need to talk about Jesus.

Today we are looking at Andrew.

Andrew shows us what it’s like to simply invite others to come and see Jesus.

THE GOSPEL BLIMP

There was a movie back in 1967 that explored the question of how do we effectively make disciples.

The movie was called The Gospel Blimp. It was about a couple of Christians that wanted to tell their neighbors about Christ. After brainstorming for a while, one of them looks out the window and sees a blimp floating in the distance. “I got it”, he says. "We will buy a blimp and use it to spread the Gospel to the whole city!

So they pool their money together, form a team, and buy a blimp. After buying a blimp and creating a strategy, they take off for the skies. Atop the city, they begin raining of laminated pamphlets. Everything seems to being going great for this aeronautical team, but no so well for the citizens underneath this floating nuisance. The people of the city are greatly annoyed seeing these pamphlets in their gardens, roofs, and, places of business.

The team must come up with a new plan. This time the team knew they were going to succeed, except for one of them. A man bails and says that this is not a good idea. So the rest of them attach a PA system to the blimp and ride the sky once again. Meanwhile, the man who left and his wife are out at the beach talking to the people there about Christ.

The team sees them from below and notices the man they are talking to has beer bottle in his hand. They continue their rounds, preaching the world to irate citizens, and head back to solid ground. They team finds their abandoned friend and question him because they think he’s gone to “worldly” associating with people who are in the world.

The movie ends with the man and his wife sharing the gospel with the man holding the beer bottle and Team Blimp didn’t save a single soul.

That You Might Believe

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

Before we get to Andrew, let’s look at John’s purpose in writing his Gospel.

John writes at the end.

John 20:31

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

John tells us at the end of his Gospel his purpose. He wants all who read it to believe.

This is why we often use John’s Gospel as the first gospel we who people when we are first teaching them about Jesus.

But someone will say…

WHAT ABOUT THE MIRACLES?

I think this is an honest question.

I think its easy to assume that mircales would’ve had a special convincing power. One we do not see today as clearly.

But there are TWO reasons for why we can believe without witnessing the mircles of John’s gospel.

FIRST, even those who saw miracles did not believe.

Like in the days of Moses in Egypt. Or when Moses was in the Wilderness. Or when Elijah and Elisha walked the earth, MIRACLES DIDN’T CONVINCE EVERYONE each person has to choose what they will do.

Do miracles help? Yes. But let’s look at the SECOND reason we can believe without witnessing a Miracles

Before the First Miracles in John

John 1:19	Day One
John 1:29	Day Two
John 1:35	Day Three
John 1:43	Day Four
John 2:1	3+ Day Seven

John numbers the first 7 days of Jesus’ ministry.

By this time in Chapter 2. John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael are following Jesus.

All without what?

ALl withtout a miracle, a sign.

John 2:11

Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

Why did they follow Jesus?

John 1:35-37

John 1:40-42

42 Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

Jesus invites Philip. Philip invites Nathanael.

They followed Jesus because they were invited.

We can invite others, too. Like Andrew.

The earliest disciples of Christ did not follow Jesus because they saw the signs.

They followed first because of the testimony of John the baptist, then be cause they were invited by their family or friends.

Inviting others to Christ is part of our work as Christians.

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Luke 14:23

So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

2 Corinthians 5

20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Andrew’s Portrait

Peter	John 1:40-42
The Boy	John 6:7-9
The Greek	John 12:20-23

John 12:20-23

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

22 Philip relayed this appeal to Andrew, and both of them went and told Jesus.

23 But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Andrew’s Model Works for all of Us

“It’s not an appropriate time, he/she might get weirded out”
“I don’t know enough to say the right thing”
“He/she already know I bet”
“He/she may not be friends or as close if I talk about it”

“It’s not appropriate time to tell them their house is on fire?” It’s never an in appropriate time to tell your friend his/her house is on fire.
“I wouldn’t know enough to say the right thing” How about fire!
“He/she already knows” If they knew they’d be point. But even that wouldn’t deter you from telling them again.
“He/she may not be friends if I talk about it” So what, they’re about to burn!

Would rather convert 5000 people a year for 30 years, or convert one friend every year and that friend will convert someone the next year etc. for 30 years?

If you choose the 5000 a year for 30, you’d get around 150,000. That’s pretty good, but it’s not the best.
If you choose one but that one will work with you can convert one himself ever year for 30 years. For those who hated word problems in school, its 2 to the 30 power. That’s over 1 billion. Take on two more years and its 8 billion.
This is what is known as the compound effect. We love/ hate the compounding effect. Love it in our investments, but hate it in our debts.

2 Timothy 2:2

And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.