Pastor Joe Fuiten, April 6, 2003

 

Scripture Reading:  John 1:34-45 Page 750 (We are interrupting John the Baptist speaking in verse 34)

34 “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning 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. 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. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." (NIV)

 

          John the Baptist had already baptized Jesus and saw the Spirit descend upon him.  By those events, which God had told him would occur, John understood that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.  He told this to the people who were following him.  The testimony of John the Baptist directed the attention of his disciples to Jesus.  John was truly decreasing as Jesus was increasing.

          My interest in bringing this Scripture to your attention is to show you the impact of Andrew and Philip.  If I were to ask most people who the brother of Andrew was, they couldn’t tell me.  On the other hand, if I asked who Peter was, most people would know.  Andrew was the one who introduced Peter to the Lord.

          I have often said that the definition of courage is the guy who first discovered that raw oysters are edible.  When you first look at a raw oyster, there is really nothing to recommend it. I tried feeding one to my cat one time and he covered it up.  In spite of how it looks, and how it feels, people actually eat the stuff.  The only reason they do so is the power of testimony.  The choir had a bar-b-que out at the Hoflins a couple of years ago.  They were serving bar-b-qued oysters.  They were actually quite delicious.  The only reason I ate one was because someone else said they were good.  I had to overcome my native sense of right and wrong.  I had to ignore my brain and my eyes.  I had to ignore a lifetime of education.  But because a friend told me it was good, I tried it and lived to tell about it.

          Testimony is why we eat food, why we watch certain movies, and why we drive certain kinds of cars.  Why is it any surprise that most church attenders say they were initially invited to church by someone they knew?  It shouldn’t surprise anyone that most people who attend the Victor this year will come because their friend invited them.

 

Look at the human relationships in this text and see the power of testimony.  The first Disciple that Jesus acquired was Andrew.  He was referred to Jesus by Cousin John.  Previously, Andrew had been an associate of John’s.  Based upon the testimony of John, “I see and I testify that this is the Son of God,” Andrew checked things out.  Jesus did not precisely call Andrew.  Rather, Andrew found Jesus at the encouragement of John the Baptist who saw himself as a forerunner of Jesus. 

Like John the Baptist, we each have associates at work, school, or one of our organizations or clubs.  These are the people who are within our circle.  We can’t save them or even make them feel like they should be saved.  In a way, that’s not our job.  We just point them in the direction of the Passion Play, the telling of the story of Jesus.  It is up to the Holy Spirit to talk to them while they are here. We can lead people t the Living Water, but we can’t make them drink.

We don’t know who the second disciple is, besides Andrew, mentioned here.  I would guess that it was the Apostle John, the guy who was to become the best friend of Jesus.  John often omits himself in his writings, especially by name.  There is one other connection.  It is the Bethsaida connection.  The gospels of Mark, Luke, and John speak of Bethsaida as the home of Philip, Andrew, and Peter and perhaps of James and John.  If Andrew went to visit Jesus, it seems likely that he brought along his home town buddy John.

Once Andrew discovered who Jesus was he immediately brought his brother Simon.  He brings a relative.  If something good happens to you, don’t you call someone in your family to tell them about it.

Unless you are from Scotland, Andrew doesn’t mean much to you.  On the other hand, Peter is notable.  Jesus immediately changes Simon’s name to Cephas, which is translated Peter.  He is the rock, the preacher of the Gospel. Think how different the Bible and Christianity would be without Peter.  He came to Christ because of a simple invitation from his brother.

The third disciple that we know about is Philip.  He is another neighbor from Bethsaida. (The picture is of Linda walking toward Philip’s grave in Hieropolis.) I can image that these boys grew up together.  Probably even went to the synagogue together.  It was a rather liberal synagogue with its face of a woman carved into stone, but they survived it together.

The text doesn’t actually say that Andrew brought him.  It merely says in verse 43 Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.  However, the fact that they were from the same home town is the key.  It was a rather small town.  I have little doubt that they traveled as a team.

In verse 45 you have another category.  It is my neighbor’s friend. “Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

The next disciple we meet was Philip’s friend, Nathaniel.  He was from Cana, not far from Nazareth.  When he heard that Jesus was from Nazareth, he was put off at first.  He know about Nazareth.  It made him ask, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Five kinds of people: An associate, a relative,  a friend, a neighbor, a neighbor’s friend.  What they all shared in common is that they came to Christ through the influence of someone else.  D. L. Moody was brought to Christ by an obscure Sunday School teacher. Charles Spurgeon was brought to Christ by an unlettered man. 

 

As far as we know, Andrew never did anything tremendous or spectacular like his brother Peter. He never walked on water.  He did die a martyr’s death, so he must have done something, but as far as history is concerned, he was rather quiet.  There was no streak of light as he blazed across the pages of history.  Just a quiet blur.  He didn’t make it into the inner circle like Peter, James and John did.  Yet his influence changed all history.

Being a witness to someone or inviting them to the Victor is not a big thing, except you don’t know the impact of your influence.  I met with our board yesterday for a couple of hours.  At the end of it I said to them, “If nothing comes of this we just wasted two hours.  But if this develops, this is a meeting to remember.”

 

Ruby Smith will tell her story here.

 

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 too 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.

 

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."  I am not talking about something great here.  I am talking about something small.

There is one other story that illustrates Andrew.  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."