Andrew, Peter's Brother
Behold the Lamb of God!
Imagine yourself listening to John the Baptist, the greatest preacher you have ever heard, a man with a powerful message from God. You like listening to him, you have been learning a lot and your life has been transformed as you have been challenged to repent and turn to God. You have experienced God making changes in your life and every day you look forward to listening to John and following his teachings.
One day you hear him say “Behold the Lamb of God!”
You can barely believe it, the Messiah!? Here? Now? Really!?
Sure, you have been waiting for the Messiah your whole life, you believed that He would come, and you knew he was coming, but you’re shocked to find out that He is already here! And He was just pointed out by John.
There had been others who had claimed to be the Messiah before, in attempts to gather followers for political moves, those guys were dangerous. But this time John the Baptist pointed out who the Messiah was. This was different, it was not one man going around claiming to be the Messiah, but rather a humble man who others claimed was the Messiah, and not just anyone, John the Baptist! The prophet!
You decide to follow Jesus, to see what He is all about, and to your surprise Jesus sees you following Him and asks you what you are seeking.
What Do You Seek?
Suddenly you’re not sure. You know you want to follow the Messiah, but you’re not sure how to answer the question. How often do you go through life without knowing what you are seeking?
Are you seeking another paycheck? Bigger house? More money? Influence? Power? The easy life? Lasting change? A meaningful life?
What if I was to ask you, would you know the answer?
What do you seek?
What motivates you to follow Jesus?
Disregarding the existential dimension of the question, you focus on the practical and most direct application, you want to know where Jesus is staying.
Jesus invites you to come and see.
So you follow Him, you see where He is staying, and you spend the rest of the day with Him. You stay until about 4 in the evening, two hours before nightfall. Perhaps it had been around this time, the time of the evening sacrifice, that John had made the comment about Jesus being the Lamb of God. (source)
Now you know where Jesus is and you can find Him again. What would you do next?
We have found the Messiah!
Andrew understood that he was his brother’s keeper. You see, Andrew was one of John’s disciples who had followed Jesus to where He was staying. However, even though Andrew was one of Jesus' first disciples, he is not very well known. Andrew tends to be overshadowed by his brother, Simon also called Peter.
Andrew, Peter's Brother
Here are some interesting statistics about Andrew.
Andrew is mentioned in a grand total of 12 verses in the Bible.
Six out of the twelve times Andrew is mentioned in the Bible he is identified as Peter’s brother.
Out of the twelve mentions of Andrew in the Bible only once was he mentioned without any reference to Peter.
This means that even when Andrew is not identified as Peter's brother Peter is also mentioned along with Andrew. Andrew is seen primarily as tagging along with his brother, Peter.
We have no record of any sermon given by Andrew in the Bible. But there is evidence in the Bible that Andrew was a soul winner, though his ministry seems to have been more personal, on a one-to-one basis.
We see this more clearly when we look at all the recorded actions of Andrew.
Drops everything to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18-20, Mark 1:16-18)
Asks Jesus a question (Mark 13:3-4)
Follows Jesus (John 1:40)
Finds his brother (John 1:41)
Brings his brother to Jesus (John 1:42)
Brings the boy with five loaves and two fishes to Jesus (John 6:8-9)
Brings Greeks to Jesus with Philip (John 12:20-22)
5K
Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14
Imagine a crowd of five thousand men. The word used here means literally males or husbands, allowing for the actual number of people present to be much larger depending on how many women and children were there as well.
Imagine the scene, a huge crowd is gathered to listen to Jesus. They are tired and hungry. Jesus has compassion. He knows their needs, physical as well as spiritual. They are so hungry for truth they have even neglected physical food.
Jesus could have just sent them away, but He had compassion, He felt sorry for them. He knew their needs and wanted to help. Plus, many of them might have fainted on the way back home if Jesus sent them away on an empty stomach.
Jesus tests Philip, who automatically thinks about money, 200 days’ wages would not be enough! How often do we think money is what we need to solve our problems?
This was a test, of course, Jesus knew what He would do, but He let His disciples wrestle with the issue. A huge crowd, not enough money, not enough food, and you can’t/won’t send them away hungry.
Meanwhile, Andrew is out there, mingling, and making friends. He doesn’t know what to do either, but he does the one thing he knows to do, he brings someone to Jesus, a boy.
I can imagine Andrew saying,
"Jesus, I don’t know how to solve this great problem, but I want you to meet my friend. Look he has a small lunch and is willing to share! I have no idea how this might help, but here is what I can do."
Andrew just brings people to Jesus and asks Jesus to solve the problem.
I can’t solve everything. I am not even as popular or eloquent as my brother. I am not as good a leader. But I can bring people to Jesus. One by one.
5 Names
Maybe you can identify more with Andrew than with Peter. But regardless of the nature of your gifts and personality, you are called to make disciples, to bring people to Jesus. What are 5 names you can pray for? Who are 5 people in your life can you intentionally try to bring to Jesus?
Sometimes we make a big list of things we could never do and we are tempted to bury the gifts God has given us. Imagine if Andrew had compared himself to his brother and decided that since he was not like his brother he would not minister to others. Who would have brought the boy with the five loaves and two fish to Jesus? If Andrew had not been willing to bring others to Jesus, who would have introduced Peter to Jesus?
Maybe you won't preach a sermon and have thousands accept Jesus at once, but you can start intentionally ministering to at least 5 people. One person for each finger in your hand, maybe not all five will be receptive, but you have no idea until you begin to pray for them and look for ways to bring them to Jesus.
You can do this!
5 names.
Who are five people that God is calling you to intentionally minister to?
