Twelve
Ordinary Men: The Disciple of Small Things
Pastor Mathew Magera – 2/21/18 – Sermon 271
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
If I were to think of the
twelve disciples as the employees of a company, Andrew would be like the third
shift supervisor. He's important in the leadership of a company but he doesn't
get much attention by the majority of the world. Andrew slides in under the
radar. Andrew is the introverted leader that is not as concerned about quantity
as he is about quality. He truly is an example of a servant leader.
Looking at Andrew in the
Bible, he is part of the main foursome with Peter, James and John but he's
usually left in the background. Maybe you never thought of Andrew being one of
those big leaders because often when we hear of Peter, James and John going off
and doing something with Jesus, Andrew is typically not included. Andrew wasn't
included in the transfiguration. Andrew missed out on the healing of Jairus'
daughter. After the Last Supper, when Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Andrew was not invited to come and keep watch. Still, while he was excluded
from events like this, the Bible shows us other places where Andrew was
included with Peter, James and John where others were not. Overall, Andrew was
the least conspicuous of all the other disciples. Apart from the places in the
Bible where all twelve are listed, Andrew's name only comes up a total of nine
times in the New Testament. It may be safe to assume that the only key to
Andrew's importance was his brother Peter. Andrew often lived in his brother's
shadow, though where we think that could easily create a rivalry between siblings,
Andrew and Peter always seemed to get along and after Andrew met Jesus, the
first person he told was his brother Peter.
Like his brother, Andrew
also grew up in Bethsaida on the northern side of the Sea of Galilee. Moving
south to Capernaum, Andrew made his living as a fisherman. James and John were
also fishermen and it is very likely that Peter, Andrew, James and John were
good friends. It's possible they interacted on a daily basis or even traveled
together, venturing into the wilderness where they came across John the Baptist
and became his disciples. The four of them probably argued about who was the
leader in their small group too. They all wanted to be the best, though Andrew
may have been a bit reserved. Andrew was the first of the disciples that began
to follow Jesus. Peter may have been the most important in the group, but it
was his brother Andrew who was first in the group. He was with John the Baptist
when Jesus appeared. John testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world and immediately Andrew left John and followed Jesus,
but he wasn’t a fulltime disciple yet. That didn't come until Jesus came and
found Peter and Andrew fishing and he gave that famous line, "I will make
you fishers of men."
Now, when we think about the
twelve disciples, we may often think that a prerequisite for being in the group
is being outgoing and bold. Andrew showed little of these qualities. Perhaps we
gauge our effectiveness as Christians on our ability to make other disciples,
multiplying quickly and effectively. In fact, one of the ways we are tempted is
to believe that we are not effective enough as disciples.
In a world in which success
is based on numbers and how much you have or how much you have done, being a
disciple of Jesus may cause us feelings of failure if we are unable to imitate
and produce the same results as Christians who have come before us. When these
feelings of doubt and fear take over us, we should look no further than Andrew
as our example of a leader who didn't care about the numbers. Andrew didn't
care about the success model of the world around him. He was passionate about
following Jesus. He was eager and he had a certain zeal that made him unique.
Whenever Andrew speaks in the Bible, he always says the right thing at the
right time. There is no dishonor to his name anywhere in the Bible. He didn't
seek to be the center of attention. He had the right heart for the job. He
didn't resent those who were in the limelight. He was pleased to serve with
nothing but the gifts he had. Of course, this didn't preclude him from making
mistakes.
Andrew’s mistakes tended to
come when he was working with others. On his own, he seemed fine. When he was
with his brother and perhaps others that had a strong voice of leadership,
Andrew often fell into the same mistakes they did as he tended to follow the
lead of someone else. Overall, Andrew played the not often easy role of the
supporting actor but he played the part well. For those of us who have ever had
feelings of doubt in ministry as Christians, two aspects of Andrew's style were
likely appealing to Jesus and should also be appealing to us as disciples of
Jesus today.
Andrew Saw the
Value of Individual People
Andrew can be called the
disciple of small things because he saw the value of individual people. Andrew
is known for bringing individuals to Jesus, not crowds. In fact, almost every
time we hear of him in Scripture he is seen bringing someone to Jesus. The
first person he brought to Jesus was his brother Peter. This might be the most
important because Peter could have likely also been Andrew’s biggest rival,
though as said before, it never shows. Rather his love and care for his brother
appears in his actions. When given the option to bring to Jesus anyone in the
world he wanted, he chose his brother Peter. Another important person Andrew
brought to Jesus was the boy who had the five loaves and two fish for the
feeding of the five thousand. I’ll cover this a bit more in a little bit but
when faced with a challenge on the hillside, Andrew took matters into his own
hands and found a boy who could help.
Andrew embodies the
character of a typical servant leader. He's laid back, yet also authoritative.
He's better working on his own that being within a group of leaders where he
might be too timid. Not that he would be a wimp of a leader he is still bold
and driven by passion. He was a follower of John the Baptist and you need boldness
if you are to follow a guy like that.
It's not that Andrew didn't
care to bring people to Jesus in droves but he understood that it was also
effective to bring people to Christ one at a time. Sometimes we can get
overwhelmed and feel pressured to grow the church many at a time. Andrew is
that disciple like those of us who just don't have the gifts to bring crowds
but rather have the ability to initiate and nurture fruitful relationships.
Andrew is representative of the small country church.
Andrew Saw the
Value of Insignificant Gifts
Another reason Andrew can be
considered the disciple of small things is because he saw the value of
insignificant gifts. Here's where I want to take us to the story of the feeding
of the 5,000. In John 6, a multitude of people needed to be fed. After asking
the other disciples what could be done, Andrew spoke up. He found the boy with
five loaves and two fish. While he wasn't certain it would be enough, he had to
try something. He saw there was some value in what was available to him. Nobody
else could figure out what to do, but Andrew could. Nobody else even gave a
second look to that boy, but Andrew did. Being focused on the small things, he
had the clairvoyance to see some value in what he had. He was not thinking he
was in a situation of scarcity. Still, he didn't think he had an abundance
either. But, he knew it was something and that Jesus could do something with
it. Everyone else was concerned about the money needed to buy food for the
people. Andrew reverted back to his typical self and took advantage of what
they had. He was still logical but he knew that in Jesus' hands anything was
possible.
The fact that so much could
happen with so little is a testimony to the power of Christ himself. Andrew was
not only a witness to the boy who he led to Jesus but he was a witness to
anyone who would be concerned about the lack of resources available to them.
Andrew shows us that no gift is insignificant because God's ability to use a
gift is in no way hindered or enhanced by the size of the gift. It is the
sacrificial faithfulness of the giver, not the size of the gift, that is the
true measure of the gift's significance.
* * *
And so, that is Andrew. One
of the four main leaders of Jesus' twelve disciples but a silhouette, not a
portrait. Andrew is never recorded to have preached to multitudes. He's never
recorded to have founded any churches. He didn't write an epistle like John,
Peter or Thaddaeus. He's not even mentioned in the book of Acts or any book
following it. Does his lack of mention make him any less of a leader?
Absolutely not. He was still a leader. Christ still called him. But, Andrew's
focus was on the small things. This is an encouragement to us who may feel that
temptation to do things on a grander scale, to fill larger shoes and to make a
larger footprint. I believe many of us are like Andrew. Perhaps that is why
Jesus called him to be one of the twelve. Jesus loved him. He loved his style.
He loved his attention to detail. He loved his love for individuals and small
gifts. And it's Jesus' love that is most important. It reminds us that Jesus died
for people like Andrew too. And what a vote of confidence it is for us, to
continue to love him, to serve him, and to serve others because of him. To God
be the glory, now and always. Amen.