Sound The Trumpet : Andrew's testimony to his brother

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“Andrew's testimony to his brother”
by Hugh Davidson
September 30th, 2007

John 1:35-42 “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.”

In verse 37 it says, the two disciples and that’s Andrew and John, heard John the Baptist’s pronouncement about Jesus being the Lamb of God and they started to follow Him. It was like Jesus was walking along and these two just filed in behind like they belonged there. And then Jesus turned and asked them a question, and said, “What seek ye?” And when He said this, He wasn’t just asking, can I help you but it was more like, “What is the one thing in life that would give reality to your dreams and fulfill all your hopes?” In other words, He was asking, “What are you living for?” And they answered His question with a question when they replied, “Where dwellest thou?” And when they asked Jesus this they weren’t just asking His address but they phrased it in such a way that they were asking for an audience with Him. In other words, they wanted to spend some time with Jesus and find out what He was all about.

And then having spent one day with Jesus Andrew was convinced that He was the Messiah or the Anointed one. In the Old Testament those anointed with oil were either prophets, priests or kings and the oil was symbolic of the Holy Spirit who equipped these men for service. And then from the New Testament we’d also have to conclude that this was a fitting description of Jesus because He was the prophet, priest and king and He was the one God gave the Holy Spirit without limit.

Andrew was so sure that this was the Messiah that he had to tell his brother Peter. And since they had worked together we could probably assume that they had spent their whole lives together and Andrew wanted to share the greatest news he had ever heard with one who was so close to him. At the same time, it makes me wonder if there wasn’t a little bit of hesitancy from the standpoint that Peter was the loud, overly confident and self-assured type. Andrew might have been a bit like the rest of us and realized that his brother knew him. He knew all his past mistakes and all of his weaknesses and Andrew might have been reluctant from the standpoint that Peter might just make a fool out of him in front of his friends. And if Peter rejected Jesus he might just reject Andrew along with Him.

Just like Andrew we all need to decide whether it’s more important to lose our brother’s respect or have him be lost for all of eternity. Andrew obviously was convinced of two things, his brother’s sinfulness and the saving power of Jesus Christ. And with that in mind, he had to share the good news with him and invite him to meet Jesus.

I like Andrews plan because first he found the Lord and then he went to find his brother. He didn’t say, “Well, if I see Peter I’m going to mention running into Jesus so he doesn’t die and go to hell.” No, he found him because he went looking for him.

I remember when I was about twelve or thirteen years old my dad took me to a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon. He had never done that before but he said he needed a drink and then he explained that you weren’t allowed to order a drink without a meal and the last thing he wanted was something to eat; so he said I could have something to eat while he had something to drink.

We walked into the restaurant and moved to the back where five or six of his fishing buddies sat and they all looked to be in the same rugged condition that he was in. As the waitress came over he told her to give me anything I wanted as long as he could have a drink. We never had much back then because my dad was more committed to drinking than anything else and I thought to myself, “A chance like this doesn’t come along more than once in a lifetime.” I looked at my dad and then at his friends and asked, “Can I have anything?” And with a dry throat and getting a little impatient he said, “Get anything you want, just order before I thirst to death.”

I put down the menu and looked at the waitress and said, “Ma’am I’ll have the largest porterhouse steak you’ve got, I don’t care if you have to kill two cows and glue them together, I want a huge steak. And I want mashed potatoes, soup and salad and when you come back I’ll order desert.” Well, you should have seen the look on my father’s face. I don’t know if it was shock or pride because he realized that his son had just taken him to the cleaners in front of all his friends. When the steak came it was huge! And when I was done eating I felt like saving the bone as a demonstration of the high cost of alcohol but my dad didn’t want any reminders.

Well, my dad never took me to a restaurant again but I’ll always remember that as the one time when pulling out all the stops really paid off. And I’ll bet Andrew felt the same way when he told Peter about Jesus and he saw the pay off about three and a half to four years later when Peter preached his first sermon and over three thousand people accepted Jesus as their Savior. One man wrote of Andrew, “He was more magnetic than electric; his ability to attract others to the Savior came from his confidence in Jesus ability to save them.” I had a friend one time who said, “His ambition in life was to lead someone to Jesus who would become an evangelist.” Now, that was a great ambition, let me ask you, what’s yours?

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13