Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Andrew: Personal worker
By Tim R. Alanib
Great Bible Character
ANDREW means "manly." He was one of Jesus' apostles. Originally he was a disciple of John the Baptist. (John 1:35, 40: The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples. One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.)
Andrew responded immediately when called by Jesus. (Matthew 4:19, 20: As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers who were fishermen, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew, catching fish in the lake with a net. Jesus said to them, "Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people." At once they left their nets and went with him.)
Andrew found his brother Simon and brought him to Christ. Christ named him Peter, meaning "a stone." Peter's flinty side more often than not showed itself in his earlier days. But he was made of genuine "stuff" and always came back with a bound. He was one of Christ's best workers.
Andrew, later an apostle of the Lord Himself, is little known today. He wrote no book of the New Testament and is not listed among the "great" of those early days, although tradition does assign him a place among the early missionaries and a martyr's death. But his one great success may have been the winning of Peter to Christ. Here is one of the great lessons in personal soul-winning. Like the unknown man who won the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody to Christ.
Possibly no other life, that of Paul excepted, has had such a profound influence upon the course of human history wherever Christianity has gone as Peter's. And yet, he was won to Christ by a brother who had concern for him and whose greatest deed was perhaps this one act of devotion.
Evangelism was in the heart and life of Andrew, much more so when he won his brother Peter to Christ. Evangelism is simply sharing with others what we know about Jesus. "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord" ("Corinthians 4:5). No tricks. No deception. Speak the truth, nothing but the truth -- in love. Then leave the results with God (Haddon Robinson).
Andrew who did evangelism was an evangelist. An evangelist is a nobody who is seeking to tell everybody about Somebody who can help change any body. More thoughts on evangelism and soul-winning.
* Evangelism
On a certain ocean liner, a passenger was lying in his cabin seriously ill. One dark night he heard a cry, "Man overboard," and, while sensitive to all the excitement and hurry, he was too sick to give any help. One of the difficulties was that they could not see the man. Suddenly, however, a light shone out through the glass of a porthole. It happened to fall full on the struggling man in the water, so that they were able to throw him a lifebelt and then go to his rescue. Where did the light come from? From the sick man, who feeling so distressed at his incapacity to help, managed to crawl out of his bunk, take the lantern down from the wall, and place it where it could shine forth.
* Soul-winning
Dean Hart once sat at the same table with a Roman Catholic priest. During the conversation, the Dean said, "Father, if I believed as you do that I could pray people out of a suffering hell and purgatory, I would spend all my time on my knees, getting them out." The priest answered, "And if I believed as you do, that once a man is in hell he can never get out, I would wear out shoe leather urging, constraining, compelling men and women to get saved now."
Dear reader, let's be reminded of this verse now. "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (Corinthians 6:2). Have the Lord Jesus Christ now in your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. Tomorrow may be too late. "Boast not yourself of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1).
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