Andrew

LIFE LESSONS
ANDREW
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 1:35-42
NOVEMBER 21, 2004

On August 21, 1971, Barb and I were married at a little Baptist Church in Temple City, California. It was about 100 degrees. There was no air conditioning in the church. The strange thing was I was not a member of that Baptist Church and neither was Barb. In fact, neither one of us had ever attended that Baptist Church. So why were we married there?

It all goes back to the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault is a fracture in the shell, the outer shell of the earth. It runs 600 miles north to south through the State of California, and the San Andreas Fault makes the State of California a very dangerous state. It makes the State of California an earthquake state. And so it was that just prior to our wedding on August 21, 1971, there was an earthquake and it destroyed my home church, Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale, California with a cathedral sanctuary. The whole thing was destroyed. Barb’s church, the Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena was also undergoing repairs and so we found this little Baptist Church in Temple City. It was all because of the San Andreas Fault.

San Andreas means, “St. Andrew.” Why would an earthquake fault be named after a disciple of Jesus Christ? Why call it the Saint Andrew Fault? The reason is two-fold. First of all, the name Andrew in the Greek is the name Andreas. Andrew is just the English form of the Greek name Andreas. This name means, “manly, mighty, conqueror,” and obviously the San Andreas Fault is mighty. But secondly, St. Andrew himself was the first disciple. He was the first domestic missionary. He was the first foreign missionary. It was St. Andrew who started the rippling effect that grew outward and became the church of Jesus Christ, thus the San Andreas Fault.

Now, this morning as we look at St. Andrew, we look at discipleship because St. Andrew was the first disciple. Of course, the word disciple comes from the Greek word “methates11 which means, “learner.” Another biblical Greek word for disciple is “akoloutheo” which means, “follower.” Jesus said to His disciples, “Follow Me,” and He said to His disciples, “Learn of Me.”

Now, today in seminaries all over the world you can take classes in discipling and is discipleship training, but these classes are now longer called discipleship classes because the word disciple is today kind of considered in some quarters to be antiquated and so a lot of these seminaries, instead of discipleship classes, they’re called classes in spiritual formation. Of course, discipleship does have to do with spiritual formation, but if we want to be biblical, if we really want to be biblical, we should call discipleship “spiritual transformation,” because that’s what discipleship is about. It’s about spiritual transformation. Of course, in Romans, chapter 12, the Apostle Paul writes to the disciples of Christ and He says, “Do not be conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind so you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Of course, in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 18, the Bible says, “We all with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed, the word metamorpho, and this is the concept of discipleship—spiritual transformation.

Now, this morning as we look at St. Andrew and as we look at the subject of discipleship, I want us to look at the four areas of life where Christ is seeking to transform us. If you’re a disciple of Christ, there are four areas where Jesus is desperately seeking to transform you. This is the process of discipleship. So, first of all, He wants to transform your worldview. He wants to transform your worldview.

In the ancient world, a lot of people thought the earth was flat. That’s what they thought. Of course, even then, the Greek astronomers culminating in Ptolemy, they all taught that the world was round or more accurately that it was spherical. They knew that this earth was not flat, but the rank and file, the everyday people, the common people, many of them thought the earth was flat. And in fact, many people in world history thought this extending all the way to the time of Columbus. It was in the time of Columbus that coins were minted by the Spanish and they looked outward from the Mediterranean Sea through the Pillars of Hercules, through the Straits of Gibraltar and out into the vast Atlantic. At the bottom of these coins were three Latin words,’ Ne Plus Ultra,” “no more beyond” because that’s what they thought. They thought if you just sailed out of the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar out into the vast Atlantic, there was nothing there. In fact, some people thought if you did that you would eventually come to the end of the world and just fall off because the earth was flat.

Of course, in 1492, Columbus set sail and he crossed the Atlantic and he found the new world and he came back and people had a whole new worldview. In fact, those Spanish coins were changed and they struck the Latin word “Nay Plus Ultra,” “More Beyond,” a new worldview. That’s what Christ wants to give you. Jesus wants to give you a new worldview.

Now, you know a lot of people in the world today have the worldview of secular Darwinism. They view life as a kind of cosmic accident. Human beings have no soul. There’s no life after death. There’s no purpose in living, no purpose in dying. There’s no accountability, no final judgement. “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die.” Of course, a lot of people also have the worldview of secular humanism which is really secular Darwinism with a little compassion, “Eat, drink and be merry and be nice to people.” Secular humanism. But, you see, Christ wants to give you a whole different worldview.

When you come to Jesus and you become His disciple, you get the worldview of Christianity. There is a Creator and He is in fact manifested in Jesus, the Son of God. The Creator loves us. Even in the scientific community, you see more and more scientists defining intelligent design in the creation because there is Creator. There is a Creator and there is an intelligent design and this Creator loves us. We are the crown of His creation and we do have a soul and we will one day give an account. There will come a judgement day.

There is this great struggle between light and darkness, and the souls of men and women and children are at stake. We are sinners in need of a Savior, and when we come to the Savior, when we come to Christ, we’re given a new commission, a new purpose in life, to take the Gospel to the nations and we are to seek to fulfill this purpose until Christ comes again. That’s our worldview, a new worldview. There’s meaning in living and there’s meaning and hope in dying. Jesus wants to give His disciples a new worldview.

Now, Andrew was Jewish but his family in Galilee was Hellenize and therefore they didn’t even give him a Hebrew name. They named him Andreas. They named him Greek, the Greek word for

Andrew. They gave him a Greek name because they were a Hellenized family. Surely Andrew knew that there was a larger world out there but his worldview was really very small. He was a fisherman. He grew up on the Sea of Galilee. His whole world kind of consisted of fishing and the fishing industry and making a few friends. It all centered around that sea called the Sea of Galilee. Andrew was a good Jewish man. Therefore, he knew he was a sinner. He was concerned about this, and it was probably because of this that Andrew became a disciple of John the Baptist. He received John’s baptism, which was a public acknowledgement of sinfulness and an expression of longing for righteousness.

But Andrew knew that the baptism of John the Baptist couldn’t take away his sin, but it was John the Baptist who introduced Andrew to Jesus. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Andrew went and spent the day with Jesus. It was months later that Jesus called him to be His disciple, and Andrew encountered this whole new worldview, so much bigger than Galilee. God had called him to the world, and he realized that Jesus was the Savior of the world, that he had been commissioned by Christ once he believed in Him to take that message to the nations. It was a new worldview. Well secondly, the disciples of Jesus Christ, we who follow Christ, Christ wants to transform our personal character. He doesn’t just want to transform our worldview but He wants to transform our personal character.

A month or so ago, Barb and I went to Hilton Head in South Carolina. We went for a few days with my brother Greg and his wife. They kind of swapped a time share and invited Barb and me to come and join them on Hilton Head. Barb and I had never been there. We played the PGA Tour Stop Golf Course called Harbor Town, a beautiful golf course. Greg and I golfed and the two Barbs came along with us riding in the cart. On the 10th hole, I kind of duck hooked my T-shot, which I often do, right into a lagoon. I went over there thinking maybe I could retrieve it; maybe it didn’t go very far into the lagoon. As I went over there to find my golf ball, there was an alligator. It looked very prehistoric. I don’t know. It was maybe 7 or 8 feet long. Both Barbs came over and my brother Greg. We all looked at it from a distance. An amazing animal.

Scientists tell us the alligator is a perfectly formed killing machine. It is genetically structured to be a predator. It never changes. It is what it is. It comes out of the egg about 9 inches long and eventually it might reach 12 feet but it never experiences transformation. It’s just always the same. You don’t meet an older alligator that’s become kind and servant-hearted. An alligator just doesn’t experience transformation. It’s not like people, but people have the capacity to change. We can improve. Our character can grow. This is true of anyone, but it’s particularly true of the Christian.

We need to understand the meaning of this word “character.” Our English word character comes from the Greek word “character.” In fact, the English is simply a transliteration of the Greek letters into English letters. The English word character comes from the Greek word character, and this Greek word character is found in one place in the Bible and that’s Hebrews, chapter 1, where the Bible says, “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days God has spoken through His Son whom He has appointed the heir of all things and through Him also He created the worlds. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of power.” Incredible description of Jesus Christ. It says there, “He bears the very stamp of God’s nature, upholding the universe by His word of power.” That word, “stamp,” is the Greek word “character,” and it means a signet ring, an impress which creates an image in clay or in wax or on paper that is the exact representation of the face of the ring. What this passage of scripture is telling us is that Jesus Christ is the implicit image of God the Father. He bears the very stamp of His nature. He’s an exact replica of the Father. He has the character of God. He shares the divine nature.

Now, here’s the amazing thing when we come to Christ, when we hear Him say, “Follow Me,” when we hear Him say, “Learn of Me.” When we make that commitment to be His disciple, an amazing thing happens, the Bible tells us. He actually sends His character into us when we’re born anew. He sends His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to tabernacle within us, and we become temples of the Living God and the character, the divine nature, actually comes within us. The Bible calls it the “new nature.” Every Christian has this new nature, and this makes you unique. You might be thinking, “Well, if I have this new nature, if I have the character of Christ, what’s wrong with me? Why was I such a jerk yesterday?” Of course, there is a problem, isn’t there? This new nature, this character of Christ needs to surface. It needs to grow. It needs to dominate who we are because we also have this old nature. We have this sin nature, and there’s kind of this war within us.

Well, you see, God’s told us how we can let this transformation take place where the new nature that’s been put within us would begin to be augmented and where it would begin to surface. We do that first of all through worship. Every time we worship, this new character that’s been put within us by Christ begins to surface when we worship. Have you ever wondered about worship? Why does God want us to worship Him? Does God just get off on our worship? Can He never be sated with His desire for praise? Can He never get enough? Is that what God is like? The Bible tells us that is not what God is like. Oh yeah. I mean He loves us. He loves to hear us tell Him that we love Him.

Barb and I have been taking care of our granddaughter this weekend, little Abigail. When she says, “I love you, Papa,” I just kind of melt. I think God loves His children like that but I think worship really isn’t about just inflating the ego of God. Worship is for us. God’s designed things in such a way that when we worship Him, WE’RE the ones that are transformed because when we worship Him, we look at Him and we see Him as He is and it transforms us. That new nature, that new character that Christ has put in us by His Holy Spirit begins to rise and surface as we worship.

In the 15th century, there lived a man named Savonarola. Many church historians believe he was the greatest Christian of the 15th century. He was a Christian monk, a church reformer. Savonarola wrote many books, and we have them today. He tells in one book how every day he would go into the great cathedral in the city of Florence. He would always see an elderly woman there worshipping before this statue of Mary. He always thought her devout because every day she would go, she would kneel before that statue, and she would cry. Savonarola always said, “I thought she was devout, that she was deeply committed to God,” but he later discovered that that statue had been sculpted 45 years earlier and this woman had been the model. It’s an image of her 45 years before. She was going there every day to the great cathedral in Florence to see what she looked like 45 years ago and she was bawling, just crying, as she no longer looked like that. She was being ruined by really a worship of her younger self.

What you worship is incredibly important. What we worship changes us. You see, when you worship Christ, it transforms us so that His image within us and His character, the new nature, begins to be augmented and we are transformed. It’s also true in Bible Study. Do you get into the Word of God every day? I try every day to get a little time in the afternoon to be alone with Jesus. Pray a little. Read a little. Maybe have a cup of coffee and time with Him. Do you do that? Do you realize that He transforms us? As we’re in His word, that character, the character that’s been placed within us, the new nature begins to grow as we read His Word.

I saw where recently a survey had been taken nationally of 5 million people in America, asking them why they don’t read the Bible. The first response was, “We don’t know where to begin,” and the second leading response was, “We don’t think it’s relevant.” What could be more relevant than transformation of your character? This is why God has given us His Word, that we might be transformed and we might have the character of Christ. This is also true of prayer. Jesus taught His disciples to pray. He taught Andrew how to pray because in prayer we experience transformation, and the new nature that’s been placed within us when we’re born from above, that new nature grows in prayer. So, are you spending time in prayer every day? Have you set a slice of time aside that you might experience transformation?

Of course, this is true also when we come into a small group with other Christians because Christian fellowship, as we’re with brothers and sisters in Jesus, somehow the transforming power of Christ again comes upon us through that experience and that new nature begin to grow and to thrive. This is also true when we participate in regular acts of ministry and service. I mean, it’s when you’re in action, when you’ve rolled up your shirtsleeves, when you get to work for Christ, when you go to work for the kingdom of heaven, when you teach a Sunday School class, when you tutor an inner city child. It’s in those contexts that transformation begins to take place within us as that new nature begins to dominate.

Maybe you’re feeling like you’re in the doldrums. Do you know what the doldrums are? Around the equator, through the oceans of the world, there are vast sections of sea called the doldrums. These are vast portions of the ocean where there’s no wind and very little breeze. Sailors know when you sail into those portions of the oceans, you just stop, you stagnate. You’re in the doldrums. You don’t go anywhere. Maybe you’re feeling like that. You’re a disciple of Christ but you’re just stagnant and you’re not having character transformation and you need to begin to worship all the time. You need to be in church on Sunday. You need to be in the Word every day. You need to be in prayer every day. You need to join a Christian fellowship group, and you need to begin to participate in Christian ministry and service. Come out of the doldrums. Experience transformation as Andrew did. That’s why he’s called St. Andrew. Christ made him holy. So, He wants to transform your worldview. He wants to transform your personal character, and then thirdly He wants to transform your interpersonal relationships and He has the power to do this. He wants to transform our interpersonal relationships.

In 1833, the British Naturalist, Charles Darwin, took a scientific expedition on a sailing vessel called the HMS Beagle. He went into the South Pacific and found a group of islands that were then called New Hebrides and there he discovered what Darwin called the “missing link.” People so primitive that they provided a kind of link, kind of bridge, between animal and man. Darwin said he had never seen a people so primitive, utterly violent, totally cannibalistic. They ate their own young. Darwin said they ate their weak, their ill, their infirmed. They had virtually no social structure. Darwin came back and reported to the scientific community all over the world about these people. They were the missing link.

Thirty-four years later, 1867, Darwin revisited those islands called New Hebrides. He wanted to see the missing link again. He wanted to see these people. When he saw them he was shocked. He saw churches and schools. He saw former cannibals living in houses, loving their children. He saw people caring for the weak, for the ill, for the sick, for the infirmed. He saw social structure that was just. He was stunned and he was told that the London Missionary Society had sent Christian missionaries to New Hebrides, led by John G. Patton, and that these people and their relationships had all been transformed by the power of Christ.

Darwin was a theist. He believed in the existence of God but he was not a disciple of Jesus Christ. He had once gone to seminary. He was so impressed he gave a large financial gift to the London Missionary Society, a fact of history. What was he impressed with? The power of Jesus Christ to transform people, and He has the power to transform us—our character and our relationships. He has that power.

We’ve seen before how Jesus was a Rabbi, and we’ve seen before how Jesus as a Rabbi had what the Hebrews called, “semikhah.” He had “authority.” He had authority to recruit disciples so he recruited Andrew, and He’s still recruiting disciples today. Many of you have heard Jesus say, “Follow Me. Learn of Me.” He recruits still. As a Rabbi, He also has authority to bind His disciples to His yoke. In the Hebrew culture, the rabbinical yoke was that rabbi’s interpretation of Torah.

How did Jesus interpret Torah? We’ve seen this before. Jesus said, “It’s all about love.” Jesus quoted the Shema, Deuteronomy 6. “You shall love the Lord your God…” He quoted a lesser known passage in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He says, “In this, all the law, all the commandments are fulfilled and summed up.” It’s all about love. That’s why He gave us this book that we might learn love, that we might be transformed in character and in our relationships. The teachings of Jesus Christ are pretty radical so you have the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6 when Jesus said, “I say to all who hear,” (He’s talking to His disciples) “love your enemy, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other as well. From him who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs of you and from him, who takes away your goods, never ask for them again. But as you would have others do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again, but I say to you, ‘Love your enemy. Do good. Lend, expecting nothing in return and you will be great. Your reward will be great. You’ll be children of the Most High for He is kind and merciful even to the ungrateful and the unbelieving.” Transformation. It’s pretty radical. He wants to transform our relationships, and of course it’s all about love.

So, you can hate Islam but you can’t hate an Islamist. You can’t hate a Muslim. If you hate a Muslim, something is wrong in your heart if you claim to be a follower of Jesus. You might hate the gay lifestyle. You might hate the practice of homosexuality, but if you hate gays, if you hate homosexuals, something’s wrong in your heart. He came to transform our interpersonal relationships. You might hate crime but you can’t hate the criminals. Jesus tells us we’re to visit people in prison. We’re supposed to love everybody. This is transformation and it is radical. It is the call of Christ and of course that’s what Christ called Andrew to, was love, and that’s how Christ trained Andrew. Well finally, He wants to transform our purpose in m1ss1on. He wants to transform our worldview, our personal character, our interpersonal relationships, and He wants to transform our purpose and our mission.

We’re told in John, chapter 1, that Andrew was the first disciple. In that same passage of scripture, we see that he was the first missionary and he brought his brother Peter to Christ, led him to Jesus. Domestic missions, a fellow Jew. In John, chapter 12, we see Andrew as the first foreign missionary leading Greek people to Christ and bringing them to Jesus. We know it didn’t stop there. There are some bogus books attributed to Andrew. In the 2nd century there was “The Acts of Andrew,” surely pseudopagraphical, but there are some reliable sources from the early church fathers and we know that Andrew continued to be a missionary.

After the Apostolic Council in the city of Jerusalem, he was commissioned to go to the Scythian peoples. He went first to Asia Minor, to Bithynia, Galatia, Cappadocia, and He came along the shores of the Black Sea. He went all the way around the Black Sea and up around the north side into what is now the Ukraine and then he came to Russia, which was called Scythia back then. He told the people in that region of Russia about Jesus Christ. Then Andrew came back to Jerusalem, met with Simon Peter, his brother, took off again and went to Thrace, Macedonia, Akia, what we today would call Greece. Of course, today St. Andrew is the Patron Saint of Greece and he’s also the Patron Saint of Russia. Of course, in the 8th century, the Honorable Rule allegedly brought the bones of Andrew back to Scotland and there on the shores of Scotland they named the city after him, St. Andrews. Of course, St. Andrew is also the Patron Saint of Scotland today.

But it’s all about missionary work. It’s all about missions. It’s all about the Gospel. Andrew was a custodian of the Gospel. Our English word gospel comes from the old English “god spell” which means, “good news” or “good tidings.” The Greek word in the Bible is “euangelion,” from which we get “evangelism” or “evangelical.” Of course, the angelic announcement in Luke 2, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy for unto is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.” That’s the Gospel. That’s the good news. Jesus is the Savior. That’s the Gospel. That’s the good news. Jesus is the Savior, and as surely as that message, that good news, was entrusted to Andrew, it has been entrusted to us. We are His disciples and we are the recipients of the Great Commission. He would send us forth with good tidings and send us forth with the Gospel. It’s not easy, but do you understand, do you realize this is the purpose, this is the mission given to each of us?

This Wednesday a new movie is coming to the screen called “Alexander” starring Colin Farrell and also starring Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer and Anthony Hopkins. We’re told that it’s going to tell the real story of Alexander the Great. The problem is nobody knows the real story. There is so much legend and myth surrounding Alexander the Great. We do know he was born in 356 BC, died in 323 BC at the age of 33. We know for thirteen years he ruled. We know that in 327 BC he set his sight on India and he took his armies east. We know that in that year, 327 BC, he came to Bactria which today is Northern Afghanistan. There he encountered a fortress city. He sent two-thirds of his armies ahead under the leadership of his General Ptolemy and he kept one-third including the hundred members of his royal guard.

We don’t know whether this is myth or legend or real but we do know that according to the story, he approached this fortress city which was the capital of Bactria. He approached the wall, bringing an envoy, an embassy with him. The king of this capital of Bactria, stood high on the wall, and Alexander the Great said, “Surrender.” He said, “If you surrender, I’ll allow you to live. I will even let you keep your throne if you swear allegiance to me.” This Bactrian king laughed. He said, “I’ve heard of you. I heard of you years ago. That’s why we built these fortress walls. You’ll not conquer this city. You’d lose too many men. You don’t have the will. You don’t have the courage.”

It is said that Alexander the Great turned to his royal guard, those hundred men. He pointed them to a precipice, a cliff that dropped 200 feet to the east of the city. He told them to get in a single file and march. He didn’t tell them to stop. The first one marched right over the cliff to his death, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and then Alexander the Great shouted, “Stop!” and they stopped. He looked up at the king and the king’s mouth was open. The king said two words, “I surrender.” He’d never seen that kind of commitment, not from any army, not from any ruler’s men. He had never seen commitment like that.

Well, we’re disciples of Jesus Christ and He loves us. He doesn’t send us over the precipice. He doesn’t aim you for a cliff. He loves you but He demands obedience. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He demands obedience and He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He’s given us the Great Commission. Do you realize what this means? He wants you to love people. He wants you to enter into relationships with people where you love them as people and you love them simply because they’re a person. He wants you to love them like that, but in the midst of the relationship, He wants you to tell the story. He wants you to talk about Jesus. If you don’t tell the story, you don’t get it. This is our mission. This is our purpose. I know we don’t want to offend, not willfully, but He sent us forth into our neighborhoods, our work places. He sent us all over the world. There’s a cost. It’s the cost of discipleship.

Andrew died a martyr’s death. We’re told he died in Greece. He died on a dicrusita which was a cross that was shaped like an X and he was spread out. Today that cross is called St. Andrews cross. In the Middle Ages, Christians would sign their name and would put an X after it or a couple of XXs after it. Some people thought it must be the Greek letter “Chi” which looks like an X and is the first letter in the name of Christ. But, no. In the Middle Ages it represented St. Andrews cross. When they signed their name and when they put that X, that was the dicrusita. It was the cross of St. Andrew and it was a reminder of the cost of discipleship. We need that reminder, that discipleship has a cost.

Christ is seeking to transform His people. He wants to transform our worldview. He wants to transform our personal character. He wants to transform our interpersonal relationships. He wants to transform our purpose and our mission. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.