In John 1, the author records the events surrounding Jesus’ invitation for some of his followers to become his disciples. In Jesus’ day, a Jewish Rabbi would extend invitations to people to sit under his teaching and those people would be considered the Rabbi’s disciples. Disciple literally means student, and these students would learn under the rabbi’s direction and would emulate his life and teachings.
Andrew and Philip were two of Jesus’ first disciples. Andrew was actually first a disciple of John the Baptist. One day as Jesus walked past John the Baptist and some of his disciples John cried out, “Look, the Lamb of God!” (V. 35) John’s entire ministry revolved around preparing the way for Jesus the Messiah to begin his ministry. Andrew, when he heard Jesus identified as the Lamb of God, left John and began following Jesus. (And it was a pretty smart move by him, I might add).
Then, John the Apostle (sorry for bouncing back and forth between the two Johns) records this little golden nugget in his narrative… The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. John 1:41-42 NIV
Yep, Andrew was the very first person to practice evangelism. Oh, he didn’t know the Gospel of Jesus Christ yet. Jesus’ ministry had just begun — that understanding was way down the road. Speaking of roads, Paul’s Romans Road of Romans 3:23, 6:23 and 10:9 hadn’t even been written yet so he didn’t use that either. But Andrew got the fundamental principle right — He went and got his brother Simon (Peter) — and brought him to Jesus.
The very next day Jesus was going to be leaving the region and he tapped yet another one of his followers to be his close disciple. Looking at Philip Jesus said, “Follow me.” (43) Thankfully, the author John drops another golden nugget in our lap in his story telling when he writes, Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (44-45) Well, Nathanael expressed skepticism at Philip’s announcement, so Philip replied, “Come and see.” (46)
Andrew brought Simon, and Philip brought Nathanael to Jesus. Today I am pondering, do you think Simon Peter and Nathanael ever expressed gratitude to Andrew and Philip? I am willing to speculate that they most certainly did — how could they not?
You know, sometimes I think Christians make evangelism way more difficult than it actually is in reality. While it is helpful to know the scripture of The Romans Road, and every Christian ought to be able to explain the Gospel of Jesus with appropriate scripture — in essence evangelism is simply bringing people to Jesus. Simply folks who have discovered the Savior… bringing other folks… to the Savior.
As we contemplate Missions Sunday today and hear from folks who are bringing people to Jesus in a faraway land… Whom do you know that needs to be brought to Jesus? How can you do that in the time of history that we live in today? Perhaps it is a conversation… or maybe an invitation… You see, I have yet to hear of someone who was brought to Jesus and discovered a savior… who was not extremely grateful.
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