The Men God Chooses and Uses: Andrew and James

For just the opportunity to praise your glorious name We're thankful lord that we can gather together on this lord's day and spend time honoring and worshiping your precious name I pray that the things we learn today will enable us to live for your glory all the more the rest of this day and the rest of our lives We pray in jesus name amen Amen We've been studying the apostles in luke chapter 6 verses 14 to 16 We've been studying these men because they help us understand the kind of people god uses to turn the world upside down The kind of people god uses to preach the gospel the kind of people god uses to impact others for the sake of the truth of jesus christ Sometimes you look at the apostles as stained glass saints Those people that are way beyond anything we can ever imagine but in reality they're people just like you and me We studied first of all peter last week remember peter was the first one not the first one chosen, but the first in terms of Prominence among the men the word used in matthew chapter 10 is the word protoss It's a word that means chief same word used in first sympathy one verse number 15 where paul said he was the chief of sinners the foremost of all sinners Christ uses the word protoss to speak of peter being that first among the 12 apostles He was the leader of the 12 and we saw where this man an insolent man An independent man an impatient man who became an impotent man was one who learned the way of humility Who was one who learned to walk dependently upon his god was the kind of man Who learned the way of certainty and to welcome adversity because god had taught him much And yet god shows us peter's life and all of his frailties all of his failure to show you that god can pick you up Where you are and make you into a great representative of his kingdom and that was peter We move from peter to look at the other apostles.

We'll begin with j. Uh, Andrew because he's second on the list in luke chapter Uh six, he's the next one in line.

Andrew was simon peter's Brother, it's important to note that And you note that matthew mark and luke don't mention any incidents with andrew Only john does And john gives us three scenarios of andrew's life three scenarios that tell us a lot about this man Remember we can only tell you about the apostles as the bible Shows us who they are and what they did So unless we have the word of god to demonstrate to us the things that they say and the things they do We don't understand these men. So john paints a picture for us of andrew Helps us see who he is because andrew's name means manly Therefore to understand andrew is to understand Manliness to understand andrew is to understand true manhood There are a lot of people today who think they are really truly men of god, but a true man of god Follows the life of andrew and we will see andrew's priority as well as andrew's humility as we understand this man's character Understanding his priority will show you what manliness is all about If you want to judge whether or not you are a true man of god You must measure your life against the man whose name means manly the one whose name means strong and manly that is andrew So we have three scenarios one in john 1 1 and john 6 1 and john 12 All three of them paint for us a portrait of andrew to show us what kind of man He was if you have your bible turn with me to john chapter 1 John chapter 1 helps us understand andrew Andrew was a devout man devouted man.

He was Committed to judaism He was a disciple of john the baptist. So he would have been baptized in the jordan river He was a follower of a man who had great zeal great passion for the sake of the messiah And so because he was a disciple of john, we knew that he was looking for the coming of messiah So in john chapter 1 verse number 35 It says again the next day john was standing with two of his disciples. Those two would be andrew and john And he looked upon jesus as he walked and said behold The lamb of god and the two disciples heard him speak and they followed jesus And jesus turned and beheld them following and said to them What do you seek and they said to him rabbi which translated means teacher where Are you staying?

He said to them come and you will see they came therefore and saw where he was staying And they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour one of the two Who heard john speak and followed him? was andrew simon peter's brother This scenario tells us a lot about andrew Because he was a disciple of john the baptist. He was anticipating the arrival of the messiah So you can imagine the day and there is john and say hey look there behold The lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world Andrew's ears perk up his eyes focus in on the messiah.

He realizes that this one is The one that john's been preaching about He goes to him and says rabbi where he's staying And jesus says you come and see Well, they got there about the 10th hour, which is somewhere in the morning probably around 10 o'clock in the morning And they stayed with the messiah all Day, can you imagine the conversation?

between andrew john and the messiah Asking him questions about his credentials Asking questions about his character Listening to him preach and teach just them And the bible says these words in verse number 41 He that is andrew found first his own brother simon And said to him we have found the messiah He goes right to his brother Hey peter listen We found the messiah andrew was converted before peter was andrew was peter's brother And it tells us that true missionary work always begins where?

at home Sort of begins the first place it takes note is in the home He goes to his brother Peter and says hey peter we found The messiah turn to john 6 with me for a moment john chapter 6 This is the second episode Verse number one after these things jesus went away to the other side of the sea of galilee or tiberias And a great multitude was following him because they were seeing the signs which he was performing on those who were sick And jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat with his disciples now the passover the feast of the jews was at hand Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him said to philip where are We to buy bread That these may eat And this he was saying to test him for he himself knew what he was intending to do Philip answered him 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them For everyone to receive a little one of his disciples Andrew simon peter's brother said to him There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish But what are these?

for so many people Here was a scenario where christ would feed the 5 000 Which really is more around 20 or 25 000 people because he only counted the men in those days So you add the men and you add the the wives that would probably marry to the men And then you add the number of children which you know, according to jewish custom You have at least three probably more so you had all those people together. You got a lot of people And so jesus is going to feed those people andrew brings to him a lad Andrew doesn't see the masses.

He sees the one individual he brings that one person With a few pickled fishes a few barley loaves of biscuits and brings him to jesus and says I got this But what is this among so many it wasn't that he lacked the faith. No, he had the faith He had already seen jesus turned water into wine So he knows the miraculous power of jesus, but he brings him to jesus because he knows that if Jesus can use anything he can use this lad Turn with me to john chapter 12 This is the third scenario john chapter 12 verse number 20 Now there were certain greeks among those who are going up to worship at the feast These therefore came to philip.

Oh, by the way, philip is uh a jew But it's his greek name philip's a greek name He's always referred to as philip now he had a jewish name. We just don't know what it was We'll talk about philip in a couple of weeks And the king of philip who was from beseda of galilee, by the way Andrew was from beseda philip was from beseda and so was peter It was the fisherman's city Philip who was from beseda of galilee and began to ask him saying sir, we wish to see jesus philip came and told andrew Andrew and philip came and they told jesus philip knew If there was somebody who wanted to see jesus They would take him to andrew See andrew james john Peter all a part of the inner circle of christ The four most intimate disciples of our lord.

We told you about that many weeks ago that there were three groups of four and each of those groups has a descending Descending information about them But those four individuals in the first group peter james john and andrew were a part of the intimate circle And yet the only time andrew was mentioned with them is in mark chapter 13 Because he wasn't with him in the garden.

It was peter james and john who went off to pray he isn't mentioned, um, not only in the garden, but um, Uh one other location, uh as well my memory slips me i'm, sorry, but there are many occasions He's not mentioned, but we know because of mark 13 that he's part of that intimate group He's always mentioned in among the first four of those men and so philip knows Andrew is in with jesus unlike anybody else And so he brings him to andrew because andrew will get him to jesus Here's the point There was a priority with andrew And that priority was this he was always pointing people to jesus the messiah in all three occasions He went to his brother peter And said we found the messiah In the second occasion, he found the lad.

He brought that lad to the messiah and in john 12 He brought these greeks to the messiah The definition of a man is that he always and continually points people to the messiah That's a true man A true man of god is pointing people to the messiah And that's what andrew did But I want you to know something about andrew. He was a man of great humility He's mentioned as simon's brother or simon peter's brother on at least two occasions That's how he's referenced And so here was a man who who who was with the messiah for a whole day And the first thing he does he goes and tells peter He knows if he tells peter peter's going to take control because that's the kind of guy peter is Peter's type a personality and if andrew goes and tells peter and peter accepts christ as the messiah Peter's in charge peter's going to take the leadership role He could have sat back and said I found the messiah.

I got something My brother doesn't have I I can lead the way here. But instead he goes immediately to his brother peter And tells him he's referred to as simon peter's brother He was a man of great humility. He wasn't looking for the limelight. He wasn't looking for publicity. He was looking to lead people to the messiah Folks that's what a man is I don't know how you define manhood, but that's all there is So, let me talk to the men just for a moment this morning Are you pointing people to the messiah?

Are you pointing your family? to the messiah Are you pointing your people continually your family continually to jesus? Do you point your wife to jesus? Do you point your children to jesus? Do you lead them to jesus? Because that's what a man does Oh, you can provide for them a nice house you can provide for them a nice education, but anybody in the world can do that But a true godly man will lead them to jesus will point them in the direction of jesus when there's questions When there's a need to know for guidance and direction you go to the word of god you go to jesus You continually point them to the messiah That's what a man does I wish I could stand before you today and say that's what I always do, but it's not I wish I could stand there and say yeah, just ask my kids They'll tell you that that's what dad always does.

But if you ask him, they'll probably say no, he doesn't always do that But you know what I know after eight children That there's no greater joy in all the world than to know my children walk in truth That's the only joy there is Whether they get married whether they go off to college whether they're successful in the business world It really doesn't matter to me It just doesn't matter to me. You might think i'm a little weird that way But you know what? The only thing that matters is that they walk in truth.

That's it That's all that really matters because that's the joy of a father If that's not your joy you got to question whether or not you love the truth of god If that's not your heart's desire You got to question whether or not you're a man of god because a man of god wants the people he knows most intimately to know jesus He wants the people that he doesn't know very well like the lad with the with the biscuits in the in the pickle fish To know jesus I mean, that's all that matters. Do you know jesus?

Have you heard about the messiah? Have you found the messiah? Do you know who he is? That's what peter's priority was And he was so humble that it wasn't about him it was all about jesus christ So fellas, let me ask you a question.

Is that what you are? Is that the way your marriage is characterized? Is that the way your family's characterized if not? See if you got a man card or not Because that's manhood You ever read a lot of books about men Manhood what it means most of them are hogwash But look at andrew the man whose name means manly That's what a man does.

He leads people to jesus. He points them in the right direction He might not have all the answers, but he knows who does have the answers jesus does so he moves in that direction So let me talk to the women for a moment Let's let's say women you're about to get married to somebody does that man in your daily relationship point you to jesus if not You're gonna marry a boy not a man If he's not pointing you to jesus Something's wrong get out of the relationship Get out of it as fast as you possibly can oh he'll change after we get married No, he won't ask the people married to you next to you They don't change If he's not pointing you to jesus in the dating relationship, he's not going to do it in the marital relationship If you're going to get married find a man who has a priority of pointing people to jesus the messiah Because if that's his priority he'll do it with you he'll do it with your children if he's not doing it now He's not gonna do it with you.

He's not gonna do it with his children. Oh, but can't god change him Yeah, god can change him. Sure he can Will he I don't have no guarantee that he will Do you? No So you're a woman today and you married a man who doesn't point you to jesus, what do you do? Maybe he's sitting next to you this morning Maybe sitting here saying boy, I wish I hope my husband's listening to this because he's not pointing me in any direction You know, let alone to jesus. He's not leading our children to jesus either What do you do Well, number one.

Thank god. He's here today to listen to this. That's number one Say well, what if he's not here buying the tape Put it in the closet so he sees it when he gets dressed tomorrow morning, let's do it on the way to work What do you do you begin to pray that your husband will will take the leadership role to point you to jesus That's what you do Begin to pray that god begins to do a great and mighty work in his heart in his life That he would see the priority of what it means To focus you and your children Upon the one thing that matters jesus christ our lord That's what we learned from andrew that great that great saint of god Who by the way died?

on an x-shaped cross He was crucified on an x-shaped cross. He hung there for two days tradition tells us and for those two days. Guess what he did He led people to jesus He preached the gospel as he hung on the cross That x-shaped cross for two days even in death He was doing what a man does pointing people to jesus I I just can't stress the importance of that so important If you're married to a man who doesn't do that Then you get on your hands and knees and you ask god to revolutionize his life To break his spirit that he would fall on his knees before god submit to god and follow god intimately and closely Because you can't change your husband You like to think you can But you can't change him But god can change him God can revolutionize his life And turn his life around And so you get on your knees you pray and ask god to to turn his life around that he might see That the number one issue in life is jesus christ our lord and continually Seeks him so he can lead us to seek him as well That was that was andrew How about james He's third on the list.

Let's look at james just for a brief moment this morning again He's the kind of man that that we need to understand Because james was a zealous man James was an ambitious man And james was a precious man, let me show you exactly how james was zealous ambitious yet Extremely precious in the eyes of god James had a brother named john It's always james and john in the gospels never john and james just james and john in that order Probably letting us know that james was probably the oldest James the leader of the two and christ gave them a name in mark chapter 3 verse number 17 Boanerges which means sons of thunder So we can know a little bit about these men because they were sons of thunder.

They were strong men They were ambitious men. They were fervent men. They were the kind of men who would not back down And everybody wants a part of their group a zealous kind of man and you know It's i've always found that it's always easier to tame the zealous man That it is to take the man who is lethargic and get him to move you ever notice that?

A person who's not zealous and ambitious and desirous and passionate You can take those men you can begin to tone them down a little bit but a guy who's kind of oh Well, you know kind of passive you can't rev them up You can't get him to move off the dime I'd much rather work with a man who's overzealous who is insensitive who's over aggressive than a person who's lethargic and passive Why because you can always tone the zealous man down That's what jesus does with james He tones the man down But here was one Who was as the equivalent of jehu in the old testament when jehu said in second kings 10 verse number 16 Come with me and see my zeal for the lord and he uprooted the house of ahab Sweeping all the bell worshipers out of the land.

That was jehu James Is that new testament? jehu James was a zealous man Turn with me in your bible to luke chapter 9 verse number 51.

We'll show you james and john We'll show you these sons of thunder. We'll show you this zealous man It says in verse number 51 and it came about when the days were approaching for his ascension that he resolutely Resolutely, excuse me set his face to go to jerusalem And he sent some messengers on ahead of him and they went and entered a village of the samaritans to make arrangements for him And they did not receive him because he was journeying with his face toward jerusalem And when his disciples james and john saw this they said lord Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

I love that Here are guys that say you know what lord these people in samaria want nothing to do with you. We have an answer Let's call fire down from heaven and let's burn them up Let's show them who's boss. Let's show them who's in charge Let's show them that they need to accept you as messiah And maybe that will send a warning throughout all of israel that if you don't accept the messiah We're calling fire down upon you and you're going to be consumed burned up destroyed. You better accept jesus as the messiah That was james That's my kind of man But christ turned and rebuked him Brooked them and said You do not know what kind of spirit you are of for the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them James relax, buddy You're out of line That was elijah That was elijah's day That's the spirit of elijah where you call fire down and you consume the heretic But this is the day of grace.

This is the day of the new covenant The son of man did not come to destroy man. He came to save man This is the day of salvation who's coming to time of judgment. This is not it james You got to learn to relax a little bit, buddy Take it easy. This is the time for the grace of god to shine But see that's what the sons of thunder Want to see happen That's the zealousness of james Let me let you look at the ambitiousness of james turn over to matthew chapter 20 Matthew chapter 20 It says this verse 20 then the mother of the sons of zebedee Came to him and her sons bowing down and making a request of him And he said to her what do you wish she said to him command that in your kingdom?

These two sons of mine may sit one on your right and one on your left Now, you know where james and john got their aggressive spirit They got it from their mother It wasn't mr. Zebedee who came it was mrs. Zebedee who came Mr. Zebedee who might have been tired of mrs. Zebedee and her zealous spirit was probably out on the fishing boat by himself For a little bit of reprieve for a while But here was mrs. Zebedee. What's the nerve of the woman? Can you imagine? Now james and john they were already ambitious men But mrs.

Zebedee was just as ambitious as they were She she she was the kind of person the mother who wanted her boys to succeed And would stop at nothing to make sure her boys were in the limelight. So she goes to jesus. Hey jesus I want you to do something. I want you to command I want you to make a command that my boys James and john sons of thunder good boys ambitious boys Zealous boys Zeal has consumed them. They are your right hand guys put one on your right one on your left in your kingdom I want that for my boys So it says but jesus answered and said You do not know what you are asking for Are you able to drink the cup that i'm about to drink?

They said to him We are able This is their ambitious spirit Are you able to take in the the cup the cup is symbolic of the wrath that would have come upon the messiah? Are you able to accept the same kind of wrath that i'm going to accept? Yes We are able we can do that Jesus if you can do it We can do it. Why because we are sons of thunder We are strong capable men And jesus said to them My cup you shall drink But to sit on my right and on my left. This is not mine to give But it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father Hearing this the ten became indignant With the two brothers.

Why did they become indignant because they didn't think about sending their mother to jesus And yet they became and christ would go on and teach about servanthood and why how important it is to be a servant in The kingdom of god, but you see this was the ambitious spirit of james This was the zealous spirit of james. That's why he's called the sons of thunder He wants to burn up those who who oppose jesus. He wants to destroy their lives. He wants to send a message He wants vengeance to be his He was the ambitious man.

He wanted promise in the kingdom. He wanted to rule he wanted to to do And be in the right place with jesus. He was goal oriented And christ had to tone him down And this man Was a fervent fervent man In fact, I would say That he was probably the most boisterous fervent strongest of all the disciples How do we know that? because when satan wanted to stop The progression of the church Who did he kill first?

Not peter But james Acts chapter 12 turn there with me if you would please First one now about that time herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church In order to mistreat them and he had james the brother of john put to death with the sword And when he saw that it pleased the jews he proceeded to arrest peter also Now it was during the days of unleavened bread And when he had seized him he put him in prison delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him you see herod Didn't kill peter first Peter had the keys to the kingdom.

He was going to open the door to the gentile world That had already happened in acts chapter 10 with cornelius So the gospel had begun to spread but herod knowing That james the zealous apostle the ambitious apostle The strongest of all the apostles who led the church That man has got to go first So he was killed first he is the only apostle Whose martyrdom Is shown to us in the scriptures John james.

He was the first apostle to be martyred his brother. John Was the last apostle to be killed But james Was the first that's why Not only was he a zealous man, not only was he an ambitious man.

He was a precious man why psalm 1 16 tells us precious in the sight of the lord Are the death of the saints It had to be a precious day in the kingdom of heaven When james was beheaded for the gospel the bible tells us i'm excuse me, not by the tradition tells us that Uh james upon being in prison was chained to a guard a guard who was so taken by the calm peaceful spirit of james Interesting That he asked forgiveness For how james had been treated and asked forgiveness Because he was about to die and james granted that guard forgiveness and that guard fell on his knees Surrendered his life to christ and was beheaded alongside of james That's the history of james the zealous man the ambitious man The precious man in the sight of god because he gave his life for the sake of the kingdom And andrew andrew Is a man's man He was the man always pointing people to jesus Whenever you see him in scripture, that's what consumed his life Ask yourself Is that the way I am?

Is my life consumed with pointing people to jesus Let's pray together father. We thank you for today and the truth of your word We thank you lord for james We thank you lord for andrew We thank you lord for peter and john all these men That you transformed men that lord turned the world upside down forgive us father We we haven't turned anything upside down for the most part when you think about it compared to what these men did These men understood what it meant to live in the spirit To be energized by the power of god I thank you lord that we have the opportunity to study their lives and I pray That we would begin to emulate these men Follow their example See them as great Great citizens of the kingdom of god And see how our lives Can follow their lives in their example That lord we might truly be the kind of people you want us to be.

Thank you lord for your word Pray for the men of our church Excuse me lord. I pray for them Help them to be a man's man Help them to point their wives to jesus Their children to jesus Those they work with to jesus Help them to understand that there is no greater joy in all the world than to know that your children walk in truth Help them to see that I pray for the women who who are married to men who Who have no Desire to do that. I pray for them lord that you give them the strength to to bow before you every day to pray for their husbands That their husbands would rise to the occasion Become a man's kind of man a god's kind of man to lead their families I pray for those women who have husbands who do do that.

We thank you for them Pray that they continue to do so But lord, we pray that all of us All of us lord Would be sold out for christ as these men peter andrew james All martyred for the sake of the gospel Killed because they would not compromise the truth May we be those kind of people In jesus name. Amen