CH Spurgeon’s testimony regarding a faithful woman of faith, who served the Lord and the church faithfully, was unknown to most because she was faithful in the small things. In the same manner, Andrew, one of the Twelve, was similar to this woman in many ways but mostly because he was faithful unbeknownst to most. Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter. He was “bold decisive and deliberate. Nothing about him is feeble or wimpish. He was driven by a hearty passion for the truth, and he was willing to subject himself to the most extreme kinds of hardship and austerity in pursuit of that objective” (John MacArthur). His name means manly. His manliness was defined in his work as a fisherman prior to becoming Jesus’ disciple. He would transfer his manliness from fishing to being faithful in his service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before Andrew followed Christ, he was a disciple of John the Baptist. Being a disciple of John, he fully understood repentance and demonstrated true conversion when he became a disciple of Christ. Andrew also had a deep understanding of the gospel that was fulfilled in Jesus as he was the long-awaited Messiah and Lamb of God. As a demonstration of his true conversion to Christ, Andrew’s faithfulness resulted in much fruit especially in his boldness to preach the gospel, trust in Christ and thankfulness.
Andrew’s faithfulness was shown in his evangelism.
In Scripture, Andrew was characterized in bringing people to faith in Christ. His conviction of the gospel made it the highest priority to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as he can. His conviction led to his repentance and faith in the Lord, and the same conviction directed him to preach Christ. Andrew was a great example of not withholding the gospel from anyone he met in his life jut as the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 9:16). What Andrew and Paul shared was possessing a sense of urgency when sharing the gospel; therefore, they shared the gospel as often and to as many as possible. What these two also had in common was their personal holiness that naturally led them to be intimate with Christ and preaching Christ to all. The duty of the disciple is not to convert sinners, but to share the gospel to the lost.
Andrew’s faithfulness to trust Christ in all circumstances.
No matter the circumstance, Andrew trusted in the Lord Jesus. An example of this we see in Scripture is when Jesus fed the large crowd with just five barley loaves and two fish. Andrew believed that Jesus could make more out of the few food they had to sufficiently feed the hungry crowd. In other words, Andrew’s faith did not see limitations because he understood Jesus was God in flesh in whom all things were possible.
Andrew’s faithfulness and gratitude in small matters.
Andrew was exemplary in his faithfulness of the little things that God entrusted him with (Lk. 16:10-11). Why was he this way? He understood God paid attention to the very little things for his pleasure (Lk 19:16). God even considered Israel to be his people in the O.T. because they were few (Deut. 7:7). The omnipotent God fulfilled his purposes throughout history and will continue to do so no matter how small or insignificant they might be.
God loves the small things because more often than not, the Lord sees the faith of people and not what is on the outside (Lk. 21:4; Rom. 14:23). In the Old Testament, we know the story when God used David when he went against the great Goliath (1 Sam. 17:17). God is pleased with those that deal with faith even in the direst circumstances because he will deliver them because of their faith in him.Therefore, as exemplified in Andrew’s life of humility and faithfulness we, too, must be humble and faithful in our obedience and passion for the gospel all the while trust in the Lord alone with a heart of thanksgiving.
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