The Longing

The Minimalistic approach of Andrew

The Minimalistic approach of Andrew

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Minimalism and Evangelism

Minimalism is becoming a huge thing lately. Whether it is you living by a code such as getting things done. Whether it is life-hacking your life. Whether it is decluttering your life. Or using habits. Minimalism is something that is quite esteemed in our culture today. This is of course because of the swinging of the pendulum which is “ He/She who dies with the most toys wins”. We have been to the mountain and felt empty.

Same within the Christian culture. Like everything that culture pushes the Church sadly sometime follows. Becoming obsessed about evangelism strategies and chick tracks. Million dollar fake bills with the Gospel message on them. We have become inundated by what works and what doesn’t based upon a church size or book deal.

Today, I want to talk about what one of the very first disciple’s approach to evangelism or telling people about Jesus.

If you are here today and you don’t know about church and you think you are going to learn the techniques that Christians use to convert the unbeliever. I am sorry but you might not learn the tactics that might be used on you. However, I would indeed invite you in on one of the most interesting interactions with the Son of God.

1.The Longing to Follow

2.The Longing to be Found

3.The Longing for a Future

1.The Longing to Follow

“And this is one of the most crucial definitions for the whole of Christianity; that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.” ― Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

1.Behold the Lamb of God

Behold the Lamb of God

What are you seeking?

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

It is in the mystery of the crucified God that the deeply tragic nature of human existence is revealed to itself: if God has made death his own, paying the price of freedom to the last penny, here on this earth the way of the cross will always remain the way to freedom and beauty. Precisely because the eternal Son has drained the bitter cup to the lees, this way will always be the way to life, where beauty will be finally made known, never again to be hidden. . . . What we await at the end of the long Good Friday that is the history of the world is the victory and glory of beauty.

BRUNO FORTE

Thomas Hobbes, the seventeenth-century English political philosopher, presented his solution for a violent and dangerous world ordered around the axis of power—where “the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”—in the creation of an all-powerful state: The Leviathan. Hobbes’s theory was that people would enter into a social contract with an all-powerful state in order to keep some semblance of security and civility. But that Thomas Hobbes named his book on social contract theory Leviathan is an obvious admission that he merely hopes to tame the beast of empire—because like Pilate before him and Nietzsche after him, Hobbes believed that the world has no choice but to be ordered around the axis of power. Yet this is precisely what Jesus Christ and the cross as an axis of love saves the world from! This is what the kingdom of God provides an alternative to! The Lamb of God saves us from Hobbes’s leviathan!

There is a better choice than having to choose between different versions of monsters—Revelation’s beast or Hobbes’ leviathan—there is the kingdom of the Lamb built around the axis of love!

Zahnd, Brian (2012-01-03). Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the Allure and Mystery of Christianity (pp. 79-80). Charisma House. Kindle Edition.

2. What are you seeking?

What do you want?

Woman at the well

That’s the question. It is the first, last, and most fundamental question of Christian discipleship.

He doesn’t ask what do you know or What do you believe? It is what do you want?

This is the most crucial and piercing question Jesus can ask of us because we are what we want.

Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow. Our wants reverberate from our heart, the epicenter of the human person.

- James K.A. Smith

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.”

Rabbi ‘Where do you live”?

― C.S. Lewis

Rabbi ‘Where do you live”?

Where can I go to be around you so that I can go around you.

The questions the disciples ask is an important one.

They ask where can you be found normally. Where do you do life? How do you do life? What does cribs? Foxes have holes and birds haven nests but the son of man has no where to lay his head.

3.Come and See

Jesus invites the 2 would be followers to come and see for themselves how they do life.

2.The Longing to be Found

Found his brother Simon

1.Andrew Found his own brother Simon

Andrew wants his brother to experience what he has experienced. To be satisfied the same way he has. That he knows that he can’t keep this to himself.

He seeks out his brother. He doesn’t care if he seems stupid.

2.We have found the Messiah “The Christ”

Andrew then says that he has found the Christ. The Messiah, the one that we have been waiting for. The Lamb of God.

3.Nathanael and Phillip- Do you believe me because I saw you under the fig tree that you believe. You will see much more than that.

The moment that you think that you are searching and seeking for God is the direct moment that the creator of the universe is indeed searching for you.

3.The Longing for a Future

What Andrew and Simon Peter thought they were doing was looking for the Messiah. What they didn’t realize was that the Messiah was looking for them.

and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.3.The Longing for a Future

One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

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He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).

Luke 15:8–10 ESV

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

3. The Longing for a Future

“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”

“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”

1. You are Simon the son of John

Simon has an incredibly different experience than Andrew had, but profoundly the same.

Simon means “bending reed” Or like Swaying grass

Simon means “bending reed” Or like Swaying grass

And you are the son of John.

2.You shall be called Cephas (Peter) The Rock

However you will be through a new birth and your name will be cephas

Cephas or Peter means Rock.

We are from the future. We are persuaded that the future belongs to beauty. Beauty will save the world. The beauty of Christ will save the world from the ugliness of greed, violence, domination, idolatry, and immorality. We believe this. So we seek to “behold the beauty of the Lord” () and reflect that beauty back into our broken world. We do this in the hope that broken humanity will catch a glimpse of the beauty that is to be, believe in that beauty, and call upon our beautiful Savior.

Brian Zahnd

Eugene Peterson puts it: “The practice of resurrection is . . . an open invitation to live eternity in time.”

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. —

Paul is saying that we who are in Christ should demonstrate the realities of the age to come by living them now in this present age.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’ Rev 2:17

How Might We Simply Bring People To Jesus

1.Know the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World. That defeats the leviathan of power, greed and injustice. Long to follow the humble king.

2.Long to find God and be found by him. Lola’s if finding out about me as I am finding out about her. And long for others to be apart of the process.

3.Long for the Future. Live in the future now where God gives you a new life with a new name.

Zahnd, Brian (2012-01-03). Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the Allure and Mystery of Christianity (p. 153). Charisma House. Kindle Edition.

What Andrew and Simon Peter thought they were doing was looking for the Messiah. What they didn’t realize was that the Messiah was looking for them.

Wright, T.

Introduction

This sermon series is about an unsung disciple in the New Testament. His name was Andrew, “ His named meant Brave”. Who knows if he truly really ever lived up to his name. He isn’t a well known disciple. However, one thing that Andrew is one of the First called Disciples and evangelists in the bible.

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ) in Achaea. Early texts, such as the Acts of Andrew known to Gregory of Tours,[12] describe Andrew as bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called crux decussata (X-shaped cross, or "saltire"), now commonly known as a "Saint Andrew's Cross" — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.[13] The iconography of the martyrdom of Andrew — showing him bound to an X-shaped cross — does not appear to have been standardized until the later Middle Ages.[14]

Illustration.