Andrew, James and John
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2012 · 14 October 2012
We have begun to look in Matthew 10 at the training, the methods and principles of Jesus as He teaches and develops His Apostles. This is a preliminary sending which basically is an internship for them. They go out but not very far and not alone but rather two by two and they learn in the process by field experience.
Later they will go individually after Jesus has already gone up to heaven. We first are introduced to the individuals involved. And if you look at verses 2 - 4 you find the names of the twelve Apostles: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Lebbaeus who was also known as Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.
Now as we noted some weeks ago their leader was Peter. That is why it says in verse 2 - "The first, Simon who is called Peter." Peter was the leader. He was the out-front, up-front man. And so last time we studied Peter and his leadership ability and how the Lord refined and developed Peter into a leader that was useful.
Now for this evening we want to look at the remaining three in the first group. Remember there are always three groups in every list of the Apostles. And so we're looking at group one. And it is the most intimate group, they all came from the same town, all have the same profession, and all were in the first group called to Christ.
What kind of people can God use in His ministry? What kind of people can change the world? What kind of people can preach the gospel of the Kingdom so that souls are saved? What kind of people does God ordain for His purposes?
They are common men just like you and me but with a very uncommon calling. And they demonstrate to us the kind of people God uses. See if you find yourself among them. Now let's meet the second on the list, Andrew, Peter's brother. By the way, his name means manly. And he like his brother was also a fisherman.
In fact, in Matthew 4 he was down at the sea when Jesus came along, he had already met Jesus, he had already believed in Jesus, he had already affirmed Him as the Messiah, but after going back to his fishing. Now the Lord appears again to him at the shore, and calls him permanently to follow and He will make him a fisher of men.
Prior to following Jesus Christ he had been a pious God-fearing Jew. He had also been a disciple of John the Baptist. In fact, it was during the message of John the Baptist that his life was changed. For John the Baptist saw Jesus in John 1 and said: "Behold, the Lamb of God." And Andrew was there that day, along with John who was also a fisherman.
And so they followed Jesus immediately and Jesus turned and said to them in John 1, "What do you seek?" And they replied, "Where are You staying? 39 And they spent the entire day with Him” and those hours were critical in their spiritual growth. And when they came out of that day immediately Andrew said to his brother Peter, "We have found the Messiah."
Peter and Andrew lived together, it says in Mark 1:29 and they shared everything. So Andrew wanted to share the Messiah with Peter. And so from this very beginning he becomes a part of that intimate four, the inner circle and nobody is let into that inner circle except Andrew.
Philip who was in group two at one time had some Greeks come to him in John 12 and say, “We want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew. Why? Because Philip thought that if you wanted to meet Jesus you've got to see Andrew first. And all of a sudden in the gospel of John, Andrew begins to emerge and we see Andrew three times. And all three times Andrew is doing the same thing.
Now to characterize the life of Andrew it's very simple, he was always bringing people to Jesus. We see him in John 6:8-9. A large multitude of people are gathered, Jesus is teaching, it's late in the day and the crowd is hungry. There's not enough food and Andrew brings to Jesus this time a little boy with five loaves and two fish.
We can see several things in Andrew. First of all we see that Andrew was very open. He didn't have any problem at all with bringing some Gentiles to Jesus. So we sense that there just wasn't anybody on the outside. He thought that Jesus would want to see anybody. And we also see his great faith when he brought those five crackers and two fish to such a huge crowd. After all he had seen Jesus make wine, surely He could make food too, right?
And we also see his humility. His whole life he is known as just Simon Peter's brother. And now when he had found the Messiah, he runs to get Peter knowing full well that as soon as Peter enters the group he will run the group, because that's Peter. He thought more of the eternal virtue of the Kingdom then he did of his personal position.
He is one of those people who is willing to take second place. One of those rare people who does not mind being in support, being hidden as long as the work is done. He is the kind of man that all leaders like because they are dependable. He is the backbone of every ministry that everyone knows. And only God knows their value because sometimes it takes an Andrew to reach a Peter. God needs Andrews, people who quietly bring others to Jesus.
There's a third name in the first group, James the son of Zebedee. In two lists out of the four lists of the twelve he is next to Peter. Yet we do not know much about him. In fact he never appears in the gospels apart from John his brother. Now note that he's always mentioned before John. And this indicates that he was older and that he was also the leader of this dynamic duo. He is the strength, the zeal and the passion.
Now these brothers, James and John, were also fishermen and their father was Zebedee. And Zebedee was a fairly rich because he has servants in his business. So they had a pretty good fishing business going up there on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. And James fits into this first group because he was in the early calling. John and Andrew were the first two, and certainly James would be so close to John that he worked his way into that intimacy.
The best way to look at James is to consider what the Lord named him and his brother John. In Mark 3:17 Jesus gave them a name, He called them “sons of thunder.” James is the leader, and that is indicated by the fact that he appears first, then he was a son of thunder. Now he must have been a passionate, zealous, fervent and ambitious guy.
In Acts 12 king Herod attacked the church and the first person he killed was James and they took Peter and put him in jail. When you capture James and Peter and kill James and let Peter live, that says something about the kind of man James must have been. He was the first disciple to be martyred. He was a real strong individual.
Several incidents stand out and we can see where James is mentioned and the way he acts. Luke 9: 51-53, " 51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”
And then verse 54 we meet the sons of thunder: "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, just as Elijah did?” Lord, let's just burn them up, burn them up.
55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.” James had so much zeal but so little sensitivity. I'm glad that he got mad when the Lord was dishonored. He was zealous.
Look at another incident in Matthew 20:20-21. Very often zealous people are also ambitious people, “20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”
“22 And Jesus said, you don't even know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup that I'm going to drink?" Oh, sure we can. All right, you will. And verse 24, the fever pitch was reached and they all started arguing over who was going to get what in the Kingdom. And Jesus went into a little lecture on what real leadership is.
And the Lord reminded James that he would get a reward, but it won't be what you think. Before you get your throne you're going to get a cup of suffering because the way to the throne is always the way of the cross. He wanted power, Jesus gave him the job of a servant. He wanted to rule, Jesus gave him a martyr's grave.
Finally, the last individual, and we will see him as he intersects the New Testament because of the fact that he wrote the gospel of John, First, Second and Third John and Revelation. Now some think that John is some meek, mild, guy lying with his head on Jesus' shoulder. But don’t forget he was one of the sons of thunder. He was ambitious and he was zealous and explosive.
But John does seem to have a quieter side to him. He lived till nearly 100. Now it's interesting to note that the only time he appears alone by name, is when he's mad at somebody. Some guy who was casting out demons in Mark 9:38, “John said, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus taught him differently because the greatest source of truth in the New Testament, as far as a human author is concerned, about love would have to be a man who was also strong and uncompromising in his love. And if he was to speak the truth in love, he had to be as much committed to the truth as he was to love.
Eighty times he uses the word love. Seventy times the word witness in one form or another. He was always the witness to the truth and always the teacher of love. And so, he is the personification of speaking the truth in love. It's so good that his love was controlled by his witness, by his truth.
He wanted to know the truth, he was a visionary. He it was who first recognized the Lord at the lakeside of Galilee. It was he to whom God revealed the future in the apocalypse. The reason he was hanging around Christ's chest was not some kind of sentimentalism, it was his heart literally hungering for the truth as well as the deep affection for Christ.
So, his love was controlled by the truth. And that control was born out of that tremendous zeal he had in his personality and fiery character. Try reading First, Second and Third John and see how he denounces those who are antichrist, and those who will stand up in church to twist and pervert. When you read the gospel of John you will see how he talks about the judgment of the righteous and the unrighteous.
But he is characterized by love. And he appears in his own gospel several times, always the same way. How? Listen, John 13:23: "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved." He never uses His name. He calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.
In the John 19: 26 he appears again. "Jesus saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved." John 20:2, "Then runs and comes to Simon Peter," Mary Magdalene does, "and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved." John 21:7, "Therefore the disciple, whom Jesus loved, said to Peter." Verse 20: "Peter turning about sees the disciple, whom Jesus loved." Verse 24: "This is the disciple who testifies these things.”
He literally was in awe that Jesus loved him. And it wasn't sentimentalism, it wasn't that he said. No. It was the very opposite - I, the one who wanted to burn up all the Samaritans... I the one who wanted Jesus to give me the place I didn't even deserve..I am one whom He loves. It's a celebration of grace.
Jesus never had to ask John if he loved Him, but He did have to ask Peter that. Jesus never had to ask John to follow Him, but He did have to ask Peter that. And when it came down to passing out the work, He said to Peter - Feed My sheep. He said to John -Take care of My mother. There was something special about John. Tradition tells us that John never left the city of Jerusalem until Mary the mother of Jesus died, because he kept his vow to the Lord.
We can summarize the theology of John about love into ten statements. He taught that God is a God of love. He taught that God loved His Son, that God loved the disciples, that God loves all men, that God is loved by Christ, that Christ loved the disciples in general, that Christ loved individuals, that Christ expected all men to love Him, that Christ taught that we should love one another and that Christ emphasized that love is the fulfilling of the whole law.
And those themes run through all his writings. We hear the word witness again and again, the witness of the truth. He speaks of the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of the Scripture, the witness of the Father, the witness of Christ, the witness of the miracles, the witness of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the Apostles.
And so, the Lord can use that kind of man. Those are the people who can exhibit the truth in love. And they will attract people to Christ. So what do you have to be to get really close to Jesus? Think of this now, when God came into the world, the God of the universe picked out four people to be close to Him.
One was dynamic, strong, bold, a leader like Peter, who took charge, who initiated, who planned, who strategized, who confronted, who commanded people to Christ, and very often blew it. Andrew who didn't see the crowds but saw the individuals in the crowds. And while he never attracted a mob he kept bringing people to Jesus.
And then He picked James, a man who was zealous, uncompromising, ambitious, who could see a goal and go for it with all his might and die in the process. And then there was sensitive, loving, believing, intimate John, every bit a truth seeker who spoke the truth in love so that he attracted people.
And He made them into fishers of men in spite of what they were. Tradition tells us that Andrew had preached in a province and the governor's wife received Jesus Christ as her Savior and the governor was so upset that he demanded that his wife reject Christ and when she wouldn't he crucified Andrew.
Tradition tells us that James, when he was being beheaded by the Roman sword, had along the guard who was so impressed with his courage and zeal that he repented and asked James if he would forgive him for the rough treatment he received. At which point James lifted the man up, embraced him and said - Peace, my son, peace to you and your faults. And immediately the officer publicly confessed his surrender to Christ and was therefore beheaded along side James.
John, banished to the isle of Patmos after a long life, died around 98 A.D. during the reign of Trajan. And those who knew him best said John’s constant phrase "My little children, love one another" was what they remember most. And in the power of Christ they were transformed.
Listen, it is not what you are, it is what you are willing to become that is the issue. The fishermen of Galilee did become fishers of men and with the help of God they gathered many souls into the church. In a sense, they are still casting their nets into the sea of the world. And by the testimony of Jesus they gave in the gospel and the epistles, they are still bringing multitudes to become disciples of Him. How about you?