Boldly Inviting Others to Meet Jesus
Who is your favorite disciple of Jesus? I am not sure if it is appropriate to ask or not? It feels a little bit wrong, like asking a parent which of their kids is their favorite, but I will ask anyway. Which of the original 12 disciples do you relate to or appreciate the most? Peter, James, and John are the usual crowd favorites; they get the most attention in scripture, and each of them did amazing things. James led an amazing church. John’s favorite way to describe himself was, “the disciple that Jesus loved.” Peter was the rock that Jesus chose to build His church on. Of course I love those guys, but I would answer that Andrew is my favorite, at least my favorite of the not-so-prominent disciples.
Andrew was the first disciple of Jesus, willing to take that giant leap of faith from what he had known as a Galilean fisherman. He was teachable – first learning from John the Baptist, then following Jesus’ invitation to follow Him. Andrew had a type of “embrace the awkward” boldness that I love. When Jesus asked him to become a “fisher of men,” Andrew “immediately” left his net behind to follow Jesus. (Matthew 4:18-20) I love that he did not sit around making a pros and cons list. No, he boldly obeyed the call of Jesus without hesitation.
One of Andrew’s most endearing attributes to me is that he acted like a giant, high-powered magnet, drawing others to Jesus. In scripture, we have multiple examples of him inviting others to meet Jesus. He introduced his brother Peter to Jesus, and we know how that turned out. Before the feeding of the 5,000, he introduced the young boy with his fish and loaves to Jesus, and the results were awesome. Andrew crossed cultural boundaries and invited a group of foreigners or “Greeks” to meet Jesus (John 12:20-23), and the end result was that God’s love spread like fire in a new and special way.
In all of these invitations, Andrew was willing to cross common boundaries that many of us put up today. We are constantly warned against talking about religion with our family, and we naturally surround ourselves with people who look like us. But Andrew, whose name means strong and courageous, was willing to cross those invisible boundaries to invite others (regardless of their age or background) to meet his Savior.
How about you? Are you willing to pursue others who are close to you but far from Jesus? Are you willing to invite them to meet Jesus? That was what made Andrew so special, and I think you and I can do the same. He was a magnet for others to meet Jesus.
In preparation for Easter, I hope you have noticed the signs we put up around the community that say, “Join us for Easter.” We know signs like this are probably not super effective to get a stranger to take that leap. But when you see those signs, I pray they would serve as a reminder to be willing to invite others to meet Jesus. We are planning to have opportunities in our Easter services to celebrate stories of transformation. Our hope is that as we share our stories of transformation, others will hear and understand the type of relationship Jesus wants to have with them.
So I have a couple challenges this week for you to consider. First, check out this list of the exciting things that are happening at Hope this Easter. Please take some time to consider who you might invite to join you at them. Second, if you have a story of transformation that Jesus has done in your life, and you are willing to share it in one of our Easter services, please click here for more information about how you can participate. We can all learn from Andrew, taking the courage to invite others to meet the most important person in our lives.
Expectantly,
Shawn
