An Ordinary Evangelist Named Andrew

What do we know about Andrew’s background?

Andrew was from Bethsaida (John 1:44), which is where Philip was from also. Perhaps Philip and Andrew were boyhood friends. His brother Peter and he shared a fishing business as brothers; in fact, it was likely a family business that would one day become theirs to manage.

What kind of (ordinary) evangelist was Andrew?

Andrew was a family evangelist. As soon as John the Baptist told Andrew that Jesus was the Messiah, he ran home to tell his brother Peter, “We found Him!” (John 1:41) Andrew’s compassion for the lost began with those he loved the most, and Peter seemed to be at the top of his list.

Andrew was an optimistic evangelist. One of my favorite narratives is when Jesus feeds the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish (John 6). Have you ever noticed Andrew’s important and hopeful role he plays in the narrative? Let me show you. It was Andrew’s hopeful idea that led to Jesus feeding the crowds and that meal led to Jesus preaching a sermon about the Bread of Andrew played a small, but significant role, in a Gospel sermon to thousands of people.

Andrew was an indiscriminate evangelist. Right after Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds of Jesus received Him by shouting hosanna’s (John 12:12-19), there came another group of non-Jews who wanted to get close to Jesus. These men were not the same ethnicity as the disciples and Jesus; they were Gentiles (vs. 20-25) and they wanted to see Jesus. Did Andrew have a cold heart like the Pharisees did with the tax collector Matthew? What would Andrew think of the Gospel being made available to those outside of the Jewish household of faith? Answer – he couldn’t wait for them to hear! There is no time that seems to pass between Philip coming to Andrew to tell him about these Greeks and then Andrew leading Philip to go and get Jesus.

Andrew was a humble evangelist. Andrew is always taking people to Jesus, but he is never the “center of attention.” He more than likely lived in his brother Peter’s shadow and had no complaints about that status. Andrew is the embodiment of Ephesians 6:6 – “Not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” Andrew wasn’t out to build his own kingdom. He didn’t want the fanfare. Andrew was never a part of the inner circle of disciples (e.g., Peter, James, and John), and he was content with that. Andrew never preached any significant sermons that were recorded, and he was content with that. Andrew never wrote any Epistles in the N.T., and he was content with that.

What does church history tell us about Andrew?

After Acts 1, where Andrew is listed among the other disciples, we never hear of him again. He goes into biblical obscurity, which may be just the way he wanted it due to his style of ordinary-non-cholent style of relational evangelism.

However, there are reliable historical records of where he ended up. Eusebius, who was an early church father from the 4^th century and historian of the early church tells us Andrew went to Scythia (modern Russian). Scythia was a barbaric region of the world. Josephus, the Jewish historian and contemporary of Andrew, described Scythians as wild beasts. Andrew went to preach the Gospel to undomesticated people.

From there, Andrew journeyed south to Achaia, near Athens, Greece. It was there that he was martyred for refusing to force his wife to recant her faith. Eusebius tells us he was scourged by 7 Greek soldiers, hung for 3 days and then crucified on an x-shaped cross.

There is a tradition that says as he was dying on that x-shaped cross he did 2 things: he preached the Gospel to those who came by his place of suffering and then prayed the following: “Hail, precious cross! Thou hast been consecrated by the body of my Lord, and adorned with his limbs as rich jewels. I come to thee exulting and glad. Receive me with joy into thy arms, O good cross, thou hast received beauty from our Lord’s limbs. I have ardently loved thee. Long have I desired and sought thee. Now thou art found by me, and art made ready for my longing soul. Receive me into thine arms; take me up from among men, and present me to my Master, that he who redeemed me on thee may receive me by thee.”

By the way, that x-shaped cross came to be known as St. Andrew’s cross.

In the 8^th century, a Catholic monk took skeletal remains that he claimed came from the tomb of Andrew and brought them to what would later be named St. Andrews, Scotland. Even today, the remains the patron saint of Scotland even though there is no evidence that Andrew ever traveled there.