1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:19,000 St. Andrew's Day is sort of a hinge between the last Sunday of the church year and the first Sunday in Advent, 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:26,000 which is always the Sunday closest to November 30th, whether before or after. 4 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Regardless of that variability, St. Andrew's Day is generally considered to be the beginning of the church year, 5 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:46,000 which is fitting since it commemorates the first called and named apostle in John's Gospel. 6 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:55,000 But at the beginning of today's text, we don't know that yet about Andrew. 7 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:04,000 What we hear of are two unnamed disciples of John the Baptist, one of whom is never named, 8 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:11,000 and the other who is eventually identified as Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 9 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Two disciples standing around with John the Baptist on the third of four consecutive days 10 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:28,000 are recorded in the first chapter of John the Apostle and Evangelist's Gospel. 11 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:39,000 On the first day, right after the prologue to this Gospel, the forerunner of Christ was questioned by priests and Levites 12 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:45,000 sent from the Pharisees in Jerusalem. In response, John proclaimed, 13 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I'm not even worthy to untie. 14 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Presumably and importantly, today's two disciples, one of whom was later identified as Andrew, heard these things. 15 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:26,000 The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 16 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:36,000 This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. 17 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:49,000 And then John narrated Jesus' baptism and described this baptism with the Spirit in contrast to his own ministry of baptizing with water. 18 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:59,000 After which John concluded, This is the Son of God. 19 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:13,000 Presumably, today's two disciples heard these things also from the prophet they were following near Bethany across the Jordan. 20 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Now it's another next day, the third in the series. 21 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:29,000 And John is standing with these two unnamed disciples who had some history with him. 22 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:42,000 A history of being pointed to Jesus of Nazareth whom John identified as the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 23 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:48,000 And again, Jesus walks by. 24 00:03:48,000 --> 00:04:08,000 And John doesn't just casually look at Jesus, but he fixes his gaze upon this man whom he knows to be the Son of God whose life saving ministry he had been called to herald. 25 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:20,000 And the second time, John says to his disciples, Behold, the Lamb of God. 26 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:27,000 And the two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. 27 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:32,000 They followed because of what they heard. 28 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:43,000 Not only this day's repeated identification of Jesus as the Lamb of God, but also John's messianic preaching that preceded this day. 29 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:53,000 They followed as students who now wanted to be Jesus' disciples. 30 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,000 William Weinrich notes about that word followed. 31 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:13,000 When used of a rabbi-disciple relationship, the New Testament limits its use of Akolutho to discipleship of Jesus. 32 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Yet their new discipleship at the feet of Jesus had only just begun. 33 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:27,000 For Jesus saw them following and asked, What are you seeking? 34 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:32,000 These first recorded words in John's Gospel. 35 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:37,000 And in response they asked, Rabbi, where are you staying? 36 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Because they wanted to learn more from this teacher whom John had proclaimed as the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the very Son of God. 37 00:05:51,000 --> 00:06:01,000 And Jesus invited them saying, Come and you will see. 38 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:16,000 And as with the Emmaus disciples, one can only imagine what all Andrew and that other disciple learned at the feet of Jesus that day. 39 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:31,000 So that right away Andrew could rush out and find his brother Simon Peter and exclaimed, We have found the Messiah. 40 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:39,000 So what do we learn from Saint Andrew on this day? 41 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:48,000 Well for one thing, he seemed to have a knack for bringing others to Jesus, didn't he? 42 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Here it was his brother Simon Peter who by the time this Gospel was written was by far the better known of the two. 43 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:05,000 But Peter wasn't the only one who was brought to Jesus by Andrew. 44 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:14,000 Remember those Greeks of chapter 12 who said to Philip, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. 45 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:24,000 And Philip told Andrew and the two of them went together and told Jesus. 46 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:41,000 And third though it was arguably a different kind of bringing, it was again Andrew who brought the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus for his miraculous multiplying to feed thousands. 47 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:59,000 And so as we observe this Saint's day at least in part so that we may follow the example of the faith of the Saints and their good works as the Augsburg Confession says, Article 21. 48 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:23,000 As we do that we would do well today to reflect on the joyful flowering of faith in Andrew and his spirit wrought zeal to share the good news that had been revealed to him and thus to bring others to Jesus. 49 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:42,000 For many of you sitting here today you have been or soon will be set apart and called to do that publicly on behalf of the church. Preach you the word. 50 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:56,000 But for each and every one of you here this morning it is also your joyful task to reflect that light of Christ that is shown into your own heart so that others may see and believe. 51 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:18,000 And this can be as simple as telling your brother, your sister, your friend, telling them about Jesus of Nazareth who has taken away the sin of the world. 52 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:32,000 And yet I find it interesting that the collect for this day isn't about the theme of witnessing or telling others about Jesus. 53 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Rather the collect for this day says Almighty God by your grace the Apostle Andrew obeyed the call of your son to be a disciple. 54 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:56,000 Grant us also to follow the same Lord Jesus Christ in heart and life. 55 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:17,000 It's about the Lord's gracious working in Andrew's own life which led Andrew first to become a disciple of Jesus himself. A faith and discipleship which then flowered forth in bringing others to Jesus. 56 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:30,000 This gracious working in Andrew's life happened through the word of God. Preach you the word and plant it home. 57 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:40,000 The word of God which he surely heard from childhood and which pointed in many and various ways to the coming Messiah. 58 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:54,000 It happened through the preaching of John the Baptist who preached it to men like Andrew who liked it but also to men like Herod who liked it not. 59 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:02,000 And so imprisoned and eventually beheaded the preacher. 60 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:24,000 And this gracious working in Andrew's life happened as Jesus himself invited Andrew to the place he was staying and unfolded for Andrew how he was indeed the Messiah who had come into the world. 61 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:34,000 This gracious working of the Lord in your life also happens through the word of God. 62 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:58,000 Which you read at home and hear from your pastor, which your parents and Sunday school teachers taught you and which the prophets to whom the Lord has brought you in the classrooms of this seminary are unfolding for you in captivating detail. 63 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:14,000 The word of God that convinces you that the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world has taken away also your sin. 64 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:41,000 What are you seeking Jesus asked Andrew and the unnamed disciple? By God's grace they were seeking to learn more about this one whose sandal strap the preacher dressed in camel's hair wasn't even worthy to untie. 65 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:53,000 What are you seeking during this time of the year that the church focuses our attention on the end times and the second coming of Christ? 66 00:12:53,000 --> 00:13:17,000 Are you seeking only what this world can give? Is it honor, prestige, power, authority, or even primarily the daily bread that the Lord gives as wonderful as those blessings are? 67 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:31,000 If so, repent and set your heart on the eternal blessings that the Lord invites you to come and see. 68 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:38,000 He is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. 69 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Richly and daily he invites you to where he is staying in his church. He invites you to receive anew, repeatedly, constantly the forgiveness of sins that he won for you by the sacrifice of his unblemished life on the altar of the cross. 70 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:10,000 He invites you to stay in his house and learn from him and be formed by him as a disciple. 71 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:26,000 And thus, following the Lord in heart and life, he empowers you also to be an Andrew for others. 72 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:32,000 In the precious name of the Lamb of God, amen.