Philip & Andrew would love Alpha

I follow Jesus and I try to be friendly. A friendly follower.

I follow Jesus because He is the one. Not the one in the way of the mysterious software programmer & hacker Neo from the Matrix. Neo (John Anderson) knew there was something wrong with the world but didn’t realise that he was the one to save the world. And it is unclear to me how he does save the world.

I follow Jesus because He is unequivocally the One. He knew it, He said it and he proved it. And He is alive today, I know His presence in my life through His Holy Spirit, guiding me, inspiring me and having mercy on me.

I try to be friendly because I want people to like me and because I prefer being in a positive relationship with people than a negative one. I find if you are generally friendly life is easier and people don’t mind being with you.

I also try to be friendly because I want people to know about Jesus and the best way of getting a chance to tell them about Him is if they observe the way I live and like me enough to listen when I talk about Him. I think that if they knew Jesus their lives would be a whole lot better – cos He is friendly too.

Friendly follower.

Some people follow Jesus but aren’t friendly.
The people who hold up anti-abortion placards outside the Marie Stopes Clinic in Sheepscar and who abuse the women arriving there. They probably claim to follow Jesus but they aren’t friendly.
Some people are friendly but don’t follow Jesus.
I have some good friends who are friendly to me. But you know what, when it comes to the big spiritual questions of life – to do with why we are here and how do we handle relationships, sex, money, identity, morality, behaviour – I don’t go to them for advice, ideas, help. Because they don’t follow anyone with the answers. Usually they are just following themselves, or perhaps Katie Price or David Cameron or even the Pope. Some people are friendly but don’t follow Jesus.
I think you can all follow Jesus and you can all be friendly, if you want. And if you are like that you will be able to introduce people to Jesus easily and naturally.

Two of the disciples were just like this. Philip and Andrew don’t get many mentions but when they do they are usually operating in a gang of two bringing people to Jesus. In addition almost everytime Andrew gets mentioned in the gospels it is with the tagline, “Andrew, who was the brother of Simon Peter” – in fact 7 out of 10 times.

We know that Andrew was from Bethsaida on the shores of Lake Galilee, a fisherman in business with his brother. He was a follower of John the Baptist until John pointed him toward Jesus. Tradition has it that he went onto establish the church in what is now Istanbul and was subsequently martyred by crucifixion.

Philip may have had some foreign extraction, and he went onto minister in Greece and Syria. Legend has it that he was also martyred, possibly being crucified upside down although there is not enough evidence to confirm this.

I suspect that before they met Jesus these two weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer, you don’t find them making speeches or entering into deep & profound discussions.

I get the impression that they were the ones kicking a football about on the edge of the desert or playing dominos over a glass of Galilean Best Bitter. I imagine they spent their evenings updating their Facebook entries and watching Spooks. Two ordinary, middle class, unambitious lads. But ones who also wanted something meaningful in their lives.

Three stories from their life with Jesus – which show why they would have loved Alpha.

John 1:35-45
John 6:1-13
John 12:20-22

Why would Phil & Andy have loved Alpha?

When asked questions they generally don’t know the answer:

Jesus asked Andrew, "What do you want?" "Where are you staying?" he replies. I don’t think this was the what Andrew wanted, I think he probably wanted to ask, “Are you the one”.
Nathaniel asked Philip, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Like someone from Otley asking anything good could come from Ilkley. Philip is thinking, "Mmm, trick question... Dunno but come and see Jesus."
Jesus askes, "How shall we feed these people?" Philip has no idea, "Can’t do it. Not possible".

In fact, just to prove that Phil is a little slow, even though he knows to bring the Greeks to Jesus He still asks Jesus a little later, “Show us the Father” and Jesus has to explain (again) that they have seen Him in Jesus.

They bring people to Jesus.

But although Phil & Andy don’t have many answers, and the questions aren’t desperately challenging, although how to feed 5,000 people may have stretched most of us, they do have a plan, which is a very, very good one – to bring people to Jesus:

Andrew bringing his brother Simon Peter.
Philip bringing Nathaniel.
- These two short accounts have the feel of a bit of a back story, late nights dissecting the latest version of the Matrix and wondering whether or not there was a One. Andy runs to Simon and Phil pops round to Nat’s – saying, we’ve found the One.
Andrew bringing Brian, the lad with the 5 loaves and 2 fish.
Sir, we would see Jesus (the Greeks, foreigners asked Philip – I bet he liked being addressed as Sir). Philip & Andrew did it together.

So they seem to be a pair of lads who are on the outer ring of disciples. The ones whom other people like and find approachable. The ones who don’t seem to have much theology or faith or academic training. But just enough confidence to bring people and problems to Jesus.

They follow Jesus and they are friendly.

Following Jesus and friendliness. If you are friendly Alpha is an easy thing to which you can invite people.

Interview Alex Griffin re Alpha.

Not everyone says yes.

Note that not everyone you invite will jump to it. Some who say they will come won’t turn up. Some who turn up won’t be interested. The bible doesn’t record the times when Phil & Andy invited someone to meet Jesus and they refused - but there will have been such times. And that is OK, so long as you have been friendly and appropriate a refusal isn’t the end of the world. It may just be another step on their journey.

I have some good friends who, after we had asked them to a number of events said to us, "please don't invite us to any more. We don't do that stuff." No problem. They are still good friends and we pray for them but for now we don't invite them anymore.

The various people who were brought to Jesus by Andrew & Philip all had their own journeys. I believe that God had been working in their lives in various ways and that we just get a glimpse into the timeline of their journey at the point that Andrew and Philip were used to nudge them toward Jesus. We know a lot more about the follow-up story for Simon Peter but we don’t know what happened to the others.

Thinking of all the people around you. Some you know well and some less well, if at all. What you probably don’t know is the story that God is writing in their lives. You don’t know whether they are at the beginning or well into a journey with Him. When you come on the scene you may only get a bit part in that story but it may be a very important part – something like Philip & Andrew’s part: they followed Jesus, they were friendly and they brought people to Him because they knew He was the One.

What can we learn?

You can follow Jesus and you can be friendly too, yes you can. Just smile at someone near you! See, not that difficult! What can we learn from the way Phil & Andy were friendly followers?

Don’t have to know much.
Don’t have to be in the in-crowd.
Need to be friendly.Need to know Jesus.
Need to know where Jesus is:
- how to signpost
- Easier for Phil and Andy. If they got asked a hard question they would just say, "Umm, let's go and talk to Jesus".
- Regular Alpha courses – good for addressing popular questions.
- Reach Out events – (doughnuts, OtS) watching love in action.
- Regular welcome course - transparency.
- Weekly worship – I hope you feel able to come as you are, questions & all.
- Housegroups – for some a good way of learning, asking questions, watching.
- Books – Reason for God, Shack, Narnia, What’s so Amazing About Grace.
- Bibles – carry a spare, Message/NIV, New Testament only.
- Web sites & blogs.
Don’t say “no” for others.

My point is this.

Bringing people to Jesus is a wonderful thing to do and not all that difficult. Even Phil and Andy were able to do it. So can you. The secret is: to follow Jesus and to be friendly.

Let’s get practical:

Acts 1:8

Pray for Holy Spirit to come
Pray for friends and family
Pray for opportunities to invite people
Think of who you can invite to something/signpost
Send them a text
Take one or three Alpha invitations

David Flowers, 26/09/2010