It’s pretty.
But we thank You for Your faithfulness. Even though the names of the speakers may change, Your work continues. You always have something for us to learn and grow each week, and I’m grateful that You’re willing to ride this donkey today to spread Your Word—that You’re eager to work with us, no matter what talent we are given.
We pray that many will accept Your kind and generous invitation. In Jesus’ name, amen.
When I read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, I got the feeling that those given five talents or two talents know what they are doing. It is the one-talent servant who seems to have a problem staying motivated to carry out the assignment.
Perhaps the one who was given one talent considered his contribution too small, too insignificant. It would not make any difference in the total outcome. Therefore, he faced a continual temptation to quit, to sit on the sidelines.
I wish Matthew would include another one-talent servant whose cooperation finds the acceptance of the master. Since Matthew chose not to, I thought I might find some answer in another one-talent servant whose name is Andrew.
Andrew is one of Jesus’ earliest disciples. Despite his seniority, he remains a forgotten disciple. The Bible hardly mentions his name. Poor Andrew. He is so overshadowed by his famous brother, Simon Peter.
If Andrew were to attend a party and introduce himself as Andrew, most likely people would not recognize his name. “Who is this guy?” Unless Andrew mentions the fact that he is the brother of Peter, then people will respond, “Oh, I know Peter. Oh, I have heard of Peter.”
Isn’t it? We have the same problem in recognizing his name. The Bible frequently refers to Andrew as Simon Peter’s brother. The other Gospel writers mention his name only in connection with other disciples.
However, John records three incidents to show us that Andrew does have a passion for bringing people to Jesus. That is his one talent.
The first picture of Andrew painted by John can be found in John 1. After Andrew finds Jesus, he immediately brings his brother Simon to Jesus.
The second picture of Andrew is in John 6. Andrew finds a little boy with five loaves and two fish, with which Jesus feeds a multitude of five thousand.
And the third picture is in John 12, where a group of Greeks desire to see Jesus. Again, Andrew is involved in bringing them to Jesus. Therefore, Andrew is known among the disciples as the one who knows how to bring people to Jesus. And that’s all we know about Andrew from the Bible.
Let’s see what we can learn from Andrew.
Let’s turn to the Gospel according to John, chapter 1. John 1:35.
Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples;
and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God!
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?
And they said unto Him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abidest Thou?
Let’s skip to verse 40.
One of the two that heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
He brought him unto Jesus.
From the text we just read, one of the two disciples is Andrew. Andrew is a pious Jew who has already repented, and he is attaching himself to God’s kingdom program by following John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet.
One day Jesus appeared on the scene. John the Baptist declares, “He is the One we’ve been waiting for. Here is the Lamb of God.”
Andrew immediately leaves John the Baptist and begins following Jesus. In the text, Jesus turns and asks these two disciples, “What do you want out of Me? What are you looking for?”
And these two disciples, in turn, ask Him a question: “Teacher, where are You staying?”
In other words, these two disciples are saying, “We don’t have an agenda. We are not looking for any things or benefits. We just want to know You better. Teacher, where are You staying? We want to pay You a visit. We want to spend some time with You. We want to have fellowship with You.”
So it’s not the blessing; it’s the Blesser Himself that these two disciples have their hearts set upon. They just want to have fellowship with Jesus. They want to know Him better. And after this meeting, Andrew is convinced that Jesus is the Messiah.
The Bible also says Andrew brings the first person to Jesus. It turns out to be his own brother. By following Jesus, Andrew is given the opportunity to be himself, to be independent and free.
Now, once he introduced Simon to Jesus, you know what will happen next. That’s right. Andrew will again be pushed into the shadow by Simon. Still, Andrew goes ahead with the introduction.
Andrew is a humble man. Not only humble, his actions speak of priority. You remember in Luke 8, Jesus healed a person who was demon-possessed. And this man, after he was healed, wanted to follow Jesus.
And Jesus told him, “Go home and tell your family about Me. Tell them what the Lord has done for you.”
But Jesus does not need to tell Andrew that evangelism starts at home, because Andrew has already done that. He first found his brother, who was also seeking the Messiah.
Sometimes it is difficult to bring the gospel to our families, to the ones who are closest to us and know us best. There is no guarantee of success.
Andrew probably picked the most unlikely and unpromising prospect, because Peter is known for his loose tongue, his hot temper, and his changeable disposition. Peter is also known for his cursing and swearing.
If I were Andrew, I would pick a user-friendly prospect for a starter. Not so with Andrew. The Bible says he first found his own brother Simon and brought him to Jesus.
We share the gospel with our family members because they, too, need the Lord.
Now let’s turn to John 6.
We’ll read verses 4 and 5.
Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
Jesus therefore lifting up His eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto Him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat?
And then verses 8 and 9.
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto Him,
There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many?
In this instance, even though the crowd came with a different motive, Jesus was not indifferent to their physical need. Both Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus was moved with compassion toward the hungry crowd.
Initially, Jesus asked Philip to find food for the crowd. I don’t know how long it took Philip to come up with an estimate to feed thousands, but during this period Andrew had already gone through the crowd and found a boy with five loaves and two fish.
Furthermore, Andrew was able to talk to this little boy and ask him to share his lunch with strangers, while Philip sounded pessimistic about his estimate. Andrew was ready to bring the boy to see Jesus.
Now, brothers and sisters, the disciples at this point were not naive about Jesus’ ability to perform miracles, because they had been with Him two years and had witnessed Jesus perform miracles on numerous occasions.
Yet applying what they knew was a different story.
Wow, Jesus, the problem-solver, is standing next to the disciples. None of the disciples comes forward to ask Jesus for a solution. Now, before you blame the disciples, we often do the same thing in handling problems. Isn’t that true?
We act as if our Lord is not big enough for our situation. The disciples are still thinking in their old ways, to see whether they can solve the problems or not. They come to the conclusion that this assignment of finding food for thousands is simply too much. They just don’t have the resources to feed a crowd of this size.
Andrew is not believing that the little boy’s lunch is sufficient to feed the crowd. He is thinking that perhaps Jesus can make this small amount of food into something more.
But I believe his action gets interrupted. The other disciples begin to make fun of him. “Come on, Andrew. Be serious. We are talking about five thousand hungry men out there.”
It’s like when Peter walked on the water. His fellow fishermen shouted to him, “Peter, be careful. You are walking on the water.”
Instead of keeping his eyes on the storm-walker, he stared at the stormy sea and started questioning himself. “I’m not supposed to walk on water, am I?” And Peter sinks like a brick.
It seems our natural response is to focus on the impossibility rather than possibility. At the beginning, Andrew has a little bit of faith by taking the little boy’s lunch to Jesus. Then he sees Peter and the other disciples fall over laughing.
Unfortunately, unbelief is contagious. Andrew begins to change his mind and his tone, and ends up saying, “Oh, well, I guess you guys were right all along. What are these among so many hungry people?”
This shows that Andrew is not an in-charge type of person. Otherwise, he would have pushed his idea through the business meeting. Instead, he resigns himself to the fact, “I’m sorry that I even mentioned that.”
Let’s look at the situation again. What Andrew has is indeed very small. But with whatever little faith is in him, he manages to put the little boy’s lunch into Jesus’ hands.
Andrew discovers that the Lord does not need much to make things happen. The Lord simply takes the food and multiplies the food in His hands, and feeds the multitude of five thousand men.
As we can see, Andrew’s little contribution, once placed in the Lord’s hands, does make a difference in the final outcome.
The same is true with Andrew when he brought his brother Simon to the Lord. Andrew had no idea at the time that the Lord Jesus could convert Simon Peter into a preacher who, one day, would bring three thousand people to Christ in a single day.
The same is also true, if we can jump ahead momentarily, when Andrew brings a group of Greeks to Jesus in John 12.
Andrew had no clue that one among these Greeks, according to tradition, was a fellow named Luke. Dr. Luke wrote two important books in the New Testament which must have blessed millions of people.
As I was preparing for this talk, one thought kept coming back: there is, according to the Bible, no man who is rather extraordinary. It is our God who is extraordinary, and it is God’s delight to use men in extraordinary ways.
How often God uses the seemingly nobodies, including the one-talent servants—people like Andrew, people like you and me.
So far, we’ve been talking about Andrew. Let’s turn to John 12, verses 20 through 22.
Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast:
these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus.
In this instance, a group of Greeks came to ask Philip for permission to see Jesus. Philip probably hesitates because, according to his understanding, the gospel is for the Jews, and these people are Greeks.
So he probably tells these Greeks, “You want to see Jesus? Just wait here. I know just the man who knows how to bring people to Jesus better than anybody else. You just wait here. I’ll go get him.”
As a result, Andrew and Philip bring the Greeks to Jesus. Actually, their leading the Greeks to the Lord is an important event.
As you see, we are coming down to the end of Jesus’ public ministry. In less than a week’s time, our Lord will be crucified. But before He lays down His life, His variety of glory must be witnessed to.
In John 11, we are given the evidence, the proof, that Jesus is the Son of God, as evidenced by His raising of Lazarus from death.
Then we witness the acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of David. This happens in John 12, just before the coming of the Greeks. The people lined up the streets and cheerfully shouted, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” The King of Israel rode on the donkey into the city of Jerusalem.
What we have now concerns Jesus as the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, it must cover a wider territory. As the Son of David, He is only related to Israel.
But to be Son of Man, it must cover all nations, all people, and languages. Here, the Greeks represent the Gentiles. They want to see Jesus. Please note, they did not ask to see Christ. They want to see Jesus.
Therefore, the Father sees to it that His beloved Son receives the threefold testimony before He gives His life on the cross for our sins.
So far, we have talked about Andrew’s little contribution, which was incorporated into God’s purpose.
At the same time, brothers and sisters, you will agree that God can accomplish the same project without our help at all. Perhaps God can do a better job without us getting in His way.
But have you noticed throughout the Bible how often God restrains His work until He has our participation? If you wonder why, why would God purposely want us to be on His team, to be His teammate?
Let’s take a basketball game, for instance. There is a big difference between a player and a spectator. Only the player can score in the game. A spectator cannot, no matter how knowledgeable or how gifted an athlete he or she turns out to be.
Should your team win the NBA championship, everybody on the team will receive a ring, including the seldom-used reserve. Why? Because they are on the same team.
The Lord wants us to join His winning team.
What grace this is, that He wants us to be His teammate—not as a spectator, but a player.
Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, was one time interviewed on television. Toward the end, an admirer asked him a question: “Mr. Bernstein, which instrument is the most difficult to play?”
With his quick wit and without hesitation, Mr. Bernstein replied, “The second fiddle.”
Mr. Bernstein went on to explain, “I have plenty of people who want to play the first violin, but to find someone with the same enthusiasm to play the second fiddle—now, that’s a problem.”
And yet, if no one plays the second fiddle, we have no harmony.
Come to think of it, I think Andrew would make a perfect second fiddler in God’s symphony of grace. Now He wants His disciples, and us, to play in His orchestra.
Remember the story of feeding the five thousand? God does not expect us to multiply the food. That’s His job. But He expects His disciples and us to distribute the food.
Now, you may protest: playing the second violin requires more dexterity than passing out the food. And you’re right. I, too, sometimes can use some words of encouragement.
And this time I was reminded of something that you already knew: God does not always call the equipped, but He always equips the called.
In order to play a musical instrument, you must be willing to practice. It is not a skill that you can acquire overnight. You need to practice, practice, and practice some more.
So, what’s the point? In the process of practicing, we develop a relationship with our Teacher, the Master.
We discover that our Lord is not our parole officer. As we spend time getting to know Him, we find Him as our friend.
As we walk with the Lord, we are happy to learn that the Lord actually enjoys our company and delights in shepherding us through life’s narrow way. We become connected to Him and begin to appreciate that what He is doing in our lives is more important than what He does through us.
But why is the relationship with the Lord so important?
Our scientific society held an international meeting in Shanghai, China, in 2011, so I returned to China for the first time after fifty-plus years.
As our plane was descending toward the airport on the east side of Shanghai, my colleagues asked me if I remembered anything of what we were seeing down below. I told them no.
When I was living in Shanghai, this part of Shanghai, namely Pudong, was farmland, with neither electricity nor running water. Nowadays, of course, Pudong has emerged as a modern city with clusters of new skyscrapers.
Anyway, many years ago, a farmer from Pudong, on the east side of Shanghai, came through the established district of Shanghai. He was so impressed with the convenience of city life.
He just couldn’t get over it. Whenever he turned on the tap, water would come out. Not only would the water come out at will; it also seemed to be in endless supply.
Back in the countryside where he was from, they had to carry water from the river, a distance away, one bucket at a time.
So the farmer bought a water faucet and took it home. He installed the faucet on the wall, but no water came out.
Perhaps he picked up a defective one, so he exchanged it for another one. Still no water.
Then he remembered, “Those slick city people always take advantage of the simple country folks.” So this time, he returned to the hardware store with a complaint.
Finally, the salesman asked him how he had installed the water faucet. The farmer replied, “Just like anybody else. I put it on the wall, but no water came out.”
It turns out the poor farmer was not aware of the fact that there were hidden pipes in the wall leading to the water supply. A water faucet detached from the water supply serves no good purpose.
Hopefully, this serves as a reminder: it is only if we have our hidden pipes connected to the Lord Jesus that we can expect the Lord’s power and peace to flow freely and abundantly into our lives.
If we don’t have a meaningful relationship with the Lord, it will be like building a sailboat without a keel. Once heading out to the open water, it will tilt and sink.
But when we are connected to the Lord, when we put our trust in the Lord, the Lord will clearly take the lead, and we can hum along with the harmony of amen.
Ignacy Paderewski was a famous concert pianist from Poland a century ago.
Since Mr. Paderewski came to perform in America several times, he was also popular with American audiences. The Polish people must have adored their musician, because they made him their prime minister for a number of years.
One time, Mr. Paderewski was to give a concert. A mother brought along her little boy, who had just started taking piano lessons. The mother thought it would be helpful for the little boy to go to the concert.
So, after seating themselves in the concert hall, the mother spotted a friend in the front row. She told the little boy to wait there while she went to say hello to her friend.
After she was gone, the little boy started thinking, and he thought this might be a good opportunity to explore the theater. So he eventually explored his way through a door marked, “No admittance.”
When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and found her child missing.
Then the curtain parted. The spotlight shone on the Steinway piano on the stage. To her horror, the mother saw her boy sitting at the keyboard.
And innocently, he began to play with one finger the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
At this moment, the great pianist made his entrance. He quietly walked to the little boy and whispered in his ear, “Keep playing. Don’t quit.”
Then he stood behind the boy and stretched out his arms. To the right, he added notes to the melody; to the left, he added harmony. And together, the old master and the young novice held the audience mesmerized.
Many years later, most people forgot what pieces Mr. Paderewski played that evening. But all of them remembered that Mr. Paderewski played “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” with the little boy.
As we mentioned at the start, those who are given one talent are facing continual temptation to quit. Sometimes we feel like we are just wasting time in picking out meaningless and inconsequential little tunes.
We think our gifts are just too small for God to use in any meaningful way. And yet, the Lord tells us, “Keep playing. Don’t quit. Don’t stop.”
With whatever talent you have been given, the Lord wants us to know His two hands are there, and He and we can play pretty good music together.
But then, how do you know the Lord enjoys playing music with us? Honestly, I don’t have the answer. I was only given a glimpse.
Many years ago, my wife and I were babysitting our first grandchild, who was about fifteen months old at the time.
After we played through all the toys in the family room, I thought about bringing her over to the living room to play the piano for a change.
While we were playing our version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” our granddaughter decided to leave the room.
As it turned out, she went back to the family room and returned with her toy piano to sit on the floor at my feet and start banging on her piano.
I feel such a scenario could only exist in Charlie Brown’s cartoon book.
Her great enthusiasm to play a duet with her grandfather melted my heart. It was joy unspeakable.
It must be a delight to the Lord when we play the second fiddle at His feet. He wants us to keep playing.
And He is preparing us to give a big concert before the Heavenly Father.
It is His plan that we, as an orchestra, as a team, can hear the Father say to us after the concert:
Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will set thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Just remember: our Lord can improvise music just like Mr. Paderewski. Actually, He will provide both the melody and the harmony.
And just like Mr. Paderewski playing the piano with the little boy, people can hear the music. They can hear the melody, but they cannot hear the mistakes of yours and mine.
The world may choose to forget about people like Andrew, but our Lord will never. He has our names inscribed on the palms of His hands.
He wants us to join His winning team so that we can share the joy of the Lord and celebrate His victory party.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we know that You can do everything by Yourself. And we don’t need other people to tell us that our ability is rather limited.
And yet, You still want us to join Your winning team, to be Your teammate. Lord, help us to fill the seats reserved for second fiddles in Your symphony.
Lord, we look forward to the day that we can make music with You and celebrate at Your victory party. In Jesus’ name, we pray.