John 1:40-42
No one can appropriate good news unless that news gets to them. In the information age, it is easier than ever to share information. However, on the other hand, it is more difficult than ever to get information in front of people. We have too many people, organizations, and mediums fighting for attention.
The best way to share the good news of Jesus remains the old fashion way, one person telling another. After spending a life changing day with Jesus, Andrew ran off and told his brother Simon, who you probably know best as Peter. Andrew said, in so many words: “Simon, do you want to hear some news that will knock your socks off? We have found the Messiah! Come and see.”
E.B. Bounds once criticized the church for always trying to devise new methods and programs to bring people into the church. He said: “Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods: God is looking for better men.” God is saving the world primarily through people, people who have spent a life changing day with Jesus telling others about him. At the dinner table, around the proverbial water cooler at work, in line at the grocery store, while playing sports, making music, creating art, people who met Jesus tell others about this good news remain the most effective way to get the word out.
Even the great Billy Graham needed someone to tell him. Albert McMakin, a friend of Billy, invited him to come out and hear a fighting preacher named Mordecai Ham. Billy Graham’s life was never the same, nor would be countless others, all because Albert McMakin told Billy Graham to spend a day a life changing day with Jesus.
We learn another lesson from this account. When Jesus saw Simon, he gave him a new name. Jesus saw beyond who Simon was at that moment and saw who he was going to make him to be. Countless Christians today commit the sin of writing people off, saying, “Oh, they’ll never believe.” If Jesus can see beyond a sinner like me and see the saint he will one day make me, how can I ever say that of anyone. We have no excuse. Those with good news ought to tell others.
Who will you be an Andrew or an Albert McMakin to this week?