Small Actions: Big Impacts
By Pastor Josh Wamble
I have recently begun teaching an Introduction to the New Testament class at Re:Center Ministries. This afternoon, we finished talking about the early years of Jesus’s life and started discussing the beginning of His public ministry. One of the first things that Jesus does after his baptism and temptation is begin calling his disciples. That reminded me of something that led us to a really good discussion. John tells us that Andrew was one of the first two disciples that Jesus called. He started out as a disciple of John the Baptist, but he began following Jesus when John the Baptist identified Jesus as the “Lamb of God.”
Andrew is only mentioned in 12 verses in the NT. That is not many. And, in fact, 8 of these 12 references are describing how Jesus called his disciples or lists of the disciples. So, there are only 4 references to Andrew that do not refer to him simply as one of the disciples. Mark 1:29 tells us that Jesus entered the house of Andrew and Peter and healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and Mark 13:3 tells us that Andrew and some others were questioning Jesus about the timing of His glorification. The final two references to Andrew (John 6:8 and 12:2) describe Andrew taking messages to Jesus. When Jesus feeds the 5,000, Andrew is the one who told him that the boy had two fish and 5 loaves of bread. Later, He tells Jesus that a group of people has come and wishes to see him.
All of this is simply to point out that Andrew does not seem to be a significant figure in the NT. We don’t know much about him. He is not mentioned at all outside of the gospels except for in Acts 1:13 where Luke lists the disciples who returned to Jerusalem to pray. In fact, I wonder how many of you even remember that Andrew was one of the disciples. However, there is one very significant action that Andrew took. It was a very small action, but it had a huge impact on the rest of the NT and the rest of world history! The very first thing that Andrew did after leaving John the Baptist and joining Jesus was to go and tell his brother Peter that he had found the Messiah/Christ the one they had been looking for for so long.
As you all know, Peter is a very significant figure in the rest of the NT. He was one of Jesus’s “inner three.” He was the first of Jesus’s disciples to proclaim that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” He was with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. He and John were the first two disciples to see the empty tomb after Jesus’s resurrection. He preached the first sermon in Acts. He was the anchor of the church in Jerusalem for the first several years of its existence. His preaching and testimony about Jesus was the basis for Mark’s gospel. He wrote two of the NT letters. Now, the point that I am trying to make is that all of this started with Andrew introducing him to Jesus. Such a small action that had such a large impact!
There are many people like Andrew throughout history. I wonder if you all know the names of Mordecai Ham or Robert Eaglen. I didn’t until I looked them up. Mordecai Ham was an Independent Baptist evangelist who lived during the late 1800s into the mid 1900s. He is not very well known. In fact, the only information I could find out about him is that he was not a great guy. He was a racist, and somewhat antisemitic. However, while he was preaching one night in 1934, Billy Graham heard the gospel and trusted in Christ. Like Andrew, God used the imperfect and mostly insignificant actions of this man to introduce Billy Graham to Jesus! And we all know what type of impact Billy Graham has had on the Kingdom.
Robert Eaglen is even less well known. He was a primitive Methodist circuit preach who lived in the mid to late 1800s. As a circuit preacher, he travelled through different areas and preached at multiple churches at the same time. During his life, he took care of at least 27 circuits containing multiple churches each if not more. Like the majority of the people who have lived, his legacy and memory has been mostly lost to history. However, on January 6, 1850, he preached a sermon on Isaiah 45:22 at a Methodist chapel in Colchester, England. Charles Surgeon happened to ‘accidentally” be in attendance that day. Spurgeon heard the gospel, and believed in Christ! In an article for Ministry magazine, Arthur S. Maxwell wrote this:
Probably Robert Eaglen went home that day to his Sunday dinner wondering, like many another preacher, what good he had accomplished: But who can tell what results may accrue from even the humblest ministry in the Master’s service? We must labor on in faith and hope, confident that while we may but humbly scatter seeds, or water another’s sowing, God, in His own good time, will give the increase.[1]
Jonathan Edwards is the most influential theologian and one of the most influential intellectuals in American history, but unless you are into early American history, you’ve probably never heard of his father Timothy Edwards or his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard; yet, these men were both pastors who God used mightily in Jonathan Edwards’s life.
There have been so many people in my life whose small actions have had huge impacts—teachers, coaches, parents of friends I had growing up, tons of people in our church (many of whom have passed on to be with the Lord). I have been able to share with some of those people just how God has used them and how their everyday faithfulness has had such a big impact on me, but many of them may never know. None of you know the name Walter Lockhart, but he was my pastor from the time that I was 5 years old until after I graduated college. “Mr. Walter” had such a huge impact on my life in so many different ways—too many to count. He was such a good pastor to me and my family! God used him to form me in ways that I am sure I am not even fully aware of. I will remember him and the way he was to me forever. Right now my eyes are wet with tears as I remember him and think about how God used him in my life. I wish that you all could have known him.
You all have people like this in your lives as well. Take some time to think about all the people that God has used in your life to form you into who you are—parents, family, teachers, pastors, church members, and others. Take some time to thank God for His providence, for how He has put the right people in your lives at the right times, and for how He has used them.
Also, take some time to think about yourselves. Who has God put in your lives that you can have this type of impact on. How can God use you to impact the faithfulness of others? As insignificant and small as many of the mundane actions of our lives seem, God often uses them for big impacts on other people. Commit yourself to talking with people about Jesus and His gospel. Who knows how God might use the people that you introduce to Jesus? Who knows how God might use the people that you make a point to have dinner with or forgive or seek forgiveness from or sing beside in worship or go on a mission trip with or serve in some small way?
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Paul writes this, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He will surely do it.” God will surely do it. He will surely sanctify His people and form us into the image Christ, but often the way He does that is by using insignificant people like you and me and our small insignificant actions. Let’s look for opportunities to be used by God this way!
[1] https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1943/09/sermon-that-converted-spurgeon
