Category Archives: John

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To Believe Is To See

Being With Jesus:
John 4:49-50 (NLT)

“Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.”

In essence, what this father in John’s story (John 4:43-54) said was, “I’ll see it when I believe it!” And that, my friend, is at the core of outstanding faith. Let me explain:

While we live at a time and in a culture where the scientific method has become man’s guiding theology, it is God who has set the rules for knowing and experiencing him. And he has declared that the avenue to knowledge and experience is by way of faith.

This is an infinitely critical point in light of the fact that modern man has elevated the empirical over revelation as the way to enlightenment. Obviously, a world that is determined to put faith only in that which can be demonstrated by data, where man’s reason is king and metaphysical faith is optional, is in direct conflict with God’s world.

But for the Christian, everything starts with God. Sensory data—what a person can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste—is not a bad thing; don’t misunderstand. In my humble opinion, scientific provability is God-given, and since God created it, we would do well to exercise it. It is not antithetical to faith—necessarily—but while physical proof can lead to knowledge or an acknowledgment of God, only revelation can lead to a knowledge of who God truly is—the God of the Scriptures who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, and who, according to his own sovereign plan, at times breaks into our lives with his power.

Revelation is based on something other, something more. Revelation is based on the truth that God took the initiative to make himself knowable, that he has revealed himself—both spiritually and physically—to us through his Word and by his Son. Now the empirical and the revealed will not contradict each other, because both are from God. But what we see and what we can prove alone will not suffice.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm argued that faith is the precondition of knowledge: “I believe in order that I may understand.” (credo ut intelligam). In other words, knowledge and experience cannot lead to faith. It might get you close, but it won’t get you there. Faith is a gift from God, and when faith is experienced, true knowledge and experience flows.

What Anselm said was eloquently stated long before in the fourth century by another pillar of the Christian faith, St. Augustine. Augustine taught that, “faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” In God’s world, we are to express faith in God first; then knowledge of God and experience with God will flow.

In the story we read about in John 4, this is exactly what is going on with the government official from Capernaum. Jesus has just made the frustrating observation that people will only believe when they see his miracles and wonders (John 4:48). And even then, it is very likely that their “belief” will only be temporary; only good until the next miracle is needed. But then this father, desperate for his deathly sick son to be healed, offers a different response to Jesus: He is willing to believe in order that he might see.

So what does that have to do with what you are facing in your life today? Plenty! God is discernable and knowable through the exercise of your faith. Perhaps you don’t see evidence of that right at this moment, but let me challenge you to believe what you don’t see, exercising faith in a loving God, and the reward will be that you will see, sooner or later, what you believe.

It takes faith—but that has been proven over the millennia! Just ask the father whose son was healed in John 4.

“Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”.” (St. Augustine)

Getting To Know Jesus: Perhaps you have been depending on your sight more than your faith these days. If so, here is a prayer you might considering offering to God: “Gracious Father, I believe. Help any unbelief I may have. I don’t see everything I’d like to see, but I believe. And while I pray that you would reveal yourself in my life today in tangible ways, I also pray that I would trust your love, your care, and your promised favor even if the tangible doesn’t appear. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, the revealed Word, I pray. Amen.”

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God Made In Man’s Image

Being With Jesus:
John 4:21-24 (NLT)

Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well of Sychar was subconsciously looking for a god made in her image—a god to her specifications. This was fairly common among worshipers not only in Jesus’ day, but in ours as well. It occurs when we attempt to come to God on our terms rather than his; when we make worship more about us, and what we like, than about God, and what he likes; when, in effect, we recreate God in our image rather than approaching him as beings created in his image.

That was the problem with the worship of the Samaritans. They had corrupted worship to fit their own needs to the point Jesus said, “You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship.” (John 4:22, NLT) They had become Burger King worshipers. Do you remember the old Burger King advertisement? “Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us. Have it your way.”

That little jingle is fitting for what we modern day “Samaritans” are doing with our experience of worship. We love a customized church experience. We expect worship services to be tailor-made just for us. We expect the praise, programs and preaching to satisfy our preferences. We want church designed to meet our needs, music tuned to our exact tastes, preachers crafted to our specifications, messages that mesmerize, and a made to order God—a “Burger King God” who says, “Have it your way”.

Some time ago, Los Angeles Magazine ran an article called “God For Sale”. The author said, “It is no surprise that when today’s affluent young professionals return to church they want to do it only on their own terms. But what is amazing is how far the churches are going to oblige them.” Newsweek Magazine added, “They’ve developed a pick and choose Christianity in which individuals take what they want and pass over what does not fit their spiritual goals…”

Nothing can be further from the “spirit and truth” worshiper of verse 24 that Jesus said God the Father is seeking. When it comes to God, and the way you worship him, you need to start saying, “Have it your way”. Me too!

If you will learn what it means to do that, you will drink water from an altogether different kind of well—and you will never thirst again!

“Worship changes the worshipper into the image of the One worshipped” (Jack Hayford)

Getting To Know Jesus: Honestly evaluate your worship expectations. Do you approach worship asking God how he prefers your worship? Or do you tell God, albeit in not so many words, “this is how I want it”? If it is the latter, a little repentance is in order.

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The Heart Of The Matter

Being With Jesus:
John 4:16-18 (NLT)

“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.””

An entire book could be written about this story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. For instance, a whole chapter could be written from this story just about the inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God. Another chapter could lay out a master blueprint for starting spiritual conversations with anyone from an authentic seeker to a theological weirdo. And of course, several chapters could present a compelling theology of worship from what Jesus says just in these few verses.

But at the end of the day, what you will find is that any encounter with Jesus doesn’t simply warm your heart to the Kingdom of God or perfect your evangelistic technique or inform your theology or just cram more spiritual information into your head, it touches the true condition of your heart. That is what happened to the woman at the well.

This sinful Samaritan sister is like a lot of people in our society today, even church-going types, who are attempting makeovers, not only of the physical kind, but of the whole-life kind. Like her, so many people are profoundly unhappy, dissatisfied, empty on the inside and are trying to make over their lives by filling that missing void. But any makeover effort that isn’t God-initiated, God-empowered, and God-focused, is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

In this woman’s case, she’d gone from man to man, hoping the next would be better—but each relationship left her increasingly dissatisfied, damaged and desperate. What Jesus was telling her was that she didn’t need a man to complete her. She didn’t need just a “relationship makeover”, she needed a new “water source” (John 4:13-15, NLT)—she needed a brand a new life.

This woman is really a mirror of our age. We go from experience to experience, job to job, purchase to purchase and relationship to relationship, hoping that that next great thing will be what finally brings us fulfillment. But here’s the deal: If you are looking to a thing, or job, or another person to fulfill you, you are putting an expectation on something or someone that they cannot meet. When you live in that kind of pattern, your life will end up as one long, futile attempt to find completion.

If you are looking to a thing, or job, or another person to fulfill you, you are putting an expectation on something or someone that they cannot meet. When you live in that kind of pattern, your life will end up as one long, futile attempt to find completion.

Remember the gushy line from the movie that all the romantics swooned over: “You complete me”? That sounds so romantic it has to be true, right? It’s not! It is one of the Enemy’s great deceptions. What Jesus was saying to this Samaritan woman—and by extension, to you and me—is that only God can complete you. When you come to God for completion, then those unrealistic expectations that you have placed on position, possessions and people will be removed, and only then can you drink the living water and never thirst again.

The bottom line to this story—and to your life and mine—is simply this: We find real completion only in God.

“When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now…. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” (C.S. Lewis)

Getting To Know Jesus: People, position and possessions: take a moment, or several if you need, and honestly evaluate whether they have surpassed God in terms of what you depend upon to satisfy your emotional needs for security, significance and satisfaction. If they are out of order, ask God to forgive you—and help you to reprioritize your tank-fillers—and then get ruthlessly committed to letting God be God in your life!

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The Best Mission Statement

Being With Jesus:
John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease..

Over the last two or three decades, it has become clear, at least in the western world, that a person cannot be successful, live a truly satisfying life and experience significance as a human being without a well-written, eye-catching personal mission statement. Likewise, no corporation can increase its bottom line and influence its market without a corporate mission statement. Next to oxygen and nourishment, a mission statement is essential to life.

Of course, I am speaking facetiously. To be sure, strategically developing and clearly stating your personal or corporate mission is a good thing. I have one. Jesus had one: “The Son of man came to serve, not be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). The Apostle Paul had one: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24) You would do well to have one, too.

But what would happen if the qualifier to every mission statement of every Christian and every faith-based organization was the same as John the Baptist’s? Oh my! We would change the world—that’s what would happen!

John the Baptist’s mission statement can be found in John 1:7, “John came as a witness to testify concerning that light (Jesus Christ), so that through him all might believe.” Throughout his ministry, John faithfully, fearlessly and passionately executed against that calling until he himself was executed, literally, for doing his job. (Mark 6:14-29) And while in reality John’s time in fulfilling his mission was brief, it was undeniably powerful.

It is very likely that John could have avoided what from a human perspective looked like the failure of his business. Most likely, he could have gone on to a lucrative career as a speaker, or the leader of a religious movement. But had he done that, from an eternal perspective, he would have failed at his mission.

No, John’s mission to testify to the Light (that is, Jesus and his messianic mission) was controlled by this caveat: that no matter how famous and prosperous his clients were willing to make his ministry, John knew that he had to decrease so Jesus could increase. After all, his mission was simply to introduce and represent Jesus. Jesus was the real deal; John only knew of Jesus. It was Jesus, not John, who had the bona fides to speak of the Kingdom of Heaven since he had been there and was actually from there. And with that was the case, the more successful John did his job of introducing Jesus, the less of John people needed to see.

Now of course, you and I are likely not called to John the Baptist’s path. He was unique in the initial public offering of Jesus. Yet in another sense, all Christians and Christian organizations are called to introduce and represent Jesus. And to successfully execute against that mission—however that mission statement might be personalized uniquely to you and me—John’s caveat must control ours as well: In all that we do, in the success that we experience, in the direction we take and in the dreams we pursue, we must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

From a human point of view, that might seem silly. But from heaven’s perspective, that is the path by which you and I can change the world—for Christ’s sake. Yes, that is the best mission statement!

“Humility is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God…[it] is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all.” (Andrew Murray)

Getting To Know Jesus: If you have a personal mission statement (or a corporate one), add John’s caveat to the end of it: “Jesus He must become greater; I must become less.”

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The Bible In One Verse

Being With Jesus:
John 3:16 (NLT)

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16—it’s the whole Bible in just one verse. The verse is so simple that any child can memorize it, yet it is so infinitely powerful that it can totally, radically transform your life. That’s right, this verse is not just an amazing statement about God’s universal love for all mankind, it is about God’s personal love for you!

God so loved the world, but he didn’t just look at it as one big mass of nameless faces. When he looked at the world and loved it, he was looking at you. Max Lucado, who wrote an entire book just on John 3:16, said, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.”

God has a crazy love for you! He really does. St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, one of the most influential figures in church history, said: “God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.” Think about that: If you were the only person on this planet, God would have loved you so much that he still would have given Jesus to die for your sins. There would still be John 3:16 if you were the sole human ever created.

One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, told the story of an Irish priest on a walking tour of his rural parish, and he happened upon an old peasant man kneeling by the roadside, praying. The priest was impressed: “You must be very close to God.”

The peasant looked up from his prayers, thought for a moment, and smiled, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.” This simple man had a profound sense that he was loved by God, and that was all that mattered! From that story, Manning developed a personal declaration: “I am the one Jesus loves.”

That is in no way arrogant; it is actually quite Biblical. The Apostle John identified himself throughout his Gospel as “the one Jesus loved.” That came to be John’s primary identity in life. If you were to ask John, “Tell me about yourself,” he wouldn’t have said, ‘Well, I’m an apostle, and the author of this incredible Gospel.” Rather, John would have simply said, “I’m the one Jesus loves.”

Now if John could think of himself that way, so can you. John 3:16 gives you permission. So I hope you’ll practice remembering that this today: “You are the one Jesus loves!”

“We have a share in the special love of Jesus. We see evidences of that love…in the precious blood that He so freely shed for us…Behold how He loves us!” (Charles Spurgeon)

Getting To Know Jesus: Do you ever wonder if God really does love you? I do. The cross is a continual reminder for you and me that when he stretched out his arms on that wooden crossbeam, it was as if he were saying, “I love you this much!” Then he bowed His head, and died. And there is nothing today that can separate you from that love. Let the power of God’s love absolutely, profoundly change your life today!

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Why Do I Need To Be Born Again?

Being With Jesus:
John 3:3

Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was a very bright man. He had given himself to much study and he’d grown quite famous as a teacher in Israel, but he had little wisdom as to how to be in right standing with God. He knew a lot about God, but he didn’t know God.

Nicodemus was rich. Tradition tells us that he was one of the three richest men in Jerusalem. But how much a person has does not change who they are! You can have plenty of money, a lot of fame, an enviable place in life, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re still a sinner in need of a Savior!

Not only was he rich, Nicodemus was also respected. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the prestigious ruling spiritual body of Israel. He was a rabbi. Jesus refers to him in verse 10 as “Israel’s teacher”, which suggests that he had attained celebrity as a master communicator. However, what you have achieved doesn’t change who you are before God. The truth is, hell will be populated with many admired people, because admiration, though not necessarily a bad thing, does not equal salvation!

Nicodemus was rich, respectable, and he was religious. He was a Pharisee! He kept the Mosaic Law to the down to the minutiae. He was morally pure to a degree that you and I can’t imagine! But religion doesn’t redeem the heart; religious ritual is not the same as right relationship with God. Titus 3:5 reminds us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”

Nicodemus was a person who did all the right spiritual things, knew all the right spiritual language, had gained everyone’s spiritual admiration, but was still empty on the inside because he was still spiritually lost! That’s why Jesus said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” He is simply saying that human beings must have two birthdays to get to heaven. We must have a physical birthday and we must have a spiritual birthday.

Human beings must have two birthdays to get to heaven. We must have a physical birthday and we must have a spiritual birthday.

Jesus uses the picture of physical birth to point out the need for spiritual birth because of the obvious comparisons. To begin with physical birth provides life. All babies have life because they are born!   Likewise, spiritual life cannot begin until spiritual birth occurs. Not only that, physical birth means a brand new start. No baby is born with a past! They only have a future! So it is with the spiritual birth. When you get saved, you get a brand new start. Your past is wiped away and the future begins! That’s why Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Most profoundly, physical birth takes place because of the suffering of another. A mother literally, through the pain of childbirth, comes close to death in order to bring life into this world. Jesus didn’t come close to death—he experienced death so that you and I might be born again. Spiritual birth rests squarely on not only the pain and suffering of another, but also on the passion and love of another!

So what does that mean? It means that salvation requires a new beginning. Not just a reformation of your flesh, but a rebirth from death to life. It means that someone else had to die so that you could be reborn. That’s why you can’t do it on your own. It only comes through depending on the complete and adequate supply of God’s saving love through Christ’s passionate suffering for your eternal salvation. It means because of Christ’s adequacy, you can have a brand new beginning and an unending future with God.

Jesus said, “you must be born again to enter heaven.” He used the analogy of a physical birth for obvious reasons: physical birth provides life. All babies have life because they are born! Likewise, spiritual life cannot begin until spiritual birth occurs. Not only that, physical birth means a brand new start. No baby is born with a past; they only have a future! So it is with spiritual birth. When you are born again, you get a brand new start: your past is wiped away and the future begins! Finally, physical birth takes place through the suffering of another. A mother experiences immense pain and suffering in giving birth, even coming close to death in order to bring life into this world. Spiritual birth rests squarely on not only the pain and suffering of another: Jesus, who didn’t just come close to death—he experienced death so that we might be born again. That’s why you must be born again. It only comes through Christ’s passionate suffering for your eternal salvation, which provides you with spiritual life, a brand new beginning and an unending future.

As Jesus said to Nicodemus, he would say to you: You must be born again! Have you?

“A man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourishes him. A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it.” (C.S. Lewis)

Getting To Know Jesus: Although spiritual rebirth still might seem mysterious an inexplicable to you, it is clear from Jesus conversation with Nicodemus that all human beings must be “born again” if they are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That includes you. The question of all questions is, “have you?” If you haven’t, consider offering this heartfelt prayer of surrender: “Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins and turn to you. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, and rose again from the tomb to give me eternal life. Come into my life and be my Savior and Lord. And with your help, from this day forward, I will live for you.”

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Believe!

Being With Jesus:
John 2:22 (NLT)

Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” … (the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

If you were a spiritual seeker exploring what the Christian faith was all about, and John’s Gospel was your only source, it wouldn’t take you very long to discover the key component to Christianity. It can be boiled down to just one word—a very simple word that is repeated throughout the book; a single, simple word, yet a word that carries with in it the most profound implications. That word is “believe”.

That is Christianity at its purest and simplest: To believe in Jesus Christ.

Now this is belief that is more than mere intellectual acknowledgement in the historical Jesus. It is more than just acknowledging that he was a good man, a wonderful religious leader or even to say that he was God come in the flesh.

Rather, the kind of belief John is describing—the kind that brings us into an experience of the abundant life of God now and eternal life after we die, is to believe that Jesus Christ is both Savior and Lord. It is to be fully persuaded of whom Jesus is and convinced that what Jesus said is true. It is to have complete confidence that the claims and demands Jesus made are credible beyond any shadow of a doubt. It is the kind of belief that entrusts one’s life and stakes one’s eternity upon the veracity of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is to be so radically won over that all of one’s life will be placed under the guidance, pleasure and worship of Jesus.

In the twenty-one chapters of John’s Gospel, all but three use the word “believe” to describe either people’s response to Jesus or Jesus’s call to those who would be his followers.

In John 1:7 John the Baptist is introduced as the one whose entire purpose is to prepare people to believe in Jesus, the coming Messiah.

In John 1:12, the Apostle John explains of Jesus, “all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become the children of God.”

In John 3:14-18, which includes the most famous verse in the entire Bible—the Bible summed up in just one verse—John 3:16, we learn that Jesus will ultimately die on the cross so that people might believe and thereby live forever:

Believe-Christianity Made Simple“‘The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’ Jesus said. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Now in this present chapter, John 2:11 tells us that after Jesus performed his first miracle, his disciples believed in him. Toward the end of the chapter, the Jewish leaders ask Jesus for a miraculous sign to prove his authority for driving the merchants from the temple. Jesus only offers them the sign that will come after they destroy the temple, which he will raise up in three days (a veiled reference to his own death and resurrection). Speaking of that in John 2:22, the Apostle John writes, “After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled that he had said this, then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

When you get to the end of the Gospel, John reveals to the readers of his Gospel account why he has recorded the stories and teachings of Jesus:

“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)

Believe! That is Christianity pure and simple. And as you read the Gospel of John nearly 2,000 years after John wrote it as an eyewitness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, that same purpose is still in effect: That you might believe—place totally, radical, life-altering trust—in Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord!

Do you believe?

 “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: As you read through the Gospel of John, underline any place where you see the words “believe” or belief” as it relates to either people’s response to Jesus or Jesus’s call to those who would be his followers. And above all, ask that God would deepen your own belief as you absorb John’s Gospel.