Exploring Faith: Evidence and Belief in John's Gospel
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We all know what those words mean in every other area of culture but for some reason they get hijacked when they get dropped into theological context. In the real world where we all work and where we play and where we have friends, we believe based on evidence. In other words, you make decisions about what you believe or don't believe based on evidence. [00:00:57]
Religious faith and belief are often divorced from reason and confused with hope. We all know what hope is as well. But for some reason, and I don't really know why, when it comes to Christianity or religion in general, when it comes to these words, they kind of take on a life of their own and they get divorced from reason and they become more like hope. [00:03:04]
The reason so many people are easily talked out of Christianity is because they were never talked into it in the first place. That the reason students, the reason college graduates, the reason singles, the reason senior adults, it doesn't matter, the reason people are often times and so easily talked out of Christianity, is because they were never talked into it to begin with. [00:05:04]
John, the gospel writer John, you know what his response to this would be? It would be really? Says who? If you were to ask Peter who followed Jesus, really? Says who? If you were to ask Jesus, is this true? He would say really, where did you get that? You don't find that in the teaching of Jesus. You don't find that in the New Testament. [00:04:14]
John did not choose to follow Jesus because of faith and he would caution you against that as well. And if the only reason you're following Jesus is because somebody said you just gotta believe, hey, I've got some good news. There's more to it than that. And I've got some great news, you need to pay attention to what's more to it than that, otherwise somebody may come along and talk you out of something that no one ever took the time to talk you into. [00:06:51]
The Apostle John left his father's fishing business to follow Jesus because of what he saw, not because of faith. In fact, he outlived most of his friends. By the time John dictates, we doubt he wrote this because of the kind of Greek it's in. He dictated this document that would later be called the Gospel of John. [00:07:43]
John was not content to simply tell us what happened. John tells us why it happened and why he wants us to know it happened. And at the very end of his gospel account, he gives us a purpose statement or a thesis. Remember in college or maybe even high school, you had to write a paper, you had to have a thesis statement or here's the big idea. [00:08:38]
But these, these signs, these are written and it's a little Greek term, it's called henna, it's a connector. A henna clause means purpose or result. He said the purpose for me writing what I've written is not so simply that you'll know what Jesus did and know what Jesus said, but these are written that you may believe. [00:10:13]
He's not simply telling us what to believe. He's building a case as to why we should believe it. Because John did not embrace this crazy idea of faith or belief that just kind of hangs out there by itself. But believe what? He's very specific. He said here's what I want you to believe. I want you to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. [00:10:45]
The supernatural acts of Jesus, the supernatural events of Jesus, the healings, the walking on water, all those things, the supernatural acts of Jesus were not random acts of kindness and He wasn't just showing off. These were signs, and John realized that. These were signs that pointed to something and specifically what they pointed to was Jesus' identity. [00:13:23]
In other words, this was more than a miracle. This was a sign. It pointed to something and somebody but nobody would fully understand it until later. The story wraps up like this. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first, chapter two, John, he says we're getting this thing started. It was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory and His disciples, don't miss this part, and His disciples believed in Him. [00:25:57]
We are invited to believe what happened, we're invited to believe what happened based on the testimony of the people who were actually there. People like John. In fact, John came away from his experience with Jesus and looking back, even though there was blood shed and heartbreak and perhaps the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and 10s of 1000s of Jews had been carted off and sold in the Roman slave markets. [00:28:28]
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Religious faith and belief are often divorced from reason and confused with hope. We all know what hope is as well. But for some reason, and I don't really know why, when it comes to Christianity or religion in general, when it comes to these words, they kind of take on a life of their own and they get divorced from reason and they become more like hope. [00:03:04]
The reason so many people are easily talked out of Christianity is because they were never talked into it in the first place. That the reason students, the reason college graduates, the reason singles, the reason senior adults, it doesn't matter, the reason people are often times and so easily talked out of Christianity, is because they were never talked into it to begin with. [00:05:04]
John, the gospel writer John, you know what his response to this would be? It would be really? Says who? If you were to ask Peter who followed Jesus, really? Says who? If you were to ask Jesus, is this true? He would say really, where did you get that? You don't find that in the teaching of Jesus. You don't find that in the New Testament. [00:04:14]
John did not choose to follow Jesus because of faith and he would caution you against that as well. And if the only reason you're following Jesus is because somebody said you just gotta believe, hey, I've got some good news. There's more to it than that. And I've got some great news, you need to pay attention to what's more to it than that, otherwise somebody may come along and talk you out of something that no one ever took the time to talk you into. [00:06:51]
The Apostle John left his father's fishing business to follow Jesus because of what he saw, not because of faith. In fact, he outlived most of his friends. By the time John dictates, we doubt he wrote this because of the kind of Greek it's in. He dictated this document that would later be called the Gospel of John. [00:07:43]
John was not content to simply tell us what happened. John tells us why it happened and why he wants us to know it happened. And at the very end of his gospel account, he gives us a purpose statement or a thesis. Remember in college or maybe even high school, you had to write a paper, you had to have a thesis statement or here's the big idea. [00:08:38]
But these, these signs, these are written and it's a little Greek term, it's called henna, it's a connector. A henna clause means purpose or result. He said the purpose for me writing what I've written is not so simply that you'll know what Jesus did and know what Jesus said, but these are written that you may believe. [00:10:13]
He's not simply telling us what to believe. He's building a case as to why we should believe it. Because John did not embrace this crazy idea of faith or belief that just kind of hangs out there by itself. But believe what? He's very specific. He said here's what I want you to believe. I want you to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. [00:10:45]
The supernatural acts of Jesus, the supernatural events of Jesus, the healings, the walking on water, all those things, the supernatural acts of Jesus were not random acts of kindness and He wasn't just showing off. These were signs, and John realized that. These were signs that pointed to something and specifically what they pointed to was Jesus' identity. [00:13:23]
In other words, this was more than a miracle. This was a sign. It pointed to something and somebody but nobody would fully understand it until later. The story wraps up like this. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first, chapter two, John, he says we're getting this thing started. It was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory and His disciples, don't miss this part, and His disciples believed in Him. [00:25:57]
We are invited to believe what happened, we're invited to believe what happened based on the testimony of the people who were actually there. People like John. In fact, John came away from his experience with Jesus and looking back, even though there was blood shed and heartbreak and perhaps the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and 10s of 1000s of Jews had been carted off and sold in the Roman slave markets. [00:28:28]
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