That You May Believe

[Read John 20:30-31]

I was watching a show the other day where a family who didn’t normally camp went camping. The dad was hoping to give them a good experience. He took his youngest son out fishing, but his kid had his nose in a book the entire time. The dad said something like, “Why don’t you put your book down and look at the beautiful lake in front of you?” and the kid replied something like, “I am looking at a picture of the lake in the book right now…” This was an older show, before cell phones and screens took over. If it was today, the picture would most likely be a picture of the kids staring at their cell phone, missing out on all of the things going on around them. 

Now, especially as an older generation, we are quick to look down our noses at all of these young people with their eyes glued to screens—and there’s something to talk about here for sure—however, I think there’s something similarly dangerous happening with people of every age right now, and it’s been happening for a very long time. 

Most recently, I noticed this as a particular YouTube channel became very popular. It’s called Outdoor Boys. It’s a show where a dad and his boys go on crazy wilderness adventures together. It’s a great YouTube channel that has really gone viral in the last year. As it’s gone viral, I’ve spoken to many people who love watching the show, love watching the adventures, but never actually go out on adventures like this on their own. There’s a danger of watching video after video of people doing things and experiencing things and then mistakenly thinking that you’re experiencing those things too. You end up only watching other people go on adventures and never end up going on adventures yourself—never experiencing the reality of those things yourself. You end up settling for something far less satisfying and far less real. 

Whether you’ve realized it or not, John has been pointing to this temptation throughout his gospel—especially when it comes to one particular aspect of Jesus’ ministry. John has repeatedly spoken about Jesus’ signs and miracles in this way throughout the gospel. It’s been a while since I’ve brought this up in a sermon, but it’s very relevant this morning—but in a different sort of way. Before I dive into this morning’s passage, I want to give a brief overview of how John has spoken about “signs”—his word for Jesus’ miracles—throughout the Gospel. John uses the word 17 times in this Gospel, so I won’t cover every instance, but I still want to give a brief overview. 

The first time the word “sign” shows up in John’s gospel is to describe what happened when Jesus turned water into wine at Cana. This passage actually sets the tone for many of the ways John is going to talk about signs after this. We read, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11, ESV). I want you to notice how John describes the sign and the result of the sign. John says that this sign was a manifestation of Jesus’ glory. It showed something about who Jesus is—in particular it showed Jesus’ glory. And the result of this was that his disciples believed in Jesus as a result. This same theme follows when Nicodemus comes to Jesus right after this and says, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2, ESV). There’s a sense in which the signs that Jesus did helped people to realize who Jesus is—to some degree—and we’ll often hear about people responding by believing in Jesus. I think that makes sense to us. 

However, John hasn’t made it that easy for us. He hasn’t always talked about Jesus’ signs in such a simple and positive light. Jesus rebukes a man by saying, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” (John 4:48, ESV). And earlier, following the miracle at Cana we’re told, “…many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people” (John 2:23–24, ESV). Jesus knew that their so-called belief was not legitimate because it was solely based on the signs. That’s why he didn’t entrust himself to them. We also see this line about signs: “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,” (John 12:37, ESV). Seeing the signs didn’t always result in a true faith, or any faith at all. 

With all of that in the background, I should surprise us when we read the first part of our passage this morning. John begins by saying, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe…” (John 20:30–31, ESV). Here’s what makes this such a surprise. I don’t think it’s so surprising that Jesus did way more miracles than are recorded in the Gospels—I think we understand that. What’s surprising to me is that with all of John’s somewhat skepticism about Jesus’ signs, that he basically summarizes his entire Gospel by calling it a book of signs. He says that he wrote this book, and these signs, so that people would believe. Yet, I just read some passages to you from this gospel, showing you that people don’t always believe when they see the signs, or don’t even always have a true faith when they see the signs. So, what’s going on here?

One of the most helpful ways I’ve found to answer this question comes from Jesus’ lips in this gospel. He says this, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me…” (John 10:25, ESV). Jesus says that the things he does—including the signs and miracles—are witnesses to him. They are designed to show people who he is. If you remember, that’s the goal of John’s Gospel, isn’t it? It’s this theme of witness to who Jesus is. So, it makes sense for John to summarize his entire Gospel as a book of signs, witnessing to who Jesus truly is. 

Yet, I want to build on that a little bit more, because there’s something really important here to discuss. I want to talk about why John speaks with some level of skepticism regarding signs and miracles, but still sees them as being an important witness to who Jesus is. In reality, it’s right there in what we’ve already talked about. The signs and miracles of Jesus reveal his glory and reveal who he truly is—they are a powerful witness. However, the problem comes in when people end up believing in—or putting their faith in—the miracles and not in Jesus Christ himself. This is the difference between watching an adventure on a YouTube video and going on an adventure on your own. The goal of the miracle is to point you to Jesus, so that you see him clearly and put your faith in him, not that you would stop at the sign/miracle—which is no true faith at all.

This fits closely with what we just read last week. If you remember, Jesus was telling Thomas, and the other disciples, that they were going to be sent out to be witnesses to the world about who He is and they were going to be calling people to believe in Jesus without having seen him. That’s why John pipes in now and says, “By the way, that’s why I’ve written this entire Gospel. This Gospel is my witness to a world that hasn’t seen Jesus. I’m telling them what I’ve seen and heard from Jesus so that they would believe in him.” But John is also very aware that just because you witness to someone, it doesn’t mean they will receive our witness, or even walk away with a true faith at all. Throughout his gospel, he very clearly shows us time and time again when people saw the witness of Jesus' miracles and some believed truly, some had a false faith, and some hated and rejected the witness. He also shows us stories of this happening through people’s verbal witness as well. The same three responses. Some hear what we have to say and believe, others respond with a false faith, and others hate it and reject it. 

This is why John goes on and clarifies what he wants people to believe about Jesus. He says, “…these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God…” (John 20:31, ESV). There’s a lot packed into these terms Messiah/Christ and Son of God. It’s easy to see that believing in Jesus is much more than simply believing he existed at one point in history. It’s also more than simply believing he was a good guy who taught some important things. True faith is about believing that Jesus is the Messiah—the Savior promised throughout the Old Testament, the one who would come and live and die and rise again for the forgiveness of our sins. It also means believing He is the Son of God—which isn’t actually different than what we talked about last week, that he’s God. If he is the Savior of the world and the Creator of the world, that has certain implications for the way we receive him and follow him and serve him. 

Think about it for a moment. You will run into people that say, “Yeah, I believe in Jesus” or “I trust Jesus”. The question that immediately has to follow is, “What do you mean when you say that?” Because you will find people who will “believe” that Jesus was a good guy and a good teacher and they trust some of his teachings. That’s not true, saving faith because they’re not trusting him as their Savior, nor as the Son of God. If we truly believe that Jesus is our Savior, and trust him as our Savior, and if we truly believe and trust that He is the Son of God, that’s going to change everything. It’s not just that we think he’s a good guy who taught some nice things. Instead, we believe that he purchased us with his blood and that we belong to him, and we give every aspect of our lives to him because we love and trust him as our Savior and our God. 

And here’s the point I’ve been working toward, that kind of faith doesn’t come second hand. It can’t come from seeing signs/miracles and it can’t even come from our witness to another person. That kind of faith can only come when we personally encounter Jesus Christ ourselves. The signs and miracles and witness point us in the right direction, but we need to see and hear and taste and see for ourselves in order to believe. 

Now, do you remember what Jesus already taught us in this Gospel about the only way we can see? He said this to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, ESV). You can’t even see—truly see, or truly hear, or truly taste that the Lord is good—unless you’ve been born again by the Holy Spirit. That’s the difference. If you remember the three different responses I mentioned at the beginning: some will respond by believing, some will respond with a false belief, and some will respond by completely rejecting and hating. What’s the difference? The powerful work of the Holy Spirit is the difference. When someone hears our witness and truly believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Son of God, it’s because the Holy Spirit was at work in that person’s life, opening their ears to hear, their eyes to see, and their heart to see beyond the witness to Jesus Christ and encounter him personally, where they know that He is the one worthy of all their hope and trust and salvation. So, they give their lives to him and seek to follow him all the days of their life. 

And to make sure we don’t misunderstand what this means, John tells us the fruit of this kind of faith. He says, “…these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31, ESV). This has become one of my biggest hobby horses lately because there’s a sense in which we’ve lost the beauty of what John is saying here. 

I’ll be honest, I spent a large portion of my life and my Christian faith having lost the beauty of what John is saying here. The church never said it explicitly, but I got the sense early on in my faith that the world had all of these great things to offer, but we could not participate in those great things because we were Christians. Living the Christian life was about doing the hard things that Jesus demanded of us, and being disciplined, and choosing to suffer, and just do what we’re told. It was a very joyless submission. 

Yet, that’s not the way John describes this is it? No. He says, “I want you to read this book, see Jesus for who he really is, and believe in him so that you would have life!” and as Jesus told us earlier in the book, that we would have “life to the full”. The Christian life is not one of joyless obedience, choosing to do hard things for the sake of doing hard things, or choosing to suffer simply to suffer, or rejecting the good things of the world for the things of God. The picture is completely the opposite. It’s the beautifully full life. It’s rejecting the things of the world, but not because they are good, but because they will kill you. It’s choosing to do things that seem hard in the moment because they will ultimately bear beautiful fruit in your life. It’s being willing to suffer for the sake of Christ because that is FAR BETTER than allowing the world to suck the life out of you. That is what true, beautiful faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and God looks like. It’s life to the full—it’s life the way we were designed to live. 

That’s why John has written this book. It’s why we’ve been spending so much time in this Gospel. John wants you—and I want you—to be able to truly live life to the full. That begins with each of us moving beyond simply seeing and hearing about Jesus to experiencing him personally through the power of the Holy Spirit, seeing him for who He is, recognizing him for what he has done, then giving our lives to him because we love and trust him, knowing that he is working in us to shape us into who God has created us to be so that we can live fully alive in this world, and even more fully alive beyond this world. That’s what it means for us to believe and have life in his name.