That You May Come to Believe
At the end of chapter 20, John wrote a most caring and loving sentence. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)
What a wonderful thought. To think that all those years ago John wrote his Gospel with the singular purpose of sharing Jesus with everyone and anyone. The story is important, the witness is vital, but the heart of it is salvation, that you may have life in his name.
It isn’t just a matter of agreeing, “Yeah, that happened.” Believing the story is one thing, having life in Jesus himself is quite another. Think of people you know a lot about. For example, I’ve read a number of biographies on Winston Churchill. I’ve read histories and watched movies, documentaries and TV shows about him and various events in his life and career. I’ve even read his own account of the circumstances and events that led to World War II, “The Gathering Storm.” That all helps me gain some measure of the man and his leadership in a critical time. But I don’t imagine I have a personal relationship with him, or ever could in this life.
But that is precisely what John is saying here. To believe the Gospel and its testimony to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, is a means to know Jesus and, knowing him, to have life, true life, eternal life.
If we look back on John’s Gospel, we see the many ways that Jesus reached people along the way. When he called Nathanael and when he met the Samaritan woman at the well, in each case he told them things about themselves that no one could know. He knew Nathanael had been under a tree reading about Jacob. He knew the woman had had five husbands and was with another man.
Other people came to know him through signs and miracles, like changing water into wine or directing a man to bathe in the pool at Bethesda, or feeding 5,000 with a couple of fish and a few loaves. With others, like Nicodemus, it was his teaching. And there are the times he set things right, by overturning the tables of the money-changers outside the Temple or challenging those about to stone the woman caught in adultery. I could go on, and John said he could have written many more accounts of what Jesus did. But we have enough to see how he met people where they were, and how they were, and reached them in a way that they could receive.
We are all wired differently. One size doesn’t fit all, but one Jesus does. That continues in the life of the church. We are, collectively, living out what Paul did in his ministry: “I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)
It’s still very hard. Believing, truly believing, in Jesus being raised from the dead, in a new body that is at once recognizable, physical and yet distinctly different in form, radically changes how we see ourselves, and our place and purpose in the world and our prospects for a future that does not end.
We find our identity in him. It’s all well and good to think about yourself, sort out what you like to do, what you think about things and so on. But to be loved, how that builds us up. To have that builds life, to lack it leaves most difficult scars. And to know we are loved by him? He loves us right where we are, with all our shortcomings and failures. And he loves us too much to leave us in such a state. Our identity is not stagnant. It is growing and changing toward him.
By his grace, as we draw closer to him, we gain wisdom through his teaching and through the transformation he’s working within us, as well as the counsel we have in a growing circle of godly fellowship. He heightens our regard for others, including those we don’t see, those we don’t even like and those we don’t understand.
Believing in Jesus and having life in him also imparts enormous responsibility, because being true to your faith starts to elbow for room in your life, for time in your schedule, for space in your budget. And it needs to win. It is not just more important, it is life. Everything else falls into place when you put Jesus first and having life in him first.
I regularly get into conversations with people about my work. They always ask, usually the first thing they ask, is “How big is your church?” And I will share a bit about you, what wonderful people you are, how great it is to live here and how good it is to be home. We are so very blessed, all of us.
But the true joy is helping people to meet Jesus and get closer to him. I think about that a lot. I hope people meet him in the kitchen, at breakfast and social hour, in children’s church, at choir practice, at the Thrift Shop and most especially in worship.
Have you even been to a revival or a church service where they have an altar call? I love that! When I was a kid, I’d sometimes go to Church with my Baptist or Pentecostal friends and they’d invite people down to receive Jesus. I’d go every time!
We’re going to have an old-fashioned altar call this morning. We’ve done this before. Here’s how it’s going to work. Right after I finish this sermon Deacon John is going to invite you make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. And just so you don’t worry about getting it right, we’ve printed a sufficient summary of our faith right in your bulletin (the Nicene Creed.) You may not have it all figured out, that’s ok. It’s about faith, not certainty.
Then Deacon John will lead us in some prayers for the Church and the world, you can add some too. The I’ll invite you to confess your sin, which we will do together and what goes on between you and God is between you and God. Then we’ll greet each other in true, Godly peace. You at home can follow along.
Then we will move to the altar and remember what Jesus said and commanded us to do in remembrance of him. You remember what he said, “When two or more are gathered together in my name, I will be in the midst of them.” He is with us, and he is present in the bread and wine. “This is my body. This is my blood.”
When we share that, we share Him. I say, “The body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in everlasting life” so that through believing you may have life in his name. We come to meet Jesus. I pray we all do.
AMEN!