|
Rochford Community Church Resources
Back to Preaching Contents Page
Recent
RCC Sermons
"Knowing,
Believing & Doing"
Messages
from Sunday mornings
Reading:
John 16:25-33
1.
Introduction
- We're
going to consider ‘belief'
- Jonathan
Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England
. He asked one man, “What
do you believe?”
“Well,
I believe the same as the church.”
“And
what does the church believe?” “Well, they believe the same as me.”
Seeing
he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, “And what is it that you both
believe?”
“Well,
I suppose the same thing.”
- Many
people have no beliefs or confused beliefs
- The
EVIDENCE is powerful - to help belief
- When
Lew Wallace set out to study the life of Christ, he was not a Christian.
In fact, writing a story such as Ben Hur was the farthest thing from
his mind. Wallace was antagonistic toward Christianity, and determined
he would study the life of Christ so thoroughly, and then write so convincingly,
that he would be able to kill the story of Christ. He wanted to prove
that Jesus, if He had lived, was not God, but merely a man, that He
never rose from the dead, and that Christianity was a hoax. So he studied.
This great and enormous subject drew him further and further into his
research until the evidence overwhelmed him. He dropped to his knees
and cried out to Jesus to be his Savior and Lord. Then, instead of writing
a book to prove to the world that Jesus was not God, he wrote Ben Hur,
to try to prove to the world that Jesus was God.
- Reading
context – the Last Supper - with closest disciples
- This
passage in the reading is confusing - but challenges us to think
2.
Different Levels of Believing?
- 25
"Though
I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer
use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.
26 In
that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the
Father on your behalf. 27
No, the
Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed
that I came from God.
- future
plans v.25
- Jesus
will speak directly about his Father v.25
- they
will ask directly in Jesus' name v.26
- they
are loved, simply because they loved Jesus v.27
- NOTE
: they already believed
- 28
I came from
the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going
back to the Father."
- 29
Then Jesus'
disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures
of speech. 30
Now we can
see that you know all things and that you do not even
need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe
that you came from God."
- disciples
think this is the time of clarity
- they
think this is why they believe v.30 – it isn't
- 31
"You
believe at last!" Jesus answered. 32
"But
a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to
his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my
Father is with me.
- 33
"I
have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
- you
believe is a question in some versions
- you
think you believe – but you're about to be scattered
- you
will doubt your beliefs
- they
will eventually come to a place of fresh belief
- that
will be after the Cross & resurrection
3.
Believing
- Knowing
can be passive
- Believing
is active (meaningful) knowledge
- But
there are clearly different levels of believing
- Disciples
saw miracles – believed
- Jn
2:23 Now
while he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was
doing and believed in him .
- Jn
4:39 Many
of the Samaritans from that town believed in him
because of the woman's testimony .
- Disciples
heard truth (reading above) – believed
- Cross
– brought doubts
- Resurrection
- believed again at a new level
- Jn
2:22 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 .
- Believing
is a thing God recognises and acts upon
- Jn
7:39 By
this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed
in him were later to receive.
- But
believing is not a guarantee
- see
Lk 8:11-13
- 12
Those
along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and
takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may
not believe and be saved. 13
Those
on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they
hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while
, but in the time of testing they fall away.
- For
salvation believing has to be ongoing
- Believing
has to turn into doing
- Jn
14:12 I
tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have
been doing .
- faith
= believing in action i.e. doing
- I
would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to
believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else
reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied
with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation;
a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best.
It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.
(C.
H. Spurgeon)
- You
never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood
becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a
rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to cord a box.
But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't
you then first discover how much you really trusted it? (C.
S. Lewis, A Grief Observed)
Appendix
- from Notices for the day
The
following are support resources to go with this morning's Bible teaching
1.
Knowing
Lk
1:3 “since
I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning,
it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you….. so
that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
•
Luke writes after careful investigation
•
He now produces an ‘orderly account' –
his Gospel
•
with the aim that we might know the
facts of what happened
NB>
Definition: “knowing” – being aware of specific information.
Examples:
Rom
8:28
“we know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him.”
•
know
that whatever happens, God is working for our good
•
yes, in everything He is at work on our
behalf if we are His children.
Eph
1:18,19
“I
pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that
you may know the hope to which he has called you ,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
•
know
He has a wonderful future for us.
Eph
3:17-19
“And
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power,
together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge --that you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness of God.”
•
know His incredible love for is which
can fill us.
Col
4;6
“Let
your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that
you ay know how to answer everyone.”
•
know how to be able to talk to people
and share God's love
2.
Believing
“Knowing”
is about receiving information.
“Knowing”
is passive, e.g. we know there are planets out in space but that ‘knowledge'
doesn't affect how we think or live.
‘Believing'
is about active response to ‘knowledge'. ‘Belief' is knowledge coming
alive.
For
example, to take a verse we considered previously:
Rom 8:28
“
we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him.”
We
might point that out to a non-believing friend, showing them that that
is what the Bible says. “Oh, all right,” they respond, but it is nothing
more than a piece of knowledge in their mind. They are untouched by
it (as we probably were about the planets!).
A
young Christian hears that same piece of information one Sunday morning
and responds, “Wow, that's wonderful!” What was the difference? They
believed it, i.e. they believed that it was true and because they love
God they now believe it applies to them. Their mind and their
emotions have kicked in, in response.
3.
Doing
“Doing”
is the response of ‘belief'.
Our
young Christian has responded to the ‘knowledge' (information) with
‘belief' – it is for them! They ‘believe' what God has said in His word,
that it is applicable to them.
So
when things get difficult in life, their ‘belief' kicks in and they
remain at peace. Instead of panicking they are able to continue enjoying
life, knowing that their loving, heavenly Father will be at work in
these difficult circumstances to bring good to them.
Negatively
they do NOT get stressed and edgy with other people.
Positively
they continue to rejoice at God's goodness and remain a blessing to
those around them. This is ‘doing' in response to ‘believing'.
|
Sunday Services