Since our church computers had issues recording my sermon
(again!), I’m blogging the content of my sermon so that church members and
friends can access the message if they missed it. Usually messages are on our church soundcloud
page, but not if the message doesn’t record!
The Dangers of a Half-Faith (John 2:23-25)
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover
Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But
Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and
needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Encountering Jesus' Knowledge of the Heart
1. Remember that John is the Gospel of belief. He wrote so that people who read would come
to life when they see this Jesus for who He really is. John’s thesis in 20:31 is that these things
are written that people would believe and have life in Jesus’ name. The most important question one could ever
answer is “Who is Jesus and what do I believe about Him?”
2. The “belief”, which John is writing to foster, is no less
than a saving trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry wrote that to believe “is to
commit ourselves to Christ and to His guidance.” This point is important because the people to
which this passage is referring had seen Jesus’ signs and miracles (2:23), but
their faith was apparently not believable to Jesus, and thus he wasn’t buying
their discipleship. Apparently they didn’t have
true faith.
3. It appears that
they had a half-faith. They “believed in
his name” (2:23), which means they recognized His authority, which is good. But this doesn’t go far enough. Though they are really convinced of His authority, they won't yet trust their
lives to Him.
4. You can’t fool Christ a half-faith, if this is what you
possess (2:24-25). Here we see Jesus
with access to the hearts of these people – he sees them and knows them inside
and out. This is a testament to His
divinity. Solomon had said that God
alone sees all hearts (1 Kn. 8:39), and the Proverbs say that God tests the
hearts of men (Prov. 21:2). Thus for
John to say that Jesus had this same knowledge is to say that He’s divine, with
divine omniscience. The next several
encounters in with Jesus in John’s narrative – with Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and the
Roman official – all show that He
knew their hearts.
We’ll be content to harbor a half-commitment to Christ,
fooling ourselves and others about our commitment to Him. But He sees the heart. This is why the people who thought they were
“in” because they did good works are not allowed into heaven, because Christ
never knew them (Matt. 7:21-23): They thought they knew Him, but He said
no. What they knew was a half-Christ;
not the living and risen real Christ.
5. The dangers of a half faith:
-No joy. Jesus came to give His followers a joy that a
the world can’t touch, because it is based on His person and work who is
sitting in heaven presently, and their reward is there with Him (1 Pet. 1:8,
Phil. 4:4). But if you are only halfway
committed to Him, it’s because your heart is attached to worldly things, and
your joy will fluctuate depending on the stability of said things.
-No stability. Many fall away and make shipwreck of their
faith (cf. Heb. 6:4-6, 1 Tim. 1, etc.)
The reason is because they’re half-committed to Christ and haven’t yet
been brought to inner transformation which the Spirit alone can do.
-No freedom. David Foster Wallace, the deceased (from
suicide) atheistic college professor, famously said, “Everyone worships. The only choice we have is what we worship.” All of our lives are lived in worship of
things, people, places, etc. And it is
slavery. Christ and Christ alone is
truly worthy of worship, so if we worship Him, like Thomas did (Jn. 20:28),
we’ll flourish because He is worthy, and we’re created to enjoy worshiping Him.
-No heaven. Simply put, if Christ isn’t your life now, He
won’t be your eternal life then.
6. Seeing signs doesn’t necessarily lead to faith. Many think that if they could just see a sign
from God they’ll believe, or that if their atheistic loved one would see a
sign, they’d believe. But the people from John 2 didn’t. And Nicodemus, having recognized Jesus’ authority because of His signs, as far as Jesus was concerned, still wasn’t reborn, and thus couldn’t enter Christ’s Kingdom
(3:1-8). See Jesus’ parable about
Lazarus and the rich man. Abraham tells
the rich man in hell that if his non-believing brothers didn’t believe the
Scriptures, even a resurrection wouldn’t convince them (Lk. 16:18-31).
Application
7. So how do we
overcome this propensity to half-faith?
Simply put, in two words: Follow Jesus. The Gospels are written to bring us into
Christian discipleship, which J.I. Packer has defined as a belief and behavior
commitment to the Person and work of Jesus Christ: Belief, meaning that what
His Word says about who He is and what he came to do is true; behavior, meaning
that what His Word says about how we are to live in this time is where the buck
stops.
His promise is that if we’ll keep His Word – following Him –
He and His Father will come and make their home with us (see Jn. 14:23). That is, if we’ll follow Him, He’ll live with
us.
-Your house may have changed
around the holidays when it filled with people, from a quiet little cottage to
a hustling and bustling social hub (ala, the Griswold’s house on Christmas
Vacation). So Jesus wants to change our
“house” by living in it Himself. And He
will, if we’ll follow Him.
We are only truly Christians if He says we are – not if we
say we are, but if He says we are. We
are Christians if He lives with us and in us.
8. A side note: Just because Jesus can see hearts doesn’t
mean we can. We need to see apples in
order to tell if a tree is an apple tree.
But Jesus already sees the roots.
So don’t treat people like you see their hearts when you can only see the
fruit. Be kind, patient, loving,
especially if they’re a professing believer.
And strive to get this balance right.
9. Finally, when you walk with Him, you’ll realize that all
your worship and faith is imperfect. You
realize how you fail Him, how you can’t measure up to Him and how you’re
unworthy of His presence. But then it
becomes good news that He came and lived on earth precisely because you and I fail God. Christ lived because
we were dead (Eph. 2:1-4). And he rose
again to then give us His obedience and righteousness through His Spirit. When we see our failings, we then hope in
Him, and a resurrection of the soul happens, where we plug into His power
alone, and we truly begin to have a real and living faith.
So let’s all press in deeper with Jesus, until we truly
believe. “Let us press on to know the
Lord” (Hos. 6:3). There is no better use
of our energies and time. He’ll come and
live with us.
