STRONG FAITH-Part 1
Jn 4:46-54
2 weeks ago in class we
looked at an overall view of the book of John—what the purpose was for writing,
and a little about what was going on there in the latter part of the first
century which would influence John to record this message.
We are going to attempt to
build on this lesson as we progress today with a lesson on Strong Faith.
Prayer--
We said 2 weeks ago that it
is vitally important for us to have an understanding of the context of a
book—to have an understanding of what that message meant to the people to whom
it was written-- before we can rightly make an application of that scripture in
our own lives today--
--because the message of God
as recorded in the scriptures can not mean anything else for us today, other
than what it meant to the people to whom it was written—regardless of when that
might have been.
We said 2 weeks ago, that the
book of John has primarily 2 verses which give a short summary of the purpose
of the book.
What were those 2 verses??
Jn 20:30,31
And what did we say was the 2
primary points that were brought out in these verses—especially vs. 31??
1.
That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God.
2.
That ye might have life as a result of this belief.
We also mentioned that there
was a specific use of the word belief or faith in the book of John, and that it
is used in what way in the book of John??
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--as a verb. Which tells us what??
That it is a word of
action—that it denotes not just a philosophy, or what we claim, or what we
say—but rather, what we do—a life we live—8 days a week.
A faith or belief that is
made evident through our very lives.
We also saw how the message
of God which was delivered to John, had been in existence since before the
creation of the world, and that that message was described as Christ himself.
Christ was that message,
because He was that fulfillment of God's unfolding plan to restore man to his
intended purpose, as created in the beginning, before he was influenced by
Satan to sin.
So, we saw that John was
written to do what??
To encourage christians to entrust
their lives to God, and as a result, enjoy the good life available in this life
as well as the life to come.
Q/C??
O K, let's take a look at Jn 4:46-54
A couple of questions that I
would like you to think about as we progress thru this lesson are the
following:
1. Why should people have trust in us?
2. Why would we want people to trust us?
BOARD--What is necessary to
have someone trust in us??
1.
We must show that we are concerned about them.
2.
We must show that we have the power to help them.
3.
We must show that we will use that power to help them.
I have a phrase that I like
to use here—SPECIAL TREATMENTS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS.
Sometime maybe we can do a lesson
on this, but for right now—we'll just say that any need that an individual has,
is to him or her—a special need. Would
everybody agree with that?
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And anything we can do to
help fill that need is A SPECIAL TREATMENT.
So, we have the phrase—SPECIAL
TREATMENTS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS.
And that is going to be the
basis for our lesson today.
Ac 3:1-7
Just as a side note here—what
did the lame man want??
A handout—he wanted money to
sustain him—to take care of his physical needs.
What did he get??
He was healed—which did
what?? It enabled him to go forth and
take care of his own physical needs.
The same principle is put
forth in the Fishers of Men program which trains christians how to go forth and
teach others about the message of God.
"Give a man a fish and you
will feed him for a day—teach him how to fish and you will feed him for a
lifetime."
What can we learn from this??
2 things to remember here:
1.
We should not always expect to get what we want.
2.
We should not always give what the other person wants.
i.e., giving should be
assessed by need and not necessarily by want.
Q/C??
So, we see that Peter showed
his concern for the man—he told the man to rise up and walk.
Now, why was this so
eventful?
SEE BOARD-—because Peter
showed he had the power and used it.
Very shortly, we are going to
have an opportunity to SHOW WE REALLY CARE—through our actions---
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We will be making plans for
our gospel meeting, and this is an opportunity for us to really show that we
really do care.
We can talk all day long about
evangelizing.
We can talk all day long
about others realizing what is necessary to be saved.
We can talk all day long
about taking final authority for all we do from the scriptures,
We can talk all day long
about how we pattern our lives after the church of the 1st century,
as directed by the apostles teaching.
All that and a $1.00 will buy
you a cup of coffee.
It doesn't mean anything
unless?? We do it.
BOARD—Concern + Having power
+ Action = ??
WE REALLY CARE.
Concern is necessary.
Power to help is necessary.
But—using that power(actually
helping)—shows we really care.
I don't know if you remember
it or not, but 15-20 years ago, there was a very popular slogan which we saw on
bumper stickers and signs. It was kind
of humorous, although the very concept was in itself, very sad.
The slogan was WHO CARES.
And it became a popular
retort to anyone who criticized you or made some comment about your actions, or
your feelings.
Well, I had one of those
bumper stickers, but to me it meant something a little different.
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I used to have a general
contracting business, with 2 crews going- doing home repair and remodeling and
some new construction.
On the truck that I drove, I
had the side tool boxes, and on the front of the box on the drivers side,(right
behind the cab), I placed this bumper sticker—WHO CARES.
Under normal circumstances,
the only one who would see that sticker would be me, when I got out of the
truck, and would see that sticker there on the end of that tool box.
And the reason I put that
sticker there, was to remind me(every time I got out of the truck) that
customer satisfaction was my priority.
I could only do what I could do, and I couldn't do any more. But I had to do all that I could do.
So for me- when I looked at
that bumper sticker that said WHO CARES,---I could say to myself—I DO.
Back to Board----repeat---
Keep this miracle in Jn4
:46-54 in mind, and then let's go back to ch.1 and compare people's opinion on
faith in Jesus to that in ch. 4.
Jn 1:43-46
What do you see here??
Nathaniel had no faith in
Jesus—HE'S JUST A MAN, A CARPENTER, SON OF JOSEPH, AND NOTHING GOOD COMES OUT
OF NAZARETH.
Being from Nazareth, carried
a stigma of prejudice.
That was the "other side of
the tracks'—the projects—because of that prejudice, they were considered
wicked, and were shunned.
But what was Phillip's
answer??
"Come and see."
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As time progresses, we see
that people began to realize that:
Jesus does care --see
board—1,2,3,
Jn 6:1,2
Now we see that Jesus is more
than just a carpenter.
Remember Nicodemus in 3:2—WE
KNOW.
Why?—because we saw.
Q/C??
OK, looking at Jn 4:46-54—
The nobleman traveled some
20-25 miles to enlist the help of Jesus in making his son well.
Vs. 47
We all know what this man was
going thru, but at the same time, we don't really understand, unless we've lost
a child or close family member, or had someone close at the point of death w/
little or no prospect of living.
The nobleman was about a
day's journey from Cana, where Jesus was.
He believed that Jesus could
heal his son, because of what he had heard of the miracles performed.
He believed thru action—he
went to Jesus.
Vs. 48 Jesus realized that the nobleman thought
Jesus would have to be present w/ his son in order to heal him.
Yet the nobleman stays right on
Jesus, pleading his cause,--vs. 49.
Vs. 50 This then convinced the nobleman of the power
of Jesus—he accepted it, and headed for home.
Vs. 51-53 First of all, why didn't Jesus go to the
nobleman's home?
Was he to busy? Why?
We see that Jesus would show
that His power was not limited by distance.
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We also need to realize that
no matter how far we get from Jesus, He has the power to help.
But someone might say "Jesus
should have gone w/ the nobleman. After
all, he was of the royal family, with a strong tie to Herod Antipas.
Going to his house to heal
his son, would have been good P R, and would have helped smooth over some of
the negative feelings Jesus was having on the Jews.
But Jesus was not affected by
prestige or by influential people.
But what about us?
Do we tend to be closer to
someone who is well-off, or has an influential job, or a leader in the church,
or the preacher?
Or, on the other hand, are we
closer to someone who is a laborer, rather than those who are well-off?
Are we prejudiced against those
who are different from ourselves?
Jesus was not concerned with
the man's wealth, or his influence, or the lack or wealth, but what??
His faith in Jesus—his belief
that :
1.
Jesus was
concerned
2.
Jesus had the
power to heal his son
3.
Jesus would use
that power and that power would be made manifest thru the healing of his son.
Several points need to be
examined here:
1. When the man came specifically to ask Jesus
to heal his son, why did Jesus say—48b?
The people knew that Jesus
was healing people—isn't that faith?
Matt 16:1-4
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Did you ever hear the phrase:
Red sky at night, sailors
delight;
Red sky in morning, sailors
take warning. ?
Straight out of the
Bible—amazing isn't it?
Anyway, back to the subject
at hand—vs. 1.
Mk 8:11,12
Their questioning Jesus; was
not for the purpose of looking for proof of their faith or their conviction—but
what??
--their desire to find proof
of something which they could use to find fault with him.
When the Jews already had all
the proof they needed; now they were looking for more.
So, why did Jesus say to this
man—Jn 8:48b?
He was as well talking for
the benefit of all those present.
Jesus was looking for active
obedience to God—not just by word, but faith—active obedience to God.
2. Before faith, must come knowledge. The nobleman had to be made aware of the
power of Jesus. He had heard of the
power of Jesus; but what was a prerequisite of this? What was necessary for him to be made aware
of the healing power of Jesus?
Someone had to tell him.
Rom 10:14
So, preachers are the ones to
tell the world about Jesus-right?
But not the only ones.
It is every christian's
responsibility to spread the gospel to others.
By words and by actions.
Q/C??
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It is a very popular
philosophy today, that there are 2 gospels—1 necessary for an individual to be
saved, and 1 necessary to grow and mature, and perform service to God.
But there is only 1 gospel.
We expand our knowledge of
that one gospel step by step, and as a result, expand our responsibilities and
our service to the church.
Knowledge about God is not
just a minimum amt. of information necessary to become a christian.
Increasing our knowledge
about God, should be an ever increasing part of our lives—always being
challenged to study more—to have a greater understanding of God's Word—an
understanding which will spur us on to greater service.
Eph 1:8
Thru study and prayer, we
attain the understanding and make application—continued growth.
3.
Faith involves total dependence on God's power, and
God's love.
Note that the nobleman did
not say—"Jesus, I'm a nobleman, influential, rich—I can help you out with those
who are persecuting you—but first, I need a favor."
No. Instead, he came and "besought" or begged him
to heal his son.
He brought nothing but
humility, a need, and faith in Jesus.
It should be the same with
us. It's not the car we drive, the job we have, the responsibility we have in
the church—it's just as I am—"Lord, I'm depending on you."
Knowing that Jesus will supply SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR SPECIAL NEEDS.
