Sunday, April 28, 2013

Seeing Isn't Believing

We're back again in John. And this week we're going to look at the aftermath of the raising of Lazarus. After I read John's account of what happened I'm going to ask the text a question. And then, I'm going to try to answer it. I think that the answer to that question can be quite helpful when it comes to understanding people. Please listen as I read John 11.45-53.

So, Jesus has performed a miracle. And it's quite a miracle. There are miracles that some fraud might be able to fake. But raising to life someone who has been dead and buried for four days is not one of them. John tells us that many of the Jews who were there and saw the miracle, believed in Jesus as a result of what they saw. And that makes perfect sense. Who wouldn't believe a miracle like that? But, believe it or not, there were some who didn't believe. Some of these, the chief priests and some of the Pharisees, were not at Lazarus' tomb when the miracle occurred. But they heard about it. They heard but didn't believe. It is interesting to note that they never doubted that it happened. In fact, they even said, '… this man performs many[!] signs.' Their concerns arose exactly because they knew that He could do such things. But they still did not believe in Him. But then, there were the others who actually saw what had happened. They were there, mourning with the rest. They were there, and saw the dead man alive again. They were there, but they did not believe in Jesus. You'd think that seeing would be believing. But, in their case, it wasn't. So, while some believed, these others didn't.

Now, here's the question. Why? Why didn't they believe in Jesus? They saw the miracle just as the others. Why didn't they believe like the others? John doesn't give us reasons about these particular men, but there are other places in the Bible that answer our question in a more general way. I'm going to mention five possible reasons. One or more of these might explain what was going on with these men who witnessed the miracle but did not believe. And bear in mind what I'm after. I want to help you understand people.

Here's the first reason for a failure to believe. It comes from earlier in John's Gospel.

If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. John 7.17

There are those who won't believe that Jesus is sent with the Father's authority. And the reason why they won't believe this is because they are not willing to do God's will. Or to put that in different terms, it's because they are stubborn. They want to do what they want to do. So, when such people hear God calling them to this or that, the first question is about whether obedience to that call fits with what they want to do. Now, that doesn't mean that they never obey. But even when they do, it's because obedience to the Father fits with what they want to do anyway. So, their stubbornness is still active even those times when they acting in the right way. Jesus says that this kind of person, the stubborn person, just won't get it. He won't understand who Jesus actually is. He won't believe, not really. Maybe this was what was going on with some of the guys in our text.

Here's another reason for a failure to believe. This comes from Mark's Gospel.

Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? Mark 12.24

This comes from that time some Sadducees tried to trap Jesus with their story about the seven men and the one wife, and the question about the resurrection. Jesus, in response, is quite blunt. 'You are wrong.' And why are they wrong? Ignorance. There are things that they just don't know. They don't know their Bibles, and they don't know how God can do all sorts of impossible things. Now, don't assume that the solution to their problem is more Bible study especially when it comes to those parts that talk about the power of God. That's a modern way of thinking about knowledge. The solution to everything is more education, more information. Jesus wasn't talking about that. These guys had plenty of information about the topics in question. But they still didn't get it. They didn't understand all that information. So, they were, ironically, a bunch of ignorant guys. And Jesus tells them that. History is filled with the stories of people who were overflowing with all sorts of information who were still ignorant. And getting another doctorate isn't going to fix that. The problem isn't about information. It's about understanding that information. A second reason people don't believe is their ignorance of God.

A third possible cause of unbelief comes from later in John.

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. John 12.42,43

This, particularly since it's from John, raises the interesting question of whether this was real believing or a counterfeit. John reports other situations when people believed in Jesus and then they didn't. In any event, at best, this is a weak faith. It wants to be a quiet kind of believing, if there is such a thing. And why do these fellows try to keep it quiet? '… they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God …' Let me translate that. The problem is that they wanted the approval of other people. And gaining that approval was more important than gaining God's approval. This person wants to be liked. He lusts for that. This is the person who tries to figure out what's popular and what isn't before he decides what he'll do. What other people think of him is more important than what God thinks of him. This is another reason why some will not believe.

A fourth cause of unbelief is idolatry. I think that it is commonly assumed that idolatry is about statues and their veneration. That means that idolatry is a problem for other people, not moderns like us. But that, of course, is wrong. And it's wrong because of the definition. Idolatry is not about statues. Idolatry is about love. When life is good, what does a person love? When life is hard, what does he love? In the various situations of life, he will look to whatever it is that he loves so that he can live in that situation, so that he can make life work in that situation. Did he do something good, and it was recognized as such by others? What does he look to in that situation to live in it? Himself? Does he assume that he is praised because he is such a great guy? Or does he look with gratitude to the God who created him? When life is difficult, filled with hard decisions and many risks, what does he look to so he can live in that situation? What will make life work in that situation? A sense of control? Enough money in the bank? The ability to work harder? Whatever he looks to in those situations is his god. And if it isn't the Father of our Lord Jesus, then it is an idol. John is warning us about this when he writes in one of his letters,

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5.21  

Bear in mind that he wrote that to Christians. Idolatry is still a problem, and it will be until Jesus comes back. And this is one reason why some people will not believe in Jesus. They would need to give up their idols first. And they are too afraid to do that.

There is one more reason why there are some who will not believe. This is also from later in John.

Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” John 12:39-40

There are times when people cannot believe because they, for so long, refused to. Because of that refusal God makes it impossible for them to believe. As an act of justice, He removes from them even the possibility of believing. I think that I am right in saying that this curse is applied only to church people. And when it is applied, it's all over.

So, here are several possible reasons why those witnesses of Jesus' profound miracle did not believe: stubbornness, ignorance, the lust to be liked, idols, God's curse.

Now, what makes all of this interesting is that I haven't been talking about 'them'. I've been talking about you. You face these same obstacles to believing. Your believing grows as the Spirit calls to you, and you obey Him. Refusing to obey is failure to believe, and that stunts the growth of your believing Jesus. And if a faith is not growing then it is dying.

So, to return to an old image, there are times when the Spirit tells you to take a left at the corner. But what if you fail to do that? And there are lots of ways you can fail here. You don't want to turn left. You had planned on going straight, and no one's going to make you do any differently. Or you don't hear the Spirit say anything about turning because you're not listening for Him. You just don't know Him all that well. Or when you hear Him you first figure out what everyone else is doing before you decide if you should turn. Or there's this other something that tells you that life will work so much better if you turn right instead. Stubbornness, ignorance, the lust to be liked, idols. These things can interfere with a growing faith.

Now, folk don't usually see these obstacles in themselves. So they think these are problems for other people and not them. But Jeremiah has something that fits here.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17.9

These obstacles are all issues of the heart, and getting to know your own heart is really difficult. So, folk don't see these obstacles within themselves but not because they aren't there. They don't see them because they are hidden. They are there, and you need to be able to see them as they try to pervert how you live. You need to be able to see them so that you can deal with them by repenting of them and then coming again to Jesus for forgiveness and change.

So, how does that happen? What do you do to get to know your own heart and the obstacles that reside in there? There are different things that can be said here. I'm going to pick this one: piety. Piety is about having a growing awareness of God and understanding what it means that He is God and you aren't. Piety is about having a willing spirit instead of being stubborn. It's about seeing the beauty of the Father and experiencing His majestic power instead of being ignorant of such things. It's about having an assurance of being liked so much by the Father that you don't need to be liked by anyone else. It's about who the real God is and knowing that none of those idols make the cut. Piety. It is by getting to know God that we get to know ourselves.

And how does piety grow in the soul of a Christian? I have two thoughts. First, - and this builds on David Gordon's sermon of a couple of weeks ago - piety grows by being in God's presence. And, as David had said, God will be in the assembly of His people on the first day of the week. Piety grows by being in church on Sundays because God is here. And here's my second thought: Piety grows as a result of a life of childlike prayer. And by childlike prayer I mean prayer that is honest, sincere, brash, expectant and simple, among other things. God enjoys that kind of prayer and responds to it.

So, seeing isn't believing. There are dynamics of the heart that are more significant than even seeing a miracle. Be aware of these obstacles so that you can avoid falling into their traps. Be aware of these obstacles so that your ability to believe Jesus can grow.