Introduction to Believe Series

Introduction

Tonight we are going to start a new series entitled Believe that will take us through the Gospel of John. If you’re new around here, you may not know that my favorite way to preach is to take us through a study through a complete book of the Bible. I have only taken on one of the gospels once before, and the other times I’ve gone through short books. This one will take lots of time, but it will be a great study on the life of Jesus.

Before we begin, let’s talk about who John was.

Background

John, the son of Zebedee and brother of James, was one of Jesus' twelve chosen disciples, later known as apostles. He was likely the disciple referred to as "the one whom Jesus loved" in John's Gospel. John, along with his brother James and Peter, formed an inner circle among Jesus' disciples, witnessing key events such as the Transfiguration and Jesus' agony in Gethsemane. Jesus nicknamed John and James "Sons of Thunder," probably because of their fiery temperament or zealous commitment. John was a fisherman from Galilee when Jesus called him to be a disciple. He had a deeply personal relationship with Jesus, which is evident in several Gospel passages, including Jesus entrusting his mother to John's care at the crucifixion. After Jesus' death and resurrection, John continued to play a significant role in the early church, as described in the book of Acts. Tradition suggests that John later settled in Ephesus, though the exact timeline and details of his later life and death remain uncertain.

He also wrote the pastoral epistles (letters) of 1, 2, and 3 John and the book of Revelation.

You would probably expect me to start this series with John chapter 1 verse 1, but I’m throwing you a curve ball. We’re going to the 20th chapter.

If you’ve ever had to write a research paper, you probably learned the term thesis statement. The thesis statement gives the purpose of the paper. It’s the point of the paper—what you’re arguing for or attempting to prove. Everything in the paper is supposed to support the thesis statement.

The Gospel of John is no different. John gave a clear and distinct thesis in two verses.

Text

John 20:30–31 ESV

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

We can summarize John’s thesis in one word: believe. John witnessed nearly three years of stories, sermons, miracles, and conversations, but he didn’t include them all. He selected certain ones—the ones that would help us believe.

The current religious culture in our country loves to talk about belief and believing. Those spiritual buzzwords are often used generically and have no meaning. Rather than belief in an object or a person it becomes belief in belief. It goes something like this: “It doesn’t matter who you believe or what you believe. All that matter is that you believe.” There’s a belief in belief.

The Gospel of John doesn’t call us to believe in belief or to put our faith in faith. His teaching on belief is much deeper and more life giving than any modern, pop-culture philosophy. Throughout the twenty-one chapters, John will answer three questions:

What do we need to believe?

What does it mean to believe?

Why do we need to believe?

We will seek to answer those three questions tonight.

Question #1: What Do We Need to Believe?

Question #2: What Does It Mean to Believe?

Question #3: Why Do We Need to Believe?

Conclusion