What Does It Mean to Believe?

Today we’re closing out chapter 4 in John’s biography of Jesus. Up until now, most of the chapter has dealt with Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well—how she came to believe he was the Messiah and how many from her town came to believe after she shared her testimony with them.

Now, as we finish up the chapter, John gives us a different angle on the topic of belief. Not everyone’s story is the same. Not everyone’s path to believing in Jesus is the same. For the woman at the well, hers started with Jesus bringing up her shame. For the royal official we meet in our passage this morning, his journey starts by approaching Jesus in desperation.

For me, my journey started with the faithfulness of my mom. My parents were told they weren’t able to have children when they got married. Of course that was incredibly hard for both of them. They’re also Christians, and my mom in particular took a lot of comfort from the life of Hannah in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel.

Hannah wasn’t able to have kids, and she prayed in the Temple one day asking for God to give her a son, saying that she would give him right back to the Lord to serve him all the days of his life. My mom made that her prayer as well. It’s what she prayed every day for 17 years, and then I was born.

My mom was patient with me, but she was also incredibly intentional to point me to Jesus for as long as I can remember. And so one Wednesday night as a little kid when our pastors’ sermon caught my attention in a way it never had before, I remember tugging on my mom’s nightgown as she was brushing her teeth and asking when I could become a Christian.

She told me that was a big decision, and I could do it whenever I was ready. She went back to brushing her teeth, and I waited as long as I could (which was probably just a few seconds) before I tugged on her gown again and asked, “Can I become a Christian now?”

I had lots of questions, and we sat on my parent’s bed and talked through everything that night as I asked God to forgive me of the ways I disobeyed and sinned against him and trusted in what Jesus had done for me in his life, death, and resurrection.

If you’re a follower of Jesus this morning, you have a story of how you came to believe. If you’re not a Christian, then wherever you’re at right now, you also have some kind of relationship to belief.

If you look at the passage that was just read for us, this royal official whose son was sick and dying is said to believe in Jesus multiple times. Right at the start, he had to have some kind of belief in verse 47 just to approach Jesus and ask him to heal his son.

But then he shows a different kind of belief in verse 50 when he listens to Jesus and leaves to return home. By verse 53, he’s learned that his son has recovered, and it says “he himself believed, and all his household.” Even though the man was already said to believe in Jesus earlier, here his belief is described as something new.

And that’s because we get to experience different types of belief throughout the story. From the Galileans that welcome Jesus at the start of the passage to the royal official and his entire family becoming Christ followers right at the end, we find 4 kinds of belief here that resonate with us at different stages of our journey toward coming to saving faith in Jesus.

The belief the man has in Jesus at the end of the story isn’t the same type of belief he has at the beginning. Growing up an only child in a Christian home in a rural setting, I believed in Jesus as my invisible friend before I ever believed in him as my Savior. Lots of people today might say they believe in Jesus. But what kind of belief are they talking about? What kind of belief allows you to truly know him? What kind of belief allows you to find peace and purpose and be changed by him?

God’s graciously given us this story of the royal official and his son, not just so we can see whether we have the right type of belief, but so you can seen how God might draw you closer to him no matter where your belief is starting at this morning. From verses 43-54, we don’t just see four types of belief in Jesus—we see a progression from shallow belief to saving belief.

You might find yourself identifying with one of these types of belief right now, so I want to go ahead give us all four and then walk through the progression in the passage of how God can lead us from one to the next as we come to know him and follow him. Here are the four:

1. I believe in Jesus because of what he can do for me

2. I believe in Jesus because of what I need him to do for me

3. I believe in Jesus because I trust what he has done for me

4. I believe in Jesus because of who he is for me

Do any of those ring true for you this morning as the primary way you think of Jesus? Lots of people would say they believe, but what is the kind of belief Jesus actually calls us to have in him? Let’s start with believing in Jesus because of what he can do for me. Look with me at verses 43-45.

John 4:43–45 ESV

⁴³ After the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

This is a weird 3 verses without the surrounding context. In verse 44 John recalls how Jesus had said that prophets have no honor in their hometown. But then in the very next verse it mentions the Galileans welcomed him when he arrived. Jesus grew up in a town called Nazareth that was in… Galilee. On face value, these two verses seem to contradict one another. Was his hometown welcoming or dishonorable to him?

But verse 43 gives us an important clue. It says, “After the two days he departed for Galilee.” If you remember, Jesus had just stopped in Samaria as he came up from Judea in the southern part of Israel. Samaritans and Jews had massive social and religious issues with one another. They weren’t friendly to each other. And yet, Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well transformed her life.

She believed Jesus was the Messiah, and she told everyone who would listen about him. The town came out to see Jesus for themselves, many believed, and they asked to stay with him for two days. They showed this prophet incredible honor. Even though they were Samaritans and shouldn’t have wanted anything to do with Jesus, they opened up their lives to him.

And it’s with that in mind that we see this contrast with the Jews in Galilee. They weren’t like the Samaritans. Even though they were supposed to be his people, they didn’t honor Jesus for who he was. Even though they welcomed him, verse 45 says they did that because they saw the amazing things he had done in Jerusalem during Passover.

And when Jesus was performing those miracles in Jerusalem at the end of John 2, it said many believed in his name but Jesus “did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” They believed positively about Jesus, but their belief focused on what he could do for them. It wasn’t about him.

Most truck owners can relate. It’s always nice to have a friend that owns a truck. You never know when you might need their help hauling some things for whatever reason (There’s actually some stuff in the kids building that won’t fit in my car that I need help storing in our shed at home). If you own a truck, you gotta wonder: are they being nice because they like me or because they like my truck?

That kind of kindness, that kind of belief toward Jesus, when that’s all it is—it’s ultimately disingenuous. We’re essentially boiling down the gospel to only be that Jesus can give me eternal life. If you think about why you believe in Jesus, is the main reason just because you hope to get all the good stuff that comes with him? If heaven was a real place and there was no more pain and suffering, not more toil in our work, nothing but peace and joy with your loved ones—but Jesus wasn’t there—would you be good with that?

That kind of belief in Jesus isn’t actually much different than disbelieving in him. You might say you believe in Jesus, but if it centers around only what he can do for you, then you’re going to find yourself shaping your idea of God into the image you want him to be. For people that don’t believe in Jesus, they similarly might be rejecting him because he doesn’t fit the image they want him to be. But neither provides any meaningful purpose for your life because it assumes God is in a supporting position and you’re at the center.

The Galileans were happy that Jesus had come because they believed he could make their lives better, not that he could make their lives new. A great test to see if you find yourself in this category of belief is to look at how you pray. Are your prayers all about you? Are you only asking for God to do this and that? Those are important things, and we’re invited in Scripture to bring our requests to God. But if we find ourselves regularly asking for God to do things for us and hardly ever worshiping him for what he has done for us, then I think it’s worth asking, “Why?”

This is the type of belief that Jesus experienced when he first arrived in Galilee. But starting in verse 46, he meets a man whose difference in belief is subtle but incredibly important. Let’s keep reading.

John 4:46–49 ESV

⁴⁶ So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Like we’ve already seen, word about Jesus had to started to spread, and this man in verse 46 learns Jesus is now in Cana, which is where Jesus turned water into wine back in John 2. John calls him an “official”, and that word was used most commonly to refer to someone who served royalty. At the time in Galilee, that would have been Herod Antipas. So, we don’t really have any evidence that says this man was a Gentile. He very well could have been Jewish.

But he hears that Jesus is in Cana while he’s about 20-25 miles away on the northwest shores of the Sea of Galilee in a town called Capernaum. Capernaum was about 700 feet below sea level, so even New Orleans would be looking down on it. That’s why the man asks Jesus to literally “come down” to there from Cana in verse 47.

He wants Jesus to heal his son who’s at the point of death, and that’s a different kind of belief in Jesus than what we see the masses doing in verse 45. They welcomed Jesus because of what he could do for them, but this man went to Jesus because of what he needed Jesus to do for him. Their faith might have been disingenuous, but his was desperate.

The hottest food I’ve ever eaten was on a mission trip to Myanmar in southeast Asia. It’s a closed country, meaning that Christian missionaries aren’t welcomed there, so we went with an organization that had a good relationship with the government putting on sports clinics in their capital. We came as an American basketball team that ran camps for kids during the day and then would scrimmage their national team in the afternoons.

Because we went as guests of the government, they both watched us and also showed us a good deal of hospitality. One night they fed us a truly incredible meal. I can still remember that chicken and rice dish it was so good. So when we stopped inside a local place off the street for lunch the next day, I saw a picture on the menu that looked like the thing I had eaten the night before, and I got it.

But it was not the same. I’ve never sweat-cried so much in my life. If you’ve ever seen Dumb and Dumber when Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels eat the peppers in that diner and they’re showering each other’s faces with ketchup and mustard as they reached for anything trying to survive—that’s what it felt like. I drank everyone’s water at the table, I put as much bread in my mouth as I could—I did everything I could think of to try to help. I’ve been thirsty before, but I’ve never been so desperate for something to drink.

A disingenuous belief in Jesus entertains the idea of how it might be nice if he’s real, or how it you wish he’d do this or that for you and bless you. But a desperate belief in Jesus—a Myanmar chicken special kind of desperate belief—can’t see any other future without him. And the distinction here isn’t necessarily a different view of Jesus—it’s a deep sense of your own need.

The man was a royal official, but we never see him mention that to Jesus. His focus is only on his dying son. Who knows how many other things this man of means has tried, but when he hears that a miracle worker is in the area, he approaches him entirely out of other options. Even when Jesus first respond with a criticism in verse 48, the man simply replies fixated on his son: “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Have you ever been that desperate for Jesus? The move from “It would be nice if he was real” to “my only hope is if he’s real” revolves around how much you believe you need him. If you think you’re managing your life well, if you think you can create a sense of purpose for your life and consistently achieve it well enough to give you a steady source of peace and joy, then why would you ever look somewhere else? Jesus says as much himself in Mark 2:17:

Mark 2:17 ESV

¹⁷ “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

You will only see Jesus as a Savior in as much as you believe you need saving. It’s much easier to be skeptical when there’s not a sense of urgency. And Jesus isn’t good news to us unless there was bad news without him. You will not come to know Jesus and you will not grow to be more like Jesus without a deep and abiding sense of the ways you fall short of him—the ways you sin and rebel against God trying to rule your own life in his place—the ways you are needy.

A great test to see if you find yourself in this category of belief is to look at how much you confess to God. Do you pray and talk about the ways you sin against God in your thoughts, feelings, and actions? And if you do, are you simply sharing for catharsis, or are you a patient returning to the great physician and trusting him with your need?

The gospel for the disingenuous believer is simply that Jesus can give me eternal life. But the gospel for the desperate believer is that Jesus can do what I can’t do in life. Both are good news, but they’re also incomplete on their own. We see Jesus offer a criticism in verse 48 when the man first asks for his son to be healed. He says, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

Now, evidence isn’t a bad thing. That’s why John wrote this biography of Jesus. The Apostle Peter in one of his letters is going to encourage the church to always be ready to give a defense for the hope that’s within them. But here in verse 48 Jesus isn’t saying that we should believe him blindly without him doing anything. Both times he uses the word “you” here is plural. He’s calling out all people—the Gentiles who welcomed him, the royal official who was desperate for him, and us today—he’s calling out people for desiring what he can do as the prerequisite for following him rather than who he is. That just makes God a genie to grant our wishes and not a God for us to worship.

Jesus gives this critique to the man, but then when he commands him to return home, we see him respond with yet another type of belief. Let’s pick up reading with verses 50-53.

John 4:50–53 ESV

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. ⁵¹ As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.

So the man asks Jesus to come down in verse 49, and in verse 50, Jesus tells the man to go. He doesn’t have to be present for the miracle to take place. He simply says, “Go; your son will love.” And just like we’ll see when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in John 11 or in other places throughout the gospel, the Word of God creates the thing it calls out.

The man was desperate in his belief that Jesus was the only way to heal his son, but now we see him become dependent in the way he believes the word Jesus spoke and actually leaves him to go on his way. He’s no longer just believing in what he needs Jesus to do for him; he now believes because he trusts what Jesus has done for him.

That’s the difference between Atlanta Falcons fans desperately hoping they might one day win a Super Bowl and Saints fans living their life with the peace knowing we’ve already won a Super Bowl.

The man walks away from Jesus not simply hoping his son might get well. He believes it’s already been done. His belief was on display in the actions he took, and it’s this kind of faith-driven obedience that we’re called to as Christians as well. In this type of belief, we see the gospel as the good news that Jesus has changed my life. It’s been accomplished. And because Jesus meant it when he said, “It is finished” on the cross, we can now live by faith in his victory rather than feeling the pressure of trying to earn our own.

The man leaves Jesus believing he’s healed his son, and yet I can’t imagine how surprising it must have been when his servants met him and told him his son was recovering. You can almost picture him holding up his fingers and doing the math to figure out that his son started improving at the same time Jesus said he would live. It’s not like he knew all the answers. He had been with Jesus, and yet he still didn’t know what was happening.

That’s always the case when we’re not in control. The difference between you hitting another vehicle with your car when you can see it coming or someone coming out of nowhere and blindsiding you is night and day because you weren’t the one that made it happen. You weren’t the one that did it, so it can very easily leave you confused and with questions.

We can’t save ourselves. We can’t meet our deepest need. So, when Jesus comes along and says that he’s done for you what you couldn’t do on your own—that he’s lived the righteous life you haven’t been able to live, that he’s paid the penalty for your sin against God that you could never pay, that he’s defeated death so that you might live united with him forever—it’s understandable that that’s going to leave you confused and with questions.

So, we shouldn’t make it harder for people than Jesus does when he invites the man to trust in him. The man doesn’t have all his theology right about Jesus. He hasn’t spent much time getting to know him. Those are important things for him to grow in. But at this point—the man simply knows that he needs him, and so Jesus gives the invitation: trust in me. I can meet your need. “Go: your son will live.”

And when Jesus provides for the man’s need, it connects the dots and leads him to the final type of belief: Believing in Jesus, not just because of what he can do or what we need him to do, or because of what he’s done—but because of who he is. Look with me one more time, now at verses 53-54.

John 4:53–54 ESV

⁵³ The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. ⁵⁴ This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

We don’t always know why things happen in this world, whether it’s something bad or something good. But this man got the benefit of seeing his son healed and seeing how it was directly connected to the work of Jesus.

And it’s at this point that he doesn’t just believe in the work of Jesus; he believes in who he is. He is the healer. He is trustworthy. He is worth following. If he just believed in Jesus for what he could do, he would tell his family, and they would be grateful. But because he believes in the person of Jesus, he shares about who he is, and the rest of his family believes in him too.

I love my one-year-old daughter. I could tell you stories about Nora and the crazy personality that’s already coming out of her, and I certainly do. But one of my favorite things is just picking her up, and introducing people to her.

For much of the first year of our church, you would see me holding Nora when I gave the welcome at the beginning of our service or her strapped to Macie as she was leading us in worship. I love to show her off—not because of what Nora can do, but because of what she means to me.

That’s the difference between depending on what Jesus does versus delighting in who he is. When the man believed Jesus could heal his son, he went to ask him. When he believed Jesus would heal his son, he acted on that faith and returned home. But now that he believes Jesus is the Messiah, he shares about him with his family.

Because this type of belief centers around the person of Jesus, you start to understand the gospel as Jesus being the center of your life. And we can test to what degree that’s true for us by how we share with others about him.

Each of us this morning are living in one of these types of belief: we might have disbelief that Jesus is the Messiah, or be disingenuous toward him with the focus of benefitting ourselves. We might see our need and feel desperate or we might walk by faith living in dependance.

But just like the royal official here at the end of John 4, Jesus can meet us where we’re at and draw us closer to him as we get to know more of what he’s done and who he is. As you doubt your doubts, see your spiritual need, remove the focus from yourself, and live in dependance on him, God won’t just strengthen your belief in him; he’ll grow your delight in him. And that changes every part of our life.

Let’s pray.