Authentic Faith
Share
Authentic Faith
John 4:39-54
Main Idea: The contrast between the Jews’ and the Samaritans’ responses to Jesus reveal what authentic faith looks like.
- Authentic Faith Is Not Spiritual Curiosity but Actual Commitment.
- Authentic Faith Is Not an Emotional Feeling but an Informed Belief.
- Authentic Faith Is Not a Single Decision but a Growing Dependence.
In verses 39-45 Jesus has concluded a wonderful few days with a group of Samaritans, who’ve turned from the darkness of sin and embraced the light of the world. They’ve repented of their sin and placed their faith in Jesus. Then Jesus leaves them and heads back to his own people—the Jews. Jesus is fully aware of what awaits him. Unlike the Samaritans who’ve believed in him, he’s heading back to a people who will reject him. Though the overall response Jesus receives is unbelief, there are occasions of real faith, and the contrast between these two responses teaches us what authentic faith looks like.
Authentic Faith Is Not Spiritual Curiosity but Actual Commitment
John contrasts the Jews’ reception of Jesus and the Samaritans’. The Jews demonstrate unbelief (vv. 46-48), and the Samaritans model genuine belief. The Jews came to see Jesus. They welcomed him because they were curious about what he could do. They’d been in Jerusalem and seen what Jesus did there. They saw him cleanse the temple. They heard about his miracle of turning the water into wine, so they came out to watch him. This still happens today. People come to church or buy books or listen to Christian radio because they’re curious about Jesus. This curiosity uses words like “spirituality” and “faith” and “higher consciousness” but never anything more concrete than that.
Celebrities like Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, and Oprah Winfrey epitomize this bland spiritual curiosity. Chopra wrote in Time magazine,
The most inspiring thing [the Dalai Lama] ever told me was to ignore all organized faiths and keep to the road of higher consciousness. “Without relying on religion, we look to common sense, common experience and the findings of science for understanding,” he said. (“Dalai Lama,” 43)
In a USA Today article titled “The Divine Miss Winfrey?,” Oprah is quoted as saying, “I live inside God’s dream for me. I don’t try to tell God what I’m supposed to do. God can dream a bigger dream for you than you can dream for yourself.” A professor at the University of Florida dissects Winfrey’s message:
Winfrey pushes the idea that you have a life out there, and it’s better than the one you have now and go get it. It’s most apparent in the setting of her show. The guest is sitting beside her, but what she’s really doing is exuding this powerful message of “You are a sinner, yes, you are, but you can also find salvation.” What I find intriguing about it is it’s delivered with no religiosity at all . . . it has to do with this deep American faith and yearning to be reborn. To start again. (Oldenburg, “The Divine Miss Winfrey?”)
Spiritual curiosity is not just an American thing. It’s universal. But spiritual curiosity is not authentic faith. In fact, Jesus harshly condemns the Jews for their lack of faith—their curiosity clothed in religious garments. As Jesus returns to Galilee, he’s met by an official whose son is dying. He begs Jesus to come with him to his home and heal his son. Look again at Jesus’s rebuke: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (v. 48). This rebuke is aimed at the watching crowd; the “you” is plural. Jesus knows they only care about watching him perform. He knows their faith is not in him but in the miracles. The Samaritans demonstrate real, authentic faith. They come to Jesus for salvation from their sin, not to witness a show. They stay with him, listen to his words, and place their faith in him alone.
Authentic Faith Is Not an Emotional Feeling but an Informed Belief
Turning to Jesus Christ in faith requires understanding certain truths about him. There is content to our faith. A lot of people say they’ve trusted Jesus Christ because they had an experience, some sort of emotional epiphany. We see this in Jesus’s interaction with the men and women of his day. They came and rallied around him and watched him perform a miracle, so out of excitement or enthusiasm they jump on the Jesus bandwagon. If you asked them, “Are you a follower of Jesus?” “Sure,” they would respond, “Didn’t you see what he did for us?”
In John 6 Jesus does an amazing miracle. He turns five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed five thousand men, plus women and children. What was the response of the people? John writes, “They were about to come and take him by force to make him king” (6:15). They were excited. They were on board, but they weren’t trusting in Jesus. They just wanted free food (v. 26). By the end of the chapter, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him” (6:66).
The Jewish royal official asks Jesus again to come and heal his son (4:49-50). By this point we can almost hear the desperation in his voice: “Please! I’m begging you! Help him!” Jesus doesn’t rebuke him. He doesn’t turn him away. He simply says, “Go, your son will live.” What does the official do? He believes. He trusts Jesus, and his trust is more than an emotional response to Jesus. His trust is based on something concrete: “what Jesus said.” How significant! This man wasn’t riding an emotional high. He was responding to the truth Jesus proclaimed. The words of Jesus caused this man’s faith. Compare that to what brought about authentic faith in the Samaritans: “Many more believed because of what he said” (v. 41; emphasis added).
Authentic faith is not a blind leap in the dark or a ride on the crest of an emotional wave. Authentic faith is an informed belief about Jesus Christ. John has stressed this throughout his Gospel. His purpose is to inform everyone who picks up his Gospel and reads that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Armed with this information, the reader can then choose to trust Jesus and receive eternal life. But we can’t trust Jesus unless we understand the truth about him. We need a basis for our belief.
So far we’ve studied four chapters of truth about Jesus. In those chapters Jesus has been revealed not only through his acts—like turning water into wine and cleansing the temple—but also through his titles. We’ve already seen eight different titles of Jesus; these titles help us know whom we’re trusting.
- In 1:1 Jesus was announced as the Word, the one who could perfectly reveal God to man.
- In 1:29 and 36 Jesus is declared to be the Lamb of God, the one who would offer his life as a sacrifice for the sin of each man and woman.
- In 1:34 Jesus is called the Son of God, the one, unique Son who was sent by the Father as a love gift for his people.
- In 1:38 and 3:2 Jesus is identified as Rabbi, the one who could perfectly teach us what God is like and how to be reconciled to him.
- In 1:41 Jesus is described as the Messiah, the one who would completely fulfill the promises of God given in the Old Testament.
- In 1:49 Jesus is welcomed as the King of Israel, the one who would sit on the throne and rule over his kingdom.
- In 1:51 Jesus is called the Son of Man, the one whom Daniel prophesied would have an everlasting dominion that would never pass away, filled with people from every nation and language who would serve him.
- In 4:42 Jesus is proclaimed to be the Savior of the world, the one who would shed his blood to bring salvation to all mankind.
Authentic faith is not rooted in emotional experience but in the truth about Jesus Christ.
Authentic Faith Is Not a Single Decision but a Growing Dependence
Twice the text says this man believed (4:51-53). We find the same pattern with the Samaritans (vv. 39-41). In neither case are we told when the individual was saved. John is showing us how authentic faith always results in continued belief. Don’t misunderstand what he’s teaching. He’s not saying a person needs to be saved over and over. He’s not denying genuine conversion happens at the moment when a person turns from sin and trusts Christ. What he is saying is that those who are genuinely converted will continue to believe on Jesus Christ.
I’ve talked with a number of individuals who claim to be Christians, and when you ask them how they know Jesus Christ has saved them, they point to a past decision. As you continue to talk with them, there’s no evidence in their lives they are indeed believers, but they’re holding on to some experiences in their past. They base their hope on the words of a prayer or a religious experience from the past. Authentic faith always continues. It doesn’t stop. It doesn’t give up. It doesn’t turn away. Genuine believers will continue to follow Jesus Christ.
Throughout John’s Gospel we see those who seem to believe but then turn back from following Jesus Christ.
From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (6:66-69)
How are we to understand what happened to these disciples who turned away? As readers we’re forced to ask, “What is genuine belief?” Genuine belief is belief that continues. Look at the contrast between those who turned away and the Twelve. Jesus asks them if they want to leave as well. Peter, answering for the group, says in effect, “Where would we go?” Then he acknowledges who Jesus is and says, “We believe.” Do you see the contrast? Those who left Jesus demonstrated by leaving that their faith was not authentic (cf. 1 John 2:19). On the other hand, the disciples, by persevering in the faith, demonstrate that their faith is indeed authentic.
This discussion of authentic faith continues throughout the New Testament. Authentic faith always continues; authentic faith is evident when we persevere in believing and trusting Jesus Christ.
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. (Col 1:21-23; emphasis added)
Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. (Heb 3:12-14; emphasis added)
Believing Jesus is not something we do one time. We must keep believing, keep depending, keep trusting. From the beginning—the opening verses of the Gospel of John—the need for continual trust is emphasized. Those who become children of God are those who received Christ (John 1:12), those who are believing(present tense) in his name.
Why is continued belief so important to John? Where did he learn this emphasis? “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples’” (8:31). To continue is to “abide,” to “remain,” and to “persevere.” True disciples continue in the faith, growing more and more in their dependence on Jesus Christ. Authentic faith is more than spiritual curiosity about Jesus. Authentic faith is more than emotional feelings about him. Authentic faith is not a single decision for him. Authentic faith is an actual commitment, an informed belief, and a growing dependence on Jesus Christ.
We can think of faith in Jesus Christ the way we think about marriage. If an acquaintance were to ask me if I was married, I would say yes. If he asked me how I knew I was married, I might mention my wedding ceremony years ago. He could respond, “I know a lot of people who had a wedding ceremony but who aren’t married.” So how do I know I’m married? Is it because of the piece of paper I received years ago from a county clerk? Is it because of some photos in an album? Is it because I’m wearing a ring? Those all testify to a past event and remind me I had a wedding. But the real way I know I’m married is because I go home each night to my wife. She gives me a kiss, we spend the evening wrangling kids together, collapse into bed, and wake up to start again the next day. I know I’m married because every day I live out my marriage.
Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Don’t point to a past event. Show me how you live out your faith every day. For Christians, faith starts again each morning when our feet hit the floor. Faith goes to work and comes back home at night. Faith falls asleep with us. For two thousand years a synonym for Christian has been believer. Not believed but believer. Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Is your faith authentic?
Reflect and Discuss
- What does authentic faith look like?
- How is authentic faith different from the faith prescribed by people like Oprah or Deepak Chopra?
- Why does Jesus rebuke the crowd when asked by a father to heal his son?
- How do the Samaritans demonstrate authentic faith?
- Why did the same crowd who wanted to make Jesus king soon turn back and no longer walk with him?
- How is informed belief about Jesus necessary for authentic faith?
- What titles have been used for Jesus through the first four chapters of John, and what do they tell us about Jesus?
- Why should we not place our confidence in salvation on a single prayer or experience?
- Why is continued belief so important to John?
- What warning can we take from the disciples who turned away?