Believing + Receiving

(Below is the main portion of the small group questions sent out for this week’s message "Believe in Him." This section is more teaching than questions, but the link between receiving and believe is key. Is Jesus a Comcast cable technician to you? Read on and check yourself.)

John 3:16 gives us a short-hand version of the Gospel. The Good News is made ours to experience and live in when we believe in Jesus. Consider these four observations about “believing in Him.”

Not everyone will be saved

Not everybody will benefit from what Jesus came to do. But “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The rest will perish—and not have eternal life. They won’t have eternal life, because they won’t have God – who offers Himself in this one way.

Embracing something (or Someone) as true

The word “believe” itself means to embrace something as true; and when it’s a person, it means to trust them to be what they are and do what they say.

“Receive” explains believe

Read John 1:11-12 together. There Jesus shows another concept He has in mind – to believe is to receive.

“[Jesus] came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

So receiving Jesus and believing Jesus explain each other.

Receive Jesus as what?

Many people want to “receive” or “accept” Jesus into their lives, but only in a fringe role. Jesus becomes part of their lives, not the whole purpose and center of their lives (see Colossians 3:3-4). Perhaps an analogy would be helpful for teaching the small group.

There are many ways to receive someone into your home. Who comes into your home in a given month?

• When the roto-rooter or furnace repair technician come, what is your expectation of their stay? (Fix it and leave, please. That’s what I am paying you for.)
• How about a Comcast cable technician? (Can’t wait until you’re gone, so I can enjoy the fruit of your labor!)
• Your in-laws? (Just put up with them, and get back to ‘normal’ life when they leave.)
• Some people we don’t receive into our homes. We don’t have time for them, or we don’t know them. What about the person who is a dear friend? How do you receive that person into your home? They are an honored guest who you long to converse with and know deeply. Time flies because you love this person. You poor out your heart and life experiences to this person, trusting him or her to listen as your confidant. You share meals and life, swapping stories and you realize, “I can’t live without this person!”

Everyone should candidly ask themselves:

Do I treat Jesus like He is a Comcast cable guy, doing things for me so I can enjoy life without Him?

If we ask, “Receive Him as what?” the answer would be, “Receive Him as what He is.” He is Savior and King. We must receive Him as who He is. We see this type of discussion in Scripture with another analogy. Like when Jesus says in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” So here believing means coming to Jesus and receiving him as the food and drink that satisfies our souls. We need Him just as much as the basic food to sustain us. This is why faith is so transforming. Everything we receive changes us.

When we receive Jesus by faith, does He transform us, and nourishing us so we become different people?

Note: Saving faith always requires repentance from sin. Our response to the Gospel can be summarized in different ways. Sometimes faith alone is named as the one thing necessary for salvation (see John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:9; Eph. 2:8–9), other times repentance alone is named (Luke 24:47; Acts 3:19; 5:31; 17:30; 2 Cor. 7:10), and sometimes both are named (Acts 20:21), as they are one. Genuine faith always involves repentance, and vice versa. Repentance includes a change of mind that ends up trusting God (i.e., having faith).

(Many thanks to Pastor John Piper for illuminating these points.)