Jesus performed various signs, or miracles, at a certain Passover, and many believed in Jesus as a result, v. 23. But that wasn’t enough for Jesus to return their trust, v. 24. This response should interest us. What is Jesus looking for in His followers that was missing in these believers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Fans of movie stars may put the stars on a pedestal, but the actors don’t necessarily do the same for all their fans. For one reason, the fans are reacting to a performance, and not from a personal acquaintance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus did not commit Himself to the people who saw His works and believed. He saw their belief as a shallow or fickle faith. They did not follow Him. They only knew Him as someone who satisfied the body with healing, but no more. Jesus was looking for people who had potential to give themselves for Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus wants to train up people He can entrust or commit the kingdom work to. (Verses 23 and 24 use the same Greek word where it’s translated “believe” in v. 23 and “commit” in v. 24). These people will be faithful people who hear His words and obey what He teaches. These people did not believe until they saw the miracles. A committed disciple can’t live that way. A disciple will hear and obey, not see and obey. Jesus has been training His disciples to follow Him by faith when He departed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Matt. 10, Jesus sends His apostles out to work in pairs. In the process, they heard what He said, did what He did, and experienced the blessings that He enjoyed of God’s grace. There is no better way to train up a disciple. The teacher of disciples must himself hear the Lord and obey Him, and pass on that sequence of hearing and doing His words to others, words that are found in the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They must also have their character changed into that of Christ’s. In the end, Christ is the point of the hearing and obeying. They need to model the end result of Christ-likeness so the student can see the results or lack of them in his practice. That is the fruit the Lord is cultivating, the fruit of the Spirit. In the end, the future disciples loved and rejoiced in Him during their persecution though they couldn’t physically see Him. (These thoughts come from The Divine Conspiracy,<\/em> by Dallas Willard.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus Himself modeled this behavior before the Father, hearing the Father’s direction and following through. Following His example is what it means to be like Christ. Christ modeled what the life His disciples are to have. Believing Him because we were healed is not enough if we are not willing to follow His example of service to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the coming kingdom, Christ will entrust some people to rule over certain cities. This glory belongs to those who have learned of and displayed Christ with servant hearts. They did not teach their own philosophy of life. They did not do the work their way, using the techniques of the world. They did not train people to follow the discipler but the Lord. They did not model the best examples their culture could offer, but Christ and the kingdom values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, if I teach about Christ, but act like a jerk, then what kind of people will I produce when training them? People who know something but still act like jerks. They will see by my life that they could fake it too. So the seed I had sown would not produce spiritual fruit, but merely give people more head knowledge without transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus “knew what was in man” (v. 25). Jesus can read people’s thoughts. So He knew their evil and hypocrisy. He knew their future, including their desire to kill Him, and knew of their fickleness of believing today and turning from Him later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus did not need man’s help to testify of His greatness. A sinful man’s testimony doesn’t count much to the perfect Man! Jesus brought out this point in John 5:34, where He pointed out John’s testimony of Him, and mentioned that He didn’t need it. The words of the Father, His miracles, and OT Scripture spoke of Him. They were enough to establish reasons to commit ourselves to Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even now Jesus is evaluating us for a position in His kingdom. Does your faith include hearing your Savior speaking to you? Do you receive instruction that causes you to change your life? Are those changes forming a more holy and Christ-like character in you, step by step? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesus performed various signs, or miracles, at a certain Passover, and many believed in Jesus as a result, v. 23. But that wasn’t enough for Jesus to return their trust, v. 24. This response should interest us. What is Jesus … Continue reading