To Believe in the Relationship

And so, having completed this brief survey of passages related to how Jesus wanted people to respond to his ministry, we return to our theme verse, the one in which Jesus encouraged the Apostles to believe in his relationship with the Father. Remember: This is where Jesus said that it was okay for his disciples to believe in his relationship with the Father even if only on the basis of his ‘works.’

That is, Jesus said that the disciples didn’t need to simply take his word for it that he and the Father were tight. He wanted everyone to believe that, as he said, “he was in the Father and the Father was in him,” but he didn't insist that people believe it just because Jesus said they should believe it.

Jesus gave permission for people (friends and enemies, disciples and Pharisees) to believe in his relationship with God solely on the basis of miracles. Here's what he said:

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves (John 14:11; NASB).

So, let's recognize something we may never have recognized before: That the Apostles had differing levels of faith in the relationship between Jesus and the Father. Some apparently would only believe in that relationship based on the miracles, signs, and wonders that God did through Jesus. The Lord told those Apostles that he would settle for that level of faith. But why?

The reason was because faith in Jesus' healings, miracles, and deliverances would be enough ‘faith in God’ to get anybody saved. Do you get it? Maybe you don't since almost 2000 years of bad theology obscures your idea of who Jesus was to the disciples.

Faith in God Saves

Why is that level of faith enough to get someone saved? Well, you’ll recall that ‘faith in God’ is the second of the seven Fundamental doctrines. Remember the Fundamentals of Hebrews 6:1-2? Well, the first is repentance from sin, and the second is ‘faith in God.’ And that makes faith in God very important!

Let's get back to basics. The Bible says many times that faith in God saves. Consider just two passages. Here's the first:

… if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the Dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Do you see how closely faith in God is linked to salvation? It says that if you believe in your heart that God saved Jesus, then you'll also be saved. So, your faith must be in the One God, the Father.

Now, let's look at another passage--one whicch leads you to consider that you get eternal life by believing in God--but specifically in God as the One who sent Jesus. Yes, you need to recognize that God is the Sender, the Dispatcher, and the Origin of Jesus' ministry. The Lord Jesus taught emphatically about 'Him who sent me' and about how vital it is to believe in God, saying:

Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears my word, and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life (John 5:24).

Believe Like Abraham Believed

If you believe this way, believing in the God who sent Jesus, then you have the same faith Abraham had, for Abraham believed God. And it's that specific kind of faith that saves. It's only faith in the Father that will justify us!

Here are three passages from Romans 4 to prove it:

… what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’ (Romans 4:3).

For this reason it [salvation] is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants... in the presence of Him whom he [Abraham] believed, that is, God… (Romans 4:16-17)

...yet, with respect to the promise of God, he [Abraham] did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.

Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the Dead (Romans 4:20-24).

Common Sense

Do you get it?

Now, like all the people who witnessed his miraculous healing power, the Apostles believed in a Jesus empowered by God. And that’s exactly who Jesus is: a man empowered, and resurrected, and ultimately glorified by God. Do you believe in that specific Jesus, the real Jesus?

Well, that’s who the Lord Jesus is still to this day. And it’s what Jesus always wanted people to believe about him. Consider this exhortation he gave the Jews:

… I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me (John 8:28).

Any person with common sense who witnesses a miracle will recognize that supernatural power is not natural power. It's of divine and not human origin. If they’re honets, and they’ve assessed that the miracle to be authentic, they’ll conclude that God is at work.

Even that degree of faith—the faith in God as the one who worked through Jesus’ miracles by giving Jesus the power to heal—was enough for people to draw the conclusion that the Father was in Jesus and Jesus was in the Father.

The Jews Praised God

And the everyday Jewish citizenry of Jesus' day did, in fact, believe that his power to heal came from God. We know that because, as they observed him at work, they praised God.

But the Jews didn’t just praise God, they praised God for a reason—a marvelous reason. They praised him specifically it was obvious that he had given authority to a man. Their common sense conclusion, while witnessing the ministry of Jesus, was that God had given authority to a human--a person who was just like them. And they were right, because Jesus had then the same nature you and I have today.

The Scriptures tell us:

…[Jesus] said to the paralyzed man, ‘Get up, take your mat and go home.’ Then the man got up and went home.

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man (Matthew 9:6-8).

How about you? Can you look at the ministry of Jesus and draw the same conclusion the Jews drew? Can you conclude that God has given authority to man—not just to the man Jesus, but to those who believe in him? Yes, God has given his Spirit to men and women like you and me through the man Jesus—and that’s Christianity!

Seven Words for Christianity

Now, with this understanding of Jesus--the truth about our Lord Jesus--you can agree with our seven-word summary of Christianity. Here it is. Christianity is when:

God gives us his Spirit through Jesus.

The Christian Faith is that if we put all our trust in the man Jesus, we too will be filled with power from God, enough power to be resurrected just like Jesus was resurrected, by God.

The Christian Faith is that if we put all our trust in the man Jesus, God will justify us by that very faith, and we will inherit God's Kingdom when Jesus returns to Earth!

Believing in this Good News of the Kingdom saves you from sin. It also makes you a Christian. The only saving faith is faith in God, and that's why it's a fundamental doctrine. Saving faith says “We’ll be like Jesus when he returns.” Saving faith says “He became as we are so that we might become as he is.”

What You Need to Know About Jesus

This is the Jesus of the Bible: the Jesus who was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit. And why did God anoint him? So that Jesus might perform signs, wonders, and miracles—not to show off. He didn’t perform miracles to show that he had the divine nature. He renounced the divine nature before he was conceived in Mary's womb.

The Jesus of the Bible came as a man in the flesh--the human nature of sin. To overcome it, he obeyed God who rewarded him by granting Jesus the Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit living in him--that is, through the same baptism in the Holy Spirit you and I must obtain--our Lord Jesus carried out his purpose. He served God. He fulfilled his ministry.

Jesus performed miracles so that through them God would prove to all people (without the shadow of a doubt) that Jesus had come from God. The miracles were supposed to be the proof that God was with Jesus, the God had sent him, and that people absolutely must trust in God.

That’s why Jesus said:

The one who believes in me, does not believe in me, but in Him who sent me (John 12:44).

Believe in God

If you're a Christian, your faith is not solely in Jesus, but in the One who sent Jesus. Do you get that? Now, if you get it, then you'll also understand why Jesus said:

Believe in God, believe also in me (John 14:1)

Jesus’ use of the word also indicates that believing in God is primary, and believing in Jesus is secondary. The priority is to trust in God. The This confirms that Jesus’ emphatic purpose was to teach people how to believe in the Father. And it was why we hear him urging the Apostles to…

Have faith in God (Mark 11:22).

If you’ve finally subscribed to the doctrine of faith in God and you have come to recognize how essential, basic, and fundamental it is. If you have decided to embrace it, treasure it, and make it a foundational principle for your life--then now you should be able to comprehend the words of Peter when he wrote:

… through him [Jesus] [you] are believers in God, who raised him from the Dead and gave him glory—so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:21).

Is that you in that passage? Is Peter speaking of you when he says 'you are believers in God'? Is your faith truly in God?