What Does It Mean To Believe?

Reading: John 6:28-29

I attended a workshop on treating teenagers with HIV and AIDS this last week and heard a sad and stunning story from a pediatric AIDS nurse from New York. She told us the story of “Ben” – a 14 year old who died from AIDS.

His CD4 count cascaded dramatically downward and medical intervention seemed helpless to stop it. After his death, his grandmother who had raised him searched his room. She found two very telling objects: a diary of sorts, and pills. She found pills under his mattress, stuffed in his dresser drawers, hidden in books, and behind bookshelves. She found pills everywhere. Why had he died so young? The answer became clear. He hadn’t taken any of his medicine. But why? The diary held that answer.

“They keep telling me to take my medicine. They say I will die if I don’t take my medicine, but I don’t think I’m really going to die. The only time I even feel sick is when I take the medicine.”

The nurse then spoke of the challenges faced getting teenagers with HIV to take their medicines and follow a very complicated medical regimen. It’s very hard when your disease as no symptoms (until its too late to stop it) to convince teenagers they need the pills to keep from getting sick – particularly when the pills have side effects that make them feel sick.

Ben died, in part, because he didn’t believe:
* - He didn’t believe he was sick. His disease had no symptom of its own.
* - He didn’t believe he would die. He was still in the “immortal age” teenagers go through that tells them they will live forever.
* - He didn’t believe the medicine was helping. The medicine made him feel worse, not better.
* - He didn’t believe there was anyone he could talk to who would understand. So he stopped taking the pills in private.

In John 6:28-29 the disciples ask Jesus for work and he tells them, “believe in the One he has sent.”

For the disciples – it wasn’t too hard at that moment to believe in Jesus. He was standing there with them. He had just feed 5,000 out of a loaf and fish kid’s meal. He had just walked on water in front of them. They were already amazed, and in awe. They already believed.

But soon belief in Jesus would require work for the disciples.

* - They believed he was invincible – and he would get tricked like a common thug and arrested.
* - They believed he was immortal - the messiah – and he died right before their eyes.
* - They believed he was going to change the world – and soon they were hiding from both Romans and Pharisees.

Their easy beliefs became hard for at time – but they held together and kept working at the belief in the One whom God had sent.

To believe is not to have an idea. We sit and talk about what we believe all the time. And while we are having enlightened conversations – the poor starve, the oppressed are beaten, the widows mourn, and the children suffer. We can talk ourselves blue about what we think about God, faith and the bible – but if that’s all we do – we don’t really believe.

To believe is not to close the doors to change. Too often once we decide what we believe – we don’t want to hear anything to the contrary or even consider it for a minute. We shut off literature and lessons from other cultures. We scoff at the faith stories of people not like us. We know what we believe and don’t want to be influenced. But just as people grow and change from the moment of conception to the day they die – our beliefs must also grow and change.

To believe is to live. Believe is not an adjective – it’s an action verb. To believe means you step out on a truth and know it will hold you up. To believe is to get new ideas and test them with your life and discover their change and merit. To believe is to love with the love of Christ – not in our talk, but in our actions.

Recently the state of North Carolina commissioned a “Christian” license plate. It has a stained glass window and a cross. At the bottom of the plate it says I BELIEVE. Some say that’s a violation of church and state – other are worried about the hypocrisy that drives people from faith when they see an “I believe” car cutting them off on the highway or speeding through an intersection. When I was asked my comment was, “I think our world would be better off if we had less Christian stuff, and more Christian people.”

Believing in the One who was sent – means living like the fact Jesus is alive makes a difference – and makes you different. Believing means working to see God even in the dark times when God isn’t so evident. Believing means going out of your comfort zone and into God’s world. Believing means you accept the fact that death occurs and after life exists.

Believing is the hardest work, for the best reward, you will ever do.

So when you are concerned, confused, or resentful – don’t let your disbelief make you isolate yourself and make decisions that affect your relationship with God and your life on earth. Talk to others, seek God’s wisdom, and believe in the One he has sent.

The School of Faith

Read: John 6:22-32

What are the three greatest inventions on the world? That might take a long time for most people to list – considering the scientific advancement from the pulley-lever system, to the wheel, to the internet. But my three are easily available in my head. In my thinking the three best inventions in the world are:

1. The Ziplock Bag – you can do anything with a ziplock bag!
2. Eyeglasses – they are like clothes for your face!
3. The Class Syllabus

Almost anyone who has been through a college course will tell you one of the greatest innovations in higher education is a class syllabus. This beautiful list given at the beginning of the semester detailing what will be discussed each day, when assignments will be due and exactly what is expected of the student is a blessing. It’s comforting to have all of your duties and challenges laid out in a nice organized way.

The crowds who followed Jesus - like college students they were seekers and learners - wanted an organized approach to what Jesus had to offer. He feed them until they were full (also like college students, they went to his lecture with no lunch money in their pockets and had to be fed with free loaves and fish) and they wanted to follow him and his program to the letter. This crowd shows us some things we should know.

When You Notice Jesus is Missing – Look for Him!

The ever observant crowd notices one of those weird things about Jesus – he seems to get around pretty quick for someone who doesn’t have many modes of transportation. The bible says they noticed he didn’t get in the one ship that had left, but he showed up on the other side of the lake! (They did not witness the water walking, and probably could not imagine that explanation – even if Occomb’s Razor reminds us the simplest solution is usually the correct one). So what do they do?

A. Retrace his last steps to see if they can predict his future behavior?
B. Decide that just because they can’t see him doesn’t mean he has left, and act like he is still there?
C. Just sit down and wait for him to come back?

NO! They get in their boats and start looking for him! They know he is missing, and they know they need to be in his presence. So they seek him earnestly and immediately. Sometimes we look around our jobs, life, relationships or family and discover Jesus is missing. When our work feels empty and we aren’t sure why we are doing it, it’s usually because we have forgotten to involve Christ in our calling (through our passion, through our commitment, through our faith that God in us is making a difference even when we aren’t seeing immediate results). Sometimes our marriages or deep friendships start to feel routine or rote. It’s usually because we forgot to include Christ’s love, listening, spontaneity and passion for unexpected loving gestures in our lives. If you notice Jesus is missing. Don’t hang around and shake your head. Go look for him!

Ask Questions

When they find Jesus (and the eggheads in the group start trying to compute how he got there without a boat) the first thing they do is ask how long he’d been there. Later they will ask him about the work of God and what it is they can do to do it. They aren’t shy, or pretending to be so holy that they know all the answers. They ask the questions –easy and hard – and so should we.

We have a tendency to silence our questions of God. We don’t talk about them openly, and we certainly don’t ask the wise people God has placed around us. Many times we don’t even ask Jesus himself. But asking the questions we have – technical and spiritual ones – helps us grow and develops our faith. As a youth minister, I was involved in a van rollover with 2 sponsors and 12 kids in the car. We were headed to a conference in Denver when a back tire of a van I was driving blew, rolling us into the intersection. No one was killed, but there were broken legs, a girl with a broken collar bone, cuts and bruises on all the kids, glass in my head and a soft tissue injury for the other adult sponsor. We ended up in a trauma center in Pueblo – some less hurt kids being flown home immediately, others being taken back after their hospital stay. I was one of the last to get released and back. When we were finally all together again we had a “decompression” meeting where we talked about the wreck. We started with a prayer and then I said, “Who has something to say?” Immediately a boy spoke up and said what they had all been thinking since the moment the van flipped and the screaming started. “We prayed for a safe trip. Why did we wreck? Did God even hear us?” Before I could give them my answer a number of kids said “I’m so glad you asked that! I thought I was the only one who felt like that!” His courage opened doors of healing for many young people that day.

Ask the question. It doesn’t mean you’re dumb, faithless or lost. It means you care enough to want to understand.

Believe in the One who was sent

When the crowd asked Jesus what works God was expecting of them, they were asking for a syllabus. But the Christian life is not so easily organized and the course outline only contains one sentence. "Believe in the One he has sent," Jesus said. Oddly enough, something that simple will take a lifetime of fulfillment.

Our rabbi’s answer illustrates the word "belief" is an action verb. The crowd asked for a work - a job - and the word Jesus gives them is "believe". On the surface it may seem like an easy task. It’s not hard to believe in Jesus. Evidence of his life, death, and resurrection are everywhere. But the part you have to work for is the evidence in your heart of his relationship with you.
When your adolescent daughter lets her math grades plummet just to show you she isn’t happy with her curfew, you have to believe the fact Jesus is alive makes a difference. You have to remember what Jesus taught about grace as you deal with your disappointment and frustration. You have to put aside your desire to hurt back and live his instructions to treat one another with love. It will be an effort. When someone treats you badly, at work or home, you have to believe the facts Jesus died for you and rose again and you are an heir to the kingdom of Heaven makes a difference. You have to act as a member of the chosen, of the priesthood of believers. You can’t just wallow in hurt feelings or frustrated anxiety. Do what Jesus says. Forgive and empower. Believe in him.

It isn’t enough to believe Jesus exists. Your belief must change your life, your church and your world. If we as a body worked on our belief in the One God has sent our world would change. When you are out in the world, can people tell you are a Christian by your acceptance and faith? How does Jesus change the way you live? Frequently ask yourself these questions: How does a person who does not believe in Jesus respond to this situation? How do I respond to this situation? Are the responses different? If not, work to see the changes of Christ more fully in your life.

The seekers from the feeding of the 5,000 come a long way in these short verses. They find the Messiah by seeking him. They ask the questions that will lead them to greater faith and they get the syllabus for the Christian life. That’s the same class we are taking. What’s this semester or season in your life going to require? Believe in the One God has sent.