The Beloved Disciple

by Beth Moore

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying our motive for pursuing God is strictly for our own delight and satisfaction. We pursue Him because He is the point and essence of all existence and His glory is the sole purpose for our creation (Isa. 43:7). However, when we pursue Him feverishly and desire to love Him passionately, we will have an unexpected and stunning collision with joy and fulfillment. If you're not convinced, you just wait and see as we study together in the chapters ahead.

  Long before Augustine graced the page with his confessions, inspired men such as Moses, David, and Paul proved holy hedonists.

  Faced with the chance to go on to the promised land with great bless­ings but without the presence of God, Moses declared, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exod. 33:15).

  David wrote, "Because your love is better than life, / my lips will glo­rify you.... / Because you are my help, / I sing in the shadow of your wings" (Ps. 63:3, 7).

  Paul found the secret that only Jesus can truly satisfy. He said he con­sidered "everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8). In fact, Paul believed greater joy lies in suffering with Christ than a pain-free life without Him. He wrote, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Phil. 3:10).

  Yes, the Word of God is full of godly hedonists who testified in one way or another that seeking God zealously and jealously was the best thing that ever happened-not to God but to them. God stated it Himself when He said to Abram in Genesis 15:1, "I am ... your very great reward." In the same vein, I dearly love Hebrews 11:6 that tells us we must not only believe God lives but that He "rewards those who earnestly seek him." Our God is worth loving with all our passion because the more we seek Him the more He rewards us-with more of Himself.

  Is finding Him not reward enough? Yet God superabounds in His giv­ing! Many inspired men in Scripture confessed the glorious gain of pursu­ing God, but few can compete with our very own apostle John. I plan to prove it to you. I'm no proficient Bible scholar, but I have learned to make use of a few study tools and have performed a little research of my own. In the totality of John's writings and in a comparison of his Gospel with the three synoptics, John has more to say about the concepts of life, light, love, truth, glory, signs, and belief than anyone else in the entire New Testament.

  John has overwhelmingly more to say about God as Father than any other inspired writer. In fact, out of 248 New Testament references to God as Father, John penned 130. In impressive balance, John also has more to say about God and the world than any other inspired writer. Of the New Testament references to the world, 103 out of 206 are John's. I could go on with many examples.

  My point? It's certainly not that his Gospel is better than others. Each was inspired just as God perfectly intended. The point is that in length of life and depth of love, John discovered the concept of more. I am convinced a nutshell explanation for John's entire experience and perspective is inti­mated in one of the most profound statements of Christ ever dictated to John.

  Jesus said, "I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Perisson, the Greek word for "full," is one we need to know by heart. It means "over and above, more than enough ... generally, superabundant.... much, great."

  Do you realize that Christ wants you to have a great life? Am I making you nervous? Don't confuse great with no challenges, hardships, or even suffering. In fact, the greatest parts of my life experience have been over­coming the overwhelming in the power of the Holy Spirit. Christian hedo­nists don't discount suffering. They just don't give up until they find the gain in the loss (Phil. 3:8). When we lay down these lives of ours, God wants us to be able to say we lived them fully. We didn't miss a thing He had for us. We had a blast with God. Just like John.

  Jesus offered a lot of life; John took Him up on it. Jesus shed a lot of light; John chose to walk in it. Jesus revealed a lot of glory; John chose to behold it. Jesus delivered a lot of truth; John believed it. Jesus shed a lot of blood; John felt covered by it. Jesus lavished a lot of love; John received it. Jesus is full of everything we could ever need or desire. Thankfully, many receive, but others receive more abundantly. John was one of those. I want to be another.

  Beloved, with all my heart I want to know God, and I want to experi­ence one blessing after another flowing from His favor. I want more. That's all there is to it. I am convinced that God welcomes the hedonistic approach that says, "God, You are the best thing that could ever happen to me, so happen indeed!"

  We are going to concentrate on the overall invitation to abundance in the Gospel of John. In each chapter we'll meditate on concepts John emphasized more in his Gospel than any of the synoptic writers and often the other New Testament writers as a whole. In other words, we're going to study the points where the needles shot high on John's EKG.

  C. S. Lewis was right. We have been too easily pleased. Somewhere along the way many of us formed a concept of Christ and settled with it. So few really grasp the invitation to great adventure. They try to reduce God to nothing but religion then grow bored with the image they created. As a result, hearts become accidents waiting to happen, for our souls were instead created to exult and dance in holy passion. If we don't find it in the Holy One, we'll search for it amid the smoldering heaps of the unholy. I have burn scars to prove it.

  Chapter 22

  MORE BELIEF!

  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

  In the very early years of the New Testament church, Eusebius penned the following statement from Clement of Alexandria: "John, last of all, con­scious that the outward facts had been set forth in the Gospels, was urged on by his disciples, and, divinely moved by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel." If Clement was accurate, John was familiar with the synoptic Gospels and had neither the desire nor a compelling of the Holy Spirit to repeat the biographical approach of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The Gospel of John shares only about 10 percent of its content with the other Gospel writers. Clement did not mean all four were not equally inspired. He simply suggested that the last Gospel can draw us further into spiritual truths.

  While the Gospels of Matthew and Luke begin with human genealo­gies, John's Gospel begins with the zenith proclamation of Jesus Christ, the preexistent, eternal Word. Though John's approach is vast and deep, my Greek teacher tells me that John's Greek is the most easily read of all the New Testament books. Perhaps Augustine had these facts in mind when he wrote, "John's Gospel is deep enough for an elephant to swim and shallow enough for a child not to drown." So whether we're elephants or children in our relationship to the Word, you and I can splash to our delight in the living water of this Gospel.

  Like several other New Testament books, the end of this Gospel explains why the book had a beginning. John inscribed two insightful pas­sages toward his conclusion. One is the final verse: "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them was written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be writ­ten" (John 21:25).

  I never hear this verse without thinking about my first guide in Israel who told me that the ancient Hebrews often spoke in pictures and images. He said, "For instance, we would read John's intent in this final verse like this: `If all the trees of the forest were quills and the oceans ink, still they could not record all Jesus did."' Ah, yes! That's my kind of wording!

  Whatever your preference in rhetoric, we can conclude from John's ending that the elements shared in the pages of his Gospel were purpose­fully selected by the leadership of the Spirit working through the personality and priorities of John. Knowing he could say more than the scrolls on earth could record, what caused John to choose the particular accounts recorded in the Gospel? In othe
r words, what was he trying to achieve in his inspired choice of material? He provides the answer in John 20:30-31: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believ­ing you may have life in his name."

  No other Gospel writer surpasses John's determination to express Jesus' absolute deity. John wrote his Gospel so that the reader would behold truth from an utterly convinced eyewitness that Jesus Christ is the uncontested Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God. John 1:12 tells us why this belief is so critical: "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

  Like no other Gospel or New Testament writer, John presents Jesus Christ as the Son of God the Father. Out of approximately 248 times in the New Testament where God is deemed Father, 110 of those are in John's Gospel. John was the consummate evangelist, and he knew salvation could not be secured by those who did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the absolute Son of the God. He made sure no one could miss the saving facts in his Gospel. Of course, the reader could see the facts and yet still miss the salvation because something vital is required of anyone who desires to become a child of God: belief!

  In his book Encountering john, Andreas J. Kostenberger wrote:

  Apart from "Jesus" and "Father" there is no theologically signifi­cant word that occurs more frequently in John's Gospel than the word "believe" (pisteuo; 98 times). John's ninety-eight instances compare to eleven in Mark, fourteen in Matthew, and nine in Luke. Thus Merrill Tenney seems to be justified in calling John "the Gospel of belief." Another interesting observation is that while John uses the verb "to believe" almost a hundred times, he does not once use the corresponding noun (pistis, "faith"). It appears therefore that John's primary purpose is to engender in his readers the act of believing, of placing their trust in Jesus Christ.

  Glory to God! His statement brings us to a glorious point! Do you remember when I told you that God would transform our lives if we would "take God up" on some of the abundance He presents throughout the Gospel of John? You don't need to wait a moment longer. Through our study God is calling you and me to believe Him more. John's Gospel doesn't just call us to belief, as if it were in the past tense and complete. In Christ we are called to be living verbs, Beloved! We are called to the ongo­ing act of believing!

  Yes, for many of us the belief that secures our salvation is past tense and complete. In other words, we have already trusted Christ for salvation, and we are now and forever secured. But tragically too many live in past-tense belief, believing God for little more from that time forward.

  I want to ask you a critical question: Is the scope of your belief in Christ in the past-tense security of salvation, or can you be caught in the active, ongoing lifestyle of believing Christ? In other words, are we simply nouns-believers? Or are we also verbs-believing?

  Believing in Christ and believing Christ can be two very different things. We begin with the former, but we certainly don't want to end there! We want to keep believing what Jesus says about Himself, His Father, and us until we see Him face-to-face.

  Think of the roll call of the faithful in Hebrews 11. As eternally vital as it is, none of these were commended for the initial faith that enabled them to enter a relationship with God. They were commended for ongoing acts of believing at times when their physical eyes could not see what God told them they could believe.

  John's Gospel includes the word life more than any other Gospel. Over twice as many times, in fact, as Matthew who falls in second place. By no coincidence the same Gospel that shouts life also shouts the act of believ­ing. Any of those in the great cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 11 would tell us that really living the Christian life is synonymous with really believing the God who created it.

  I'm going to ask you a question that has my own head spinning. Who is your Jesus? Throughout the pages to come, we'll study John's Jesus, full of grace and truth, who offers us one blessing after another. But at this pre­sent time, who do we believe Jesus to be with our own lives? In reality, what we believe is measured by what we live, not by what we say. If your life were a Gospel like John's, who could people "believe" your Jesus to be? Think specifically and concretely. Based on your life, might people believe Jesus to be a Redeemer because He has obviously redeemed your life from a pit? Or a Healer because He has healed you from a certain disease? Please keep in mind these kinds of questions are to provoke our deep meditations. They will either help us see progress and reason for rejoicing or help us to see where we want to go.

  John's Jesus is described throughout his Gospel. He is the same One who is meant to be ours: the preexistent, miracle-working, only begotten Son of the Father of all creation. Years ago God revealed to me that I believed in my childhood church's Christ who thankfully was a Savior for sinners, but I had hardly begun to believe in the Bible's Christ. Yes, He is a Savior for sinners and so much more! We have derived a staggering amount of our impressions of Christ from vastly incomplete if not totally unreliable sources, as sweet and respectable as they may be!

  We are blessed beyond measure for every time one of these human instruments extended us reliable impressions of Jesus. I derived most of my early impressions about Jesus based not so much on what I learned at church but what I saw at church. I certainly believed Jesus saves, and that belief led me to my own salvation experience. But I believed Him for little more because I saw evidence of little more. The few marvelous exceptions marked me forever, but I wonder why so many believers believe so little of Jesus. I'm just going to say it like I see it. Either Jesus no longer does what the Bible says He did, or we don't give Him the chance.

  John went out of his way to present us an all-powerful Son of God who speaks and His Word is accomplished. A Savior who not only saves us from our sins but can deliver us from evil. A Great Physician who really can heal and a God of glory who reveals His magnificence to mere mortals. And, yes, a God of signs and wonders. We've already seen John testify that one of his chief purposes in his Gospel was to testify to the signs Jesus per­formed so readers would believe, not in the miracles themselves, mind you, but in the Christ who performed them.

  Many claim, "The day of miracles has ceased." I don't doubt that God may employ miracles less frequently in cultures where the Word of God is prevalent, but I know Jesus Christ still performs miracles. First, I know He does due to the claims of Hebrews: "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imi­tate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:7-8).

  The second reason I know Jesus Christ still performs miracles is because I'm one of them. I'm not being dramatic. I'm telling you the truth. The only excuse for an ounce of victory in my life is the supernatural delivering power of Jesus Christ. I was in the clutches of a real, live devil, living in a perpet­ual cycle of defeat. Only a miracle-working God could have set me free then dared to use me. My friends Patsy Clairmont and Kathy Trocolli testify that they are nothing less than miracles as well. You may remark, "Those are not real miracles!" but Scripture suggests no greater work exists.

  According to the apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:20, God "is able to do im­measurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." Do you see, Beloved? The most profound miracles of God will always be those within the hearts and souls of people. Moving a mountain is nothing compared to changing a selfish, destructive human heart.

  Third, I know Jesus Christ still performs miracles because I've wit­nessed them. I have seen Him do things most people I know don't even believe He does anymore. Jesus healed a woman I know personally from liver cancer and a man I know personally from pancreatic cancer. I've seen women bear healthy children who were diagnosed inside the womb with debilitating conditions. I was in a service with a dear friend in his eighties who has been legally blind for years when God
suddenly restored a remark­able measure of his sight right on the pew of a Baptist church! Hallelujah!

  Like you, I have also seen many who have not received the miracles they hoped for. I can't explain the difference except to say that God often defers to the greater glory. Sometimes the far greater miracle is the victory He brings and the character He reveals when we don't get what we thought we wanted.

  On the other hand, sometimes we see little because we believe little. That's the obstacle you and I want to overcome so that we can live in the abundant blessing of Jesus Christ. When my life is over, I may not have seen Jesus perform some of the miracles the Word says He can-but let it be because He showed His glory another way and not because I believed Him for so pitifully little that I didn't give Him the chance!

  Through His work on the cross and His plan before the foundation of the world, Christ has already accomplished so much for your life in heaven! If His work is going to be accomplished here on earth where your feet hit the hot pavement, however, you're going to have to start believing Him. When we received Christ as our Savior, you might picture that a pipe of power connected our lives to God's throne. Unbelief clogs the pipe, but the act of believing clears the way for the inconceivable! As much as John's Gospel has to say about believing, I'm not sure anyone recorded a more powerful statement than Mark. He tells us Jesus said, "Everything is possi­ble for him who believes" (Mark 9:23).

  Student of God's Word, the Jesus of some of our churches, denomina­tions, family, and friends may not be able to deliver us, heal us, and stun us with amazing feats, but the Jesus of Scripture can. And He's the same yesterday and today and forever. It's time we start believing Him for more. When we've turned the last page of this Bible study, may we be found firmly embracing the powerful and believable Jesus of God's Word.

  147

  Chapter 23

  MORE WINE