Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 4:43-54 06/05/05

Message: ‘Training Our Faith’                                                                                                                                              Text: John 4:43-54

Introduction: Any Dallas Cowboys fans here? Former head coach  Tom Landry once said ‘The job of a coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do, in order to achieve what they really want.’

If you think about it, that’s what Jesus does.
•    He allows us to go through things that we don’t want to go through;
•    He makes us face things we don’t want to face,
•    in order to achieve what we really wanted in the first place…a deepening of our relationship with God.

To do this requires the strengthening of our faith. That’s what our passage today is about. Training our faith.

Transition: Let’s meet Jesus as he once again is on the road.

I. John 4:43-45    Jesus Returns to Cana
Read: John 4:43-45

At first glance there seems to be a contradiction. Jesus says that a prophet has no honor or is not respected, welcomed, in his own country. Then John says that Jesus was welcomed when he went to Galilee, his home.

Actually, as you can guess, there is no contradiction. It is a matter of perception. The people in Galilee
•    welcomed Jesus as a miracle man, a magician, not the messiah.
•    They welcomed him for what he could do for them..not what he could do in them!

Why did Jesus say he was not welcomed when it looked like he was? Because he knew the peoples’ hearts. Remember John 2:23-24?

Read: John 2:23-24

Allusions to this text will come back again and again in John. Jesus will reveal their hearts in vs 48..but more on that later.

The point here to be made is these were ‘If ‘ Galileans. “If’ Jesus helps me or does what I ask, he is welcome. Does that sound familiar? Have you heard it said or at least inferred from others? Has it crossed your mind?

These were and are the kind of people who will follow Jesus ‘If’
•    he does what they ask him to do,
•    in the way they ask him to do it,
•    when they ask him to do it.

When Jesus says no…wait or responds in a different way, they turn their backs on him. We often see this happen when there is physical or financial tragedy in a family. Rather than turn to God, many often turn on God.

Transition: Some…but not all, as we will see. Lets read about one of the exceptions.

II. John 4:46-47    The Resolve of Faith
Read: John 4:46-47

If you have ever had a loved one sick, near death, you know how this man felt. Jesus was his only hope. Place yourself in his sandles for a moment.
•    His son, whom he obviously loved dearly, is near death.
•    He had either seen for himself while in Jerusalem for the Passover or heard about what Jesus had done, including the miracle of turning water into wine at Cana.
•    He heard Jesus was in Galilee.
•    He travels about 20 miles, uphill from Capernaum to Cana.
•    He doesn’t know whether his son was still alive as he made the 8hr or so trip.
•    When he finds Jesus he has only one thing on his mind: getting Jesus to come back to his home as quickly as possible to save his sons life.
•    He fights his way through the crowd, approaches Jesus and begs for his help…he begs for the life of his dying son.

We can learn an important lesson from this mans resolve…when you have a need, take it straight to Jesus, don’t be distracted, don’t get detoured...go directly to Jesus.

While that may sound obvious, how many people, how many Christians, how often have you gone someplace else first…second, even third, before honestly and completely laying your problems at the feet of Jesus? How often have you delayed or missed completely the touch of God’s hand, and the power and peace of God’s presence, simply because you didn’t go to him first?

Transition: This was the beginning of this mans faith journey..it is our first step as well. What is our next step?

III. John 4:47-49    The Request of Faith
Read: John 4:47-49

The man makes his request for Jesus to go with him to heal his dying son, and Jesus, essentially blows him off…ok not him really.
The ‘you’ in the text (unless you see a sign) is you (pl) or you all…ya’ll for you southern types.

Obviously a crowd gathered around Jesus as he came to Galilee and the court official was part of the crowd, and they were all trying to get Jesus’ attention and help.
Remember Jesus sees their hearts, their motives. They wanted to use him to make him jump through their hoops. That was  why they welcomed him. Not because of who he was but because of what he could do  for them. Regardless of the crowds’ motives, even hearing and recognizing Jesus’ words as a rebuke, the court official persists in making his request…a request of faith, faith that Jesus could heal his dying son by accompanying him to his home. 

Another lesson to be learned. If we are to have Jesus meet our needs, we must overcome the obstacles.
•    The official travels by foot 20 miles, uphill, from Cana to Capernaum.
•    He then makes his way through the crowd to get Jesus’ attention.
•    Then Jesus rebukes the crowd for being a bunch of entertainment seekers, a bunch of people whose faith is limited to what they could see… ‘signs and wonders’.
I can just picture Jesus beginning to walk away but the court official followed after him. He was willing to go the extra step to make his request of faith to Jesus.

Jesus didn’t make it easy for the man to exercise his faith. And it’s when we exercise or train our faith, when it is hard, when it is difficult, that our faith and we grow.

Transition: The court official’s faith took another step toward Jesus and he is about to take a giant leap if he is to see his son live.

IV. John 4:50        The Response of Faith
Read: John 4:50

Basically Jesus tells the court official no, I will not go with you to your  home. Can you imagine how he must have felt? He probably thought Jesus was his sons only hope and…he said no. What kind of prophet is this? He must have been devastated. His heart broken. His faith shaken.

But here’s what Jesus is doing.
•    Previously with his disciples at the well in Samaria Jesus taught them to train their eyes to see God’s work.
•    Here Jesus is teaching this distraught father, and us as well, that we need to train our faith to believe God’s Word.

In a giant leap of faith, the official believed Jesus. He took Jesus at his word and departed for home. Jesus said his son was alive and he trusted Jesus’ word to be true…
•    despite the circumstances,
•    despite the fact that Jesus didn’t answer his request the way he wanted,
•    despite the fact that Jesus wouldn’t even be near his son,
•    he trusted Jesus, he took him at his word.

If the crowd still surrounded Jesus and the official I can imagine them saying ‘yeah right…go home and you will find your son dead. Jesus doesn’t care about you or your son…he’s a fake.’.

Notice that the official didn’t argue with Jesus, he didn’t try to  reason with him. This desperate father believed Jesus. He didn’t just believe in Jesus, he believed what Jesus said and then by heading home, he acted upon it in faith.

Is there a lesson to be learned here? You bet. If we are going to have our needs met, we must take Jesus at his word, we must trust not only ‘in’ him but in what he ‘says’. Then we must do what he says, without question.

How many times have we read the words of Jesus and while on some level we believe them to be true, we don’t believe them enough to act upon them.
    In the Experiencing God small group we learned that this is called the ‘Crises of  Belief’.  Do I truly believe what God is  saying enough to act up it…to do as he        says?

We face the crises of belief every day, each time we are given the chose to trust God and do as God’s Word says or take matters into our own hands and do was we want.

Transition: When you are found faithful, when your faith has trusted in God’s Word enough that you actually do what God asks, there is a heavenly reward.

V. John 4:51-54    The Reward of Faith
Read: John 4:51-54

The official walked home by faith, not by sight. He believed Jesus and God showed him his answer. In this case it was the next day. Often God tarries with his answer. But we still trust in his Word.
Good news comes and good things happen when we take Jesus at his Word and act accordingly. It takes a willingness to step out in faith. To believe, before we see God’s answer.

It is not enough to say you believe in God. You must believe what God says and then act upon it…live it, regardless of the obstacles.

Please know that I am not talking about ‘name it and claim it’ theology. God doesn’t do our bidding. But whatever we ask in his name in accordance with his will, we can be assured he will do it. We can be assured it will be for our best.

How do I know? Because God’s Word says it.

Conclusion
ILL: A while ago, the news carried the story of a retired school teacher who lost her life savings when she was taken in by an elaborate investment scheme peddled to her by a swindler. When everything she owned disappeared, and she could not locate the man who sold her the plan, she went to the Better Business Bureau for help. Her dream had vanished and she was penniless.

When she went to the Better Business Bureau, the director said, “Why on earth didn’t you come to us first? We could have helped you. Didn’t you know about the Better Business Bureau?” “Oh, yes,” she said sheepishly. “I’ve always known about you. But I didn’t come here first because I was afraid you’d tell me not to do it.”

Many times we don’t take Jesus at his word, because we are afraid of what he might tell us. But when we go to Jesus, overcome the obstacles, and take him at his word, we find that our needs are met in ways that we could never imagine, and we find that God’s Word is always true, right and good. (Rodney J. Buchanan)

Jesus wants us to train our faith, to trust his words and to act upon them.