I people-watch.

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I’ll look around and observe even on Sundays during the worship service.  There are times I wonder if people “get it.”  I see their face, looking like they just lost their dog week after week.  Do they truly know the life offered by Jesus?

I’m not implying that Christians should never have bad days.  We do.  I’m not saying we have to fake our smiles all the time.  We don’t.

I’m saying that when I see the same miserable look on the same people’s faces for years—and interacting with them matches their faces—do they get what Jesus has offered them?  Perhaps today will underscore our understanding. 

For most books of the Bible, we must determine the theme based on careful reading.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t leave us wondering at all in John’s Gospel.  He inspires John to come right out and say it in John 20:30-31.

Jesus performed many other 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 Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

John 20:30-31
New International Version

This is the purpose statement of the entire book of John.  Even when we started studying John’s Gospel so long ago, these verses were always in view.  The keywords in this Gospel are in these verses.

These verses begin the final movement of the Gospel of John symphony.  

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It informs us that Jesus performed many more “signs.”  We’ve discussed this as it’s come up.  These are like road signs guiding and attesting to the identity of Jesus.  These aren’t just miracles but also His teachings and actions.  That means when we read all four Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), we still only have a portion of what our Master did.

But what we have is enough.  Verse 31 tells us as much “…these are written that you may believe.”  What we have inspires us to know Jesus is the Messiah.  He is the Son of God.  Jesus is everything Scripture attested Him to be.

Our belief isn’t just a mental attitude.  It’s committing ourselves to Him.  It’s becoming His follower, His disciple, His student.  It’s becoming His apprentice, so we become more like Him.

In the Old Testament “worship vocabulary,” we are often told to “remember.”  We remember Who Jesus is.  We remember what we were.  We remember what Jesus has done in us.  And what He can do through us.

I know where I’d be without Him.  I MUST praise Him.  I MUST pour myself out for Him.  I MUST keep my eyes on the prize of bringing the Gospel to those who don’t have it.  I MUST do this because He has redeemed me. 

We don’t have the Scriptures (John’s Gospel or any other book of the Bible), so we can go “hmm…interesting.”  We have the Scriptures to engage with the source of life and receive that source of life for ourselves.  I don’t write this blog or stand to teach the Lord’s people because I think it’s good for society or because I like it.  

I teach the Lord’s people these Scriptures because I KNOW it is true, and I know how it changes your life.  This stuff will change your life!

Has it changed yours?