Here’s a question for you: Are you a whoever?

Matt Heard:
Here’s a question for you. Are you a whoever? Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Matt Heard is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the founder and principal of a ministry called Thrive. He’s been teaching us all this week.

Matt Heard:
Thank you Matthew. And greetings to all of you. I hope your week is going well, or as I will often say, I hope it’s thriving. And that thriving is different from just existing. It’s matter of relating with God in such a way that there is a vibrancy and a fullness to what I’m experiencing, whether it’s highs or lows, whether it’s tragic things or beautiful things. I’m engaging with them all in the context of this relationship that we’ve been talking about this week. What does it look like to come alive? It looks like entering into a relationship with God through Jesus. I know that sounds basic and it is, but so often we gravitate to, we move away from getting our food at the table in communion with God and we head over to the vending machine and we think all right If I do X, Y, and Z, then God will start to love me. And some people say, well, now, wait a minute. We are supposed to be obedient. Of course, but that obedience comes as a result of being loved. The obedience is not what invokes the love of God for me. What we’re doing this week is unpacking that obscure verse, John 3:16 that actually is an obscure, it’s the most famous verse in all of Scripture. So familiar and famous that so often we take it for granted. And so, we’re letting that guide our thinking about gravitating away from religiosity, vending machine version of Christianity, to relationship, a table version where the food’s on the table and God’s on the other side of the table and relating with him in the context of our careers, our relationships, our trials, our health issues, whatever it is. It’s not saying, okay, am I not putting the right coins in religiosity so that my life will turn out different? It’s hey, my life is what it is, but in the context of it being what it is, I want to walk in intimacy with God. Therefore, Jesus tells this religious leader, Hey, you’ve got to be born again, Nicodemus, in John chapter 3, and there’s an encapsulation verse in verse 16, that’s the verse.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Thinking of that table around which I’m relating with God through Jesus, by His Spirit, the four table legs. There’s that love of God. There’s the Son of God. The third table leg is the belief in God. And the fourth table leg is life of God. So, let’s spend some time today talking about that third table leg. And here’s the context. God loves me, not on the basis of what I’ve done. but because he has assigned value to me. And he said, I love you so much that I’m going to give my Son. So, Jesus came fully human, fully God taking our sin upon himself and doing so for the whole world as infinite God. And so, it’s engaging with Jesus, not as a mascot, but as the centerpiece of my human journey where I’m saying, I want to be restored in the original purpose that I made for. So, remember we talked about the table leg though, if you’re going to eat a steak or anything, you can’t have just two or three table legs, you’ve got to have all four of them. And if you’ve ever been in a restaurant where one of the table legs is a little off and you try to cut your steak, it’s a little irritating. So, we’ve got to equally focus on all four table legs. And a biggie is this third table leg of belief in God.

Whoever believes in him

John 3:16 says, and that’s a word that a lot of people struggle with. I mean, I talked with some people that say, Hey, I don’t know this Christianity, I’m not a belief oriented person. Everything’s got to be, I’ve got to see it. And you know what? We’re all people who exercise belief every day, even if we’re atheists or wherever we are. I mean, when I flip a light switch, I’m exercising faith. I’m believing that that light switch will turn some illumination on in the room. When I get on an airplane, I’m believing, I’m a person of faith in that moment where I’m trusting that that plane is going to be able to carry me. So, it’s not a matter of whether we’re capable of belief. We all are, we all do it all the time, but it’s understanding what does believing the gospel.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him.

So, that’s at the, that’s the hinge. What does it mean to believe Jesus and believe in Jesus on a daily basis? It’s not just a matter of believing that Jesus exists. I mean, there’s the whole notion of, you can pick whatever, if it’s UFOs or Bigfoot or whatever, do you believe in Bigfoot, do you believe in UFOs? That’s using the word belief in one sense, but if I were to say, do you believe in Advil? I’m not asking you if you believe that Advil exists. I’m saying, do you believe in Advil in such a way that you use it? You trust it. You rely on it. And this whole notion of believing is that the heartbeat of the gospel and long ago, the reformers tried to encapsulate what does saving faith look like? And they came up with several Italian, several Latin words. The acensus and notitia and fiducia, but bottom line, those three ingredients have a lot to do with how I look and my relationship with Jesus. And so, what they’re referring to is the facts. It’s regarding the validity of what you’re believing in. So, since we’re sitting at this table, relating to that, we’re sitting at a chair. So, think of a chair. And you exercise faith whenever you sit in a chair. So do I. Now, we do this subconsciously really, but we go through this process, that threefold process that the reformers talked about, or they’re saying a notitia, you’ve got to appraise the trustworthiness, and then you’ve got to agree. That’s the acensus. You’ve got to ascent and then you exercise fiducia, you take action. So, look at a chair and when you’re exercising faith in that chair. The first thing you do subconsciously is you evaluate, is it sturdy? And in most of us, we just assume the chair is sturdy, it’s solid. But if you walk up to a chair and it’s rickety or it’s put together by masking tape or something, you hesitate. So, in our minds, we’re saying, okay, is the chair solid? Is it trustworthy? And this is where the study of apologetics is great, not just in coming to faith in Christ, but continuing to grow deeper in our trust in him, which will catapult us into deeper intimacy where we’re continually saying, okay, who is Jesus? And evaluating his veracity, the cogency of the gospel, the historicity of the gospel. You can’t spend too much time dealing with all of those apologetics, keep reading them because what they do is they don’t just enable us to defend the gospel, but that confidence should enable us to also dance to its music. And all of a sudden we’re beginning to enter into a real confidence. So, it’s that appraisal is the first category, looking at the notitia, am I praising? And every day, is the gospel true? Has Jesus risen from the dead? But it doesn’t, that Biblical faith that introduces me into this intimacy doesn’t stop there. I then have got to agree that it’s relevant to my need. That’s the acensus that the reformers talked about. And so, I’ve got a strong chair, but I’ve got to evaluate, am I tired enough to sit in it? Or is there a social environment here that’s requiring me to sit in it? When we look at Jesus, we’re not just saying, okay, he is who he claimed to be, but is he relevant to my need as a human being who wants to be restored in the original purpose for which I’ve been created? And if so, I still haven’t embraced the saving faith. There’s got to be action, that’s the fiducia that the reformers are talking about. I’ve got to actually sit in the chair. I’ve got to trust him. I’ve got to trust him on a daily basis. And and John 20:31, John says, let me tell you why I’ve written my gospel. So, this is at the end of his gospel, where we found John 3:16 a few chapters ago. He didn’t write in chapters and verses, as you know, but at the end he says.

I could have included a lot more, but what I have included, 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.

Notice he uses believe twice there.

That you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

That’s that entering into a relationship with him. And most of us think that that’s the end of it. All right, I believed in Jesus Messiah. I’m a Christian. I’ve got that box checked and I’m going to go out through my life. And then hopefully one day I’ll go to heaven. Great. Yes, all that’s true. But John says also.

And that by believing you may have life in his name.

That’s a present tense exhortation to us in the midst of the zigs and the zags of our journey. We’re believing. We’re constantly acknowledging who Jesus is, that he is who he claimed to be. We’re acknowledging his relevance for the longings of our journey that we yearn to be fulfilled as human beings. Yes, to God’s glory to be fulfilled. And we are moving in this direction of saying, I’m going to actively trust him today. I’m going to sit in the chair today to experience zoe life in his name that we’re going to spend some time talking about tomorrow. The gospel is not just something that I know, it’s something that I experience. The way I experience it is by believing in this love of God, the God who’s across the table for me. Who demonstrated it through Jesus and enables me to engage by trusting him. And as a result, I hope you thrive today.

Matthew Porter:
And thank you Matt Heard. If you’re just joining us, Matt is leading us through a special series this week called Coming Alive. We have one more day with Matt tomorrow, so hope you will be here for that. Well, if you’re a regular listener to Key Life, then you’ve probably heard Matt’s mellow tones before. And if so, you may be interested in reading some articles he’s written on our website. To find those, just go to keylife.org and then on the left hand menu, just click the authors button and then just scroll down until you find Matt’s name. You don’t have to go very far. And as you’re there, you’ll also see info and articles from all our Key Life contributors. It’s an easy way to find the stuff that ministers to you the most. And great news, all of our website content is still absolutely free, thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that number is 1-800-539-5433. If you’d like to send your donation by mail, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Or e-mail [email protected] you can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, now you can give safely and securely simply by texting Key Life to 28950 and then follow the instructions. And we say this all the time, but we really do mean it. Every gift matters and every gift helps. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.