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Unless otherwise indicated all scripture is quoted from the New Living Translation of the Bible.
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Some of you have perhaps heard of the US Government’s directive on dealing with an Anaconda attack.
Anaconda’s, as everyone knows are large semi-aquatic snakes of the boa family that live in the tropical regions of S. America. They can grow to 35 feet long and weigh between 300 and 400 pounds.
The government prepared the following instructions that were included in a Peace Corp training manual.
1. If you are attacked my an anaconda, do not run. The snake is faster than you are.
2. Lie flat on the ground. Put your arms tight against your sides, your legs tight against one another.
3. Tuck your chin in.
4. The snake will come and begin to nudge and climb over your body. Do not panic.
5. After the snake has examined you, it will begin to swallow you from the feet end--always from the feet end. Permit the snake to swallow your feet and your ankles.
6. Do not panic.
7. The snake will begin to suck your legs into its body. You must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time.
8. When the snake reaches your knees, slowly, and with as little movement as possible, reach down, take your knife and very gently slide it into the side of the snake’s mouth between the edge of the mouth and your leg.
Then suddenly rip upwards, severing the snake’s head.
9. Be sure you have your knife.
10. Make sure your knife is sharp.
Just think, if the Israelites had such a manual in their hands they may have not been so devastated by the snakes they encountered in the desert.
Of course, they didn’t. As a matter of fact the Israelites didn’t have much with them when they fled Egypt – crossing the Red Sea into the relative safety of the desert. Which, as you remember, was not a pleasant place to be. You’ve seen pictures this week of desert sandstorms in the Middle East.
And it brought out the worst in the Israelites. The people were given to impatience with Moses and God. We see that in Numbers 21 where the Israelites begin to utter their collective whine.
"Why have you brought us out into the wilderness to die? There’s no food out here! No McBaggels. Just manna burgers. No water! What’s the story here Moses?"
Verse 6 says that God responded by sending poisonous snakes which bite the people and many Israelites died.
By verse 7 they change their story and go to Moses saying "’We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.’ So Moses prayed for the people.”
And in vseres 8-9 God tells Moses to make replica of a snake and to put it on a pole.
So he makes one out of bronze and "Whenever those who were bitten looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!" says verse 9.
Now, please don’t ask me how this worked. I have no idea! Although, snakes were often equated in the ancient world with healing. Even today the insignia for a physician, the Caduceus is a staff with two entwined snakes.
Numbers, however, isn’t really interested in explaining the connection between snakes and healing -- or how looking at a bronze snake healed people of their snake bites. No, the emphasis is on the fact that God in his love and mercy saved the very people who had bad mouthed him. God says: "Look up and live!"
And the people who had previously been unresponsive to him believed and obeyed. But there is more to the story than simply an isolated act of salvation.
In the gospel of John the raised snake serves as a typology of the crucifixion -- a foreshadowing of the salvation that would come to the world when Jesus was raised up on a pole.
Look at John 3:14 – “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, [15] so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.”
Just as the Israelites looked up to the serpent for healing from snake bites so, says John, do we look up to Jesus for eternal healing.
Look up and live. Whoever looks up to the raised up Jesus will live!
Well, what exactly does it mean to look up to Jesus? Are we talking about admiring him as a great man? Are we talking about holding him up as a role model? Are we saying that we want to elevate him to hero status?
There are a lot of people, if not most people, who hold Jesus and his teachings in high regard. He is admired by Mohammed, by Ghandi, by the man on the street. Ask him.....I once did.
I was doing a Young Life talk on who Jesus claimed to be. So I took a tape recorder out onto a busy street and stopped passerbyers and asked them who they thought Jesus was.
Well, in addition to a lot of funny looks I got a lot of pretty expected answers.
"He was a great man."
"He was an outstanding moral teacher."
"He was the founder of Christianity."
But you know, of all the people I interviewed on the tape that I was going to play back for my high school students -- not one person had a negative or derogatory statement about Jesus. He was respected by all.
But is this really what John is saying when he says that the Son of Man must be lifted up? That he must be respected? No, not really.
John says it is a matter of "believing." See John 3:15-16 "...so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
This passage is so familiar that we don’t really hear it. "...so that everyone who believes in him." Believes!
But what exactly does it mean to believe? There are a lot of misperceptions out there.
As a matter of fact we are a very believing culture. George Barna recently did a poll and he found that more than 90% of all Americans say that they believe in god. Only 1% claimed to be atheists. 2% say that everyone is God (pantheists of some sort). 10% believe in a God who is the realization of personal human fulfillment. 2% believe in many gods, each with different powers and authority. 6% believe that God represents a state of higher consciousness that a person can reach. 73% say that the God they believe in is all-powerful, all-knowing, and the perfect Creator of the universe (an orthodox Christian view).
But even then what we say we believe and how we live are often two different things. I know this from my own life and I suspect you do, too.
So I’m convinced that we all need at least a little refresher in what constitutes believing. I’ve condensed our text this morning into three observations -- three things you need to know about believing.
First of all, I want you to note from our passages this morning that BELIEF HAS AN OBJECT.
As I evaluate the world in which I was raised I have come to realize that I grew up in a world with a strong anti-dogma bias. It’s good to believe in something as long as you aren’t too dogmatic about it -- for many belief has become the end in itself.
It doesn’t seem to matter what you believe in. What counts is that you have believing feelings. The object of faith is not nearly as important as having some kind of faith. And since there is less and less consensus on the object of faith we emphasize the object less and less -- lest we offend someone and appear narrow-minded. Consequently faith is becoming detached from an object.
I know this sounds a bit abstract -- but track with me. It’s important. What I’m saying is that contrary to popular opinion faith in and of itself is useless -- unless there is a sound object of the faith.
I have faith that this chair will hold me. The object of my faith is the chair. But what if some hooligan came one night when no one was here and removed all of the screws from my chair. Would it be worthy of my faith?
But what if I just said, "It doesn’t matter if the chair can support me. What really matters is that I have some kind of belief in the chair. For there is no real right or wrong belief when it comes to chairs. You see it one way and I see it another. Who is to say "I’m right -- you’re wrong." So we just don’t say at all. It’s just enough to believe something about chairs -- or God -- or Jesus."
The scriptures make it clear though that there is a solid object of our faith or belief and that object is the God of love and mercy.
In the wilderness the people were dying because of their rebellion. And they needed help. They turned back to the LORD who had rescued them in the past and when he told them to look to a snake on a stick to be saved they did it.
As absurd as it sounded -- they trusted in the LORD enough that they followed his instructions. They believed in him and his love and mercy.
Likewise John says that the object of our belief is the God who loved the world so much that he sent his only son -- the son who was raised up.
When we say that salvation comes by believing we are not talking about divorced belief. We are talking about believing in a specific supreme being who is characterized by love and mercy -- as well as justice. We are talking about believing in the ultimate historical manifestation of his love, mercy, and justice -- the sending of his son Jesus into the world to be raised up on a pole to die on behalf of each individual in the world. Belief has an object.
Secondly, BELIEF HAS A TANGIBLE RESULT.
In both the Numbers passage and in John 3 there are marked results that occur as the effect of people believing. In both cases those results are a reprieve from judgment. In Numbers 21 when the Israelites believe they are saved from snake bites -- and death.
In John 3 those who believe are said to be saved from eternal death and they receive eternal life.
Those who do not believe, according to verses 17-18, already stand condemned – "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. [18] "There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.”
Even though judgment is not God’s primary intention --
it is inevitable for those who do not believe – who put themselves outside the bounds of God’s mercy.
It is so real that it isn’t just a future happening according to John. It is a present reality – “But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.”
In contrast to the condemnation, though, is the eternal life freely offered by God to all in the world who believe. John 3:16 -- "...so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Now, someone is probably saying, "this is good news but it all sounds pretty abstract to me. How can you say that this is a tangible result – this eternal life? It all sounds like pie in the sky?"
Well, sure it’s pie in the sky. (There’s nothing wrong with that) But there is more to it. The term "eternal life" refers not just to the future but it contains a dimension of quality as well.
Eugene Peterson: "by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life."
Now that the days are warmer I’ve been out riding my bike most everyday. I rode in the winter, but not as much. And when I first started going at it again more intensely my legs were really hurting.
But now that it is a pattern I feel great! I feel a lot better than during the lethargic winter months. The exercise not only extends our lives but it improves the quality, too.
That’s the way it is with eternal life. Eternal life is not just the ultimate extension of longevity but it improves the quality here and now as well. You see, when people come to believe their lives are changed -- not perfected but changed. We begin to live and think a new way. We begin to see life from a different angle. And we can no longer go about doing business as usual. We begin to take a whole and balanced approach to living -- even in extreme circumstances.
This is from a note that was sent to the American Bible Society:
"From my confinement here I want to send you, over the walls of my exile, these words of joy that come from my heart. I am 29 years old, and I was condemned to life imprisonment for murder... At that time I did not know that Jesus really existed. But today, after years of grief and anguish, I am starting to live my life anew.
"What happened was that while I was depressed and miserable, my heart just about breaking, a friend gave me a small book. It was the Gospel of Luke. As I read through the Gospel, it was as if every word touched my heart profoundly. At the end I knelt down in my cell and, in tears, I confessed my sin to Jesus.
"For the first time in my life I felt his presence. I know I was born anew and I want to help others to find this wonderful peace that I now have in Christ. The Gospel has given me a zest for life."
I like his last phrase there--"a zest for life." That’s what eternal life is -- a zesty life. A whole life -- a fulfilled life!
And while it’s a part of what we have to look forward to when we finally meet Jesus face to face it is also a part of our eternal lives now -- for all who believe.
Thirdly, BELIEF IS AN ONGOING PROCESS.
This was one of the most frustrating things about living in the so-called Bible belt – back when we lived in Texas. Most everyone I talked to considered him or herself to be a believer because at some point in their life with all sincerity they went forward "got saved, and were baptized." They "believed" and at that time received eternal life. It didn’t matter that it had no affect on the way they lived. They just knew that they believed so they were saved. Or at least in their minds that was how it was -- or is...
Well this is not the kind of believing that John talks of here in chapter 3. The grammatical construction of the word "believe" in John 3:15, 16, and 18 is such that it denotes an ongoing belief -- whoever *keeps on* believing.
True belief is not a once in a lifetime event. If it’s been reduced to such it probably isn’t true belief in the first place.
And there are millions of people running around thinking that they are "saved" because they walked the aisle -- or repeated a prayer. But they are not really saved at all. They have only had an experience that temporarily mimics conversion to Jesus.
Those that truly believe are changed. John 3:21 – “But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants."
The Swedes in the early Covenant churches used to ask each other: “Are you alive?” Which meant, how goes your walk with Christ? Are you alive? Are you growing?
Is believing making a living difference?
And this is what John is asking his readers – to look up to the Jesus who was raised on a pole – to believe in him – and consequently to live -- not just nominally but to really experience new zesty eternal life.
Have you ever been close to death and then come back?
The Israelites knew they were about to die from those snake bits but when they looked up to the snake on the pole – suddenly they were given new lives. Can you imagine the sense of gratitude? The whole new outlook and direction?
Look up and live!
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus, we appreciate all that you did for us on the cross and when you rose from the dead. We acknowledge that you are the eternal healer – the Savior and we want to live for you from now on. And some of us are just coming to the point of stepping out to be able to say and believe these things for the first time this morning. Bless them and us all with the joy of living truly eternal lives. Starting now. Amen.
