“Whenever God raises up a spiritual leader who commands attention, there is always the danger of attracting people who want to bask in his popularity but not submit to his authority. A “mixed multitude” followed Moses and Israel out of Egypt, people who were impressed with the miracles but not yielded to the Lord. The prophets and apostles, as well as the great leaders in church history, all had to put up with shallow people who followed the crowd but refused to obey the truth. We have them in churches today.”  –Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Study Bible

Following without obedience is like trying to swim without water.  Impressed by but not yielded to Jesus is the worst way to exist.  James, Jesus’ brother, will write later, “faith without works” is a dead faith.  Reading God’s Word, seeking Truth, getting the facts of life, merely adding more information to our lives produces no fruit for our efforts. We are merely attaching or added Jesus to our regularly scheduled programed lives instead of allow Jesus to BE Life that lives in us and leads us in all we think, say. and do. 

Danger ahead!  This attitude causes us to take in just enough information to be dangerous.  We read how to live, preach it, while self-righteously pointing fingers at others who do not obey.  In other words, we do not practice what we preach, we do not obey what we know as Truth.  We are still led by our own desires.  We are “missing the forest for the trees” as Jesus says.

John 5, The Message

^39-40 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.

^41-44 “I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?

^45-47 “But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The very Scriptures that the Jewish leaders used to defend their religion would one day bear witness against them. The Jews knew what Moses wrote, but they did not really believe what he wrote. It is one thing to have the Word in our hands or our heads, but quite another thing to have it in our hearts.

Jesus is the Word made flesh, and the written Word bears witness to the Incarnate Word—God in flesh.  Let us revisit how John began his gospel:

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5, NIV
• “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”          John 1:14, MSG
• “These Scriptures are all about me!”  Jesus IS the Word.  Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life that people seek.  He is the One and Only who can fill the emptiness in our  hearts. 
• Jesus is the Only Way to the God.  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6

And Jesus is standing right in front of them!  Jesus is standing right in front of us.

If we believe, really believe we are reborn into a new life that bursts into bloom with a new way of thinking that transforms old behaviors into new behaviors that are more like the one we say we believe!

If we believe, really believe our faith is living and growing!  Our believing faith leads to obedience to Jesus living in us!  Believing faith is alive and well! 

“Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, ‘Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.’  Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.”  James 2:14-18, MSG

If we believe, really believe, others are attracted to Jesus in us.  People were attracted to Jesus while He walked through the neighborhoods of humanity because He was Truth and Love present and presented.  He didn’t just talk about Love, He was Love.  He didn’t just talk about Truth, He was Truth. 

So, if Jesus is Lord of our lives, His love in us is evident.  As we live in obedience to Him, people who are seeking what is real—notice.  Remember, that they are attracted, not to us, but to Jesus in us.  As all of Scripture points to Jesus, so must our lives!

If we believe, really believe, we smell good to God!  “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2, NIV

If we believe, really believe, we are in constant communion with God—like Jesus.  We offer our lives back to Him as an offering to Him daily.  “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

If we believe, really believe, we depend on God for all the details of life.  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV

“The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37:23-24, NLT

If we believe, really believe, God’s love grows deep within us as we begin to realize the expanse of His love to us.  The more we realize His love for us; our love for Him and for others expands beyond our wildest imaginations! God is love.  To know God is to know love—real love.  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 3:38-39, NIV

Believe, really believe in Jesus and be saved forever. 

Believe and experience Life!  “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Lord,

You are Life to me.  Thank you for saving my soul by cleansing my heart.  Continue to daily wash me white as snow as I offer my life to you.  Renew my mind that transforms my behaviors.  Refresh my soul with your new mercies.  Restore the joy of your salvation at work within me.  Replace all my worry and concerns with your peace. 

I will rejoice in this new day, listening to you, obeying what you say, as I walk with you with your Helper guiding me.  I need you every hour.  Every hour you are there. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

In Jesus Name, Amen