Believe
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | May 3, 2026
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Read John 14:1 – 14 (NIV)
In preparing for today’s sermon, I wanted to come up with a catchy title that reflected the essence of this passage from John’s Gospel that calls for our attention today… but there was only one word that kept coming to mind… and that word is BELIEVE.
Now, according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, the word “believe” is defined as a transitive verb that means:
1. a) to consider to be true or honest, b) to accept the word or evidence of
2. to hold as an opinion, as in to “suppose”
But it can also be an intransitive verb that means:
1. a) to accept something as true, genuine, or real, b) to have a firm or wholehearted religious conviction or persuasion : as in to regard the existence of God or a deity as a fact
2. to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of someone or something
Now for the sake of time, I will dispense with the grammar lesson that explains the difference between a transitive verb which is a verb that acts upon a direct or indirect object and an intransitive verb which expresses an action that does not act upon anything else, direct or indirect.
And I will ask that you just BELIEVE me when I say that we are called to BELIEVE in God… and accept that God is true, genuine AND real… and to do so with a firm and wholehearted conviction that God “exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (see Hebrews 11:6) and to stand firm in the knowledge that God is good (all the time).
Now, if we were to do a quick word count on Biblegateway.com, we would find that in the New International Version of the Bible… the word “BELIEVE” appears 19 times in the Old Testament and a whopping 131 times in the New Testament… and of those 131 times that the word “BELIEVE” is found in the New Testament, 53 of the occurrences are in John’s Gospel… including the 6 times that we find the word BELIEVE in today’s text.
I guess with all of that… it shouldn’t be all that surprising that the word BELIEVE kept coming to mind.
And as we look at everything that is happening in the world around us… as chaotic and confusing… infuriating and irritating… disturbing and discouraging as things may be… isn’t it good to know that we have something and someone we can BELIEVE in who will sustain us through it all?
Now, with that as our backdrop, I want to invite us to take a closer look at our New Testament lesson from this 14th chapter of John’s Gospel.
By way of full disclosure, I will share that I have used the first 6 verses of this 14th chapter of John any number of times when I have been afforded the privilege of officiating at memorial services and funerals.
And on many occasions, I have paired it with Psalm 23… highlighting the promise that there is a place that has been prepared for us… and that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Now, in the context of a memorial or funeral service… that promise is lifted up as a way to bring peace and comfort to the family and friends that have gathered… to offer words of encouragement and reassurance regarding their loved one… that if they were a believer in Jesus… they had a reservation held in their name in the kingdom of God… and have been given the opportunity to put in their permanent change of address for their home on high.
But those verses also hold a word of encouragement for those of us who are still here… that if we haven’t already done so… now is the time to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior… and to express our belief that He is the Son of God…
Because as we read in Romans 10:9 – 10:
Read John 14:1 – 14 (NIV)
In preparing for today’s sermon, I wanted to come up with a catchy title that reflected the essence of this passage from John’s Gospel that calls for our attention today… but there was only one word that kept coming to mind… and that word is BELIEVE.
Now, according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, the word “believe” is defined as a transitive verb that means:
1. a) to consider to be true or honest, b) to accept the word or evidence of
2. to hold as an opinion, as in to “suppose”
But it can also be an intransitive verb that means:
1. a) to accept something as true, genuine, or real, b) to have a firm or wholehearted religious conviction or persuasion : as in to regard the existence of God or a deity as a fact
2. to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of someone or something
Now for the sake of time, I will dispense with the grammar lesson that explains the difference between a transitive verb which is a verb that acts upon a direct or indirect object and an intransitive verb which expresses an action that does not act upon anything else, direct or indirect.
And I will ask that you just BELIEVE me when I say that we are called to BELIEVE in God… and accept that God is true, genuine AND real… and to do so with a firm and wholehearted conviction that God “exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (see Hebrews 11:6) and to stand firm in the knowledge that God is good (all the time).
Now, if we were to do a quick word count on Biblegateway.com, we would find that in the New International Version of the Bible… the word “BELIEVE” appears 19 times in the Old Testament and a whopping 131 times in the New Testament… and of those 131 times that the word “BELIEVE” is found in the New Testament, 53 of the occurrences are in John’s Gospel… including the 6 times that we find the word BELIEVE in today’s text.
I guess with all of that… it shouldn’t be all that surprising that the word BELIEVE kept coming to mind.
And as we look at everything that is happening in the world around us… as chaotic and confusing… infuriating and irritating… disturbing and discouraging as things may be… isn’t it good to know that we have something and someone we can BELIEVE in who will sustain us through it all?
Now, with that as our backdrop, I want to invite us to take a closer look at our New Testament lesson from this 14th chapter of John’s Gospel.
By way of full disclosure, I will share that I have used the first 6 verses of this 14th chapter of John any number of times when I have been afforded the privilege of officiating at memorial services and funerals.
And on many occasions, I have paired it with Psalm 23… highlighting the promise that there is a place that has been prepared for us… and that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Now, in the context of a memorial or funeral service… that promise is lifted up as a way to bring peace and comfort to the family and friends that have gathered… to offer words of encouragement and reassurance regarding their loved one… that if they were a believer in Jesus… they had a reservation held in their name in the kingdom of God… and have been given the opportunity to put in their permanent change of address for their home on high.
But those verses also hold a word of encouragement for those of us who are still here… that if we haven’t already done so… now is the time to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior… and to express our belief that He is the Son of God…
Because as we read in Romans 10:9 – 10:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and BELIEVE in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you BELIEVE and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
It is when we BELIEVE that we receive the gift of eternal life.
Now, as we consider the broader conversation that is playing out in our text this morning… we find Jesus talking to His beloved disciples… telling them about what is going to happen… while also responding to the questions and concerns that have been raised by Thomas and Philip.
It is in verse 5 that Thomas asked the question that was likely on everyone else’s mind following Jesus’ declaration that they already knew the way to where Jesus was going to prepare a place for them.
“Thomas said to him, “’Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’”
In other words, basically saying, “We have no idea where you are going… because, in spite of everything you have been teaching and telling us all this time… we are still clueless.”
But thankfully for Thomas and the other disciples… not to mention us… Jesus did not respond in anger or frustration… but simply said:
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
The commentary in the Life Application Study Bible puts it like this:
This is one of the most basic and important passages in Scripture. How can we know the way to God? Only through Jesus. Jesus is the way because He is both God and man. By uniting our lives with His, we are united with God. Trust Jesus to take you to the Father and all the benefits of being God’s child will be yours (Life Application Study Bible, 2005, p. 1773).
The commentary goes on further to explain:
Jesus says He is the only way to God the Father. Some people may argue that this way is too narrow. In reality, it is wide enough for the whole world, if the world chooses to accept it. Instead of worrying about how limited it sounds to have only one way, we should be saying, “Thank you, God, for providing us a sure way to get to you!”
As the way, Jesus is our path to the Father. As the truth, He is the reality of all God’s promises. As the life, He joins His divine life to ours, both now and eternally. Jesus is, in truth, the only living way to the Father.
Now, looking back at the text… unconvinced by Jesus’ answer to Thomas… and unaware of what we just heard from the commentary in the LASB… Philip makes a bold request of Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
And that is the point when we start to get a sense of Jesus’ incredulity… that after all the disciples have witnessed firsthand… they still don’t get it…
Listen to Jesus’ response to Philip as it is found in the Message Paraphrase:
You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.
Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works.
But before we start chuckling to ourselves about Jesus’ rebuke of Philip… we need to think about what if feels like to walk a few miles in his shoes.
Consider this… Philip witnessed Jesus’ miracles firsthand. He saw the blind receive their sight. He looked on as the lame got up and walked. He watched as the deaf had their ears opened. He even saw a dead man named Lazarus walk out of a tomb alive.
And yet, he still did not grasp the truth of Who was right there with them.
And if Philip had trouble understanding… even with all that hardcore evidence right before his eyes… is it any wonder that some folks still have trouble believing the truth about Jesus all these years later?
For some of us, it feels like second nature to BELIEVE in Jesus… and that is a good thing… but along with that belief comes a responsibility… to help others get to the place where they will BELIEVE as well.
But have no fear… we have not been left alone or empty handed to accomplish the task set before us. In fact, the closing verses of our text in the Message read:
The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.
Looking again at the commentary in the LASB, it says:
Jesus is not saying that His disciples would do more amazing miracles – after all, raising the dead is about as amazing as you can get. Rather, the disciples, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, would carry the gospel of God’s kingdom out of Palestine and into the whole world.
Now the commentary also states:
When Jesus says we can ask for anything, we must remember that our asking must be in His name – that is, according to God’s character and will. God will not grant requests contrary to His nature or His will, and we cannot use His name as a magic formula to fulfill our selfish desires. If we are sincerely following God and seeking to do His will, then our requests will be in line with what He wants, and He will grant them.
And what is it that God wants?
Looking back to John 6:39, we read, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”
And in John 12 (12), we read, “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”
And over in John 18 (9), we read, “This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me.’”
Simply put, God’s desire is that none should be lost… and God has given believers across the span of history ample opportunities to share the Good News about Jesus… and the gift of salvation that is theirs if they will just BELIEVE.
“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” (John 3:16).
But sadly, there are still some misguided folks who have put their trust in those who do not have the power or authority to give them anything even close to eternal life… despite what Facebook, Instagram, or Truth Social might lead them to believe to the contrary.
The gospel writer, Luke, makes this quite clear in Acts 4 (12) which reads, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
And in his letter to the Philippians (2:9 – 11), Paul said it this way:
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And there is good news for us today… all hope is not lost… regardless of what it may look like.
There is still time for us to follow through on what Jesus commissioned the disciples to do… which is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded... secure in the promise that He would be with them (and will be with us) always… even to the very end of the age (see Matthew 28:19 – 20).
And there is still time for us to be even more intentional about following the Greatest Commandment… to love God with all of who we are and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And to be honest… that really will not be all that hard to do… if we truly BELIEVE that Jesus is Who He says He is.
Living out Jesus’ Great Commission is possible when we BELIEVE in the One who has made the promise to be with us… because as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “…he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23b).
Following Jesus’ command to love God and the people of God is doable when we BELIEVE that God is love… for as we read in 1 John 5 (2 – 3), “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”
And if you BELIEVE that we have been commissioned by Jesus… to love God and the people of God… and to spread the good news as we make disciples in His name… and you are willing to trust and obey all that Jesus has commanded us to do… then I want to invite you to stand now and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: Trust and Obey #556.
