We have a special treat for you as you complete your 31-day journey through John! To close out ABIDE, we’re honored to share a devotional from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. His message offers a thoughtful reflection on John’s Gospel and encourages you to continue abiding in Christ long after this journey ends.
Why John’s Gospel Was Written and Why It Matters
by: Pastor Colin Smith
These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31
Why have we spent a whole month in John’s Gospel? Why was it written, and why does it matter? The Apostle John tells us the answer in John 20:31.
You could hardly ask for a clearer statement than this! When you drill the whole thing down to its core, John wants people to know that Jesus is the Christ. The way in which people will know that Jesus is the Christ is through the evidence that is presented in the Gospels, and the result of people knowing that Jesus is the Christ will be life in his name.
Notice, everything centers around Jesus. This is unique to Christianity. Other religions center around certain teachings and practices that you can adopt. You can have Buddhism without Buddha, or Islam without Mohammed, but you cannot have Christianity without Christ.
Many religious teachers have said, “This is the truth.” Jesus says, “I am the truth!” Many teachers have said, “This is the way.” Jesus says, “I am the way!” Others have said, “Do this and you will have life.” Jesus says, “I will give you life!”
Suppose that you are in a large city that you don’t know and you need to get to a particular destination. There are two ways you could go.
You could ask for directions. Someone might tell you that you need to catch bus #29, get off at the second stop past the old cement works, take the third street on the left, go over the bridge, across the field, go through the underpass and its somewhere there on the left.
You could also take a taxi. You tell the taxi driver where you want to go, and he says, “Sure, I know where that is. I’ll take you.”
Suppose, in the first case, just after you get on the bus, the man who gave you the instructions has a heart attack and dies. It makes no difference to your journey because you have the instructions. You have the knowledge. You wrote down the directions. You are not dependent on a person. All that matters is that he gave you the instructions before he died.
But suppose you are in the taxi, and just as you are going past the old cement works, which is a very desolate place, the taxi driver has a heart attack and dies. Now you are completely stuck. You do not know the way, and the one in whom you put your trust was unable to get you there.
The heart of Christianity is what Christ Himself will do for you. It is not the teaching that will save you. It is the teacher himself. This is the reason why Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection of Jesus. If Christ has not risen from the dead, then our faith is in vain. It will not get us where we want to go.
Everything hangs on whether Jesus is who He says He is, and whether He is able to do what He says He can do.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Not only is Jesus saying that He is personally able to take us to be with the Father, He is also claiming that He is the only one who can do this. And here is the reason He gives: because this destination is a place that no other man or woman who has ever been. He came from the Father. And He is able to take us to the Father.
So, you have to make a decision. And John says that he has written his Gospel to present the case for believing that Jesus is the Christ, so that you may have life in His name.
Do you believe Him? Will you put your trust in Him? Are you ready to stake our destiny on Him? He comes alongside you today and He says, “I would like to take you to the Father. Are you ready to get in the car with Me?”
