These are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
– John 20:31
Wow, what a summary statement of why John wrote his gospel account. I wrote these things for this reason, he says. So that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Son of God, and not just believe, but that by believing you may have life in his name. Like John wanted others to have life. He wrote down this account of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection so that people would read it, hear it, and believe in Jesus. And you just think about what’s happened ever since then. Like John finished writing this gospel account under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and 2000 years later we’re reading it and we’re learning about life in Jesus.
John 20:31 reminds us of the impact of the Gospel of John.
How many people have read the Gospel of John and come to faith in Jesus? It’s amazing to think about how God used John and what he wrote to bring life in Jesus’s name to scores, multitudes, and countless people. Now here’s the deal. Obviously, you and I are not one of the original disciples. We don’t have the privilege of being inspired by the Holy Spirit to write Holy Scripture.
At the same time, do we not have the same purpose John did to live today, to work today? So that why, so that others might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and thereby believing others might have life in his name. Think about it. God wants to use you and me to bring this about in other people’s lives. That’s awesome beyond words. God wants to use you today to communicate in any number of ways.
We have so many more means of communication than even John had to communicate to someone, some others today, who Jesus is so that they might believe in him and find life in his name. So here’s how I want to encourage you today. I want to encourage you to think of one way you can communicate with the intention of leading someone to believe in Jesus and by believing in him to find life in his name.
John 20:31 challenges us to reach out to others with the message of the gospel.
So maybe you post something on social media, maybe you write a letter to someone, maybe you send a text, maybe you call someone. Maybe you go and speak with someone, someone you know, someone you totally don’t know, just stranger that you run into, that God sovereignly ordains you to run into. And just look for an opportunity today. Pray for an opportunity today to do what John did, to communicate to somebody else who Jesus is and who hope and prayer that they might believe in him and find life in his name.
Oh God, we pray for opportunities to do this today. We pray for each one of our lives. Help us even now to think through what this might look like, who we could write a note to or text to, or how we could post something or who we could have a conversation with. God, help us to be sensitive all day long to opportunities we could never plan that you bring our way. We pray that you’d help us to live today so that others might believe Jesus is the Christ and that by believing, they might have life in his name. God, we want that for every single person around us today who doesn’t know you, we want them to have life in your name. So help us to communicate with the same motivation John had when he wrote John 20:31.
Prayer for the Sudahn People
And God, we pray this for people who don’t have someone near them to share the gospel with them today. For the Sudhan people of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, God, we pray that the Sudhan people would be reached with the good news that Jesus is the Christ and that they might believe in him, find life in his name. God, we pray that someone would go to the Sudhan people to reach them with this good news. Oh God, we ask, we pray for the Sudhan people to find life. We pray all of this according to your word in John 20:31 in Jesus name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
