What Does it Mean to Believe?

This message was originally delivered in three(3) parts. The audio for the first two parts was lost.

What does it mean to Believe?

Today we’re going to talk about what it means to “Believe”. We’re going to take a look at a couple of different ways the word is used in the Bible and come to the conclusion that many of us might be believing but we aren’t really “believing” – not as we should.

Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Matt 21:22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

These verses give us some great information about believing. Believing will give us salvation. Believing will give us whatever we ask for. Believing will please God. But what exactly does it mean to Believe?

Let’s first take a quick look at the Greek word that has been translated into “believe”. Pisteuo is the word that is translated as “believe” in each of these verses. Vine’s Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines pisteuo as follows: ““to believe,” also “to be persuaded of,” and hence, “to place confidence in, to trust,” signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence.” The key parts here are “to place confidence in, to TRUST, reliance upon, not mere credence”. The word pisteuo comes from the word pistis, which is translated as “Faith”. This makes sense as these words seem to be very similar in our usage of them today.

If I were to ask you what the difference is between faith and believe, you might be hard-pressed to give me a good answer. That is because we have taken these words to be very similar, possibly the same. However, one obvious difference between pistis and pisteuo – faith and believe – is that pistis is a noun and pisteuo is a verb. What does that mean? It means that Faith is something that is – the old English lesson that a noun is a person, place or thing. In this case, Faith is a thing – something that someone can have. It is acted upon – for example, Faith grows, strengthens, teaches. Pisteuo, to believe, is an action, something that is done. When you “believe”, it is something that you are actively doing.

The word “Believe” has 3-5 entries in the dictionary, depending on which dictionary you look at. However, they all boil down to three meanings for the word:

1. To expect or suppose – I am using the word “believe” as supposition or expectation when I say something like “I believe he is coming to church today.” I might not know that he is coming to church, but based on some other information, experience, history – something about him – I can make a supposition as to whether he might be coming or not. After putting all those things together, based on the time and the weather, I can either believe or not believe that he is coming to church today.
   
2. Another definition would be to know something as true. If you know something is true, you can believe in it. For example, “I believe the sun will rise tomorrow,” “I believe these flowers are beautiful,” “I believe there is a God.” You know these things are true, so you believe them. To go back to the example regarding our church member, I can say, “I believe he is coming to church today because he told me he was coming no matter what happens.” Since he always tells the truth, I can believe that he is coming today.
   
3. The final definition is to trust. For instance, I believe this building is not going to fall down. I believe the pilot is going to land the plane. I believe(trust) the Bible is true. I believe(trust) Jesus will come again. I believe(trust) Jesus is Lord. In these cases, there is more than “belief” – there is trust, or as Vine said earlier, “reliance upon, not credence”. If my belief is incorrect, it will cause me harm because I will not have created a back-up plan, a contingency plan. See, if I didn’t trust, I would have had a backup plan. “Let me do this, just in case…” But then there is a lack of trust. When I truly trust, there is no backup plan. If my belief is wrong, it can mean catastrophe. Going back a final time to our church member example, when I say, “I believe he is coming to church today,” this time there is a trust involved because not only did he say he was coming to church no matter what happens but also because he is supposed to deliever the message today! I am trusting in him to come to church!

When we use the word “Believe”, we use it in all these ways. What we need to do is understand what the Bible means when it uses this word. Sometimes, it will mean to suppose or expect. 1 Corinthians 11:18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. Sometimes it will mean to know something is true. Acts 28:23-24 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. Other times it will mean to trust. It is my opinion that many of the times we see the word “believe” in the New Testament, it is meant to be viewed as “trust”.

So what does it mean to trust?

I will drive my car because I believe my brakes are working. That’s an implied statement every time we drive our car. Would anyone drive their car if they thought that the brakes weren’t working? Of course not! When I say “I believe my brakes are working,” I am using the definition of the word to be “trust”. I trust my life to the brakes. But how about this – would you drive your car if you “supposed or expected” your brakes would work? “I believe my brakes are working,” (as if I were not sure) would not inspire many people to come for a ride with me. So trusting in something or someone means to put yourself on the line, even to the point of death, but not fearing or worrying because you know you are going to be fine, like trusting in your brakes.

This takes us to the next logical question - What does it mean to trust in God, to believe in Him? Here’s a list that can describe what it means to believe in God:

• Rely on – When we rely on God, we are doing with God as we did with our brakes in our example. We get in and don’t even think about it because we know we are safe. With God, we can walk His way and not worry because He is in charge of everything that is going to happen anyway.
  For example – when we ask God to build this church, we are relying on Him. When we ask Him to perform a miracle, a healing, we are relying on Him.
• Remain in – When we remain in God, we are actively choosing to continue down the path God has for us, all the time recognizing that God is walking the path with us. As long as we remain with our guide, we will not be lost.
  For example – when we are going down a path that seems like there is no way we can be successful, we are remaining in God, trusting Him to bring this to a successful conclusion.
• Risk-taking for – When we take risks for God, we are really not taking a risk at all. The world would see it as a risk, but since we know that our battle is a spiritual battle and that God is in charge of all things and that He can take all things and make them for the good and that He will bring all things to completion, we who believe (know the truth) can believe (trust) that everything will work out. So risk-taking really isn’t a risk at all, though to the uninitiated or to those who are new to trusting God, it will be a risk. God wants us to step in the gap between Himself and the lost. There’s really no risk there, but it might feel uncomfortable stepping into the gap. And that might be the point, a risk for God isn’t really a risk, but if you never do anything that is uncomfortable, then you probably aren’t doing what God is asking you to do. But by stepping out that first time, you will find that God is taking care of you and as you take other risks, you will find that they are not risky at all.
• Rest in His peace knowing – Since we recognize that God is in control and after taking a couple of risks for Him, we begin to realize that there is no pressure and that everything will work out. When this happens, we have a peace that surpasses all understanding, a peace that unbelievers will not understand. It makes no sense to them that we are risking so much and yet are so calm about it. What they don’t realize is that we have the peace of God because we are believing (trusting) in Him to take care of us. And who can do that better than God?!

So now that we understand what it means to believe (trust) in God, how do we do this?

• Taking on the things God is calling us to do even though we have no idea how we’re going to be successful – When we take a “leap of faith” into an endeavor that we are unconfident in ourselves to accomplish, we allow God to take control and show His power. God often asks us to do something we are incapable of doing. We always think that the only thing God will ask us to do is something that we can do really well. But if God chose experts to do His work, how would anyone know to give credit and glory to God for the success? When Gideon had 20,000 men to go to battle, God told him to shrink it down to under four-hundred. God can do some great things with a few faithful. He’s not going to ask you to do something you are really good at – He’s going to ask you to do something you are afraid of, that you are poor at, that you’ve never done before – because then when you can’t do it and you hand it over to Him to do, he will get all the Glory when it comes to pass successfully.
• Tithing – Another thing that we can do to believe (trust) in him is to tithe our income. First of all, it forces us to depend on God to take care of us when we can’t take care of ourselves. God has told us that he has the count of hairs on our heads and that we are more important to Him than the birds and the flowers of the field, which He does an excellent job of caring for. He will provide for us regardless of our financial situation. Second, a tithe implies a trust that God can do more with our money than we can. If we don’t believe that, then we really don’t understand God. I once heard someone say that if you can’t make it on 90-percent of your salary, the last 10-percent probably isn’t going to make that much of a difference. By tithing our salary, we show a trust in God.
• Taking His advice and input – When we have decisions to make, we should be going to God for input. Do we trust God to make a better decision for us than ourselves? We should be going to God for answers to every decision we need to make and let His answer be our answer. If we do this, we are believing (trusting) God to take care of our lives. Sometimes the answer will not be what we want, but if we are trusting God, we need to follow His directions. So next time you know God is telling you to “Leave it alone,” or “Give it to them,” or “Let them go first,” trust God that His answer is better than yours.

So can you believe without trusting? Yes – just because you are believing - as in supposing or expecting or recognizing its truth - does not mean you are trusting. Can you trust without believing? No – trusting is a definition of believing. So, for example, you can believe that your neighbor is good but not trust him to take care of you. You are “believing” but not “trusting”. You can believe that our President is good and not trust him to take care of you. You can believe that God is good and not trust Him to take care of you. You can believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin and through that sacrifice, bring you into eternal life and not trust Jesus to take care of you. Matthew 7:21-27. Many have and have found themselves in Hell. James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. Many more continue to do so today. Don’t be one of them! Ask yourself, do I truly believe (trust) in Jesus?

So now that we understand what it means to believe – to trust – let’s use this new understanding to make a real difference in our lives. When you believe God, when you trust Jesus, you are not only saved from eternal death, but you are also given the ability to live a tremendously fruitful life for him. When you trust God, you will be able to recognize that His arms are not too short and that the God who created every grain of sand on every beach is easily able to ensure that His work gets done through you.

As an example, let’s look at Matt 14:22-33.

After reading this, many of us tend to think that Peter was an untrusting, unfaithful person, one who was worthy of Jesus’ scolding. But that is to read this passage incorrectly. To illustrate, let’s pretend that instead of Peter, it is us who are on that boat. We’re in the middle of the water, the middle of nowhere. The wind is blowing, it’s dark out. The boat is being tossed around. Now I believe there are two reactions that we would have on that boat when we see Jesus. The first is, “Whew! It’s Jesus. Great. Now we can sit in this boat and not worry about anything anymore because he will take care of us.” Then we would just sit there, waiting for Jesus to come. It is the reaction of all the other disciples in the boat. It would probably be the reaction of most of us. Of course, with that reaction, we are safe, there is no danger. But there also is no miracle and no lesson to be learned. If Peter was like those of us who would do that, this passage in Matthew would simply be: “But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." And the disciples allowed Jesus into the boat.” We would miss this teaching and view this passage no differently than the next passage that states: “When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret.” No great lesson, no miracle, just Jesus being Jesus.

On the other hand, there would be those of us who would say, “Jesus!” and jump out of the boat, try to swim through the storm to get to him, struggle to keep our head out of the water. When we realized what a fool we just made of ourselves – what were we thinking, jumping into the water in the middle of nowhere, in the darkness of night – we would try to swim back to the boat, struggle mightily to save ourselves and supposing we get back in with a little help from our friends, find ourselves exactly where we started.

Peter does something different than either of these. Let’s see what he does.

"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

Peter asked for God’s will. He could have just jumped out of the boat, but he knew that this would be dangerous and illogical. He could have stayed in the boat also. But now that he knew that Jesus was there, he realized that there was something that Jesus wanted him to do. Why he asks the specific request to come to him is up to conjecture. I think we tend to think that Peter thought it was cool. “Hey, that looks like fun! Can I try?!” But I don’t think that’s it. Peter was too wise a fisherman to think he could get out of the boat in the middle of the sea. Additionally, if we think it was for the “cool” reason, Jesus had just fed the five-thousand and we didn’t see Peter saying, “Cool. Can I try, too?” “Give me the ability to make food!” No, the “cool” reason is not consistent with the rest of the story. I think Peter asked this specific thing because God placed it in his heart and he was obedient to obey.

Our takeaway from this is that when we know Jesus is here, we need to recognize that Jesus never told his disciples to sit around and do nothing. When Jesus is with us, he is always calling us to do something for him. Peter recognized this and asked Jesus for what his will was. When we know God is around, we need to ask him what his will is.

"Come," he said.

Jesus told him to “Come.” Peter at this point, has heard what Jesus is calling him to do. He does nothing until he hears Jesus command.

For us, we need to be like Peter. We need to first ask God what to do and then listen for His response.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Peter was obedient. When he knew what God was telling him to do, he did it. It made no sense from a logical perspective. A fisherman like Peter would know much better than to leave the safety of the boat in a storm in the middle of the sea at night! But although it made no sense from a human point of view, it was what Jesus called him to do. So Peter obeyed Jesus and stepped out of the boat. Since he trusted Jesus, he was able to walk on water, to do something miraculous.

We need to be obedient to God. We need to have our hearts open to him, like Peter did, to hear what He might be saying to us. We need to get confirmation of this and when God say “Come,” we need to go! We need to trust God that no matter what it is that He is calling us to do, He will even perform miracles to ensure that we are able to do it. After all, God will bring all things to completion when it is His will, He will not be denied! If we are doing His work and walking in His will, He will provide and He will enable us to do that which He is calling us to do.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink,

The obstacles of the world, the prince of this world, who is Satan, the prince of the power of the air, caused Peter to take his eyes off Jesus. Satan will always step in to try to thwart God’s plan. He will always try to place obstacles in our path. He will use all his powers, which are many and great in the world, to try to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus, to try to remind us that there are other forces that are working against us and that these forces are dangerous. He will try to get us to begin to doubt that we can do what Jesus is telling us to do. In essence, when we believe that, what he is really saying is that Jesus is not able to do what he said he can do. When we believe Satan, we take away Power and Glory from God. Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to think that he was in danger, that the wind was too strong. He began to wonder how he was standing on the water. He began thinking about everything – except Jesus. He forgot that Jesus was right there with him, that it was Jesus who said “Come,” that Jesus had enabled him to walk that far without sinking. Instead, all he saw was the obstacles. All he heard was Satan’s logic that we couldn’t do it.

Never let anyone tell you that you cannot do something that God has told you to do. They are right – if God told you to do it, you probably CANNOT do it. But it’s not about you! It’s about God! And He CAN do ANYTHING he tells you to do. When people tell us that we can’t do something God has told us to do, those who are of this earth are simply trying to take away the power that God has to do whatever He wants. Do not let anyone take God’s power away from you! Trust God to do what He told you He would do!

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

When he began to see his situation as the world sees it, he lost his ability to perform the miracle. When we allow Satan to take our eyes off of God, we lose the Power of God. Peter became afraid. Fear is a huge obstacle to our trusting God. We cannot allow Satan to cause us to fear. Fear is normal to the extent that since we have never done this thing before, we don’t know what is going to happen. There isn’t a person who has stepped out for God and did not fear. However, when that fear takes us away from God, when it places our sights on the obstacles rather than the goal, then the fear is wrong. It’s ok to fear. It’s not ok to let that fear take us away from what God is calling us to do. One of Satan’s greatest tools is using fear to take our eyes off of God and put them on those things that we fear.

Like the father who said, “I believe, help my unbelief”, Peter still believed, but he could not trust anymore. His eyes had been taken off of Jesus. Although he still recognized that Jesus was who he said he was, he knew who Jesus was, he was not able to trust because all he could see were the obstacles that Satan and the world had placed before him. He started to think with the world’s logic – that he cannot be walking on water, that’s impossible! However, his response was not to try to swim back to the boat (to save himself) but to call out to Jesus. Even when he could no longer trust, he still went to the one who could take care of him.

We need to trust. When we trust we are able to walk on the water. But if for some reason, we allow ourselves to be taken away from God’s presence, from God’s will and begin to doubt, we need to remember that, even though we aren’t trusting or cannot trust, we still need to look for God’s help to pull us through whatever our situation. If we cannot trust in Him, we must at least know He is there for us.

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

When he called out to Jesus, Jesus took his hand and pulled him out of the water. Notice, he did so immediately. Jesus could have reached out to pull Peter up before he called out to him, but he waited for Peter to lean on him and call out to him. He also could have waited longer to pull him out. But when we call out to Jesus, he will pull us out of the water immediately and save us from drowning.

"You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

Jesus taught Peter exactly why he sank – he doubted. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we get too caught up in our circumstances, in the world around us, we begin to doubt whether Jesus can do what we know he can do – he is God after all! When we doubt, we lose our ability to trust. When we don’t trust, we are like the rest of the world, people trying to swim to safety on their own in the middle of a storm. Meanwhile, if we had trusted, we would be walking on the water and the fact that we’re in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by water, with a storm raging around, in the darkness would be unimportant, even insignificant. Like we don’t think twice as we walk across the road but we know that we will get to the other side, we could walk across the lake and know that we could get to the other side.

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

Peter allowed Jesus to bring him back into the boat. We can know we are safe in Jesus. Our life, our ability to perform, our salvation all rest in him. Why do we take our eyes off him and look around at the world, our circumstances, what Satan is putting before us? If we simply trust in Jesus, he is faithful to guide us and support us and help us to perform, even miracles! We need to trust him and keep our eyes only on Him – not allowing the things of this world to overtake our trust in Him.

When I was younger, we would play baseball all day long. After playing for hours, it is normal to begin to lose concentration. I remember whenever a pitcher began to lose it and not be able to throw strikes, we would encourage him by telling him “Just you and the catcher”. This was our way of saying forget about the batter and imagine that it was just him and the catcher. Nothing else, No one else. Invariably, that encouragement would focus the pitcher on the catcher’s mitt. Everything else would fade away from sight. Suddenly it was a lot easier to throw strikes. When we imagine that it is just us and Jesus, we can focus only on him, remove our focus on the world, on Satan’s obstacles, and we can see only Jesus. When we get to that point, we can recognize that Jesus is in control, that he will care for us and allow us to do things that we normally cannot do. We can trust him! We can walk on water.

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Last modified: July 23, 2006