John 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you." And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it." A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

“When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.” –James H. Boren 

 

Doubt is the double cousin of fear. Fear often leads to “fright or flight.” Doubt is more like sitting on the fence of indecision. When we start doubting the ability of our car to take us places safely we trade it off. The fellow that buys it says, “Well, I know it has a few problems. I will get them fixed and have me a good car” – and he does.

Another way of looking at doubt is the difference between being an optimist and a pessimist. A Frenchman asked his German guest how they distinguished between an optimist and a pessimist in Germany. "It is very simple," replied the German. "The optimists are learning English and the pessimists are learning Russian!"

Our friend Thomas in today’s scripture would be learning Russian! Someone described a pessimist as the man that burns his bridges behind him and then crosses them before he gets to them.

So, to doubt is to distrust; to doubt is to be suspended between two ideas. You really cannot act on either idea. Although doubts are normal, we need to resolve them before we can truly accomplish what we want to accomplish – or more importantly, accomplish what God has called us to do!

Every Easter I do my best to understand what the disciples – and the others that followed Jesus – must have felt after the end of the Easter weekend. Quite frankly, I just cannot do it! The closest word picture I could find this week was how we felt after the ice storm in 2002. We had been without electricity for 2 weeks and finally the lights came on. It was a wonderful day! And I know that some of you were out of electricity longer than we were.

Major events that dramatically disrupt our lives eat away at our complacency and cause us to question our self-confidence. The disciples thought they had it all figured out. Jesus was going to set up an earthly kingdom and they would rule with Him. That belief had gotten them through the tough times. But now they were confused and distracted.

For three years Jesus had been with them all of the time. But after the resurrection He came and went for 40 days. Things were no longer “normal.” Jesus would just show up, visit with them, teach them some things, and then He was gone again.

Perhaps you can identify with that feeling. We feel the Lord’s presence in church and in our private devotions. Perhaps as you do the dishes or drive down the road you worship Him and feel His presence. But some days are filled with aches, pains, tests at school, discouraging news, etc., and then we ask, “Lord, where are You!”

Oh, we know the answer. He is always there with us – but sometimes His presence is hard to feel.

Another problem is that we like to be in charge of our lives. “Doubting Thomas” was like this. He said, “I am not going to believe unless I see it for myself!” That kind of attitude can get us in trouble with God. He wants us to live by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Thomas should have understood that concept. Every Jew in that day looked back to Abraham, the father of faith. Hebrews 11 tells the story of the faith of many Old Testament men and women of God. There we read about all their willingness to believe what they could not see. Abraham left his home country for Canaan, and “obeyed even though he did not know where he was going.”

As we study Thomas’ story we need to think through what we really believe about scripture. Is the Word of God our constant source of wisdom and strength… or just a referral source when we are discouraged? If God’s Word is precious to us we should also share it with others, introducing them to a personal relationship with the Lord.

On Resurrection Sunday evening the disciples are meeting in a house with the doors locked for fear of their enemies. Suddenly Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed, as you might imagine.

After this, He said to them a second time, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples that first day. When the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.”

A week later it was the same setting, only Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus again came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”

I wonder… how did Jesus know that Thomas had made that statement?

Was this fair? I don’t know! The first time He let the other disciples see the nail prints and the wound from the sword.

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Why did Thomas feel that way? Perhaps it seemed simply too good to be true. He could not believe until he saw for himself. When we think about this story it gives us the opportunity to remind ourselves that it’s all right to doubt.

Did you hear that statement? It’s okay to doubt!

Last Thursday I visited with a man from Oklahoma City. He is in his 70s – and has been sober for 31 years. He attends AA meetings on a routine basis so he can stay sober.

As he told me his story he said, “I have a lot of confidence and faith in God, but not in any church.”

I’m sure I looked surprised! He explained, “You can’t make me believe that a church can have a room full of people and everyone of them has committed the same sin. I don’t need to go to church to have someone to tell me how terrible I am.”

I have thought about that a lot. Friday evening I heard a preacher say, “God isn’t mad at you. He loves you!” Putting those two stories together I realized what the former alcoholic was trying to tell me. When we go to church we want to hear about God’s love. When Christians approach sinners, the sinners are already condemning themselves. They need to hear about God’s love, not their sin!

Is it okay to doubt? Of course it is. God gave us a brain. He wants us to wrestle with the meaning of life and faith. That’s why the scripture tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12, 13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”)

Mother Teresa was an amazing woman. She did a lot for the Lord. Yet she also struggled with doubts. If we are honest we would have to admit to some of those doubts ourselves. I struggle every time I watch people suffer with terminal illness. Sometimes the agony is awful!

I’m guessing that if we had witnessed all the suffering that Mother Teresa witnessed, we would wonder where God was, too. But she never gave up serving God. That’s the important thing. She never stopped serving.

King Duncan stated that Henry Drummond summed up the difference between unbelief and doubt in this way: “Christ Himself never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief.

Doubt is ‘can’t believe’; unbelief is ‘won’t believe.'

Doubt is honesty; unbelief is obstinacy.

Doubt is looking for light; unbelief is being content with darkness.”

Elijah doubted…

Gideon doubted…

The disciples doubted…

If you struggle with doubts you are in good company. It simply means that you are thinking things through.

Faith and trust go hand in hand. If you have faith you will trust God, but often we have to come to the end ourselves before we can walk in faith. But we have to have experience with God before we can have true faith.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:1-8

Verses 1 and 2 are not possible without verses 3-8. Faith is not faith until it has been put into action. Otherwise it is just a theory! I could spend 10 minutes explaining how well I could drive a tractor and plow a field – but I would merely be blowing smoke! I don’t have a clue how to drive one of those things!

When we are powerless, then we turn to God and let Him work His miracles in us!

Thomas was also a man of courage. A few days before Jesus went to the cross - after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus announced that He had to go to Jerusalem. The disciples were astonished. They knew of the plot to kill Jesus. However, it was Thomas who said, “Let us go also that we may die with Him.” (John 11:16) Thomas didn’t have a nominal faith. He really cared. And so he struggled, as many great saints since have struggled.

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring ways to grow our church into the powerful ministry that I believe God has called us to.

It is important that we “feed our faith and starve our doubts…”

 

That pretty much sums it up… we have doubts… but we have to keep on believing. Just like the man whose son was demon-possessed and had epileptic seizures. He said, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” [Matthew 9:24]