I want to share today, from God’s Word, the reality of what occurs when we truly encounter the Risen Lord. In the day in which we live, when the world has turned to pointing the finger at everyone else, we need the transformative work of the Holy Spirit badly. We live in a world that makes Adam and Eve’s blame game in the garden look like a picnic. In a world where people doubt and fear everything and everyone, we need Jesus all the more.  We are easily offended and want to march against everything and everyone, we get offended so easily. What happened to the days when we could handle tough stuff, the days when it took a lot to offend. We live in a world that is not kind, sin and the curse is evident all around us. People it is time we put on our big people pants and act like we have some sense, it is time to turn the world on its head with the transformative work of the gospel. It’s pretty easy, speak much of Jesus, live out your faith. You want to protest something, you feel it necessary to protest, protest sin, protest what sin has done to the world, speak out against the damaging effects of sin, and how Jesus is the remedy sinfulness. You want to march for something or someone, march for Jesus, lift His name up, for He is the only one that can save this lost and dying world. Maybe it is time for the church to be the church. It’s time for the church to be the church and not a social club. So, just so you get a concise statement from the pulpit, I condemn every form of racism from every side. Jesus preached to all people group and spent much time ministering among the gentiles. What happened in Charlottesville was a tragedy on all sides, it was a full display of sin on the loudest degree. So, there is an urgency for the church to dispense the gospel and do so without resolve, it is important that we open our doors to all people groups. This is a church not a country club, this is where grace should be displayed and not segregation or division. If you have a problem with all people groups coming together and worshipping together then you have a problem with Jesus, and its best you repent of your sins now. People, we don’t have time for such division.
That being said, I want to spend a few moments in the Gospel of John, we will finish out these last few verses. Last time, we saw Jesus making the first post resurrection appearance to His disciples. The disciples were in fear of losing their lives, and Jesus appeared to them out of nowhere: Joh 20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."Joh 20:20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  At the arrest of Jesus, the disciples were shattered, scared, doubtful, uncertain of the future, and Jesus appears to them and offers them peace. He spent time with them, offering them peace and enabling them to go forward with the mission set before them. Jesus gave them some marching orders, Joh 20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Jesus was preparing them to go out into the world, but they still were not ready. They still harbored fear, and in order to begin to prepare them for the mission, Jesus breathes on them the Spirit of God. The Spirit that destroys fear, dissolves uncertainty, and gives them boldness, as apostles, to carry out the establishing of the early church of the Lord Jesus. If these men were to set the foundation and make disciples of the nations, then they were going to need a supernatural makeover and help. If the disciples were to be fruitful in making other disciples, if they were to be faith to preach, teach, lead, and plant the early church, they need empowerment from the Holy Spirit, and the need to start off with the right motives, “peace.†Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Behind closed doors, Jesus invaded their fear and confusion with His peace and empowerment for the Holy Spirit. With you Bibles before you, turn to chapter 20: 24-31, I have entitled this message, “doubting and delivery.â€
- Be Faithful In Your Witness: Do you have that one stubborn friend or family member that will just not budge on the things of God. They have their ideas about the Christian faith and they are not about to budge. Let me challenge you to be faithful in your witness, even when it looks futile. If God is the giver of salvation, all we can do Is point to Him and let Him do the rest. This is exactly what the disciples demonstrate for Thomas. Joh 20:24Â Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Joh 20:25Â So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."
- I am convinced, sometimes we need to be a little like Thomas in our thinking about God. Why? Because Christianity can hold up to the most strenuous scrutiny. Jesus Christ over the years has held up to scrutiny and has proven that He changes lives. So, be like Thomas a little, ask the hard questions and see that the Lord is faithful. Thomas in the Hebrew and Didymus in the Greek, has been marred for centuries as “doubting Thomas.†He has been forever memorialized as a person that lacks appropriate belief in Christ. Thomas was not with the disciples when they encountered Jesus in the locked room. In a way, the disciples are like many of us, and Thomas is like those in the world that had not yet been changed by the risen Lord. We take the good news to them and they say, “I need to see in order to believe.†A faithful witness will take the Lord at His Word, but in order to further their witness and knowledge of God, will desire to dig deeper in His Word. One might learn from Thomas, not to doubt, but to seek the answers of the hard questions. Thomas meant business, for he uses a double negative as to say, “I will in no wise believe.† Have you ever said something similar and the Lord changed your MIND? Very similar to Peter who said, “I will never deny you Lord,†to denying him three times. So Thomas will be shown the truth, beauty, and power of a living God who is active and alive in our lives. Remember, the Lord is preparing them to set the foundation for the early church, so these interactions with them are crucial in setting the tone throughout church history. We were all doubters at one time, inquisitors even, until the Lord showed is His salvation.
We all have that one stubborn friend who refuses to listen to anyone or take advice. The type of person who doesn’t like to be corrected and thinks themselves tough enough to handle anything without community or help. I can honestly say, some of my own family members were like this. We might be that stubborn person. Thomas was the doubter, the analytical disciple of sorts. Thomas turned out to be a vital part of the early church. Thomas was not there with the others, so he didn’t get to see Jesus first post resurrection appearance. The disciples, who were so pumped for they saw Jesus alive, ran into the heavy wall of skeptism.  Tradition and history placing Thomas as an integral part of the early church in India, and it is also in India, December 21st around 72 ad, when Thomas was martyred and stabbed for the Lord Jesus. Thomas is much like many of us, we want to believe in all the Lord has to offer, in terms of faith, but we want a reasonable and viable faith, and serving the Lord Jesus delivers when challenged. If it were not for the other disciples, being faithful to testify of the risen Lord, Thomas may not have even stayed long enough to see Jesus. Let us be like the disciples in two ways, like Thomas, seeking truth, and like the other disciples being faithful to exclaim the Lord.
- “Stop Doubting and Believe:† Joh 20:26 A week later his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were shut, Jesus came, stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Joh 20:27 Then he told Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, but believe." Joh 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
- Jesus once again appeared behind closed and locked doors. Much like Jesus immediately appeared in response to the disciples fear, so now Jesus appears in response to Thomas’ doubts. Jesus once again used the word “peace.†As if Jesus heard the conversation, he instructs Thomas to place his hands in the wounds. It shows us that we serve a risen Lord who wants to answer our concerns. What one must make note of, is the response from Thomas. This is a confession and profession towards the deity and Lordship of Jesus. Notice Jesus response, He didn’t say get up, or only worship God, He allowed Thomas to worship Him, which means, Jesus was either God or a devil because only a devil would allow worship if he wasn’t God. We can talk about the grammar in and language that Thomas uses, but it all makes sense in the response of Jesus. Joh 20:29 Jesus told him, "Is it because you have seen me that you have believed? How blessed are those who have never seen me and yet have believed!" BLESSED are those who have faith and are not discouraged when they can’t always see the end result, or who cannot see immediate evidence. In preparing all the apostles for ministry, this needed to happen in the life of Thomas, in the same way that Saul needed a Damascus road encounter.
I read an article from the Huffington post of all places… “I grew up deeply entrenched in Evangelicalism. So much so, that I made it my career. I went to Bible College to become a pastor. And I worked in the church full-time for about ten years. I was good at drawing a crowd — I’m a performer, so “preaching†was my strong suit. (I eventually left full-time vocational ministry to become an actor and movie producer.)
My big problem with faith was that I was and continue to be a profound skeptic. I was much better at saying things in ways to help others along than I was sorting through the questions in my own head. I found myself on the verge of giving up altogether on Christianity. Then I met Jesus. It may seem a strange thing to say that a kid who grew up in the church, graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies and worked as a pastor for a decade didn’t know Jesus, but that’s the way my story unfolded.
I should clarify. I knew a version of Jesus. The Jesus who lived a perfect life, died on a cross for my sins and gave me a ticket to Heaven. I knew that one well, but the more I told that story to others, the less true it seemed to me. It rang hollow.
Then I decided to take the risk of taking seriously the early Christian accounts of Jesus and his message. What I discovered embedded in the ancient texts commonly called The Gospels shocked me. The Jesus portrayed in Matthew seemed convinced that Heaven had already come to earth. The Jesus in Luke demanded counter-cultural active alignment with the poor. The Jesus of John promised eternal (ultimate) life — but demanded that it begin now, not in the afterlife.
In all the early accounts, Jesus was a threat to the establishment. A rebel. A revolutionary. He was extreme and dangerous. He told the clergy that they were con artists headed to hell. He claimed that he himself was the unique way to God.
No matter what I want to tell myself, I would have rejected him had I been given the chance. If we could step away from what we think we know about Jesus and see what the records show... I think we’d agree that he probably came off, at best, as a well-intentioned delusional cult leader. At worst he’s a crazed maniacal egomaniac. Or, I suppose, he could have been sent to us from God with good news. That’s the third option.
I decided to gamble the rest of my life on the latter. I could be wrong, but so far submitting to this radical, unpredictable, iconoclastic Jesus has been worth it. I might have even felt a few passing moments of Heaven and eternal life through the process... and at least on those days, it all rings true to me. Serving Jesus, is worth it all. Proclaiming Jesus, is worth it all, serving Him is worth it all, being saved by Him is worth it all.
Joh 20:30Â Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not recorded in this book. There were many other signs that Jesus performed in front of them to prepare them for disciple making.
Joh 20:31Â But these have been recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that through believing you may have life in his name.
- Be Faithful In Your Witness
- “Stop Doubting and Believeâ€Â
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