How Can I Believe? Series

How Can I Believe?

Series: How Can I Believe?

Brad Bailey – April 8, 2018

Main point: Implore the position of humility which we as finites creatures should have in regards to our knowledge and which places the difficult question regarding faith in perspective.

Intro –

Last weekend we gathered to honor the death and the resurrection of Christ…what can be understood as the most profound intersection of divine and human life… between heaven and earth. And what is so helpful to realize…is that nearly every life on that transforming morning and ensuing week… were really confused…filled with confusion and doubt.

Mary Magdalene…the first to find that he tomb was empty…and there were the linens that had wrapped his body and his head lying she his body should be… and as she is engaged by an angelic figure… “she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.”

John 20:15 (NIV)

"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

She has now been to the tomb twice…she is deeply troubled to have found that somehow there are no guards and the tomb is empty… and even the presence and words of Jesus do not immediately connect for her. She thinks it the gardener. Why? It’s so outside her expectations. It’s too good to be true.

And after multiple disciples find the tomb empty…and are gathered together in their nearby room….Jesus appears…and they record:

Matthew 28:17 (NIV)

When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Why? While we think it should be obvious … tomb is empty…and a new form of Jesus is there speaking to them. But it doesn’t fit reality as they have ever known it.

They also describe how one very specific disciple had to engage this…one of the 12 disciples…Thomas:

When Jesus appeared to some of the disciples the first time, Thomas was not with them. "So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!' But he [Thomas] 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.'" (John 20:25)

They record how it ends…a week later Jesus again enters their midst and Peter sees and touches and worships…but what of his initial posture? [1]

Despite what everyone said…and these were his closest friends… we can appreciate how likely he didn’t want to be disappointed …again.

He’s been grieving a horrible death of one who had loved him so deeply…and even more than love…there was hope. He had come to believe… to hope…and he was trying to overcome the disappointment.

In different ways, they are all expressing the question:

How can I believe?

How can I believe what doesn’t fit my expectations… my experience… my understanding?

Today… begin a series entitled: How can I believe?

I know that some are here for whom this has become so true as to find yourself almost beyond questions.

I have known some who seem equally settled in not believing… committed only to questions.

But I think many if not most of us may appreciate the man who said to Jesus,

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” - Mark 9:24 (NIV)

It was an honest and healthy expression of a life moving forward in belief.

The process of believing is not ignoring questions…but engaging them… getting perspective on the big questions.

I want to help us grow as people who understand that faith:

Faith has it’s questions …and it’s reasons.

So in the seven weeks ahead, we are going to engage seven questions:

• How Can I Believe in God?

• How Can I Believe in the Bible?

• How Can I Believe in Jesus?

• How Can I Believe in One Ultimate Truth?

• How Can I Believe in a Good God in a Suffering World?

• How Can I Believe in God and Science?

• How Can I Believe What is Often Associated with Hate and Hypocrisy?

Today…let’s briefly consider the very nature of belief.

What can often be missed by such questions… is stopping to reflect upon the very nature of believing.

If my 13 year old asks me: Can I drive to the store with you? I may do well to consider what he is asking.

Can he join me while I drive to the store?

Does he want permission to do the driving?

Do I believe he can actually drive?

In the same way…when we say “Can I believe?”… we do well to stop and consider what we mean.