Dealing with Doubt
John 20:24-28
-This is a very familiar passage of scripture
-Thomas gets a really bad rap over this. Even people outside of the church know what it means to be a doubting Thomas. It even earned Thomas a place in the Webster Dictionary on-line. Under doubting Thomas it says one who questions, a disbeliever, a skeptic
-In the church we have made the word “doubt” a dirty word something to be ashamed of
“The shame is not that people have doubts but that they are ashamed of them.” because the reality is everyone of us here have at one time or another had to deal with the issue of doubt in our Christian life
Lee Strobel, a converted Atheist who was converted after studying the evidence of Christanity says in his book titled the “the Case for Christ” Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in their heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.”
For many Christians, merely having doubts of any kind can be scary. They wonder whether their questions disqualify them being a follower of Christ. They feel insecure because they’re not sure whether it’s permissible to express uncertainty about God, Jesus, or the Bible. So they keep their questions to themselves−and inside, unanswered, they grow and fester and loom until they eventually succeed in choking out their faith…. At the same time, many Christians have a completely different perspective. They believe that having doubts isn’t evidence of the absence of faith; on the contrary, they consider them to be the very essence of faith itself.”
Thomas gets a bad rap because he didn't let his doubt destroy him, instead he acted on his doubt and sought out the evidence and his doubt actually made his faith that much stronger
We don't know a lot about Thomas, He was one of the twelve disciples chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ
Luk 6:12 ΒΆ And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Luk 6:13 And when it was day, he called [unto him] his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
Luk 6:14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
Luk 6:15 Matthew and Thomas, James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
Thomas had a strong faith. When Jesus was going to the tomb of Lazarus Thomas at that point in his walk with Christ was willing to stick right with the Lord and even go and die with him if necessary
Jhn 11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died,
Jhn 11:15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
Jhn 11:16 So Thomas, called the Twin, [fn] said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
Even Jesus said don't believe if someone says over here
When Jesus talked to his disciples about his death and resurrection and going to heaven it was Thomas who spoke up and wanted to know where Jesus was going and how to get there
Jhn 14:5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"
Jhn 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Even though we don't know a lot about Jesus we can conclude from these passages that Thomas only had this one bout with doubt and he dealt with it. Other times he had a strong faith. Yet we have chosen to identify him with his doubt which is why we call him doubting Thomas. Biblically his title should be believing Thomas or Thomas the believer
I've said all that to simply let you know that it is normal and okay to have doubts from time to time, It is not anything to be ashamed about.
Even John the baptist struggled with doubt
Mat 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
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Jhn 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Yet when John was in prison and about to be killed he sent his own followers out to find Jesus and ask him a question
Mat 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
Mat 11:3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Mat 11:4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
Mat 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and th
Thomas and John were doing the exact thing that Jesus had told them to do
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Even Jesus said don't believe it just because someone says over here is the Christ or over there because there are many false Christ
So here you have Thomas hearing from the other disciples in verse 25, “We have seen the Lord” and Thomas says, “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 not believe.”
in essence Thomas is doing what Jesus told them to do. He is refusing to believe until he is sure that it is really his Lord that they saw, and the only way to be sure is the nail prints in his hand and to see where the spear punctured his side. If that is not there it could be a false prophet, because only the true and living God could bring himself back to life after suffering the cross
Be honest with your doubt
This is the hardest thing for some people to do, because we have trained ourselves to be fake. We have this image in our minds of what I call a super saint, the Christian who never doubts, prays all the time and never struggles with temptations.
Let's be honest today that person doesn't exist. If John the Baptist and even Thomas had doubts then there will be times in our walk with Christ that we have doubts.
Look back in the gospel of Mark chapter 9:20-24
notice the honesty of this Father. He believed yet at the same time there was an area in his faith that he was struggling with so he was honest to God about it and said, “Help my unbelief.”
The church is suppose to be a place where we can all be honest about who we really are. If we are struggling with an addiction, if we are struggling with doubt even if we are struggling with overcoming a sin the church should be a place of honesty because until we are honest about who we really are there is no way that we will ever be able to overcome and find the answers that we so desperately seek
James, the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Struggled with accepting the fact that his brother was the Messiah, he wasn't converted until after the resurrection but he knew what it meant to be honest
in the book of James chapter 5 he writes these words, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.”
KJV says confess faults to one another
but the principle is be honest with one another because in the family of God there needs to be acceptance for all of Gods children. Even those who are struggling with their faith. That's what makes the church real.
Thomas was honest with the other disciples. In fact before they saw the risen Lord they all dealt with doubts. Sure the women came and testified but it wasn't until they all encountered the risen Lord that they really believed
Thomas was honest with them, but notice that the still accepted him because there he was meeting with them in verse 26 it says, “eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.”
so like Thomas the first step in overcoming doubt is to be honest with your brothers and sisters in Christ about it and then be honest with God about it like the father who's son was healed in the Gospel of Mark
Deal with Doubt
If you have know me very well whenever I work on a project one of my favorite sayings is “there is no such things as problems only opportunities for solutions
The easy part is identifying a problem anyone can do that, it takes a little more effort to find a solution.
Anyone can say the economy is bad the job market is slow. It takes more effort to say I'm going to have to step it up a notch educate myself more improve my resume, get better at doing an interview.
Because of the effort required some people stop with their doubt and never deal with. They either live with it or just walk away from God all together
but look what Thomas did. First he admits that he has a doubt then he jumps to the solution- this is what I need to do to satisfy my doubt he says, “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
His solution was practical. He wanted to examine the evidence for himself.
I have heard some religious leaders shame people who have doubts because they don't want to ever be called into question. As your pastor I want you to keep your mind engaged the whole time you sit under my preaching and if you have questions or doubts or something that doesn't make sense point it out call it into question. Because I am convinced that the evidence for out faith is overwhelming to deal with your doubts
John the Baptist when he had doubts he dealt with it by sending two of his disciples to Jesus and asking the question, “are you the one or do we look for another.”
G. Campbell Morgan had already enjoyed some success as a preacher by the time he was 19 years old. But then he was attacked by doubts about the Bible. The writings of various scientists and agnostics disturbed him (e.g., Charles Darwin, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, and Herbert Spencer). As he read their books and listened to debates, Morgan became more and more perplexed. What did he do? He canceled all preaching engagements, put all the books in a cupboard and locked the door, and went to the bookstore and bought a new Bible. He said to himself, "I am no longer sure that this is what my father claims it to be--the Word of God. But of this I am sure. If it be the Word of God, and if I come to it with an unprejudiced and open mind, it will bring assurance to my soul of itself." The result? "That Bible found me!" said Morgan. The new assurance in 1883 gave him the motivation for his preaching and teaching ministry. He devoted himself to the study and preaching of God's Word.
Lee Strobel who was the legal editor for the Chicago Tribune Newspaper was really struggling with the Christian faith. He was a self professed atheist and he decided to deal with the issue and set out on a two year journey interviewing every scholar he could find on the issue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He wrote his findings in a book titled the case for Christ. During his investigation the evidence was overwhelming and he went from being an atheist to being a defender of the Christian faith in 1981
We must be honest with God and one another about our doubt and we must do something about it to convince us one way or the other. We must deal with our doubts
Thomas decided that he wasn't going to miss it, he wasn't going to have the other disciples pull one over on him so instead he stuck right with them until Jesus showed up again. It was eight days after the first appearance and in verse 26 it says, “and Thomas was with them.” That's Thomas dealing with his doubts about the risen Lord
if you have doubts this is really the best place for you, at least you aren't like some who just do nothing about it at least you are in this place listening to the teaching of the Word of God and examining the evidence we have for the Christian faith
Continued doubt robs us of a blessing
If we have doubts and never do anything about them they can rob us of a blessing. The word Blessed in scripture means to be happy. Which means that if we never deal with our doubts it will rob us of joy
If Thomas never dealt with his doubt and insisted on being with the disciples the next time so that he could see the risen Christ for himself he would have missed the opportunity to see the nail scars in his hands and he would have missed the greatest blessing ever of seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
In the Old Testament when the nation of Israel was in the wilderness on their way to the promise land Moses sent twelve spies into the land and they looked at the land for forty days and they came back saying the land flows with milk and honey and 10 of them doubted that they could overtake the land. They said, “the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. (Numbers 13:28)
because of their failure to look to God with their doubts they spent 40 years wondering the wilderness and missed the promise land
Only Joshua and Caleb the two spies who said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it for we are well able to overcome it.” were allowed to enter the land.”
Paul's desire for the church was that they overcame their doubts and stood grounded in the faith and practice of the Word of God when he wrote to Timothy and said
1Ti 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Today I am convinced that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, I am a believer in the gospel message. There have been times in my life when I have dealt with doubt even after I was saved but I didn't let that doubt rob me of my Joy in Christ., instead I allowed it to cause me to dig even deeper into Gods word to discover the truth
If you are here today lets be honest with God and one another lets deal with the doubt and be moved deeper in our knowledge of Jesus Christ
After Jesus came into the room Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said, “Have you believed because you have seen? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Do you want to be among the blessed today? Look at the evidence of the resurrection, not with a blind faith but a faith grounded in truth and
make a decision today like Thomas did and say he is my Lord and my God
