Where the Bible says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), we live in a culture that doubts everything. In 2001, Katie Couric told Today Show audiences that seven percent of Americans doubt the moon landing happened — that it was staged in a Nevada desert. Speaking of doubt, did you hear about the Catholic priest who doubts the Holocaust ever occurred? British-born Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson told a Swedish TV reporter that no one was killed in Nazi gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in concentration camps, rather than the widely accepted figure of 6 million Jews exterminated. He has since apologized. Doubt is everywhere. Some doubt global warming and climate change while others simply doubt themselves. No doubt about it, doubt is popular in our culture.
And a lot of our doubts focus on the person of Jesus Christ and Christianity. Religious doubt is a complex organism. Doubt can lead to unbelief and this can be devastating. But doubt can also serve to strengthen faith. Luke has written his gospel to dispel doubt and to increase our faith: “it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3-4).
Now, sometimes, we have good reason to doubt. A man stood up in a Pentecostal church and addressed the congregation: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘As I was with Abraham when he led the children of Israel across the desert, so shall I be with you.’”He sat down, and his wife whispered something in his ear. Then he stood back up. “Thus saith the Lord, ‘I was wrong. It was Moses.’”
More seriously, Luke shows us, Jesus, answering the perplexing questions of John the Baptist.
But first, who is John the Baptist, you might ask? Luke introduces John the Baptist early in his gospel. We learn that John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus. The four Gospels describe John’s mother, Elizabeth, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, as good friends, and close family members. Elizabeth was convinced that Jesus Christ was the real thing. John’s father, Zechariah, was a priest. John was an answer to prayer as his mother was up in years and was childless. She and Zechariah prayed and John was God’s answer to their prayers. John grew up to be a preacher, a prophet. His style was take no prisoners, an “in your face kind of preacher.” His ministry was so successful that he was even asked if he was the Messiah. John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. It was at this point, even John himself could point to Jesus with confidence and say “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
As we move closer to our story, what Luke fails to mention in our immediate story, but the gospel of Matthew makes clear, Luke is in prison (Luke 3:20). Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, had imprisoned John. The Bible tells the story of Herod Antipas divorcing his wife and then stealing the wife of his half-brother, Herodias. One night when Antipas was putting on an orgy for few close friends, Herodias’ young daughter danced for her stepfather. The ruler’s lust was so aroused that he promised the young girl anything. The daughter conferred with her mother and requested that John the Baptist’s head be placed on a platter. Later, after today’s story, John was executed. Until John’s execution, he was placed in jail. He was probably being held just east of the Dead Sea. All of this for publically naming Herod Antipas’ sin.
Now, John is a bridge between the prophets of the Old Testament and the new era dawning in Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus calls John the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. So it is especially perplexing that John, stuck alone in a putrid jail cell, was assaulted by accusing doubts. As he sat in jail, John thought, “What if he had been wrong about Jesus?” There had been many false prophets in Israel. There had been false messiahs. What if Jesus was just another? It felt as if God had left him and the devil himself had taken God’s place. It was difficult to think straight. Comfort just wouldn’t stick to John’s soul. Doubts buzzed around his brain like the flies around his face. So he sent two close friends to ask Jesus the following question: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:20)
Jesus’ compassion for John was evident to all.
The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Luke 7:18-23)
As we see, the strongest and greatest saints experience deep darkness. We will get back to John’s doubts in a few minutes, but I want to explore doubt in our day.
1. Doubt and Faith in Each of Us
Faith is a vital part to many of us. Yet, many of us have our doubts. I have found that doubt and faith sit alongside each other in each of us. The presence or absence of doubt is the dividing line between those who believe and those who have faith. Doubt is instead a common denominator of every person no matter which camp they are a part of. Some people of faith offer groundless reasons for their faith. They offer only pat answers to our questions that plague us. Instead of assisting others to believe, their glib answers do little more than hurt us.
A bright young student eventually found himself unable to believe in Christianity. Partly he was disillusioned by fellow Christians who seemed happy to hide serious problems in the Bible and in their arguments. They preferred comfort to intellectual honesty. Many people, when they think of faith, think that it means choosing to believe when there is no good evidence. Mark Twain's definition of faith is “trying to believe what you know ain't so.”
Today many ask, “If God is there, why doesn't he make more noise? If believing in God is such a big deal to him, why doesn't God make Himself more obvious? Why doesn't he just part the clouds and write his name in the sky? Why doesn't he give us more compelling proof and evidence?”
Woody Allen had a more concrete suggestion. He said he'd believe in God if God would just give him an unmistakable sign, like making a large deposit in a Swiss bank account in Woody's name.
Did you see the cartoon in the San Francisco Chronicle that showed two atheists going door-to-door? Introducing their religious beliefs in the neighborhood, they stand in front of an open door, and the man inside says, “This pamphlet is blank.” They answer, “We're atheists.” If there is no God, there is no story. There is nothing to write because nothing makes any difference.
For many the problem of pain and suffering cause us to doubt. Rabbi Harold Kushner tries to explain suffering by saying God too is pained by death but cannot do anything about it. Elie Wiesel, a former prisoner in Auschwitz, once said in response to Kushner, “If that's who God is, he should resign and let someone competent take over.” Did you know there is a whole book inside the cover of the Bible on doubting God through pain? It’s called the book of Job. Job is a book of white-hot doubt where Job himself is the main doubter. Job says this to his friends: “know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me” (Job 19:6). Later on, Job says to God: “I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.” (Job 30:20) Job doubted God like many of us but he expressed his doubts to God like so few of us. When God speaks, He chastises Job’s friends and their “certainty.” And while God has some strong words for Job, God makes it clear He is on Job’s side. It seems that God prefers an honest doubter to an unexamined-dogmatic certainty that hasn’t felt or thought through the issues of faith itself. While all of us have doubts, here’s the lesson: Job brought his doubts to God; he kept seeking him.
2. We Doubt Ourselves
Our minds are tricky. All doubt and faith are not based on logic. Many doubt Jesus because they prayed and nothing happened. I have heard it said to me, “I prayed for so hard [something] but it never came. God let me down.” But often I find our deepest faith isn’t in Jesus as much as it is in our hopes for our lives. Out faith is often found in “God plus-my-plan-for-my-life.”
It’s easy to believe in my abilities when the sun is up and there’s money in the bank. When you have wealth, your wife is good-looking, and your kids are doing well in school, doubts seem to go away. But doubts can act like a sinkhole where our certainty erodes as the ground under our feet gives way. Not only does faith have its occasional flat tires, but also many of us watch doubt grow when we consider our lives. I have talked to a lot of people who have doubts through the years… family members, church members, and even leaders inside the church. Even I have had my doubts as well. Most believers, if not all believers, have their doubts about the Bible and Jesus sometime in their lives. For many of us, this happens during our young adult years. Whether it is during college or when launching out on our own, we begin to wonder, “Is my faith the product of my parents or my church?”
I want you to know that doubt can be good for faith. “Doubts are ants in the pants of faith; they keep it awake and moving,” writes Frederick Buechner. Doubt can cause us to seek God more and seek answers from God with more passion. Doubt can go bad; doubt can curdle like spoiled milk. Doubt can seep from the mind into the will and block courage and devotion. It can damage our capacity to persevere. It can make us indecisive. It can erode confidence.
There are many who want to doubt.
Philosopher Thomas Nagel wrote, “I want atheism to be true. It isn't just that I don't believe in God. I don't want there to be a God. I don't want the universe to be like that.”
3. We Doubt Jesus
Let’s look at John’s question again: “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” (Luke 7:20b)
Earlier, John had been more sure of Jesus: “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.” (Luke 3:9a) But he was now in prison where his disciples told him of the miracles Jesus performed (Luke 7:18). Jesus’ miracles fit John’s preconceived idea of who the Messiah was “to a tee.” Yet, Jesus did not make even the slightest effort to free John from prison. Jesus did not show even the remotest notion of executing judgment on Herod either? Jesus would raise to life a widow’s son (Luke 7:11-17) and heal a slave (Luke 7:1-10) but He wouldn’t act in these pressing areas?
Questions like John’s are nothing new for our day. Joseph Atwill will be speaking in Great Britain later this week. His topic will be devoted to a theory on how the New Testament was written by Roman aristocrats’ fabrication of the story of Jesus Christ. He says that Christianity began as a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise so that the Roman government could create peace inside its empire. Because many Jews were seeking an uprising and they tied this to the belief that Messiah would overthrow the government of Rome. According to him, a Roman family named the Flavians, invented the idea of Jesus, a peaceful Messiah, to keep peace in the Roman Empire.
Questions like John’s question are nothing new in Jesus’ day or in our day. Jesus says that John is a great man, even after John has questions of and for Jesus. Like John, many of you have questions about Jesus.
But I want to note something about John, he isn’t willing just to have questions about who Jesus is. He is passionate enough to pursue his questions. Just like Job, John brought his questions to Jesus. For many of you, this means you cannot be willing to just have doubts about Jesus, but you must be passionate to pursue the answers.
4. I Believe in Jesus Christ
Frequently, when Jesus receives a question, He will tell a parable or respond with another question. Not this time though. Jesus straight-up answers John’s question. I want you to sense the compassion in Jesus’ response to John. Jesus knew something of the satanic storms that rage around us when we are weak and alone. Jesus patiently relayed the truth one more time to John: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Luke 7:22-23) Jesus’ answer comes directly from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. His answer sounds a lot like what He told His hometown synagogue in Nazareth. Throughout His reply, Jesus never says, “Believe my arguments.” Instead, He said, “Follow me.”
Jesus tells John’s disciples to tell John six things.
4.1 Blind People See
Tell John that mothers are seeing their children for the first time. Tell John that people are squinting that have never done so – the sun is now in their eyes.
4.2 Lame People Walk
Tell John, that people who needed walkers, canes, and wheelchairs no longer need them. Tell John that little kids who needed crutches are playing basketball.
4.3 Lepers Are Cleansed
Tell John that disfigured people who have contagious skin diseases are now holding their children.
4.4 Deaf People Hear
People are hearing their mother’s voice for the first time.
4.5 Dead People Come to Life
Tell John about the widow’s son over in the small town of Nain. Tell him I stopped a funeral over there.
4.6 The Poor Hear the Good News
Tell John, that not all religion chases wealth. Tell him, I am Jesus, the Messiah and I’m preaching the good news in the poorest of neighborhoods.
A guy by the name of Bill Moore, who grew up in poverty, got drunk one time and shot a man for five thousand dollars. Like John the Baptist, Bill found himself in prison. He ended up on death row. Author, Lee Strobel met Bill and writes about him in his book The Case for Faith. A couple of guys went into prison (because God prompts people to go into prisons) and told him, “Bill, there is a man, Jesus, who loves you, and he gave his life on a cross. He died for you. He went to death row for you.” Nobody had ever told Bill about Jesus before. He'd been sitting on death row for years. He turned his life over to Jesus, and it changed him so much—changed the darkness and bitterness and hatred inside him so much—that other people began to be drawn to him. People started meeting Jesus through this guy on death row. He became known as “The Peacemaker.” His cell block was the safest place in the penitentiary because so many people were coming to Christ through Bill Moore. Churches found out about this, and when people needed counseling, no kidding, churches started sending people to the penitentiary to get counseling from Bill Moore. Can you imagine calling a church to ask for a referral and hearing, “I want you to go over to death row? There's an inmate there….” What does that? Jesus does that.
Bill Moore was changed so much that he even won the love of the family of the man he killed.
