In the footsteps of Thomas
John 20:24-29 One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.”
Having just returned from India and seeing the impact that Thomas had and is still having on this land I wanted to find out who Thomas was from a biblical point of view and see some of his motivations.
It seems fairly clear from historical evidence that Thomas was in India from 58AD until he was martyred in 72AD. The Church in Southern India was it seems founded by Him, and He is supposedly buried in Madras at the Church of St Thomas.
So what was it that drove Thomas to leave all He knew and travel a vast distance and die for the cause?
.He is often labeled doubting Thomas, but the evidence in India would suggest He doesn’t deserve this label. I had the privilege to go up to the point where he was murdered for the cause of Christ. It is a very high hill where he used to go and pray and also lived in a cave nearby. From a strategic point of view there would be no better position to pray from, as you can see the entire region
This morning I want to look at the nature of the Apostle Thomas as much as we can from the 3 times He is mention in scripture
Was He Thomas the doubter or Thomas the doer?
From the 3 times he is mentioned in scripture we see this about Thomas.
He was:
Willing to risk his life
willing to ask the hard questions
willing to accept the truth
I. Thomas Willing to Risk His Life (John 11:1-16)
II.
1. The first time that we see Thomas mentioned is found in the passage about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead
2. Let us read John 11:1-16
John 11:1-16 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, the one you love is very sick.”
4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this.” 5 Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days and did not go to them. 7 Finally after two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”
8 But his disciples objected. “Teacher,” they said, “only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you. Are you going there again?”
9 Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. As long as it is light, people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 Only at night is there danger of stumbling because there is no light.” 11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”
12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, that means he is getting better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night’s rest, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.
14 Then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sake, I am glad I wasn’t there, because this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come, let’s go see him.”
16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
The disciples have a good point here. They tell Jesus hey that isn’t such a great idea
. You know there are people out there who are trying to kill you
Jesus insist that they still Go
. Vs. 11 and 12 are a bit humorous if you ask me
. Jesus trying to be kind says that Lazarus is sleeping and the disciples respond with don’t wake him up
. Then Jesus has to say, ok he is not sleeping he is dead.
. Vs. 16 is what were going to key in on
Let’s go too – and die with Jesus.
. Thomas, The one who we always refer to as doubting Thomas, makes the bold statement “I am willing to follow with you, Jesus, even if it means death”
B. Application
What can we learn from this?
First of all Thomas was not just a doubter
Thomas was willing to put in all on the line
In his mind there was a strong chance that he would be killed if he went to Judea
Thomas was willing to risk death to follow Jesus
Do you have that same passion to follow Jesus
Do you have that same desire to follow Jesus
Do you have the same boldness to follow Jesus?
In India I was challenged with similar feelings ~ my ministry companion did not want to go into an area controlled by the communist Laxelights who have been killing people for their cause. Yes it was dangerous yes we could have been caught and killed. But I was confronted with this one thing... Will I obey Christ even if it means death or will I play it safe?
We went in and we where protected.. The fruit was an amazing outpouring of power and grace and many where saved healed and set free. Thomas confronts us with this question... Are we willing to obey even unto death? He did... and we should to.
III. Willing to Ask the questions that we all were wondering (John 14:1:6)
Thomas is also mentioned in John 14:5
2. Read 14:1-6
John 14:1-6 “Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know where I am going and how to get there.”
5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Jesus just gets done giving the disciples some comfort
Let us be honest, if this was the first time you heard about all this you would be confused too
I can see the disciples sitting around and shake there head and pretending they understand what Jesus was talking about
a) I get that look from time and time when I am preaching, I don’t think you understand what I am saying but you smile and nod anyways J
Thomas raises his hand and says Lord I don’t get it. I am confused. Help me understand
Notice Jesus did not rebuke Thomas
Jesus did not make fun of him for his honest question
Jesus used a different way and expanded on some things to answer the questions that Thomas had
the rest of the disciples in their mind I am sure they were saying thank you Thomas for asking that question
What can we learn from this?
You know one of the biggest misconceptions that we have been taught is questions are wrong
Honest questions are not sin.
To want better understanding of a situation is not a sin.
There are something that we do not understand at first
Be willing to ask the questions, be willing to examine things, figure out what exactly is going on
In Goa I felt I was somehow missing the mark.. I had witnessed to people on a one on one basis but had been unable to find the local church.. Lord I don’t understand why you sent me here! Then came the bus trip to end all bus trips... 13 hours on a bus with no suspension.. Passing everything in sight on blind corners and up hill! Lord why! The answer was clear Both my companion and myself where given seats next to people whom God had hand picked for us to speak to.. The result was fruit! Imagine if I had not questioned the Lord about the wisdom of the trip.. it would have been easy to cancell the bus and take the train but the Lord wanted me on the bus.
IV. Thomas Willing to Accept the truth (John 20:24-29)
1. I am sure that you all remember the famous story of doubting Thomas, that we read in the beginning of this message.
Thomas get a bad rap here, we have to understand what was going on before
First thing that disciples know is that Mary said that Jesus appeared to here
None of the disciples believer her, if they had they would have not been in the room gathered together hiding in fear
Now when they were together Thomas was not there
Where was Thomas? The Bible does not say.
Thomas did not want to blindly accept what his fellow disciples said
. He wanted to make sure that everything was correct
So the Lord showed up, and showed him
Thomas makes one of the most overlooked statements in the Bible
. “My Lord and my God”
a) This statement is amazing, for a Jew to make that statement is incredible
b) To call an human associate “My Lord and My God” could be considered blasphemy and punishable by death
Thomas was willing ---- What can we gain from this story?
First of all understand that doubt is not sin It is not sin to doubt. If it were Jesus would have said why are you sinning against me, he did not say that
We all wrestle with doubt from time to time
Notice something here, he never doubted Jesus, he doubted his fellow disciple
Once Jesus showed him, he believed and admitted it.
Unbelief and doubt are not the same Unbelief is deliberate denial, disobedience, rebellion, resistance, and is always condemned
Doubt is the sincere question; unbelief is the unwillingness to hear the answer
To doubt the resurrection is not that uncommon Dead people rarely get up and our alive again
when you ignore the possibility of the supernatural and miracles you limit truth, science is not able to explain everything
Thomas had just lost his friend Jesus (So he thought) with dashed hope It is hard to make faith fit in with the painful realities of life This occurs when: a loved one dies, Children in this world are starving, we loose our job, our marriage falls apart
What is funny is we often doubt that miracles can happen, but our desire for them is even stronger
The writer of Psalms sometimes express much anger and sing about doubts and disappointments
a) However, they always seem to realize in the end that God is God, God cares for them, and God listens to them
In Kakanada I was faced with a woman who was Mad. She was a university Graduate who had been indwelt by demonic forces to the point where she was going about saying she was an Angle of light and talking with the voice of a man. I have to admit when I was confronted with the issue I doubted for a moment that there was hope!
But then the Lord came through.. As I prayed the demons threw the woman to the ground.. I commanded them to name themselves which they did.. In the name of Jesus I cast them out one by one.. the last going with tears and a scream.. At which point the woman returned to her right mind.. she was set free and restored to her family.. I saw her again the next day and the transformation was amazing. Imagine if I had of succumbed to doubt.. But I was able to look to Jesus for the answers just as Thomas did
Conclusion
I hope I have made a good case to stop calling Thomas, Doubting Thomas
Thomas was no were near doubting as he was willing
He was willing to risk his life and follow Jesus...In the end He gave his life for Jesus.
He was willing to Ask some really hard questions..Those questions caused him to trust so much He went to the other side of the know world for Jesus.
He was willing to accept the truth.. In the end He was so committed to the truth that he planted countless church’s in Kerala & Tamil Nadu.
So be like Thomas
Ask the hard questions of Jesus
Be willing to follow Jesus even unto death
Be willing to accept the truth when confronted with it!
