The Positive Side of Doubt
-How Doubts can help you grow spiritually-
Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, the third day He rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
There is a positive side of doubt. When doubts push us to study and examine why we believe what we believe the searching can help us grow spiritually. Doubts are part of the very fabric of our lives. Down through the years experts of various fields have had their doubts.
Charles H Duell, U.S. Patent Office director, 1899 said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
H.M. Warner, Warner Bros. Pictures said, “Who in the world wants to hear actors talk?”
Grover Cleveland, 1906, “Sensible and responsible women don’t want to vote.”
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895, “Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.”
The Michigan banker who advised Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the new motor car company said, “The horse is her to stay, the automobile is only a novelty.”
Actor Gary Cooper said, “Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood. I’m just glad it’ll be Clarke Gable who’s falling flat on his face and not me.”
Type the word “doubt” into the Google search engine and you’ll get approximately 13,600,000 hits.
Type the word “faith” and you’ll get 20,900,000 hits—faith wins over doubt.
As we look at the subject of doubt I want to look at an Old Testament prophet and a New Testament disciple and see how they dealt with doubt.
The Prophet Habakkuk battled doubt. Habakkuk 1:2-4 – “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! ‘Violence!’ I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.” (NLT)
Habakkuk is crying out, “God doesn’t care about my troubles. If God cared He would answer my prayer. God is silent. Where is God? The wicked are prospering while the righteous are suffering. Sinners are not being punished so why pray? God doesn’t do anything.
How do you deal with the silences of God? When life no longer smiles upon you where do you turn? If God is a loving God why is all this happening?
Philip Yancey in his book Where is God When It Hurts, tells how friends gave wrong counsel to a friend suffering from Hodgkin’s disease. Cobalt treatment caused the body of the twenty plus year old to deteriorate.
A leader from her church visited her and told her to reflect on what God was trying to teach her through suffering. The church member told her: “There must be something in your life displeasing to God. You must have stepped out of God’s will. Listen to what God is trying to tell you.
Another scatterbrained lady, a cheerleader to the sick visited her. She brought her flowers, sand hymns, quoted happy psalms and talked about happy things to drive out any suffering with her cheer and good will.
Another lady stopped by to pray for her. She told the young lady that sickness is never God’s will. The sickness in her body was the work of the devil. “You must have enough faith to believe that you will be healed. Faith can move mountains and that includes Hodgkins’ disease.”
Another lady from her church came to see her and told her that she must learn to praise God for everything. You must pray, “God I love you for making me suffer like this. It is Your will. In all things, including this, I give thanks.”
Another leader in the church told her that she was chosen by God to participate in the sufferings of Christ.
The Lord gave Habakkuk His answer in verses 5, “Look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. “
God encouraged Habakkuk to be patient. The Lord sees the suffering in the world. Trust God, in time God will do a great work in the world.
Like Habakkuk our doubts can push us to pray and seek the Lord for answers. Our doubts can drive us to search God’s Word for answers. Through prayer we realize that the battle is the Lords. By faith we turn everything over to the Lord. As Christ followers we know that whatever happens to us Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.
Through waiting in prayer and listening to the Lord the Prophet Habakkuk reflects on all the violence and disasters in the world, he sings out: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.” Habakkuk 3:18-19 NLT
Habakkuk went through the valley of doubt and came out rejoicing in the Lord the God of his salvation.
In the New Testament we can learn a lot about doubt by looking at the life of Thomas who nicknamed the Twin. Thomas is remembered as the disciple who doubted that Jesus rose from the dead, but Thomas also had character qualities that set him apart from the other disciples.
John 10:22-42 Jesus is teaching in Jerusalem and proclaimed that God the Father and He were one. The Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone Jesus for blasphemy. They tried to arrest Jesus but he got away and went beyond the Jordon.
John 11 - Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus is sick. After two days Jesus told his disciples that he was going to go back to Judea and see Lazarus. His disciples pleaded with Jesus not to go because the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill Jesus. Then Thomas with the nickname Twin said to his fellow disciples: “Let’s go too – and die with Jesus.”
Here we see bold and courageous Thomas. He was willing to put his life on the line for his Master. By their going with Jesus the disciples witnessed one of the greatest miracles in the NT. They witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days.
John 14: 1-5 we see Thomas the Twin giving leadership again. In John 14:1-4 Jesus gives words of assurance and said to his disciples, “I’m going away and will prepare a place for you.” Thomas blurted out: V.5 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”
Thomas was the only disciple to speak out. Because Thomas asked, Jesus gave a great biblical truth and insight in verses 6-7, “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him!’”
From the answer Jesus gave Thomas we know there are not many ways to heaven. Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only way to eternal life.
Jesus declared there is an urgency to the good news of the Gospel. Our task as a local church is to make it hard for people in our community to say no to Jesus. We have to ask ourselves if we are truly doing all we can to make it hard for people around us from going to an eternal judgment without God.
Are we more concerned with people who are not yet Christ followers than we are with meeting our own needs and making sure we are comfortable and happy.
The Bible tells us that we are to use all means to save some. Everyone should have the opportunity to say “no” to God’s love.
I appreciate the fact that many in the Willow Vale Church are outward focused. The neighborhood fish fry at the Jones house reached out to many unchurched neighbors. God’s love was shown sitting around tables eating fish.
The lay ministry team prepared a cook-out for the Monday night recovery group and sat around tables showing the love of Jesus with no strings attached.
There are many people just like Thomas. They have doubts and need to see God’s love demonstrated in the flesh by many different people at many different ways.
After the crucifixion Thomas went AWOL. He became disillusioned because Jesus did not set up an earthly kingdom. The hopes and dreams of Thomas were shattered. Thomas went off on his own to take time to think of all the things that had happened.
Thomas heard Jesus speak many times, but he didn’t really listen to what He was saying. He had his mind set on what the strategic plan of Jesus should be. He was devastated when Jesus didn’t fulfill the plan Thomas expected.
In American society we have doubts about people keeping their word. Hugh Mulligan, Associated Press writer, penned an article entitled: “Would I Lie to you?” Trust Me!” Here are some of his one-liners:
• “Open wide, now, this isn’t going to hurt a bit.”
• “It’s easy to assemble, just follow the simple directions.
• “Please, Daddy, I’ll walk him and feed him and train him and everything.”
• “Hi, I’m from the IRS, and I’m here to help you.”
• “Mother’s only staying for two weeks you’ll hardly know she’s in the house.”
After His resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples and Thomas was missing. Thomas was out alone battling with his doubts. When Thomas finally wandered into the house where the disciples were hiding he was told that he missed seeing Jesus in person. “We have seen the Lord!” But Thomas 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.” John 20:25
Thomas needed proof. He needed to see for himself that Jesus has risen from the dead.
All of us face doubts from time to time. If we say we never have any doubts we are kidding ourselves. Doubts push us toward faith. Doubts keep our faith awake and moving.
Some of us probably feel like the Father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9:20-24. In the first part of Mark chapter 9 Jesus is on the Mt. of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John. The three disciples witness Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah.
After being on the mountain top they come down the mountain and at the foot of the mountain they are confronted by a father and his boy possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit causes the boy to suffer violent convulsions. The father approached Jesus and said, “Have mercy on us and help us. Do something if you can.”
Mark 9:23-24 Jesus replied, “What do you mean, “If I can? Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly replied, “I do believe, but help me not to doubt.”
It is possible for faith and doubt to coexist. We look at the life situations in our family, work, and life and general and say, “Dear Lord I believe, help me to not doubt.”
The testimony of Lee Strobel is a compelling one. Lee was an award winning legal editor for the Chicago Tribune. He had a Law degree from Yale Law School. He mocked Christianity, but was encouraged to investigate the Bible and Christian faith.
If you need evidence from scriptures, theologians, philosophers, and scientists that Jesus is who He said he is then you need to read Lee Strobel’s two books, “The Case for Christ” and “The Case for Faith.”
After his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples a second time. This time Thomas was with them. This time he spoke directly 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!”
Without touching Jesus Thomas instantly cried out: “My Lord and my God.”
Then Jesus spoke to Thomas with words that included you and me: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.” John 20:29 - You can put your name in place of “those.” Blessed is ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬__________ who hasn’t seen me and believe anyway.”
When you honestly and sincerely come to Jesus He will help you get through the tough stuff of doubts. Doubts push us to grow. There is room at the cross for our doubts and fears and questions.
We face the future with faith because we take God at His Word and act accordingly. Faith has many characteristics:
• Faith sees the invisible.
• Faith hears the inaudible
• Faith believes the incredible
• Faith thinks the unthinkable
• Faith accomplishes the impossible
• Faith inherits the indestructible
As we partake of communion today remember this thought, “There’s room at the cross for you and your doubts.”
Worship Team- “We Walk By Faith.”
Communion
