Luke 7:18-35
Doubters Welcome
Woodlawn Baptist Church
November 12, 2006
Introduction
Read Luke 7:18-35.
If you were here last Sunday night you should remember me saying that for the last year or so, perhaps even the last couple of years, I have questioned many things about our faith and the things of God. I am a skeptic. I admit it. Whenever I hear about someone who is suffering from cancer miraculously discovering his or her cancer is gone, I doubt. I read reports about God mysteriously working in people’s lives and I question whether their experiences are genuine or not. I wonder, I doubt, I grow skeptical. I am skeptical about whether God’s plan really works; if His Word is good for real life. I confess that there are times when I wander through the bookstore’s religious sections and eye the other religious books, wondering, “Have I really found the right way?” After looking through stacks of sermons I have written and preached, I grow skeptical about whether it is worth the effort and time involved.
Perhaps you understand what it means to be skeptical – to doubt. There are times when while I am praying, I begin to wonder whether God hears me, whether there is even a God. What if this whole thing is wrong? What if Jesus was just a good man and there really is no heaven or hell?
Writer and preacher Lee Strobel says that there are three kinds of people in this room today. The first group would be those who have doubted. The second group would be those who haven’t doubted yet, but who will. And the third group would be those who are brain dead. In other words, if you’re a thinking person at all -- if you seriously contemplate your faith and what it means to follow Jesus Christ -- the chances are that every once in a while you’re going to come down with some questions, some issues, some uncertainties, some doubts.
Maybe you doubt that God has really forgiven you. Or you wonder whether the Bible really is the Word of God. Or you question why God lets people suffer. Or you’ve been praying for help with a struggle in your life, but so far there has been silence, and you’re wondering whether anybody’s at home in heaven, or if there is, whether He really cares. Maybe you have questions about how God created the world or how He’ll end it. Or you’ve said to yourself, “I think I’ve become a Christian, but sometimes I’m not sure. Maybe I wasn’t sincere enough when I prayed.”
But these sorts of questions are not reserved for Christians alone. Many who have never trusted Christ are asking all the right questions – “Is there a God?” “Can I trust Him?” “Is Jesus for real?” and many others like them. If you can identify with what I’m talking about this morning, then I want you to consider three questions I have for you today: three issues that need to be raised in order to help you work through your own doubts about Jesus and whether He really is the Messiah.
Are You Really A Doubter, A Skeptic?
I ask you that because the fact is that you need to be honest about what you are, because many people who say they are doubters or skeptics really are not. A doubter, or a skeptic is someone who has trouble believing something but will make the effort and take the time to investigate it. In his book, Your God Is Too Safe, Mark Buchanan points out that skepticism means to look at a matter closely, to scrutinize, to study with great care and in minute detail. He goes on to talk about meeting a man who said he didn’t believe the Bible. Here’s what he said.
“I asked him if he had read the Bible. ‘No, not really,’ he said. ‘I told you; I’m a skeptic. I don’t believe it.’
“This is not skepticism. This is its opposite – a refusal to investigate, to scrutinize, to ponder deeply…skepticism is not an excuse for evasion, an alibi for idleness. It is not a self-imposed boundary to keep you from embarking on any deep and meaningful search…This form of skepticism is only a subtle way of lying to ourselves, like telling ourselves that the world is flat to avoid the burden of launching dangerous and costly voyages beyond the horizon.
“Any true skeptic worthy of the name is both hunter and detective, stalking the evidence, laying ambush, rummaging for clues, dredging the river bottom, wiretapping phone lines, setting traps. A skeptic is passionate about discovering truth and wants to believe (and there’s the key), but safeguards against the hypnotic power of that wanting. So he tests.”
I suspect that most people who claim to be skeptics and doubters really are not. Most are just hiding behind the words so they don’t have to give an honest nod at Jesus. I met a man on Morton Street who told me he was a skeptic. He said he didn’t believe in God. When I asked him if we could talk about it he told me no. His mind was made up that there is no God. He doesn’t doubt – His mind is fully persuaded. Now you see, that man is not a skeptic. In fact, the Bible calls him a fool because he won’t investigate.
John was a true doubter, a skeptic. When he heard the reports about Jesus he had to know if he really was the Messiah. Remember, this is the same John who baptized Jesus, confessed that he wasn’t worthy to untie his shoes and saw the Spirit of God descend on Jesus. This is the same John who professed that Jesus was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” But now John has his doubts, and what is he doing? He’s digging, investigating, asking, and demonstrating that he really wants to know.
Many of the people in the crowd were skeptics and doubters too. They were following Jesus around, listening to His words, watching His actions, looking for answers and asking questions. But the question for you is simply this: are you really a doubter. Are you a true skeptic? Or are you just hiding behind those words so you don’t have to do the digging necessary to discover the Jesus that you’re having those doubts about?
Are You Seeking The Truth, The Right Jesus?
John had come to quite a low place in his life: he had become a doubter. Think about how he had come to such a place. In Luke 3 John burst onto the scene preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. He had a message from God and was preaching that message with everything he had. If there was ever a hellfire and damnation preacher it was John. “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” His was a scathing, stinging message. “The Messiah is coming who will sift Israel! You’d better get ready!”
John preached his message to anyone who would listen. And what did he say to them?
“The axe is laid to the root of the trees: every tree therefore that doesn’t bring forth good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire…one mightier than I comes…whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”
What a strong message! John was convinced that the Messiah was coming who would set up His kingdom and establish righteousness. The Messiah would judge Israel and find her lacking. He was convinced that the Messiah was coming to purge and sift and rip the people to shreds for their disobedience and immorality. He took that message all the way to the top, rebuking the king for having an affair with his sister-in-law, a message that got him thrown in prison. But prison was okay. After all, the Messiah was coming to set things in order. I can hear him thinking about the king, “That’s all right. He’ll get you.”
But He doesn’t. In fact, it is because of the way Jesus is conducting His ministry that John is having doubts in the first place. John was looking for a Messiah who would come and set up His kingdom with fierceness. Jesus is going around the countryside behaving exactly the opposite of how he thought he should be acting. John fasted, Jesus feasted. John spent his days in the wilderness, Jesus spent His at weddings and socials. John preached judgment, Jesus preached mercy. John preached sifting, Jesus was ministering to Gentiles and prostitutes and pimps. If he really was the Messiah why were so many rejecting Him? And why was He allowing it?
So John wants to know – “Are you the Messiah or not?” Instead of giving him a straight answer, Jesus turned and began ministering to people again – doing the same works He had been doing: healing illnesses, performing exorcisms, giving sight to the blind. Then he tells John’s disciples to go back and tell John what they had seen.
Now, watch what Jesus says in verse 23, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Jesus’ ministry is a source of offense. It has been and it will continue to be until the people finally put Him on the cross. Why? Because He wasn’t what most people were looking for. John was looking for a Savior who would come and take the land by storm, and when he didn’t get it he was offended.
If you’re not careful you’ll be offended in Jesus too. It may offend you that some people who aren’t as faithful or good as you are just as blessed as you are. It may offend you that someone hurt you or cheated you or wronged you and they got away with it. It may offend you that some sorry sucker out there got sick and lived, but your loved one got sick and died. It may offend you that you pray and pray and pray but God doesn’t seem to hear or listen or care. It may offend you that Jesus is the only way. It may offend you that Jesus demands that you repent in order to be saved. But Jesus said that if you can walk through your doubts and skepticism and in your seeking discover the truth: discover the real Jesus and understand that He doesn’t always work like you think He ought or answer prayers like you expect or treat people how you want Him to and not be offended by what you discover, then you’ll be blessed.
You see, you’re going to get what you’re looking for. Jesus asked the people concerning John, “What did you go out to see?” They went out to see a prophet, not a reed or a finely dressed prince – a prophet, and that’s exactly what they got. But they didn’t just get any prophet – they got the greatest prophet ever born. And what did they do when they heard that prophet? What did they do when, being confronted with the truth about their spiritual condition, they saw the truth? Verse 29 says they justified God. In other words, they were not offended, but rather they gave a verdict of approval and demonstrated it by following in baptism.
Christendom is filled with images of a Jesus that are vastly different from what we find in Scripture, and if you’re not careful you’ll accept those images. Jesus came to bless our food and our weather and give us lives of peace and tranquility. He helps us take better tests in school and get better jobs in the marketplace and gives us a church where we can escape life for just a little while. That’s not Jesus – that’s an idol – a god created in our image. And if that’s the god you want, then Jesus will offend every time. If you’re really searching and digging, make sure to dig for the truth – the real Jesus of Scripture.
Are You Holding God Ransom?
Jesus said in verse 31 that the Pharisees “were like children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced…” It was a game kids played. A group of kids would call out what they wanted the other kids to do and they did it. If they said to dance, they danced. It the command was to mourn, they mourned. But Jesus, and John for that matter refused to play those games.
In the beginning, the Pharisees came to hear John preach about the coming Messiah. They witnessed him baptize Jesus. They knew the prophecies, but they were skeptical. In the beginning they were doubters, and that was a good thing. You see, they wanted to believe, but their king wasn’t supposed to begin in a manger. He wasn’t supposed to be born in scandal. He wasn’t supposed to be some common laborer. There were a lot of questions surrounding Jesus, so in their skepticism they watched and waited and in effect began to hold God ransom. Listen again as Mark Buchanan talks about doubt.
“Doubt has its limits. It can be faith’s tonic, a cleansing and invigorating force. But doubt can quickly turn corrosive or cancerous, burning or mutating healthy tissue. It can become a way of holding God for ransom. Our lives can degenerate into a fruitless and futile round of, ‘Unless I see, unless I touch, unless I have the experience, I will not believe.’ Indulged too long, doubt becomes just a parlor game.”
When you begin to hold God ransom, you are in effect calling out for Him to dance. But He will not dance. He won’t play your games. Even John in his moment of doubt tried to make Him dance. “Declare yourself to be the Messiah man! Are you he that should come or not?” Jesus wouldn’t dance though. He just turned, performed a few more miracles and told him to weigh it out and exercise faith.
You may be doing the same thing. “God, if you will get me through this then I will serve you.” “If you will get me out of debt then I will give.” “If you….” You fill in the blank. Are you forcing God’s hand? Are you waiting for Him to do something, say something before you believe? Jesus told Thomas that those who believe without seeing are blessed. That’s the stuff of faith.
Conclusion
I don’t know which of the three kinds of people you are today. You may be one who has or is in doubt. You are certainly one who is going to be faced with doubt. But listen, it is okay to doubt. In fact, it can be a good thing. You ought to notice in our text that Jesus doesn’t rebuke John for doubting. In fact, He points out for the benefit of all who are listening that John is the greatest prophet ever born.
If you’re really wrestling with doubt today, that indicates to me, and more importantly it indicates to God that you want to know the truth: you want to encounter the real Jesus. If that’s really your desire then you need to know that He’s going to reveal that Jesus to you: you’re going to come face to face with the truth. The question then comes as to whether you will embrace that truth or be offended by it. Turn away from the truth often enough, long enough and you’ll find yourself spiraling away from God in ways you never dreamed. But in faith if you will embrace Jesus, trust Him, understand that you will never control Him, then your doubts will begin to fade.
I speak from experience. The doubts I mentioned earlier left me in a certain state of disparity. I was holding God ransom and wanted answers to questions He would not seem to answer. I threatened God – told Him I wouldn’t follow Him any more, wouldn’t serve Him any more, all the while thinking that I was somehow hurting Him so He’d answer my doubts. But I learned, should have known all along I was only hurting myself, wounding my own spirit. One evening I finally cried out to God not too very long ago and basically told Him that there were many things I did not understand, but I believed that He was God, He is in control, and He owns my life. I surrendered those doubts knowing I couldn’t continue going like I was. Did God answer my questions? No. Instead, it was like He turned, went right back to work and said, “Now where were we?”
Are you seeking the right Jesus today? Are you searching for the truth? Or are you holding God ransom? Waiting for Him to do some thing in your life before you’ll believe?
