Thomas The Determined, Don’t Know, Doubter
We are all familiar with the term “doubting Thomas,” because Thomas doubted Jesus rose from the dead. The Bible never describes Thomas this way. It describes his moment of doubt. But it is one moment, only one, and he moves quickly beyond it. His identity, despite our perception and description of him, is not rooted in that moment. Thomas has been over branded through the years, similar to this Texas rancher:
There is a story that A Texas rancher bought 10 ranches and put them together to form one giant spread. His friend asked him the name of his new mega-ranch. He replied, "It’s called The Circle Q, Rambling Brook, Double Bar, Broken Circle, Crooked Creek, Golden Horseshoe, Lazy B, Bent Arrow, Sleepy T, Triple O Ranch."
"Wow," said his friend, "I bet you have a lot of cattle."
"Not really," explained the rancher. "Not many survive the branding."
There is much that is praiseworthy in Thomas and much that is very common to man. When Jesus, hearing of his friend Lazarus’ sickness in Bethany, tells the disciples they are returning to Bethany, some of them protest: People want to kill you there, Jesus. But Thomas speaks up. "Let us also go," he says, "that we may die with him" (John 11:8, 16). These are hardly the words of a chronic doubter.
Thomas has been branded as a doubter, The truth is the Bible never portrays him as such. Thomas isn’t the only person whom history has defined by a single experience. Consider:
Richard Nixon is remembered more for the Watergate break-in than for the normalization of relations with China.
George Armstrong Custer is known more for his defeat at Little Big Horn than for being the youngest general in the Union Army.
Babe Ruth is known as the "Home Run King" even though he also holds the dubious distinction of being the "Strike-out King."
The story of Thomas is very similar to many of our emotional lives. When the Lord changes something in our lives we become very determined in following that call. However, if we were left to our determination we would all soon become prideful and arrogant, believing our determination caused the fulfillment of that calling. God will allow circumstances to come “interrupt” our calling so we grow more dependent upon Him. He will allow us to realize we are not capable of fully understanding our calling, as well as showing us we don’t have all the qualifications for that calling.
Remember, as my friend Jason Danielson always says, “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” We will immediately realize there will be times we don’t know which way to go, or what road to go down. This is usually the turning point in many peoples spiritual lives. When they get to the point of “I don’t know,” many times the will reverse course and follow the road they do know. Following the “I know the way” route will always end up in the truck stop of brokenness. If we will work through and wait upon the Lord during those times of unknowing it will help get us through the next stage.
After we realize we don’t know all the answers, we move to the next mental stop of doubt. Doubt means to be in the mental state of not being sure about something. No one likes to feel unsure about where our lives are heading, or if we are even on the right road. Doubt is a natural emotion we all go through and doubt has proven to be very beneficial. If I were to tell you there are 32,004,665,233,677 stars in the universe based upon some very detailed scientific research, you probably would not doubt that fact. The main reason you would not doubt that fact is because you don’t care how many stars are in the universe, and that little fact has no bearing on your life. The benefit of doubting is it shows you care about something. I told the folks at Cowboy Church if you read in the paper that Kevin Michael Landis is the Osage County Rooster fighting champion, it will probably be true. They immediately started to cast doubts upon me because they care about their pastor and do not want him fighting chickens. However, I have a cousin named Kevin Michael Landis in Avant, Oklahoma, and he owned some champion fighting roosters. Imagine having two people in your family, close to the same age, with the exact same first, middle and last name!
Doubt can be good at times, because it means we care about something, and that something is worth investigating. Thomas is a perfect example of the cycle that goes from determined, to don’t know and finally to doubting.
Determined
John 11:8 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
John 11:14 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Let us also go, that we may die with him? Great spirit of loyalty, but there is some sadness with that statement. This statement by Thomas shows the tendency of this disciple to take the dark view of things. He perceives clearly how this journey to Judea will end, as Thomas respects his Master, and not only sees in it peril to themselves, as they all did, but feels as if he could not and cared not to survive his Master’s sacrifice to the fury of His enemies. Thomas is basically saying he can’t live without Jesus. This appears to be the exact opposite person when Thomas doubts Jesus resurrection from the dead. Thomas is very determined, but he will soon realize he doesn’t know some things and that will cause him to doubt the very power of Jesus.
When we are our strongest we are our weakest. Think your strengths can’t become weaknesses? Do you imagine that your strengths prevent you from being duped? Take a lesson from the story of the Borden Company. When I was growing up, there were few companies more familiar and respected and successful than Borden’s (I loved Elsie the cow). Milkman Gail Borden, who founded the company in 1858 with the invention of condensed milk, even had his tomb built in the shape of a condensed-milk can. But what made Elsie grace almost every refrigerator in this nation is also what led to the company’s downfall. Borden’s strengths became the very source of its weaknesses.
• First, Frito-Lay, Doritos and other "ethnic" chips began to take larger shares of the market. Borden saw no reason to change or add to its standard Wise potato chips.
• Next, premium ice creams like Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen Dazs appeared on the scene. Borden saw no reason to change or add to its traditional, lower-priced Lady Borden ice cream.
• Then, easy-to-prepare meals like Rice-a-Roni became popular. Borden saw no reason to change or add to its staple Prince spaghetti and Classico spaghetti sauce.
Today, Today, Borden’s $5.5 billion business is broke and on the verge of bankruptcy and is owned by Dean foods. .
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to not lean on our own understanding, but to trust the Lord. We are to recognize Him in all things. The greatest obstacle to our faith, especially people living in the media crazy United States, is the need to know. Well God operates in the need to know only when He thinks you need to know. God tells us to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We need to realize God works on a higher plain than we do. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). When we think we know it all, we are in for a surprise.
Here is an example of looking at a common object from three different view points. Take three people and each of them hold a small block of pine wood. The first person releases the block and it falls to the ground. The second person releases the block and it moves upwards. The third person releases the block and it remains in exactly the same place. Someone is reporting this to you over the telephone. In the first case, the behavior is expected. In the second case, the behavior is bizarre. In the third case, the behavior is simply unbelievable. This is because you assume that all three cases are taking place in the same universe.
It turns out that the first person is standing on the surface of the earth, so the wood falls to the ground. The second person happens to be standing underwater, so naturally the wood floats upwards. This is perfectly normal and logical in that situation. The third person is in an orbiting spacecraft with zero gravity, so the piece of wood stays just where it has been released. This is also normal and logical in that universe.
Thomas is looking at the events from a earthly perspective. He didn’t consider Jesus would not be harmed at this instance, or did he consider Jesus was going to raise the dead. God says “Call unto Me and I will show you great and mighty things you do not know.” Remember how Peter showed his determination from Chapter 1, “I will never deny you Lord, never!” Sometimes the Lord will use our own determination to humble us, and make us more dependent on Him.
Don’t Know
John 14:3-5
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
Thomas showed honesty with Jesus, he didn’t just go along with the crowd. Thomas had some questions and he didn’t know exactly Jesus’ destination nor how to get there. Many times I hear people tell me they don’t read the Bible because they don’t understand what it says. When a person makes that statement, I am immediately shown a picture of that persons walk with Christ. When Jesus rose from the dead, what is there not to understand? When the Bible says in Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, any questions? Jeremiah 33:3 God says to “Call unto me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know,” seems pretty clear. The bottom line is God confirms the unknown. Psalms 34:9 says there is no want to those who fear God, what is not to understand about that?
Don’t know is always the wrong answer, unless the person is asking a question. When “I don’t know” is presented as a question, that is the beginning of knowing. There is no way in the world to know who God is unless you read His Word. The Bible is full of all kinds of information of what God expects from us, and what we can expect from Him. When we arrive at heaven, God will ask us how we obeyed Him. Will your answer be “I didn’t know what you wanted.”
The best way to find yourself in the Bible digging for truths, is try to teach a Bible lesson. A wise person once said, “If you truly want to know something, teach it.” I consider it a joy to teach and preach every week. The preparation is like water on a garden. I am forced to get into the scriptures and study, meditate, pray, and seek after God of what He would have me preach. Most men don’t read owners manuals, it simply is not in our nature.
One Christmas my Mother-in-law gave us a set of Christmas lights that had different figures attached to the lights which moved with music. She gave us four boxes of these special lights and I could not wait to get them on the tree. I opened each box carefully taking out each strand of lights with the moving elves. I meticulously placed each light in an appropriate position on the tree. When I finished one strand, I would take the new strand and plug the new strand into the strand on the tree. After I completed all four boxes, I plugged the lights into the wall. The lights came on, the music played and the little elves danced, for about ten seconds then nothing! I couldn’t figure it out, I “did not know” what happened or what to do about this dire situation. So when all else failed I picked up the owners manual, much to my surprise the first line in big bold letters read:
DO NOT PLUG MORE THAN TWO STRANDS OF LIGHTS TOGETHER ON THE SAME CIRCUIT. PLUGGING MORE THAN TWO STRANDS TOGETHER WILL CAUSE THE LIGHTS TO OVERHEAT AND NO LONGER OPERATE!
Dummy me! I wasted a lot of time and energy and made one simple mistake, I plugged all four strands into one circuit. The system short circuited and today it is still the joke of the family.
Too many times, we will pursuer a task with all of our determination, not realizing we could be doing more harm than good. For example, lets say you received a job promotion that required you to travel twenty five days out of the month, but the job paid more than you ever imagined you would ever receive. From the outside it appears a no brainer, but what about your family? Your kids need you around more than five days out of the month. Without careful prayer and looking at the consequences, you could make more money, but in the end you will end up spending that money on your kids bail bonds, or counseling sessions. Your first response in most situation should be, “I don’t know, let me pray on it.” Obviously this would not apply in all situations. For example, if someone where to come to you and ask you about how to have a relationship with Jesus, that would not be a time to say “I don’t know.” Thomas is now going to move from the “I don’t know” stage to the doubt stage.
Doubter
John 20:24
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Why did Thomas doubt the other disciples testimony? Perhaps Thomas saw Peter deny the Lord three times and the other disciples scatter like rats chased by a cat. An important point to remember is, many times we are the only Jesus people will see. When we experience hard times and don’t show trust in Christ, this action can cause the person watching us to have doubts about the One who promises peace in all situations. When our children watch us go to church and be nice to everyone, and talk about how great Jesus is, but then they go home and watch mom and dad tear each other apart with harsh words. This will cause that child to doubt if Jesus can really change lives.
Doubt is a place or rest, not a place of residence. We can not live in the land of Doubt, otherwise we will retire in the home of skepticism. A skeptical senior citizen is a miserable, crabby senior citizen. I preached at a nursing home for a year before I became a pastor and I saw many senior citizens. Some carried such a tremendous sweetness about them, it was a pleasure to be around them and I treasured those visits. Others lived a life of conflict, mistrust and difficult marriages and family strife. These seniors were absolutely miserable and their lives were not seasoned with much grace. What kind of senior citizen are you going to be? What is the dominant trait in your personality that people will remember?
You will never find a child that is a skeptic. Children might doubt from time to time, like if they are going to get that special toy for Christmas or their birthday. Skepticism is always an adult problem. The longer a person doubts the more skeptical they become. When I am training a roping horse, it is important I do the same thing with him, exactly the same way each time so the action I am trying to get the horse to do becomes second nature to him. If our first response in most situations is doubt, it doesn’t take long for those doubts to consume us and we become skeptics.
A common trait found with people that make a habit of doubting everything, is they soon become very skeptical. Skeptical people have the following tendencies:
• The tendency to deny, rather than doubt
• Double standards in the application of criticism
• The making of judgments without full inquiry
• Tendency to discredit, rather than investigate
• Use of ridicule
• Presenting insufficient evidence or proof
• Assuming criticism requires no burden of proof
• Making unsubstantiated counter-claims
• Suggesting that unconvincing evidence is grounds for dismissing
• Tendency to dismiss all evidence
Skepticism is a bad cancer that invades the mind. Once a person has crossed the bridge to skeptic land, a person will no longer trust God nor anybody else. The original Greek word for doubt means to make a judgment on the basis of careful and detailed information, to judge carefully or to evaluate carefully. Listen to some sports talk shows on the radio the day after the team plays. If the team won or lost is doesn’t make any difference, the skeptics will call in and talk about how the team will blow the next game, unless the team does exactly as the caller tells them to do. The skeptic from the list above will make judgments without fully investigating the problem. He will discredit rather than investigate. A doubter will listen to the coaches and the players talk about how they want to win a championship, and the doubter will evaluate his opinion based upon the information he is given. He will investigate; perhaps the team blew the game because of injuries or some other logical reason. Doubt can be dealt with, but skepticism deals a deadly blow.
Doubt lacks confidence, skepticism lacks trust. Doubt is an action, skepticism is an attitude. Thomas did not remain a permanent traveler on the road to skepticism because the Bible says that a person who doubts is unstable and will not receive anything from the Lord.
James 1:6-8
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Thomas asked to see Jesus’ pierced hands and place his hand into Jesus’ pierced side. Jesus answered his prayer. Thomas did not pronounce an unstable statement, because when he placed his hand into Jesus side and touched the nail holes Thomas exclaimed a great truth, “My Lord and My God!”
John 20:26-28
26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
The most outrageous doubter of the resurrection of Jesus utters the greatest confession of the Lord who rose from the dead. Thomas did not have any doubts about Jesus being God! Be like Thomas, investigate, gather the facts, look at the nail scarred hands, look at the disciples reactions before and after Jesus rose from the dead. After a full investigation you will exclaim “My Lord and My God!”
Just Do It
As Thomas extends his hands, with the invitation to touch Jesus, Jesus adds a saying which is half rebuke and half appeal: “Stop being unbelieving, and show yourself a believer!” Did Thomas extend his finger and hand, as Jesus invited him? The tradition early arose that he did, and that others did so with him. Thomas went from the doubter to the doer. James 1:22 tells us to be doers of the word and not just hearers. Actions affect the way our mind processes knowledge. A person can have book knowledge, but until they apply that knowledge to the real world, the knowledge is just facts and not tool. A person can read about throwing a rope all they want, but until the person actually picks up a rope to swing, all they have is facts and not a working knowledge.
There is a quaint legend about Thomas, the Apostle. It is said that some years after his first doubt, he was again troubled with misgivings as to his Lord’s resurrection. He sought the apostles and began to pour his troubles into their ears. But first one and then another claimed to be too busy to listen to his tale. Then he tried to impart his woes to some devout women. But the women remained as busy as Dorcas and could not entertain those doubting thoughts.
At last it dawned upon Thomas that perhaps the peoples business kept them free from torturing doubts. He took the hint; he went to the land of Parthia, occupied himself in teaching the Gospel, and Thomas never suffered from troubling doubts any more. Thomas may have labored for the Gospel in Parthia (including modern Iraq and Iran), but stronger traditions link him with southern India. Indian Christians from the west coast Kerala area claim they received Christ by Thomas, who experienced martyrdom by being speared to death near Madras on the east coast. Mount St. Thomas, close to Madras, is associated with his name.
Determined, don’t know, doubt then determined again! The only way Thomas went from determined back to determined is that Thomas just did it, he became not just a hearer of the Word, but a doer of the word. James tells us that He that knows what to do, and does it not, to him that is sin. James is not saying don’t do such and such, but just simply do!
Examples
At cowboy church we built a rodeo arena, but during the first year we tried to do minor events at least twice a week, like holding weekly practice ropings, and major events at least once a month (i.e. rodeos, ropings, barrel racing etc.). The monthly major events never really took off to the point of success, but we always had some level of participation.
The passion never went away to hold these monthly major events, so we continued to try new ideas. Finally we came to the point of focusing on specific events, one at a time, and do it well. The Cowboy Church agreed to focus on team roping and ranch rodeos. Suddenly the world opened up to us and started to come up with creative ideas to promote such events and to see where our strengths and weaknesses were.
When we receive a new job, that we don’t fully understand, we tackle that job with all of our determination. Soon we realize we don’t have all the knowledge we need, and we arrive at “I don’t know.” At this point we can ask for advice from someone that has been at this point before, or we can just stay in “I don’t know” land. If we remain in confusion, it will not take very long before you start doubting your ability to perform well in this job, and many people find this is the point to jump ship. Hang on, seek good counsel, stick it out. The reason for sticking it out, is the only way to move from “I don’t know” land, past “doubting” land and back to “determined” land is to gain the experience. Experience can only be obtained one way, and that is working through the problems, thinking things through then you can move to destination “determined.”
Now for a bit of sports news, actually a question for all of you. Did Texas Tech coach Bob Knight slap a player? The famous coach with the infamous temper did whatever he did during the basketball game on Monday November 13, 2006 win against Gardner-Webb. The next day, ESPN replayed the incident repeatedly and blogs the world over debated the coach’s action.
In the November 15, 2006 edition of USA Today, they quoted Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers: "I have discussed this with Michael Prince, his parents and Coach Knight. Coach Knight did not slap Michael. Michael came off the court with his head down, and Coach Knight quickly lifted Michael’s chin up and said, ’Hold your head up and don’t worry about your mistakes. Just play the game.’" Prince and his mother likewise defended the coach. The player said, "He was trying to teach me and I had my head down, so he raised my chin up." Most definitely.
This happens all the time in sports. My son Hunter one time was determined to play baseball, and he just knew the star player would be him. When game time finally came, Hunter struck out his first several times at bat. He soon realized he actually didn’t know how to hit the baseball. The feeling of not knowing rapidly deteriorated to him doubting if he had the skills to play the game. Before Hunter started to bat I tried to teach him the mechanics of hitting baseballs and worked with him repeatedly. Hunter liked to step out of the batters box every time he swung the bat. I told him repeatedly not to step out, but he would not listen to Dad’s sage advice.
After striking out several times, Hunter became emotionally broke from doubting if he had the skill to play baseball. This became a teaching moment. I encouraged Hunter that the skill was there, he just needed practice. Hunter became teachable at his moment of weakness, during his moment of strength he could not be taught.
Take heed lest you fall! When we are at the top of our game, these are the times we think we are least vulnerable, and it is usually during these times we fall. As Christians, God puts pressure on us to doubt our own abilities so we learn to be dependent on Him. Hunter became a teachable student and returned to the next ball game to play. What about you? Have you spiritually struck out yet? Have you tried to put together a Bible study to find you doubt your ability to teach and understand the Bible? Many church programs have started out determined, then the staff realizes they didn’t have people that knew how to carry out these programs. After this realization they rapidly moved to doubting the success of a new program. The original idea came from somewhere, either their own head, or the Lord.
How does a person know the difference? If the idea is from the Lord, you will experience a constant nagging to keep working on a task, even after you move through the doubting stage. If the idea came out of your own pride, after the doubting stage hits, the project can be abandoned and you never think twice about it again. Be careful with blind ambition, take those goals and desires to the Lord, pray through them, see how your spirit feels when you are standing before Almighty God with those requests and desires. After praying through those desires, check your passion temperature. Many times the Lord will give you new ideas to accomplish a task, and will bring people into your life to help coupled with some good ideas as well.
It is unexpected, but extraordinarily convincing, that the one absolutely unequivocal statement in the whole gospel of the Divinity of Jesus should come from Doubting Thomas. It is the only place where the word "God" is used ... without qualification of any kind, and in the most clearest form of words, from the one who is known as the doubter.
