Why We Believe

How many of you like to watch the evening news? Debbie told me that the evening news is for old people. I look forward to the news. I get my ice cream and watch the NBC News every night. I really look forward to it. She says kids don’t watch the news that much anymore. I thought I would take an informal survey. If you are 30 or over and you make it a regular habit to watch the news on television, raise your hand. If you are 30 or under and make it a regular habit, raise your hand. Debbie was right. It is for old people. That is why they show all the Viagra commercials and reverse mortgages and Rolaids. I like watching the news but it gets silly at times. It is becoming almost like a reality show with all these celebrities. What about Charlie Sheen? Who thinks Charlie Sheen is silly? Then you have Donald Trump who apparently is going to run for president. How many think that is silly? Some think he is going to win. How many think that is silly? Then there is a big wedding this week. Prince William and Kate. I heard they are spending 30 million dollars just on the security for that wedding. Then local news and local sports guys say the Pirates are going to get above 500 this year. We have a local weatherman saying spring is in the air. How many think that is silly?

This time of year you get pastors like me who really say some silly things. We say that over 2,000 years ago this man named Jesus walked this earth. Did ministry around Palestine and Jerusalem and got himself in trouble with the religious elite so much so that he got crucified on a cross. Not only did he get crucified but he was buried and after three days he was raised from the dead and showed himself to over 500 people and continues to live in us today. How many think that is silly? That is okay. If you think it is silly that is okay because you wouldn’t be the first person to think it is silly. In fact, people have doubted all the way back to that first century, including the disciples. They initially did not believe. You heard the story of the tomb. That is why I had Kristin read the story to begin because you know the story about the empty tomb. What happened about a week later is Jesus decided to show himself to the disciples. You had the disciples that were confused and afraid of being caught by the Jews. They didn’t know what was going on. They just heard that the tomb was empty. They hid out in this room and Jesus shows up and shows them the nail holes in his hands. He shows them the hole in his side and the disciples believed. But there was one guy who had missed the meeting for whatever reason. His name was Thomas. Thomas encountered one of the disciples and he said we have seen the Lord. He said I am not going to believe it until I see it. In fact, I am not going to believe it until I am able to put my fingers into the nail holes. I am going to put my hand into his side. I wanted to read that section really quickly. It comes from John 20:24. It says “Now Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’ A week later his disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’”

The disciples had the advantage that they were able to see Jesus. They were blessed because they were able to see the risen Christ. Jesus seems to imply that it is not the disciples who are blessed but it is the people who have not seen yet continue to believe. John 20:29 says “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Which basically would include every Christian that has lived since that first century, including people here today. They believe even though they have not yet seen. The question of the skeptic would be why. Why believe in such nonsense? If a non-Christian were to approach a Christian and say why do you believe in the resurrection, they might not be able to give an answer. They might say it is in the Bible and it is a faith thing and that is why I believe it. Unfortunately, there are people that would say that is not good enough. That is not good enough for me. I need some real tangible proof to know that Jesus rose from the grave before I put my faith in him. Before I join this thing called Christianity. Unfortunately, you can’t prove it. You can’t prove the resurrection any more than you can prove that Jesus even existed. For that matter, you can’t prove that any of the people from that first century existed. You can’t prove that Pilate existed. You can’t prove that Herod existed. You can’t prove that the secular people during that period existed. Socrates and Plato. We have a good indication because we have records and manuscripts, but we can’t prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. For that matter, we can’t even prove that somebody who lived 50 or more years ago existed. We can’t prove that Elvis existed. Other than I saw a guy who looked like him at Kuhn’s last week and started singing songs in the checkout line. It scared me to death.