Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, good morning, Christ Church. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Welcome to our online service. If you are watching for the first time, my name is Chad, I'm the campus pastor here and I'd love the chance to meet you. So make sure to visit us in person at our Durkee Road location. But if you've been watching for these last couple weeks and you know, today we are wrapping up our sermon series called Strengthen our faith. We've been looking at a different gospel each week and looking about how Jesus teaches about faith, how Jesus points out great faith, or how Jesus helps people who are struggling in their faith. And we believe that if our faith grows, if our faith gets stronger, then everything changes in our life. And today we're going to look at a story in John's gospel where Jesus helps someone to overcome doubt and to experience faith in him. We're going to talk about what we can learn from that and what we can take from that. But before we do, let's ask God's blessing on our time together. Father, would you just strengthen our faith? Father, I pray for anyone in particular that just in a season of doubt that Lord, as we see your kindness towards us in doubt, your willingness to meet us and help us in our doubt and your ability to overcome our doubt, I pray it would encourage, it would renew and it would give new life to us into our faith today. And Father, I pray that if there are people in our life that are doubting, that are struggling, that we could really listen and respond to them well in the same way that we see you respond to Thomas. So help us with this. All I ask in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:01:54] Well, I don't know if you have ever experienced the blessing of believing in something early, kind of before it became something big and you were on at the beginning. Like how many of us wish we had a time machine and we could go back and we could like buy stock in Google day one or we could buy stock in some other company that in the early days people weren't sure how it was going to turn out but now we know it became a huge thing. See, there's a blessing to believing in something before you see all the results and all the return on it materialize. Like maybe some of us, we went and we saw this property and to everyone else they saw this dilapidated, beat up house. But when we looked at it, we saw what wasn't seen. We saw its potential. We saw with, hey, fixing this here and painting this here and doing this here, this would become an amazing place for our family. And because we saw and believed what other people couldn't see, we were able to get a great deal or we were able to turn something around. Maybe for some of us, we saw a need that we thought people had it, and we built a whole business out of it. And we believed in that before anyone else could see it. See, I think in life we can connect to this idea that sometimes when you're able to believe in something before it materializes, there can be a great blessing because you capitalize on that opportunity. You get something from it. You're there at the beginning, you have more room to learn and grow. And today, when we see the story of Jesus, Jesus tells us that faith works like that. That faith is about believing not in what is seen always, but what is unseen.
[00:03:57] And if we're open and willing to understand and experience faith that way, there is a great blessing in it. And today I want to read you this story from John's Gospel. It's John, chapter 20, and it starts at verse 24. And here's how the story goes. It says this. Now, Thomas, one of the 12 called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Now, this story takes place after Jesus has been resurrected.
[00:04:27] So Thomas being one of the 12 disciples, he saw that Jesus was arrested, that he's crucified, that he was killed, that he's put in a tomb. And then all of a sudden, the other 11 disciples, or 10 disciples, I'm sorry, at this point, they lost one Judas.
[00:04:44] Jesus appeared to them, the resurrected Christ. But Thomas just didn't happen to be there. And so the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. We've seen Jesus. He's resurrected. But Thomas said to them, unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.
[00:05:15] And Thomas says what maybe a lot of us could kind of sympathize with. He hears that Jesus is resurrected. And probably, like many of us, would have reacted in that day, we're like, what?
[00:05:27] He's resurrected? That doesn't happen. People don't come back from the dead. And Thomas says, look, unless I literally see the wounds from the nails and the wound from the spear in his side and I touch it with my finger, that's what it's going to take for me to. To believe what you guys are saying.
[00:05:48] Now, this is why history knows Thomas as Doubting Thomas. Unfortunately, he gets that nickname and it sticks. And we'll see. He doesn't remain doubting Thomas, but this is why he gets it, because he's very skeptical of this. He's like, I won't believe until I see it and touch it for myself. Well, eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas now was with them. They were all together, although 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 and see my hands. Put out your hand and place it in my side.
[00:06:30] Do not disbelieve, but believe.
[00:06:34] Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God.
[00:06:39] Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me?
[00:06:43] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.
[00:06:50] Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.
[00:07:09] Now, I love this story for so many reasons. But we see that Jesus is interacting with Thomas and Thomas is struggling to believe.
[00:07:20] Because as we're in this series on strengthening our faith, the reason we're in this series is because our faith can struggle at times.
[00:07:29] And here we see this picture of one who's right in the midst of the struggle. We see how Jesus responds to it and what Jesus does for him in this struggle. But let's talk about the struggle first. Let's talk about doubt first.
[00:07:45] Now, today, as we're talking about this idea of doubt, I just want to recommend a resource that might be helpful for some of us today. It's a book called A Doubter's Guide to Jesus by John Dixon. And today, if you're watching this and you're really trying to discern and determine what you believe about Jesus, maybe you have a lot of questions about his life, his death, his resurrection. Maybe you have a lot of questions about the history around that or the history of the Gospels. Like, I'm reading out of the Gospel of John, it's part of the New Testament. You're like, how did that all come to be? How do I know if it's reliable? And you have questions around that. I really recommend this book. It's a great read. It's a helpful read, and it can help to process some of those doubts and those questions that might be in our minds as we're trying to understand who Jesus is. And maybe some of us, maybe you don't have those outs, but, you know, someone who does in your life, again, might be a helpful resource. So, anyway, I want to throw that out there. But now let's talk more about Thomas's doubt. Why? Why did he doubt? Well, some people speculate that maybe his personality was a little bit more wired this way.
[00:09:02] Now, again, I think this is speculation, but I also think it's kind of fun to think about it for a second because we only see two other times in the Gospel of John where Thomas speaks. And here's what those two times look like. Number one is in John 11, 6, and Jesus is telling his disciples that his friend Lazarus has died.
[00:09:25] And so he's died, and Jesus is going to go to him and to go to Bethany, where he's at. And he kind of says it at first in a metaphorical way, and then he just says it plain. And after he says that Lazarus has died and that that's why he wants to go to Bethany, Thomas said this. He. He said, let us also go, that we may die with him.
[00:09:53] And I just find this a hilarious line because kind of, you know, in every group, there's always the pessimist.
[00:10:01] There's always the one that has to just bring the energy and the mood down. And again, and we only have two instances of Thomas. So just speculating, maybe these were just low moments here. Maybe his personality really wasn't this way.
[00:10:17] But here he is seeming to maybe have, you know, this negative view on life. He says, lazarus is dying. Thomas, like, let's just all go die together.
[00:10:27] Everyone's like, thank you, Eeyore. Thank you for just really breaking this down. Here's the second instance is John 14.
[00:10:38] Jesus is about to go to the Last Supper right before he's going to be arrested and betrayed. And he's giving these powerful speeches about him leaving them and what this all means. And he says that, you know, Jesus says to them, you know the way where I'm going?
[00:10:58] And then Thomas says to him, lord, we do not know where you are going.
[00:11:04] How can we know the way?
[00:11:06] I just think again, this is such a funny instance because Jesus says, look, you guys know where I'm going. And then Thomas says, lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? And I just think it's really interesting that he's going to. Right there, correct. Jesus say, no, actually, Jesus, what you're saying isn't accurate. We don't know the way. Like, listen, buddy, haven't you seen enough? You know, you're on your third year with Jesus that you don't correct him. He knows what's up. He's understanding people's thoughts before they articulate them. Like, really, you're going to stand and correct him right here? So anyway, so all that is just a little fun to say, hey, maybe, maybe his personality was prone to it. But here's the other thing that we see in this text is that Thomas wasn't with the others when Jesus appeared. And I think this maybe is a good indication and a good reminder that when we are in isolation, doubt can so easily grow in our hearts and minds.
[00:12:17] See, one of the ways that faith is naturally strengthened in our life is being around people who have the same heart for God that we do.
[00:12:30] And just being around healthy biblical community is inherently strengthening to our faith.
[00:12:40] Just this week we got all of our staff together here at Christchurch from every campus, West Campus, Columbia Station, Old Brooklyn, and we do this every so often. And we got together to plan and to pray and to learn and to grow together.
[00:12:55] And I left the time that we had together and I was.
[00:13:00] I just felt so encouraged and I was actually just trying to, like, think about that for a second. I was like, what was so encouraging to me?
[00:13:09] Because we talked about good stuff, we thought about good stuff, but it wasn't actually the content that was so encouraging to me. It was just being around people that are about the same things that I'm about, that are trying to serve God, to know him, to love him, to love his people, to serve his church. And they're just trying to do it the best that they can with all their heart. And just being around them automatically made my faith stronger.
[00:13:41] And I want to tell you, some of us, maybe what. What our issue in, in the season could be is that we are isolated.
[00:13:50] Solitude is a good thing. Solitude is when we create space in our busy life and we slow down and we quiet down and we hear from God. We all need that. But isolation is when we sort of cut ourselves out from community and we pull back, we withdraw, and that doesn't strengthen our faith. That actually becomes a place where doubt can really begin to creep in and to gain traction. Because just think about this. Don't you realize in your life, and don't I realize in my life that sometimes if I just stay stuck in my own head, I will lose my mind?
[00:14:35] Anyone else like that? Like, there comes a point where it's just so healthy for us to get out and to get out of our own thoughts and to get out of our own head and to be around people who are solid in their faith. It strengthens our faith. In fact, this. This is something we See proven true in all kinds of different statistics. There's a great book called the Great de Churching. And this summer I got to listen to one of the authors, Michael Graham, and he talked about why people deconvert from the Christian faith, why people de church.
[00:15:15] And a lot of times we think that it's, you know, these big intellectual questions or it's these, you know, really difficult church experiences and faith experience and things like that. But one of the biggest things is that people get isolated, they move to another town, and they kind of lose track of connecting to a church, connecting to a vibrant Christian community, or something happens in life and they lose it. And then over time, that isolation drains their faith.
[00:15:51] And so one of the really cool things that he talked about was that if you're a follower of Jesus and you have friends that move to another city or another state, help them and encourage them to really find a church and go out of your way to get a list to them and to follow up with them and check on them if they're checking it out, because that's how important it is to the strength of our faith. I thought that was really cool. And so today, maybe for some of us, what our faith needs is to be around others, to get connected in the season at church, to join a group, to serve, to come and worship. It really matters. And so Thomas was isolated. But Thomas also had a clear criteria for what it would take for him to believe.
[00:16:44] And his criteria is pretty simple. He says, all right, I need to see Jesus. I need to see his wounds, and I need to physically touch them. That was his criteria of belief. And today, if you are thinking about becoming a Christian or you're kind of wrestling through it, or maybe you're questioning your faith, I want you to just ask yourself this question. What would it take for you to believe in Jesus or to believe again in Jesus?
[00:17:19] What is your criteria of faith?
[00:17:23] What do you need to know? What has to happen? Because although we kind of harp on Thomas and we call him Doubting Thomas, I do appreciate that he had a clear criterion for which he said, my faith will can be built on. I need to see and I need to touch Jesus. And I wonder, in your life and my life, what. What would it take for us to believe or to believe again in Jesus?
[00:17:53] Because here's what we see.
[00:17:55] Jesus responds to this request.
[00:18:01] And I love that Jesus does not cast him out.
[00:18:07] He doesn't say, thomas, you've been with me. I've taught you what was happening. I told you ahead of time what was going to happen. I've been preparing you for what was going to happen. And now this moment happens, My death and resurrection, and you're doubting and just throw him to the side. Jesus doesn't do that.
[00:18:27] He meets him, he appears to him. And I think it's so cool that John tells us that the doors were locked and the disciples were huddled all in this place. And it kind of gives you this sense of, like, barriers that are being put up and how easily Jesus just passes through them into Thomas's life, into this moment that's going to change him forever.
[00:18:55] And this just reminds me that today I just want you to know, whatever our barriers are to faith, maybe today you're like, Chad, I feel there's some real barriers in my life to believing in Jesus. I feel there are some real barriers in my life to trusting in Jesus. I just want you to know, whatever those are, they are nothing compared to Jesus's ability to enter our lives. And that's why I'm so hopeful for you today. And that's why I'm so hopeful for your faith. And if you have people in your life that you are worried about, you're worried about that faith. I understand that.
[00:19:33] And that concern is healthy. But make sure that you recognize the one who you trust in his ability to overcome any barrier, to enter into somebody's life. He passes through the doors. He appears right before Thomas, and he fulfills the demands that he asks for.
[00:19:59] I never get tired of hearing about how Jesus enters into people's lives and changes them from the inside out. Just this week, I heard the story of a guy, a really cool guy named Nick Baer. Some of you, that name might ring a bell. But he's this big fitness guy. He's built kind of a fitness empire of supplements and workouts and things like this. He was a former Army Ranger.
[00:20:25] He's incredibly fit. He's this unbelievable athlete. He's this great, successful businessman. He's got a beautiful family, he's popular, he's rich. All those things, all those boxes of what anyone could ever want or ask for, he's got.
[00:20:45] And he told this story about his life. He said, look, I had it all.
[00:20:49] And he said, and yet I was still empty.
[00:20:54] And he said, I read all the self, all the success books, all the I did that. I lived that. I had more success than I ever thought possible.
[00:21:04] I was at the top, he said, but I was empty until I experienced and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.
[00:21:13] And he said, when that happened, all of a sudden that emptiness that I could never figure out was now. Now it was filled with new life.
[00:21:26] And I thought that was so awesome.
[00:21:30] My friend, one good friend, he used to call that a hitting rock top.
[00:21:35] We know that sometimes people hit rock bottom and you go to the Lord because you're like, I'm desperate. I got nothing. And you just, you throw yourself, Lord. And that, man, that's an awesome way to come to God.
[00:21:47] But then sometimes people have everything, but it's rock Top. It's still empty.
[00:21:53] And they realize, I have everything, but yet I have nothing.
[00:21:57] And then they experience Jesus and they're like, now I have everything.
[00:22:04] And Nick Bare hit rock top. Christ entered into his life like he entered into Thomas's life, and he fulfilled what only Christ can fulfill.
[00:22:15] And for some of us today, may we have everything.
[00:22:19] We've got a great job, we got a great family. We're like Nick Bare. We're not doing bad things in the world, we're doing good things in the world.
[00:22:26] We're taking care of our body. We got it all. But yet there's a hollowness in our hearts.
[00:22:34] Here's what we need. We need Christ to enter into our lives.
[00:22:41] Because until we have him, or really until he has us, there will always be the deepest things in our heart missing.
[00:22:55] And Thomas enters into Christ and then he fulfills his. He says, thomas, touch my wounds. You asked for it. Go ahead and do it. And I wonder today if maybe, and the kindness of God. This is an invitation for each of us.
[00:23:13] What would it take you to believe?
[00:23:16] If you can articulate that like Thomas did, here's what it would take.
[00:23:21] I need to feel those wounds.
[00:23:24] Whatever it is for you, if you would articulate it.
[00:23:29] I think John is giving us an invitation to say, lord, could you show yourself to me?
[00:23:34] Could you show me the reality of your resurrection and your love and your goodness? That's what happens with Thomas.
[00:23:45] And I think that's shown to us because maybe the Lord will do that for some of us who are watching here today.
[00:23:52] And Thomas responds to this with a completely clear and surrendered expression of faith. He says, my Lord and my God.
[00:24:05] The guy who was doubting is now confessing he is my Lord. Which means he's saying, jesus, my life is yours.
[00:24:15] I surrender it to you, and you are my God. You are the invisible God made visible.
[00:24:22] You are the Almighty incarnated in human form. You are my Lord and you are my God. I am surrendered and I am aware.
[00:24:33] I know who you are, and you have authority over me. It is an awesome confession of faith.
[00:24:42] And Thomas, his faith holds.
[00:24:46] We don't hear from Thomas again in John's Gospel, but we do hear about Thomas in history and church. History tells us that Thomas would end up going to India preaching the gospel of Jesus, and not only would he go to India and would he risk and would do all that, but he would end up dying for his belief in Jesus.
[00:25:13] That this doubting Thomas, that's maybe who he is in this moment, but that is not who Jesus made him to be. Ultimately, he ultimately became a missionary and a martyr and a true apostle of Jesus Christ, because that's what Christ can do in every one of our hearts. You may be doubting today, but maybe tomorrow you are going to become a pillar of the faith that God is going to use powerfully because Christ can do that in each of our lives.
[00:25:52] Now, this story is here not for Thomas's sake only, but for our sake.
[00:26:00] John says, I wrote this so that you would believe and you would have faith in Christ and you would have new life.
[00:26:11] Jesus himself says that there is a blessing believing without seeing. And today that blessing is offered to us today. If you believe in Christ and yet you've never seen him the way that Thomas has seen him, you have a blessed faith.
[00:26:32] It is a faith that God honors and it is a faith that is blessed. It will be a blessing to you to hold that type of faith today. We have that opportunity. We have that opportunity to live with a blessed faith, to believe now and say, man, I believe. I don't need to see yet. I believe that is a blessing and that is an honor to Christ. We also, I would say in the season, have an opportunity to believe in God's work in our church in a special way. As we're in this season of setup, takedown in our temporary location, as we're in the season of getting ready to begin building a new building. And we're in the season of sacrifice. We're in the season of effort. We're in the season where we're believing God for an amazing future before we can see it. I want you to know there's a blessing in this season.
[00:27:36] This is a season where faith matters the most, where us as a church, where we have to keep putting one step forward because we're saying, lord, we believe in where you're leading us. We believe it will be worth it. We believe you will be glorified if we trust you through this and church, I'm telling you, there's a blessing in this.
[00:27:58] I just a couple weeks Ago, I was talking to a man from our Columbia Station campus, and he was asking me about where we're at at West. And I told him, we're in Willow Prep, we're doing setup, takedown, we're doing all this stuff. And he's like, man, that is so awesome.
[00:28:14] He's like, I was never at Christ Church until it already was this awesome church and this beautiful facility in Columbia Station and all this. He said, but I've heard all the stories about you guys praying on the land before you bought, before it was a building, you guys setting up and taking down in the high school. He's like, and. And I'm so thankful that. That so many people in this church did that so I can now be here and reap the benefit of your faith.
[00:28:52] And he was just telling me about that. I was like, man, thank you for saying that. And I just want you to know, West Campus, you are creating a blessing for people in the future. In the same way, other people are going to look back on your faith and they're going to thank you for it. They're going to say thank you for believing before you could see it, for believing when it was tough, when it required sacrifice and work. Because now I'm living in the blessing of it. And so here's what I'm saying to you, church, we're in a blessed season, and we got to see it that way. We're in a season of great blessing, and our faith matters so much.
[00:29:33] And now for some of us, today, maybe today is a day where we need to renew our faith in Christ.
[00:29:43] Maybe some of us today, we need to trust in his wisdom, even though we can't see how it makes sense right now.
[00:29:51] We need to trust in the wisdom of His Word and the wisdom of his teaching, even if it doesn't make sense to us. We can't see it, but we need to trust in it. Maybe some of us, we need to trust in his goodness. We're like, my circumstances look really bad. I can't see his goodness. It's unseen to you right now, but you need to trust in it. Maybe some of us, we need to trust in his leadership. You know, we're like, lord, I really would like some explanations about why you're leading my life this way and not that way. And yet we can't see those explanations. We can't hear them or understand Him.
[00:30:27] We need to just trust in his goodness.
[00:30:30] Maybe we need to trust in his love and his presence when it seems unseen in our life.
[00:30:36] We need to Trust in his forgiveness when his mercy seems unseen Church, he is worthy of being trusted.
[00:30:48] In this season, this moment is our opportunity to experience the blessing of a faith that is built not on what is seen, but what is unseen.
[00:31:01] Today, maybe there's some of us watching today. You've never committed your life to Jesus Christ.
[00:31:07] And maybe today is the day where you declare in your heart what Thomas declared my God and my Lord.
[00:31:17] And today you need to make Jesus your Lord by committing your life to him. You need to recognize that he is your God that came, that died for you, that rose again, and that he is worthy of your faith.
[00:31:35] And today, if you want to make that commitment to him, if you want to declare that in your heart, let me just lead you in a prayer. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I just pray for my brothers and sisters, any of us who who we need to just renew our commitments of faith to you. Would you help us? Would you bless us?
[00:31:56] Would you move the doubt out of our lives and fortify faith in it?
[00:32:04] I pray, Father, for anyone who's listening today who wants to commit their life to you for the first time.
[00:32:11] Would you appear in our hearts, in our minds and our spirits. And would we declare my Lord and my God.
[00:32:21] Lord, we acknowledge that you are Lord.
[00:32:24] We confess with our lips. We acknowledge that you died and rose again. That you are the invisible God made visible, that you are the Way, the truth and the life.
[00:32:36] And we put our trust in you.
[00:32:39] Father, would you now fill us with your new life that we might serve you and love you and obey you? Strengthen our faith, Lord, Create new faith in us. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
