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Introduction:
Why don’t we remember Peter as “forsaking Peter”? Why
don’t we refer to James and John as the “sleeping apostles”?
Why don’t we remember Paul as “blaspheming and persecuting
Paul”? Because we recognize there was so much more to the lives
of these men than their moments of weakness and sin. Tragically,
we recognize this for just about all the Bible characters except
for one of the greatest—Thomas. For 2000 years, Thomas has been
remembered as “doubting Thomas.” We have no doubt, that Thomas
did doubt the resurrection of Jesus. However, to define him by
this moment is just not fair. There was more to Thomas than this
event. In our next lesson, we will examine the greatness of
Thomas. However, for this lesson, let’s see what we can learn
from Thomas’ doubts in John
20:24-29. Discussion: I.
At our worst, we are not worse than anyone else. A.
Two weeks before Jesus appeared to Thomas, women who had
gone to the tomb of Jesus reported that they had seen the
resurrected Savior. According to Mark
16:11, the disciples would not believe it. Luke
24:11 says the apostles thought the women were speaking
idle tales or nonsense. In Mark
16:13, two others witnessed Jesus and reported it to the
disciples, but again, they didn’t believe. In Mark
16:14, Jesus finally appeared to the apostles and His
first order of business was to rebuke them for their lack of
faith. The fact is, instead of remembering Thomas as doubting
Thomas, we should remember all the apostles as doubters. None of
them believed until they saw with their own eyes. B.
Interestingly, the same thing which convinced Thomas was
what convinced the rest of the apostles. According to John
20:20, it was only after they saw Jesus hands and His side
that they rejoiced. Thomas did not pick those criteria because of
his great doubts. He was basing his statements on what he had been
told by the others. They were able to see His hands and His side.
Thomas wanted to see it as well. C.
The upshot of this was that Thomas, even at his worst, was
no worse than the other apostles. I think there is a lesson in
here for us. Often, we build up images of how pure and righteous
everyone else always is and have always been. Having intimate
knowledge of our own sins, we compare ourselves to others and then
begin wallowing in misery, wondering how God could ever forgive
sinners like us. But as with Thomas, even at our worst, we are no
different from everyone else. Look around you at all these people.
What you see are sinners. Every one of us has sinned and fallen
short of God’s glory according to Romans
3:23. John, speaking of the apostles, said in I
John 1:8, if one of them claimed to be without sin they
would be lying. D.
Even if you can’t wrap your mind around the fact that
even at your worst you are no worse than everyone else, at least
grasp this. Even while doing your worst, Jesus died for you (Romans
5:8, 10). We all deserve hell, but God sent Jesus to die
for us no matter how bad we have been (I
John 2:1-2). You are right when you tell yourself you
don’t deserve mercy. But that is the point. If you deserved it,
it wouldn’t be mercy. Jesus died so that even though you don’t
deserve it, you could receive forgiveness. Even at your worst, you
have not been so bad that Jesus didn’t die for you. Every single
one of us are in that same situation. II.
Everyone has times of weakness. A.
Consider this extension of our first point. Even if we
accept that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, some of
us still paint some kind of rosy picture of everyone else. We
struggle but everyone else wakes up every morning smiling and
ready to attack Satan and false doctrine, overcome temptation and
sin, and spread the gospel. Nobody else every experiences times of
weakness where they just don’t want to get up and serve the
Lord. No one else ever goes through times when they think it is
just too much work to try to overcome sin another day. Nobody else
ever has times of doubts. We wish we could be more like everyone
else. We wish we could be this amazing image of strength and
constant devotion to God. But we know ourselves to well for that. B.
Then when we hit these down times, we think we are somehow
second class Christians; if we view ourselves as Christians at
all. Sometimes, when we hit the weak moments, we believe we might
as well throw in the towel and quit. Have you ever been there? I
have. How easy it is to view everyone else as super saints. How
easy it is to come in here on Sundays and see everyone looking
their best and acting their best and think we are the only ones
who struggle. C.
When you are in that moment of spiritual despair, remember John
20. That is exactly where Thomas was…weak. He was so
weak he had thrown in the towel. Even when the other apostles were
telling him there was no reason to quit, he didn’t buy it. The
fact is, all the apostles were there. Despite the great things
they would later do in the kingdom, they all had times of
weakness. They had all abandoned Christ in fear and refused to
believe the reports of His resurrection. When Jesus did reveal
Himself to them, they could have responded merely with shame,
depression and abandonment, but they didn’t. Instead, they
turned to Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God.” We must do
that as well. Those moments of weakness are the moments when more
than ever we need to turn closer to Jesus. D.
Frankly, this is one of the reasons I think we need to
confess to each other more as James
5:16 says. The rigorous honesty is what will allow more of
us to open up and allow us to actually face our sins and overcome.
When we recognize we are all in the same boat and start trusting
each other with our most shameful secrets, then we can overcome
that shame and really start making some spiritual growth headway.
One of Satan’s greatest tools against us as individual
Christians and against churches is letting us all believe we are
the only ones that ever face weakness. This cuts us off from each
other and causes us to keep from seeking the help we so
desperately need. III.
We must walk by faith and not by sight. A.
After Thomas finally witnessed Jesus and then made his
confession, Jesus reproved him for his lack of faith (John
20:29). However, that statement is not so much a rebuke of
Thomas as it is informative of our own situation. While Thomas
believed because he saw, we must believe without sight. In fact,
after the ascension, the only other person to have sight was Paul.
Yet he claimed he was one born out of due season; he was an
exception (I
Corinthians 15:8). Yet, today, some make it a rule that we
should see Jesus. How many people think they should get a sign?
How many people tell us about their visions of Jesus? Yet, Jesus
said we are blessed when we have believed without seeing Him. B.
As II
Corinthians 5:7 says, we walk by faith and not by sight.
But this means so much more than we believe in Jesus even though
we have never seen Him. This means we follow Jesus’ path even
though we have not seen its outcome. We may even have our doubts
that Jesus’ way is better. We may think He is asking too much.
We may think His way will cause us more trouble. However, because
we walk by faith and not sight, we do not have to wait until we
see that Jesus’ way will work. We simply pursue His path no
matter what He asks of us. I think of teaching like Matthew
5:23-26, in which Jesus says when we know someone is upset
with us that we go to them to reconcile. I have a tendency to say,
“Don’t rock the boat. If they aren’t coming to me, why
should I go them? Just let sleeping dogs lie.” Jesus says go to
them. If I am walking by faith and not by sight, I will simply go
make the amends and the reconciliation. Or what about the
teachings of Matthew
5:38-42. I know I normally try to figure out what the
exact requirements of these passages are because I don’t really
like the path they outline for me. However, when I walk by faith,
I trust Jesus that He knows where this leads and it is better for
me than I can possibly imagine. IV.
We all respond somehow to Jesus’ resurrection. A.
In Thomas, we see two possible responses to the
resurrection. We can disbelieve, as Thomas and all the apostles
did at first. Or we can fall on our knees before Christ and submit
to Him, saying, “My Lord and my God” (John
20:28). B.
According to I
Corinthians 15:13-19, the resurrection is the central
point of the Gospel. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then
we who hope in His resurrection walk and talk in vain, and, of all
people, we are most to be pitied. However, if it did happen, then
the unbeliever is the one who is to be pitied. Therefore, we must
deal with the resurrection. We do not get to simply overlook it. C.
The fact is, whether modern man wants to admit it or not,
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central
point of history. Though men today are trying to rid history of
the effects of Jesus’ life, they will never succeed. Even if
they remove His name from all the history books… Even if they
change all the time lines to speak of the Common Era instead of
the years of our Lord… Even if they finally wipe out any memory
of the man Jesus, they cannot wipe out that Christ. The second
most important day of all history will sneak up on man like a
thief in the night and every man will stand before Christ in
judgment for how we dealt with His death and resurrection. But by
then, it will be too late to cry out, “My Lord and my God.” D.
Consider Thomas’ final response, “My Lord and my
God.” Have seen the resurrected Savior, Thomas knew who Jesus
was. He was God in the flesh. He was no ordinary man. But, when he
made this confession, he was saying more about himself than Jesus.
He was expressing loyalty. He declared not only that Jesus is Lord
and God, but that Jesus was his Lord and his God. We
too must respond to Christ’s resurrection in this way, making
Him our Lord and God, allowing Him to rule our lives (Luke
6:46). If our faith does not produce action in serving
Christ and making Him our Lord, we might as well be atheists (James
2:14-26). E.
Every minute we delay our response, “My Lord and my
God,” we are responding by saying, “I do not believe.” Do
not procrastinate. The Day of Judgment is coming, in which it will
be too late to submit. Every minute, of every day, every one of us
is responding to the resurrection of Christ. How are you
responding right now? Conclusion: How will you respond to the resurrection of Jesus? Will you disbelieve? Will you claim faith but never live by faith? Or will you submit to Christ as your Lord and your God. Do you remember submitting Thomas? Do you remember professing Thomas? Do you remember confessing Thomas? You need to follow his example. Confess your faith in Christ and make Him your Lord and God by submitting to Him in baptism (Mark 16:16). Don’t delay any longer.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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