Why Do You Doubt?*

Why Do You Doubt?*
Sycamore Creek Church
Tom Arthur
Easter 2015

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Or did he?  Maybe we’re just deluding ourselves.  Some people don’t wrestle with doubts.  They say: “The Bible says it.  I believe it.  That settles it.”  But some of us, myself included, are more naturally skeptical.  We think, “What if this isn’t true?  What if we’re being brainwashed?  What if we’re making ourselves feel better?  What if we’re being told a lie?”

The church is not always a friendly place for people who have doubt.  Church people can be mean to other church people.  If you have doubts, you may not be one of us.  If you have doubts, you may not be saved.  If you have doubts, you may not have faith.

But what I want you to know today is that if you don’t lean into some honest doubts, you may never have faith.  Is doubt the end of real faith?  I don’t think so.  Doubt can be the beginning of real faith!

Today I want to look at the story of Doubting Thomas.  Poor guy.  That’s how we know him.  “Doubting Thomas.”  Not “Faithful Thomas” or “Believing Thomas” but “Doubting Thomas.”  But what I want to show you today is that who Thomas becomes is evidence that even the biggest doubters can become the biggest followers of Jesus.  Let’s begin the story a little after Jesus raises from the dead.  He meets some of his followers on the road but surprisingly they don’t recognize him.  Eventually they “break bread” with Jesus and recognize him.  Then he disappears.  They get together with the other disciples and here’s what happens:

And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
~Luke 24:36-37 NLT

They all saw him dead.  But now he’s alive!  I’d be freaked out too.  I’ve buried a lot of people, and if one of them showed back up, I’d pee in my pants!

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?
~Luke 24:38 NLT

Jesus is probably thinking, “Didn’t I tell you this was going to happen?  Did you forget?”  And guess who wasn’t there…Doubting Thomas.

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin/Didymus), was not with the others when Jesus came.
~John 20:24 NLT

Thomas missed church.  You miss a lot when you miss church.  He missed the presence of Jesus, the power of Jesus, the proof of Jesus, the “Peace be still” of Jesus.  If you haven’t been here since Christmas, you missed a lot.  A lot.

But [Thomas] replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
~John 20:25 NLT

Thomas sometimes gets a bad rap here.  He’s chastised for not having faith.  But I see something much more positive at work here.  I think Thomas is saying, “I don’t want second-hand faith…I want first-hand faith.”  So many people just kind of believe because their parents/grandparents/other people believe.  One day, something happens, and it shakes us, “Do I really believe?”  If the claims of his resurrection are true, it demands a response.  Thomas says, “If it’s true, it changes everything.”  For many, the doubt is the beginning of faith.  Thomas and many of us are saying, “I need a little more…”  Jesus doesn’t blush.

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked;
~John 20:26 NLT

That’s pretty cocky, isn’t it?  Jesus walks into a locked room. David Copperfield move there.  I don’t really get it, but it’s no crazier than being raised from the dead in the first place!

Suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
~John 20:26-27 NLT

Jesus cares about the one who wants to believe, and talks only to Thomas.  Nobody else.  He says, “Stop doubting and believe.” Jesus didn’t put Thomas in a time out: “You sit in the corner.  You can’t be my follower.”  Jesus gives Thomas what he needs.  Today Jesus is going to give some of you what you need to believe too.

I resonate deeply with Thomas and not just because we share the same name.  I grew up in the church.  I grew up believing what my church and my parents told me.  I was very active in our church’s youth group.  I chose to go to a Christian liberal arts college.  When I got there, I began to have some pretty significant doubts.  I began to ask some pretty hard questions.  I was looking for complete certainty but I wasn’t finding any.  During that time the Smashing Pumpkins covered a Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks song called Landslide.  They lyrics of that song felt like they expressed where I was at with doubt and faith:

“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you.”

The landslide of my doubts left me without any faith.  I left Christianity for a period of time and life became very dark.  What I noticed when I went to the side of unbelief was that I didn’t gain any certainty.  I was still as uncertain as before.  The big difference was that when I believed, I had some sense of meaning and purpose and hope in life.  But when I didn’t believe, I had no hope, no ultimate meaning, no ultimate purpose.  And so in the midst of that dark place, I made an intellectual decision to believe in spite of uncertainty.  What I learned was that faith is not the absence of doubt or uncertainty but faith is the decision to believe in spite of doubt or uncertainty.  And I found that my life did begin again to have purpose, meaning, and hope.  Jesus was faithful to provide all three.  I had ended up back where Thomas ended at the end of the day:

“My Lord, and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
~John 20:28 NLT

MY.  We’re talking about a first degree faith here.  A first hand faith.  Believing Jesus, not just belief in Jesus.  This is what is going to happen to some of you today.  You’re going to receive from Jesus whatever it is that you need to have that kind of faith in spite of uncertainties and doubt.  It happened to all of Jesus’ first followers:

Peter’s Story
Peter was one of Jesus’ closest followers.  He was in the inner circle.  But when Jesus was arrested Peter denied Jesus three times.  But after the resurrection, Peter becomes “the rock.”  He preaches to thousands and thousands put their faith in Jesus.  He is ultimately persecuted for his faith and tradition tells us that he was crucified.  But he refused to share the same crucifixion that Jesus had, so he was crucified upside down.  From runaway doubter to crucifixion upside down.  Jesus gave Peter what he needed to believe.

James’ Story
James was Jesus’ brother.  What would your brother have to do to convince you he was the son of God?!  James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.  Tradition tells us that ultimately he was pushed off the temple, but miraculously he doesn’t die.  While lying on the ground he prays that his persecutors be forgiven.  Then James is clubbed to death.  From Jesus’ brother to martyred church leader.  Jesus gave James what he needed to believe.

Paul’s Story
Paul hated Christians.  He was one of the religious leaders of his day and he was given legal permit to hunt down and kill Christians.  They blasphemed against God claiming that Jesus was God’s son.  But on his way to Damascus one day to catch and kill some Christians he meets the resurrected Jesus who blinds him.  Eventually he regains his sight and becomes the first missionary of the church of the entire Mediterranean region.  He would eventually say, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”  The persecutor became the persecuted and he was beaten and imprisoned.  Tradition tells us that he was beheaded.  From Christian bounty hunter to Christian missionary, Jesus gave Paul what he needed to believe.

Thomas’ Story
Then there’s “Doubting Thomas.”  Thomas got what he needed.  He saw Jesus.  He traveled to India to tell those who lived there about Jesus.  His message was met with resistance and he was met in a cave and speared him through.  “Doubting Thomas” believed enough to die for Jesus.  Do you believe enough to live for him?

Sometimes my faith is talking so loud, I can’t hear what my doubt is saying.  When I bring my doubts to God, God gives me faith to believe in spite of my doubts.

Recently I’ve had the chance to hear about how Jesus has given someone else what she needed to have faith and believe.  Noelle currently works in our nursery.  She started attending SCC about a year ago.  About a month ago she emailed me to tell me that she had just had an amazing experience with God and had chosen to believe.  I asked her if she’d be willing to meet to tell me more about her life and story.  Here’s what I heard.

Noelle grew up being abused in every way possible for about seven years of her childhood.  At the time she was attending church regularly with her grandma.  While there she would pray for God to make it stop but nothing changed.  The abuse continued.  She felt like God had abandoned her so she abandoned God.  The abuse made her very skeptical of men, but she still didn’t want to be alone. Over her teen years she made many unwise choices that led to lifestyle habits that she isn’t proud of.  About a year ago she met Thomas online and began dating.  Thomas had grown up at SCC but was no longer regularly attending.

One thing led to another and within a couple of weeks they were pregnant.  The pregnancy was somewhat miraculous.  They were using three different forms of birth control!  One of those forms of birth control should have caused the child to be miscarried.

A month into dating Thomas, it was time to meet his parents for the second time and tell them they were going to be grandparents.  Noelle knew that Dotty was very active at SCC.  She expected judgment, cruelty, and shaming.  What she received instead took her by surprise.  She was shown kindness, gentleness, compassion, and love.

Dotty began to invite her to church and she came somewhat reluctantly expecting more judgment, cruelty, and shaming.  But at SCC Noelle was again surprised to find kindness, gentleness, compassion, and acceptance.  She liked a church where you could ask questions and the pastor shared his own doubts and uncertainties.  She felt safe.

Noelle began to open up to Dotty about her past abuse and decided to marry Thomas while being very pregnant.  Dotty invited her to watch several “corny” Christian movies (“same actors with basically the same plot”), but one, Courageous, really touched her.  It was about four dads who made a commitment to protect their children and raise them in faith in God.  After that movie she did something she had never done: listened to God.  While listening she heard God saying: “I am here.  You are not alone.”  Noelle began to see how God had protected her and was with her through her past.

The pain has not gone totally away, but Noelle has begun to make some changes. She finds herself being more open in her relationships.  She has begun to feel that God is calling her to help others who have suffered from abuse.  As a nursery worker, she attended an abuse prevention training program for the United Methodist Church and is actively looking to help make our children’s ministry an even safer place for children.  Noelle still has questions, uncertainties, doubts, struggles, and some pain.  But she’s also experiencing some health and healing.  She knows God is with her, and she has a renewed sense of purpose in her life, in spite of the doubts and uncertainties.

Friends, doubt is not the end of real faith, it is the beginning.  Maybe right now you’re feeling that tug of God’s presence, God’s love saying, “Come home child.  Believe.  I have never let you go.  I am here.  You are mine.  I am yours.  Rest in my arms.  Trust.  Surrender.”  If that’s where you’re at, here’s a prayer:

Prayer
God, I have honest doubts.  Thank you for meeting me in the midst of those doubts.  In spite of my doubts and uncertainties, help me to believe in and follow your Son, Jesus.  I trust you.  I give myself to you.  Help me see how you never leave me alone.  Amen.

If you prayed that prayer for the first time today, or if you prayed it anew, would you let someone know?  Drop me an email (tomarthur@sycamorecreekchurch.org) or tell a trusted friend who is also a follower of Jesus.  Then would you consider taking the series challenge.  You’re here today, but when you miss church you miss a lot.  Take the challenge to come each week of this series: The Counselor.  You’ve met Jesus when he asked “Why do you doubt?”  How will you meet Jesus when he asks you more questions?  Come and see.
*This sermon is based on a sermon first preached by Craig Groeschel