When Doubt Gives Way to Faith (Thomas)
(The God of New Beginnings)
Text
" 19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." 24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 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." 26 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!" 27 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." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. " (John 20:19-31 NIV)
"11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)
Introduction / Review
Last week, we began our consideration of "The God of New Beginnings" by talking about Mary Magdalene, whose life illustrates what it means for sin to give way to grace. We learned that God gives grace bountifully, personally, repeatedly, and indefinitely.
Today, we are turning our attention to a man named Thomas, a man whose life was so characterized by doubt that he is often called by that title, "Doubting Thomas." The two earlier mentions of this man in Scripture show us someone of a rather melancholy temperament, someone who had a hard time accepting things without processing them extensively on both an emotional and intellectual level.
" "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " (John 14:1-6 NIV)
"11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." 12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."" (John 11:11-16 NIV)
Following the resurrection, Jesus appeared to many of His disciples, including a group that was meeting on the evening of the first day of the week, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews.
He spoke peace to them and showed them His hands and His feet. (S.M. Lockbridge – "The Story in the Scars"), then commissioned them and breathed on them for them to receive the Holy Spirit, giving them power to remit sins in His name.
Overjoyed, they told the news to Thomas, but he refused to believe them. Thomas wanted to see for himself (He had not been present with the others – Greek indicates that the other disciples kept on telling Thomas about their experience, but that he was strongly opposed to belief without his conditions being met). Thomas wanted to choose for himself (He was unwilling to follow the others). Perhaps it was his personal life story as a "twin" that caused him to be so fiercely independent, but one thing is clear, once he had this encounter with Jesus, his life was so changed that he fervently followed the Lord.
"11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." 12 Then they returned to
Thomas may have gone fishing with Peter (John 21:2), but he went on to the Upper Room…!
The story of Thomas shows us that there is hope for those who are in the grip of doubt, and a study of church history reveals that following this personal encounter with Jesus, Thomas became a missionary powerhouse (cf: My first trip to Madras/Chennai, seeing the mountain where Thomas is said to be buried.)
What to do with doubt
1. Seek God fervently.
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)
2. Seek God honestly.
" 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. " (Romans 1:18-32 NIV)
· Honesty about ourselves (cf. Josh McDowell's statement during workshop at Amsterdam
· Honesty about the evidence (Willing to have a truly open mind and follow it wherever it takes you, even if it is contrary to the ambient culture, popular opinion, etc.. Cf. absurdity of atheism; urgency of skepticism/agnosticism if truly honest as expressed by a passionate pursuit of an answer to the "God question," because if God exists, it changes everything…!)
3. Seek God willingly.
· Willing to commit.
· Willing to obey.
· Willing to serve.
· Willing to forgive.
· Willing to give.
· Willing to die.
· Willing to believe…!
Alpine story – a "leap" is always necessary…!
4. Seek God wisely.
God will never answer all our questions! Why?
· Life is too short.
· Our minds are too small.
· Trust is too important. (Gives God glory and moves us into the supernatural…!)
How to minister to doubters
1. Love them.
See them as people, not prizes…!
"23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. " (2 Timothy 2:23-26 NIV)
"4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:4-6 NIV)
2. Listen to them.
Often feel they cannot talk about their doubts for fear of rejection, especially if they already find themselves in a Christian context, i.e., in a Christian family or already active in church life…!
· Without judgment or criticism.
· With great patience (Give God time to work…! Age/approaching death has way of awakening people to their need of God…!)
3. Testify to them.
A man with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument…!
4. Pray for them.
· Grace to repent
· Space to repent (Satan wants to kill them. Your prayers can keep them alive…!)
5. Believe in them.
Testimony of Augustine's mother's prayers…!
At twenty-one, Augustine returned home to Thagaste with his concubine, his toddler and a heretical religion. His heartbroken mother considered him spiritually dead. She refused to share a house with him at first, and wept openly in prayer daily. She implored the local bishop, himself a former Manichaean, to talk sense into her wayward son. The bishop told her the boy would come around eventually through his own reading. Monica persisted with tears. Finally the bishop told her, "Leave me and go in peace. It cannot be that the son of these tears should be lost."
But Augustine would remain lost for the next ten years. After teaching school in his hometown briefly, he went back to
Ambrose's clear exposition of Scripture, his compelling purity of life, and his affirmation of Augustine's potential turned the young man around. Monica arrived in
Augustine abandoned his Manichaeism, but he was not quite ready to embrace the Christian faith. He struggled desperately with his divided will and the pain of his promiscuous past. He wanted to be pure—but not today. And yet he lamented, "How long shall I go on saying 'tomorrow, tomorrow'? Why not now? Why not make an end of my ugly sins now?" (Confessions 8.12).
Driven by guilt and uncertainty, Augustine sought refuge in a garden, where he threw himself "down beneath a fig tree and gave way to the tears." Soon he thought he heard a child singing, "Take it and read, take it and read." Looking up but seeing no children nearby, he took the words as a divine command. He hurried to find his book of Paul's epistles, opened it at random and read: "Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ." He clapped the book shut, fully and finally convinced and converted. At once, "I told my mother, who was overjoyed."
Thirty-three years of prayers and tears had not gone unanswered for a mother who did not give up on her hopes and dreams for a son—a son who, in his college days, had been her worst nightmare.
Extra Notes
It would appear that they were still meeting in the same room where Jesus had appeared eight days earlier…! Seeing as it was the first day of the week, it looks like even the Jewish believers had already begun to meet on the first day of the week in honor of the resurrection instead of the seventh day of the week in observance of the Sabbath.
Jesus knew what Thomas had said without being physically present when Thomas said it. Jesus addressed Thomas directly, mentioning the very conditions Thomas had named…!
Jesus commanded Thomas to stop doubting and believe! (lit. Greek – "stop becoming disbelieving!" Vincent says, "The doubt of Thomas in the face of the witness of the others was not a proof of his superior intelligence. Sceptics usually pose as persons of unusual mentality…Thomas had carried his incredulity too far."[1])
Thomas' words, "My Lord and my God" were not in the exclamative form, but in the form of an address, showing that Thomas now had no hesitation to speak this way…!"
"7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:7-9 NIV)
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
THOMAS, THE APOSTLE One of the 12 apostles whose name appears in all four Gospels. The name is a transliteration of an Aramaic word meaning "twin" and appears in the NT as Thomas. Among Greek Christians, there was a tendency to use his Hellenistic name, Didymus (didumos, "twin"); this name appears three times in John (Jn 11:16; 20:24; 21:2). There is ample evidence from koine papyri that the name Didymus was well known in the NT era.
Thomas appears in each synoptic list of apostles (Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18, Lk 6:15; cf. Acts 1:13) but plays no further role. His celebrated appearance in the fourth Gospel is interesting. Here Thomas expresses the despair of the final approach to
Two apocryphal, pseudepigraphical works bear Thomas's name: the Gospel of Thomas (from Nag Hammadi), which records 114 "secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke" and which Thomas is said to have preserved; and the Acts of Thomas (extant in both Greek and Syriac), which says that Jesus and Thomas were twins (sharing similar appearances and destinies) and that the apostle obtained secret teachings. This apocryphal account even explains Thomas's fate. Against his wishes, Thomas traveled to
See also Apocrypha: Thomas, Acts of, Thomas, Gospel of; Apostle, Apostleship.[2]
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Thomas — twin, one of the twelve (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18, etc.). He was also called Didymus (John 11:16; 20:24), which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name. All we know regarding him is recorded in the fourth Gospel (John 11:15, 16; 14:4, 5; 20:24, 25, 26–29). From the circumstance that in the lists of the apostles he is always mentioned along with Matthew, who was the son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18), and that these two are always followed by James, who was also the son of Alphaeus, it has been supposed that these three, Matthew, Thomas, and James, were brothers. [3]
Harper's Bible Dictionary
Thomas, one of the twelve disciples or apostles of Jesus, called 'Didymus' ('twin') in the Gospel of John (John 11:16; 20:24; 21:2). He appears in each of the apostolic lists (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). Receiving little mention in the synoptic Gospels, Thomas becomes important in the later portions of the Fourth Gospel. He alone appears to be a tower of strength when he encourages the disciples to accompany Jesus into a hostile
Little is known about Thomas's activities after the crucifixion of Jesus. He is recorded as among those gathered in the upper room after the ascension (Acts 1:13). Thereafter, tradition preserves only legendary stories of little apparent historical value. A Gnostic apocryphal gospel known as the Gospel of Thomas is attributed to this Thomas. See also Apostle; Disciple; Gospel of Thomas; Twelve, The. P.L.S. [4]
New Bible Dictionary
THOMAS. One of the twelve apostles. In the lists of the Twelve which are arranged in three groups of four each, Thomas occurs in the second group (Mt. 10:2–4; Mk. 3:16–19; Lk. 6:14–16; Acts 1:13). He is linked with Matthew in Mt. 10:3 and with Philip in Acts 1:13. The name comes from
It is only in the Fourth Gospel that there are any personal references to Thomas. He was prepared to go with Jesus to the tomb of Lazarus and to possible death at the hands of the Jews (Jn. 11:16). He confessed himself unable to understand where Jesus was going when he warned the Twelve of his impending departure (Jn. 14:5). The chief incident for which he has always been remembered, and for which he has been called 'Doubting Thomas', is his disbelief in the resurrection. He missed the appearance of Christ to the other apostles (Jn. 20:24) and said that he needed visual and tactual proof of the resurrection (20:25). A week later Christ appeared again to the Eleven and he offered Thomas the opportunity to test the reality of his body.
Thomas' confession of faith, 'My Lord and my God' (20:28), marks the climax of the Fourth Gospel; blessing is promised to those who can come to faith without the aid of sight. [5]
How to move into the supernatural by doing God's work:
· Pray in the Holy Spirit.
" Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. 3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified….12 So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church. 13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue." (1 Corinthians 14:1-5, 12-19 NIV)
Value of praying in tongues as a doorway into a supernatural life.
Praying in the Holy Spirit in tongues strengthens your faith.
"20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit." (Jude 20 NIV)
· Ask God to give you strengthening, encouraging, and comforting words to speak to others.
Learning to pray in the Holy Spirit in your mother tongue for others is an important step toward moving into the prophetic…!
"3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." (1 Corinthians 14:3 NIV)
· Attempt to meet needs that are beyond your abilities and resources.
"Attempt great things for God; Expect great things from God…!" (William Carey)
The "gifts of the Spirit" are when God's Spirit reaches out to meet a human need through a yielded human being. He is the "Heavenly Helper."
"4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines." (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NIV)
[1]A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol.V c1932, Vol.VI c1933 by Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Jn 20:27.
[2]Walter A. Elwell and Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Tyndale reference library (
[3]M.G. Easton, Easton's Bible Dictionary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996, c1897).
[4]Paul J. Achtemeier, Publishers Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature, Harper's Bible Dictionary, Includes Index., 1st ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985), 1066.
[5]D. R. W. Wood, New Bible Dictionary (InterVarsity Press, 1996, c1982, c1962), 1182.
