TEXT: John 20:19-31 TITLE: “Would You
Believe…?”
OPEN:
“Would you believe?”
It was one of the funnier skits that Don Adams developed for
his sitcom “Get Smart”
What made it funny was=the hero spoke with confidence @ something
he knew wasn’t true
He didn’t really believe what he was
saying
It’s
was all… a “Bluff”
ILLUS: In 2007 the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
conducted a survey that discovered
Amongst Roman Catholics, Mainline Protestants, and Orthodox Christians
1 in 4 of those church members had doubts about the existence of God.
Among Jews the ratio was 6 out
of 10 doubted God’s existence.
These are people
who “belong” to a religious group.
They go to church, or the synagogue
They
support the ministry financially and in other ways.
But they have… doubts
It’s almost
as if their church was saying “would you believe”…
… and they would reply… “I
have a hard time accepting that.”
Would you believe?
Well, not everyone does
And
sometimes = Not even those who go to church.
But, of course, that almost seems illogical
For someone who is “religious”
– who goes to church – to have trouble believing God exists?
The Apostle John would be amazed at that.
Throughout his Gospel, John had an almost excessive emphasis on faith
.
For example: John uses the Greek word “pisteuo”
– which means “to believe” –
… nearly twice as much as the other
3 gospels combined.
And the Gospel of
John is the only book of the Bible where we’re told…
* For God so loved the world that
he gave his only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. … Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned
already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16 &18
It’s the only
Gospel that tells us that Jesus said:
* Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:38
* “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” 11:25
And…
“… if you do not believe that I AM you will indeed die in your sins."
8:24
When John asked “Would you believe?” – He wasn’t bluffing
…he wasn’t writing about something he didn’t believe…
He’d
been with Jesus/ watched Him die/ seen Him raised from the grave
He was declaring to us = faith in the risen Savior is what
makes us who we are.
You cannot be a Christian if you DO NOT believe that God not only exists…
… but that He sent His only begotten
Son to die for your sins.
If you don’t believe that – you will die in your sins
That’s
what Jesus said.
Faith is essential
if you’re going to really be a Christian…
And John believed that so intensely, that he
hammered home throughout his book.
But then, John tells us the story of Thomas
Thomas was one of the Apostles.
Thomas had walked
with Jesus too.
He’d listened to Jesus’ teachings
When Jesus said
He was going to Jerusalem and it’s obvious that people there want to kill Him
“… Thomas...’said
to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him.’”
John 11:16
And when Jesus tells His disciples that “In my
Father’s house there are many rooms”… and I’m going to prepare a place for you.
And
Jesus concluded by saying “You know the
way to the place where I am going." John 14:4
At that point –
it’s Thomas that pipes up and says:
"Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we
know the way?" John 14:5
And Jesus responds:
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
In Thomas we have
the picture of the average Christian
He
loves Jesus
He
walks with Jesus
He’s
willing to suffer and even die for Jesus
But he has some questions/ he has some doubts.
Now, questions and doubts
aren’t NECESSARILY bad things.
One scholar once noted that an “unexamined
life” isn’t worth living.
If our faith is blind faith…
… where we NEVER examine what we believe and why we believe it…
…
it has a tendency to be weak
ILLUS: One of the preachers I study with noted that in Bible College it would
irritate him when the other students would get in a discussion about a given topic.
“my preacher says” or “my folks said”.
And
my friend would then challenge them:
“I
don’t know your folks, or your preacher. I want to know what YOU think.”
But his fellow students often didn’t
know what they thought…
…they only knew what someone else
believed
Theirs was an inherited faith.
Theirs
was a faith based on someone else’s theology… not on real personal belief.
That’s ok in so far as it goes –
AND it’s not uncommon.
The younger we are in our faith, the more it is a faith based on the faith of others…
But
if we don’t grow into having a personal faith…
… a faith that is OURS – not someone
elses
… it can end up being unreliable.
ILLUS: Another preacher talked about 3 of the
youth in his church.
They’d all read the book “The DaVinci Code” and their faith
was shaken.
Now, it’s a terrible book… an evil book
Because it causes people to doubt their faith on accusations that have …
… long
ago been proven to be lies and falsehood.
But because these teens didn’t really
know WHY they believed what they believed
… they were easy prey for a heretical
book like that…
…and one of the kids left the church and walked away
from Christ.
He
walked away because his faith wasn’t really a personal faith
False teachers and cult leaders COUNT on deceiving Christians
who don’t know their faith…
… and who don’t
know WHY they believe what they believe.
All
of us need to come to a point in our faith when it’s OUR faith
We all need to come to the point where it isn’t
all based on someone else’s belief…
… to a point where we’re excited
about what WE believe
ILLUS: In journalism,
they have stories they call “Hey Martha” stories
Do you know what those are?
It’s an article in a magazine or a newspaper
that’s so powerful…
… that you can imagine a guy looking up from what he’s read
and saying
“Hey
Martha – look at this!”
“Hey Martha – you’ve got to read this!”
“Hey
Martha – would you believe….?”
Our goal as Christians
is to get the point where we have a “Hey Martha” kind of faith
It’s the point
where we get so consumed by who God is and what He means to us…
… that we can hardly contain ourselves.
Because our faith is now
OURS… not somebody else’s.
Now,
I need to clarify something here.
My faith IS BUILT upon the witness of others…
My faith is
built upon the words of Scripture…
… and upon the teachings of great preachers and teachers…
… and upon the faith of my parents
…and the faith of people I respect.
Paul tells us that
our relationship with God is “…built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Ephesians 2:20
Our faith is built
upon the experiences and testimony of other people.
That’s where we get our information to
build our personal faith on.
Thomas wanted to skip over that.
Thomas was being unreasonable.
Thomas
has been confronted by the unwavering testimony of the other 10 apostles.
Peter,
James, John, Bartholomew, Matthew, Andrew…
… they all told the same story…
…they’re all excited and convinced of what they’ve seen
And they ALL declare:
Would you believe? “We have seen the Lord”
(John 20:25)
But
Thomas completely rejects their words
(pause…)
Most us of remember
the first words of Thomas’ response to their testimony:
"Unless I see the nail marks
in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side…
Do you remember what his last 5 words were?
“I will NOT believe it.” John 20:25
Whoa!
I WILL NOT BELIEVE
IT???
Not,
“I have my doubts,”
Not, “I’m having trouble accepting it”
Not,
“You’ve got to be kidding me”
No --- I WILL NOT believe it.
That’s
a dangerous way to deal with God
I
mean, doubt is one thing…
… But telling God what you’ll accept as proof is another thing entirely.
Telling Him to come and settle things on your terms = not a good idea.
And so Jesus chides Thomas for his attitude
John 20:27 tells
us Jesus said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it
into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
I
mean, his rigid refusal/ so adamant/ so unbending in his words.
And then I realized – Thomas is probably a pretty angry
man.
He’d
followed Christ for 3 years of his life
He
adored Jesus so much that he was willing to go to Jerusalem and die with Him
And then…Jesus is betrayed by Judas
ridiculed
and rejected by the crowds
beaten
and whipped by the Roman soldiers
and finally put to death in one of the cruelest ways known to man
And neither he nor his friends could do a thing to stop it.
I suspect
that may have been the reason he wasn’t
there when Jesus showed up the 1st time
I don’t think he’d been out running an errand,
or visiting a sick relative
I think he was avoiding his friends
He was angry and bitter and wanted to be away from them to sulk
CLOSE: Jesus told Thomas "Because you have seen
me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.". John 20:29
If you’re
not a Christian this morning… what does God need to do to convince you?
Have you come to God with an unreasonable demand?
Are you asking
for proof that you’re pretty sure He wouldn’t give anyway?
Or are you hoping that He’ll come to you in a quiet
moment and make Himself real to you?
What
would it take for you to believe?
Would you believe?
As Jesus said in Mark: “Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:16
