The Doubting Thomas??

Two Sundays ago, we celebrated what the world calls “Easter Sunday” or as I like to call it, “Resurrection Day.” It is a certain Sunday set aside each year to commemorate the risen Christ. Many pastors and Bible teachers end the story with the empty tomb. Afterwards, they dismiss us to eat with our families and hunt eggs, but what else happened following that miracle of miracles? Last Sunday, we talked about what is commonly known as the Road to Emmaus and how two disciples unknowingly walked seven miles with Jesus without even recognizing him! It was not until they sat down at supper with him that they figured out it was the Lord. He then vanishes and they take off running back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples about this amazing occurrence. I feel the need to insert a fun fact here. Nearly every time we find the resurrected Jesus in Scripture, there’s food involved.

Today, let’s pick up where we left off. The disciples are locked in the upper room for fear of the Jews -namely the chief priests and others who had a hand in the execution of Jesus. This is the same upper room where Jesus had eaten the Passover meal with his disciples just four days earlier. The disciples naturally assumed their deaths would be imminent since it was no secret that they were his closest friends and followers.

John 20:19-23, “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld’” (English Standard Version).

Now let’s get to the focus of today’s message in verse 24:

24) “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

25) So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into his side, I will never believe.’

26) Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although 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, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’

28) Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

29) Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” (ESV).

        This passage features an exchange between Jesus and one of the disciples named Thomas, also called “the Twin.” Thanks to his fellow disciples fine writing skills, Thomas would have a new alias, “Doubting Thomas.” John felt the need to include this little event while the other gospel writers did not, and it will haunt Thomas up to this day and beyond. But was Thomas really a doubter? Was he really one who tossed his faith to the wind and believed it all to be a farce or a lie? Not hardly. You see, Thomas had an unmatched love for his friend Jesus and the courage of a lion. To see that side of Thomas, we must look deeper into Scripture, because even his buddy, John, shows us the other side of the one known as the Doubter.

        In the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus receives word that one of his best friends is on his deathbed. Jesus often stayed at the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary when he passed through Bethany. Now, Lazarus was gravely ill and Jesus knew he was going to die. When it was time for Jesus to go to Bethany, he said, “Let us go to Judea again” (John 11:7b, ESV). With Jesus’ words, the disciples go crazy. “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” (John 11:8b, ESV). You must understand that Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem, home of the chief priests and Pharisees that wanted to hurt Jesus. The disciples knew that if they got that close to the Holy City, harm would certainly befall their leader. All of them expressed serious concern -except one. In John 11:16 it says, “So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’” (ESV). Do you see it? That’s not the voice of a doubter. That’s the voice of a soldier who is willing to die for his commander. What Thomas is saying is, “If Jesus is going to die in Bethany, I’m going to die right beside him. Load up.”

        In the fourteenth chapter of the same gospel, Jesus is teaching his disciples that he will be leaving soon and would be back to get them later. He was trying to tell them he would be dying soon, rising from the dead and ascending to the Father then someday returning in glory. In verse four, Jesus tells them, “And you know the way to where I am going” (ESV). A stunned Thomas speaks on behalf of the group, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (ESV). Do you hear the desperation in his voice? He wants to follow Jesus. He must follow Jesus. How can they follow him if they don’t know the way? Why doesn’t Jesus just let them tag along? Do not leave me Jesus, I love you! I need you! To me, that does not sound at all like wishy-washy doubting faith. That sounds like a sold-out, committed follower of Jesus.

        So what happened? Obviously, Thomas wasn’t in the upper room locked away like the other disciples when Jesus came. When he got there, the others were elated to tell him that they had seen the Lord, but Thomas was downtrodden, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25b, ESV). Thomas was emotionally devastated. He had lost his best friend. His heart was broken at the death of Jesus. He was going through the motions, denying or depressed that his rabbi was dead. The next verse picks up eight days later the following Monday when the disciples were still locked inside the Upper Room. Suddenly, Jesus appears again and does an encore of “Peace be with you” (John 20:26c, ESV). Then he tells Thomas to put his finger in his nail-scarred hands and place his hand in the hole on his side left by the Roman soldier’s spear. Thomas realizes Jesus is alive! He says to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28b, ESV). Can you see Thomas jumping up and down, running around the room like an excited kid at Christmastime? His friend was alive! Jesus was alive!

        Poor Thomas, a devout follower of Jesus, his reputation wrecked by a few verses written by his pal, John. Or was it? Did John really say that Thomas was a doubter? That was not the case, but centuries of misunderstanding and diatribes by well-meaning yet uneducated preachers, has tarnished Thomas’ good name. In John 20:27, Jesus said to Thomas, “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (ESV). The King James Version puts it this way, “Be not faithless, but believing.” You will not find the word “doubt” anywhere in this passage. Only one of the major translations or versions of Scripture uses “doubt” or “doubting” in this verse. While I enjoy reading that version at times, I strongly believe it uses the wrong English word in this verse. Thomas wasn’t the doubter that James talked about in his epistle where he writes, “But let him ask in faith, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind (James 1:6, ESV). The word “doubt” in James is a totally different word than the word John uses in the original language by the way. Someone else summed it up best: Thomas’ hope was in Jesus and when Jesus died, Thomas’ hope died too. Thomas might have been the pessimist of the group, but his loyalty to Jesus was unmatched.

        What does this mean for us today? Well, let me ask you this, since you have been a believer, have you ever wondered where Jesus was? A loved one died too soon. You were terminated from your job for doing the right thing. Your spouse betrayed you and had an affair. You wonder where Jesus is… When you are at a low point in life questioning the presence of God, good Christian friends will be there telling you, “He is here! We have seen him!” You had hope at one time, but it died. And these well-meaning friends saying “Open your eyes and look around, Jesus is everywhere!” are really getting on your nerves. You need to touch him. You need to feel him for yourself. And then, out of nowhere (whether it’s eight days or eighty years later), Jesus gets down on your level, looks you in the eye, and makes himself known to you all over again. We tend to forget that it does not take much faith to move a mountain -only faith the size of a mustard seed. If you can drum up that much faith, you can move mountains. Honestly, Jesus did not have to come back to that room eight days later for Thomas, but he did because he loved Thomas. Jesus did not have to die on the cross for me, but he so did because he loves me. Each day, Jesus reveals himself to us through his Word, all I must do is open my Bible and read the Jesus story. When my hope starts to die, I do not doubt there is a God. I trust God more. I lean on him, even when I cannot see him. I open his Word and read the life stories of these ordinary, broken men and women who followed Him. They were not super disciples. They did not have something I do not. They had fears. They had frustrations. At times, they were hopeless, but just like me, they had Jesus. At the end of our passage, Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29b, ESV). That includes you and me. Even though I haven’t seen Jesus face-to-face physically, I’ve seen Him at work in my own life and in the lives of other believers that have overcome addiction, adultery, idolatry, hatred, deceit, and yes, even doubt among other sins. There is no sin God cannot forgive. There is no life that God cannot change. In Mark 1:15, Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (ESV). Salvation in Jesus is free, but it isn’t cheap. It cost Jesus His life. If you put your faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you can have new life. The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV). 

NOTE: This blog post is an adapted transcript of my sermon streamed live on Facebook on April 25, 2020. Please check out Hope Church Clinton by CLICKING HERE!

Will we sacrifice our witness to exercise our rights?

If you truly know me, you know that I love liberty and freedom. I am a separatist to the core. I do not preach politics from the pulpit, only the written Word of God. I believe the government has no right to control churches, nor do I believe the church has a right to control governments. I saw the attached comments on a Facebook post earlier and it helped me confirm what I had been feeling throughout the last few days. It may be our constitutional right to do church as we please, but dare we sacrifice our witness to an unchurched world in the process? In 1 Corinthians 6:12, the Apostle Paul said, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything” (ESV). In context, we aren’t exactly sure what Paul was referring to (eating meat sacrificed to idols?), but we get the point. May we dare not use our liberty to cause another to stumble or to become a slave to freedom itself.

Either way, these two persons have lost respect for the Bride of Christ along the way. Church-hurt. Something we as pastors and believers will have to answer for someday. It is paramount we preach Truth, but we must preach Truth and live it out in love. If someone walks out of our church with a “never again” attitude, I pray they will also be able to say that it was the Word of God that offended them and not my self-righteous attitude or opinions. Lord, heal our churches and heal our land. Come, Lord Jesus. Come.

I Want My Paci now!

Breaking a two year old from a pacifier isn't an easy task. Well, it usually isn't. Of course, I've heard of you super parents out there that just "throw it bye bye out the car window" or "give it to the Easter Bunny."  Must be nice!  For those of you who know my children well, you know how important Janna Kay's "paci" is to her. As Bobbi Lee and I sat at our kitchen table sharing a Bible devotion, we grew weary of listening to Janna Kay scream, "WAHHHHH! MOMMY!  DADDY!  WAHHHHH!"  I could tell the intense cries for comfort were breaking mommy's heart, but we had resolved that it was time to ditch the pacifier.  After all, it was for Janna Kay's best interests.
     As we sat there frustrated, a profound theological thought hit me. Sometimes, I am the one crying out for my Father. I cry, whine, and scream for my worldly comfort. It seems like He isn't listening. It's seems as if he doesn't care. Why isn't he running down the hall to take care of me?  Why isn't he meeting my demands?  WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?!  I want my comfort and I want it NOW!  But maybe, just maybe, God is in the other room sitting quietly and listening intently. Sometimes, He creeps down the hallway and peeks in my room to make sure I am safe. He is sitting on go, ready and willing to respond to any danger that may come my way.  At the same time, however, He's looking out for my best interests. He is teaching me. He is letting me learn to survive the storm. He is breaking me from the chains of earthly comfort that hold me back from totally depending and trusting in Him. He is helping me realize that His grace is enough. Eventually, Janna Kay closed her eyes and drifted off the dreamland peacefully, without her pacifier. And, eventually, I realize that God is my comfort and peace and He is all I need.

Facebook Fasting

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines fast (verb) as “to abstain from food; to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods.”  We know from the New Testament that Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-9) and Jesus taught on fasting in his “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 6:16-18).  The early church fasted often such as the case at Antioch when they were preparing to send Barnabas and Paul on a mission trip (Acts 13:1-3).  The churches in Galatia fasted during the task of appointing elders (Acts 14:21-23).  It seems as if today’s church has lost the discipline of fasting.  Perhaps due to nutrition concerns, but probably because we enjoy eating so much!  Recently, I decided to try fasting, but not from food.  I decided that if I really wanted to be serious about replacing something I enjoy doing with serious prayer time, I needed to give up my favorite pastime –Facebook.  On the morning of Wednesday, September 9, 2015, I shut her down –albeit temporarily.  Almost instantaneously, my phone started dinging with texts –“Are you mad me?”  “Did I do something to you?”  “What the heck is going on with your page?”  Then it hit me –I had become a Facebook addict and was enabling people to do the same.  With over 2000 “friends” it’s hard not to be a Facebook junkie.  Each time I would refresh my newsfeed, there was some new drama, gossip, or the latest argument over current events.  I was in tune with the world!  Don’t get me wrong –I tried to be a minority on Facebook by making a valiant effort to keep my posts positive and humorous with a dash of political upheaval just to stir the masses.  It was fun, it was my hobby, and it had become my life.  People were watching my children grow up on Facebook.  They knew my every move.  They knew what we had for supper last night and what happened at work that day.  Wow.  Too weird once you think about it.  As I temporarily deactivated my Facebook account and activated my prayer life with God, I began to notice things.  I had three children who loved to play outside.  When they weren’t playing outside, they were indoors playing board games or watching movies.  My eyes were opened to God’s creation and to who and what Jesus has blessed me.  My prayer life took a crazy turn north and my wife and I found ourselves lying in the floor for hours talking and praying instead of zoning out on our smart phones.  As my journey continued, I noticed how many folks are “souled out” to social media.  I sat in restaurants and observed couples on dates never looking at each other except to show the other a post or text he/she had discovered.  I sat in the mall and watched shoppers run into each other without even an “excuse me” –because their eyes were glued to a five inch screen.  Sure, I wasn’t the first to know everything that happened –but why do we have to be the first to know?  My “fast” purposefully lasted 28 days.  I was humbled by the emails and texts I received telling me how my posts were missed.  I was disciplined by some long-distance family members who missed seeing their nieces and nephew so often.  I even received a personal visit from my father who come through my front door shouting “What’s wrong?! Your Aunt Mary Ann is worried sick!”  I guess people thought I had fallen off the face of the earth and I was getting used to the solitude.  After much prayer and counsel, I reluctantly logged back in, streamlined my profile, and made a resolution to not be on the network as much.  Our home now has boundaries that we log off at night and do not log back in until the next morning.  We don’t bring our phones to the dinner table and we are leaving them out of the bedroom at night.  I encourage you to do the same.  Take a 28 day Facebook fast.  Resolve to spend as much time as you can with the Lord, family, and friends during the 28 days.  Visit someone.  Share a phone call.  Become a prayer warrior.  Read your Bible.  Get involved in ministry.  It will change your life forever.  

Bugs in the Baptistry

The other day, I took a long drive through the country side.  Along my journey, I passed a little country church.  My thoughts began to take me back to the early days of ministry when I was asked to preach revival services there. As a rookie preacher, I remember walking into the auditorium and noting that sometime in the past, it had been expanded to accomodate growth.  The expansion was no longer needed as only around 40 souls would attend nightly, most of whom were life-long members.  As I walked around the stage mentally preparing myself, I glanced toward the baptistery.  It, too, had seen its better days.  A dead spider, a few dead bugs, and dust were all that had been in it in months, if not years.  As the mostly elderly group of saints began to arrive, my heart sank knowing that in the not-so-distant future this special place would close its doors.  Why? Why couldn't God step in and do something?  Why should the church have to compete with malls, movie theaters, and country clubs?  Do people not love Jesus enough to take one measly little hour of their lives and come to worship?  Then I remembered what Jesus had said.  HE had said it in HIS Word... "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  If the gates of hell can't destroy a church, what or who can?  I will tell you who can destroy a church quicker than anyone -God.  The permissive will of God may very well allow a church to close if that body of believers is not carrying out His work.  In Matthew 28, we are told to "Go and make disciples."  We aren't told to hold a revival service in the fall, Homecoming in the spring, or even a Christmas cantata.  We are told to "make discliples."  If a church isn't growing, what good is it to God? You may say, "Well, it fills me up and satisfies my needs."  If you aren't "making disciples," then, obviously, it's not doing anything for you either and you need to attend a Christ-centered church where you will be about His work. 

Back to the little church.... At one time, she was a powerhouse and that addition was full.  She had a great pastor who was willing to do anything and everything to lead members in bringing the people to faith in Jesus Christ.  People came to church because it was exciting.  People came to see what great thing God was going to do today or to hear what He has done in someone's life the past week.  But now, she sits empty.  Children's laughter doesn't interrupt the message,  because young couples no longer attend.   People don't come to see exciting things because nothing exciting is happening in the lives of the remnant.  Sure, they have a good pastor.  He believes and preaches the Word, even though his beliefs are slightly askew of the original context and meaning.  He has a good heart and his plan of salvation is right on.  What's keeping the baptistery dusty and the pews unfilled at this church then? Answer, the people, and no matter what, they aren't budging.  They are stuck in the early 1900s, waiting.  What are they waiting for? They are waiting for more people to come.  They are hoping and sometimes praying that more will come listen to their outdated music and irrelevant messages.  They are wishing someone would accept the invitation, run down the aisle, grab the preacher's hand and confess their sins on the altar while the third verse of "Just As I Am" is sang over and over.  But they never come.  No one comes and says, "I heard y'all had some great hymn singing here!"  No one accepts the invitation and "Just As I Am" is cut short. No one comes.  No one comes because the Bible doesn't say "Stay and I will bring disciples." It says, "Go and (you) make disciples." The church of today must leave the pews and hit the streets.  We must build relationships with ungodly people just like Jesus did.  We must change our services to reflect society.  We must preach relevant messages to the masses, not about rules and regulations but about grace and mercy.  About how Christ died and arose to set us free!  Sure, we lucked out in years' past and people "came" to church, but that was then, this is now.  We have to take Jesus to them.  And if your church isn't a happy and exciting place, they aren't coming back. If we aren't profiting spiritually for God, why shouldn't He shut the doors?  "Go and make disciples." This is not a new concept or cutting-edge ministry tactic, it's gospel, plain and simple.  It's basic evangelism, and It works!

Stop Going To Church...

Stop Going to Church!

WHAT?!  I cant believe a preacher just told me that!  What kind of heretic is he?!  I've been going to church all my life!  Been carryin' this big ol' black leather King James-only Version Bible every Sunday!  I have been going to Sunday school since I was an embryo in my mothers womb and I have the pins to prove it!  I have been sanctified, edified, holified, baptized, immortalized, crucified, dignified, and mortified in this here church house!  My granddaddy was a deacon.  My momma was the church clerk.  My great uncle was the treasurer.  My daddy was the song leader and I have been riding this here pine pew since before you were born!  So don't tell me to stop going to church, mister!
Yep.  That's right.  I said it, but hear me out:  STOP GOING TO CHURCH .START BEING THE CHURCH!  Christians spend too much time going to church and not enough time being the church.   Think about that and let it sink in for a few minutes.  If you are an active church member, how often do you go to church?   Now, I am in NO WAY advocating that you stop attending church.  God expects us to meet with other believers to engage in corporate worship (Hebrews 10:25).  After the resurrection of Christ, the disciples began meeting on the first day of the week; however, a believer should attend church any time his/her church decides to meet.  Allow me to begin by defining the term, church, because I am afraid many people have the wrong idea of what church means as we use the word very loosely.  We go to church (meaning a worship service); we sit in a church (meaning a building); and, we are part of a church family (meaning a local group of Christians).  In the Bible we find the word church with two different meanings.  It can mean all believers in the world united as one or the more common biblical definition: a local body of believers, such as the church at Antioch, the church at Ephesus, the church at Corinth, etc.  Either way, God has given believers a special responsibility that is to be carried out only by the church.    In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (New King James Version).  That's it plain and simple -MAKE DISCIPLES.  Now the challenge:  How can we make disciples if we just go to church?  Let me ask you a question:  When was the last time an unbeliever wandered into one of your worship services, sat down, and became a disciple?  It doesn't happen that way.  The reality today is the same as it was 2000 years ago. Unbelievers don't come to church, therefore we must GO to them.  We must realize that God isn't lost, people are lost.  Stop going to church, and start being the church.  The problem here is that most of us think that because we get out of bed on Sunday morning, get ready, and sit through an hour-long grueling sermon, then God owes us something.  God doesn't owe us anything, because he has given us everything!  We meet with other believers to worship and serve Him.  We attend worship on Sunday morning to get our spiritual tanks full so we can BE the church during the week.  Get involved in Gods work!  Volunteer at the Mission House, help build a Habitat for Humanity house, help a neighbor in need, go visit a lonely widow, offer a listening ear for someone going through a tragedy, teach a Bible study at the jail, or whatever God tells you to do!  BE THE CHURCH!  If you will do these things while sharing Gods love, people will begin to thirst for God and you will have to opportunity share Gods saving grace.  For too long we have sit in our pews whining about declining church attendance and the wickedness of the world.  Stop complaining and start doing.  Get out of your comfort zone and do something for God!  Together, we can change the world one disciple at a time.  STOP GOING TO CHURCH! BE THE CHURCH!

MY WAY!

Isaiah 55:7-8 says, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the LORD, 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (New King James Version).  There are several insights to these verses.  Even though believers are to be conforming to Jesus Christ everyday, we are still sinners.  Since we are sinners, we do not have the mind of God completely (we are a work in progress).  God tells us bluntly that we don't think the same and we don't act the same.  He continues by telling us that His ways are "higher" than ours -that is, they are better.  If that is the case, then why do we trust our own thinking?  SELF-CENTEREDNESS.  Our society has become one that looks out for ME.  "I" obviously is the most important letter of the alphabet.  We want to be in control of our lives and we don't want ANYONE telling us what to do.  Here's the problem if you are a Christian:  you are not independent!  As believers, we are to be dependent on Him and trust His voice.  We are to be in a state of prayer constantly -before any decision, great or small.  WHY?  Because His ways are best.  And I wouldn't have it any other way!