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Morning Message Text: John 20: 19-29
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, 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’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as 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.”
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.”
Morning Message:
Seeing is believing! Most of us trust what we see with our eyes, but there are some exceptions to that. Unfortunately, it is not always that simple for us. Sometimes we only see what we want to see. Yes, to have an experience with Jesus such as Thomas had, that would be hard to deny, but I am ninety-nine point nine present sure none of us are ever going to have that. I left us with point one percent because I always believe that all things are possible with God. There is so much proof in God’s word that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but for many, that is not enough to bring them to salvation. No matter how much evidence that is put before you, and there is substantial evidence, it still takes a trusting faith to bring people to Jesus. Through the years I have learned to read the Psalms more carefully. Today’s Psalm says: “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.” Do you know what I hear in that verse? I have seen what the Lord has done in my life, so I believe, and now I am trusting him by faith; now I have salvation.
I want you to listen and hear from one of those whom Jesus called, “Those who have not seen yet have believed.” Now I have always read that and I thought to myself that Jesus was talking about us, and He is, but He says: Those who have believed. The psalmist is celebrating, saying, “Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous; The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” He says, “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.” As far as we know, this person has never physically seen God, but he believes because of what God has done in his life. He believes, and he trusts, and his trust has turned into faith. Faith is not automatic; it doesn’t just happen. Faith comes from seeing the evidence, believing what we see, and learning to trust God through our experiences.
Listen to verse eighteen, “The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death.” Have you ever been chastened by God? Most people today have no idea what that word means. To chasten someone means: To inflict punishment upon; to humble and improve. Now I want you to listen carefully. This is not something that we are to do. This is a human description of how a loving God worked in their life to bring about eternal change and spiritual improvement. I want you to see it this way. If you belong to God, He will do whatever it takes to make you into what he intends you to be. It sounds like that was something drastic in this person’s life, but the end result was it brought him to a place where he could exclaim, “You have become my salvation.”
If we pay attention to the Psalms and the writings of the Old Testament, we can see Jesus just under the surface. In verse 26 we hear the phrase that the disciples shouted on Palm Sunday. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Who was this? King Jesus. He had not come yet, but the psalmist is looking forward to the day He will come, and Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed.” In verse 27 he says, “The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine on us.” Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”
Jesus had completed his mission; well almost. He completed that which was written about Him and sacrificed himself for the forgiveness of our sins. He became the lamb that was slain in our place. He died so that we might have life, but this sacrifice was to be for all of mankind, those before us and all of us in the future. The only way this ministry would move forward and touch future generations and us was through the work of the Holy Spirit and the true belief of the disciples who had walked with Jesus for three years. So Jesus does two things when he appears to them. He gives them proof when they see Him, and He breathes on them the Holy Spirit so that they can grasp and understand what has taken place. Until that point they were not sure that the ministry of Jesus was real, but by seeing, they believed and through the power of the Holy Spirit they now had a trusting faith that would never be shaken.
When Jesus came back the following week, He did not rebuke Thomas for his questions; He simply answered them. While we may not receive answers from God so quickly, a sincere and loving relationship with Jesus allows His followers to seek Him out with their questions. The example of Thomas should give all of us confidence to know and understand that seeing is believing, but having questions does not mean that we don’t believe. Jesus encourages us to ask and to seek him. We are supposed to knock on the door if we want it to be opened, and to seek if we want to find the answers that He wants to give to us. This is how we build a trusting faith. Jesus is not afraid of our questions. The thing that I perceive would bother Him most is for us not to care enough to ask. And there it is. It all comes back to our willingness to make the effort.
We refer to him as Doubting Thomas, but Thomas went on to serve God. He preached Jesus in India and was killed there by a spear in the back. The church is there today because of this man who asked a question. Doubter? Not really. Believer who asked a question then bore much fruit? Absolutely. Christianity ultimately comes down to something more than theological questions. In the end, it is all about a person, not a proposition. The questions are the beginning of the journey, but the answers come finally in experience—in reaching out to touch, and to be touched ourselves, by those nail-scarred hands. Jesus meets his followers where they are. Seeing is believing. Jesus will show you anything you truly seek to know. After you experience salvation in Jesus you must journey to build a trusting faith. God is not going to drop it on your head. You must want it, and you must make the effort.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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