How to Struggle with Doubt: Have you wondered, does God really exist? Can we really trust what the Bible says? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Every believer, at certain times in life, will struggle with doubts. But Jesus didn’t punish or shame his followers for their questions or doubts. The story of Jesus and Thomas reveals how we might deal with our doubts. Recorded on Apr 7, 2024, on John 20:24-31 by Pastor David Parks.
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Finding Life in Jesus’ Name is a sermon series on the gospel according to John in the Bible. Have you ever felt unsatisfied with your life? Or, even when things were going well, something was still missing? Many people sense there must be something more. But what?? John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, believed that Jesus came into the world so that we may have life and have it to the full. Jesus turned John’s life upside down, and John claims this new life — marked by God’s power, presence, and purpose — is available for all who believe.
Sermon Transcript
Since last July, we’ve been working through The Gospel According to John in a series called Finding Life in Jesus’ Name, and after today, we only have two weeks left! As sort of an epilogue to John, we’ll go through the book of Ephesians next because John was all about finding life in Jesus’ name, as we’ll see today. The book of Ephesians is all about what this life in Christ looks like. But today, one week after celebrating the greatest event in human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we’ll consider how to struggle with doubt. When I was growing up in the church, I don’t think anyone taught me this explicitly, but I had the impression that doubts were sort of inappropriate to admit. We walk by faith and not sight, right? So, isn’t doubt the evidence of a lack of faith? But does faith mean we’ll never have any doubts? Have you wondered, does God really exist? Or, can we really trust what the Bible says? Or, what about the miracles; are we really supposed to believe that God parted the Red Sea or that Jesus walked on the water or calmed the storm? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? If you’ve ever had questions like these, you’re in good company. Every believer, at certain times in their life, will struggle to believe. And you might think that seeing a miracle such as Jesus rising from the dead would cast out every question/doubt. But it doesn’t. Even in the face of the overwhelming evidence of who Jesus was, the first followers had questions and doubts; they still struggled to believe at times. But, as we’ll see today, Jesus didn’t punish them for their questions; he didn’t shame them for their doubt. In the story of Jesus and Thomas, we see that Jesus loved and served Thomas, even in his doubts, and it led to a much stronger faith. If you have a Bible/app, please take it and open it to John 20:24. We’ll read through this and unpack it as we go.
John 20:24–25 (NIV), “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.” Ok, let’s pause here. So, last week, we saw that the first witness to the resurrection was Mary Magdalene, who recognized Jesus when he called her by name. “Mary.” Jesus sent Mary to tell his other disciples, including Peter and John and the others. After she told them she had seen the Lord, later that same day, Jesus appeared among them, and they saw for themselves he was alive. We know that Judas wasn’t among them because he had killed himself after betraying Jesus. But from this passage, John tells us that another one of the Twelve was missing when Jesus appeared. Can you imagine that? I picture Thomas coming back from the grocery store, like, “Wait, who did I miss?!?” Thomas essentially says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” “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.” Now, is this the kind of faith-filled response you’d expect from one of the mighty Apostles of Jesus Christ? If John were making up the story of the resurrection, perhaps to start a new religion, this is exactly the kind of thing you’d leave out! This would be embarrassing, right? That one of the hand-picked Apostles of Jesus, someone who was supposed to be an eyewitness to the person and work of Jesus and a leader of the early Christian church, doubted the resurrection! The only explanation that makes sense to me is that the reason John includes this story is because it actually happened. Faith was sometimes a struggle, even for the Apostles. But what do we know about Thomas? John says here that Thomas was also known as Didymus. Thomas was Aramaic and Didymus was Greek for twin. So Thomas was probably a twin. Of course, from this story, Thomas gets the unfortunate nickname of Doubting Thomas. But back in chapter 11 of John’s gospel, the authorities had made it clear that they wanted to kill Jesus. So, when Jesus got word that his friend, Lazarus, was sick and dying, and Jesus made it clear that he wanted to go to Lazarus, even though Lazarus lived in Bethany, which was only a few miles from Jerusalem, the other disciples questioned Jesus about the wisdom of potentially delivering himself into the hands of his enemies, it was Thomas who spoke up and said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Now, that doesn’t sound like a disciple weakened by doubts. That doesn’t sound like Doubting Thomas. It sounds like a faithful/courageous man who was ready, if it came to it, to die with Jesus. But maybe for Thomas, death made a lot more sense to him than this report of a resurrection. Let’s face it, it probably would for many of us, as well. But let’s see what happened. How would Jesus respond to one of his friends and followers who needed to see to believe?
John 20:26-29 (NIV), “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.” Let’s pause once more. So Jesus responds to Thomas, but (did you notice?) he takes a week to do it. Jesus would appear to Thomas, but he did so in his own time. He let Thomas wrestle with his doubts for a time. So one week after that first Easter Sunday, when the disciples were gathered together, and Thomas was with them (he probably didn’t leave the room after missing it the first time), Jesus appeared among them again. For the third time in chapter 20, we see that Jesus’ presence brought a blessing of peace. Then, immediately, Jesus encouraged Thomas to touch his hands and his side. Though he wasn’t physically present, Jesus had heard Thomas. Isn’t that amazing? He knew exactly what Thomas said. But also notice that Jesus doesn’t punish/shame him for his apparent lack of faith. He moves closer to Thomas, even in his doubts, and provides evidence for his faith. He answers his questions and calls him to believe. Thomas responded with one of the highest confessions in the NT as to the identity of Christ, saying, “My Lord and my God!” Now, this is remarkable because Jewish people were monotheistic, meaning they did not believe there were many gods but only one true and living God — the creator, the maker of the heavens and the earth. And they believed that this one God had entered into a covenant relationship with their ancestors and had commanded them to worship only him and him alone. All other gods or goddesses were simply man-made idols. For Thomas, and eventually, all the other early Christians, to claim that Jesus was God was a huge claim. These faithful Jewish men and women were claiming that the one true and living God had actually become a human being in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And this God — not merely a good teacher or prophet, but the Author of life — had suffered and died on a Roman executioner’s cross. But as wild as this claim is, if Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead, then it validated everything about him. If someone rises from the dead, I think you have to listen to them, right? Well, as we’ve seen throughout John’s gospel, before the resurrection, Jesus had constantly been saying things that only God could say and doing things that only God could do. This is what the seven signs and the seven “I AM” statements were all about. Now, this is not what the people of Israel had expected. No one expected a dying Messiah who was both fully God and fully man. However, after the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and after searching the Hebrew Bible together, the early church realized that this was indeed what God had promised all along. Back to our story, when Thomas gives this high confession of faith, Jesus responds with a blessing. “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now, who is Jesus talking about here? He’s actually talking about us! Back in chapter 17, in the high priestly prayer during the Last Supper, Jesus prayed not only for his disciples then, but also for everyone who would believe in him because of their message, that is, the gospel. Jesus prayed that we would be one just as God is one so that the world would know that the Father had sent the Son. But for us today, even though we would love to have the physical presence of Jesus appear among us, Jesus has ascended back into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. These appearances recorded by John and the other authors of the gospels in the NT lasted for 40 days after the resurrection. We know that Jesus appeared to up to five hundred people during this time and that these eyewitnesses were alive during that first generation of the church. But for us today, on this side of the ascension of Jesus, we must rely on the message of the Apostles, which is what we’re reading here today, to get to know who Jesus is and what he has accomplished for us. This might seem like a disadvantage, but Jesus says there’s a special blessing for us. “…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Later, the Apostle Peter wrote to men and women who had become Christians through his preaching, “Though you have not seen him [Jesus], 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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1Pe 1:8-9). Let’s finish our passage for today.
John 20:30–31 (NIV), “30 Jesus performed many other 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 Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” This is God’s word. Now, if this sounds like the ending of John’s gospel, you might wonder why there’s another chapter after this. I don’t believe chapter 21 was added later by some unknown editor. Just as the prologue at the beginning of John’s gospel gives a theological introduction to his account of the life and ministry of Jesus, so in the same way, chapter 21 serves as the epilogue. If you remember our original analogy for John, we said that John was like a curator who designed an art gallery with different wings that all reveal a piece of who Jesus is or what he would do. The prologue is like the map in the lobby of the gallery. As if John is saying, “here’s where we’re going.” Chapter 21 is something like the gift shop at the end. At any rate, before we get to the gift shop next week, here, at the end of chapter 20, we get a purpose statement as to why John wrote his gospel. And this is helpful because some books of the Bible take a lot more work to understand their main purpose/message. John tells us that he wrote these things for this reason: he wanted to help people find the life (real/eternal) that is only found by faith in the name of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, believed that Jesus came into the world so that we may have life and have it to the full. Jesus had turned John’s life upside down in the best way possible. And John claims this new life — marked by God’s power, presence, and purpose — is available for all who believe. This was the great motivation for his life and ministry. This is why we have his gospel today.
But what do we do with this teaching? How might we apply this to our lives today? Well, I think it’s no accident that when John tells us that his purpose for writing is faith, he also deals with doubt. This is so helpful. Because in order to come to faith, you must deal with your questions/doubts. Even after you come to faith in Jesus, every believer, at certain times in their life, will struggle to believe. Besides Thomas, I think of another one of the first followers of Jesus: John the Baptist. It was John who first identified Jesus as the Messiah. John had a flourishing ministry, but he was ok with his disciples leaving him to follow Jesus because his ministry was ultimately only to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. It was John who said that Jesus needed to increase and he needed to decrease. John was a faithful and courageous man. He wasn’t afraid to speak out against the corruption of the rich and powerful people of his day. However, when he spoke out against Herod, one of the governors, he was arrested and would eventually be put to death. But while he was in prison, John sent several of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Now, does that sound like a faith-filled question? John seems to have gone from “Behold! The Lamb of God!” to “Are you really the one?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Mt 11:4-5). Jesus encouraged John to consider the evidence. Have I been saying things that only God could say? Have I been doing things that only God can do? If so, then even if you don’t understand everything, even if you remain in prison, and even if you die at the hands of injustice, you can still believe in me; you can still trust me. So, in both cases, with John the Baptist and Thomas, how did Jesus treat those who had doubts? He didn’t punish/shame them. He kindly moved toward them, and he patiently answered their questions, pointing to the evidence of his words and works. The call of Jesus to repent and believe in the good news of his kingdom is a gentle call. So, what does this mean for us today? Well, first, if you have questions, if you have doubts, you’re in good company. The first followers had questions and doubts; they still struggled to believe at times. It’s normal. It’s truly ok. Think about it: if all this is real, the gospel will hold up under your questions. Second, would you be honest about your questions and doubts? It’s not as if God doesn’t know about them already. He’s heard your doubts just as he heard Thomas. Bring your doubts to Jesus. Ask him to reveal himself to you. Ask him for wisdom to understand his word. Ask other believers how they’ve dealt with their doubts. Ask, seek, and knock. This is all part of the journey of faith. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt 7:7). Finally, if this is how Jesus treats those who have doubt, how should we treat those who have doubt? Maybe a friend or your spouse or child mentions they’re having difficulty believing a certain aspect of Christianity. What should we do? We should respond as Jesus would respond. By praying for them. By sharing the reasons for the hope that we have. By pointing them to the evidence of the eyewitnesses and the logic of the gospel. And by loving and serving them, even in their doubt. Lord, we do believe. Help us in our unbelief. Let us pray.
