THOMAS: FROM DOUBT TO HOPE

Sermon Summary (4/28/19) “Thomas: From Doubt to Hope” (John 20:19-31)

We’re in the midst of a sermon series, “Belief and Hope.” The two main reasons people leave the church are a loss in belief in God and in confronting evil such that they have lost hope.  The resurrection is the source of our belief and of our hope.

Last week we said that to restore our belief and to renew our hope, we should make the resurrection part of our resume: Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and “Because I live, you shall live also.”  Second, to take Jesus to heart: internalize his stories, make them real for your life today.  What if our morning prayer was to ask how we could proactively live out the Golden Rule today?  And third, make faith define our meaning and purpose.  That is what we will talk of today.

Here’s where we’re going: If we will make our goals centered around our faith, we will live a joyful life.  If our goal is a joyful life, we will probably miss the joy and the life.  CS Lewis said, “Aim at heaven and you’ll get the earth thrown in; aim at earth and you’ll get neither.”

(This past week we had a tragedy in San Diego when a 19 year old professed Christian walked into a Synagogue and shot worshipers.  How could he be so misguided?  He had been told in his church that the Jews killed Jesus and he made theology the center of his faith, his goal, rather than Jesus.  Can you imagine Jesus in a thousand eternities acting like that?  Jesus is the center of our faith.  Our goal, the center of our belief system matters.)

In John’s story, Jesus appears to the disciples in the Upper Room at evening on Easter.  To give Thomas a break, it wasn’t until Jesus showed the other disciples his hands and his side that they believed in him!  Then they rejoiced.  Resurrection became the thing that gave them meaning and purpose from that point on.  They believed!

Thomas reasonable doubted.  There is honest doubt and dishonest doubt.  When we honestly doubt, we are open to new information, new facts.  Examination of our doubts can lead to even greater understanding.  When Thomas saw Jesus’ hands and side, he proclaimed, “My Lord and my God.”  Not just “My Lord” but “My Lord and my God.”  This is the greatest statement of the Christ’s divinity in the Bible!

John concludes the story with “These stories have been told so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in so believing, you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

The goal is not just believing, but “life,” “eternal life.”  Heaven.  “Aim at heaven and you’ll get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you’ll get neither.”  So may the goal of all of us be life!  Amen.