April 20, 2025 • 23 mins
In this Easter message, Associate Pastor Benjamin Kandt reflects on the story of Thomas, the disciple who famously doubted the resurrection. Rather than condemning his skepticism, Jesus met Thomas exactly where he was—inviting him to touch his wounds and believe. This moment reveals a God who enters locked rooms of fear and doubt, offering grace, not shame.
The resurrection isn’t just a historical event; it’s an invitation into new life for those who question, suffer, and long for restoration. Jesus’ scars become a healing response to our deepest wounds, showing that faith isn’t blind—it’s grounded in love, community, and truth. The gospel calls us not to behave better, but to believe deeper. Jesus meets us in our doubt and leads us into joy.
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Episode Transcript
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Nadia (00:00):
Today's scripture reading is going to be from John 20.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve,called the So the other
(00:28):
disciples told him, We have seenthe Lord.
But he said to them, Unless Isee in his hands the mark of the
nails and place my finger intothe mark of the nails and place
my hand into his side, I willnever believe.
Eight days later, his discipleswere inside again, and Thomas
was with them.
Although the doors were locked,Jesus came and stood among them
(00:50):
and said, Peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, Putyour finger here.
And see my hands, and put outyour hand, and place it in my
side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe.
Thomas answered him, My Lordand my God.
Jesus said to him, Have youbelieved because you have seen
(01:11):
me?
Blessed are those who have notseen and yet have believed.
This is God's word.
May we be seated.
Ben (01:40):
Well, happy Easter.
My name is Ben.
I'm a pastor here with NewCity.
And in 2022, my wife and I tooka baby- moon to Sedona,
Arizona.
We actually got the 'Rona inSedona, Arizona, but that's
another story for another day.
And while we were there, eachday we hiked.
We went on these differenthikes, and there was one
(02:00):
particular hike that had thiskind of side quest to this
marked place called the SubwayCave.
But in order to find it, youhad to be willing to go off
trail.
And so we used our AllTrailsapp, and it had these strange
instructions like, look for thelarge rock, and then three trees
later, turn left.
And so I confidently led usuntil we were completely lost.
(02:23):
So we had to backtrack.
and go to the place where weknew, we recognized where we
were.
And when we got there, we hadto chart our course again and
try another time.
But this time, somebody camealong who had been to the subway
cave before.
They met us where we were andthey said, hey, come follow me.
I'll take you to where you'retrying to go.
(02:44):
And so we followed this personto the Subway Cave and it was
worth the wandering.
It was amazing.
In that moment, what we neededis we needed somebody to meet us
where we were and to lead us towhere we were trying to go.
And this morning, as we look atJohn 20 on Easter Sunday, this
resurrection story, I just wantto look at one simple, vital,
(03:06):
life-changing truth, which isJesus meets us where we are and
leads us to where He is.
Jesus meets us where we are andHe leads us to where He is.
So if you have a Bible or adevice...
Or a worship guide.
The scripture text is printedhere on the back.
I invite you to go ahead andget it in front of you as we
(03:27):
look at John chapter 21together.
Look with me at verse 24 rightat the top.
It says this.
Now Thomas, one of the twelvecalled the twin, was not with
them when Jesus came.
This is the ultimate you shouldhave been there moment.
In this moment, the risenJesus, alive from the dead, came
(03:49):
to hang and Thomas was booked.
He had something else going on.
He wasn't there.
Like, can you contemplate thecosmic level of FOMO that Thomas
is experiencing in this momentright now?
And it gets worse.
Look at verse 25.
So the other disciples toldhim, we have seen the Lord.
You see, in this moment, Jesuswas executed by the Roman
(04:12):
government, and now your friendsare telling you that they've
seen him alive from the dead?
Like, some of you feel likeThomas.
Enter into that state wherehe's at.
Some of you are here thismorning because a friend invited
you to come, and they weresketchy about it.
They're like, let's go grabbrunch and stop by church on the
way or something like that, andyou're just trying to figure
out what's going on right now.
(04:32):
Welcome.
We're so glad you're here.
But you feel a little bit likeThomas, right?
Your friends talk about Jesuslike he's this bright living
reality and you feel like maybeyou've missed it.
You don't experience it thesame way that they do.
Well, look how this text goeson in verse 25.
But Thomas said to them, unlessI see in his hands the mark of
(04:54):
the nails and place my fingerinto the mark of the nails and
place my hand into his side, Iwill never believe.
Thomas is that kid in class whoasks the question that
everybody else is wondering butdoesn't want to look dumb by
asking.
That's Thomas.
He's the master of the awkwardquestion.
And by so doing, he createsspace for real people with real
(05:18):
sincere doubts.
So thankful for Thomas in thescriptures.
In fact, in the gospelaccounts, which are these
biographies, these portraits ofJesus, all four accounts of
Jesus' life, they end withpeople doubting the
resurrection.
In Matthew chapter 28, it says,when they saw Jesus, they
worshiped him, but some doubted.
(05:39):
In Luke, I'm sorry, in Mark 16,it says, they had not believed
those who saw him after he hadrisen.
In Luke 24, it says, the storysounded like nonsense, so they
didn't believe it.
You see, if you were going towrite a Holy book, like the
Bible, Would you record thatsome of Jesus' earliest
followers, people who had beenthere with him for three years
(06:01):
and his closest friends, wouldyou record that they doubted
that he rose from the dead?
Like if this was propaganda,would you put that in there?
Probably not.
In fact, this is one of theevidences for the authenticity
of the Gospel accounts thatthey're real eyewitness
testimonies because they'rehonest the authors are honest
(06:22):
about their doubts their fearstheir confusion their failures
but we moderns we think we'remature you know we look at this
and we think the ancientapostles must have been naive
after all we have modern sciencewhich couldn't exist without
the apostles writings but that'sanother sermon and And we kind
of come at this thinking thatthey don't really know what
they're talking about, but theseeyewitnesses were thoughtful,
(06:44):
even skeptical.
They were not naive or stupid.
You see, they had realstandards for a world-changing
belief like somebody coming backfrom the dead.
They didn't just assume this insome superstitious worldview.
Thomas has a pretty high barfor belief.
Look at it again.
He says this, unless...
I see in his hands the mark ofthe nails, and place my finger
(07:07):
into the mark of the nails, andplace my hand into his side.
I will never believe.
This morning, what is yourunless?
What is it for you?
What is it that would be yourbar for belief?
How high is it set?
Do you know where it's set?
Thomas would not have beensatisfied with a stunt double,
(07:29):
or a ghost, No, Thomas wantedempirical proof that his friend
Jesus, who is murdered by theRoman government, was visibly
and palpably and tangibly backfrom the dead.
Nothing less than that wouldsuffice for him.
That's what he says in verse25.
He says, I will never believe.
Now, our beliefs are kind oflike the pipes in our house.
(07:51):
We don't really examine themuntil they're broken, until
they're not working for us.
You see, doubt emerges when,when the superficialities of our
faith confront the realities ofour world.
That's where doubt grows.
And so Thomas is in this momentexperiencing profound
disappointment.
A little earlier in John'sGospel, in John chapter 11,
(08:13):
Thomas says, let's go die withhim.
Like, I'm ready to roll out.
'Till death.
But Jesus wasn't who heexpected him to be.
And that gap between ourexpectations and our experience,
that's where disappointmentlives.
Thomas is experiencingdisappointment.
soul-shattering disappointmentin this moment, and it's making
it really hard for him tobelieve.
(08:33):
So I'm curious, what would haveyou say, I will never believe?
What is that for you?
For my grandfather, it waslosing his dad as a teenage boy.
He thought, I could neverbelieve in a God that would let
that happen.
What is it for some of you thismorning?
Where have you made a vow toprotect your heart from a level
(08:55):
of disappointment or confusionwhere you won't let yourself
hope to that extent ever again.
And so you said, I will never.
What is that for you thismorning?
And so another way to ask thatquestion is, what would it take
for you to believe again?
Thomas was really clear aboutthis.
Are you?
In verse 26, the story goes on.
(09:17):
It says this.
Eight days later, his discipleswere inside again and Thomas
was with them.
This is important when you readthe Bible.
You've got to know that theHoly Spirit doesn't waste His
breath.
Eight days later is important.
You see, Jesus rose from thedead on a Sunday.
This is eight days later, whichancient ways of counting days,
(09:38):
that actually meant a weeklater.
This is another Sunday.
So here's another Sunday, andJesus is appearing among His
disciples.
Again, what's the big deal?
Well, What would it take for anextremely religious people
whose high holy day ofobservance was Sabbath worship
(09:59):
on Saturday, what would it takefor them to, in about a week,
change that to Sunday?
For millennia, the Jewishpeople were worshiping God on
Saturday, and then out ofnowhere, seemingly, The early
disciples of Jesus, all of whichwere Jewish, begin worshiping
Jesus on Sunday, which is calledthe Lord's Day, because of the
(10:19):
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What would that take other thanmaybe something like a
resurrection?
This is another evidence thatJesus actually is alive, that He
actually came back from thedead.
But it's more than that.
You see, it's more than thatbecause Jesus meets us in
community.
He meets us in community.
(10:40):
This is why we still make a bigdeal out of Sunday gatherings.
This is why we still gather asthe people of God to worship God
on Sundays.
It's because Jesus meets us inthis place.
Look with me at verse 26.
It says this.
Although the doors were locked,Jesus came and stood among
them.
You see, the locked doorsdidn't stop Jesus then and it
(11:01):
won't stop Jesus now.
Your I will never is Jesus'hold my wine.
men.
That's what he's doing in thismoment.
He's ready to walk throughthose locked doors of your
heart, those commitments, thosevows, and show up and show you
his wounds.
That's what he does in ourtext.
Because Jesus meets us where weare, but he doesn't leave us
(11:22):
there.
Look at the passage again inverse 26.
It says, That's actually theliteral translation.
Everybody here.
This is important becauseChristianity is not primarily a
personal religion with a privatefaith.
(11:42):
It's a communal religion with apersonal faith.
You can't be a Christian byyourself.
Doesn't work that way.
Another way to say this is thatwhat you believe is shaped by
three things in this order.
Here's the three things thatshape what you believe about the
world.
What you find plausible.
First, your community.
Second, your experiences.
(12:04):
Third, evidence.
In that order.
Now, this is why who we belongto shapes what we find
believable.
When I was a student at UCF,there was a student organization
called the Free ThinkerSociety, and they all believed
the same thing, which isinteresting, right?
It was a group of atheists andagnostics, all free thinking for
(12:27):
themselves, but with the samebeliefs about everything.
This isn't a Christian thing,it's a human thing.
We choose who we belong to andthen we begin to believe what
that people believes.
This is why community is soessential to the Christian
faith.
This is a communal religionwith a personal faith.
It's something where you haveto belong in order to believe.
(12:48):
It's so essential to become apart of a people.
But Jesus says this in verse26, peace be with you all.
But then he said to Thomas, yousee that?
Jesus spoke to all And then heturned to the one.
I think that's happening thismorning.
I really believe that.
Jesus is here.
He's saying, peace be with youall.
(13:09):
He's saying, if the tomb isempty, anything's possible.
Have peace in that.
But then he's turning to someof you this morning.
And he's saying, what's thebarrier?
What's getting in the way?
He's turning to you like heturned to Thomas of old.
And so I'm going to invite you.
Jesus is meeting you where youare in your doubts, in your
disappointments, in yourconfusion.
(13:30):
He's meeting you there.
And he's inviting you to talkto him.
Tell him the truth about whereyou find yourself.
Tell him your doubts.
Some of you are going, Jesus,where were you when?
And Jesus is saying, look at myscars.
Some of you are saying, yeah,but what about all the pain and
the brokenness in the world?
And he's saying, see my side.
Some of you are wondering,you're saying, but how could you
(13:53):
let this happen?
He says, touch my wounds.
You see, Jesus is notdismissing your doubts.
He's drawing you up out of yourdoubts into his work, what he's
doing in the world, into alarger picture.
This is important because Jesusmeets us not only in our doubts
but in our pain and in our sinand in our suffering.
(14:14):
Why does he have scars?
John Steinbeck said it likethis, to be alive at all is to
have scars.
Jesus lived a fully human life.
He shared our humanity with allof its pain and disappointment
and even Jesus struggled withdoubts.
On the cross he says, my God,my God, why have you forsaken
me?
There was a struggle with faithin that moment for him.
(14:36):
But listen, he came from heavento earth to meet you where you
are.
Jesus went through hell to meetyou where you are.
And so he's meeting you whereyou are this morning, but he's
not leaving you there.
Notice what he does.
There's a challenge in thistext.
In verse 27, it says, do notdisbelieve, but believe.
Some of you this morning needJesus to comfort you, to show
(15:01):
you how he's patient and gentlewith you in your doubts.
But some of you this morningneed Jesus to confront you, to
tell you to stop doubting, tostart doubting your doubts and
stop believing them so strongly,you person of faith.
You see, Jesus is willing tomove towards you because his
goal is not certainty.
His goal is that you would haveconfidence in a person.
(15:21):
In verse 28, we see Thomas'response.
Thomas answered him, my Lordand my God.
There is no greater confessionof who Jesus is in all of the
gospels than this one righthere.
Do you see what that means?
It means that Jesus' woundedflesh can heal our wounded
(15:44):
faith.
Jesus alone is able to take thegreatest doubters and turn them
into the greatest believers.
Thomas' story recorded inhistory says that Thomas
actually took this good news ofJesus' crucified and risen
again, he took it to India andproclaimed the gospel there and
was actually killed for hisfaith.
Now listen, some of you whodoubt the authenticity of this
(16:08):
account here, that'sunderstandable in a lot of ways,
but do people die for a lie?
All of these early witnesses toJesus' resurrection, all of
them suffered profoundly fortheir faith in Jesus risen from
the dead.
Now, people do teach falsehoodknowingly, but they don't die
for it.
Thomas died for this good news.
(16:30):
What would motivate such anunshakable confidence?
Well, there's an invitation foryou right now, which is, The
next three weeks, we're going todo a mini-series on faith.
We're going to explore, whatdoes this look like?
We're talking about doubttoday.
We're going to talk about faithover the next two weeks.
And so there's an invitation.
Come back or check the podcast,whatever it looks like for you.
Explore this together.
(16:51):
But I want to look just at thefaith of Thomas in our text
here.
It says in this verse thatThomas saw Jesus the man, and
then he said to Jesus, my God.
Do you see that?
You see, because faith is bothcontent and confidence.
Faith is a propositionalbelief.
Jesus is Lord and God.
(17:12):
That's true.
But Thomas says, Jesus is myLord and my God.
That's real.
Those two letters make all thedifference.
Some of you maybe have mereintellectual assent to the
truths of Christianity.
You find it to be compelling orculturally helpful.
That's not what Thomas thought.
He thought it was that, butmuch more.
(17:34):
You see those two letters, my,actually take what was
intellectual assent and make itpersonal confidence in a person.
My Lord and my God.
But some of you are thinkingthis morning, yeah, that's nice
because Thomas got to see Jesusand touch his wounds.
What about me?
Well, Jesus thought you wouldsay that.
(17:55):
He has a way of doing that.
Look at verse 29.
Jesus said to him, have youbelieved because you have seen
me?
Blessed are those who have notseen and yet have believed.
Blessed is one of those churchywords.
It's Christianese.
It means this, happy,flourishing, fully alive if
you've not seen Jesus but youstill believe in him.
(18:16):
That's what Jesus himself says.
Peter, who is also in the room,writes in a letter later, he
says this, though you have notseen Jesus, you love him.
Though you do not now see him,you believe in him and rejoice
with joy that is inexpressibleand filled with glory.
Do you want that?
I want that.
That comes by believing.
(18:37):
But how are we supposed tobelieve when we haven't seen?
Well, according to John, it'sthis book.
It's this book right here.
Look at verse 30 with me.
Now Jesus did many other signsin the presence of the disciples
which are not written in thisbook.
But these are written so thatyou may believe that Jesus is
(18:59):
the Christ, the Son of God, andthat by believing you may have
life in his name.
Listen, if you're exploringChristianity this morning, read
the Gospel of John.
That's the purpose clause forit.
That's why it exists is for youto come to understand who Jesus
is and ask Jesus to show youhimself.
Ask Jesus to deal with yourdoubts like Thomas did.
(19:20):
Tell him your doubts.
Jesus meets us where we are.
And when you find him, he willbe worth the wandering.
I promise you that.
Because he wants to lead youinto life.
Look at verse 31.
That by believing you may havelife in his name.
Now in English we have one wordfor life.
(19:42):
It's called life.
In Greek, there's two words,Bios and Zoe.
Bios is where we get the wordbiology.
This is natural, biologicallife.
Zoe is actually a transcendentspiritual life.
The word here is Zoe.
You see, this distinction'simportant because we can have
Bios without Zoe.
Some of you this morning arebiologically alive and
(20:05):
spiritually dead.
It's also possible to bespiritually alive and
biologically dead.
That's called Heaven.
And so what we believe here isthat some of you in this room
have Bios but not Zoe, andyou're spiritually dead because
that's the natural state of allhuman beings apart from Jesus.
But Jesus is saying to you inthe words of John 10, I have
(20:26):
come that you may have life andhave it abundantly.
I came to give you Zoe.
I came to give you my Zoe, mylife, my resurrection life.
You see, when we turn from Godto live on our own terms, we
sever ourself from the source oflife.
Jesus knew that.
(20:46):
And He doesn't just meet us inour doubts or our
disappointments, our pain, oursin.
He meets us in our death.
But He doesn't leave us there.
You see, He doesn't leave usthere.
In fact, in John 14, He says,because I live, you also will
live.
Jesus is alive again, and Hewants to make you alive again.
here and now and there and thenfor eternity.
(21:08):
But how do we get that?
Anybody can get in on this.
What does that look like?
Look at verse 31.
It says that by believing, youmay have life in His name.
Why is that so important?
Well, because if Jesus was justa good teacher who modeled a
new way of life, then it wouldsay that by behaving like Jesus,
you may have life in His name.
(21:29):
Do what He does and you can getwhat He has.
That's what it would say.
But that wouldn't be good newsfor those of us who can't seem
to get our act together.
For some people, you know,there's this idea of like when
you're really serious about yourreligion, you're called a
practicing Jew or a practicingCatholic, something like that,
right?
But Christianity is not aboutbehaving better.
(21:50):
It's about believing deeper.
And then you'll practice thefaith.
It's about deeper confidence inall that Jesus is for us.
And that's the invitation.
The invitation here is to cometo Jesus with all of your
brokenness, all of yourfailings, because there's
nothing so wrong with you or methat a good resurrection
couldn't fix.
And so there's an invitation.
(22:12):
And I asked you before, whatwould it take for you to
believe?
And I want to ask you now,don't you want the resurrection
to be true?
Don't you want the undoing ofdeath, the triumph of good over
evil?
Don't you want the restorationof all things lost, the
vindication of the powerless,the reunion of a teen boy with
his lost father?
(22:32):
Don't you want a future ofunending joy and a God with
scars who meets us where we are?
You see, the resurrection ofJesus Christ is not only
intellectually credible, it'sexistentially satisfying.
It's what we most long for.
And so Jesus meets us where weare.
(22:53):
He's right now bypassing thelocked door of our hearts and
He's presenting to us hiswounds.
He's meeting us where we are soHe can lead us to where He is.
Psalm 16 verse 11 says this,you have made known to me the
path of life.
In your presence there isfullness of joy.
At your right hand arepleasures forevermore.
(23:15):
This is the destination, thefulfillment.
This is the Subway Cave of ourexistence.
This is the thing that we areall longing for.
And Jesus, in His life and inHis death, meets us where we are
so that in his resurrection, Hecould lead us to where He is.
Joy, pleasure forevermore.
Let's pray.
(23:36):
King Jesus, would you presentyourself to us as a bright and
living reality this morning?
Spirit of God, that's yourwork.
Do it in our midst, we pray.
For the beautiful name ofJesus, amen.
Today's scripture reading is going to be from John 20.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve,called the So the other
(00:28):
disciples told him, We have seenthe Lord.
But he said to them, Unless Isee in his hands the mark of the
nails and place my finger intothe mark of the nails and place
my hand into his side, I willnever believe.
Eight days later, his discipleswere inside again, and Thomas
was with them.
Although the doors were locked,Jesus came and stood among them
(00:50):
and said, Peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, Putyour finger here.
And see my hands, and put outyour hand, and place it in my
side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe.
Thomas answered him, My Lordand my God.
Jesus said to him, Have youbelieved because you have seen
(01:11):
me?
Blessed are those who have notseen and yet have believed.
This is God's word.
May we be seated.
Ben (01:40):
Well, happy Easter.
My name is Ben.
I'm a pastor here with NewCity.
And in 2022, my wife and I tooka baby- moon to Sedona,
Arizona.
We actually got the 'Rona inSedona, Arizona, but that's
another story for another day.
And while we were there, eachday we hiked.
We went on these differenthikes, and there was one
(02:00):
particular hike that had thiskind of side quest to this
marked place called the SubwayCave.
But in order to find it, youhad to be willing to go off
trail.
And so we used our AllTrailsapp, and it had these strange
instructions like, look for thelarge rock, and then three trees
later, turn left.
And so I confidently led usuntil we were completely lost.
(02:23):
So we had to backtrack.
and go to the place where weknew, we recognized where we
were.
And when we got there, we hadto chart our course again and
try another time.
But this time, somebody camealong who had been to the subway
cave before.
They met us where we were andthey said, hey, come follow me.
I'll take you to where you'retrying to go.
(02:44):
And so we followed this personto the Subway Cave and it was
worth the wandering.
It was amazing.
In that moment, what we neededis we needed somebody to meet us
where we were and to lead us towhere we were trying to go.
And this morning, as we look atJohn 20 on Easter Sunday, this
resurrection story, I just wantto look at one simple, vital,
(03:06):
life-changing truth, which isJesus meets us where we are and
leads us to where He is.
Jesus meets us where we are andHe leads us to where He is.
So if you have a Bible or adevice...
Or a worship guide.
The scripture text is printedhere on the back.
I invite you to go ahead andget it in front of you as we
(03:27):
look at John chapter 21together.
Look with me at verse 24 rightat the top.
It says this.
Now Thomas, one of the twelvecalled the twin, was not with
them when Jesus came.
This is the ultimate you shouldhave been there moment.
In this moment, the risenJesus, alive from the dead, came
(03:49):
to hang and Thomas was booked.
He had something else going on.
He wasn't there.
Like, can you contemplate thecosmic level of FOMO that Thomas
is experiencing in this momentright now?
And it gets worse.
Look at verse 25.
So the other disciples toldhim, we have seen the Lord.
You see, in this moment, Jesuswas executed by the Roman
(04:12):
government, and now your friendsare telling you that they've
seen him alive from the dead?
Like, some of you feel likeThomas.
Enter into that state wherehe's at.
Some of you are here thismorning because a friend invited
you to come, and they weresketchy about it.
They're like, let's go grabbrunch and stop by church on the
way or something like that, andyou're just trying to figure
out what's going on right now.
(04:32):
Welcome.
We're so glad you're here.
But you feel a little bit likeThomas, right?
Your friends talk about Jesuslike he's this bright living
reality and you feel like maybeyou've missed it.
You don't experience it thesame way that they do.
Well, look how this text goeson in verse 25.
But Thomas said to them, unlessI see in his hands the mark of
(04:54):
the nails and place my fingerinto the mark of the nails and
place my hand into his side, Iwill never believe.
Thomas is that kid in class whoasks the question that
everybody else is wondering butdoesn't want to look dumb by
asking.
That's Thomas.
He's the master of the awkwardquestion.
And by so doing, he createsspace for real people with real
(05:18):
sincere doubts.
So thankful for Thomas in thescriptures.
In fact, in the gospelaccounts, which are these
biographies, these portraits ofJesus, all four accounts of
Jesus' life, they end withpeople doubting the
resurrection.
In Matthew chapter 28, it says,when they saw Jesus, they
worshiped him, but some doubted.
(05:39):
In Luke, I'm sorry, in Mark 16,it says, they had not believed
those who saw him after he hadrisen.
In Luke 24, it says, the storysounded like nonsense, so they
didn't believe it.
You see, if you were going towrite a Holy book, like the
Bible, Would you record thatsome of Jesus' earliest
followers, people who had beenthere with him for three years
(06:01):
and his closest friends, wouldyou record that they doubted
that he rose from the dead?
Like if this was propaganda,would you put that in there?
Probably not.
In fact, this is one of theevidences for the authenticity
of the Gospel accounts thatthey're real eyewitness
testimonies because they'rehonest the authors are honest
(06:22):
about their doubts their fearstheir confusion their failures
but we moderns we think we'remature you know we look at this
and we think the ancientapostles must have been naive
after all we have modern sciencewhich couldn't exist without
the apostles writings but that'sanother sermon and And we kind
of come at this thinking thatthey don't really know what
they're talking about, but theseeyewitnesses were thoughtful,
(06:44):
even skeptical.
They were not naive or stupid.
You see, they had realstandards for a world-changing
belief like somebody coming backfrom the dead.
They didn't just assume this insome superstitious worldview.
Thomas has a pretty high barfor belief.
Look at it again.
He says this, unless...
I see in his hands the mark ofthe nails, and place my finger
(07:07):
into the mark of the nails, andplace my hand into his side.
I will never believe.
This morning, what is yourunless?
What is it for you?
What is it that would be yourbar for belief?
How high is it set?
Do you know where it's set?
Thomas would not have beensatisfied with a stunt double,
(07:29):
or a ghost, No, Thomas wantedempirical proof that his friend
Jesus, who is murdered by theRoman government, was visibly
and palpably and tangibly backfrom the dead.
Nothing less than that wouldsuffice for him.
That's what he says in verse25.
He says, I will never believe.
Now, our beliefs are kind oflike the pipes in our house.
(07:51):
We don't really examine themuntil they're broken, until
they're not working for us.
You see, doubt emerges when,when the superficialities of our
faith confront the realities ofour world.
That's where doubt grows.
And so Thomas is in this momentexperiencing profound
disappointment.
A little earlier in John'sGospel, in John chapter 11,
(08:13):
Thomas says, let's go die withhim.
Like, I'm ready to roll out.
'Till death.
But Jesus wasn't who heexpected him to be.
And that gap between ourexpectations and our experience,
that's where disappointmentlives.
Thomas is experiencingdisappointment.
soul-shattering disappointmentin this moment, and it's making
it really hard for him tobelieve.
(08:33):
So I'm curious, what would haveyou say, I will never believe?
What is that for you?
For my grandfather, it waslosing his dad as a teenage boy.
He thought, I could neverbelieve in a God that would let
that happen.
What is it for some of you thismorning?
Where have you made a vow toprotect your heart from a level
(08:55):
of disappointment or confusionwhere you won't let yourself
hope to that extent ever again.
And so you said, I will never.
What is that for you thismorning?
And so another way to ask thatquestion is, what would it take
for you to believe again?
Thomas was really clear aboutthis.
Are you?
In verse 26, the story goes on.
(09:17):
It says this.
Eight days later, his discipleswere inside again and Thomas
was with them.
This is important when you readthe Bible.
You've got to know that theHoly Spirit doesn't waste His
breath.
Eight days later is important.
You see, Jesus rose from thedead on a Sunday.
This is eight days later, whichancient ways of counting days,
(09:38):
that actually meant a weeklater.
This is another Sunday.
So here's another Sunday, andJesus is appearing among His
disciples.
Again, what's the big deal?
Well, What would it take for anextremely religious people
whose high holy day ofobservance was Sabbath worship
(09:59):
on Saturday, what would it takefor them to, in about a week,
change that to Sunday?
For millennia, the Jewishpeople were worshiping God on
Saturday, and then out ofnowhere, seemingly, The early
disciples of Jesus, all of whichwere Jewish, begin worshiping
Jesus on Sunday, which is calledthe Lord's Day, because of the
(10:19):
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What would that take other thanmaybe something like a
resurrection?
This is another evidence thatJesus actually is alive, that He
actually came back from thedead.
But it's more than that.
You see, it's more than thatbecause Jesus meets us in
community.
He meets us in community.
(10:40):
This is why we still make a bigdeal out of Sunday gatherings.
This is why we still gather asthe people of God to worship God
on Sundays.
It's because Jesus meets us inthis place.
Look with me at verse 26.
It says this.
Although the doors were locked,Jesus came and stood among
them.
You see, the locked doorsdidn't stop Jesus then and it
(11:01):
won't stop Jesus now.
Your I will never is Jesus'hold my wine.
men.
That's what he's doing in thismoment.
He's ready to walk throughthose locked doors of your
heart, those commitments, thosevows, and show up and show you
his wounds.
That's what he does in ourtext.
Because Jesus meets us where weare, but he doesn't leave us
(11:22):
there.
Look at the passage again inverse 26.
It says, That's actually theliteral translation.
Everybody here.
This is important becauseChristianity is not primarily a
personal religion with a privatefaith.
(11:42):
It's a communal religion with apersonal faith.
You can't be a Christian byyourself.
Doesn't work that way.
Another way to say this is thatwhat you believe is shaped by
three things in this order.
Here's the three things thatshape what you believe about the
world.
What you find plausible.
First, your community.
Second, your experiences.
(12:04):
Third, evidence.
In that order.
Now, this is why who we belongto shapes what we find
believable.
When I was a student at UCF,there was a student organization
called the Free ThinkerSociety, and they all believed
the same thing, which isinteresting, right?
It was a group of atheists andagnostics, all free thinking for
(12:27):
themselves, but with the samebeliefs about everything.
This isn't a Christian thing,it's a human thing.
We choose who we belong to andthen we begin to believe what
that people believes.
This is why community is soessential to the Christian
faith.
This is a communal religionwith a personal faith.
It's something where you haveto belong in order to believe.
(12:48):
It's so essential to become apart of a people.
But Jesus says this in verse26, peace be with you all.
But then he said to Thomas, yousee that?
Jesus spoke to all And then heturned to the one.
I think that's happening thismorning.
I really believe that.
Jesus is here.
He's saying, peace be with youall.
(13:09):
He's saying, if the tomb isempty, anything's possible.
Have peace in that.
But then he's turning to someof you this morning.
And he's saying, what's thebarrier?
What's getting in the way?
He's turning to you like heturned to Thomas of old.
And so I'm going to invite you.
Jesus is meeting you where youare in your doubts, in your
disappointments, in yourconfusion.
(13:30):
He's meeting you there.
And he's inviting you to talkto him.
Tell him the truth about whereyou find yourself.
Tell him your doubts.
Some of you are going, Jesus,where were you when?
And Jesus is saying, look at myscars.
Some of you are saying, yeah,but what about all the pain and
the brokenness in the world?
And he's saying, see my side.
Some of you are wondering,you're saying, but how could you
(13:53):
let this happen?
He says, touch my wounds.
You see, Jesus is notdismissing your doubts.
He's drawing you up out of yourdoubts into his work, what he's
doing in the world, into alarger picture.
This is important because Jesusmeets us not only in our doubts
but in our pain and in our sinand in our suffering.
(14:14):
Why does he have scars?
John Steinbeck said it likethis, to be alive at all is to
have scars.
Jesus lived a fully human life.
He shared our humanity with allof its pain and disappointment
and even Jesus struggled withdoubts.
On the cross he says, my God,my God, why have you forsaken
me?
There was a struggle with faithin that moment for him.
(14:36):
But listen, he came from heavento earth to meet you where you
are.
Jesus went through hell to meetyou where you are.
And so he's meeting you whereyou are this morning, but he's
not leaving you there.
Notice what he does.
There's a challenge in thistext.
In verse 27, it says, do notdisbelieve, but believe.
Some of you this morning needJesus to comfort you, to show
(15:01):
you how he's patient and gentlewith you in your doubts.
But some of you this morningneed Jesus to confront you, to
tell you to stop doubting, tostart doubting your doubts and
stop believing them so strongly,you person of faith.
You see, Jesus is willing tomove towards you because his
goal is not certainty.
His goal is that you would haveconfidence in a person.
(15:21):
In verse 28, we see Thomas'response.
Thomas answered him, my Lordand my God.
There is no greater confessionof who Jesus is in all of the
gospels than this one righthere.
Do you see what that means?
It means that Jesus' woundedflesh can heal our wounded
(15:44):
faith.
Jesus alone is able to take thegreatest doubters and turn them
into the greatest believers.
Thomas' story recorded inhistory says that Thomas
actually took this good news ofJesus' crucified and risen
again, he took it to India andproclaimed the gospel there and
was actually killed for hisfaith.
Now listen, some of you whodoubt the authenticity of this
(16:08):
account here, that'sunderstandable in a lot of ways,
but do people die for a lie?
All of these early witnesses toJesus' resurrection, all of
them suffered profoundly fortheir faith in Jesus risen from
the dead.
Now, people do teach falsehoodknowingly, but they don't die
for it.
Thomas died for this good news.
(16:30):
What would motivate such anunshakable confidence?
Well, there's an invitation foryou right now, which is, The
next three weeks, we're going todo a mini-series on faith.
We're going to explore, whatdoes this look like?
We're talking about doubttoday.
We're going to talk about faithover the next two weeks.
And so there's an invitation.
Come back or check the podcast,whatever it looks like for you.
Explore this together.
(16:51):
But I want to look just at thefaith of Thomas in our text
here.
It says in this verse thatThomas saw Jesus the man, and
then he said to Jesus, my God.
Do you see that?
You see, because faith is bothcontent and confidence.
Faith is a propositionalbelief.
Jesus is Lord and God.
(17:12):
That's true.
But Thomas says, Jesus is myLord and my God.
That's real.
Those two letters make all thedifference.
Some of you maybe have mereintellectual assent to the
truths of Christianity.
You find it to be compelling orculturally helpful.
That's not what Thomas thought.
He thought it was that, butmuch more.
(17:34):
You see those two letters, my,actually take what was
intellectual assent and make itpersonal confidence in a person.
My Lord and my God.
But some of you are thinkingthis morning, yeah, that's nice
because Thomas got to see Jesusand touch his wounds.
What about me?
Well, Jesus thought you wouldsay that.
(17:55):
He has a way of doing that.
Look at verse 29.
Jesus said to him, have youbelieved because you have seen
me?
Blessed are those who have notseen and yet have believed.
Blessed is one of those churchywords.
It's Christianese.
It means this, happy,flourishing, fully alive if
you've not seen Jesus but youstill believe in him.
(18:16):
That's what Jesus himself says.
Peter, who is also in the room,writes in a letter later, he
says this, though you have notseen Jesus, you love him.
Though you do not now see him,you believe in him and rejoice
with joy that is inexpressibleand filled with glory.
Do you want that?
I want that.
That comes by believing.
(18:37):
But how are we supposed tobelieve when we haven't seen?
Well, according to John, it'sthis book.
It's this book right here.
Look at verse 30 with me.
Now Jesus did many other signsin the presence of the disciples
which are not written in thisbook.
But these are written so thatyou may believe that Jesus is
(18:59):
the Christ, the Son of God, andthat by believing you may have
life in his name.
Listen, if you're exploringChristianity this morning, read
the Gospel of John.
That's the purpose clause forit.
That's why it exists is for youto come to understand who Jesus
is and ask Jesus to show youhimself.
Ask Jesus to deal with yourdoubts like Thomas did.
(19:20):
Tell him your doubts.
Jesus meets us where we are.
And when you find him, he willbe worth the wandering.
I promise you that.
Because he wants to lead youinto life.
Look at verse 31.
That by believing you may havelife in his name.
Now in English we have one wordfor life.
(19:42):
It's called life.
In Greek, there's two words,Bios and Zoe.
Bios is where we get the wordbiology.
This is natural, biologicallife.
Zoe is actually a transcendentspiritual life.
The word here is Zoe.
You see, this distinction'simportant because we can have
Bios without Zoe.
Some of you this morning arebiologically alive and
(20:05):
spiritually dead.
It's also possible to bespiritually alive and
biologically dead.
That's called Heaven.
And so what we believe here isthat some of you in this room
have Bios but not Zoe, andyou're spiritually dead because
that's the natural state of allhuman beings apart from Jesus.
But Jesus is saying to you inthe words of John 10, I have
(20:26):
come that you may have life andhave it abundantly.
I came to give you Zoe.
I came to give you my Zoe, mylife, my resurrection life.
You see, when we turn from Godto live on our own terms, we
sever ourself from the source oflife.
Jesus knew that.
(20:46):
And He doesn't just meet us inour doubts or our
disappointments, our pain, oursin.
He meets us in our death.
But He doesn't leave us there.
You see, He doesn't leave usthere.
In fact, in John 14, He says,because I live, you also will
live.
Jesus is alive again, and Hewants to make you alive again.
here and now and there and thenfor eternity.
(21:08):
But how do we get that?
Anybody can get in on this.
What does that look like?
Look at verse 31.
It says that by believing, youmay have life in His name.
Why is that so important?
Well, because if Jesus was justa good teacher who modeled a
new way of life, then it wouldsay that by behaving like Jesus,
you may have life in His name.
(21:29):
Do what He does and you can getwhat He has.
That's what it would say.
But that wouldn't be good newsfor those of us who can't seem
to get our act together.
For some people, you know,there's this idea of like when
you're really serious about yourreligion, you're called a
practicing Jew or a practicingCatholic, something like that,
right?
But Christianity is not aboutbehaving better.
(21:50):
It's about believing deeper.
And then you'll practice thefaith.
It's about deeper confidence inall that Jesus is for us.
And that's the invitation.
The invitation here is to cometo Jesus with all of your
brokenness, all of yourfailings, because there's
nothing so wrong with you or methat a good resurrection
couldn't fix.
And so there's an invitation.
(22:12):
And I asked you before, whatwould it take for you to
believe?
And I want to ask you now,don't you want the resurrection
to be true?
Don't you want the undoing ofdeath, the triumph of good over
evil?
Don't you want the restorationof all things lost, the
vindication of the powerless,the reunion of a teen boy with
his lost father?
(22:32):
Don't you want a future ofunending joy and a God with
scars who meets us where we are?
You see, the resurrection ofJesus Christ is not only
intellectually credible, it'sexistentially satisfying.
It's what we most long for.
And so Jesus meets us where weare.
(22:53):
He's right now bypassing thelocked door of our hearts and
He's presenting to us hiswounds.
He's meeting us where we are soHe can lead us to where He is.
Psalm 16 verse 11 says this,you have made known to me the
path of life.
In your presence there isfullness of joy.
At your right hand arepleasures forevermore.
(23:15):
This is the destination, thefulfillment.
This is the Subway Cave of ourexistence.
This is the thing that we areall longing for.
And Jesus, in His life and inHis death, meets us where we are
so that in his resurrection, Hecould lead us to where He is.
Joy, pleasure forevermore.
Let's pray.
(23:36):
King Jesus, would you presentyourself to us as a bright and
living reality this morning?
Spirit of God, that's yourwork.
Do it in our midst, we pray.
For the beautiful name ofJesus, amen.
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