Title: Dealing with Doubt
Text: John 20:24-31
Date: April 16, 2023
Introduction: There is an immediate word association with the disciple, Thomas-Doubting Thomas. Not the most positive association. Sadly, for nearly 2,000 years, he has received a lot of bad press. John gives us a profile of Thomas in three sketches.
— Shadowed with suffering. Thomas was a pessimist. He saw the dark side: death, “Then Thomas (also known as Didymus, Thomas is Aramaic and Didymus is Greek, and both mean twin) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’” (John 11:16). There are certain things about people that define their character, disposition, or personality. Thomas always saw what was wrong with things. He was a pessimist! Somebody remarked that a pessimist is a person who feels bad when he feels good, for fear that he is going to feel worse when he feels better. Well, I think that is the kind of person Thomas was. I heard about two pessimists who met one another at a party and instead of shaking hands they shook heads. That was Thomas’ situation. He shook his head in despondency and pessimism.
— Struggled with understanding. While Thomas was no doubt a seeker of truth, the awareness of truth about God was very difficult for him to understand. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:1-6). He just wasn’t sure what God was trying to do in his life.
— Stumbled over the supernatural. Thomas did not believe that the others had really seen Jesus. He would not believe unless he could see Him and touch Him. “I will not believe”— such a strong statement of resistance and restraint (John 20:24-25).
These sketches of Thomas are a part of life and may be a reason that some of us face doubt and are dealing with doubt. There are a few other truths we need to understand about Thomas and the subject of doubt.
1.
Larry Gipson
First Baptist Church Oneonta