Question 12: How to respond to doubt

Greetings and welcome to the Faith Chapel Podcast. My name is Jason and I am

the pastor of Faith Chapel.

Today we are ending our series on questions.

This teaching will look a bit different because it is not regarding a question

the congregation submitted, but looking at the use of questions when we,

as followers of Jesus, have doubts.

This teaching will explore how we should react to our own doubts and to the doubts of others.

Thanks for joining us today.

We all deal with interactions, different interactions throughout the day.

We interact with the people that we live with constantly every day.

We interact with those on the road, whether we're slowing down to let them cut

over or whether they cut over on their own and we react in that situation.

We are always reacting, reacting to different stimulus.

Yesterday, I went to a basketball game and at the end of the first half,

there were four tenths of a second left on the clock and one team heaved a full

court shot down the court.

It probably would not have counted even if it

had gone in but the basket or

the basketball hit the rim and bounced off and

once it hit the rim the crowd responded the

crowd reacted they were like oh that's just naturally what we do we are going

to consistently react to different stimulus And as we follow Jesus,

as we try to pursue a relationship with Jesus,

one of the things that we are called to do is to be like Jesus.

And this involves how we react to other people and react to other situations in our lives.

Because we are always reacting. We're going to go through a series to see how Jesus,

responded to different stimuli in his life,

to different situations and to different people, and to try to learn how we

as followers of Jesus should also react in those seasons.

And today, we're going to first take a look at what Thomas is known for.

Thomas is known as Doubting Thomas.

And as we follow after Jesus, at least I can speak only from my own experience,

there are seasons and times that have come into my life where I am doubting

one aspect or another about God.

I've doubted the existence of God. I've doubted the goodness of God.

I doubted that God really ever hears my prayers.

There are hundreds of different things that we could be doubting about God because

of how magnificent and glorious he is.

But doubts can also be super scary.

And it can be a season or situation where we find ourselves in,

where we don't want to share with other people, hey, I'm having doubts right now about my faith.

But the people that we interact with, we have to bring these doubts too.

Just like Thomas, he told the disciples, unless I put my hand in his side where

the spear went or see the marks in his wrists where the nails went.

I'm not going to believe that he rose from the dead.

This is a doubt that he had and a pretty normal doubt, but he didn't keep it

to himself and he brought it to those who are around him.

There's another example in scripture, one of my favorite passages,

because I've prayed what this man's said before, in my doubts and in my struggles.

See, the scene is this. Jesus is just coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration with his disciples.

This is found in Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

And as he's coming down the Mount of Transfiguration, he sees the disciples

arguing with religious leaders. and Jesus comes and asks, what's all this arguing about?

And then a man steps forward and he says, Rabbi, I brought my son to you.

Demon has possessed him. A demon is throwing him into the lake to try to drown

him. It's thrown him into the fire before.

And I brought him to you so that you could bring healing to him.

And since you were not here, like I gave him to your disciples and the disciples

could not cast out this demon.

And then as the scene progresses, the father says,

If you can, please heal my son.

Jesus responds to him by saying, If I can, don't you know that everything is

possible for those who believe?

And the man cries out, I believe. Help my unbelief.

And so along with our own doubts and when we share with other people,

this man does the exact right thing.

He brings his doubts to Jesus himself.

And I just love that phrase. I believe the father was saying,

I believe enough to bring my son here, but yes, I lack some belief.

I lack some faith that you are going to heal him because it's been so long and

we've tried so many different things.

Do you understand how profound that is?

When we acknowledge, I trust you, but I don't know if I trust you with every fiber of my being.

He brings that to Jesus.

Brings that to Jesus. And Jesus heals his son.

So when we think about doubts, I don't want us to be scared of them.

Doubts are a way where our faith can grow and mature so much.

It really can be a catalyst to a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus.

It can also lead to the other things, especially when people bring their doubts

to us and we don't react in the right way.

And so we've seen two examples of how to behave if we have doubts,

going to people that we trust, people that we know, people that we are growing

and maturing in Christ with, and going to God himself.

But what do we do if someone comes to us and says, hey, I'm struggling with doubts here.

I'm struggling in my faith in God right now.

How should we respond and how should we react?

And to answer that question, we're going to go to Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

And we're going to see how Jesus handles the doubts of John the Baptist.

But before I read, let me pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we come before you today and we ask that your word

will be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths.

We ask, Father, that you will give us ears to hear what we need to hear.

And we pray that your spirit will plant that in our hearts and grow and mature it.

Bear fruit in us and through us,

Jesus. Bring us into closer and closer connection and community with you.

And let our fruit be how we act and the people that we influence to follow you.

Jesus, I pray for this in your name. Amen.

So Matthew chapter 11, we're going to start in verse 2.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing.

So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, Are you the Messiah we've been expecting,

or should we keep looking for someone else?

I think it's important here to put into context just how big of a statement

this is, because we can easily, in our mind, wash this away and say, this is no big deal.

Like, Jesus hadn't yet done, he's done miracles, he's done lots of good for

other people, but he hasn't really shown himself to be the Messiah.

So we can really undercut what's really going on here.

So to try to understand this, we're going to jump to John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

and we're going to read what John said about Jesus at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

Because it is profound. So John chapter one, starting in verse 29.

The next day, John, this is John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming toward him and

said, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He is the one I was talking about when I said, a man is coming after me who

was far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.

I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water

so that he might be revealed to Israel.

Then John testified, I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him.

I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water,

he told me the one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who

will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

I saw this happen to Jesus. So I testify he is the chosen one of God.

Now look at this experience. He had heard from God himself, the one who you

see the Holy Spirit descend upon.

He is my chosen one.

And then John not only heard these words from God, but he also saw them come

to fruition when Jesus was baptized.

These are two amazing experiences that John has had. Unbelievable.

And John says, Jesus is the Messiah. It's a very declarative statement.

There is no wavering or doubt. He is in John's mind, the Messiah.

And then later on, in chapter 3, we read, starting in verse 26.

So John's disciples came to him and said, Rabbi, the man you met on the other

side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah,

is also baptizing people, and everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.

John replied, No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.

You yourselves know how I plainly told you. I am not the Messiah.

I am only here to prepare the way for him.

It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad

to stand with him and hear his vows.

Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

He has come from above and is greater than anyone else.

We are of the earth and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven

and is greater than anyone else.

He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them.

Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true,

for he is sent by God. He speaks God's words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.

The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.

And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life.

Anyone who does not obey the Son will never experience eternal life,

but remains under God's angry judgment.

All right, not only does John have these experiences, but he has a very firm

grasp here of who Jesus is.

He came from heaven. Like he is eternal.

He is the one at the beginning of John's gospel that says he was with God and he was God.

John the Baptist clearly teaches this. And he also knows the gospel message.

He knows that if you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life.

And if you don't believe in Jesus, you are still under God's judgment and wrath.

This is a maturing believer in Jesus who grasps big, big concepts about who Jesus is.

And then we get to the point in Matthew chapter 11, where he's wavering, where he is doubting.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Are you the Messiah or should we look for someone else?

Please know that even as maturing believers in Christ, it is okay to have doubts.

It is okay to question. And I believe the big issue with people turning away

from the faith is that they don't go to God in their unbelief.

They don't go to followers of Jesus in their unbelief.

But they try to process it through articles on the internet.

Or they try to process through it with people who aren't following after Jesus.

And this is a call for us who aren't going through a crisis of faith to be someone

that these people can talk to.

So we need to know how to talk to them.

Jesus is not obviously here talking to John, but he's talking to people who

are going to relay a message to John.

And from this, we get a huge, huge piece of information that will help us in

talking to people who are struggling with doubts.

So in Matthew, back in Matthew chapter 11, we're going to pick up in verse 4.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Jesus told them, Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen.

The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear,

the dead are raised to life, and the good news is being preached to the poor.

And tell him, God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.

So on the surface, just looking at these words,

what we can take and process through is that these words are words of God's

activity, what God is doing in our world.

And that's a good thing that we share.

One of the things that I pray for you every single week is that we will have

eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts and minds that understand God's activity

in this world, and that he would raise us up to be his witnesses,

not keeping this wonderful information to ourselves,

but sharing it with ever who God wants us to.

And so when we perceive God's activity in this world,

When we see wonderful things happening and God moving and active,

we have the privilege to share that with other people.

But Jesus here is doing something different. Jesus here is quoting passages of the prophet Isaiah.

And so what Jesus does to John's unbelief, and remember, John is a believer

in Jesus Christ. He understands what the gospel message is.

He knows that Jesus came from heaven. He is eternal.

He is the son of the living God. He knows all these things.

What Jesus does is he says, if you are confused about who I am and what I am

doing on this planet, go and seek out these passages.

The dead are raised to life. The deaf hear.

The blind see. The lame leap for joy.

And so we're going to look at one of the passages that he quotes here.

This is found in Isaiah chapter 35.

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

And it has some deeper connotations for us.

So starting in verse 4 of Isaiah 35, we read, Say to those with fearful hearts.

So these are Isaiah's words to those he's preaching.

Say to those with fearful hearts, Be strong and do not fear,

for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.

And when he, this being God, comes, He will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.

The lame will leap like a deer and those who cannot speak will sing for joy.

Springs will gush forth in the wilderness and streams will water the And so

Isaiah says, when your God comes, these things are going to happen.

And so Jesus, having memorized scripture and John memorized it as well,

or else these words would just be falling on deaf ears.

What John is going to remember is that when your God comes, these things are going to happen.

And the disciples of John have seen them and can testify about it to him.

And so our interactions with people who are coming to us with doubt,

I would say, are twofold.

We need to have hearing ears to hear them.

And notice what Jesus doesn't do here. He doesn't dismiss this.

He doesn't say, John, what have you done? Why aren't you believing right now?

No, he's just reminding him gently, hey, remember what God promised.

Remember what God prophesied.

When God comes, the lame will leap for joy.

The deaf will hear and the blind will see and look at what the evidence shows.

So he is not condemning John at all.

And for us we need to understand that

especially if someone that we know and love and care

about comes to us with questions we can feel like

we're getting punched in the gut but it is

critically important for us to keep

our faces as neutral as possible

to hear what they're saying and then to respond with God's affection that he

gives to us through the Holy Spirit and with the truth about who God is and

what he has done in this world.

Because we can easily come upon people and we can easily overreact and say,

well, you just got to believe.

Well, you just got to put more work and effort into serving God and into experiencing

God when we just need to sit with God and we need to let his words come upon us, change us.

And remind us of how amazing God is.

Finishing out the scripture lesson. We read, as John's disciples were leaving.

Jesus began talking about him, John the Baptist, to the crowds.

What kind of man did you go into

the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed swayed by every breath of wind?

Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes?

No people with expensive clothes live in palaces.

Were you looking for a prophet? Yes.

And he is more than a prophet.

John is the man to whom the scriptures refer when they say, look,

I am sending my messenger ahead of you and he will prepare your way before you.

And so publicly speaking, Jesus didn't condemn John the Baptist for his disbelief.

Publicly speaking, he commended him.

And he said, hey, it's, in my interpretation, it's okay to have doubts.

It's okay to have a differing, you don't understand exactly what I'm doing at

this moment in time. Remember, John's in prison.

He is not living the best life that he wanted to live. and it's okay to understand

or to question whether or not that I am just.

It is okay to question whether or not I am real.

These aren't things that you have to be scared of. And when we process through

them in a way where we talk to God and we talk to fellow believers,

when we come under the authority of his word and my experience.

That's when our faith grows and matures quicker than in any other time.

I have a friend who I shared with him how much I appreciate that I believe helped

me overcome my unbelief.

And he couldn't wrap his head around that statement.

There are some of us who are gifted with the spiritual gift of faith.

Where we believe, where we just know it's right and God is real.

And then there's people like me who still have questions, who still may not

understand things, who still every once in a while,

at my stage in my development with God, I still think,

am I doing what God wants me to do?

And I still think, is God worth following?

And I'm here today to tell you it's okay to question.

I tell a lot of people, always ask questions because it shows me one thing.

You are interested in learning.

And when we're interested in learning, especially about God,

I believe we will grow and mature and we will become the people that God wants us to be.

And so in our interactions with our own doubts and in our interactions with

the doubts of other people, ultimately, Jesus responds lovingly, with kindness,

not beating someone down for it, and not even being threatened by it.

Says, basically, what did the scriptures say and what's going on right now?

And so when we interact with people, I really want to encourage you to keep a straight face,

even though it feels like sometimes you can be punched in the gut,

and then give that person your ear and then relay all of the information that

you know about God's goodness and his mercy from your experience and from scripture to that person.

Ultimately, it's between them and God. But as we follow after Jesus,

this is what he shows to us in reacting to doubt.

Let me pray. Lord God Almighty, we come before you today and we thank you for

the minds that you have given to us and those that we know and love and those

that we are trying to influence for you and your purposes.

And I pray, Father, that

you will give us the strength and the courage to have our doubts be shared with

you in open and honest dialogue and also with fellow believers who can influence

us in ways that honor and glorify you.

And then, Father, I pray that as we interact with people who are sharing doubts with us.

That you will give us the ability to love them, that you will give us the ability

to hear them, and that you will give us the words to say in response to them.

Jesus, I lay this all at your feet as our King and Master and Lord.

Thank you again for joining us in our discussion of how to respond to doubts in us and in others.

This questions series was designed

to promote inquisitive thinking in and amongst followers of Jesus.

Remember, it is good to ask questions. Questions show you want to learn.

Be curious and always ask questions.

Next week, we will begin our next series, which will be on the historical evidences

of the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ is not raised, then our faith is useless.

So we ask the question, what can we know, historically speaking,

about the resurrection of Jesus?

And the answer is quite a bit. Join us next time as we start discovering what

history tells us about Jesus' resurrection.