FAITHFUL THOMAS
One of the most misunderstood characters of the New Testament was an Apostle named Thomas Didymus, otherwise known as “doubting Thomas”.
We have all heard of “Doubting Thomas”, the disciple who refused to believe in the resurrected Lord until he saw Jesus and felt of the wounds in Jesus’ hands and feet. Thomas was a very practical person. He wasn’t easily convinced that things were as they appeared. Some might even say that he would have made a good citizen in Missouri, the “Show Me State” or that he had an attitude like a Missouri Mule. He seemed like the kind of man who would not accept anything at face value but had to prove everything.
I know a lot of people like that, don’t you? Some of them not only act like mules in their unmovable, stubbornness but they look like them too, with a long frown like they have been eating briars, or with their long ears, listening to catch every wind of gossip, or with their braying lips that announce to the whole world that they are right and everyone else is wrong.
But let’s not put down too hard on Thomas. After all, he is so much like many of us that it is uncanny.
Thomas was just going about his daily routine when his whole life was suddenly changed. Jesus walked up to him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and called Thomas by name to come and follow him.
After having examined the attitude, heart and life of Thomas, there is no doubt that the words that Jesus spoke on that shore were very powerful and persuasive. Jesus had to only speak and call Thomas once and Thomas threw down his nets, never turned back and followed Jesus until the day that Thomas died.
What was there in Thomas’ life that brought Jesus to Galilee that day to call him out of the crowd? What did Jesus see in him that no one else could see? Let’s examine Thomas’ life and see if we can learn what Jesus looks for in a disciple!
Thomas was a twin. That’s what the surname “Didymus” meant, that he was a twin. As a twin it seems that Thomas didn’t even have a life all his own. He was probably always being mistaken for his twin and everyone would say how much alike he and his twin were or how much they acted alike. Was it the fact that Thomas was a twin that made Jesus call him out?
Thomas was also a champion pessimist. Some people look at a glass half full, but Thomas sees it half empty. He is a strong personality, full of fight and courage, but also has a streak of fatalism. He always saw the dark cloud but never the silver lining.
I have known a lot of people like Thomas. It seems that they can brighten up the atmosphere in the room just by walking out of the door. If you ask them how they are doing, they won’t hesitate to empty all their doubts, fears, troubles, trials and tests on you. If you felt good when you asked them, you certainly will feel bad before they are finished. People like Thomas have a negative attitude and see the worst in every situation. Most people don’t like to hang out with somebody like Thomas because it seems that a dark cloud with rain follows him wherever he goes.
Perhaps it was the fact that Thomas was such a negative person and needed a lot of guidance, was why Jesus called Thomas out of the crown. I wonder.
Thomas was also very impulsive. When Jesus called him there was no hesitation. He didn’t ask to go say goodbye to his family. He didn’t ask to stay long enough to sell off his fishing equipment. He didn’t even stay long enough to sell off his catch of fish. Thomas just dropped everything and walked off into the sunset, and into the pages of immortality, as a follower of Jesus.
Isn’t it great to find people who will leave all to follow Jesus? There aren’t many like him anymore. Perhaps it was that impulsive nature of Thomas that Jesus saw!
Let me give you a few examples of the kind of man that Thomas was.
When Jesus was got the news that his friend Lazarus was sick and then told his disciples that Lazarus was already dead, he told them that they would have to go down to Bethany to see Jesus’ friends.
Judea, where Bethany was located, wasn’t a very hospitable place for Jesus or his disciples. It had only been a short time since the religious mobs had tried to stone Jesus, and now he was going back into that same place again. Look at the attitude of Thomas in John 11:16, "Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas just knew that this was the end for all of them.
One thing I will say for Thomas is that he didn’t refuse to go even though he knew that it meant death to go. He would stay with Jesus and follow him no matter what the outcome.
Would to God that there were more Christians today with a Thomas attitude. We might not like to hang around with negative thinking people like Thomas but it is always good to know that there are people you can count on when the going gets rough. I have had a few friends over the years who would stay by my side even when the going got rough and the future wasn’t certain and it looked as though things could never work out. Thank God for the Thomas’s in my life.
Another example of the negative attitude that Thomas had can be found when Jesus began to talk about the time when he would go away and prepare a place for those who followed him in Heaven.
John 14:1-6, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Can you sense what Thomas might have been thinking at that moment in his life as a follower of Jesus? What’s all this talk about mansions and where are you going Jesus? If I don’t even know where you are going, how in the world can you expect me to know the way? Am I a mind reader? Talk to me Jesus. I need to understand what you mean.
It is as though Thomas has not grasped one thing about Jesus. He didn’t understand that Jesus was the Son of God. He didn’t understand that Jesus had come to die on the cross. He didn’t know that Jesus was going away. He didn’t know where Jesus was going. And he surely didn’t know how to get where Jesus would be after he left.
Have you ever felt like Thomas, walking around in a cloud of despair, listening for God’s words but not hearing or understanding them, wondering what is going to happen next, and lost in life’s maze of confused pathways.
A few days ago we took the youth and a few members from the church and we went through the “Corn Maize”, a puzzle that has been cut and marked out in an 8 acre corn field just south of LSU on Nicholson Drive. The youth thought that they were going to really get me lost, and they probably would have, if it had not been for the guide at the gate to the maze. I had the wrong map. It was hard enough to follow the map with the right map. I might still be there if it hadn’t been for the guide. There were people wandering all around that corn field, up and down the trails, back-tracking, repeating the same paths over and again, until finally someone would point them in the right direction. If it had not been for someone who knew the way and a correct map they could have wandered for days and never found the way through. Does that sound like life to you?
I can’t tell you the number of times when my life seemed like a maze and I didn’t know which way to turn. Not only that, but there have been a number of times when I thought I knew what Jesus wanted me to do and where He wanted me to go, but later found out that I was still lost in confusion because I didn’t fully grasp what the Holy Spirit was trying to say to me.
I can look around and see a lot of other people who have been totally lost in life’s maze as well. Thank the Lord that there is a road map for life and there is the Holy Ghost who leads us into the right paths. There are so many who stay in a continual state of confusion because they have not learned to follow His leading or to study the road map.
We can’t point too many fingers at “Doubting Thomas” because we have more fingers pointing right back at us. We are all guilty of being negative like Thomas at times. We are guilty of being lost in confusion like Thomas from time to time! Perhaps it was Thomas’ confusion and lost condition that caused Jesus to call him forth from the crowds that day? After all, Thomas seemed more confused than most and was a constant worrier that he would never find his way. Maybe Jesus saw a chance to point Thomas in the right direction. I know that’s what he saw in most of us.
The next scene in the life of Thomas can be seen as his whole world and all that he has lived for falls apart. Thomas sees Jesus arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and Thomas runs for his life. He watches at a distance as they nail Jesus, his guide and master, to a cross on the grounds of Golgotha. As Jesus’ life drains away, so does Thomas’s hope.
Thomas is left in shock and disillusionment. He is dazed, hurt, and bitter and he is lashing out in his pain, having lost faith in what Jesus had taught over the past years. He is so angry that he refuses to even sit down to dinner with the other disciples and he is the only one absent when Jesus appears as the Resurrected Savior in the midst of the meal.
Then the other disciples go looking for Thomas and tell him what has happened concerning this appearance of Jesus from the grave, but Thomas won’t believe it anymore. He is so hurt, so angry that he doesn’t want to hear the truth anymore and his mulish attitude really shows now. Thomas is afraid to believe anymore – afraid that his faith will be betrayed once again. I can just imagine that at that moment in his life, Thomas has vowed to never trust in another man again!
"I don’t believe it," he says. "I don’t believe a word of it. You’re seeing what you want to see. Jesus is dead. I saw him die, and part of me died with him. But he’s dead, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better off you’ll be. Give it up!"
Peter tries to reason with him, "Thomas, I saw him myself, I tell you, and he was as real as you are!"
But Thomas is cold, bitter and unbelieving, and with an edge in his voice that cuts like s knife he says to Peter, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
Thomas’s anger begins to cool and in a few days he is eating again with his fellow disciples in the same locked room. Suddenly, Jesus stands among them once again and speaks -- "Shalom, peace be with you."
In one swift moment, all of the anger, the unbelief, the frustration, the disappointment in Thomas is swept away and faith again dawns in his heart. Thomas falls on his knees, crying in repentance and crying out loud. Jesus reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. At that one touch from the Master’s hand, Thomas’ heart bursts into joy and worship as he shouts out, "My Lord and my God!"
I don’t know about you but I have been there with Thomas. There have been times when it seemed that all hope was lost, that life had taken the wrong turn, and there was no way to ever overcome the obstacles that lay ahead.
It seemed that the Heavens were brass and no prayer could get through and my words only fell to the ground at my feet. I could not pray. I could not think of scriptures to ease the pain. I could not find any hope in anything I tried. It seemed that God had forsaken me and I could only find emptiness and bitterness.
But thank God, that’s when Jesus comes again. Thank God that’s when he recognizes my need for a Savior, a friend, a Deliverer and someone to care. Many people may have cared but none could deliver, none but Jesus. All of my hope is in Him! All of my life is in Him! All of my dreams are in Him!
The final place where I want to take you in the life of Thomas is found in the first few chapters of the Book of Acts.
There we find Thomas, along with about 120 other disciples, in an upper room. It was the time of the Feast of Pentecost and when that great, final day of the feast arrived, suddenly, a mighty wind from Heaven blew through the room and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with fire and speaking in other tongues was thrust upon them.
Thomas is never again recorded as a doubter. He continues faithful to the very end, serving Jesus as one of the greatest Apostles of the ages.
And so, as we come to the close of this message, let us look at what Jesus really saw in Thomas that day on the shores of Galilee. What Jesus saw was not just a confused man, a face in the crowd, and a man in need of deliverance. It wasn’t just a man with a negative outlook on life and a hurt and bitter spirit. What Jesus saw in Thomas was a man who would be faithful unto death in serving him after it was all over.
That’s what Jesus saw in every one of those disciples and that’s what Jesus sees in you right now. You might feel as though it’s all over. All you can see is the black cloud of doubt, fear, frustration, anger and hurt. But keep going on with Jesus and the clouds will break away and you too will be set free by the Resurrected Lord of Glory.
Blessed are those who, like Thomas, must feel, see and touch before they believe. But even more blessed are those who will believe and walk on in faith without having to see, touch and feel. Blessed are those whose faith is true and who will trust in Jesus no matter what comes!
JESUS SAW THOMAS AS A MAN OF FAITH! IS THAT WHAT JESUS SEES IN YOU?
Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
