Reasonable Doubt Week 1

When you doubt God is real, look to Jesus.

[INTRODUCTION]

Raise your hand if you’ve seen footage of the Apollo 11 moonwalk, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon for the very first time.

The Apollo 11 moonwalk happened in 1969, more than 50 years ago. Some of the adults in your life were alive then.

Even with these facts, it’s difficult to imagine isn’t it? None of us have ever been to space, to be able to say without a shadow of doubt that we’ve seen the footprints ourselves. We can only trust others who have been there and witnessed it.

Where do you think doubt comes from?

It could be a collection of thoughts you’ve had that have grown over time. By the time you notice you’re doubting, it may have actually been happening for a while.

Or maybe your doubt began to form because something happened to you or you noticed something happening around you. Questions built up over time until—poof! You’ve got doubt.

[TRANSITION]

Everyone doubts things. We doubt...

Ourselves

People around us.

Stuff we use to believe in.

Ideas.

The safety of things.

Or even if God is real.

Doubting God may feel scary or even wrong, but over the next few weeks we’re going to work through the idea that doubt can actually be a pretty reasonable thing to do. Believe it or not, doubt can help us grow closer to God.

[TRANSITION]

When we were kids, we were all great question-askers. No one has to give a kid permission to be curious. But there’s usually a shift when we start to grow up and begin to wonder if our questions are okay. We might even worry what other people might think if we asked our questions openly.

Maybe you don’t voice questions because you don’t want to seem critical.

Maybe you stay quiet because you don’t want to seem confused.

When it comes to faith or belief in God, perhaps someone told you to “just believe it, don’t ask questions,” so you don’t want to seem disobedient.

But questions, instead of being the enemy of faith, can actually help us to have an even deeper faith?

What caused you to doubt recently?

Maybe it was the thing you learned in science that makes you wonder if science and belief in God can coexist.

It could be the loss of someone you loved that makes it difficult to stay hopeful.

The prophets in the Bible were familiar with doubt. They were often asked to deliver messages from God to people who doubted God or God's promises.

Like a parent telling a kid the same thing over and over, the prophets of the Bible got involved when God’s people estruggled to trust or follow God. Sometimes God’s people . . .

Become rebellious while waiting on God.

Had conflict with other nations.

Became guilty of harming or oppressing others.

Began to lose faith in the promise of the coming Messiah.

The book of Isaiah says this...

Isaiah 41:9–10 CSB

9 I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are my servant; I have chosen you; I haven’t rejected you. 10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah says God knows the people of Israel are fearful, but God isn't offended by their fear. Instead, God says, "I am with you. Don't be afraid."

We have a similar process from Jesus.

But when Jesus was here on earth, things weren't perfect. His disciples had doubt and questioned what God was doing. Their doubt must have been obvious to Jesus because it was once the subject of their dinner conversation.

John 14:1–14 CSB

1 “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. 4 You know the way to where I am going.” 5 “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. 12 “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Right after the meal, Jesus said, "Don't let your fears worry you," even though there was real reason to be troubled. Jesus had just . . .

Said one of them was a traitor.

Predicted one of them would deny ever knowing him.

Let them know he'd be leaving them and they couldn't go with him.

After three years of traveling, witnessing miracles, and hearing Jesus' teachings together, the disciples believed Jesus was the one who had come to save them. They believed he would overthrow the Roman Empire and become the rightful king — but now everything they had imagined was being taken away. It was probably confusing, disappointing, and surprising.

Knowing this, Jesus tells his followers they have a place in God's presence along with him. It's a place with many rooms, where a spot is being prepared just for them.

If that sounds strange or at all confusing to you, you're not alone. The disciple Thomas had some questions too.

Thomas was willing to ask the questions that probably all of the disciples were thinking: "Wait, so where is this place? How do we get there? We'd love to go be with God, but you haven't even told us the way!"

To which Jesus simply said, "I am the way." If the disciples wanted to get to God — to finally be in God's presence and know without a doubt God was real and could be trusted — then they needed to look to Jesus and follow him.

Like Thomas, it’s okay to admit we don't know everything. If Jesus' own disciples still doubted God could be trusted sometimes, I think it is okay for us to admit we're sometimes confused too. Jesus wasn't offended by the disciples' questions, and he isn't offended by ours either.

When our doubts and questions leave us feeling confused or lost, Jesus didn’t just say he’d "show" us the way. He said he is the way. Because we can trust Jesus to lead us to God, when you doubt God is real, look to Jesus.

[TRANSITION]

It can feel embarrassing to have questions. We might feel...

Insecure.

Suspicious about things followers of Jesus might say.

Confused about science and the story of creation.

Uneasy about conversations about heaven and hell.

Disoriented when we witness hurt, grief, brokenness or injustice in the world.

Questions matter to us very much and we need a safe environment where we can explore them.

[ILLUSTRATION]

The Hubble telescope is a solar-powered telescope sending pictures and data from outer space to earth.

It was launched on April 24, 1990 on board the space shuttle Discovery and was launched into orbit one day later.

It's a high-tech miracle that has been serviced five times, on missions from 1993 to 2009. The thing that makes it work are the mirrors that capture the images and data sent to Earth.

Can you imagine having such an amazing form of communication and data but never looking to it or processing any of the information? Every year we learn new things about ourselves and creation, but only because we keep looking to the telescope for clues and help.

Jesus isn't a telescope. But when we doubt, Jesus is a little bit like the Hubble's mirrors, showing us images of what's true.

Like the depths of space, there are so many things we don't understand and might even frighten us — like the question, "Is God even real?"

When the world spent centuries waiting to see if God's promise of a Savior could be trusted, Jesus showed up as the image of God, in real life.

And even today, when we have questions, Jesus invites us to look to him as the image of what God is like.

Jesus shows us that not only is God real, but God loves us, heals us, helps us, forgives us, and is so patient with us.