John 20:24–31 (NIV)

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Permission to Dream Again

Introduction

One of the things that has fascinates me is how we process events and information before and after 2020. Obviously this is a reference to what the world was like before and after COVID-19 caused a global pandemic.

I think we have many casual conversations about life, and we slide in, “this was before COVID”.

For example… do you remember when tipping was 15% before COVID? Now, the minimum that is asked is 18%. And it used to be that 18% was for a large party, and now it’s 20% for a large party.

What happened? COVID happened. And eating out has never been the same.

Pastors do this with church attendance.

We’ll before COVID we were 500 in attendance, but now we are 350.

There was a shift.

I heard someone say that they wanted to do that with their weight… You know, before COVID I was 160 lbs. I was lean. But now I walk around at 180. But that’s because of COVID.

Now I’ve chosen a pretty small examples, but there are bigger shifts that some of you have had to make after 2020.

And some of those shifts have caused you to feel like you lost time.

You’re falling behind your peers. You’re never going to catch up. Since 2020 some goals and dreams you had have been put on hold.

But what I’ve also seen is that we serve someone who is not bound by the limitations of the post-pandemic world that we live in.

And when we are at the place when we feel like WE are losing pace, or that WE are falling behind, then we’ve got to stop looking at ourselves and start looking to Jesus.

Transition

And todays as we close our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting I want to speak directly into the areas of your life where you have put the focus on yourself, rather than putting your focus on Jesus.

Text

In John’s gospel we read about some of the events after Jesus’ resurrection. It is believed that after Jesus resurrected, he remained on this earth for about 40 days before ascending to heaven.

On one occasion Jesus appears to his disciples and all of them are there with the exception of one disciple named Thomas.

When the disciples tell Thomas what happened, and that Jesus appeared to them, Thomas simply said, “That’s cap.”

I’m sorry, that’s not what he said, but that’s what my boys would have said. What Thomas really said was, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Of course, this statement earned him the nickname Doubting Thomas.

Imagine that.

Thomas, is actually being very rational when he said that.

Thomas is not a crazy person for believing that the man that he saw die, and was there when they buried him in a tomb, and saw when they put a stone at the entrance of the tomb, to believe that there was no way for Jesus to raise from the dead, roll the stone away all by himself, and then magically appear to everyone but him.

This felt like a bit of a cruel joke and everyone was in on it but him.

So for being a reasonable person, and for being a logical person, Thomas tells them, I gotta see it to believe it.

Everyone But Thomas

I want us to try and sit with a Thomas for a bit this morning. I want us to be present with him and pretend like we don’t know the ending from the beginning.

Thomas had just given the last three and a half years of his life to following this man named Jesus. He left home and devoted himself to Jesus and his gospel.

What kind of person was Thomas?

I’ll tell you the kind of person Thomas was…

There was a time in the scriptures when Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick in Bethany. The last time Jesus was in Bethany the religious mob tried to kill him. His disciples decided that for self preservation they would avoid Bethany at all costs.

That is until Lazarus was sick. This was going to be difficult because Lazarus was one of Jesus’ besties.

How do I know that? Because when Lazarus died Jesus wept. He was close to Lazarus. He wanted to go and do something about the condition he was in.

But the disciples upon learning that Jesus wanted to go be with Lazarus all spoke up and said, “If you go back to Bethany they are going to kill you!”

The only person who was Jesus’ ride or die in that moment was Thomas.

Thomas said, “Then I’m coming with you Jesus so that I can die with you.”

Come on how many of you have a friend like Thomas? How many of you got a friend that will never let you go alone? They are equally faithful AND crazy.

This is who Thomas was. He was all in for Jesus. He was committed to this life that he was living.

He was, as the millennials say, “about that life.”

So when Jesus dies… Thomas needs time to process. He pulls back from he others. He’s no longer with the other ten disciples.

Where is he?

We don’t really know… but his absence is felt.

I’m Not Good

And if we are honest with ourselves, we can understand how Thomas felt and why he wanted to stay away.

I have seen this happen in the church when someone goes through a painful experience and the natural response to that pain is to pull away.

When our dreams die, and our plans do go the way we wanted them to, we also disappear.

You see there are five cycles of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

By observing the text I can conclude a few things about where Thomas is. He wasn’t there when the other disciples ran to the tomb. He was in denial of everything that had happened. He wasn’t there when everyone gathered together in that home. He was in anger because of what had happened.

But then they said Jesus came to the house, he was now bargaining when he said, “Unless I see him and touch him for myself, I won’t believe.”

You see when Jesus died, Thomas’ dreams died with him.

Thomas was supposed to die, not Jesus.

Thomas was supposed to be there with Jesus until the very end, but he wasn’t

This wasn’t how things were supposed to end. But they did. And Thomas is not good.

But then, Jesus…

But then Jesus shows up…

And Jesus doesn’t just show up, Jesus. Shows. Up.

The text gives us a clue about the kind of entrance that Jesus is about to make. The text tells us that just eight days later all the disciples are once again gathered together, and Thomas is there with them this time.

Once everyone had gathered in the home, the door was closed.

This is an important detail that is inserted into the text.

The reason for that detail is because Jesus appears to them in the room. He doesn’t walk into the room. No, he would have to open a door in order to do that. He simply appears to them by manifesting himself from the spirit into the flesh and he is now standing among them.

Closed doors keep people out, but they don’t keep God out.

Throughout this series we have been talking about an Open Door. Many of us are excited about open doors in our lives and the potential for God to open doors in our lives.

We know that doors that are closed are closed to keep us out.

But I need to remind some of you today that no door that is closed could ever keep Jesus out.

The doctor could have said, there’s nothing we can do. The door is now closed. The healing you need is closed to everyone but Jesus.

The lender could have said there’s nothing we can do. The door is now closed. That financing you need is closed to everyone but Jesus.

That relationship could be in such a bad place that the door to reconciliation seems closed. That relationship you want is closed to everyone but Jesus.

So Lighthouse, when the door is closed, that just means that you are done. But it also means that Jesus is just getting started.

God’s greatest work is done when the doors are closed.

Oh I know that when we see a closed door we think it’s over, but that’s when the Lord is just getting started. That’s when Jesus begins to start stretching. He’s getting warmed up because he’s about to do the impossible.

You see, when they buried Jesus in the tomb. The Bible says that the rolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb. It wasn’t until the stone covered the tomb that Jesus could get ready for his resurrection. So while everyone weeped over the stone, Jesus understood the assignment. When they closed to the door to the tomb, Jesus started standing on business.

We read here in John 20 that the disciples were not just gathered in the home, but that they shut the doors to the home. When the doors were shut, that’s when Jesus decided to show up and to reveal his resurrected self to them.

Can I give you one more? It’s so obvious in the text that many of you have read this and missed it…

Matthew 6:6 (NIV)

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Do you see it?

Don’t just go to your room, and don’t just go to prayer, but when you get there close the door.

Why?

Because God does his best work when the doors are closed.

When you close the door, that’s when God opens heaven! And that very ordinary place of prayer, now becomes a supernatural place for God to do the impossible.

God Opens Closed Doors

As a church we are believing for open doors. We are believing that God is going to do supernatural things here and among our church. But in order for us to experience an Open Door, we first have to experience a closed door.

Closed doors are not final. Some doors are closed so that you can pray them open.

Some doors are closed so that you can fast them open.

Some doors are closed so that when God opens the door, no man can take credit for the miracle that God did.

And I think, and this is purely my speculation, but God reveals himself through the closed doors in our life.

Let me try and explain it this way…

There are many names of God in the scripture that reveal to us who he is.

Jehovah Jireh - The Lord our Provider

Jehovah Rapha - The Lord our Healer

Jehovah Shalom - The Lord our Peace

Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is Present

And there are more… but I just want to make the point…

You don’t know the fulness of Jesus until he reveals himself to you through the doors that have been closed in our lives.

So it’s not until you are at the end of your finances, and you don’t know how you are going to make it, that you will know Jehovah Jireh. Because when every door has been closed, and then God miraculously provides for you, it is only then that you can say you are Jehovah Jireh - My provider!

It’s not until you are sick in your body and medicine can’t fix you, that God will step in and heal your body. It’s only then that you can say, Jehovah Rapha - the Lord my healder!

I’s not until your life has been turned upside down and everything about you is going crazy that Jesus can step in and give you peace. That’s when you can say Jehovah Shalom - the Lord my peace!

And it’s not until you’ve felt completely abandoned by everyone you love and then you encounter the love of Jesus, and you say Jehovah Shammah - the Lord has always been with me.

Can I just say it this way?

If you won’t go to your room, and close the door to meet with him, then he might allow some doors to close so that you’ve got no choice but to meet with him.

Permission to Dream Again (Conclusion)

Jesus re-enters the room where the disciples are and this time Thomas is there. Jesus knows that Thomas had begun to lose his way. He knows that Thomas was noticeably absent and he is aware of his remarks, that unless he sees him for himself and touches him for himself, he would not believe the others.

So what does Jesus do?

He looks right at Thomas and tells him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side…”

It is almost as if Jesus was there when Thomas told his disciples what it would take in order for him to believe again, but he wasn’t. At least he wasn’t there in person. And yet Jesus knew exactly what it would take in order for Thomas to believe again.

And Jesus knows exactly what it is going to take for some of you to believe again.

The door is closed, but dream is open.

You can begin to dream again. You can begin to believe again.

After this moment, we don’t read much about what happened with Thomas. From the Book of Acts it’s relatively silent about his journey.

But in the Third Century some manuscripts are discovered. And these manuscripts are called The Acts of Thomas. And in these manuscripts we read that Thomas left Jerusalem around 50 AD and he went to India to preach the gospel, and where he would eventually die. To this day the Saint Thomas Christians of Southern India attribute their faith to Doubting Thomas who came and preached Jesus them.

How did Thomas die?

He was speared in Chennai, a City in India. His remains are still there to this day.

And though this Thomas did not die with Jesus, as he so boldly proclaimed that he wanted to do. He died like Jesus, who was also speared in his side.

When Thomas stopped dreaming, Jesus didn’t. God wasn’t done with him yet.

And I’m here to tell you that God is not done with you yet.

Call