Dealing with Doubt

Joshua Harris

In 2005, I went to the Passion conference in Nashville. A conference for Young adults and college students that is still going on today.

Some of my favorite preachers of the day were speaking at the conference.

John Piper, Louie Giglio, and the guy I was probably most excited about, Joshua Harris.

Josh Harris was like 30 years old at the time and was the pastor of big, influential church outside of DC.

By this time, he had written 4 books and I had read them all and listened to a decent amount of his sermons.

I had only been a Christian for a couple of years and this young, charismatic preacher had become somewhat of a mentor to me in my young faith.

I can remember listening to his breakout about being committed to a local church family while I sat on the floor of Rockettown in downtown Nashville.

Fast-forward almost 15 years later, in 2019, Joshua Harris posted a long message on Instagram announcing that he no longer considered himself to be a Christian.

I admittedly hadn’t followed him for a number of years, but it was quite a shock nonetheless.

This guy that I looked up to early in my faith, someone who seemed so passionate, confident, and joy-filled in his faith had somehow come to a place where faith in Jesus no longer seemed reasonable.

I have listened to and read several interviews and writings from Josh Harris over the past 5 or so years, trying to figure out what led to this change of direction.

In the early 20-teens, the church Josh pastored went through a difficult time due to some failures in leadership that predated him, but Josh took the brunt of the backlash.

That challenging season led him to leave pastoral ministry and he moved across the country to start a new journey.

Harris had grown up in a Christian home, homeschooled by his parents, and in his late teens he moved to Maryland to be mentored by the pastor of the church he would later lead.

So when the world he had been brought up in and found his identity in crumbled around him, Josh’s response was to question the whole system he had lived his life in.

I tell you this story because doubt is something every Christian will encounter throughout their life of faith.

We often taught (either directly or indirectly) that doubt is bad, or even that doubt is sinful.

And because of that, many of us struggle to admit our doubts and struggles with faith. Choosing instead to hide them with confident smiles and trivial Christian slogans.

But doubt is real and it isn’t something we need to ignore, in ourselves or in those around us.

Doubt is at the center of Matthew chapter 12 and in these 30 verses, Jesus shows us the reality of doubt, the roots of where our doubts come from, His posture toward those who doubt, the dangers of runaway doubt, and the way through doubt.

So that is our journey today—> Roots of our Doubt, Jesus’s Attitude toward Doubt, Dangers of Runaway Doubt, and The Way Through Doubt.

We are going to walk through this chapter section by section as we look at each of these ideas.

Five Realities About Doubt

John the Baptist Doubts

Matthew 11:1–3 CSB

1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns. 2 Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples 3 and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

John the Baptist was Jesus’s cousins, and John was a very important person in the story of Jesus.

Matthew tells us early on the John was the one the prophets told would come and prepare the way for the Messiah, the Savior King coming to redeem the world.

And John knew this was who he was. Early in the Gospel of Matthew, John is preaching and baptizing people in the Jordan river, calling the to repentance because the Messiah is coming into the world.

John was arguable Jesus’s most loyal, passionate, and serious follower, and his passion and conviction had led him to a prison cell when he confronted Herod Antipas after his divorce and remarriage to his brother’s wife.

So as John is in his prison cell, hearing about all that Jesus was teaching and doing, he began to question whether or not Jesus really was the Messiah he had thought He was.

This is do easy to miss if we don’t stop here and consider what we just read.

Jesus’s most loyal follower, who had lived his entire life (more that 30 years) believing that his cousin was the promised Messiah come to save the world, and who had been going throughout Roman world preaching and calling people to repentance in preparation for this Messiah.

This man had began to doubt.

Don’t miss this significance of this, of why God led Matthew to include this story in his account of Jesus’s life.

Jesus wants us to see that Doubt is REAL and doubt is NORMAL.

1) Doubt is NORMAL.

If you have had the belief that it is wrong or even sinful to have doubts about your faith or about the Christian faith, then let John’s words be a comfort to your wearied heart.

Doubt is a normal part of the Christian life.

One author describes doubts as “the growing pains of faith.”

Seasons of doubt give us the opportunity to look more closely at what we believe and why we believe it.

Doubt isn’t a sign that someone has walked away from the faith, but rather is a process of faith being matured.

Now we are going to talk about the dangers of doubt in a few minutes, but it is important to understand that doubt isn’t something to be avoided, ignored, or hidden.

Parents, your kids are going to have questions, don’t shy away from them, instead seek out answers.

Students, don’t hesitate to make your doubts and questions known.

Come to me or Andy or find someone who will actually help you search for an answer.

John doesn’t sit in his cell and keep his doubts to himself, he admits and asks questions to the right person.

And Jesus’s attitude toward his doubt isn’t frustration, anger, or disgust, He kindly and patiently answers John’s questions.

He goes on in verse 11 to say:

Matthew 11:11 CSB

11 “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Jesus’s attitude toward doubt is grace, patience, kindness, and help.

We can come to Jesus with our doubts.

Matthew 11:4–10 CSB

4 Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, 6 and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.” 7 As these men were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? See, those who wear soft clothes are in royal palaces. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.

Jesus responds to John with a list of examples of all that He is doing that point back to OT prophesies made about the Messiah.

Jesus knows John is very well acquainted with the Bible and that John has come to some conclusions about the Messiah that has led him to doubt whether Jesus is actually the one he thought He was.

John believed, like most Jews of his day, that the Messiah was coming into the world as a conquering King, who would overthrow the Roman government and reestablish the Kingdom of God on earth.

That is one reason John had such boldness to confront the King of Judea and end up in prison.

So you could understand why John began to doubt the identity of Jesus when he heard He was going around healing and preaching rather than fighting and beating up Roman leaders.

John was struggling to make sense of who he believed Jesus to be with what he was experiencing of Jesus.

This is a root of doubt (where doubt comes from).

2) Doubt has ROOTS.

We all face difficult life situations and trials.

Like us, John the Baptist was struggling to reconcile his life situation with what he believed about the Christian faith and the character of God.

Doubt sprouts from the moments and seasons in life where we face pain and difficulty.

When we are faced with the questions “Do I really believe this stuff? Do I really trust that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purposes?”

John was facing a crisis of faith. Was Jesus really the one he had believed Him to be? Could he believe in Him? Trust Him?

Related to difficulties in life, doubts also come from unmet expectations we place on God.

John, along with most of the Jewish people of his day, believe the Messiah would be a military leader, who would fight against the godless Romans and reestablish the Kingdom as it was in the days of David.

John was looking for signs, looking for marks of the Messiah in the life of Jesus and was struggling to see them.

Our unmet expectations reveal more about us than they do about God.

We tend to hold God to promises that He has never made.

Just a couple chapters back we walked through chapter 8 and 9, where Matthew records 10 miracles Jesus performed during His ministry.

We can read those miracle stories and draw the conclusion that Jesus will heal any disease or disability we have if we pray with enough faith.

But the promise to Christians is that our sickness and pain will be healed, either in this life or the one to come.

We believe God desires us to be happy and healthy in life because the bible says He loves us.

But God’s definition of happiness and contentment in this life is far different than what ours is naturally.

The struggles and pain we face in life aren’t indications that God isn’t who He said He was, but that He isn’t who we always think He should be.

He is much wiser than we could ever be and much more gracious than we deserve.

Thirdly, related to unmet expectations is misinterpretation.

Jesus gives John’s disciples a list to bring back to John.

It was a list of all that Jesus had been doing, and the Old Testament prophesies where those very things were given as signs of the Messiah.

Jesus’s correction to John was kind and caring, but He was pointing out that John had misunderstood how the Messiah would come initially.

He had misinterpreted the signs of the Savior.

Much of the misinterpretation in our day is rooted more so in our lack of engagement with the Word.

Or too much of a reliance on others to teach us about God and His Word.

When teachers or leaders or people we deem trustworthy fail to represent the ideas we had about God through them, doubt is bound to follow.

Jesus points John to the right path, the right picture of Him.

And that is often what we need, whether it is in the middle of a trial, or when our expectations are unmet, or we don’t see God from the right perspective.

But what happens when we let doubt go too far?

Matthew 11:16–24 CSB

16 “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children: 17 We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn! 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” 20 Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago. 22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today. 24 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

After John’s disciples leave, Jesus turns to the crowd.

It seems as if questions and conversations had emerged from Jesus’s exchange with John’s disciples.

John had come to Jesus with his doubts and struggles, but Jesus is quick to put a stop to any questions of John character or credibility.

He affirms John’s faith and his confirms his position and identity as a the last great prophet of God.

Then Jesus begins to confront the crowd. Who doubts seem to have moved to a place far more dangerous than John’s.

Or their doubts were actually just unbelief all together.

Talking about the difference between doubt and unbelief Alister McGrath says

“Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a deliberate decision to reject Jesus Christ and all that he stands for. But doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within the context of faith. It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust.”

3) Doubt is DANGEROUS.

Jesus begins with an analogy to describe those steeped in runaway doubt or blatant unbelief.

In this time period, families go to the market places on a regular basis and their children would come with them.

While the adults shopped, the kids would go out in a common place to play games.

There 2 favorite games were “wedding” and “funeral”.

They would put on a wedding and afterward their would be instruments played and people would dance and celebrate.

Once the wedding was over, they would choose one person to play the dead person and they would act out a funeral service, music and all.

The image Jesus gives us is of one of the kids standing on the sideline, arms crossed, eyes squinted, and lips pressed together in anger.

You guys all know that kid, and if you don’t it is likely because you ARE that kid.

It is the kid that always has a reason to complain, to critique, and to get upset for when things do go his/her way.

Like that kid, Jesus compares those He is speaking to with the critical kid who is looking for reasons to be complain.

Those in the crowd that day had allowed their doubts to get into a place of cynicism and criticality.

Standing on the outside of those following Jesus, poking hole if everything they could find.

They called out John, claiming he must be from the devil because of his weird diet and clothing choices.

And then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, they accused Jesus of being too loose and too open with His lifestyle and who He hung out with.

Doubt can lead us down the same road as Jesus is describing here.

It starts with real and valid questions, prompted by one of the roots we walked through already.

But those questions begin to grow as we start to find other reasons to doubt or to press into the Christian faith.

And as doubt grows and becomes more and more critical, our hearts grow more and more hard and callous to the things of faith.

Another danger of runaway doubt is the lure of apathy.

Jesus begins to call out the towns and cites who had witnessed His miracles and His teaching.

These towns had witnesses miracles that only God could perform.

And as Jewish towns, the miracles Jesus performed should have reminded all of them the signs of the Messiah they would have all be familiar with.

And it should have prompted all of them to fall down to their knees in worship and repentance (turning away from sin and toward the Lord.

But instead, they remained unmoved, unchanged.

And Jesus makes 2 of the most harsh and challenging declarations.

Matthew 11:22 CSB

22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

Matthew 11:24 CSB

24 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Unchecked, runaway Doubt can lead us to a place of apathy as we focus our lives more on the tangible and less and less on the spiritual.

Doubt can be dangerous when it leads us to give in or give up, but there is a better way…a way through out doubt.

This world is full of pain, difficulty, evil, suffering, and confusion, all of which lead us down the road of doubt.

We begin to question whether what we believe about God, what we have been taught about Him, and how others have experienced Him is actually true.

And the weight of those questions and all the weight of life becomes increasingly heavy and overwhelming.

I don’t know if John heard these words at the end of Matthew 11, but I tend to believe he either heard them at some point, or at least came to believe them by the end of his life, but Jesus speaks some of the most healing, helpful, and glorious words.

A definition of who He is, followed by an invitation, and finishing with a promise.

Our doubts have a refuge...

Matthew 11:25–30 CSB

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. 27 All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him. 28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

4) Doubt has a REFUGE.

- what makes John different than others? He went to Jesus. - what is Jesus message at the end of the chapter? Come to me all who are weary and worn out with the struggles and difficulties of this world. - take my yoke and find rest for your soul. - we won't have answers to every question - people will hurt us, let us down, and/or misrepresent Jesus. - but Jesus never changes and his invitation never runs out. Doubt is inevitable in this journey of faith, but there is a place to turn. - don't give in and don't give up - bring your questions to Jesus, He will meet you with open arms, and deep compassion - He is gentle and lowly of heart