Before and After - 2 - Faith

Scripture: John 20:19-31

John 20:19–31 NIV

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 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.” 26 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!” 27 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.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 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.

4/12/2026

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Standard

Opening Prayer:

Gracious God, we confess that we often doubt the consistency of Your love. Like Thomas, we seek tangible proof of Your mighty power. Forgive us for our lack of faith, and fill us with the peace that only You can provide. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Call to Worship

Leader: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

People: By His great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope.

Leader: Though we have not seen Him, we love Him and rejoice.

People: We believe in Him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy!

Leader: Come, let us worship the risen Lord.

All: Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed!

Faith

Movement 1

Jesus comes back for the ones who missed it. That is some of the most important post-resurrection good news, because the goodness of God doesn't do us much good if we miss it... If we miss Him.

There's something powerful that happens at the beginning of this passage — the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit — and we'll come back to that on Pentecost Sunday because it deserves its own week. But today, I want us to sit with the one who wasn't in the room when it happened.

The God who came back for him — That is who Jesus was to Thomas.

On Easter evening, the disciples were hiding in the upper room behind locked doors. They were afraid and didn't know what to do. Jesus walked right through those doors and stood among them. He showed them his hands and his side, breathed his Spirit on them, and gave them everything they needed in that moment to prepare them for the days ahead. Like so much of what Jesus does, it was perfect and beautiful—and not quite finished—because Thomas wasn't there.

He wasn't there when Jesus said, "Peace be with you."

He wasn't there when Jesus showed them his hands.

He wasn't there when Jesus breathed that new life into the room.

All of that happened, and he missed all of it.

We don't know why he wasn't there; the text doesn't tell us. What we know is that he missed out on seeing the resurrected Jesus. When he got back, he could tell something had changed. It was necessary and good that the disciples knew and were trained by Jesus before he died, but there was something significant in that moment in their relationship with him—something different about knowing the Savior that death could not hold. When they shared this with Thomas, he noticed the difference in their faith.

We call him Doubting Thomas, but I don't think doubt is quite the right word for what Thomas was feeling. I think it was hunger. He saw what the others had and wanted it desperately. His story shows us that Jesus meets us in our doubt and turns it into an opportunity for deeper faith.

Movement 2

The disciples were overjoyed, and Thomas was overwhelmed by them. "It was really him," they said. "He showed us his hands and the mark on his side."

Thomas had missed it all. And every ounce of their joy pushed him further away. He didn't want a report. He didn't want someone else's experience. Here's what he said: "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."

He's not rejecting what they saw. He's aching for it. Thomas wanted more than just evidence of the resurrection. He wanted Jesus close enough to touch. And he wouldn't settle for less.

Movement: 3

Jesus let Thomas sit in that place for a week. Grief, confusion, hunger — all of it. While the other disciples were beginning to live into something new, Thomas waited.

Some of you know what that week feels like. When everything around you is filtered through a lens of regret that drains the color out of everything, and you start to wonder if it's even worth it.

By the grace of God, Thomas didn't leave. He stayed with his brothers and sisters — the ones who had experienced something he hadn't yet — and they held space for him while he waited.

A week later, Jesus walked through that door again. He looked at Thomas and said,

"Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Did you catch that? Jesus used Thomas's own words. Thomas had said,

"Unless I put my finger... unless I put my hand...", and Jesus came back and said, "Here. Put your finger. Reach out your hand." He heard every word Thomas said when Thomas didn't know He was listening.

Jesus came back for Thomas.

The other disciples didn't need Him to come back. They'd already seen Him. But they were changed again — watching their Lord walk through that door a second time, willing to do it all over again for the one who missed it.

Movement 4

We don't judge Thomas for struggling to believe. We know what it feels like to be the one who missed out.

Sometimes it's when we miss those big church celebrations, like the ones we've had the past few weeks. Time gets away from us, or other obligations pull us away, and we don't realize what we're missing until it's too late. Sometimes things happen in our lives, and we are simply unable to do what we would like to do or be where we would like to be. But most of the time, we struggle with our faith in smaller ways.

I've been reading my Bible almost every day since I decided to follow Jesus. I do it because I know his word is powerful and will grow my faith and draw me closer to Jesus better than just about anything else I can do. I cannot count the number of times I've had a personal encounter with Jesus just by getting in his word, letting it wash over and shape me. But I also cannot count the number of times I've opened up his word and the scriptures did not feel like ocean waves washing over me, or a gentle rain bringing new life to my faith. There have been many times when I couldn't even feel a sprinkle. Times when I felt utterly empty... when I feel utterly empty.

I've been through those dry seasons when it seems like the wind just blows the word quickly over me. I try my best to catch something from it and avoid the distracting tumbleweeds that pass by. It's in those moments that doubt creeps in, and I begin to question.

Is God's word really true?

Does he keep his promises?

Am I doing this right? Or has God given up on me and moved on to someone who can serve him better?

In my better moments, I know the answer to all of those questions. But in the dry season, knowing and feeling are two very different things.

Just like farming, sometimes those seasons are predictable, and sometimes they're not. I remember the first time I encountered one of these seasons very early on in my faith. As a sixteen-year-old young man, I went to a friend of mine who'd been following Jesus for a full two weeks longer than I had. I told him, "I'm reading my Bible and praying every day, but I just don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it." And he, in his spirit-inspired wisdom, told me, "Tony, it's called discipline. It's not always easy." He encouraged me to keep doing, to keep going, to keep showing up to spend time with Jesus.

He was half right.

Like Thomas, I never quite figured out how to quit. I kept reading through the Bible, pages and pages that I couldn't understand. But I kept trying anyway and praying that somehow, someday, God would redeem it and make sense of it all. And I know I'm not the only one. Some of you have been reading your Bibles for decades — longer than I've been alive — and you've had those seasons too. You didn't quit either. You're here.

But there was another part of the answer my friend didn't tell me. He showed me instead. As I was experiencing that dry season, he came and shared some of the water of life he had received from Jesus with me. That's what the body of Christ does. We surround those who missed out, and we pour into them from all that Christ has given us, giving them space and showing them grace until Jesus comes at just the right time to grow their faith.

That's what the disciples did for Thomas. They didn't chase him down. They didn't fix his doubt. They stayed with him and shared what they had until Jesus came.

Those countless dry seasons in my life have become a kind of blessing in disguise. When they come around, when I feel like I'm missing out, I can look back and know this is only for a season. If I'm willing to persevere and receive grace from the brothers and sisters that God has put in my life, I can expect to come away changed as well.

Those dry seasons aren't a sign of weakness or a punishment. They're a sign that deeper water lies beneath us, and Jesus wants us to dig our roots down further to find him there.

Before the resurrection, the disciples could walk with Jesus, talk with him, and touch him. Their faith was built on proximity — being close enough to see and touch. But after the resurrection, Jesus invited them into something new — a faith that doesn't depend on sight. A faith that trusts him even when we can't see him, can't feel him — the kind of faith Jesus is asking of us, today. And he called that faith blessed.

Movement 5

There is literally a world of difference between faith in Jesus before the resurrection and after the resurrection.

Before the resurrection, it was not just Thomas who had to be close enough to Jesus to see him and touch him, to believe in him, and to follow him. Jesus was God in the flesh — and in that flesh, he chose to be in one place at a time. Those who couldn't come to him couldn't follow him.

After the resurrection, in that transformed body as he shares his spirit with his disciples, he speaks this blessing over them: "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." That's the same word Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. And now — blessed are those who believe without seeing. That's not a chastisement of Thomas. That's a promise. That's a promise for us, you and I, and everyone else all over the world and across history who did not walk with the physical incarnation of Jesus. He calls our faith blessed because we have not seen and yet we believe.

Thomas was the first of everyone who wasn't in the room when it happened. He shows us that those of us who miss out on those opportunities when Jesus shows up in our world are not stuck looking for leftovers.

Jesus doesn't want to grow our faith just because we happen to be in the crowd when he arrives. He wants to grow our faith because he knows every word we say, every thought and feeling we have, and everything we do, and he loves us. He wants us to trust that love with all that we have and all that we are.

There comes a moment when every other name for Him falls short. 'Friend' isn't enough. 'Teacher' isn't enough. Even 'Savior' isn't enough. Thomas looked at Jesus — at the wounds, at the love, at the God who came back for him — and he said the only words that were big enough:

'My Lord and my God.'

(pause)

That's not doubt resolved. That's new faith born.

Movement 6

Thomas's confession changed everything for him. But it didn't just change Thomas. It changed everyone in that room who watched Jesus come back for the one who missed it. And it's meant to change us, too.

Some of you may still be waiting for your own personal encounter with Jesus. If that's you — stay. Like Thomas, stay. Jesus heard Thomas when Thomas didn't think he was listening. He hears you, too.

Thomas didn't pack his bags and go home to wait for Jesus to find him there. He stayed. For all we know, he stayed in that room all week, refusing to leave because the last time he missed it. He persevered and stayed with the body of Christ until Jesus came and met him there

Church, we've had a very full week, maybe two weeks. It's been filled with prayer and celebrations, life and death, and the promise of new life. We have been living out the spirit of Easter in our church family.

There are brothers and sisters among us who have missed out on some, and maybe all, of it. We need to be the church for them. We need to recognize that, as we share the ways we've seen God work, it may sting a little, since some mostly hear what they've missed out on. But we know we serve a God who comes back for those who missed out and offers them the same personal relationship when they are ready.

Jesus calls us to love others the way he loves us. And here's what I want you to see — that's not a burden. It's a gift. Because when we hold space for someone who's struggling, when we welcome someone who's been absent, we get to be in the room when Jesus shows up for them. We get to watch it happen.

It was no coincidence that it was Thomas — the one who missed it — who made the greatest confession of faith in all of the Gospels. It was Thomas — not Peter, not James, not John — who looked at Jesus and had the full realization of who he was. 'My Lord and my God.' Thomas became an example of a faith that was willing to stay — without sight — until he could see for himself.

When God gives us the gift of those Thomases among us, those who have missed out or are going through dry seasons, it is not because they've failed or are being punished for a lack of faith. It is because God is calling them to a deeper faith. I have sat with those in our church family who have missed out, and in the midst of their grief, struggles, and feeling disconnected, some of them are digging deeper and praying for greater things than they had before going into this season.

Church, it's not our job to chase them down or fix their hurts. It's our job to welcome them with love, to make space for them in their struggles, to pray with them—those prayers that are sometimes deeper than we are willing to pray—and to watch when our Lord and our God comes to transform life and grow the faith of another one of his children.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for your love that walks through the doors we keep closed and locked in fear and uncertainty.

Thank you for your presence that pursues us when we are not present with you.

Thank you for your grace that gives us the space to be honest with ourselves and you as we wait for you to move to and through us.

Thank you for the dry seasons that help us dig for deeper faith.

And thank you for the new faith, new life, and the new vision of you, the God who comes close enough for us to touch.

Lord, show us the Thomases in our lives this week. Help us to be witnesses of grace, vessels of mercy, places of peace, and hands that hold them in hope as we watch your love walk through their closed doors and show us the faith that goes beyond what we can see.

In Jesus' name, Amen.