Dealing With Doubt

I want every Christian to become a life-long disciple of Jesus, who makes disciples, who makes disciples. A disciple is someone who builds their life in alignment with who Jesus is, and who the bible says we should become.

I want you to fall in love with scripture, and we’ll read some passages tonight.

I want you to spend time talking to, and listening to, God in prayer and worship.

But my guess is that there are some here tonight who haven’t made a conscious decision to put their trust in God. Most people who don’t believe in God, say that there’s not enough proof that God exists. You might be saying, “I don’t know enough about God, and Christianity to make that decision.” Maybe you’ve thought, or said out-loud,  “I doubt that God even exists.”

So, what do we do with doubt?

Doubt, or uncertainty, is a normal part of life, and it’s normal even in our faith-life.

In Matthew 28:16-17, 40-days after the resurrection, right before Jesus ascended into heaven to sit on the Throne of God, we see this:

So the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted (hesitated).

Jude 1:20-23

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 maintain yourselves in the love of God while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who waver (doubt); 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy on others, coupled with a fear of God, hating even the clothes stained by the flesh.

Doubt is real because we are not God.

God knows everything, and He always will. I don’t know everything, and I never will. So, I will always lack the kind of information that God has and that’s okay. It can’t be any other way. If I knew everything that God knows, I would be God. I’m not, and that means I do not have all the information, I might think I need.

There are a lot of things in our life where we don’t have all the information. Even in areas like science, we don’t know everything. We are continually learning, and continually updating what we understand about the universe we live in.

Science is NEVER settled. Examples …

Before 1543, everyone believed that the Earth was motionless and the at center of the universe. Settled science … Copernicus and Galileo proved the earth revolves around the sun, and that changed our understanding of the universe.

Before 1777, people thought that materials that were burning were releasing a strange fire-like element called phlogiston. Settled science … Then a French chemist proved that combustion is a chemical reaction with oxygen. Chemistry was changed forever.

Before the 1860’s, people thought that sickness was caused by bad air, or imbalanced bodily fluids. Settled science … Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch proved microscopic organisms, like bacteria and viruses, cause specific illnesses. Medicine and health care were changed forever.

Before between 1905-1915, people thought time and space were absolute constants, partially due to Isaac Newton’s experiments. Settled science … Albert Einstein came a long and proved that space and time were flexible and relative to speed and gravity, and he revolutionized science … But recently, quantum mechanics has proved that Einstein’s theories don’t hold true when talking about subatomic particles. Our knowledge is changing.

Before 1929, Einstein himself believed that the size of the universe was static and unchanging … until Edwin Hubble proved that the universe is expanding.

Until the 1960’s, people thought that continents were permanently locked into fixed, unmoving positions. Settled science … until we started mapping the seafloor and discovered mid-ocean ridges and tectonic plates that are always, slowly, moving.

After the discovery of DNA, we believed that DNA alone determined our genetic inheritance and traits. Settled science … until biologists discovered in the last 30 years that diet, stress, and other life experiences add chemical tags on top of sections of your DNA and turn certain genes on and off (without changing the DNA itself), AND that you can pass these chemical tags, that you gained after you were born, along to your children and grandchildren.

The point is we are always learning … never stop asking questions.

We can build planes and fly them around the world. But we don’t fully understand what keeps planes up in the air. In 1916-17, even Einstein tried to figure it out and finally gave up so that he could work on simpler equations like E=mc2, his theory of Specific and General Relativity, and how massive bodies, like planets and stars, curve space and time! Einstein couldn’t figure it out and gave up.

… Daniel Bernoulli and Sir Isaac Newton had developed theories in the past about how the world works, and those theories have been used to try to explain how planes lift off the ground and stay in the air.

Neither theory fully explains why planes can fly. Someday, if we keep asking questions, we will discover a unified theory of flight, but right now we don’t fully understand it.

But in October, I’m going to board a couple of airplanes and fly to “the most magical place on earth.” Even though plane engineers don’t have a unified theory of how planes can fly, I have faith that a plane can get me from Indianapolis to Florida and back.

Science is never settled. That’s why, if you’re going to be a good scientist, you will never stop asking questions. We never understand it all. We are always learning new things about how the universe works. And the same is true in our spiritual life.

A good student of the bible, and good disciple of Christ, never stops asking questions – questions that seek to clarify uncertainty. A good student of Scripture is always learning new things about God, and the bible, and how faith works. That’s called discipleship. We will always have doubts or uncertainty.

But where doubt becomes dangerous is when it’s based, not on uncertainty, but on mistrust.

When I say, “I’m not going to believe because I’m uncertain,” then I just need to learn more to become more certain. But if I say, “I’m not going to believe because I don’t trust you,” that’s a problem. But that’s not a knowledge problem, that’s a personal trust problem. That’s a relationship problem.

Many of the Pharisees, and Sadducees, and Priests, didn’t believe Jesus because they didn’t trust Jesus. They all knew the Law and the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets all pointed toward the Messiah; and Jesus was One True Messiah that fulfilled all of the OT prophecies. They didn’t have a problem with the facts; they had a problem trusting Jesus.

I want you to see something in Acts that I’ve read hundreds of times, but it stuck out to me a couple of weeks ago. I’m still learning to read Scripture with the mind of, and in the context of, the people that it was written to.

(You know that Scripture was written FOR us, but it wasn’t written TO us. It was written TO the original audience. If we want to understand Scripture, we need to read it and listen to it the way the original audience would have read or listened to it.)

Look at Acts 6:7 – This is immediately after the part in Acts where the Greek-speaking Jewish widows weren’t getting cared for like the Hebrew-speaking Jewish widows. If you’ve been around church people for very long you know that there are always problems in the church. This was the first squabble that the early church had, and they solved it by appointing Greek-speaking Christians to start caring for these widows. And once they solved that problem, and started taking care of Greek-speaking widows, the bible tells us that the church grew rapidly. Look at it in Acts 6:7:

“The word of God continued to spread, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to … the faith.”

A couple of weeks ago that hit me funny, and I had questions.

This is NOT what priests were known for. If priests were obedient to anything, they were obedient to the LAW. That was literally part of their job. A few hundred years earlier, the twelve tribes of Israel were sent into exile – into captivity – largely because of the sin of the priests, and prophets, and kings. Their disobedience to the Law CAUSED their exile and captivity.

And when they had returned to the Promised Land, they doubled down on their obedience to the LAW to prevent another exile. They were hyper-obedient to the Law. But in Acts 6:7, a “large group of priests became obedient to THE FAITH.”

They were still obedient to the Law, and they still didn’t fully understand how Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, but now many of the priests began to TRUST Jesus; they became obedient to the FAITH. They didn’t have all the answers, they still had questions, they were fully obedient to the Law, but now, but now - because they trusted Jesus, they became obedient to the faith.

And even when his own disciples doubted Jesus, he didn’t offer more rational proof – more facts – more detailed reasons to believe. Look at what Jesus told his disciples in John 14.

John 14:1-7 –

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.3 And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. 4 And you know the way where I am going.”

5 Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus didn’t give them detailed proof about how many dwelling places were in his Father’s house. He didn’t give Thomas a map or instructions on how to go where he was going. He simply said, “You know me. Trust me. You know my character. Trust who I am. If this isn’t the truth, I would have told you – Trust me. You know the way. I am the way.”

Faith requires humility. Faith means being okay with not knowing.

Doubt and obedience are not opposites. Obedience in the face of doubt is a sign of true faith.

Christian Faith is not the belief, or knowledge, of a series of facts. Christian Faith is Trust in the person and character of Jesus.

There is a Greek word pistis that has been translated in your bible usually as “faith” or “faithfulness.” And some translations are changing many of these instances. Where they used to translate pistis from “faith in Christ,” they are changing to the “faithfulness of Christ.” I’m excited that they are doing this because, when you make that change, the scriptures come to life in a different way. This change helps us see Christ acting in his faithfulness to God, and showing us that he is worthy of our trust! Let me share a few of these passages with you.

Galatians 2:15-20;

We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, 16 yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the [pistis or] faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the [pistis or] faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. … 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the [pistis or] faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Philippians 3:8-11

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s [pistis or] faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s [pistis or] faithfulness. 10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Hebrews 11:1-31

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. 2 For by it the people of old received God’s commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible. 4 Through faithfulness Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faithfulness he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faithfulness he still speaks, though he is dead. 5 By faithfulness Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God. 6 Now without faithfulness it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faithfulness Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faithfulness he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faithfulness.

8 By faithfulness Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. 9 By faithfulness he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faithfulness, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, he received the ability to procreate, because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. 12 So in fact children were fathered by one man—and this one as good as dead—like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore. 13 These all died in faithfulness without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. 14 For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faithfulness Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son. 18 God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,” 19 and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there. 20 By faithfulness also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future. 21 By faithfulness Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped as he leaned on his staff. 22 By faithfulness Joseph, at the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions about his burial.

23 By faithfulness, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three Months because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faithfulness, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. 26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward. 27 By faithfulness he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger, for he persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible. 28 By faithfulness he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29 By faithfulness they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up. 30 By faithfulness the walls of Jericho fell after the people marched around them for seven days. 31 By faithfulness Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of the disobedient, because she welcomed the spies in peace.

Over and over in this passage we see that these individuals in the “Hall of Faith” didn’t always know where they were going, or how God was going to fulfil his promises – but they believed that “he who promised is faithful.” He who promised is trustworthy.

I want to pray with you as we close. You might be hesitant about putting your trust in God. You might be wrestling with doubts – and that’s okay. But don’t stay there. We will never know all there is to know about God. We will never know all there is to know about how this world works. Following Christ is about being discipled in the Word of God. It’s about discipling and encouraging others.

If you decide to follow Christ tonight, or sometime this week, trust me. It will be the best decision you ever made, and your life will be more exciting and worthwhile than you could possibly imagine.

Hebrews 10:22-25

“[L]et us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful[or trustworthy]. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

[Pray]

[Hand out foam planes as a reminder that you don’t need to know how it works to hop on board!]