Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro:
Belief is a funny thing.
Whether we categorize ourselves as “believers” or not we all believe in something.
Some of you might believe in Bigfoot.
Others of you might believe in Nessie.
But belief goes deeper than that, does it not?
We all have something that we hold to.
We all believe in something.
Whether it is ever spoken or not.
Perhaps for you money is what you believe it.
What I mean by this is it is the primary motivating factor in you life, not because you’re greedy but because you believe it is the best means to produce the type of life you want.
Or perhaps you believe in being a good person.
You believe that being good is the most important thing for you.
Or maybe for you the thing you believe in is having a good time.
You think that we should order our lives by pursuing comfort and pleasure and all pain should be avoided.
All because you believe that pleasure is the highest good for the human life.
Others of you still might say something like “well I’m a believer” meaning you are a Christian and hold to the belief that Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, was crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected on the 3rd day.
Others of you still might say something like “well I’m a believer” meaning you are a Christian and hold to the belief that Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, was crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected 3 days later.
Regardless of what you might say you believe in we all have something we believe in, maybe you’ve just never put it to words.
Whatever that belief shapes your daily life or your desired outcomes of specific events.
Another way you might say it is “where does your hope lie?
What do you trust most?”
It is with that idea that we turn to a passage that is all about belief.
I doubt it will shock most of you that on this day, Easter, that a church will celebrate the single most significant aspect of the Christian belief.
As we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we will be looking at one man’s shift from unbelief to belief.
Context:
I doubt it will shock most of you that on this day, Easter, that a church will celebrate the single most significant aspect of the Christian belief.
As we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we will be looking at a passage that describes one man’s shift from unbelief to belief..
But before we read our passage we should give it a little context.
The start of our passage takes place after the resurrection of Jesus, after the very first Easter morning.
Several women had discovered Jesus tomb empty on the 3rd day after his brutal crucifixion.
Then two of his disciples also investigated his empty tomb when they heard about it.
They couldn’t believe it.
In fact there were two of his followers who actually went on a journey with Jesus and didn’t realize he it was him walking with them because they were under the impression that he was dead.
Rumors of his resurrection, the empty tomb, were spreading like wildfire through the small band of followers of Jesus.
But it was too much to believe.
It couldn’t be true.
People don’t just rise from the dead.
Yet these two followers walked with him and stopped for a meal.
When he broke some bread and blessed it they realized it was Jesus himself.
He was there touching something.
He had a physical body.
This wasn’t just some imagination of a spirit.
Then that night these same two followers returned to Jerusalem to tell the others this wonderful news.
In the midst of them gathering and discussing these wonderful things Jesus appears before them.
He shows them his hands and his side.
This is a physical body.
No a disembodied spirit.
The Lord Jesus had risen.
Their friend, their rabbi, was standing before them, alive.
But one was missing.
One of the 12 was not with them.
He is strangely absent from their little gathering.
We’re not sure why.
Perhaps he was dejected.
Perhaps he wanted to process his grief alone.
Perhaps he was contemplating his future.
We’re not told why.
With that in mind let’s read our passage.
Hear the living and active word of the eternal Lord.
This is God’s ever enduring Word.
In our passage we see four distinct things occuring.
Each one building upon the previous one.
The Challenge: Disbelief Expressed
The first thing we see is Thomas’ disbelief.
For Thomas the prospect of Jesus being resurrected was too much.
He couldn’t believe it.
There was simply no way that he would believe it.
Thomas is a man that would fit well in our own day.
He was entirely skeptical.
He was a realist.
He was only going to believe what he could touch.
If he couldn’t touch the very wounds of Jesus he wasn’t going to believe.
He was also literal.
He took everything at face value.
In addition to being a realist and quite literal he was willing to jump into a cause.
He even suggested one time that all the disciples go with Jesus to Jerusalem to die as well.
He was willing to die for a cause.
If Thomas was alive in our day he might be out marching in a protest in Washington or standing in protest outside of City Hall.
So he lays down a gauntlet so to speak.
He tells his friends that unless he sees and touches the wounds Jesus received he wasn’t going to believe.
His demands are a bit outlandish when you think about it.
Think of the gruesome nature of what he is suggesting.
He wants to stick his finger into the holes the 6 inch Roman nails made and thrust his hand into the gaping wound that a Roman spear caused.
This isn’t asking for a hug or a hearty handshake.
He is requesting to invasively explore Christ’s wounds.
It is an outlandish request.
More than what is actually necessary.
It is far beyond what we might call reasonable.
But notice something he never questions.
He never questions the reality of the crucifixion, because it happened.
You know it is easy to give a guy like Thomas a hard time.
What Thomas, you couldn’t believe what 20 or 30 other people told you?
You’re not going to believe the experts and witnesses?
You have to investigate for yourself.
You know what though?
We all know people like this.
Maybe this is you.
Maybe you’re here today and that is you.
You won’t believe because you think you need more evidence.
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