Are You Skeptical About Jesus?
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Are you a skeptical person by nature? The other day my wife ordered some supplements for our oldest son. He has crone’s disease and we try to supplement the medicine he gets from the hospital with vitamins and supplements. One of the things that you can take to help with digestive issues is turmeric. But apparently any old turmeric will not do. My wife wanted to order a special kind that is supposedly easier to absorb into your blood stream thus more beneficial. It also happens to be 2-3x’s the price of the stuff you can buy over the counter at any drug store.
“Why can’t we just use the cheap stuff,” I asked?
I then said something like, “You are paying double the price just for some fancy wording on the outside of the packaging, I bet it is just the same as the cheap stuff.”
It reminds me of the latest craze in grocery stores. The hottest word for food right now is “organic.” But what does “organic” even mean? Apparently, it means at least 3 dollars extra per item, that’s what it means.
Anyway, as I am arguing with my wife about the expensive supplements, she made the comment, “Boy, you are skeptically/cynical aren’t you?” And I had to stop and admit, that yes, yes I am.
Are you a skeptical person? What are you skeptical about? Food, medicine, doctors, banks, government, family?
Are you skeptical about God? Are you skeptical about the identity of God’s Son, Jesus Christ?
Well if you are, then you are in good company. Even some of Jesus’ own disciples were skeptical of His identity. One of those guys was named Nathanael, and we read about his skepticism in John 1 beginning in v. 43.
As we read the account of Nathanael I want us to think broadly about two questions.
I. Is there a difference between good and bad skepticism? (John 1:43-46)
I. Is there a difference between good and bad skepticism? (John 1:43-46)
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
In the last paragraph we saw Jesus calling three disciples to follow Him, one unnamed, Andrew, and Peter. How did Jesus convince them of His identity in vv. 35-42? He built a relationship with them. He personally got to know them, and they got to know Him. And after experiencing Jesus for themselves- they believed. Jesus didn’t require of them blind faith. Instead He invited them to “Come and See.” And after spending the day personally with Jesus, they followed Him.
Now, Jesus continues calling disciples. In v. 43 Jesus determines to go into Galilee and along the way He finds Philip. How does Jesus convince Philip as to His identity? Well, all the text says is, “He said unto him, Follow me.” We are not told any other part of the conversation, but apparently Philip personally experienced Jesus for himself, and he too decided to follow Jesus as His disciple.
Before Philip follows Jesus, he goes and he finds a guy named Nathanael. And Philip tells Nathanael, “Guess what? You will never believe this!! We have found Him! The One whom Moses wrote about in the Law, and the One that the Prophets wrote about as well! We found Him!!” And I can imagine Nathanael’s response to eager, excited Philip, “Calm down, calm down, who is He?” And Philip replies, “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!”
And instantly Nathanael’s face falls, and his guard goes up, and with a smirk on his face he replies, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Can you hear the skepticism in his voice?
Do we really need the expensive supplements?
Do you really think the government will get its act together?
You don’t really believe the Bible do you?
People who believe in Jesus Christ are crazy.
Now at the beginning of this section we asked the question, is there such a thing as good skepticism and bad skepticism?
I just recently planted my garden, and the evening after I had planted the tomato plants I am sitting around the dinner table eating hot dogs with my 6 boys, and I said perfectly normally and with complete seriousness, “You know, with as much food as you 6 boys eat, we should plant a few hot dog trees.” One of my boys answered, again in with complete seriousness, “Are there hot dog trees?” Then he thought about his question for a second and turned slight red in the face.
My boys have learned that dad likes to tell jokes, and so they have learned that a healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing if they don’t want to stick their foot in their mouth too much.
When the son of the Nigerian king emails you and tells you he needs several hundred dollars so that He can give you millions of dollars of his inheritance money, a healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing.
Is there such a thing as bad skepticism?
Look at the example of Nathanael again.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
What was Philip’s answer to his question?
Nathanael made the skeptical comment, “Nothing good can come out of Nazareth can it?” And Philip simply says, “Come and see.”
What is Philip saying? Come and see for…yourself.
What if Nathanael never took Philip up on his offer? Can you imagine that? Nathanael had been waiting with all Israel for the Messiah to come. They have been waiting for hundreds of years for this event to happen. You can understand why he was skeptical. But, what if Nathanael said, “No way- I have already made up my mind from what you have said- I don’t need to see for myself”?
“This event, that we have all been waiting for for hundreds of years to happen, now you are telling me that it is here, but I am not going to see for myself if this is true or not. I am going to assume based on no evidence whatsoever, that your claim is false.”
Do people treat Christianity like that sometimes? Do they treat the Bible like that?
Have you ever heard someone say, “You can’t trust the Bible, it is completely outdated”? When you ask them, “Have you ever read the Bible?” They get really quiet because they have never read the Bible for themselves. Or if they have read the Bible they have read one verse, completely out of context, and because they couldn’t understand it, they stopped reading it.
Schneider, Floyd. Evangelism For the Fainthearted (pp. 84-85). Kindle Edition.
“Gerhard, have you read the Bible?”
“No, I’ve been working on my doctorate in philosophy and haven’t had the time.”
“Then how do you know that the Bible is not trustworthy when you haven’t even read it?”
“I read a verse somewhere once,” Gerhard said, defending himself, “where Jesus said that the Christians have to drink blood. What do you have to say about that?” He obviously did not want to know the truth. He just wanted to put me on the defense. So much for using the polite approach, I thought. If he is going to act like a Pharisee, then he should be treated like a Pharisee.
“You said you were working in your doctorate,” I said.
He nodded.
“I assume you have to do research.”
He nodded again.
“I wonder what your thesis is going to look like when you are finished. If you treat your sources like you treat the Bible, your thesis will be a jumble of run-together quotes, ripped out of their contexts and stuck together to make everything say what you want it to say, with no thought or concern for what the various authors really meant.”
Gerhard’s expression indicated that no one had ever returned his attack so blatantly.
“No one,” I continued, “reads any kind of literature in the same way that you just misquoted a part of one verse out of the Bible. You pick up a book that you have never read before, open it to page 167, run your finger halfway down the page, pick out half of one sentence, misquote that half, and then claim that you can’t understand the book! That is really intelligent. And you’re working on your doctorate! Gerhard, I’m ashamed of you.”
Is that an example of good skepticism or bad skepticism? How can you claim that the Bible is an outdated book that can’t be trusted if you have never experienced it personally for yourself?
Nathanael was skeptical of Philip’s claim that he had found the Messiah. Rather than trying to convince Nathanael based on his own opinion, Philip simply said, “Come on, I’ll take you to Jesus and you can see for yourself personally.”
Isn’t that reasonable? Before you write off the Bible and Jesus and Christianity, should you come and see for yourself? The only way to really see for yourself, is to read the Bible. Not just a verse or two, and not hearing someone else’s opinion about the Bible, but actually reading a significant portion of the Bible for yourself- say the entire gospel of John, from beginning to end. Read the whole gospel, just like you would read any other kind of literature, in order to see for yourself what it says.
Skepticism can be good or it can be bad. If you are only skeptical because of your ignorance and you never do anything about it, isn’t that problematic? So let’s keep reading the Bible. Come and see for yourself!
II. When should you stop being skeptical? (John 1:47-51)
II. When should you stop being skeptical? (John 1:47-51)
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Thankfully, Nathanael agreed to Philip’s request. He went and saw Jesus for himself. Look at what happens. Here comes Nathanael the skeptic, and Jesus sees him coming and Jesus tells Nathanael two things that completely eradicates Nathanael’s skepticism.
Statement #1: v. 47- Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!”
What is significant about this statement? What is Jesus claiming to know about Nathanael? When does Jesus make this statement? Does he make it after he had spent a good amount of time with Nathanael? No, as soon as Nathanael comes to Jesus- almost before Nathanael gets there- Jesus cries out- Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile/deceit!
What is Jesus claiming to be able to do here? Having never met Nathanael personally, Jesus is claimed to be able to read Nathanael’s heart.
If someone made this claim about you, what would your response be?
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
How did Nathanael respond to Jesus? “How do you know me?”
Everyone knows only God can read a person’s character without a previous personal relationship.
Was Nathanael still skeptical?
Absolutely, he was not convinced yet. He still needed more proof, more evidence. He needed to be personally persuaded that Jesus was who he claimed to be.
Statement #2: v. 48- “Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.”
What is Jesus doing here for Nathanael? Jesus is offering up proof that He really can see people’s hearts. So, Jesus told Nathanael that he saw him under the fig tree.
Apparently, the fig tree was far enough away for this to have been physically impossible. Why do I say that? Look at Nathanael’s reaction.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
If the fig tree had been only a few yards away, Nathanael would have simply laughed at Jesus. What proof would that have been?
But Jesus makes a statement- “I saw you under the fig tree”- and this statement is really a claim to be able to see beyond the physical limitations of nature. Nathanael, the skeptic, the one who said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” The skeptic, is skeptical no more. Why? What changed his mind so thoroughly? He came and saw Jesus for himself. And after personally experiencing Jesus, Nathanael came to to the same conclusion that John the Baptist did: “You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Nathanael changed from a confirmed skeptic to a devoted follower.
When should you stop being skeptical?
This summer I am trying a new method of growing tomato plants. My goal is to grow my tomato plants over 10 feet tall. Think I can do it? Maybe some of you, your instant reaction, was- NO WAY! You are skeptical. I must admit, the first time I heard about this idea, I was skeptical as well. But then I went on YouTube and watched a video of a guy in Michigan standing next to his own 10 foot tall tomato plants. And in the video he explained exactly how he did it. I figured, if he can do it so can I. And he showed me evidence that it is possible. I was willing to except his evidence and so I copied his method.
The problem we face here is what kind of “evidence” are we willing to accept as proof? As we read further in John, this problem will confront us repeatedly.
Are you willing to accept factual evidence for belief? God wants us to have a well-thought-out faith (not blind faith). A well-thought-out faith must be your own deciding factor.
Are you willing to accept Nathanael’s testimony/evidence about the identity of Jesus Christ?
For as skeptical as Nathanael is surprising that it only took two statements by Jesus to change him into a believer. Jesus even says as much.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
In other words, if we will keep reading in John, we will see even greater evidence to back up Jesus’ claim of being the Son of God.
If the Bible is correct in relating this story about Jesus, what are the ramifications for my life?
Does Jesus know where I am at all times? Even more important, can He read my heart and see what kind of person I really am, apart from the front I put on for others? How would you react to meeting a person who could read your thoughts? That person could be dangerous if he did not love you.
Imagine that this morning I put up on screen for everyone to see your internet browsing history for the past two years. How would it make you feel? Would that be a dangerous experience? Why? How much would a person have to love you if they knew everything about you, and yet they still wanted to do anything possible to help you, even giving their own life for you.
The Lord Jesus can see right through us. Does he love us?
How do these thoughts make you feel?
Are you a skeptical person? What are you skeptical about? Food, medicine, doctors, banks, government, family?
Are you skeptical about God? Are you skeptical about the identity of God’s Son, Jesus Christ?
Has God begun to work in your heart? Do you feel your mind being changed by the Word of God?
Are you skeptical in a good way or a bad way?
When do you stop being skeptical?
Is God leading you through His Word to become a believer in Jesus Christ through a well-thought-out faith?