Easter: Thomas's Story

CS Lewis’s Story

Clive Staples Lewis, known broadly as C.S. Lewis, has come to be known as the most prominent and influential Christian thinkers of the twentieth century.

His book “Mere Christianity” is regarded as one of the best and most helpful books establishing and defending the rational for the Christian faith.

If you have read it, Lewis’s explains the Christian faith is such a way that is challenging, real, and deeply empowering.

His journey to faith is part of the reason his writings are so helpful and insightful.

He was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898 into a Christian home with parents that loved and encouraged reading and imagination (passions that shaped Lewis’s entire life).

Just before his 10 birthday, Lewis’s mom died of cancer.

His mother’s death convinced him that the God he encountered in the Bible his mother taught him about was either cruel or a made up story.

By 1911 or 1912, Lewis rejected Christianity and became an avowed atheist.

In 1917, he started college at Oxford, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world.

He would go to school and then teach there nearly the rest of his life.

Throughout his 20’s, Lewis read a lot, including some quite prominent Christian authors of the day.

Though he maintained his atheism throughout his 20’s, some of what he read really began to chip away at the conclusions he had drawn at a young age.

God also brought several Christian friends into Lewis’s life, including JRR Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

These relationships and the conversations they sparked led Lewis to finally admit, in 1929, that there was a God.

It took another year for Lewis to take the final step and give his life to Jesus.

Lewis recounted the story in his autobiography when he was driving his brother’s motorcycle to newly opened zoo in Bedfordshire, England:

I know very well when, but not how, the final step was taken.

I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did.

Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought.

Though it might seem simple, and in some ways it very much was, Lewis’s conversion wasn’t just, or even mostly, intellectual.

Lewis weighed all the world-views he had studied against one another, eventually finding them all falling short.

He once called himself a “most reluctant convert” to faith. But this very reluctance is a sign of Lewis’s spiritual integrity;

he fully recognized that commitment to Christian faith would be a life-changing event, not just a casual decision about where to spend his Sunday mornings.

And when he was ready to make the surrender of his will that was required of him, Lewis entered into faith with his whole heart, and mind, and soul.

Christian faith for Lewis wasn’t just an aspect of his life, it became the whole of his life.

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Though he could likely win most arguments against Christianity, Lewis’s faith was deeper than only the intellect, it was a relationship.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that-and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison-you do not know God at all.

Thomas’s Story

Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers, went to the tomb early on Easter morning to anoint Jesus and she found the stone rolled away

so she assumes someone has stolen the body so she runs back to tell the other disciples.

Peter and John run to the tomb; Peter goes in and finds no body but Jesus’ headscarf neatly folded up and laid on the bench,

which indicates a couple of things to him:

a. this wasn’t a burglar as burglars usually don’t take time to fold clothes after they steal things.

b. a miracle has happened.

Late that night Jesus appears to all the disciples in the middle of a room where all the doors are locked because the disciples are terrified they are going to be crucified next, but Thomas isn’t there.

So when Thomas returns the other disciples tell him about Jesus coming to them:

John 20:24–25 ESV

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

This is where Thomas gets his nickname, but in reality it is an unfair nickname, even though Thomas does have a tendency to question.

This was a big ask for Thomas, to believe Jesus resurrected from the dead and is now walking around and particularly walking through walls.

Reasons We Doubt

We doubt because we have QUESTIONS.

Thomas doubted because what they were telling him just seemed too unbelievable.

He had seen Jesus heal people, multiply food, cast out demons, and even raise people from the dead, but this was outside of Thomas’s ability to understand and believe unless he saw it for himself.

How does a man, who he saw die on a cross just a few days before, now walk around and even walk through locked doors.

He had likely heard the prophecies about the resurrection, but he struggled to believe Jesus fulfilled those prophecies.

Thomas is a poster child for many throughout history who have struggled to believe the resurrection was real.

Many have come up with theories for why it just cannot be true that Jesus rose from the grave.

But the evidence supporting the resurrection is hard to overcome.

Jesus was seen by a lot of people after his resurrection.

The disciples several times.

Multiple individuals and groups

Paul even records 500 people seeing him at one time (1 Cor 15) many of which were still alive when Paul was writing.

The followers of Jesus left everything they had and most became martyrs for Jesus.

It has been claimed over the years that the disciples made up the whole resurrection story for their own advantage, but NONE of them advantaged from the resurrection story in worldly terms. They should have just let him be dead.

History has validated the resurrection for 2000 years, even from the very early days.

The bodily resurrection of Jesus spread fast in the early days after Jesus was raised.

By 100 AD thousands of people believed, even though it meant they were likely to face intense persecution from the Romans government, from the Jewish people, and from other religious and cultural groups.

The fact that by 300 AD there were hundreds of thousands or millions of Christians is astounding considering the environment it grew in.

I could go on, but the point is very clear, belief in the bodily resurrection does not require a huge stretch of your mind, even if it isn’t something science can explain.

Here’s the thing, if I spend them next 30 minutes answering all of your questions, there would likely be more questions that would come up that would be reason for you to continue to doubt.

The reality is much of our doubt does not come from us having unanswered questions.

Look how Jesus deals with Thomas’s questions:

John 20:26–27 ESV

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although 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, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

He doesn’t sit down and answer each question Thomas has.

He explain the science behind His resurrection.

He just shows up…and that is all Thomas needed, because his doubt wasn’t just about questions…it was much deeper.

Like disappointment...

We doubt because of DISAPPOINTMENT.

Thomas doubted because he was disappointed that things had not worked out like he had thought.

Jesus wasn’t supposed to die, He was supposed to rule.

Thomas had saw Jesus feed the five thousand, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead!

He must have had an incredible expectation for what Jesus could do.

I can imagine him daydreaming about the day Jesus would be crowned king. His heart was undoubtedly full of hopes and dreams.

But as Jesus hung on the cross, I imagine all Thomas had hoped for died that day, leaving him confused and disappointed.

This world if full of hard, frustrating, and often heart-wrenching struggles and trials.

Where is God when my moved one is sick or dies?

Where is God when I am struggling in my marriage or with finances?

Where is God when the world around us seems so out of control?

First off, I want to give us all permission to ask questions, even tough questions like those.

God can handle those questions, if He can’t then He isn’t God.

But you might not get the answer you desire, at least on this side of eternity.

Secondly, the roots of our disappointments are often in our expectations.

We believe God has made us promises of happiness, health, and good fortune that He really has never made.

When you read the gospels, the most prominent promise there is the promise that you will face trials and persecution because of your faith in Jesus.

The most comforting promise we receive from Jesus is repeated also throughout the NT, that He will be WITH US and IN US.

So when we face the trials and struggles of life, we are not alone, Jesus is with us through His Spirit.

Again, Thomas’s doubt was coming from a brokenhearted disappointment.

But Jesus didn’t come and give Thomas a reason for why He didn’t meet all his expectations.

He just revealed Himself.

And Thomas had to suspend his doubt and submit himself to what was revealed.

My challenge to you is for you to be honest with yourself:

If you don’t believe, what is the real reason?

Have you given Jesus a shot? Have you actually looked at the promises He does make to those who believe in Him?

Or are you holding God to promises He has never made and have grown bitter toward Him because of it?

As long as you continue to stiff arm Jesus and plug your ears to the things He has to say, you will never find what your heart is really looking for.

We doubt because we haven’t FELT.

Thomas’s words are powerful

“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” John 20:25

He wanted to feel the marks to know He was really Jesus and that He was really alive.

Wow the grace of God to allow Thomas to do just what he asked. To put his hands on the scars Jesus took for him, and for us.

There is a reason God left the scars on Jesus’s hands, feet, and side.

Jesus’ wounds are always supposed to be in front of us, reminding us of his steadfast loyalty and love.

They show us that brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and friends may fail us, but Jesus never will.

My dreams may crumble around me, but Jesus is the rock who will never disappoint or falter.

They show me that though I may not understand everything God is doing in the world, I can trust him!

And they remind us that He knows our pain, our brokenness, and our suffering, but that He has overcome it.

My LORD and My GOD

I can’t talk you in to faith in Jesus.

But if this is true, if Jesus rose from the grave 2000 years ago, then it changed EVERYTHING.

You can’t ignore it, hide your head in the sand.

You can’t just think of Jesus as a good teacher, maybe even a man sent by God to do some really neat things and inspire us to be better.

In Thomas’s confession there are 2 declarations, one most of us are comfortable making, even adding a third confession into is, but the other is most often our stopping point.

We are comfortable calling Him God.

We believe in God, the creator and the one that watches over everything.

We are even comfortable calling Him Savior

He saves us from our sin

Give us hope for heaven

Is our friend.

But the struggle comes in calling Him Lord.

It is easier to doubt than it is to submit.

It is easier to keep Him at a distance so we can continue to live life like we really want.

But if we believe He rose from the grave we realize that He has done the thing none of us could ever do.

Listen to the words of CS Lewis

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.

Response Time

Bow your heads and close you eyes:

Maybe you have questions that haven’t been answered. Have you given Jesus an opportunity to answer those questions?

Maybe you have disappointments that have been hard to overcome. Have you given Jesus an opportunity to reveal Himself to you in a way that may comfort those hurts and begin to heal those disappointments?

Have you ever felt the wounds of Jesus?

Maybe in your heart right now you can reach out an feel the wound, and begin to sense what they mean.

In those wounds there is hope if we are willing to believe it.

In those wounds there is healing, if we are willing to recognize it.

In those wounds there are answers to the disappointment, if we are willing to hear them?

In those wounds there is salvation, if we are willing to receive it.

Have you ever made the declaration Thomas made? My Lord and My God!

Thomas recognized that those wounds in His hands were put there for him.

Jesus offers to anyone who would believe in Him and receive Him as their Lord and God salvation, freedom, and hope.

Speak these words to him:

I believe in you Jesus, and confess that you are My Lord and My God.

I surrender to you Jesus, all that I have and all that I am.

Pray

We have a big stage up here with all kinds of room to pray if you want to come and pray up here.

If you prayed to receive Jesus today do not leave here without letting someone know.

During the song or after the service, please come talk to me.

If you are online, click the “Pray for Me” link and let us know you made a decision to trust in Jesus.

We want to talk to you about next steps and help you begin your walk with Jesus.