One Unbeliever and Resurrection

CPS: One unbeliever is worth the spread of the gospel.

Introduction

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is exciting! There is nothing more important in all of history than what happened on that weekend over 2,000 years ago through the cross and the resurrection. It is worth sharing with someone. One unbeliever is worth the spread of the gospel.

Years ago, I sat down with a pastor friend of mine for coffee. I told him that something about churches that puzzled me. Growing up I’ve always heard about the importance of the cross, but there didn’t seem, at least in my experience, to be the same emphasis on the resurrection.

But the resurrection is the center-point of human history and the beginning point of Christianity. Christianity could never have started without the resurrection. Before the resurrection, the disciples are scared people, running away and hiding. It was the resurrection of Christ that caused the disciples to go from people in fear of their life to people without fear, proclaiming the good news of Jesus, that we have seen through the book of Acts.

My pastor friend seemed to think this was an interesting point of view. But I think it’s the only view worth having. The resurrection of Jesus is God’s stamp saying Jesus is who he says he is. The resurrection drives me to share the gospel with people. There is nothing more exciting to me about the resurrection.

Why is that? What is about the resurrection that drives us to share the good news of Jesus with others?

We are going to see the power of the resurrection shared with one unbeliever.

Text: John 20:24-29

John 20:24–29 CSB

24 But Thomas (called “Twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even 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 and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.” 28 Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Thomas goes from an unbeliever in the resurrection of Christ to a believer.

There are a few things that we learn through this story about the value of sharing the gospel with one unbeliever. First,

The excitement of Jesus’ resurrection is worth sharing with one unbeliever.

The resurrected Lord appeared to the disciples, and it says the disciples rejoiced when they saw Jesus (John 20:20). Think of what these disciples had just gone through. When Jesus dies on the cross, the disciples are not a bunch of heroes fighting the leaders and saying, “We are going to take it to the streets.” No, what are the disciples doing after the cross? They are running away and hiding. They were inside of a locked room afraid of what the Jewish leaders were going to do to them (John 20:19).

The resurrection changes the disciples from people in hiding to excited believers.

What did the resurrection mean to them? It meant that Jesus was who he says he is, the Messiah! His promises are true! He said he would return, and he is here!

The resurrection means that Jesus is who he says he is, and his promises are true!

So what do they do? Well, there was one person who wasn’t with them when Jesus showed himself resurrected, a disciple named Thomas. We see Thomas a few times in John’s gospel. He is one of the original twelve disciples, and he is in hiding with the rest of these disciples.

The disciples were excited! They tell Thomas, “We have seen the Lord!” Have you ever been that excited about Jesus? They are like, “Jesus, he’s done it! He has fulfilled his promise! He is alive!”

Take a look at their interaction with Thomas in John 20:25:

John 20:25 CSB

25 So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Thomas was stubborn. He is like, “There is nothing you can tell me that will change my mind. Unless Jesus is standing right here, I will never believe.” But can you imagine the disciples over that week? Jesus doesn’t show himself again for a whole week.

These disciples spend a whole week with Thomas. Can you imagine a week of listening to someone talk about Jesus when you don’t believe? They must have been annoying to Thomas. But what is Thomas going to do? He is stuck in this room in hiding. There was no Netflix or something to drown out their excitement.

I think that’s why he is so stubborn. There is definitely something different with these disciples. Something happened. But resurrection? See, according to the natural law, dead things don’t get up and reanimate themselves. They stay dead. Thomas knows this. He is like, “These guys are delusional.”

Joy in Christ is able to overcome skepticism. There is joy in knowing the resurrected Lord.

But joy is able to overcome skepticism. There is joy in knowing the resurrected Lord. When you know that God has done an amazing work, there are some that are not going to want to believe, but it is worth sharing your excitement about Jesus with others. It is worth sharing your excitement about Jesus with one unbeliever, because you don’t know what God is about to do. They don’t know if Jesus is going to show up again. But they know what they have seen. They know what Jesus has done. And they are going to share it with Thomas, no matter his unbelief.

Do you remember when you first gave your heart to Christ? Or maybe, have you seen someone who is brand new in Christ? Listen, they may not have all of the answers. They may not know all of the right theology. But they know what they seen in their life. They know that Jesus has done an amazing thing. You didn’t live their life. But they have. They know who they were. And they know that something amazing has happened in their life.

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. There is something amazing about the Christian faith. There is nothing as life-changing as the power of God in a life through faith in Christ.

And that faith comes one at a time. Someone may not like your enthusiasm or excitement about Jesus. That’s okay. See, you can’t help but tell someone about Jesus, because when he changes you, when he sets you free, there is excitement.

There is an amazing thing in this story, it’s this:

The Lord will focus on one unbeliever to bring them to faith.

Jesus has resurrected from the dead. Think of all the things he could be doing? He could be going to Pontius Pilate, saying, “I’m back. Tell Cesar I’m here, my kingdom is starting.” He could be going to all the Jewish leaders, saying, “See, here I am! I told you so. Time to make me king now.” In fact, the leaders would have liked him making them that important, justifying their position.

Jesus operates according to God’s priorities. He uses his authority and power in resurrection to reach out to one unbeliever.

But in this story, what do we see Jesus doing? He doesn’t operate according to man’s priorities or power structure. He is operating on God’s priorities. And what is that? He is using his authority and power in resurrection to reach out to one unbeliever. Look at John 20:26-27:

John 20:26–27 CSB

26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even 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 and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”

He will not lose those who belong to him! What could he have done? He could say, “Well, Thomas has made his choice, we’ll find another Thomas.” That’s not what he does. That one unbeliever is precious to Jesus.

It’s interesting that he is willing to interact with Thomas in a way that will bring him to faith. This is something that we don’t often think about. God knows each of us individually, and he knows how to get our attention. Jesus knows what it will take to bring Thomas to faith.

God knows each person individually, and knows what a person needs for faith.

Jesus comes in the room in his resurrected body, and he knows they have been hiding in fear. He speaks peace to them, and he turns his attention to the one unbeliever in the room. What will it take Thomas to come to faith? Thomas has already set up the criteria. He wants to see Jesus physically. He wants to touch his side.

See, Thomas is damaged. He has been through this experience with this rabbi. He’s trusted him, and now he is running and hiding because of what’s happened to his rabbi. I think he wants to believe, but he wants a good reason to believe. He isn’t going to believe because someone said so. He wants to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection for himself.

That’s not a terrible place to be. Some of us may want to know if this resurrection thing is real. What is amazing about God is that he knows how to get our attention. There may be circumstances in your life that God is using to bring you to faith.

God may use circumstances in your life to bring you to faith.

Thomas was not an easy person to bring to faith. But look at the circumstances. Thomas is hiding with people who are witnessing to him. He can’t leave because he’s afraid, and he wants to believe, but their word is not enough. He is in a circumstance where Jesus comes to him where he is at.

What is Jesus’ cry to him? “Don’t be faithless, but believe.”

What is faith? Faith is this constant trust and dependence on God. It is knowing in your heart who Jesus is, and trusting him with your life. We operate in faith all of the time. We turn on the Google Maps navigation on the phone, and we trust that it will get us where we want to go. We may have never been to the place, but we trust that this device will get us there. We go to our workplace five days a week because we trust they will have the money to pay us a salary. We go to a doctor because we trust in the education and experience the doctor has to help us.

We couldn’t operate if we were faithless. What is incredible to us about the resurrection is that God proves his faithfulness in resurrecting Jesus from the dead.

The resurrection of Jesus proves God’s faithfulness.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the stamp of God that Jesus is who he says he is. Jesus says this about himself in John 11:25-26

John 11:25–26 CSB

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

The Lord takes time for one unbeliever because there is life in him.

The Lord takes time to go to one unbeliever because there is life in him. There is resurrection power in him. A life without faith in Christ is a dead life. You need faith in Christ.

That brings us to our last point,

The Lord blesses those who believe in him.

Thomas sees the resurrected Jesus, and he is impacted by the way that Jesus speaks to him. Jesus knows exactly who Thomas is, and know what Thomas needs. Look at Thomas’ response.

Look at John 20:28-29

John 20:28–29 CSB

28 Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

This was a critical time for Thomas. The Bible says this about salvation in Romans 10:9:

Romans 10:9 CSB

9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Thomas needed to come to a place where he would give up being faithless in the power of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus reached out to him and said, “Stop being faithless and believe!” Thomas needed to come to a place where he believed in the resurrection of Christ, and that drove him to profess Christ as his savior. “My Lord and My God!”

Thomas needed to come to a place where he would give up being faithless, believe in the resurrection, and profess faith in Christ.

Jesus follows this up with something you need to hear.

John 20:29 CSB

29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

There is a blessing on the life of a believer.

There is a blessing in believing and submitting to Christ. Peter spoke about the blessing that we have through faith in the resurrected Christ in 1 Peter 1:3:

1 Peter 1:3 CSB

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Let’s look at that for a minute.

It says that we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What has God done through the resurrection?

God has shown us mercy in Jesus through the resurrection.

It says that God has shown us a great mercy. God is compassionate on people. God is the one in authority, and yet he looks on people with compassion, being willing to look over our sins because they have been paid for on the cross through Jesus.

God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection.

The power of the resurrection of Christ brought about a living hope in Christ. When we believe, like Thomas was brought to believe, there is a new birth that comes about in the Christian life through God’s Spirit. This new birth is the blessing of God that we need.

Remember what Jesus says to Thomas :

John 20:29 CSB

29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

What does this blessing look like in the life of a believer? Take a look a little further down in 1 Peter 1:8-9:

1 Peter 1:8–9 CSB

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The new birth that a believer gets through the resurrection of Christ brings faith, belief, a love for the Lord, and an assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Because of the power of the resurrection, I know that my salvation is secure in Christ.

The resurrection is a reason for rejoicing. There is a blessing in knowing that my salvation is secure in the resurrected power of Christ! This is good news. This is the gospel. Because Jesus died on the cross and rose again for my sins, I am saved. Because he died on the cross and rose again, I am free through faith in him.

When I think of the blessing of Christ, I think of this story of a little boy who got on an elevator. It was his first time on an elevator. Someone asked him what happened. He said, “Well, mom and I went into this little room, and the upstairs came down.”

This is the good news of Jesus. God came in human flesh, dwelt among us, went to the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead. The resurrection is a reason for rejoicing! It is God saying in history, in real space and in real time, God is who he says he is. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life!”

What’s amazing about the gospel is that it’s for one unbeliever at a time. The gospel is worth sharing with one unbeliever. Maybe that’s you this morning? Maybe there is one person here that needs to hear the gospel? You need to believe. You need to know that Jesus resurrected from the dead. Like Thomas, you want to believe. Maybe God has brought you to this place this morning, and the Lord is making himself real to you, and wants you to place your faith in him.

Conclusion

The excitement of Jesus’ resurrection is worth sharing with one unbeliever.

The Lord will focus on one unbeliever to bring them to faith.

The Lord blesses those who believe in him.

Conclude