Everyone has heard of Doubting Thomas. But that is far from the whole story.
Thomas. It got me to thinking about his life. I want to talk about one episode in his life. He started off with Jesus, and is often known as Doubting Thomas because he wanted to see the nail prints. But if we look prior to that episode, we can see something totally different.
Matthew 10:1-3
There’s Thomas, number seven in the list. He was given power against unclean spirits to cast them out. He was given power to heal sickness and disease – God working through him. Sometimes I think we consider him just in the later episode and forget that he was an apostle, a disciple of Jesus Christ.
There are some here who are weighing up their future. I want to convey the fact that when Jesus called His disciples and said, “Follow me,” that’s exactly what we’re meant to do. We’re to follow Him and do what He wants us to do. No matter what the circumstances, no matter what appears to be against it, follow Jesus Christ.
Here Thomas witnessed this power that God worked through him.
John 10:22-30
That last was the phrase that got to them.
John 10:31-49
Judea was where they had been ready to stone Him. He was under threat of being killed. When the news of Lazarus comes, He stays with the family for a couple of days, and then ...
John 11:8-15
Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. To the disciples as they journeyed with Jesus through life trying to figure out who He was, what His destiny was, so they wondered why He was going back to Judea, when He had only to turn up there for them to stone Him. But He knew what God would demonstrate through the episode of Lazarus.
John 11:16
To the other disciples, that was like a bombshell. What did it reveal about Thomas? As far as he was concerned, Jesus was what it was all about. And if Jesus was to die, as far as Thomas concerned, he was with Him.
Later in the same chapter ...
John 11:43-46
There’s something about being a Christian which means, “for me to live is Christ”. That’s my life. And if Jesus wants me to go somewhere, that’s where I’m going. If Jesus wants me to talk to someone, even if it means a loss of face, it’s what I’ll do.
As Thomas walked with Jesus over three years, he took note of the good things Jesus was doing and he believed in Him, and it was real. When he revealed his heart to the disciples, it hit them. By nature I’m sure Thomas’s demeanour would have been to say the bottle was half empty. But don’t discount Thomas for his personality. It doesn’t matter what personality we have. Jesus is getting specific with you just as you are.
It grieves me when I hear about some young people concerned about what other people have said about them, giving the impression that these young people are not good enough. Jesus is totally interested in you as an individual. There’s no way He’s not interested. He’s interested enough that He wants you to be changed on the inside in such a way that you no longer live for yourself, but for Him. Others, others, others ... not me, me, me.
Jesus talked quite a bit to the disciples.
John 12:23-25
Strange. Jesus is saying, if you love your life, you’ll lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you’ll keep it to life eternal. “But I love life and want to live it and visit loads of places.” But what Jesus was saying to His disciples was, “The life I’m talking about is the life which comes from above, a life which cuts right across what you have. If you’re honest about it, you realise that you do want to get things right on the inside. You’re good at putting on a show, but when push comes to shove, you have to admit, ‘I’m empty, I try to do what’s right and I don’t.’ ”
And here in Thomas’s life, it was a case of “If Jesus is going somewhere, I’m going – for all that He’s done for me.”
Jesus is saying, “If you’re aware that life in this world doesn’t fulfil you on the inside ...” We are a worshipping being. I was reminded of that following the recent death of Michael Jackson and references to him as the king of pop. Somewhere, somehow we have a king. We all have a king. Who’s our king? It’s either the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ., or it’s the king of self – me, me, me. And because it’s all me, I’ll pull you down.
And here Jesus is very clear ...
John 12:26
I don’t know what it is, but there’s something stirring at this time in many people’s hearts. They’re weighing up whether or not this is for real. I’m convinced that this weekend and next, it will be an occasion where God by His Holy Spirit will zero in on you, because He loves you.
He doesn’t want you that way. And ,He came back for Thomas, who wasn’t at the first meeting when He appeared to His disciples. He came back because Thomas knew as evidenced here, that there was something about Jesus Christ that was totally different. And Jesus had got hold of Thomas.
Tradition has it that Thomas later became a missionary, and some think he ended up Southern India, and died as a martyr.
This is the time that, because of His love for you, God is getting really specific. What’s it going to be going forward in your life? God wants an openness of heart. He wants us to be honest, and to cut off the peer pressure which takes us the wrong way.
If you love your life, you’ll lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you’ll keep it to life eternal. And that’s the most fulfilling way to live life to the full.
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