Category: April 2016

“Because of My Name”

 

Isaiah 65:17-25  Luke 21:5-19

 

Today’s scriptures give us an opportunity to address some common questions asked by believers and non-believers alike.

Hear what the renowned historian, Josephus, wrote about the Temple.  “The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye.  For, being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays.  To approaching strangers it appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain; for all that was not overlaid with gold was of purest white.  From its summit protruded sharp golden spikes to prevent birds from settling upon and polluting the roof.  Some of the stones in the building were forty-five cubits in length, five in height and six in breadth.”  A cubit…by the way…was about 18 inches.  Some of those stones were 67 feet long…7 feet high and 9 feet deep.

That Temple was the center of worship.  Yet…it was destroyed.  But…the worship of God continues today in the hearts and minds of persons who never worshiped in an ornate….gold plated temple.  Instead they listened to effective witnesses like the disciples who taught wherever they could…and like John Wesley who stood in the cold rain outside the entrances of coal mines in desolate locations…and today’s neighborhood disciple who witnesses while visiting those who are shut in or serving at a soup kitchen.

The question asked:  Should I go to that large church with all of the programs and activities and the beautiful buildings…a modern-day Temple.  The answer:  It’s the church with true witnesses for Jesus Christ who can meet you where you are on your faith journey that you should attend.

It’s not hard to find in the daily news… regardless of the source…or media type…some reports of serious calamity….earthquakes…

tornadoes…floods…disease outbreaks…massive hunger…wild fires and more.  It’s also not hard to find reports of war…or threats of war…somewhere.  In reality during the last 3,000 years of recorded history there have been fewer than 300 years when the entire world was at peace…when there was no war.

And…it’s not all that hard to find…at the same time…publications… or people in a pulpit…trying to tell us that these are truly signs of the end…that the apocalypse….the second coming of Jesus Christ…is just around the corner in time.

They often refer to Christ’s words we heard this morning as evidence.  “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened….  Nation will rise against nation….will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”  Yes, Jesus did say all of these things would happen.

All of these words are very general…although I trust… true statements…for a very good reason.  Had Jesus made clear a specific sequence of events to expect there would have been many more false prophets repeating those statements and trying to show proof…and complacent people laying back because the specific sequence of signs was not in process.

Until we see Jesus coming in a cloud as he said he would…we aren’t there yet.  Our earthly life is not over.  Our race is not fully run.

The question asked:  Is this or that a sign of the end times.  The answer:  We don’t know what the specific signs are and to attempt to give a specific answer to the question would make one a false prophet.

Jesus told the disciples they would be persecuted. The Book of Acts gives us many stories that tell the specifics of their historic persecution.  Jesus’ words suggest…and probably are accurate…that the persecution would go beyond the twelve disciples to persons in all times who speak in support of Jesus Christ…who act in Jesus’ name.

I don’t know whether any of you has been persecuted.  We’ve certainly read reports of others who have…reports from history and reports in the daily news.  Some of those who have been persecuted have been harmed physically. Some have been killed.

The question:  How can this be, if Jesus told them “not a hair of your head will perish.  By standing firm you will gain life”.  The answer:  Jesus was telling the disciples…and us…that our life…the life of those who truly witness to Christ…is a life eternal.  Christ will put the words in your mouth to use when you speak in his name…guide you when you choose to act in his name.  It won’t be hard to understand.  He will be with you as you do so and as you are persecuted…but he will not necessarily free you from your persecutors.  He will… however…stand up for you at the time of judgment.  He guarantees for His witnesses a life eternal.

Now that the questions have been asked and answered…perhaps not in the way anyone would want them answered…let us ask this last question as we go to speak and act in Jesus’ name…to witness…wherever we might be…regardless of the beauty of the place or the people…regardless of what the false prophets have been saying…regardless of the threats of persecution.

How big is your hope?

Is the wingspan of your hope big enough to get you soaring?

Is your hope big enough…imaginative enough…human enough…to include whole nations and the entire created order……regardless of whether the other person has chosen a lifestyle with which you disagree…regardless of the color of their skin…regardless of the language they speak…regardless of the place they were born?

Hope on such a grand scale is the gospel ….truly the Good News.

It’s big!

It offers both the prospect of personal intimacy with God forever and a renewed world of peace and righteousness.  It isn’t just one or the other.  God has a plan for you and for this whole world.  The Lord Jesus Christ died for this and He will not be denied.

Your true enjoyment of God can begin right now.  Enter into Christ with nothing but need…just as the disciples did.  And…just as Jesus did with the disciples…He will recreate you.  The gospel says, “If anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  If you are in Christ, God has not just patched up your old you.  He has made you new.  And, you will enjoy God in endless newness.

Every day you and I are tempted to throw this hope away.  But what for?  For stuff?  For position? For control of others?  For exclusion of others?  For this world in all its current brokenness?  For simple comfort?  It isn’t worth it.  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  That’s what we’re living for.  Not the weekend….but The End.

Christian believer…or not…God is saying this to every one of us. “Here I am!  Are you interested?  Even if you’re a bad person…I’m still here.  In fact…I will save you.

Look to Christ.

If you’ll look honestly…you will conclude that Jesus can be trusted on this one.

You will yield control.

You will choose what Jesus delights in.

You will speak and act…in his name.

And…Jesus will prepare a place for you in the new heaven and the new earth.

Jesus will do it eagerly.

Not just for Jesus.

For you.

“Love One Another”

Acts 11:1-18                 John 13:31-35

 

In his autobiography…Mahatma Ghandi…the man whose non-violent protests led to India’s independence from Great Britain…wrote that in his student days in England he was deeply touched by reading the Gospels and seriously considered becoming a convert to Christianity.  He felt it offered a real solution to the caste system that divided the people of India.  One Sunday he attended church services and decided to ask the minister for enlightenment on salvation and other doctrines.   But…when Ghandi entered the sanctuary the ushers refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go elsewhere to worship with his own people.  He left and never came back.  He said to himself, “If Christians have caste differences also I might as well remain a Hindu.”

The American poet…Edwin Markham…gave the message another way.

“Some draw a circle that shuts men out;

Race and position are what they flout;

But Christ in love seeks them all to win,

He draws a circle that takes them in.”

Where would we have Ghandi worship?

Where would we draw the circle?

As I listen to conversations and watch the

news reports I fear too many would suggest Ghandi worship elsewhere and the circle would be drawn very small.

Our attitude toward the world…including those who do not know God…is supremely important…especially in this world that seems to grow more divided and angry every day.  That is the basis for the book of Jonah.  It was the prophet’s bad attitude toward the world that landed him in the belly of the great fish.  God was telling him…”Jonah, this is what I think of your self-will, your prejudice, your elitism.  Take a good look.”

In Christ there is no basis for discrimination of any kind.  Prejudice or elitism on the lips of a believer is like an obscenity…whether it be racial, national, cultural or social.  James says, “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.” (James 2:1)   If only there had been more love and less bias in that usher’s heart when he met Ghandi.  The future leader had read the New Testament and had even seriously considered Christianity, but his conclusion was, “I like the New Testament, I like your Christianity, but I do not like your Christians.”

What a difference it makes when we look at others with attitudes that are inclusive…open-armed…optimistic…loving and courteous.  The story that Peter told the crowd in Judea reminds us that God wants to create in us this attitude…His attitude…toward the world.

The gospel never changes.  But we can become unchangeable…inflexible…and thus unusable.  What are our attitudes toward others?  Exclusive…pessimistic…passive?  Or concerned…hopeful…actively loving?  We need to regularly consider Peter’s vision and its meaning for us today.

We should also consider Jesus’ command.  He called it a new command….though the command to love was as old as the days of Moses.  Jesus called it new because his radical love demanded a new object and a new measure.  The object was “one another”.   The Jews of Jesus’ day had so watered down the teaching of Moses that they could love whom they wanted and hate whom they wanted.  But Christ changed the object from “neighbor” to “one another”.  This was a radical new commandment.  The world at that time was divided by prejudicial divisions that make some of our differences seem pale by comparison…master and slave…Jews and Gentiles.  The Greeks regarded the Jews as barbarians.  The Jews had the reputation of being haters of the world.  There was also a vast chasm between men and women.

The Scottish minister…Alexander MacLaren…described what happened because of Jesus’ command.

“Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant…sat down at one table, and felt themselves all one in Christ Jesus.  They were ready to break all other bonds, and to yield to the uniting forces that streamed out from his Cross.  There never had been anything like it.  No wonder that the world began to babble about sorcery, and conspiracies and complicity in unnamable vices.  It was only that the disciples were obeying the new commandment, and a new thing had come into the world…a community held together by love and not by geographical accidents or linguistic affinities, or the iron fetters of the conqueror….The new commandment made a new thing, and the world wondered.”

It was like a band of brothers and sisters that the church conquered the world.  It was a glorious band of brothers and sisters that sailed the oceans and marched through the continents to both dungeon and throne with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ!  One of the reasons they succeeded is that mankind…severed from one another…longing to come together…witnessed real love among the followers of Christ…and especially among believing Jews…the narrowest…most bigoted…most intolerant nation on the face of the earth at the time.

Left to ourselves…we seek our own.  Movie stars marry movie stars.  Doctors seek out doctors.  Middle-classers seek out middle-classers.  Bikers seek bikers.  But when Christ comes that changes.  In the church of Jesus Christ, we discover that the people we love and with whom we fellowship are different from us.  The more there is the love Christ told us to have…a love for one another…the greater will be the diversity within the body of Christ.

The commandment was also new because of its measure.  Christ thought…if we are making friends and loving those whom we never would have before we met Christ, praise God…the love of Christ is working in and through us!  The measure of this love is, “as I have loved you.”  Here is the command’s radical nature.  While it is sometimes difficult to love your neighbor as yourself as the old command had it…it is far more difficult to love others as Christ loves them.  That is sacrificial love.  At the last supper it was defined by Jesus’ dealing with Judas.  When Jesus said, “Men, love one another as I have loved you,” the disciples naturally thought of Jesus’ love…his consistency…his washing their feet.  But the disciples were at a disadvantage.  They could not then know how Jesus was even loving Judas.

Though Judas was his enemy, the Savior reached out to him.  Within the church if we are to love one another as Jesus loved us, we must reach out in reconciliation…love and forgiveness…to those who have wronged us.  And when that is done…it becomes a convincing argument for the gospel.

Jesus said…”By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  It’s not about pinning labels on someone…or some group…then deciding to love or hate that person or group because of that label.  However…that seems to be much in vogue these days.

Possibly the greatest gift that we as the body of Christ can give the world is to love not only each other…but love all…all.  If we do that, those on the outside will desire to learn more about the gift of gifts, the King of kings himself.  The radicalness of Jesus’ love in the Upper Room came as he reached out to one with whom he was not in agreement.  Will we love likewise…with the love of Jesus?

 

“The Good Shepherd”

Acts 4:5-12 John 10:7-18

 

What does Jesus mean by referring to himself as the door or gate? When the British evangelist G. Campbell Morgan was traveling across the Atlantic on a steamer he noticed that among the passengers was Sir George Adam Smith, the most famous Old Testament scholar of the time. The greatest preacher of the day…Morgan…and the greatest Old Testament scholar…Smith…had a great time as they traveled together. Morgan said that of all the tales Sir George told of the East this was the one that he especially liked. He was one day traveling with a guide, and came across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into conversation with him. The man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Sir George said to him, “That is where they go at night?” “Yes”, said the shepherd. He was not a Christian, he was not speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from the Arab shepherd’s standpoint. Sir George looked at him and said, “What do you mean by the door?” Said the shepherd, “When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in the open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.” That is how Jesus meant it. Jesus was saying, “I am the living door. In order to go into the fold, you must go through me. Likewise, to go out to pasture, you must go through me. As the door I am the protector and I am the provider. When you come in the door, you are not only saved, but you are safe. When you go out through me, you go out to lush pasture. I am the provider. Nobody is coming through that door except the one who comes through me. In this passage Jesus was saying that through him the saved go in and out and find pasture, which leads to the life that they may have to the fullest. Christ provides abundant…full life for his sheep. What is abundant life? Many suppose it is an abundance of things. Not so! Money can buy many things—it can even buy a pasture, but it cannot buy the peace of salvation. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus said. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, the hired hand abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. In the same way…substitutes for Jesus leave us. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus said. “I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” Because they know me they know I lay down my life for the sheep. Knowing…having a relationship with Jesus…as intimate as his relationship with the Father makes all the difference. In Matthew we read about Jesus having compassion because he saw his sheep scattered and cast down. The word translated “compassion” there conveys the idea that he felt it in his stomach. His stomach turned with compassion. Jesus is no hireling…no substitute, like some wannabe shepherds who come to us today. His heart was full of sacrificial love. Notice that four times this Scripture says that Christ laid down his life for the sheep. This is like a refrain from the Lord’s own personal song with each stanza ending, “I lay down my life for my sheep.” Such is the good shepherd’s heart. Christ devoted his whole life to us…to each of us…each day and finally gave it in an act of supreme sacrifice. He laid it down through his own initiative. The soldiers…with all their might…did not capture Jesus at Gethsemane. He could have called ten thousand angels if he had wanted. His very words cast them back, but he gave himself up. Remember how Scripture describes his death on the cross? “He gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30) Jesus says in verse eleven, “I am the good shepherd.” In verse 14 he repeats, “I am the good shepherd.” Two different Greek words are sometimes translated to good in English. One means good, morally and naturally. The other more closely means “beautiful.” So some translators render the two phrases “I am the shepherd, the beautiful shepherd.” Years ago the British theologian C. H. Spurgeon wrote it this way. “There is more in Jesus, the good Shepherd, than you can pack away in a shepherd. He is the good, the great, the chief Shepherd; but he is much more. Emblems to set him forth may be multiplied as the drops of the morning, but the whole multitude will fail to reflect all his brightness. Creation is too small a frame in which to hang his likeness. Human thought is too contracted, human speech too feeble, to set him forth to the full….He is inconceivably above our conceptions, unutterably above our utterances. “ Such is the shepherd we call our Lord. He is altogether lovely—this beautiful Jesus, our shepherd…the good shepherd. Why is he so good? Because of the way he relates to you and me…calls each of us by name…intimately knows us…and sees to our every need. Why is he so good? Because he is the door. When we go in through him we find protection and salvation. When we go out with him in the lead we find pasture and abundant life. Why is he so good? Because of his heart. Because he laid down his life for his sheep. And he offers us all a place with him…every day…and eternally. Jesus said, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” Before the foundation of the world, my name was in his book, and so was yours…the book of those for whom he wants to be the good shepherd…for whom he wants to be the gate and the door. When he laid down his life, he became the door of salvation and the door of abundant life…for each of us. Let us close today by reaffirming our faith that the good shepherd will guide and protect us…reaffirm our covenant with God. Please turn with me to page 51 in your hymnals.

“The Name”

Luke 19:28-40 Philippians 2:5-11

 

The name is “Lord”. The one to whom the name belongs is clearly Jesus Christ. The events in Luke’s story help make clear the mission of “The Lord”…Jesus Christ…and how he brings salvation to humanity. These events were designed by God. They show how Jesus is the center of God’s plan. How you choose to view these events shows how you relate to God’s plan. Though the events are nearly two thousand years old…they are presented in such a way that we must think about what God has done through Jesus. The story of these events calls for each generation… each person…to make a decision. The different reactions to Jesus in this story show the range of responses to the question of who Jesus is…questions that are still raised today. The two most important responses come from the disciples and from the Jewish leadership. Their views are contrary to each other. The disciples saw Jesus as the promised king…the one that God has worked through with great power…power that has been shown by many miracles. In the promised king…”the Lord”…are peace and glory…the gracious authority from heaven itself. But…the Jewish leadership…sees those claims as exaggerated…something that Jesus should not accept. Throughout time…those who have read this story from Luke have…in effect…been asked to choose a side. Jesus’ appeal to the rocks…representing all of creation…shows how fundamental the claims of the disciples truly are. Why…even creation knows they are the truth. The story challenges us to ask where we place Jesus…whether we think he is the humble king of peace and glory…the Lord to be followed…the Lord to be emulated…the Lord who is our teacher…the Lord who is our model. Jesus’ royal entry into Jerusalem on a beast of burden is important to understanding Jesus’ ministry career and his Lordship. He is a humble king as he enters Jerusalem…as he faces the cross. All in the church should live their life as his example for others seeking a Lord. A day will come when he will be fully recognized as the glorious Son of Man…on the clouds…ruling with great power and exercising it. Knowing the difference is important. You see the church has sometimes tried to see itself as an alternative government in the world…a type of national force that should overthrow those labeled as God’s enemies. Those so-called “enemies” are actually people just like us… members of God’s creation. History has shown this to be a great…and tragic mistake. Whether it was the Crusades…the Spanish Inquisition…parts of the Reformation…or today’s attempts to confuse the church with national or state government the road of the church exercising political power…instead of moral persuasion…has been a dead end. Paul…writing in Romans…recognizes that secular governments have a role for good and for judgment…even though those governments lack the covenant relationship with God. Society certainly operates better when it is conducted on a high moral plane. And… when we live in democracies like those in the Western world we should participate in the public debate. But…we should not confuse the church with the government…or vice versa. To transform humanity, a change in heart is needed. That is not the business of government, nor can it be achieved by laws. Instead it is part of the church’s prophetic call and the work of God’s Spirit. And Paul tells us how…like the Lord Jesus Christ…we are to be a part of the work of God’s Spirit. Paul’s concern for the Philippians was not so much for their minds as for their interactions…how they dealt with each other. He told them to live in mutual relationships with the same humble attitude that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ…the one we name “Lord”. We start with the knowledge that Christ is not a mere reflection of God’s glory…he has his own glory with that of the Father and the Holy Spirit…a glory that existed long before he came to earth. Paul tells us that though Jesus Christ…the Lord…existed in the form of God he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Jesus did not hold on to his equality as something to use for his own advantage. Rather than seeing his equality with God as something to keep…Jesus saw it as qualifying him for his humble descent to earth to serve others. Do we view our Christianity in our relationships with others as a way to judge and control or a humble way to serve…serve with love? Christ…Paul wrote…made himself nothing…and took the form of servant. He did not give up the form of God to become a slave. He demonstrated the form of God by becoming a slave. He became humble by leaving heaven to take on the form of man. Paul told us that he humbled himself by becoming obedient even to the point of death on the cross. Jesus fully identified himself with humanity. And in doing so…he chose death on the cross. It was not forced upon him in some way. The message for the Philippians and all the rest of us who are prone to ambition and think ourselves uniquely special above others…is this…in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you be about not only your own interests…but also about the interests of others. The one we call Lord made this clear in the new commandment he gave us…to love each other. Love each other. That command is pretty straight forward. It ends with a period, not a comma, followed by the words “except for” then a list of people or groups of people for whom and to whom we should not show love. Yet…in too much of today’s conversations and thinking…in our homes…the coffee shop…and political debates we are adding a comma and a list following that clear and simple command…love each other. The list of exceptions seems to grow longer every day…refugees…those with mental health issues…those who are not straight…those who are divorced…those whose skin color is different…the unemployed… those of another faith and no faith at all. How do you think the one we call Lord…the one who washed the feet of disciples at the end of a long day…the one who told us to love each other…love each other…how does that Lord feel about these divisions coming from attitudes that are not humble…serving…love? Serving others…as Christ did…is to be the work of every Christian…rich or poor…male or female…young or old. Counting others as more significant than ourselves is to be the constant and sincere attitude for each of us. Looking out for the interests of others should describe all who are part of the body of Christ…the church…those who take His name…the Lord’s name. Jesus clearly told us himself. (John 13:14-15) 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. (NLT) I close with a request that we ponder these questions. What’s being done in the name of the Lord that is other than humble…serving…love? What’s not being done through intentional inaction that is justified in the name of the Lord that is other than humble…serving…love? As we interact…with each other…and select and interact with those we call leaders…as we interact with our family…with our neighbors…with the community and family of the slain young police officer….with the community and family of the one who slayed the policeman…with our state…our nation and our world…whose name will we humbly and lovingly live out?

“That You May Believe”

Acts 5:27-32 John 20:19-31

 

John tells us that his gospel was written so that we may believe…so that we may believe that Jesus Christ is Lord…Master…and Savior. It wasn’t written to be a complete and accurate history or biography alone. It was written so that we would believe. The words we heard from John today show us that on that day shortly after the first Easter Jesus left five things for his disciples…and for you and me. He gave them His presence, His peace, a mission, a companion and a message of forgiveness. Jesus was there among them in that room whose doors had been shut and locked. No ordinary human being could have entered…but Jesus was there. They heard him speak. They saw his wounds. They knew it was truly Jesus who was with them. John wrote this so that we may believe. … believe that we are not alone…ever. Just like that night…despite the circumstances…Jesus is always with us. Jesus offered them a greeting that said he was bringing them peace. It was a standard Hebrew greeting… but from Jesus it had a deeper meaning. Jesus’ peace would not guarantee the absence of trouble…but it would supply the strength and comfort for the burdens to be carried. He gave the disciples peace that would help them through the troubles that were at hand…and to us he gave peace for the troubles that we would encounter. John wrote this so that we would believe. …believe that same kind of peace is ours no matter what troubles seem to surround us. Jesus gave the disciples a mission that is still for the Church today. As God has sent Jesus forth… so Jesus sends us forth. This means three things. 1. Jesus needs the Church, “the body of Christ”. Jesus had come with a message to be taken to all humans. He was now going back to the Father. His message could never be taken to all humans unless the Church took it. The Church was to be the mouth to speak for Jesus…the feet to run his errands…the hands to do his work. Jesus is dependent on the church. 2. The Church needs Jesus. Someone who is sent out needs someone to send him…needs a message to take…needs a power and an authority to back up the message…needs someone to turn to when he is in doubt and difficulty. For this the Church is dependent upon Jesus. 3. The relationship between Jesus and God was continually dependent on Jesus’ perfect obedience and perfect love. In the same way the Church is fit to be the messenger and the instrument of Christ only when she perfectly loves him and perfectly obeys him. The Church must never be out to propagate her message…she must be out to propagate the message of Christ. The church must never be out to follow man-made policies…and political agendas…she must follow the will of Christ. John wrote this so that we may believe….believe in our mission to make disciples and in the one who supports us in executing our mission. Our mission and support are clear. Jesus gave them a companion. Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. In using this metaphor John was thinking back to the story of the creation of humans…when God breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life. Jesus gave the disciples a new life with a companion to guide and protect them on that life’s path. You and I have the same companion. John wrote this so that we may believe….believe that our guide and guidance are always with us. Jesus told the disciples to forgive the sins of others. This sentence does not mean that the power to forgive sins was ever entrusted to any man or woman. It means that the power to proclaim that forgiveness was so entrusted…along with the power to warn that forgiveness is not open to the person who will not repent. This sentence lays down the duty of the Church to convey forgiveness to the person who repents and to warn the person who doesn’t that they are forfeiting the mercy of God. John wrote this so that we may believe. …believe that forgiveness is there for us and for others…repentance and confession are all that’s needed. There was more that John wrote so that we may believe. You see…Thomas wasn’t with the disciples when they had their first encounter with Jesus. Though they told Thomas he doubted. Thomas was so broken-hearted that he had to be alone with his grief. He didn’t stay with the disciples. He initially refused to believe the news that Jesus had returned. He said he wouldn’t believe until he had seen the wounds. When Jesus returned a week later he challenged Thomas to touch his wounds. Thomas immediately believed and called Jesus Lord and God. Thomas’ character…like that of many… clearly stands out. 1. He withdrew from the Christian fellowship. He sought loneliness rather than togetherness. He missed Jesus’ first visit because of this. We miss a great deal when we separate ourselves from the Christian fellowship and try to be alone. Things can happen to us within the fellowship that will not happen when we are alone. When sorrow envelops us we often tend to shut ourselves up and refuse to meet people. That is the time when…in spite of our sorrow…we should seek the fellowship of Christ’s people. 2. Thomas had two great virtues. He refused to say that he understood what he did not understand… or that he believed what he did not believe. He was honest. He was not the kind of person to rattle off a creed without understanding what it was all about. His other great virtue was that when he was sure he went all the way. Thomas doubted in order to become sure, and when he did his surrender to that certainty was complete. John wrote this that we may believe. …believe even in our times of doubt and uncertainty. Though the words of John the gospel writer are before all to see…there are those who don’t believe…those who doubt like Thomas…those who laugh and jeer or maybe just roll their eyes…when you or I tell the story of our faith and what Jesus has done…and continues to do…in our lives. It is for the unbelievers and for us that John wrote the story of Jesus’ first visit to the disciples…a time when Jesus…though crucified…gave them His presence…His peace…a mission…a companion and a message of forgiveness…and John wrote the story of how the once doubting Thomas saw and believed. John has done his task. Our task is to read the story and believe. But…that’s just the beginning. We also must share the story so that others may believe. As we say when we come to the Lord’s Table we must become for the world…the world that touches us…and the world that needs our touch… the body of Christ…redeemed by His blood. We must be advocates for the outcasts…pray for reconciliation of all…examine our lives and the lives of those around us…and work together to break down the walls that divide us…even when others call for walls…division…anger…fear and hate.