Are you a member of the tribe of Thomas? That’s how author Doris Betts describes herself and those like her who often find themselves struggling with questions about the Christian faith.
Thomas, you remember, was the disciple who had serious questions about the truth of the resurrection. When he heard the resurrection reports, Thomas claimed that they didn’t measure up to his standards of evidence. Thomas demanded empirical proof. In fact, he said that unless he put his finger in the nail prints and his hand in Christ’s side, he would not believe. Of course, we know that when the risen Savior did appear to Thomas, Thomas didn’t find it necessary to carry out his empirical tests. Still, whenever people talk about doubt his name surfaces. “Doubting Thomas“ is the nickname that has stuck to him, even though tradition states that Thomas carried the gospel as far as India, and died a martyr for the cause of Christ. “Doubting Thomas.“ The nickname seems to imply that doubt is a rather rare thing that Thomas was quite alone in struggling with questions about the faith. But as Doris Betts suggests, Thomas isn’t alone. She and many others—perhaps you—are of his tribe.
Doubt. You know, doubts about reality have become a fad in society today. Consider one of the classic films of the past few years——The Matrix. That sci—fi thriller was acclaimed because it’s message described how people today view life. In the film, the main character, Neo, discovers that what he took to be reality is pure fiction. His entire life has been scripted and sent to his brain by entities that want to control him. Everything, literally everything, that he had taken for fact has simply been piped into his head to keep him from knowing the REAL truth about things. He had been living in a web of deception. He had been living—in the Matrix.
That film broke ground because it expressed a way of looking at the world that is quickly becoming the norm. Many people today question whether you can be certain about anything. There is a growing number of people who think that we really do live in The Matrix——a world of our own creation, where we—or perhaps others——shape our reality. Doubt? At one time doubt was something to be avoided. Now, for many people, doubt has become a fad, a philosophy of life. It’s “in“ to doubt—to question EVERYTHING!
DOUBT AND HARD THINKING
Now, maybe you haven’t gone that far. A philosophy of doubt isn’t your thing. And yet you still are drawn to the Tribe of Thomas. Maybe you are struggling with doubt because you think hard and long about spiritual things. I talked to a young person the other day who said to me that he has reached a point in his life where he couldn’t believe the gospel simply because his mother and father believe. Such belief seemed to him cheap, unreal, unworthy of someone who grown to adulthood. He was struggling with doubt because he was thinking seriously about the Christian faith for the first time. He had glimpsed the sheer magnitude of the gospel’s claims, and for the first time in his adult life was asking whether those claims were true.
Maybe you’re like that young man. If you are, I want to encourage you in your struggles. You know, some people have never had a doubt about the Christian faith because they have never once thought long and hard about what they believe. The Christian faith has orbited so far out from the center of life that it has been unexamined. Such people may tell you they have never had a doubt—but neither has the Christian faith impacted their lives in serious ways. I want to tell that young man that to think about the Christian faith hard and long—to wrestle with questions and, yes, with doubts—is itself an act of obedience to Jesus Christ. No, doubt is not something to celebrate. But it may well be a stepping—stone to a greater certainty and conviction about the Christian faith.
DOUBTS AND HARD TIMES
Now, you might be struggling with doubt because you’re maturing in your spiritual life. But perhaps your doubts are different. They aren’t so much born out of hard thinking, but out of tough living. You may have doubts about the Christian faith today because your personal life is going through hard times. The gospel invites you to trust a God who is both good and great. Yet your own life seems so unfair. How can you live with such tension?
Maybe this winter your body has been wracked by cancer. Or someone you loved deeply was laid to rest. Maybe your marriage crumbled, in spite of your best efforts to hold things together. And with the hard times that hit you, you felt your Christian faith begin to buckle under the weight of suffering. You were shocked when it happened. You had thought yourself a strong believer. But now for the first time you understand Job’s misery as he sat on the ash heap. You understand the power behind the temptation of Job’s wife, when she invited Job to curse God and die. Yes, for the first time in memory, you struggle with doubt. You find yourself numbered among the Tribe of Thomas.
In the face of doubt, it would be good to learn from another disciple who also experienced skepticism about faith. His name was Peter. The question that Jesus put to Peter was one worth contemplating ourselves: “You of little faith, why do you doubt?“
We will explore the circumstances that led Jesus to ask Peter that question right after we hear this song:
STORMS ON THE SEA
We’ve been talking about doubt and the way doubt can creep up on anyone——even those who knew Jesus well and were at the center of his first circle of disciples. Take a look at the story you find in Matthew 14.
Jesus has spent an exhausting day feeding a crowd of five thousand. At its close, Jesus sends his disciples off across the Sea of Galilee so that he can spend some time alone with his Father. You see, Jesus not only spent time in prayer BEFORE he ministered, but AFTER. And in the time it took Jesus to go up into the mountain, spend time in prayer with his Father, and come down to the seashore, a stiff wind had broken across the waters.
Now, that was fairly common. The Sea of Galilee was surrounded by high hills, and the winds could come down through the passes and hit the lake with a quick squall——like what is happening this night. The wind has picked up. And the disciples in their little craft are getting shaken around pretty well out there on the waters.
Now, it’s tempting to think that it was the winds and waves that were terrorizing Jesus’ crew. But among the disciples were experienced fishermen, who were old hands at the oars. This wasn’t a pleasure cruise out on the lake. But neither should we think these disciples thought they were about to sink into the sea.
No, the first mention of terror in this story isn’t in connection with the winds and waves. It’s in connection with Jesus. These disciples look out into the grayness, and they see a shape, a form, moving across the waves. They catch a glimpse of a fluttering white robe upon the waters. And they are panic—stricken. The disciples think they see some spirit floating across the Sea——a ghost that foreshadows their imminent demise. And they are terrorized.
Now, I understand their fear at the unknown. But as Jesus comes into focus upon those waves, I would suggest that the Bible wants to teach us something else. The very way that Jesus comes across the water brings to mind Psalm 77:19. “Your way (O God) was through the sea, your path through the great waters.“ The disciples see a sight that testifies to God’s presence on the waters, and they are shaken to the core.
Are you surprised? That a sign of God’s coming is what makes these disciples truly afraid? Does this make sense? Yes, I think it does. When you read Scripture, just see what happens when God comes near. Or when an angel appears announcing God’s Word. Again and again God needs to reassure terrorized people—Do not be afraid.
Christ is approaching his people. And when the disciples figure out it’s Jesus, that’s when the story gets interesting. For it’s when Peter understands that Christ is present out there with him amid the winds and waves he is inspired to do something that gets him into REAL danger. Yes, Peter’s real trouble starts when he says, “Lord, if it really is you, command me to come to you on the water.“
Check it out: Peter will soon find himself in a crisis of doubt. But that doubt begins with an act of faith. And that suggests something important to know about doubt. That suggests doubt is parasitic. Doubt has this way of riding piggyback on faith. Doubt always wants to hitch a ride on faith.
I live near the Great Lakes. And in the Great Lakes, we have a nuisance fish called the lamprey. A lamprey is a parasite. It comes along and clamps its jaws onto a salmon or lake trout and sucks out the lifeblood of its prey. That’s what doubt does. Doubt is always in search of faith. Doubt comes up and sinks its teeth into faith. Doubt gets its energy by attacking faith. But that means that without faith, doubt can’t exist.
You see, doubt is not the same as unbelief. Through the years, people have come to me for spiritual counsel and said to me—— “I struggle with doubts about my faith——I must be an unbeliever.“ I’ve told them, they’ve got it wrong. A doubter is not an atheist. Doubt is not the same as unbelief.
The fact is, Peter’s big ?doubt attack’ happens in response to a staggering act of obedience. After all, no one else is climbing out of the boat to go to Jesus! If anyone is living his faith right now, it’s Peter. If anyone is willing at this moment not only to be a hearer but a doer of the Word of God—it’s Peter. Jesus said he who believed would do great things—and Peter is doing great things indeed! He is living out his own personal miracle. He is walking on the waves to Jesus.
Some of the most obedient, sacrificial Christians I have met still struggle with their uncertainties about the faith. And why? For one reason, the daring nature of their obedience has led them to risk much for the sake of the Kingdom. They have put themselves completely in the hands of God. They are doing things they know can’t be done in their own strength. Is it any wonder that in such moments, they begin to wonder whether such obedience is even possible for mere mortals?
That’s what is going through Peter’s head, of course. As Peter walks on the waves he realizes the immensity of what he is doing. He is walking on the waters as though he were crossing a shallow stream. Peter loses his focus on Christ. And when he does, it’s all over. It’s something like an organist playing a complicated Bach piece, whose hands are flying over the keys, and suddenly that musician pauses to think how impossible it really is to turn those little black marks on the paper into music. And once she thinks of the sheer impossibility of it all, she is in trouble.
Well, that’s Peter. He sees what he is doing, and it is too much. Down he goes up to his neck in the rolling waters.
Many of us have been in Peter’s shoes, of course—or Peter’s sandals. We took upon ourselves some act of obedience. We set ourselves to this thing called ?following Jesus’ and once we got out a ways on the waters we asked ourselves what we got ourselves into. We THOUGHT we knew what Jesus wanted of us. We THOUGHT we had it figured out. But now that we are really serving, really obeying, we would give anything to turn back! Only to turn back would now would be as dangerous as pressing ahead. And suddenly we begin to feel the water lapping at our ankles, at our calves, at our knees. And down we go.
JESUS’ QUESTION
And then we hear Jesus say to Peter and to us: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?“
Now, at first glance, the answer seems obvious. We are only human, after all. We have all kinds of reasons to doubt. Why, the very nature of Jesus’ ministry raises questions in our minds. Jesus is on his way to the cross. The road to Golgotha was not the path kings traveled. The Messiah of Israel was supposed to be crowned, not crucified. A Savior who is determined to visit a city determined to kill him—that’s enough to raise some questions in our minds.
And if that isn’t enough, the shape of our own personal lives offers reason for doubt. Doesn’t Scripture describe our problems and struggles as wind and waves out on a stormy sea?
The deep surrounded me;
Seaweed was wrapped around my head
To the roots of the mountains I sank down
The earth beneath barred me in forever. (Jon 2:5,6)
that’s Jonah’s cry from the waters
Pretty much the way we feel, when it seems we are ready to go down for the third time. We say to Jesus: “How can you ask any more of us? How can you ask us not to doubt?“
DOUBTING OUR DOUBTS What can answer the tough questions and messy realities that make us question God? Well, the answer of course, is found in the one who walks out to Peter on the waves. For the one who comes to us is ultimate reality, ultimate truth, ultimate faithfulness.
What is ULTIMATE REALITY? Our post—modern world wants to say that ultimate reality doesn’t exist. Doubt is all there is. But Christ disagrees. He offers HIMSELF as final reality. For Christ is himself God with Us upon the waters of life.
The story we find in Matthew 14 makes the point of Jesus’ divinity in at least three ways. First, there is the presence of Christ upon the waters. We already learned that Jesus’ walk on the waters is a sign of divine presence. Jesus, we have learned, comes fulfilling Psalm 77:
Your way through the mighty waters,
But there is more in this episode. For there is the way Jesus identifies himself to those in the boat. He doesn’t shout out, It’s Jesus! No, he calls out: “It is I.“ Or, putting it the way those disciples would hear it: “I Am! I Am.“ “I Am“ is the name of God himself. When Moses asked God his name, he replied, “I Am who I Am.“ Moses is to tell the Israelites, “I Am has sent me to you.“ And now, that same name rolls over the waters. I Am! I Am! The God of faithfulness and truth is near to his disciples. Jesus is coming.
There is a third sign of Christ’s identity. It’s the calming of the storm itself. Only the God of creation—the Maker of winds and waves——can command those winds and waves to be still. The Word through whom all creation was called into being still commands the world of nature. The storm on the Sea of Galilee obeys the voice of its Lord.
Don’t be surprised, then, that this Jesus can lift Peter to his feet upon the waters. Don’t be surprised by the disciples’ confession: “Truly, you are the Son of God!“
God Incarnate comes to his people upon the waters. And that is the message we share with the world today. We share that message with a world that has become so jaded that it is on the point of doubting everything, of questioning everything. Why do people question everything? Because they think there is no foundation to life. But here’s the truth! There is a foundation upon which we can stand. It is possible to doubt our doubts, because there is a God who bursts into our world and reach out to us with his strong hand to help.
But that means walking on water while the waves lap around our feet is still our experience today. The fact is, as followers of Jesus we always sense a certain tension. On the one hand —the exhilaration of doing great things for God! On the other hand, feeling as though our obedience has put us in waters over our heads. We are caught between making a difference in the lives of people for the sake of Jesus, and wondering whether our ministry really does change things.
Obedient Christians find themselves with Peter out on the waters. Living in faith, and discovering that in our struggles, Christ is there with us upon the seas.
But maybe you aren’t out there on the waters with Peter—not yet. Perhaps you are still in the boat. You think you have to muster up perfect courage and put all your doubts to rest before you slip over the side. Let me tell you something. You can spend your whole life getting ready to get out there and walk on water for Jesus’ sake. And yet when you go over the side, you’ll still feel the waves lapping at your ankles. That’s just the way it is with the Christian life. That’s the way it is with discipleship.
The time is now to get out on the waves. If you do, I can assure you that Jesus will not let you down. He loves you too much. He loves you so much that he will reach out his hand and grip you and never let you go. Ultimately, the one you meet upon the sea of faith is your LOVING God. Today, there is a hand reaching out to you. Grab it. And as you grab it, may you feel that hand grasp you. With a grip that is unbreakable.
WITH US IN THE STORM
During my years of pastoral ministry, there are certain words from Scripture that I have read at the bedside of those terminally ill. I have read these words with bereaved husbands and wives stunned by the sudden death of a spouse. I have read these words to people in almost every crisis imaginable. They are words that anticipate the story we looked at today. They are words that disciples on stormy seas still claim for their comfort. They are the words of Isaiah 43:
But now thus says the Lord he who created you O Jacob, He who formed you O Israel FEAR NOT for I have redeemed you I have called you by name, you are mine When you pass through the waters I will be with you And through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you For I AM the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel your Savior.
What’s the storm you’re going through? Why do you doubt?
Prayer
Father, there are those of us who are struggling with doubt and uncertainty about what is real and lasting. Today, assure us that in Christ there has come the One in whom Truth is found. Help us to trust him fully and love him deeply. Amen
Robert Heerspink
Rev. Robert Heerspink is a native of west Michigan. He completed his undergraduate studies at Calvin College and holds the degrees of Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. He has also received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Bob was ordained a minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church of North America in 1979, and has 26 years of parish experience, having served four churches throughout west Michigan. He was appointed the Director of The Back to God Hour in 2006. Bob has written several resources related to congregational stewardship, including the book, Becoming a Firstfruits Congregation. He is a regular contributor to TODAY, the monthly devotional of The Back to God Hour. Bob is married to Edith (Miedema) and they have three children. His hobbies include reading fictional and historical works, watersports, and occassional golfing.
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