February 28, 2021
I hope we are past the polar vortex or whatever caused us to have snowstorm after snowstorm! This winter I have seen a lot of people out there dealing with snow. I looked out my window at home and saw a Dad across the street, walk out the door with his little girl, who was about three. Dad had a big snow shovel, and his little girl had a little snow shovel. And I thought, what a smart Dad! Get your kid started young on this! Smart!
That’s a Dad who had some faith that you’re never too little to shovel snow! Really, there can be a lot of things we have doubts about, like maybe you think, “I can’t cook” so you don’t learn to cook. Or you think, “I’m not mechanical,” so you don’t learn to change a tire. Or you think, “I’m not good with finances,” so you don’t make plans for the future. If we put too much faith in our doubts, we can stop trying to do things that are helpful in life.
Have you ever had questions for God, doubts, that made you question God? When you have doubts and questions for God, they can get you close to giving up on faith. Or maybe you know someone else who has questions for God, that makes them question God. If we’re honest, all of us have had questions. We’ve had questions for God that we don’t’ have answers for. If you’re a Christian it can be really weird when you have doubts because you’re not really sure what to do with them. You don’t want anyone to think you’re a bad Christian. I don’t want people to think I’m a bad pastor because I tell them I have doubts. I definitely have questions for God, like when a child gets a terrible illness or dies. I ask “Why?”
If I tell you, I have questions for God, or that I have doubts, will you think my faith is weak? Will you judge me? If so, maybe I should just keep it all locked inside. But that’s not healthy! The reason we’re talking about this today is because all of us have had questions for God that make us question God. Questions like, how could our good and loving God allow so much pain and suffering to exist? Or maybe it’s about your own personal suffering. How could God allow my spouse to walk away, or how could God allow a miscarriage? How could a good God let that happen? Other questions for God can arise because you read some weird things in the Bible, and you wonder, “God, did you really say that?” “How can I believe you are good and loving if you say that?”
Or I think sometimes we don’t think we can help other people with their doubts, because we have questions of our own for God. Maybe you think if I’m not 100% full of faith, I can’t help anyone else in their walk with God. But we all have questions.
Doubts can be uncomfortable, and they can be scary. Today I’m not going to answer all your questions and I can’t clear up all of your doubts. There’s not enough time and there’s too many questions.
But today we’re going to take a look at the people close to Jesus. We’re going to see where they went with their doubts.
The gospel of Matthew tells the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection. And at the very end of the book of Matthew is the “Great Commission.” The Great Commission is Jesus’ commencement speech where he basically says, “You’ve spent the last three years with me.” That even kind of sounds like high school. Jesus says, “Now it’s time to go and change the world.” It’s like Jesus is saying, “You’re going to go start the Christian church.” “I’m gonna go up there to heaven, and I need you guys to go and change the world.” That is the Great Commission. Here it is, Matthew 28:18-20:
“18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is the commencement speech because they are graduating. Jesus is saying “It’s time for you to go and change the world!” What I love though is right before this, before they went to see Jesus and before he gave the speech what Matthew tells us in verse 16 and 17:
“16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
Some of the eleven doubted. These 11 have spent the last three years with Jesus. They’ve had front row seats to learn from him, watching him perform one miracle after another. They’ve seen him reach out to people others don’t want to talk to, and they’ve seen him stand up to corrupt religious leaders. They saw Jesus arrested. He was crucified, died and rose from the dead.
They’ve experienced all this, and Matthew tells us some of them doubted. My first question is: Now why would Matthew write this? Because this doesn’t make the disciples look good. Well, he writes it because it’s true. After all they had seen and heard Jesus do after he died and rose from the dead, some of them doubted. Matthew wrote this because some of the 11 doubted. And they hung out with each other and with Jesus for three years. They knew each other and they told each other everything.
My second question is: Why is this in the Bible? Not everything made it into the bible. I think this made it in because it’s something we need to hear today. I think Matthew would want you to know that your doubts don’t disqualify you. Their doubts don’t disqualify the disciples, and they don’t disqualify you.
Jesus was about to go to heaven. He knew that his disciples had doubts, but he didn’t feel like he needed to clear up the doubts before he sent them out to change the world. I think Matthew would want you to know that your doubts don’t disqualify you. I think he would want you to know that doubt doesn’t make you a bad Christian.
God is bigger than your questions. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t be God. God isn’t as concerned about your doubts as you might think. Doubt makes you human. The presence of doubt is not the absence of faith.
I’m comforted when I read this passage from Matthew to know I’m not the only one with doubts and questions for God. Because we all have questions; questions for God that make us question God. So our doubts are not a problem. They are actually a key to deeper faith. Faith is trusting when you aren’t 100% certain. To grow your faith, you need some doubt.
So, what do we do with our doubts? We pray for God to grow our faith. When the father of a sick boy wanted his son healed, he asked Jesus to heal him, and the father says, “if you can.” Jesus said, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” The man said, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” He told Jesus to his face, “I have some doubts.” And he asked Jesus for stronger faith. We too can bring out questions to God and pray for more faith.
We also can bring our questions to other people we trust. We can actually tell each other our doubts and questions. It’s ok. And maybe there’s someone you know who thought God and church weren’t for them because they have doubts. Everybody is welcome in God’s church. Pastor Andy Stanley has a big church. He said there are some people who say to him, like one guy who is a Muslim, “I like your messages. So, I come to hear you, then when you talk about Jesus, I just think of my Islamic faith.” What does Pastor Andy say to that? Does he say, “Get out of my church?” No! He says, “Awesome. Everybody is welcome. Doubts and questions are ok, and we can talk about them in church.”
The important thing I want you to know: when we have doubts we follow Jesus anyway. We follow anyway. I think of that 3-year-old girl with the little snow shovel. And when you were a kid, you were told sometimes: “You’re not big enough to do that.” But that little girl’s Dad took her out to shovel snow. She believes she is great at shoveling snow! Well let me tell you, you are great at believing! Tell someone near you, or put that in the comments, say “I’m great at believing.” Even if you have doubts, you are great at believing.
My homework for you is to read today’s passage, Matthew 28:16-20. There are many questions we have for God. Maybe we won’t know all the answers this side of heaven. Faith is something you do, rather than something you possess. You do faith, you trust, when you aren’t certain. Doubt is an ingredient of faith. Know that God is bigger than your questions, if he wasn’t he wouldn’t be God. Amen.
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