Kids: Yummy; Blv? Dbt? Do? Par?; RE θ (all pryrs, Grns); dbt → cur

There is something yummy in this can of turnip greens [label on can of fruit, or open bottom and put in dried fruit]. Who believes me? Who doubts me? Really, there’s something yummy in this can of brussel sprouts. Hmm, so what are we going to do? Do you promise to eat whatever is in this can? Who doubts me, again? I wonder how many of the grown ups doubt me. For those of you who doubt me, what do you think we should do?

Sometimes we have doubts about God. Sometimes we wonder how he hears everyone’s prayers at the same time. Sometimes we wonder why he made stuff like turnip greens. But you know what God wants us to do with our doubts? He wants us to turn out doubts into curiosity and find out more. He wants us to turn our doubts into questions – if we have a question about God, we should ask a grown-up. You doubt that there was something yummy to eat in this can, and so what did we do?

OK, we’ll open it. Mmmmmmm.

We turned doubt into curiosity, and then found out for ourselves that there really was something yummy inside this can. When we have doubts, turn those doubts into curiosity, and find out more about God. You’ll always find out that he’s better than you ever imagined.

Intro

Have doubts? Then you’re a bad, bad Xn; no faith; how dare doubt θ; ever told/thot

Do you ever have doubts in the Christian life? Yeah? Then you’re a bad, bad Christian. You have no faith. How dare you ever doubt God. Don’t you know that he’s completely trustworthy? What’s wrong with you?

Have you ever been told something like that about having doubts in the Christian life? Or perhaps you’ve thought that to yourself about yourself for having doubts.

Taboo (react), so quiet: how get better?

Doubt is one of the those topics that we tend to avoid in the church. We don’t mention them because someone might think that my faith is weak or that I’m not as good of a Christian as I want them to think. Some people can be very harsh, uncaring, and judgmental about doubts (often because they are afraid to mention that they, too, have doubts). And since we don’t talk much about our doubts, our problem with doubt never gets any better? How can it? We’re not allowed to talk about them or admit them.

Series intro: pics; fear; doubt, pic (story)

Last week, we started a series on Faith, Doubt, and Anger. These three pictures depict all three topics: the alligator incites fear, the police interrogation is an exercise in doubt, and the car wreck results in anger. Last week, we talked about redirecting our fear, rather than trying to force ourselves to have no fear. This week, doubt. This suspect claims that he was no where near the scene of the crime, but the police doubt his story. The guy tells a pretty good story, but they are having trouble believing him.

Not RE faith: better doubts

But take special note – this sermon is about doubt. It’s not about faith, and not really even about the lack of faith. It’s about doubt. Therefore, we will not talking about ways to have better faith. Actually, we’re going to be talking about ways to have better doubts.

Pray

Reading

Context of Lk 24: res, Emmaus

In Luke 24, the last chapter of Luke, we have Luke’s account of the resurrection of Jesus [turn to Lk 24]. After the disciples discovered the empty tomb, Luke is the only one who tells us the account of the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus appears to them, but prevents them from recognizing him until they stopped and shared a meal together. These two disciples run back that very night to tell the others what had just happened. And then, as they are telling them this account, Jesus appears to all of them.

Reader: Luke 24.36-53

Xit: xRS, ^deny/pretend

As we talk about doubt, there’s one thing I’m confident of: We have doubts. Let’s stop denying it. Let’s stop pretending that we don’t have them. We do. Sometimes, we feel really confident about what we believe. But we have doubts. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, nothing that you should try to hide from the members of your church family. We have them. Our faith isn’t perfect, yet.

Confident of One Thing: We Have Doubts (36-37)

D’s had (even after empty/Emmaus/history) (Read 36-37)

The disciples of Jesus had their doubts. Even though some of them had seen the empty tomb. Even though two of them had just finished conversing with the resurrected Christ and broken bread with him. Even after three years of walking with him, learning from him, watching him perform miracles, they still had doubts. Jesus shows up at their meeting, and they doubt. Read 36-37.

How possible to doubt? [open/vidQ] Too unexpected, too new territory, even tho

How is it possible that, after all they’ve experienced and seen, they would still doubt? [open]. The problem was [also] that what Jesus put before them was too unexpected, too unlike what they were accustomed to. Even after all they had seen and done, talking to a man after a successful crucifixion was still outside of what they were ready to accept. This was territory that we too new for them to handle.

Rather blv in ghosts: >prep’d / fam

They would rather believe in ghosts than believe that this was the same Jesus they saw crucified just a few days earlier. They were more prepared to believe in that than in the reality standing before them. The idea of ghosts was more familiar to them.

Defn: [open]; Questioning the r’hip between my beliefs & reality; D’s; R=R, doubt

We asked the question last week, “What is fear?” So this week, I want to ask you what “doubt” is. [open] Doubt is questioning the relationship between my beliefs and reality. That’s what the disciples were doing – they saw Jesus right in front of him, but his presence there didn’t fit within their present belief system, and so they had a mismatch. They questioned whether their present belief system matched reality. They had reason to wonder if perhaps reality might be different than what they believed it to be.

Reality is reality, and it exists whether or not I believe it to exist. But when I suspect that perhaps what I believe does not match reality, I have something called “doubt.” Reality remains unchanged; reality is not in question. What’s in question is how well I perceive reality.

Possible to have ^doubt & be wrong: confident RE untrue; VV

It’s possible to have no doubt and still be wrong about reality. I could be completely confident about something that is not true – I don’t have doubts, I’m just wrong. Or I can have doubts, but still have right beliefs. Doubt has to do with being unsure if your beliefs match reality.

What if not?: θ ^there, ^listen, GA/LSU

Doubt asks the question, “What if not?” Last week, we said that fear asks the question, “What if?” “What if this bad thing happens? What if that bad thing happens?” Doubt asks the opposite question. “What if not? What if God is not there? What if he does not really listen to my prayer? What if GA does not beat LSU year?”

Despair.com pic

Or if we turn to despair.com, they put it this way: “In the battle between you and the world, bet on the world.” In other words, “What if I’m not able to overcome the challenges of this world? What if what I want to believe about my future doesn’t match reality?

Xit: What should we do RE doubt?

Get out of Bad Doubt (38)

Xit: RE bad debt

The first thing we should do about doubt is to get out of bad doubt. You’ve heard of getting out of bad debt? This is getting out of bad doubt. Some doubts are doubts that we shouldn’t really have, if we were perfect. And we need to get out of those doubts as much as possible.

JC Q’d their doubt: (Read 38) had enuf, even if unexpect (rebuke AOT Mt 17.17)

Jesus questioned the doubts of his disciples. Read 38. The disciples really did have enough history to be able to believe it was Jesus standing before them. Yes, it was beyond their experience, and the territory was completely new to them, but based on their experience with Jesus, they did have enough to be able to accept the reality that this was no ghost. And Jesus gives them a gentle rebuke – not a harsh rebuke, like when he said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you?” (Mt 17.17). But he does let them know that they didn’t have to doubt him.

We doubt θ too much: bad doubt; ^newbie; RE trustworthy

We doubt God too much. That’s “bad doubt.” We don’t take everything that God says in his word and believe it based on the vast history we have of God’s trustworthiness. I’m not talking about someone who has had no dealings with God and has very little experience to know that God is trustworthy, but those who have had some history with God and know from experience that he’s trustworthy. Like the disciples, we have enough to be able to trust him. And there are still some things in his Word that we don’t fully trust.

Effects of bad doubt

And bad doubt affects are daily lives.

[open; order via resp]

Limits works of faith eg. Peter; D’s cast

Bad doubt limits the works of faith that we can perform. For example, Peter (Mt 14.31) was beginning to walk on water like Jesus until he began to doubt. Then he began to sink. He could only walk on water while he was trusting Christ. Or when Jesus the disciples (Mt 17.20) that the reason they couldn’t cast out a particular demon because of their lack of faith. Doubts interfere with our ability to perform acts of faith.

Impairs EV: <likely, they’ll pick up

Bad doubt impairs our evangelism. The more we have bad doubt, the less likely we are to evangelize, and when we do, people will pick up on the fact that we’re not so sure we believe what we’re saying, which gives them little reason to believe. (pos:Act 26.26; neg:4.29)

Health: mental/emot/phys/behavioral/trust

Bad doubt affects our health. I read several studies this past week that showed how doubt affects our mental health and our emotional health. Doubt can also affect our physical health. One report talked about how doubt can affect our behavioral health – if we struggle too much with doubts, then we start to act out in negative ways, destructive ways, harming ourselves, striking out at others, even committing crimes. Bad doubts can also lead to general trust issues – persistent doubts in one crucial area over here can begin to erode our ability to trust anything at all.

Less reward (Heb 10.35)

Bad doubt leads to less reward for believers. According to Hebrew 10.35, there is great reward for having confidence in God. Therefore, with doubt, there are some rewards we will miss out on.

Impact prayer: cxn

Jesus tells the disciples several times that there is a connecting between not doubting and the effectiveness of our prayers. Prayers offered in doubt are less effective than prayers offered in faith. (Mk 11.23; Jm 1.6; 1 Jn 5.14)

Enemy wants us to have bad doubt (Isr; garden; wilderness)

The Enemy wants us to have bad doubt. Worldly enemies wanted the Israelites (2 K 18.19) to doubt their God when they would invade or attack. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent wanted Eve to doubt what God had them them about eating the fruit of the tree. When Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, Satan wanted him to doubt what God the Father had told them.

What we need not doubt

But there are some things in this world that we need not doubt.

[open: SSA time; why?]

What are some things that we should not doubt. And this is one of those times when “Sunday school answers” are right. Why should we not doubt XYZ?

θ: ^dogma, spoken w/confid, Xn sayings that rhyme; b/c char

Of course, we need not doubt God himself. But notice, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t doubt church dogma; I’m not saying that we shouldn’t doubt what some Christian says with bold confidence; I’m not saying that we shouldn’t doubt cute Christian sayings that rhyme. I’m saying we shouldn’t doubt God himself. Why not? Because of his character. Because he is God, his character must be perfect. Therefore, we need never doubt him.

His word (2 Tim 3.16): b/c emanates from char

We need not doubt his Word. 2 Tim 3.16 says that all Scripture is inspired by God. On what basis do we need not doubt his word? Because it emanates from his character. He cannot lie, so everything he says is trustworthy.

His promises; b/c char = collateral

We need not doubt any promise he makes. Why not? Because he offers his own character as collateral for all his promises.

Fearing θ (Prv 14.26: fear=confid of str); b/c never fail

Prov 14.26 says that in the fear of the Lord confidence of strength. The more we have a reverential awe of him, a healthy fear of the Lord like we talked about last week, the more confidence we can have. Why do we need not doubt if we have this fear of the Lord? Because fearing God will never fail. You can’t go wrong in fearing the Lord.

His equipping us; b/c he promised

We need not doubt the truth that he is equipping us to serve him with boldness. Why not? Because that’s what he promised to do. (2 Cor 3.4)

Get into Good Doubt (39-43)

Not only should we get out of bad doubt, we should get into good doubt. There is such a thing as good doubt, and we should have a healthy dose of it.

JC gives them evid (Read 39-43)

Jesus gives the disciples more evidence for them to be able to believe that he’s no ghost, but the resurrected Christ. Read 39-43.

RE died (hands/feet); RE lives (eating): proves really did die, lives

First, he proves that he really did die by showing him his hands and his feet, the wounds of the crucifixion. Then he shows him that he really does live by eating food. He doesn’t need food, but he eats it to prove that he’s alive. First, he proves that he really did die. Then he proves that he really does live.

Not withhold: despite gentle rebuke; ^(pockets/0tx)

Jesus does not withhold the proof. Even though he gently rebuked them for doubting, he doesn’t punish them by hiding the proof, by hiding his hands in his pockets and saying “no thanks” as they were passing around a plate of bread.

Legitimizes (weak, not rebel); expand framework b/c willing

In a sense, he legitimizes their doubt. Yes, they had enough to not doubt, but he also allows for the fact that they do. And unlike the Pharisees, they weren’t doubting out of rebellion – they were doubting out of weakness. What was happening was outside of their belief framework, but Jesus expands their framework rather than jump down their throats for their unbelief, because they were willing to have their frameworks expanded.

They were willing to doubt their own beliefs

They were, unlike the Pharisees, willing to doubt their own beliefs. Rather than saying that there’s no way something could be true outside of their belief system, they were willing for Jesus to expand their belief system.

We doubt not-G too little

Just like we doubt God too much, we doubt “non-God” too little. We don’t doubt enough the sources of information that are not God. We put too much stock in things that are less reliable than God.

What we should doubt

[open / why?]

We listed some things that we need not doubt, but what about things that we should doubt? Why?

A faithless man (Prov 25.19): ^trust one who ^trust θ; or fool

Prov 25.19 reminds us that we should doubt a faithless man. We should not put our trust in someone who does not trust God. How much do we trust our understanding of reality from faithless people? Proverbs also say that we should not trust fools. (And when we’re the fool, we shouldn’t trust ourselves!)

Flesh (eg. Paul); JC? (Jn 2.23-25); spirit willing

Paul says that he puts no trust in the flesh (Php 3.3). Even Paul, who had all the best fleshly credentials in the world, didn’t trust them. He doubted the flesh and the things of the flesh as unreliable.

Did Jesus doubt? He never doubted his Father, but he did doubt man. Read Jn 2.23-25. He also said of his own disciples, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Our own understanding (Prv 3.5-6): ^2^nd guess; ^>θ, θ’s Word

Prov 3.5-6 says that we should lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge God. We should have a healthy doubt even of our own understanding. This doesn’t mean we should always second-guess our selves and never do anything because we can’t trust ourselves, but that we should not trust our own understanding more than we trust God and his word.

Preacher/speaker: test spirits (1 Jn 4.1)

We should even doubt the preacher, or whoever is the public speaker in church. You should doubt me, at least enough to check what I say with the Word. 1 Jn 4.1 says “test the spirits,” meaning don’t just swallow what some authority figure says in church, no matter how much they claim that it’s from the Lord. Test it. (1 Jn 4.1; 1 Cor 14)

Internet!: forwarding = gossip

And, believe it or not, we should doubt things we read on the Internet. I know! This sounds obvious, but I think we’ve all been guilty of forwarding an email that sounded like a good Christian cause, but it turned out to be an urban legend. It says something that we agree with, so we send it along without checking it out. That’s called “gossip.”

Effects of good doubt

[open]

Warn us RE moral acts (Rom 14.23/meat)

Doubt can warn us about moral actions. When we doubt about whether or not a particular activity is moral, then usually it’s best to not do that particular thing. In Rom 14, there are some people who have doubt about eating meat sacrificed to idols, but some who don’t. For those who doubt, it’s best for them to not eat that meat. It would be sinful to eat just for the reason that they would be violating a doubt that they had, gambling with the rightness of the act. (cf. 1 Jn 3.21)

Deeper faith (Mk 9.24/help!): if no room 4 doubt, faith <> possible

Doubt can lead us to a deeper faith. There was a man who came to Jesus because his son had been demonized from childhood, and said, “Heal him, if you are able.” Jesus said, “If I’m able? All things are possible to him who believes.” The man says, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” He recognized that he believed, but he also recognized that he still has some doubts, and cries out for help for his doubts. Instead of pretending that he doesn’t have doubts, he acknowledging them and uses them as an opportunity to ask for help for his faith. Doubts tell us that our faith needs to grow, and so rather than pretend like we don’t have them, we should acknowledge them and use them as an excuse to deepen our faith.

Remember this: If there is no room for doubt, then faith in impossible. For everything that we can prove without a doubt, we don’t need faith. It’s the room for possible doubt that makes faith possible in the first place.

WS doubt: idiom, reason carefully

Perhaps it would help to look a little deeper into this word “doubt” that Jesus uses with his disciples. It’s not the normal word for doubt. Instead, it’s an idiomatic expression that generally means doubt, but it’s based on a word that means “to reason carefully.” He is talking about their doubt, but uses an idiom based on thinking something through carefully.

Can only learn when we doubt what we already know / disequilibria

We can only learn when we doubt what we already know. If you don’t doubt the body of knowledge you have, you won’t learn. You have to suspect that you don’t know everything about a particular topic, to doubt your own knowledge, before you can learn something new. You actually have to reach what is called “disequilibria” before you can learn – a state of questioning yourself, doubting yourself, doubting your own knowledge.

Sk’cism: Descartes, Hume, Pascal; doubt dogma; too much when RE ^blv n

The skepticist theologians and philosophers, such as Descarte, Hume, and Pascal, counting on a healthy form of doubt, or skepticism. It was very helpful for them when they would doubt church dogma and religious assumptions. However, some of them took their skepticism too far when they undermined the idea of believing anything at all.

SCT: Find out that there are >> rsns to blv than u ever imagined; sem; >courage

When you have doubt, find out that there are far greater reasons to believe than you ever imagined. That’s one thing seminary taught me. You go into seminary with some reasons to believe the faith, but then you realize that those reasons are kinda thin. You experience disequilibria. You doubt your belief. And that’s good! Because then you get equipped with tools to investigate even deeper and you find out that your beliefs were right, but there are far better reasons to believe than you ever imagined. Use your doubts not to question God or his existence, but to dig deeper. It’s OK, the well of God’s truth is pretty deep. You won’t be disappointed. Use your doubt to create a stronger faith than those who’ve never had the courage to doubt.

Annie

Responding to Doubt (44-53)

Not (eg JC in Lk 24)

Guilt: kind o Xn?

JC: What’s the matter? Don’t you think God is trustworthy? What kind of Christian are you?

Shame: don’t let anyone else know

JC: Idiots! Don’t let anyone else know that you have this doubt. It’s embarrassing!

Blind faith: pockets, just blv

JC: [Put hands in pockets.] Just believe me.

Unsaved: by faith, so...; 0 effect; if born from abv; saved if reborn AOT 0 doubts

JC: You must not even be saved, if you’re having thoughts like that. You are saved by faith, so if you have doubts, you must not be saved.

Doubts have absolutely no effect on your salvation. If you have been born from above, then no amount of doubt can undo that. If you have not been born from above, then no amount of confidence will save you. You are saved if you are reborn, not if you have no doubts.

Doubt = invitation to find out more: (b/c answers there; no fear)

Instead, you should respond to doubt by first acknowledging that doubt is an invitation to find out more. Of course, I can only say this with confidence because I have found that the answers are in fact there. If the answers weren’t there, then doubt should scare us. But since the answers are there, we should consider it an invitation to dig in deeper without any fear.

Read 44-49

Acknowledge (most doubts are normal); never use to adv unless

Acknowledge your doubts. Don’t pretend they’re not there. Don’t act more spiritual than you are. Most doubts are actually quite normal – I rarely hear people share their doubts that I’ve had several times myself, and that most Christians I know experience on occasion. You’ll never use doubts to your advantage unless you first acknowledge them.

Connect with what’s trustworthy (44)

Then connect with what’s trustworthy – what you know is rock solid. Jesus referred to the words he had already told them and to the Scriptures they already had in their hands. When you doubt, connect with what you already know to be reliable.

Go into new territory: (45), martyr; missio Dei (via HS); doubts = doorways

And then … go into new territory. Then Jesus opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures like they never understood before. After all that he had taught them, they were going into a completely different area of biblical knowledge. Armed with that knowledge and the HS, their faith was so strong that each one of them maintained their testimony even under threat of death. God will take your faith into new territories, for his purposes, for his mission. With the help of the HS, our doubts can become the doorways into new lands, if we’re willing to explore deeper.

Have mercy on doubters (Jude 22) eg. Moses, JtB, bro, self

And, and Jude 22 says, have mercy on doubters. Don’t judge them or shame them or make them even less likely to acknowledge their doubts. Have mercy on them. God had mercy on Moses when he doubted. Jesus had mercy on John the Baptizer when he doubted. Have mercy on your brother or your sister when they doubt. And have mercy on yourself when you doubt.

You should doubt everything I just said! Enuf to find out it’s T

And you should doubt everything I just said. Doubt it enough to find out for yourself that’s it’s true.

Concl

Doubt can lead to greater faith & praise (50-53)

Doubt can lead to greater faith and praise. Read 50-53. Because they didn’t stop with their doubts, they now have greater reasons to believe and greater reasons to praise God.

We can draw near w/confid (Heb 4.16; 10.19)

Even though we have doubts, in Christ, we can still draw near to God with confidence. Read Heb 4.16; 10.19.

Series recap: What if? What if not? If only...

Insert: [walk thru]

EV: if you don’t yet trust θ or Bible enuf → faith, OK – will you use that doubt?

Pray: Psa 71.5

Despair.com

“In the battle between you and the world, bet on the world.”

Jn 2.23-25

2:23 Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. 2:24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people. 2:25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man.

Jer 17.5, 7

17:5 The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me.

Psa 71.5

For you give me confidence, O Lord; O Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.

Order

1.      Song – Meet with Me

2.      Welcome – David S.

3.      Song – Enough

4.      Song – From the Inside Out

5.      Song – Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

6.      Song – Your Grace is Enough

7.      Children’s Time – Colby

8.      Announcements – Tim

9.      Justin to speak about Kenya Medical Mission Trip

10.  Scripture Reading – Marshall

11.  Sermon - Colby

12.  Song – The Solid Rock

13.    Song – Indescribable