[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for April 15 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Sermons for Easter 2
 
John 20:19-31 - "Thomas" 
John 20:19-31 - "Touched" by Leonard Sweet
 

John 20 the sermon title "Thomas"
 
If I were to mention the names of certain disciples to you and ask you to write down the first word that comes into your mind, it is unlikely you would come up with the same words. If I were to mention the name of Judas many of you would write down the word "betray" but not all of you. If I were to mention Simon Peter, some of you would write down the word "faith," but not all of you. If I were to mention the names of James and John, some of you would write down the phrase "Sons of Thunder," but not all of you. But when I mention the word Thomas, there is little question about the word most everyone would write down. It would be the word doubt. Indeed, so closely have we associated Thomas with this word, that we have coined a phrase to describe him: "Doubting Thomas."

You may be interested to know that in the first three gospels we are told absolutely nothing at all about Thomas. It is in John's Gospel that he emerges as a distinct personality, but even then there are only 155 words about him. There is not a lot about this disciple in the Bible but there is more than one description. 

When Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem the disciples thought that it would be certain death for all of them. Surprisingly, it was Thomas who said: Then let us go so that we may die with him. It was a courageous statement, yet we don't remember him for that. We also fail to point out that in this story of Thomas' doubt we have the one place in the all the Gospels where the Divinity of Christ is bluntly and unequivocally stated. It is interesting, is it not, that the story that gives Thomas his infamous nickname, is the same story that has Thomas making an earth shattering confession of faith? Look at his confession, "My Lord, and my God." Not teacher. Not Lord. Not Messiah. But God! It is the only place where Jesus is called God without qualification of any kind. It is uttered with conviction as if Thomas was simply recognizing a fact, just as 2 + 2 = 4, and the sun is in the sky. You are my Lord and my God! These are certainly not the words of a doubter.

Unfortunately history has remembered him for this scene where the resurrected Christ made an appearance to the disciples in a home in Jerusalem. Thomas was not present and when he heard about the event he refused to believe it. Maybe he was the forerunner of modern day cynicism. Maybe the news simply sounded too good to be true. Thomas said: Unless I feel the nail prints in his hands I will not believe.

Now I cannot help but notice that Thomas has separated himself from the disciples and therefore, in his solitude, missed the resurrection appearance. I think that john is suggesting to us that Christ appears most often within the community of believers that we call the church, and when we separate ourselves from the church we take a chance on missing his unique presence.

But the story doesn't end here. The second time Jesus made his appearance Thomas was present with the disciples and this time he too witnessed the event. This time he believed. What can we learn from the life of Thomas?
 
1. Jesus did not blame him.
2. The most endearing things in life can never be proven.
3. We must move beyond doubt to faith. 
 
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Members: John 20 the sermon titled "Touched" by Leonard Sweet 
 
We now live in a "virtual" world. A TGiF world where T=Twitter, G=Google, i=iPads/iPhones (and all the other i-devices), and F=Facebook. In the next couple of months, Facebook will be going public. The only questions are a) whether Facebook's IPO be the biggest IPO in American history; b) how soon this summer will Facebook reach 1 billion users (that's 1/7 of the planet's population); and c) whether or not Facebook is really worth 100 billion dollars? 
 
Regardless of how you answer those questions, all of life now happens "online" in some way or fashion, according to some view or on some venue. 
 
There is good and bad about this TGIF world. 
 
A bad? We leave our kids to fend and to fashion an identity for themselves out of mass-mediated images. At least three things are wrong with this: 1) mass (not personalized and customized); 2) mediated (not parented or purposed); 3) images (not real life). 
 
A good? Distance is dead. Social media can bring us into relationships with people we have physically never met, and can build bonds between cultures and causes that are separated by half the world's geography. Every revolution, every conflict, now happens in our own "virtual" backyard or village commons. We are touched by people and events we will never ever physically encounter. Yet they are up-close and personal to us because of online connections. 
 
It is a connected world. Every one now can be an island, since even islands are no longer isolated. No one with a computer or cell lives alone.
 
It was so not so in the first century. As Jesus was being tortured and crucified, taken off the cross and buried, almost all his followers fled. The few remaining witnesses were (luckily for them) considered inconsequential--women, hangers-on, etc.. But Jesus' followers fled for a reason. They knew it was likely they would be considered traitors, conspiratorial enemies of Rome. They knew it was likely they were already on Rome's "Most Wanted" list. Can you really blame Jesus' disciples for fleeing from Golgotha and locking down in anonymous hired rooms in Jerusalem? Out of sight, out of mind, was not a bad game plan as far as Jesus' followers were concerned...
 
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We Know Where We Are Going
 
The story is told about Albert Einstein, the brilliant physicist of Princeton University in the early 20th century. Einstein was traveling from Princeton on a train, and when the conductor came down the aisle to punch the passengers' tickets, Einstein couldn't find his. He looked in his vest pocket, he looked in his pants pocket, he looked in his briefcase, but there was no ticket. The conductor was gracious; "Not to worry, Dr. Einstein, I know who you are, we all know who you are, and I'm sure you bought a ticket."
 
As the conductor moved down the aisle, he looked back and noticed Einstein on his hands and knees, searching under the seat for his ticket. The conductor returned to Einstein; "Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry. I know who you are. You don't need a ticket, I'm sure you bought one." Einstein arose and said "Young man, I too know who I am; what I don't know is where I am going."
 
And that is the good news of Easter; that we know where we are going. We have been told by the Savior that his life and death has promised us life eternal. And Low Sundays don't change that promise. And unemployment doesn't change that promise. Neither does divorce, or bankruptcy, or cancer, or depression, or felony, or failure. Through elation and deflation and every emotion in between, this truth remains; we know whose we are and we know where we are going, because the Son of God has promised. And this, my friends, is faith. 
 
Steven Molin, Elated....Deflated
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