Doubts Give Way to the Word of Christ

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church.

Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota.

We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. John, chapter 20, verses 19 -31.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the door is being locked where the disciples were for fear

of the Jews.

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them, Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven.

If you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord.

But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails

and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here, see my hand.

Put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.

Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing

you may have life in his name.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

He is risen.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Alright.

So our Gospel text is going to require me this morning to rely upon some skills that I learned a

long time ago when I was a jungle cruise captain at Disneyland.

I heard that, Stephen.

The idea here is that as we walk through this text, you're going to note that there is not

a singular theme.

There's several things going on, and so we're going to have to walk through this together

and I'll have to point things out along the way.

A little bit of an adventure text, if you would.

And so we return to our Gospel text, and for a little bit of context, just remember, it is actually

the day of Jesus' resurrection.

Now, Jesus rose in the morning.

They saw that the tomb was empty in the morning, shortly after sunrise, and so we pick

up later in the day, and we learn that the disciples, rather than

out there boldly proclaiming the victory of Jesus Christ and his triumph over the grave,

well, are actually locked up in an upper room with the doors locked, curtains drawn

for fear of the Jews.

Apparently, there was some kind of an investigation going on.

There were police officers with notebooks.

There was squawking going on on the CB radios.

They didn't have those back then, but you kind of get the idea.

And the disciples are looking out their windows, and they're seeing guards marching down the streets, and then

stopping people and asking questions, because, of course, the big question is where's

Jesus' body?

Where'd it go?

How did these disciples steal this thing?

Well, they didn't.

And even the chief priests know that he didn't, because they, by this point, received the report

from the guards who they put at the tomb.

And this is where we pick up.

So on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for

fear of the Jews.

So there they are.

Really scary stuff going on here.

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.

Now, we're going to note here, the first words out of Jesus' mouth in his first appearance to them in this

upper room is, Peace be with you.

He's going to say the same thing a week later.

Keep that in mind.

This starts to create a little bit, if you would, of a liturgical rhythm.

Because we as Christians, we do not gather to hear God's Word on Saturday, the

Sabbath.

We gather to hear God's Word on Sunday, the Lord's Day.

And so because we gather on Sunday, on the Lord's Day, it's important to note that Jesus is the one

who kind of kicks this off with his week one appearance and week two appearance.

And so think of it this way.

Remember, Scripture is very clear on this, that where two or more are gathered in his name, are we not gathered in his name here today?

That he is present among us.

And so Jesus also speaks to us words of peace.

Those first words of peace that we heard from Jesus this morning were in the words of the absolution and the forgiveness of our

sins.

And actually, that gets instituted here officially, but we'll explain it as we go.

Peace be with you.

So when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, and Jesus said to them again, peace be with you, and

here's an important thing.

As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending

you.

Now, in English, we kind of miss what's going on here, but think of it

this way.

At this point, the disciples go from being disciples to being apostles.

And there's a simple reason for this, because you know what the word apostolos means in Greek?

Sent ones.

They are the ones who are sent.

And so you think of an apostle, it's a very common term in the ancient world, they're kind of like envoys or

official representatives.

So if I were a big wig business person or merchant living in Jerusalem and I needed

somebody to go to Rome and do official business for me in my name, he would have the legal

authority to do that if I made him my apostle.

So I'm going to make you my apostle, I'm sending you to Rome, go and buy some trinkets so

that I can sell them here in Jerusalem.

That's kind of the idea here.

So Jesus here is sending the apostles, or actually the disciples,

and by his sending of them, they become apostles.

You get it?

So what's going on here is, if you would, the ordination service of

the apostles.

But unfortunately one of them missed his ordination service.

We'll talk about that in a minute though.

So he says as the Father has sent me, even so I am

sending you.

And when he said this, he breathed on

them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.

Hmm, this kind of harkens back to Genesis.

If you think about, there's the lifeless body of Adam that God had just made from the dust

of the earth.

And then he breathes into him the breath of life.

And now Jesus breathes on them to receive the Holy Spirit.

And note the apostles receive the Holy Spirit at their ordination and the church receives the

Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

A little bit of a distinction here.

And then well, as his sent ones, what do they have authority

to do?

Remember, sent ones do business on behalf of somebody else.

They are official, legal representatives of the person who sent them.

And here's what Jesus wants the apostles to be about the business of doing.

Ready?

If you forgive the sins of anyone they are, and let me help the ESV a little

bit here because the Greek verbs are very helpful, they are already forgiven.

If you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it's already withheld.

And you have to do that with the Greek verbs because these particular Greek verbs are in the past tense

and they occur prior to the forgiving on the part of the apostles or the church.

And you notice this is what's called the office of the keys.

This is where Christ gives the church the authority to forgive sins.

Now to help us out with how the verbs work, if you were here during our Lenten services, I used a

slightly different absolution during our midweek Lenten services and I asked this

question after the confession of sins, do you believe that the forgiveness I speak

is not my forgiveness but Christ's forgiveness?

And the people said yes.

And then be it done to you as you believe.

And this is an important thing because sometimes people think that we Lutherans are a bit uppity because we're

always out there forgiving sins and stuff.

Well the verbs help us out a lot here.

So think of it this way.

Up in heaven, Christ says in the presence of you, I

forgive that person.

I forgive Margaret.

I forgive Renee.

I forgive Robin and Dwayne and Barbara and Scott and Faith.

Maybe not Mike.

But yeah.

And he's announcing this forgiveness in heaven and it's already happened

by the time Pastor Rose broke who's a slow poke anyway and is a procrastinator.

So by the time he finally says I forgive you all of your sins you can almost hear Jesus say well it's

about time.

That's kind of the idea of what's going on here.

And this authority to forgive sins is given by Christ to the church.

And then we as a congregation, what do we do?

A church, a congregation, they call a pastor and then they cover him up because he's a sinner.

They call a pastor and he is ordained and installed into the office of the ministry and he publicly

exercises these keys.

Notice there's two, not one.

The one key is the loosing key.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are already forgiven.

But also keep in mind there's a binding key.

And this deals with church discipline and those who foolishly don't want to be forgiven.

It doesn't make any sense to me.

You don't want to be forgiven, but Christ bled and died for that sin.

I don't care.

I don't want to be forgiven.

I don't want to repent.

I like my sin.

Fine, have it your way.

That's kind of dumb, but sure.

But that's really kind of what church discipline is about.

The one who confesses Christ but doesn't want to be forgiven, doesn't want to repent,

doesn't want to be absolved, but wants to persist in his sin.

Okay, sure.

Have it your way.

Lock it up.

You won't like the result on the day of judgment, but so be it.

It's the Burger King method.

Have it your way.

The idea then here is that Christians in a congregation, they call a pastor, he publicly uses

these two keys, and then we as Christians remember what we pray in the Lord's prayer.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Whoa, wait a second.

This starts to hearken to this idea.

You brothers and sisters have a responsibility to be about the business of forgiving.

Forgiving those who trespass against you and showing them the love of Christ.

As Christ has loved us, we love each other.

And so think of it as like a ginormous forgiveness fountain that Christ has set up.

It begins with him, flows down to the church, and then flows out from each member of the church to the

world.

The forgiveness of sins.

And this is what the church is to be about, the business of doing.

And he establishes the apostles to begin this work of the church.

Wonderful stuff.

Next theme.

So we're wandering through this.

We have to understand that now we're kind of moving on to something a little bit different.

Thomas missed his apostolic ordination service.

And we learned that his attitude towards this announcement by those who

were sent by Jesus to announce his rising from the grave and them who have the

authority to forgive sins, well, he doesn't seem to be on board with the program.

Now if you remember, Thomas was the fellow who just a few weeks ago, when Lazarus died,

he said, well let us go that we can die with him too.

He's like, what?

Okay.

And then when Jesus says, he's heading up to heaven, and he says where I'm going, you can come

also.

And Thomas says, how can we do that?

We don't even know where you're going, Jesus.

So Thomas is one of these fellows who is a lot like us.

Think of it this way.

We are a lot like Thomas, and the reason for this is quite simple.

We're all sinners.

And each of us struggle and wrestle with unbelief.

You think of the wonderful prayer given to Jesus by a fellow whose son was a demoniac.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

And so really, this next part really harkens to that temptation for us to not believe.

And we are of the mistaken notion, listen to what I'm going to say here, that seeing is believing.

It's easy for the disciples to believe they actually saw Jesus.

Hmm.

Have you ever thought that way?

I have.

You know, here I am in the midst of this terrible trial in my life.

Everything's gone to seed.

My dog is vomiting on the carpet.

My wife is angry at me.

The kids aren't behaving.

The bills aren't paid.

My boss just gave me a pink slip and said I can't work there anymore.

And I don't really believe there is a God.

He never showed himself to me.

We all have these kinds of temptations.

We really do.

This is the temptation of unbelief in the face of all kinds of different trials.

But in this particular case, we've got an interesting dilemma.

So, the newly minted apostles, they went from disciples to apostles.

They're now sent by Jesus.

They begin their apostolic work with victim number one.

Thomas.

Think of it this way.

So, Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin.

And we know nothing about his twin.

He says he was not with them when Jesus came.

So, the disciples told him, we've seen the Lord.

Ah, this sounds like an apostolic proclamation of Christ's resurrection from the dead, right?

Here's the first guy and he spent all this time with Jesus and he heard Jesus say, I'm going to

die and rise again on the third day.

Thomas heard Jesus say this several times, right?

We've seen the Lord.

But he said, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and

place my hand into a side, I will never believe.

Hmm.

Now, we call Thomas doubting Thomas.

I think this is a little stronger than that.

Because he's saying, I will never believe.

That's not doubt.

That's unbelief.

This fellow is basically saying, I'm an unbeliever.

No way.

And do you know what?

He's behaving just like unbelievers behave.

Now, I know you know this is true.

Atheists are unbelievers.

They are, by definition.

And if you were to spend some time looking at atheistic YouTube channels and things like this,

over and again, they try to talk about how stupid and silly it is to believe in God and things like this.

There is no evidence for God, they say, while they're breathing his air on this amazing planet that he's

created and all this order that is around us.

You just sit there and go...

See, their problem isn't lack of evidence.

That's not the issue.

And keep this in mind.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ.

If you know your catechism, the third article of the Creed kind

of gets summarized as, I believe that I cannot believe.

But the Holy Spirit has called me, enlightened me through the gospel, through the word of God.

So Thomas is a fellow who needs to hear.

And if we pay attention to the text, we're going to see that Christ works consistently with what is revealed in

other parts of the Scripture.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ.

So, he says, I will never believe.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again.

What day of the week is it?

Sunday night.

Jesus keeps showing up.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Hmm, I wonder if that has something to do with why the church worships on Sunday.

And it does.

So although the doors were locked, the disciples are still kind of struggling here.

Jesus came and stood among them.

A little bit of a side note.

How are you, how good are you at walking through walls?

Now, unfortunately, I must confess, I've tried it.

One time voluntarily, when I was a young lad.

Other times involuntarily, like when I trip over something in the middle of the night in the dark, right?

I find that my face and the wall kind of get what I'm saying here.

Not that that happens regularly or anything.

But the question then comes up, how is it possible that Jesus just

appears in front of, well, the disciples in the middle of a room that is locked?

This actually has something to do, by the way, with a right understanding of the Lord's Supper.

Now, there are a group of people within a particular tradition, within

Protestantism, who deny that Christ is bodily present in the Lord's Supper.

And their reasoning goes something like this.

Human bodies can only be at one place at one time.

It says that Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, so Jesus can only be in

Heaven.

Because, you know, human bodies, they can't be in more than one place at one time.

Well, last time I checked, human bodies don't walk on water.

Last time I checked, human bodies don't just appear in the middle of a room.

And there's a real simple reason for all of this going on.

It's because Jesus is the God -Man.

He's both God and Man.

And there's a communication of the attributes between the two natures.

And there's not two Jesuses.

There's only one.

And so Jesus is able, by virtue of the fact that he's united with the divinity, to do stuff that we

can't do, like appear in a room.

And what's really funny is when you read some of the early writings of the fellows who are in this

particular camp within Protestantism, their explanation for Jesus' appearing in

the room is this.

While they weren't looking, he climbed in a window.

To which I say, theological fail.

No, that's not what the text says.

Wait till we get to next week's gospel text, because Jesus disappears.

Makes me wonder, how do they explain that?

Did he secretly say, Scotty, beam me up?

You know, while they weren't looking.

But that's a whole other, we'll get to there next week.

Anyway, so we come back to our text.

So, he appears, even though the doors were locked, he came and stood among them.

Note the words, peace be with you.

Oh, great stuff.

We have peace with God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross.

So then he said to Thomas, put your finger here.

See my hands.

Put out your hand.

Place it in my side.

Greek says this, do not be disbelieving, but be believing.

Remember back in Genesis, what happened when God said, let there be light?

There was light.

What happened when God said, let the earth produce vegetation and seed bearing fruit?

What happened?

The earth produced vegetation and seed bearing fruit.

What happened to Thomas when Jesus said, do not be disbelieving, but believing?

He believed.

And you'll note that nowhere says in here that Thomas touched Jesus.

It doesn't say, and then Thomas rolled up his sleeves and said, alright Jesus, let's see if this is real.

Hold out your hand.

Let me see that side of yours.

It doesn't say that at all.

He didn't touch Jesus.

So Thomas answered, first words of a new believer.

Hakuriosmu,.

Kayathiosmu.

You are my Lord and my God.

And notice that's a confession of faith.

That is a confession of belief.

Oh, and that's exactly who Jesus is.

He is Lord and God.

And now watch what happens next.

Jesus asks him a question.

Have you believed because you've seen me?

What's the answer to the question?

No.

Thomas has believed because Jesus spoke the word.

Faith comes by hearing.

Hearing by the word of God.

And so you notice, his unbelief gives way to belief because Jesus said, do not be

disbelieving, but be believing.

And he was.

And so that's the idea.

Faith comes by hearing.

Hearing through the word of Christ.

And so all of these fears, doubts, and unbelief give way to faith.

And the confession of faith is you are my Lord and my God.

And Jesus has already speaking peace to him.

And watch now this amazing blessing that we receive as a result

of how Thomas truly comes to believe.

He says, have you believed because you have seen me?

The answer is no.

Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed.

How is it that you have come to believe because you have heard the good news of Christ and him

crucified for your sins and him bodily raised from the grave on the third day for your

justification?

In other words, you have seen the resurrection through the eyeballs stuck in your ears.

But so did Thomas.

Although he can physically see him and it's important that he did because Thomas was chosen to be an eyewitness.

And we learn from church history that this believer now goes and tells

the whole world that there is forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ, the one who's crucified and

bodily raised from the grave, that he is an eyewitness, he's seen him with his own eyes.

And he goes and travels even as far as India.

Church history tells us that he made it to India, planted a church there, and there happens to be

to this day a congregation of Christian believers in India whose church is named after

St. Thomas.

And they claim that it is this very apostle, one sent by Jesus, who is the one who preached the

gospel there, which created the church.

Wow.

Amazing.

But we haven't seen Jesus.

And Jesus says, blessed are you.

Blessed are you.

Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed because God's word has had its way with us and

given us faith as a gift.

And now here comes the thesis statement of the entire Gospel of John.

He puts it near the end, right before the prologue.

It says this, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book.

They didn't need to be.

They didn't need to be.

These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by

believing you might have life.

What kind of life?

Eternal life in his name.

What a great promise.

And you truly, brothers and sisters, are blessed.

For right now we walk by faith, not by sight.

Today we do not see Jesus face to face.

But is he here present among us?

Of course he is.

When has Jesus ever lied?

Never once.

And so Jesus is here this morning speaking peace to us.

Speaking peace to us in the words of the absolution that you heard.

Peace to us in the face of all of our own fears and doubts and unbelief.

And he says, I am with you always.

And that you are blessed even though you have not seen him.

In fact, our epistle text puts it this way, and it's so wonderfully put by Peter.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy.

And that's what God has.

Great mercy for me and for you.

Listen to what it says.

He has caused us to be born again to a living

hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Who did the causing for us to be born again?

God did.

And he did this because of his great mercy.

And he's called us to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and

unfading.

Kept in heaven for you.

You see, in heaven, there are no moth.

There are no moths to destroy things.

There is no dust or rust.

There are no thieves that can break in and steal.

So, up there in heaven where Christ is, he's currently preparing your inheritance,

your mansion.

The thing that he will bring with him when he brings you back with him also from the dead.

And there, our inheritance is kept.

And nobody can steal it.

In order for somebody to pilfer your inheritance, they would have to get by Jesus.

And I would say, good luck on that one.

It ain't happening.

And so, listen to this.

Not only is our inheritance being kept in heaven, but it says this about us.

You, you are, by God's power, being guarded through faith for a

salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time.

Wow.

You see, right now, we still walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

We still are in danger.

We are in danger from the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.

Don't forget, temptations to unbelief and sin oftentimes burble up from within.

And the devil and the world have nothing to do with it.

So, keep that in mind.

We are still in danger.

But, this word from Peter tells us that we are being guarded.

Guarded by Christ through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed.

In this, then, you rejoice.

Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved with various trials.

And who of us have not faced those?

I can honestly say, everybody here, everybody who I

pastor, that you all are going through and have gone through over the past few

years, all kinds of trials and difficulties.

And this is what happens.

Because the scripture then goes on.

It says, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been

grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes

though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the

revelation of Christ.

In other words, somehow in the midst of all of those difficulties and trials, Christ is still working in them.

Working in us repentance of our unbelief.

Working in us a growing faith and a strengthening faith in Him.

Even in the face of all kinds of difficulties.

And though you have not seen Him, you haven't.

I haven't.

But though you have not seen Him, you love Him.

Remember Jesus' words.

You are blessed.

Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible

and filled with glory.

Obtaining, and listen to these last words, the outcome of your faith.

Where is this all heading?

The very salvation of your souls.

And we know that we have this because Christ is risen from the dead.

If He had not, we have no hope.

But because He has, we have this hope.

And we have it sure and certain.

So let us put away our unbelief and our doubts and let us hear

and receive the gift of faith given by Christ.

And with that, receive His peace, His mercy, His forgiveness as well as an

inheritance kept and guarded for us in heaven.

And that we may obtain the salvation of our souls when faith will eventually give way to sight.

Where we will no longer have to say, we have not seen Him and still we love Him.

But the blessedness that we are in now will give way to the joy when we finally see Him with our own eyes,

which Christ Himself has promised us.

He is risen.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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