Doubting Ourselves

As Pastor David has been leading us through this series on Doubting God, he has reminded us that even the disciples had doubts about Jesus.  Peter had doubts about the power of Jesus even as he walked on the water with Him.  And Thomas, the disciple who wasn’t with the others when Jesus first appeared after the resurrection, Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead at all.  Thomas said, If I can’t put my hands in the marks of the nails and put my hand in the wound on his side - I will not believe.  

We all experience doubts, it’s what we do with those doubts that matters.  What Thomas didn’t do with his doubt was use it as an excuse to walk away from Jesus.  Thomas was still with the disciples a week later when Jesus appeared a second time.  Thomas hadn’t given up.  He hadn’t walked away from what he did believe about Jesus just because he couldn’t believe this one thing, and he didn’t walk away from his community of faith, the disciples, just because they believed something different.  Thomas stuck around and tried to make sense out of it all and that’s when Jesus appeared to him and said, put your hand in my hands.  Place your hand in my side.  Do not doubt but believe.  

Peter had doubts about Jesus and His ability to help him walk on water.  While Peter was the one disciple courageous and faithful enough to step out of the boat, when he started to doubt Jesus he started to sink.  When things didn’t go the way he thought they should, Peter didn’t use his doubt to reject Jesus.  He stepped into the boat and then kept going.  He kept walking with Jesus when they got to shore.  Neither Thomas nor Peter allowed their doubts to drive them away from their faith - it drove them deeper.  They stayed around, they persevered, and they listened, explored and took small steps forward and found that their faith grew stronger through the doubts.  

This needs to be our response when we doubt God.  We can’t walk away, we need to persevere.  We need to keep walking with Jesus and see what we can learn, what God has to say to us, and what we can experience from it all.

The other thing Pastor David shared that is so important for us to remember is that when those around us have doubts about God and their faith, our response personally and as a church needs to mirror the response of Jesus.  Jesus didn’t condemn or shame Thomas or Peter.  He didn’t put them down or push them away, He did the exact opposite - He reached out to help them.  

When Peter doubted the power of Jesus to help him walk on the water, Jesus reached out His hand to save him.  The hand of Jesus lifted him up.  And when Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus didn’t force him out of the upper room, He appeared and reached out His hand to help him believe.  When those around us express their doubts and questions about God, when they struggle to make sense of their faith, with love and grace we need to reach out our hands and hearts and offer them support and help.  

Two important truths to remember: when we have doubts (and we will have them) we need to keep going and reach out to the hand Jesus offers us because it will always be there.  And when those around us have doubts, we need to be the hand of Jesus and reach out in love to them.  If we will live this way with our doubts, our doubts can lead us, and those around us, into a deeper understanding of who God is, what it means to follow Jesus, and how we can truly get the most we can out of our faith  

But sometimes it’s not our doubts about God that hold us back in our faith, it’s the doubts we have about ourselves.  We believe in God.  We believe in Jesus and His resurrection.  We believe we are forgiven because of the cross, but we just can’t believe that God would forgive me.  We doubt that God can love us that much.  We doubt that God can or wants to use us with all our problems, insecurities, and failures. For many of us it is the doubts we have about ourselves that hold us back in our faith

If you are experiencing these kinds of doubts and find them holding you back in faith, hear what the Apostle Paul said:  

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

The word handiwork can also be translated as masterpiece and it means a creation with a designated purpose.  In other words, each one of us was designed by God for a specific purpose.  Each one of us can be used by God to shine His light, share His glory, and spread His love in ways that no one else can.  But it’s easy for us to doubt this.  We look around and see people with more faith, more talent, more wisdom and knowledge, more gifts and skills and we begin to doubt what we have to offer.  

These are doubts we all face.  It’s easy for me to look around and see pastors who are more gifted preachers, better teachers, more courageous visionaries, smarter administrators and simply more faithful than I am.  When I see this, I begin to doubt that I am a person God can use or wants to use.  There are simply so many better people out there - why would God want to use me with all my insecurities, failures, and doubts.  

If you have these kinds of doubts, I have some good news for you - God delights in using people just like you for His purpose.  All through the Bible we find God using people who were filled with doubts, insecurities, and failures and one of the stories that always fills me with hope that God can use me is the story of Gideon.

After the people of Israel settled in the Promised Land, they were led by various judges.  There would be long periods when the people would prosper under a good and faithful judge, but when an unfaithful judge would lead them away from God, they would end up being ruled over by their enemy.  After 7 years of being ruled over by their enemy the Midianites, God reached out and called Gideon to be a judge that would free His people.  Judges 6:12

The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”  

When the angel called Gideon a mighty warrior, he was threshing wheat in a wine press.  You wouldn’t normally thresh wheat in a wine press, you would do it out in the open on a rock so the chaff would blow away in the wind and the wheat would fall to the ground.  But Gideon was doing this in a winepress, which would have been dug into the ground. He wasn’t doing this out in the open but underground because he was afraid that the Midianites would see him threshing wheat and come to attack him.  This is hardly the action of a mighty warrior.   

Not only was Gideon afraid and insecure before God called him, he was reluctant to believe what the angel said.  Gideon asked the angel to give him a sign that God was actually calling him.  The angel agreed and told Gideon to come back with an offering of bread and meat.  When Gideon did, the angel touched the offering and consumed it with fire.  You might think this would have assured Gideon that he was God's masterpiece and that God had created him and called him for this purpose, but it didn’t.  

Gideon still had doubts about God and God calling him to be a leader.  Before Gideon would go into battle against the Midianites, Gideon asked God to make a fleece laid out on the ground wet and all the ground around the fleece dry as a sign that he was truly being called by God.  God did this, but Gideon still had doubts so asked God to make the fleece dry and the ground wet.  God did.  

At every turn, we see that Gideon was insecure and filled with doubt.  He didn’t see himself as a Mighty Warrior and he doubted that God could use him to lead the people of Israel, so he came with all kinds of excuses for God to go and find someone else.  But God wanted him - doubts, insecurities and all.  

And God wants us - doubts, insecurities and all.  While we tell God why He should choose someone else or to look for someone better, stronger, and more faithful, God says, no.  I want to use you.  We don’t have to be confident in our own gifts and abilities, we just need to be confident in God.  We have to trust that we are God’s masterpiece and that He has created us for a purpose.  

God is calling you today because you are His masterpiece.  You have been created for a purpose.  God has given you gifts and abilities to use in ways that will not only declare His love in this world but draw you closer to Him and deepen your faith.  If you have been sitting back watching others serve and give and shine in ministry, now it’s your time to start shining and serving and giving.  

In a moment we are going to have some time to reflect on how God has gifted us and how we might be able to use these gifts for God’s purpose.  I hope that just like Gideon, we will hear God call us a mighty warrior, or a faithful servant, or a gifted leader and step out to live into the purpose God has for us.  

If you think that you can’t be used by God because you have tried and failed too many times, then remember that the one man most used by God to form the early church was once a huge failure.  Saul was a Jewish leader who hated the followers of Jesus.  He saw them as a dangerous sect that needed to be eliminated.  Saul went to towns and villages with documents to have those who followed Jesus put in prison and killed.  In the book of Acts it says that Saul stood and held the robes of the men who stoned Stephen - the first man killed for his faith and trust in Jesus.  That event emboldened Saul to keep going.  Acts 8:1-3

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

With this in his past, you might think Saul could never be used by God for anything.  He had no faith in Jesus as the son of God.  He failed to listen to the followers of Jesus talk about all Jesus said and did and while he thought he was being faithful to God, he had actually failed God, but that failure did not disqualify Saul.  He was still a masterpiece created by God.  

As Saul was on his way to Damascus where he was going to persecute more followers of Jesus, God showed up and stopped him in his tracks.  Jesus spoke to Saul on that road.  Jesus revealed Himself to Saul and Saul stopped persecuting the church and started to plant them.  His failures were not final.  God made him into a new person and gave him a new name, and Paul not only spread the gospel of Jesus across the Roman Empire, but he wrote letters that make up two thirds of our New Testament.  God called a failure to do all this, which tells us that there is no failure so big that it will keep God away.

We have all failed in some way.  Some failures might be big and public, some might be even bigger but private and known only to us and God.  We see these failures and immediately doubt God can use us.  We think our failures and doubts disqualify us, but they don’t.  God uses people who fail because there are no other people God can use!  We have all failed and we all have doubts, but by the grace of God we are also all the handiwork of God.  

Later in his life, Paul knew this and said:  For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.  1 Corinthians 15:9-10a

By the grace of God we are not who we were, and we are not who we think we are.  We are not failures.  We are not weak and insecure.  We are not the sum of all our doubts.  We are God’s handiwork.  We are masterpieces created by God for a purpose.  We are mighty warriors, gifted servants and faithful leaders who can lean into the power and grace of God so that we can be more than we ever thought or imagined. 

If it is doubts about yourself that are holding you back today and doubts about yourself that keep you from God, hear what God says about you today.  You are His masterpiece!  You were created for a purpose and today God is asking you to step into the divine calling He has just for you.  

Next Steps

Doubting Ourselves

What doubts about God continue to hold back your faith?  

Ask Jesus to reach out and help you.

What doubts about yourself hold you back from God and His purpose for you?  Where do these doubts come from?  

God used many people who had doubts about themselves:

● Moses - see Exodus 3-4

● Gideon - see Judges 6

● David - see 1 Samuel 16 and 2 Samuel 11-12

● Peter - Matthew 14:22-36

● Saul (Paul) - Acts 7:54-8:3, Acts 9:1-19, and             1 Corinthians 15:9-11 

How do these stories encourage you and give you hope?

To help us overcome the doubts we have about ourselves, God says that we are His masterpiece. (see Ephesians 2:10)

The word masterpiece means created for a purpose.  

● What purpose has God created you for?

● What gifts, skills, and talents has God given you?

● How can you use God’s gifts of God’s purpose and glory?

Outsiders, Outcasts and Outlaws - Palm Sunday

Today we celebrate the events surrounding Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem.  Jesus began His ministry around the Sea of Galilee in the north and then took a journey that followed the Jordan River south, then across the Jordan River and through the city of Jericho, and finally into the city of Jerusalem.  Jesus timed this journey perfectly because He was going to enter the city the week of the Passover when people from all over the world would gather to worship and celebrate the deliverance of God’s people from the hands of the Egyptians.

Each year, the celebration of the Passover brought with it a longing the people had to be delivered from the hands of the Romans.  Just like in the days of Moses, a foreign power ruled over Israel bringing excessive taxes and oppression and the people wanted to be set free. There was great excitement at this year’s Passover because everyone was talking about a prophet from Galilee who was coming, and many thought He was the Messiah.  There was great anticipation and expectation that Jesus was coming to be the king.

As Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem, He told two of His disciples to go and get a donkey for Him to ride into the city.  Luke 19:28-38

After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

This must have seemed strange because Jesus never rode a donkey.  He never rode a horse, he never rode in a wagon or chariot, Jesus walked everywhere.  On this day, however, Jesus chose not to walk into Jerusalem but ride a donkey.  There had to be a reason.  

One reason Jesus chose a donkey was because it was a lowly and humble animal.  All through the gospel of Luke we have seen that Jesus went out of his way to lift up the lowly.  He ate with tax collectors like Zacchaeus and invited women to be part of His ministry.  The movement of Jesus began when God chose an older couple that others overlooked to bring a prophet into the world who would pave the way for the Messiah, and then God chose a young girl that no one knew to bring the Messiah into the world.  God called and chose those the world often overlooked, and Jesus welcomed and invited the outsiders, outcasts, and outlaws to be part of God’s family, His circle of friends, and part of His ministry team.  

So, a humble donkey made sense for Jesus, but there was another reason Jesus chose a donkey, it was to make a statement that He was coming as the Messiah and King.  All through the Old Testament, donkeys were seen as royal animals.  David rode a donkey out of the city of Jerusalem and Solomon rode a donkey into the city.  In Zechariah 9:9 it is said that when the Messiah comes, he would be riding on a donkey.  

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus chose a donkey not just because it was humble and He was setting up a contrast between Himself and the rulers of Rome who rode war horses and stallions, but He was proclaiming to the people of Jerusalem that He was the Messiah.  And they were thrilled.

People cut branches and spread them on the streets in front of Jesus to celebrate.  They shouted; Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  This comes from Psalm 118 that celebrated the victory and deliverance that came with the King.  The people were welcoming Jesus as their King.  They believed He was entering into the city to begin a movement that would overthrow Roman oppression and free the people from the Roman taxes.  They quoted King David because they wanted a king like David.  They wanted someone who would be a Prophet, a Shepherd, and a Warrior.  Jesus had certainly been a prophet and shepherd, and today they believed Jesus was coming to be the warrior who would overthrow the Romans, bring them victory, and establish God’s kingdom.  

But that was not the kind of king Jesus was going to be.  Not only did Jesus spend His life and ministry lifting up the lowly, but He was going to come in true humility to show God’s people, and all the world, that you don’t fight hate with hate, and you don’t overthrow violence with violence.  True victory comes through humility, sacrifice, service, and love.  Jesus was coming to establish a radically different kingdom and the people were going to end up being disappointed.  That disappointment would lead to betrayal.

It was Judas who first betrayed Jesus.  Like many others, he may have been looking for Jesus to start a revolution but all he heard from Jesus was how He was going to die on a cross.  So Judas betrayed Jesus, which led to Jesus' arrest and trial, and then a complete betrayal of God’s people when they shouted for Jesus to be crucified.  In 5 days, Jesus had gone from being hailed as a king to being condemned as a criminal.  

Jesus was led out to a place called Golgotha, or the place of the skull, which is where they crucify people.  Jesus was nailed to a cross as a condemned criminal and hung between two outlaws.  In Luke’s gospel they are called bandits, but some think they may have been men who were attacking and robbing Roman soldiers which would make them terrorists.  They were outlaws.  Jesus no longer just has a heart for the outlaws, He had become one.  He was hanging there with them.  

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Luke 23:39-43

Jesus didn’t just come for the outsiders, outcasts, and outlaws, He came to become an outsider, outcast and outlaw.  Jesus was condemned as a criminal.  As an outlaw, He received the death sentence and nailed to a cross.  Through crucifixion He was also considered an outcast because anyone who hung on a tree was considered cursed by God.  He was cut off and cast out.  While the other outlaws died because of their sin, they deserved their punishment, Jesus died because of ours.

In Jewish teaching, it was believed that when a person died, they were making amends for all their sin.  There was a teaching in the Talmud, which is the teaching of all the rabbis, that said, may my death atone for all MY sins.  But Jesus was without sin, so His death didn’t atone for His sin, it atoned for our sin.  On the cross, Jesus was saying, may my death atone for all YOUR sin. 

Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, came to take on our sin and the only way to do that was to be considered an outlaw, condemned as a criminal, and die on a cross.  It was on the cross that Jesus took on our sin and the sin of the world and paid the price for it all.  And one of the outlaws with Jesus seemed to understand.  

While one of the criminals hanging with Jesus mocked him, the other one believed that there was something more in Jesus and he asked Jesus to do just one thing.  Remember me when you come into your kingdom.  He believed Jesus’ death might not mark the end of his life.  This outlaw looked at Jesus and began to believe that His death might in some way save him and be the beginning of a new life in a new kingdom.  When this outlaw asked Jesus to remember him, it wasn’t a request to just think of him, it was a request for Jesus to do something and deliver him.  And Jesus did.  Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise.  

What makes this scene so powerful is that this outlaw is saved by faith alone.  He can’t do anything to earn his salvation.  He can’t get down off the cross and do anything for Jesus or for others and he can’t try to make things right with those he harmed.  And Jesus doesn’t ask him to.  The outcast acknowledges that he is a sinner and that he has nowhere to go but to Jesus.  And Jesus saves him.  

This is a perfect picture of what it means to be saved.  We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone.  We don’t earn our salvation.  We will never be good enough to receive it on our own.  We are all dying in our sin, and it is Jesus who reaches out to save us.  All we need to do is turn to Him.  From this outlaw we learn how to pray for salvation.  Jesus, remember me.  Three simple words that carry so much meaning.  

Jesus, remember me.  It means, Jesus forgive me.   It means, Jesus I’m sorry.  Jesus, love me.  Jesus, save me.  Jesus, remember me.  That is the only prayer needed and if it is our prayer today, God saves.  Sometimes we make faith more complicated than it needs to be.  At its core, this is faith.  Asking Jesus to remember us and then allowing Jesus to lead us into the new life He has for us - paradise.  

Today, if you are feeling far from Jesus, if you are feeling like an outcast or outsider, if you are feeling like an outlaw and unworthy of God’s mercy, or if you are dying in your own sin, pray like the outlaw on the cross.  Jesus, remember me.  

If that is your prayer, hear Jesus’ response.  Today you will be with me in paradise.  Today you will be forgiven, and today I will lead you into the fullness of new life.  When the thief prays, Jesus responds.  When we pray - Jesus responds because He came for you and me.  Until the very end we see that Jesus came to do just two things, to seek and to save the lost, the outsiders, the outcast and the outlaws.  He came to seek and save….   you and me.   

Next Steps

Outsiders, Outcasts and Outlaws  From a Donkey to the Cross

Take time to read the Holy Week Story in Luke 22:39–23:56 or in one of the other gospels: 

● Matthew 26:30–27:66

● Mark 14:26–15:47

● John 18:1–19:42

In what ways do you see Jesus continue to lift up the lowly, and care for the outsiders, outcasts, and outlaws?

How, and why does Jesus become an outlaw and outcast?  

Why does one outlaw cry out against Jesus?  How and why do we cry out against Jesus and turn away from Him?

Why does the other outlaw cry out to Jesus?  What does it look like for you to cry out and turn toward Jesus?  

The outlaw teaches us to pray: Jesus, remember me.  

● What do you want Jesus to remember and know about you?

● What do you want to remember and know about Jesus?

● What does this prayer mean for you?  

Jewish teachings said, my death atones for MY sin.

Jesus said, my death atones for YOUR sin.  

If you are still trying to atone for your sin or set yourself right with God through your own actions and behaviors, ask Jesus to save you.  Memorize these two verses:

● Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  Luke 19:10

● It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.  Ephesians 2:8