Happy Easter. I hope all your expectations have been met, so far. Easter— like most holidays—come with their own expectations. Some people expect a good sermon—good and short—to be determined; some expect dinner—the honey baked ham and all the fixings. Some have to have a fashion parade, chocolate bunnies; and of course, the kids look for an Easter egg hunt. I hope no one is like the mom I read about who did the unthinkable the last time Easter fell on April Fool’s Day. She combined the two days by sending her kids out to look for eggs she didn’t hide. Now that’s mean. Kids came hunting for eggs on Easter. Why not—tradition says eggs represent life. And Easter is about life. So, there is nothing wrong with an Easter Hunt.
There was a hunt the first Easter, more than 2,000 years ago. Disciples, friends and even enemies of Christ came hunting for the one who promised He would rise from the grave. Some went away disappointed. Others went away blessed.
Easter was a hunt then, and it’s a hunt now—not for eggs—but for a Christ to believe in. So, in a real way, Easter is a search for faith—not just any faith, but an “Easter Faith” that blesses. Not all faiths are the same like the eggs. God wants you to come away counted among the blessed—not just for a holiday Sunday, but for the Sunday after Easter, and the week after that, and the week after.
It all depends on how you see things. How should you approach Easter, not the holiday, but the “everyday hunt” for a resurrection faith for tough times. John 20:24-30 is an Easter faith hunt of a man named Thomas Didymus. His last name means twin. Appropriately, so. He had two faiths. They looked a lot like these two Easter Eggs. From the outside, they look the same. But are they? One is fragile (I tap the raw dyed egg). One is a firm (I tap the hard boil egg). If you were on a hunt for faith, represented by these eggs—which faith would work for you—the Over-Easy faith or the firm Easter Faith?
Some come to Easter with a fragile faith where seeing is believing. I call it an over-easy Faith. Thomas came to the Easter hunt with an easy faith that cracked under pressure. We see that in verses 24-25:
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." John 20:24-25
Thomas, who once in John 11, wanted to go with Jesus to protect Him as he was going a dangerous part of Judea where they wanted to kill him, said, “Let’s go with him that we may die with him. Nine chapters later, Thomas is nowhere to be found. His faith is over, just that easily.
You know the story. On the first Easter Sunday, all the disciples were locked away in an upper room. The tomb was empty. Their leader was missing. They were afraid to go hunting for him fearing that the same crucifixion that happened to Jesus would happen to them. They were all there except two: Judas the traitor who hung himself and Thomas who was MIA (missing in action). There were signs of his “over-easy” fragile faith.
Absence is a sign of fragile faith. Pollsters report that only 37% of Americans attend church once a week. Maybe that would explain why a man I met last Friday didn’t know what day it was. “He greeted me: Good day.” I greeted him, “Good Friday to you.” He said, “Oh, that’s right. Today is Good Friday.” How could he not know it was Good Friday? The answer is: He is absent from church. Hebrews 10:25 admonishes us to be present:
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25
Thomas was absent from his band of brothers who all needed encouragement. Church, who is absent from your ranks when you need them for support?
So, to encourage his fearful disciples, Christ went on his own “Easter Hunt” looking for his boys. He found them hiding out. He walked through the walls. He spoke to them: Peace be with you. He showed his wounds. He then ordered them take the message of forgiveness to the world. But before they were to go out, he breathed on them so they would receive the Holy Spirit’s power for a firmer faith for their difficult mission ahead.
Doubt is also a sign of fragile faith. When Thomas finally showed up, the disciples told him all about their encounter with the resurrected Jesus. But Thomas doubted their sound testimony. Weak faith will do that: shut your ears to the testimony of your friends who have experienced the power of Christ.
Finally, the insistence on seeing before believing is a sign of a fragile, over-easy faith. Look at verse 25 again. Thomas demanded:
. . . "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." John 20:25
What he was saying was “I have to see it to believe it.” But that’s not faith at all according Hebrew 11:1 that says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And that easy faith that is a “seeing” faith will crack under pressure.
Easy faith that cracks under pressure has always plagued God’s people. The Israelites—newly exodused from Egypt—their faith cracked when Moses stayed too long on Mt. Sinai talking to God. They built a golden calf god they could see to replace the God of the fire and smoke in the mountain they couldn’t see, yet they witnessed him open up the Red Sea so they could walk on dry land.
What golden calf have your made to replaced God when you couldn’t see him working, when it looked like he had abandoned you? When it looks like God wasn’t going to come through with that job so desperately needed, did you crack under pressure and settle a job you now hate? When God was slow in forthcoming with Mr./Mrs. Right, so you cracked and settled for Mr./Mrs. “They’ll Do”? What will you fashion for a pastor because you don’t see God moving fast enough? “Seeing faith” is an “Over Easy”, fragile faith.
Church, an easy faith is an insufficient faith that produces: no direction; no growth and no momentum in your life.
You’ll will have no direction if you insist on seeing before believing. You can’t see New York from Dallas. Does that mean there is no New York, thus you won’t try to get there.Some opportunities are on the other side of the horizon.You can’t see them from where you are, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Have faith in His map—God’s word—to point you to greater destinations.
You’ll will have no growth if you insist on seeing before believing. If you insist a bulb look like a lily before you plant it, you will never have lilies. You’ve got to believe that that ugly bulb, with a little sun, soil and water, will grow into something beautiful. In like manner, you can’t expect a new Christian to look, walk, talk like a mature believer. Give that bulb time and grace and watch them bloom.
You’ll will have no momentum if you insist on seeing before believing. If you have to see your church a moving, grooving, on-fire church, before you get involved to make it a moving, grooving, on-fire church, it will be Laodicea warm. The church needs your log on the fire. You are the “mo” in momentum but it will take “mo” faith than a “seeing is believing” faith.
The point is: an “Over Easy” faith where you have to see it to believe it, will crack under pressure. It won’t produce when you hit a patch of bad news of employment termination, medical examination, or court litigation. So, hunt for a better faith. Get an upgrade to an Easter Faith like Thomas.
Some come away from Easter with a better faith—an Easter faith—that blesses because they have had a real encounter with Christ. Thomas encountered Christ who upgraded his faith and testimony. We see the encounter and the upgrade in verse 27. Jesus showed up again in the upper room. He went right to Thomas:
27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." John 20:27
Just what Thomas demanded a week ago, “If I can put my finger in His hands…” Christ presented him the opportunity: “Go ahead, here you.” Church, don’t miss this: God knows exactly what your faith are. Be careful what you ask of God when you ask, “Lord help my unbelief.” He can put you in challenging situations that will upgrade your faith and your testimony. After Thomas put his hand in side of Jesus, he found a whole new testimony. Look at verse 28:
28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:28
In Thomas’ testimony, “My Lord” (Kyrios), he is testifying that Christ is now the One he will fully follow, not by sight, but by the Spirit of Christ. Is Christ your Lord even when you don’t see the logic in His lordship?
When it comes to relationships, when He unhooks your hook up, will you wait? Is He Lord?
When it comes to career, when He permits a termination to lead you to a divine vocation, Will you go? Is He Lord?
When it comes to church, when leadership is a hardshi p,will you jump ship or will you stay and row? Is He Lord?
In Thomas’s testimony, he also acknowledged that Christ is not just his Lord, but his God, the One who is to get all the glory. No more will he require Christ to prove Himself. No longer “evidence” be Thomas’s golden calf.
Then, Christ defined the difference between “Over-easy” faith and an Easter Faith where believing is seeing without the limits. Easter Faith is a faith that blesses. Look at verse 29:
29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29
All the disciples found that better faith. And they were transformed to bless the church with direction, growth and momentum.
· Thomas went from a doubter to the evangelizer of India. He blessed the church with direction.
· Peter went from denying Christ to preaching Christ— 3,000 were saved. He blessed the church with growth.
· Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to the greatest promoter of the church starting 14 churches, and two-thirds of the New Testament. He blessed the church with momentum in its infancy.
Thomas went on an Easter hunt that first Easter. He started out with an “Over-easy faith” that cracked under pressure. But he had a final encounter with Christ that upgraded his faith to a better, blessed faith where believing was seeing in a greater way.
Church, Christ is not like the mean-spirited mother who combined Easter with April Fool’s Day and sent her children out to hunt for Easter eggs that were not there. God has placed for you, in plain sight, an empty tomb, so you will find an Easter faith that will bless you not just for a holiday Sunday, but for the next Sunday, and the week after that, and the week after...
The choice is yours: an Over Easy faith, or an Easter faith that will give you a blessed assurance.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood
This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long
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