Happy post-Easter. I hope all your expectations were met. 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 Christ you believe in. So, in a real way, Easter isa search for faith—not just any faith, but an “Easter Faith” that blesses. Not all faiths are the same. God wants you to come away counted among the blessed—not just for a holiday Sunday, but for the week after Easter, and the week after that, and the week after.
It all depends on what you’re are looking for and 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 a week after Easter of a man named Thomas Didymus. You may know him as Doubting Thomas.
Turn to John 20:24-30. There we will see the Easter faith hunt of Thomas whose 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 (tap the raw dyed egg). One is a firm (tap the hard boil egg). If you were on a hunt for faith, represented by these eggs—which faith would work—the Over-Easy faith or the hard to crack 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, once, in John 11, wanted to go with Jesus to a dangerous part of Judea where they wanted to kill him. Thomas said to the disciples, “Let’s go with him that we may die with him. And now Thomas is absent, doubtful. His faith was over just that easy. But there were signs of his “over-easy” fragile faith.
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).
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 to 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 the difficult mission they would face. However, absentee Thomas finally showed up doubt.
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. 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, 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 they could not see yet witnessed him opened 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, when it looked like he had abandoned you? When it looked like God wasn’t going to come through with that job so desperately needed, did you crack under pressure and settle for less? When God was slow in forthcoming with Mr. Right, so you cracked and settled for Mr. or 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 leads to: no direction; no growth and no momentum in your life.
You will have no direction if you insist on seeing before believing. Some things are on the other side of the horizon. You can’t see it from where you are, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or you can’t get there. You can’t see New York from Dallas. Does that mean there is no New York, thus you won’t try to get there? Have faith in His map—God’s word—to point you to greater destinations.
You will have no growth if you insist on seeing before believing. If you insist a bulb looks like a lily before you plant it, you will never have lilies. You’ve got to believe that the ugly bulb, with a sun, soil and water, will grow into something beautiful. In like manner, you can’t expect a immature Christians to look, walk, talk like a mature believer. Give that bulb time and grace and watch it bloom.
You’ll will have no momentum if you insist on seeing before believing. If you have to see your church as a moving, grooving, on-fire church, before you get involved to make it a moving, grooving, on-fire church, it will be Laodicea lukewarm. It needs your log. It takes “mo” faith than a “seeing is believing” faith to be the mo in momentum.
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 termination, examination, or 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 with just that: “Go ahead, here you go.” Church, don’t miss this: God knows exactly what your issues are when it comes to faith. Be careful what you ask of God when you ask, “Lord help my unbelief.” He can put you in 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 follow fully, not by sight, but by the Spirit of Christ. Is Christ your Lord, that you will follow his leadership when you can’t see His logic?
When it comes to relationships, when He unhooks your hook up, is he Lord? Will you wait?
When it comes to career, when He permits a termination to lead you to a divine vocation, is He Lord? Will you go?
When it comes to church, when leadership is a hardship, will you jump ship or will you stay. Is He Lord? Will you row?
In Thomas’ “Lord” 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 would he make “evidence” a golden calf.
Then, Christ defined the difference between “Over-easy” faith that requires seeing as a prerequisite to believing. Believing without the limits of seeing—the Easter Faith—is the 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, Easter faith. And they were transformed to bless the church with direction, growth and momentum.
Thomas went from a doubter to the evangelizer of India. Though he was murdered at the point of a spear, 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. 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 she hadn’t hid. 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, but for the week after Easter, and the week after that, and the week after...
The choice is yours: Faith Over Easy, or an Easter faith that will give you a blessed assurance.
Comentários