Our Mission Part #1: KNOW

On July 31^st of this year the fifth installment of one of the most popular movie franchises will hit theatres and captivate audiences across the globe with its high-speed chase scenes, death defying stunts, and tense plot line which will more than likely involve saving the world. I’m speaking of course about Mission Impossible. In every previous installment of this franchise (and I imagine in this one as well) Ethan Hunt is presented with a mission either through a pair of super high-tech glasses or other gadget and after the presentation is complete, a famous line is read-- “this is your mission, should you choose to accept it” followed by, “this message will self-destruct in five seconds”…and then BOOM! The move gets underway as agent Hunt defies all odds in an effort to save the world one more time.

Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, you and I as believers are on a mission of a far greater caliber. Our mission is not fantasy nor fiction, but a real life struggle against real super-villains that involves the salvation of the people that we come in contact with every day. As time marches on, more and more seems stacked against us in our endeavor to complete this mission (rendering its success more and more far-fetched in the minds of many). Some might even consider it impossible. However, this mission has been handed to us to complete, that is, should we choose to accept it. I’m speaking of course about the mission of God as presented in His Word. One formulation of this mission is found in Matthew 28:19-20 as Jesus ascends into heaven having completed His work on the earth. In His instructions to the disciples He says, “Therefore, as you go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”.  To capture the essence of this mission and aid in memorization of its main points, our church has adopted this rendering “we exist as a church to help people know Christ, grow in Christ, and show Christ to the world.”

This brand new series is going to delineate exactly what this mission entails and how we are to accomplish this as a church. Fasten your seatbelts; it is going to be a wild ride! (I promise, this message will never self-destruct).

In an effort to help us along, we are going to take apart the three objectives of this mission and deal with them separately. First, we must come to understand something about what it means to know Christ and the process involved. Nowhere is this more dramatically demonstrated than in the climax of the gospel of John in chapter 20:24-29.

CIRCUMSTANCE #1: Doubt Drives a Wedge-20:24-25

Jesus’ post-resurrection manifestations would have been life-changing for anyone in attendance. His miraculous appearance had to of had a lasting impact on the these men who witnessed His presence, observed His scars, and felt His breath in a private meeting behind closed doors. However, not everyone was in attendance in John 20:19-23. In fact, at least one disciple was somewhere else, “but Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came” (20:24). Though we are not told where Thomas was when everyone had the benefit of witnessing the risen Christ, his “coming up to speed” episode allows for one of the greatest Christological confessions ever recorded. It just so happens that this episode also details how everyone comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (the first part of our mission).  

Once Thomas is joined together with the other ten disciples, all of them share the great news of Jesus’ resurrection with him, “so the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’…” (20:25a). This short testimony lets us know that at least initially, the disciples did share the message Jesus instructed them to publicize (However, as we will soon learn, their obedience only went so far). This news, although simple, is profound and would have been shocking to Thomas. First, the statement necessarily means that not one, two, or three, but at least TEN of Thomas’ closest confidants claimed to have witnessed the same miracle (that is pretty compelling evidence of the miracle’s legitimacy). Second, that Jesus was risen from the dead means that all of their worries and fears about following a man who had just been crucified had no basis. Their most profound grief would have been remedied into vivacious victory if what they said was true. Third, their reference to Jesus as “Lord” means that these men at least claimed to believe that Jesus had authority and that this authority was confirmed in His resurrection. Quite a learning curve for Thomas to navigate through in order to catch up with His contemporaries.

Remember, Thomas did not have the experience the others shared of seeing Jesus and investigating His scars. Though people traditionally give Thomas a hard time, it is healthy to remember that he is a step behind everyone else. In fact, his response is not very different from how they responded when they first heard the news from Mary Magdalene. Upon hearing her news, the disciples locked themselves in a room out of fear instead of proudly proclaiming Jesus’ victory!  Poor Thomas gets a bad wrap; however, he is just as doubtful as his colleagues were before they saw Jesus alive.’

When considering our mission today, it is important to remember what we are up against. People are not predisposed to believe in God let alone His Son. The Bible even calls the lost dead in their sins. They have not shared your experience nor mine and therefore may not initially react positively to the good news you have to give. They may even make inappropriate demands for certain evidences in order to be convinced. In fact, this is exactly what Thomas does next.

 “But he said to them, ‘Unless I 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” (20:25b). Apparently, Thomas thinks the disciples may have seen a ghost (the Middle East during the first century was very superstitious). In fact, this would not have been the first time Jesus was mistaken to be a ghost, nor would it be the last time that people demanded confirmation of Jesus’ identity (see Matt. 14:26; John 21:4, etc.).

Ultimately, Thomas desires the same kind of evidence that his fellow disciples enjoyed in John 20:19-23. Surely, if Jesus’ body was truly raised it would have some sort of physical continuity with the Jesus who was crucified (i.e. scars in appropriate areas) (Carson, 656). However, for the time being, Thomas has not yet seen what He needs to see to make this quantum leap from skepticism to faith from disbelief to knowledge. Because of this, I imagine it drove an incredible wedge between him and his friends. Imagine being the odd one out in this situation. All of your closest buddies are enjoying the victory of hope and life and you are stuck wondering by yourself in a corner if any of this is true. Thomas was an outcast in his doubt and would remain this way for no less than 8 days.

In similar ways, some distance might exist between you and those around you who do not know Jesus in the way that you do. Unbelief places a wedge between those who know and those who don’t know Things might even get awkward.

CIRCUMSTANCE #2: Revelation Creates an Opportunity-20:26-27

Interestingly, a week later Jesus appears to His disciples again, on this time, Thomas is in attendance-- “after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you’…” (20:26). The time reference of “eight days” is an idiomatic was of saying “a week later” putting this episode on the newly crowned “Lord’s Day.” However, instead of celebrating and sharing the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, there they are hiding out for fear of the Jewish authorities behind locked doors…AGAIN! INSPITE OF THE EXPERIENCE THEY ALL SHARED! You might see why Thomas was unconvinced by the disciple’s message. To Thomas, their fearful behavior may have validated his skepticism.

So far, a lot is working against our completion in the first part of this mission: deep-seated skepticism, predisposition to unbelief, and some level of distance between those who believe and those who don’t. We should not make things even more difficult by failing to live up to the hype that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection promotes! Otherwise, people will not be convinced.

Regardless of their faithlessness, Jesus, out of sheer grace, appears miraculously again and shares the same message, “Peace be with you” (20:26). After making this familiar declaration on the whole bunch, Jesus narrows His focus on Thomas and makes an example out of Him, “…Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here you hand and put it into My side;…” (20:27a). Though Jesus did not need to justify Himself in this way, He humbly offers His body to Thomas in this way for Thomas’ benefit, putting obvious revelation on the lowest shelf imaginable.

Here, Thomas is awarded the opportunity he asked for earlier—a thorough examination of Jesus’ wounds. Jesus’ allowance of Thomas’ empirical investigation is His way of reaching into Thomas’ skepticism in an effort to bring Him to a point of faith. In fact, following His invitation to Thomas, He calls for Thomas’ belief. 

“and do not be unbelieving, but believing” (20:27b). There are several ways to translate this amazing invitation. Some translations render this “do not be unbelieving, but believing” while others render it, “do not be an unbeliever, but a believer.” Either way, by taking up Thomas’ challenge, Jesus proves that he hears His disciples even when he is not physically present, and removes all possible grounds for unbelief (Carson, 657).

Jesus’ presentation of evidence to Thomas is indicative of what He and the Bible has done on a far more general scale. Thousands of corresponding copies of early manuscripts with no doctrinal differences make the Bible one of the most thoroughly vetted and consistent pieces of literature—even in modern day translations. Similarly, secular historical scholars agree that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most exhaustively evidenced events in all of history. These and countless other proofs demonstrate God’s willingness to offer evidence of Himself in manageable bites for even the most juvenile skeptic on the lowest epistemic shelf. The myriad of presentations all cry out the same message, “and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” (John 20:24-29)

Recognized skepticism (lost-ness) and a presentation of Jesus Christ (accompanied by compelling evidences) provide the framework for the third circumstance found in this passage.

CIRCUMSTANCE #3: Belief brings Salvation-20:28-29

We are not told whether Thomas actually took Jesus up on His offer to insert His fingers into the Savior’s wounds or not. In fact, the text seems to suggest that the sight of Jesus and His invitation was enough to bring Thomas out of doubt and into profound reverence. 

The circumstances in Thomas’ life bring him here to a point of belief that Jesus is not just a man, not just a teacher, not just a miracle worker, not just a prophet, not just a good role model—HE IS GOD HIMSELF MADE FLESH and Thomas’ declaration of this is the climax of this gospel, “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’…” (20:28). In a gospel that has done its best to demonstrate that Jesus is God, here is where we see one skeptic’s journey from disbelief to deep conviction in the face of overwhelming evidence.

His statement is important for several reasons. First, it is an explicit declaration of Jesus’ lordship and therefore His equality to God the Father. Because Thomas calls Jesus “Lord” and “God,” he is claiming that Jesus is equal to God—He is God made flesh. Anything other than this conviction falls short of true Christianity. Second, his statement is profoundly personal, “My Lord and my God!” It is one thing to say that Jesus has the authority of God and another thing entirely to subject oneself to that authority. That Thomas claims Jesus as his Lord and God means that he is surrendering his life to Christ and entering into a personal relationship with Him.

Finally, that Thomas calls Jesus “my Lord and my God means that Thomas now knows Christ in a  far more profound way—in a ginwskw kind of way. This kind of knowledge is experiential, personal, and intimate. Before Thomas might have known something about Jesus and his ministry. However, now Thomas believes Him, trusts Him, and is intimately acquainted with Him. This is the kind of knowledge of Christ that we are after as we complete our God-given mission.

In this statement we see a beautiful depiction of salvation. Romans 10:9-10 explains salvation this way, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Thomas, after witnessing Jesus’ death personally and coming to grips with His resurrection declares that Jesus is Lord verbally, demonstrating what is already true in his heart. Because of this, Thomas is transformed from a lonely doubter to a faithful follower. Calling him a “doubting Thomas” now is not accurate in the least. Thomas may have doubted before; however, he ended up being a faithful follower. In fact, how is this for “doubting Thomas”—Thomas (Didymus) according to historical accounts traveled further than any other apostle with the news of Jesus Christ, making his way all the way to southern India where he was eventually speared by a pagan priest for refusing worship to an idol. I’d say that Thomas’ life adds to the mound of evidence for the legitimacy of Jesus and the reality of His resurrection. Not many would travel to the end of the world and give up there life for someone they believed was dead, especially if they used to be a skeptic.

Jesus responds to Thomas’ declaration by saying, “…’because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed’…”(20:29). Although many understand the first part of Jesus’ response as a word of rebuke, it is important to point out that Thomas’ faith far exceeded his colleagues at this point. We will discover in the next couple of weeks that the rest of the disciples were not yet where Thomas was. In fact, the one who was lagging behind the others earlier now stood out front! Therefore, it is better to interpret Jesus’ words as a confirmation of Thomas’ saving faith posed as a question in an effort to introduce the main thrust of John’s Gospel (located in the second part of verse 29).

“Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (20:29). In other words, Jesus says, blessed are those who will come long after I leave the earth and reach the same conclusion Thomas reached—that I am their Lord and their God. With this statement, Jesus breaks the fourth wall and stares down anyone who picks up this book, letting them know how they can have real life. Real life is bestowed on those who in light of the evidence provided in God’s Word, creation, and experiences reach the inevitable conclusion that Jesus is Lord and in response surrender their lives to Him. Blessed are those who come to know Him!

So What?

Jesus is Lord and God! Do you Know this? –really know this to be true? Those who doubt this (believing anything less of Christ) drive a wedge between them and God, leaving them in a stubborn state of disbelief. These know nothing of God, ultimately have no hope, and enjoy a mediocre and altogether meaningless life.  Perhaps it is time that you examine the evidence and see for yourself. The Bible is the most trustworthy document known to man with the most compelling and exhaustively evidenced events (events that carry with them eternal implications). Its characters (like Thomas) were historical people who were really changed in profound ways and in many cases gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus rose from the grave! If this is true and Jesus really did rise as numerous sources support from secular historians of the first century, then everything Jesus said and did is confirmed. When all Jesus said and did is added up, it leads to one conclusion—Jesus is Lord and God! Is it not about time you recognize the futility of your skepticism and faithfully follow Jesus saying along with “faithful” Thomas, “My Lord and my God?”

For those who have voiced this confession, is it not time we live accordingly? Our Savior is alive from the dead! Why should we not lay down our lives spreading this message? Let us take our cue from the one we call a doubter and put our feet and hands where our mouth is! Do not let you inactivity in the kingdom building project and your silence fluff the pillows in the living room of skepticism. This is the first part of your mission—to do what you can, to allow your life and testimony be good evidence of the faith that you affirm with your lips. We must know Christ and be those who help others know Christ as well. This is the first part of the mission (should you choose to accept it).