Saturday, January 1, 2022

No More Time to Doubt ...

The women were the first to speak the truth of the gospel.  Then two men of the inner circle came bursting into the upper room bringing the same words of the gospel good news.  Jesus is alive.  Don’t care that we all saw Him get crucified and die.  Don’t care that we all know He was laid in the tomb fully dead.  He just walked with us all the way to Emmaus and showed us right out of scripture how all of this was fore-ordained.  We nearly ate dinner with Him before He just disappeared.  And Luke picks up the story right as they are speaking the validation of the women’s first gospel testimony that should have never been needed to be validated.  But just to put a nail in the coffin of doubt forevermore Luke interrupts what goes on there continuing in chapter 24 of his letter to his friend about what we believe and why.  In verse 36 it says … “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”  While they were yet testifying as to what they had seen, heard, and experienced.  They are interrupted by this Jesus Himself appearing right in the middle of them.  No knock on the door.  Not tired from running the whole way there from Emmaus.  God does not need to run.  God moves where He wants.  God goes where He is needed.  No prophet ever did that.  Jesus is not just some mere mighty prophet.  Jesus is God.  And God is very much alive.

The time for doubt to die is here.  The time for faith born in evidence is now right there in the middle of that room looking them straight in the eyes and hearts.  But once again, human weakness, is the response to Jesus, even when He just got finished saying “peace be unto you”.  In effect Shalom.  A greeting of peace.  A greeting meant to assuage fear.  But when we refuse to see, we often refuse to hear, all because we are so set in our ways that even if Jesus appeared right in the very room with us, we cling to our notions of the past.  Luke continues recording their responses in verse 37 saying … “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.  It winds up easier for us to believe in ghosts than God.  We prefer the darkness to the light, even when it shines right in front of us.  Consider that every disciple in that upper room (man or woman, part of the 12 or part of the 70), every one of them, knows and has seen firsthand Jesus raising the dead while He was yet with them in His earlier ministry.  They know it can be done, because they have all seen it done.  Some of them will do this in His name in the future.  But regardless, they all know it is possible.  No ghosts back then.  No tricks back then.  But when Jesus shows Himself to be alive, we reject the possibility of resurrection and cling to the notion of evil spirits or ghosts.

Is it any different today?  We accept death as inevitable and permanent, never considering for a moment that our resurrection is assured.  Never considering that God may even bring us back to this world early to accomplish the mission He has in mind for us.  But no one asks that prayer.  And worse NO ONE believes it could ever happen.  So NO ONE tests their own faith in the name of Jesus by asking it.  We just see death, and give up all hope, barely trusting in the resurrection that will one day come.  We just assume death is the will of God.  How could it not be?  If God did not want death, then why is it so inevitable?  But these musings are the thoughts of believers who accept the results of sin, without considering that God never intended for us to understand death at all, let alone to experience it.  We were created with the notion of forever in mind.  Time was to have no end.  Endings would be a foreign concept.  So why do we believers now choose to NEVER ask for God to bring life back in the here and now, in order that we may continue the work He has set for us.  It is possible that work was prematurely ended by death.  And it is possible that God would have that work restarted now, if those fellow servants would only have the faith to ask and believe in those same possibilities.  What is the worst that can happen; He says “no”.  Seems like we are already settling for that answer, without ever asking for something else.

The lesson in this upper room is one for our church today.  Our ideas of the past, what we believe the doctrines dictate, so inform our judgment that even a risen Lord is unable to penetrate them.  We get in our heads what we think things should be, then cement those ideas so that nothing can shake them.  Even a plainly risen Lord Jesus, is translated into the ideas of a spirit or ghost instead.  A spirit or ghost is still consistent with their earlier beliefs, a risen Lord is not.  And are we any different?  Our ideas create our fear, our doubt.  Any evidence, or testimony, that lends itself to the notion we are mistaken, is discarded in favor of ridiculous conclusions that keeps us fully in line with the past.  We choose, like our disciple forefathers, to look backwards even when standing in the presence of God Himself.  And in so doing we nurture our fear and self-reliance, not our faith, and our ability to step forward.  Imagine if even when you do not have the money, you pay your tithes anyway.  Common sense tells you that this is a financial mistake.  There is no way that spending money you do not have, on church of all things, or ministry of all things, could possibly make sense.  But I challenge you to challenge God and spend that money that way, then stand back and watch.  Somehow, someway, everything works out.  It does not make sense, but it does work out.

And this lesson is to be applied to more than just our money.  Imagine if instead of returning some well deserved righteous indignation to someone who has wronged you, who is guilty, who clearly has it coming and they know it – instead – you return some undeserved love and total forgiveness, you show kindness where it is not deserved.  And believe me, kindness is the last thing that will be expected in that situation, from them or you.  But instead of “being human”, you react through the power of His love, letting it flow through you, and only then; lives will be changed, perhaps yours most of all.  To apologize when you have done no wrong, to be humble when you are in the right, to be forgiving when you are the aggrieved party; these are the hallmarks of a true believer in Jesus Christ as your lord.  We should not need evidence before we are able to trust this way.  We should not need Jesus appearing in our living rooms, to truly know that living this way, is living a better way.  And no difference of doctrine or denomination should warrant a limit to our love, our forgiveness, or our kindness.

Luke continues in verse 38 saying … “And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? [verse 39] Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. [verse 40] And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.  So Jesus must reach out to us even farther.  He offers his own flesh as proof of His identity.  Jesus humbles Himself enough to let His followers poke the holes in hands, or feet, or side.  Imagine how far Jesus will go, to assuage your doubts and fears, to turn you from looking backwards and start you on looking forwards to what really matters.  The only way the incorrect beliefs or doctrines you hold to will ever be corrected, is if you look forward to Jesus, and to where and how He leads you.  Nothing can change while we cement ourselves in a backwards posture.  Looking to Jesus can be the full death of doubt if we let it.

But humans can be stubborn when we choose to.  Luke continues in verse 41 saying … “And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? [verse 42] And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. [verse 43] And he took it, and did eat before them.  So even when we start seeing the potential in the future, even when that potential introduces so much joy we can hardly stand it, we still find a way to keep doubting, and keep the door to all that - sealed shut.  Where Jesus is concerned, too good to be true, is not yet good enough.  Jesus always brings more good, more joy to us, than our limited brains ever thought possible.  As a final demonstration that He is not some spirit or ghost, Jesus eats something right in front of them.  In the kingdom of the Lord there are no spirits or ghosts save the Holy Ghost or dimension of the God head we do not fully understand.  Think about it, other than that, when Enoch goes to heaven he is translated alive in full bodily form, just as he was born to his parents.  When Moses dies, he is buried in a secret place by God, but when the devil finds his body, Moses is resurrected and taken to heaven in full bodily form.  When Elijah goes it is the same story.  When Lazarus was brought back it was in no spirit form, but in full bodily form, as was every other resurrected person during the ministry of Christ.  When the firstfruits go to heaven, it is the same story once again, resurrected in full bodily form.  And Jesus is no different.  God does not need a shell of who we are.  He did not make us this way, He has no interest in seeing us this way.  We are either living as we do now, or dead and sleeping in a grave with no memory, or interest in what happens today. 

But the disciples were more inclined to believe in demons masquerading as spirits or ghosts of those no longer alive, than in a resurrected Lord.  It took more than just His appearing in their room and speaking with them.  It took more than poking the holes of His wounded flesh, wounds He has chosen to keep forevermore.  It took Jesus eating a meal in front of them, before they would finally set aside their doubt.  This was Jesus subtlety teaching them their superstitions should be undone by what is real.  We don’t need the ghosts of the past, we need the Lord of today, the Lord of the future.  We should not allow our ideas of doctrines and what we think “should” be, cloud our notions of what the Lord is actually doing right now, right here in front of your face.  God is bigger than our box.  God is greater than our limitations, or our imaginations.  Now is the time for the doubt of the past to meet its end.  Is your faith capable of letting go of the past, and fastening hold of the future Jesus has in mind for you?  I hope mine is …

 

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