Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

I was inspired as a youth by Chevy Chase. He did a sketch on Saturday Night Live where he fell down the stairs. When I was in high school, I taught myself how to fall down the stairs safely. But there was always a bit of doubt about it just before I took the first step.

One of the things that often keeps us from fully living a life of faith is doubt. We want to be fully committed to the Lord, in fact we sometimes imagine what that would look like. But doubts arise in our hearts and minds, and we hold back from jumping in with both feet. We doubt it will work out for us. Sometimes we even doubt the history of the life of Jesus. It’s natural that we have doubts. But it’s what we do with those doubts that makes all the difference.

Read Luke 24:36-53

As this passage opened, the disciples were afraid, confused, and had doubts. So when Jesus appeared to them, the first thing He wanted to give them was peace (v. 36). When we have doubts about Jesus, or the church, the first thing we need to realize is that Jesus came so that we would have peace. He didn’t come so that we would have more obligations on our lives, or on our time. He didn’t come primarily so that we’d know all the details of all the things which cause us wonder or doubt. He came so that we would have peace. Peace with God, and peace in our hearts.

But the disciples weren’t ready for peace yet. This only made them more afraid (v. 37). They thought they were seeing things! Or even worse, they thought they were being haunted by a ghost! So Jesus asked them a couple questions so that they would probe their feelings (v. 38).

Just days before these events, the disciples saw Jesus die on a cross. It’s easy for us to understand why the disciples were troubled. Why they had doubts. I’m sure each one of us would have had the same doubts. They wanted Jesus to be the Messiah, but they didn’t expect the Messiah to die! They thought the Scriptures said He would establish His reign and bring peace to Israel. They were confused.

I watched a movie with my daughter recently. To make a long story short, in the end, a few kids had to save the world, and they did it by pushing a few buttons on a computer. And my daughter responded, “That’s how they saved the world?!?” Even though it made sense in the movie, it didn’t meet her expectations. The same was true for the disciples of Jesus.

And just before this incident, they were hearing all sorts of reports about the body of Jesus being missing, and angels, and appearances. Yet they didn’t have any first hand experiences. I’m sure they did have doubts, and who can blame them?

Yet Jesus didn’t excuse their doubts, but called them to believe (v. 39). He wasn’t a ghost, or a vision, or a dream. He was really among them. Jesus had risen from the dead!

All this happened according to prophecy (v. 44-45). It’s statistically impossible for Jesus to fulfill all of the prophecies made of Him. Yet He did. But some might say that Jesus was well-versed in the Scriptures and sought out to fulfill them. But that’s impossible, too. Most of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled were beyond His control. Jesus couldn’t change where He was born. Jesus couldn’t keep His bones from being broken. And how in the world could Jesus have risen from the dead by His own strength, unless He truly is God in the flesh?

But why did Jesus do all this? Why did He go to the cross, and rise from the dead, and then appear to His disciples? It’s the same reason that Jesus came to the earth at all (v. 46-47). Jesus didn’t have to go the cross for His own sake. He did nothing wrong. He went to the cross for us, to die for our sin. He died so that we could have forgiveness through faith in Him. We can’t earn forgiveness. It’s impossible. We simply need to trust in what Jesus did for us.

But there’s another reason Jesus did all this. The truth is, if it were only about our salvation, Jesus didn’t need to ascend to Heaven. And He didn’t need to show Himself to His disciples. Yet He did. Why?

So that they and we would be His witnesses. The Bible isn’t primarily about us, and what we get out of it. The Bible is all about God. God created everything so that everything would glorify Him. God is worthy to be praised. The plan of redemption greatly benefits us, but it’s main purpose is to show that God is a God of love, and a God who hates sin, and He’s righteous, and just, and merciful.

So we who know Christ have a mission (v. 48). We can’t keep what we know about Jesus a secret. There are millions of people in the world who have never even heard the name of Jesus. We who have the truth need to be God’s witnesses wherever we go. We need to tell people about the awesome God who gives grace. He’s a God to be feared, and a God to be loved. He’s our Father, and our Friend. He’s our King and our companion. And we need to tell people about His awesome deeds. About the salvation we have in Jesus Christ, and how the offer of salvation is open to all people.

Some of you this morning may have come to this place in the same state of mind that the disciples were in as this passage began. They were confused, afraid, and had doubts. And that’s okay. It’s okay to have doubts. I still have doubts and questions about my faith. But don’t let your doubts keep you from seeing and embracing Jesus.

There’s no other explanation that makes sense of all the things that happened other than Jesus actually rising from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the proof that everything He taught and said about Himself was true. And if Jesus rose from the dead, then we must be His witnesses. We can’t leave the job to someone else. God is worthy of all praise, and that includes you and me being His witness.