Text: John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” 22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Sermon
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5, 6)
Perhaps you have heard the expression, “If it looks like a duck and it waddles like a duck and it quacks like a duck … it’s probably a duck.” If we apply that phrase to a book that is now selling in book stores, you could say, “If it looks like a Bible and it sounds like a Bible and it has a name like the Bible’s … it ought to be a Bible.”
But it isn’t. Most definitely, the book I’m talking about isn’t the Bible. And what book is this? This is a secular alternative to the Bible written by atheist-humanist Anthony C. Grayling – a non-religious Bible he has audaciously entitled: The Good Book.
The Good Book has two columns like many Bibles. It uses chapters and verses like your Bible. It even tries to duplicate the beautiful and powerful rhythms of the King James Version of Scripture.
Grayling’s The Good Book looks like the Bible, but it isn’t.
In your Bible, God is credited with creation of heaven and earth. In Grayling’s book it says, “All things take their origins from earlier kinds. Ancestors of most creatures rose from the sea, some inhabitants of the sea evolved from land-dwelling forefathers.” Your Bible tells how Adam and Eve were seduced into sinning when they ate the forbidden fruit. Gatling prefers to substitute the story of an apple falling onto Isaac Newton’s noggin. And when your Bible talks about sin and the need for Jesus’ blood-bought forgiveness, Grayling’s The Good Book says all of us are really very good and very nice.
And why does Mr. Grayling feel the need to author such a book? It stems from his dislike of how John ends his Gospel: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Grayling doesn’t believe God’s Word is really the Word of God. He doesn’t believe there is really faith and life in this Word. And he’s pretty sure he can come up with a better plan for humanity than what is contained in Scripture.
Grayling’s thinking and writing is a sign of the times. According to a recent poll released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of self-proclaimed atheists in America has nearly doubled since 2001 from 900,000 to 1.6 million. The religion of people who believe in nothing seems to be winning more and more converts every year.
Too many people miss out on the mysterious because they’re so fixated on what they can see and touch and taste and hear. They’re so steeped in their belief in “nothingness” that they’re totally blind to the existence of another world – a radically different world than the one they’re familiar with. A world of faith, miracles and grace, a world of angels and diabolical warfare, a world of life after death. A world where the highest values are completely opposite from those of secular society – where humility equals glory, weakness is greater than strength, sacrificing comes before salvation, and suffering is required for discipleship.
Where the atheists, agnostics and humanists need to reach out with their hands, poke their fingers, and see with their eyes in order to believe, we Christians are blessed because we have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).
By the grace of God, we Christians kneel at the foot of the cross to repent of our sin. Through the eyes of faith, we peer into the open, empty tomb. With believing ears, we hear the comforting words of our Savior, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” and “Peace be with you.” We see the light shining through the holes in Jesus’ hands and we have placed our finger into His side. We stand next to Thomas and breathlessly, with sweaty palms and nervous voices, boldly confess, “My Lord and my God.”
Atheists, of course, claim that all of this is absurd. They say that Christianity, especially, with its belief in Easter and the resurrection is nothing but “wishful thinking.” But is it wishful thinking to believe in hell, the devil and demons? Is it wishful thinking that we’re going to be judged and held accountable for every sin we’ve ever committed? Is it wishful thinking to “suffer grief and all kinds of trials” for Christ (1 Peter 1:6)?
If human beings were going to invent a religion based on wishful thinking, they could come up with something a lot “easier” than Christianity. After all, who would invent a religion where you are told to refrain from promiscuous sex and gluttony in this life so you can enjoy real living in the life to come; where you are told to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors, and where you die in order to live? Who would invent a religion where God became human and lived in our world so we humans could live with God in His world, where the Creator died for His creation, and where the Savior was beaten, mocked and crucified by those He came to save? Who would invent such a crazy religion?
Can you imagine Paul having a conversation with Peter about starting up their own made-up religion? Peter asks Paul, “If we start this religion, are we going to get famous and wealthy or at least become babe-magnets?” Paul replies, “No, in fact, people are going to hate you, throw you in jail, kick you out of town and probably crucify you upside down. I’m going to give up my rock star status as a Christian-killing Pharisee in order to become a Christian. Then people are going to beat me up, throw rocks at my head, put me in prison and then kill me.”
Peter sarcastically replies, “Riiight.”
You can’t imagine it because it didn’t happen. Paul, Peter and the other apostles were ready to die for their faith because they knew it was the true faith. Jesus Christ really did die and rise from the dead for them. His death paid for their sins. His resurrection guarantees that “Christ has been raised from dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Christ Jesus is the first installment of the resurrection. Because He burst from His grave in soul and body, you and I are immortal. His resurrection guarantees your forgiveness. His resurrection guarantees your resurrection. Because Jesus lived, died and lives again for the apostles, they were willing to live and die for Him.
Next Sunday we’ll be confirming another class of four young people in their Christian faith. They will stand before this altar and make the same promises that you and I may have made. Like us, they are ready to live and die for their Savior. They will be asked the same difficult – but all-important question – we had to answer: “Are you willing to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from your confirmation faith?” By the grace of God, we pray that they will answer, “Yes, with the help of God.” We and they believe the truth. We and they proclaim and profess the truth.
Jessica, along with other members of her sophomore class, was doing a week-long community service project. Jessica elected to help a third-grade class in a public school. At the end of the week, she decided to give the kids a few treats inside a colored plastic egg. Naturally she asked for the teacher’s blessing. She received that blessing with this condition: the school said her gifts weren’t to be called “Easter eggs.”
No, those gifts were to carry the politically correct title: “spring spheres.”
Now, I was never good at geometry, so I had to check. Sure enough, eggs aren’t spheres – never were, never will be. For those who are geometrically challenged like me, I can share that all the outside points of a sphere are the same distance from the center of the sphere, such as a ball. So, if I've got this right a school is sacrificing good geometry on the altar of bad political correctness.
Friends, do you think if that school’s administration is going to attack Easter because it announces the Savior’s resurrection, are they also ready to find a new name for the month of March, which is named after Mars, or January, which gets its name from the god Janus, or Thursday which is named after the god Thor.
Wow! I wonder where it will end – probably where such things always end ... with the people of the world trying to stuff Jesus back into His grave, rolling back the stone and setting a guard to make the tomb as secure as they can.
Be assured that it will not end there. It won’t end there. It can’t end there.
It will end where it ended that first Resurrection Sunday. It will end with the risen Christ brushing aside all attempts to keep Him buried. And that’s the truth. He is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Amen. (John 20:31).