Introduction:
The question often arises
in my own mind and heart.
What kind of Christian are
you?
An old writer, speaking of
people as stewards of God, urges upon them as wise traders
and servants to look to themselves carefully, and take care
of four houses that are under their charge.
1. The warehouse--or heart
and memory--where they should store up precious things,
holy affections, grateful remembrances, celestial preparations,
etc. Without a good stock in the warehouse there can be
no good trade.
2. The workhouse--or actions--where
they retail to others for God's glory the grace entrusted
to them, teaching the ignorant, comforting the poor, visiting
the sick, etc. We must be active or we cannot be acceptable
servants.
3. The clock-house--meaning
speech--which must always, like a well-timed bell, speak
the truth accurately; also meaning observance of time, redeeming
it by promptly doing the duties of every hour. We must use
time well, or our spiritual gains will be small.
4. The counting house--or
the conscience--is to be scrupulously watched, and no false
reckoning allowed, lest we deceive our own souls. The Master
will call for our accounts; let us keep them honestly.
C. H. Spurgeon.
I want if I may to share
with you some thoughts on four lesser-known characters in
the New Testament.
Didymus the Doubter! Demas
the Deserter!
Diotrephes the Dictator!
Demetrius the Dependable!
This study looks into the
kind of Christian Thomas was! We will call him—
Didymus the Doubter!
By the way, the name Didymus
is Aramaic for twin. Didymus the double was well named for
his doubts were double those of any others. And to be truthful,
how many of us could identify with Thomas in this area of
life.
There is more faith in honest
doubt; Believe me, than in half the creeds;
So penned a poet (witless
lout) to praise the doubters doubtful deeds.
But let me whisper in your
ear, there’s no such thing as honest doubt:
For doubt will doubtless
disappear if it is honest out and out.
Can’t we all identify
with doubt?
Doubt takes from us peace
and tranquillity:
Doubt plunges us into the
dungeon of despair:
Doubt places us into the
castle of depression:
Doubt binds us and renders
us faithless:
And yet how real it is. How
often it steals in upon us and causes us sleepless nights
and agonising days.
Thomas or Didymus has his
name recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and The Book of the
Acts, but it really is simply a recording of his name only.
If we want to know more of
the little record there is of Thomas, it’s John we
need to look to.
In John’s brief account
of Didymus the Doubter we can learn a number of things that
may interest us.
The Cause Of His Doubt! John
14 v 1-6.
A Lack Of Faith! John 14 v 5-6.
My favourite way of illustrating [trust] is to recount what
I'm told is a true story. I don't know that it is, but I've
read in several places that it is.
A famous tightrope walker
once strung a cable across Niagara Falls from the American
side all the way to the Canadian side. To the applause of
thousands of people, he would walk across that tightrope
right on the very edge of the falls, the rushing, cascading
waters thundering underneath him. He would walk back and
forth, people applauding wildly. Then to further wow the
crowds, he would put a blindfold on and go back and forth.
Then he would ride a bicycle back and forth, and then he
would push a wheelbarrow back and forth. Every day, people
came out to watch him. He quite simply was the greatest.
As the story goes, one day
while pushing the wheelbarrow back and forth, he called
out to the crowd on one end, inquiring whether or not they
thought he could successfully push the wheelbarrow across
with a human being riding in the wheelbarrow. The crowd
went berserk: "Surely you can. You're remarkable. We've
watched you for days. We understand and appreciate your
skills. We believe in your abilities. You are the greatest."
On and on they went, to which he responded, "Then someone
volunteer. You come right up here, single file, form a line,
and get in the wheelbarrow to prove your trust in my ability."
A deafening silence overtook the crowd. There were no takers.
Christianity today Magazine!
I have heard people say,
well if we had better preachers today it would strengthen
our faith, yet is it not amazing, Thomas had for three years
listened to the best preacher this world had ever heard,
the Lord Jesus Christ, yet doubt still haunts him and lingers
in the depths of his heart.
For all that time period
he had been taught, loved, cared for, had things explained
to him by the dear Saviour but still doubts lingered.
Jesus taught about life and
how to live it, Jesus taught about people and how to love
them, Jesus taught about death and how to die, Jesus taught
about resurrection and how to believe it. And that is only
the tip of the iceberg of Jesus teachings. Added to that,
the disciples could testify to the fact of seeing Jesus
perform, do many wonderful works in the name of God the
Father.
He taught them about building
His Church; He taught them to understand that they would
be the foundation or building blocks of His church. In three
and one half years they had heard more and been taught more
than anyone did, ever.
Yet when the disciples tell
Thomas of seeing Jesus after His resurrection he just won’t
believe them. He cannot take it in, he simply will not believe
it, and without doubt there was a singular lack of faith.
It is always weakness to
be fretting and worrying, questioning and mistrusting. What
can we do if we wear ourselves to skin and bone? Can we
gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not unfit ourselves
for action, and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We
are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.
... Oh for grace to be confident in God. C.H. Spurgeon.
The cause of Thomas’s
doubt was lack of faith! I believe it may well be the very
thing that causes our doubt, leading to a do nothing lifestyle.
I mean, how many people simply because of doubt and fear
just do nothing.
Dr. Vance Havner. Negative,
uncertain, doubtful living poisons body, mind, and spirit;
fills insane asylums, penitentiaries, graves, hell itself.
A Liberal Idea! John 14 v
5-6.
The Bible says Philippians 2 v 5.
"Let this mind be in
you, which is also in Christ Jesus"
But Thomas says I have a
mind of my own. He had already decided what kind of Messiah,
what kind of man Jesus was to be. Isaiah 53 had already
revealed this Jesus was indeed to be the suffering Son of
Man and the reason for it. Jesus Himself had made clear
that He would suffer and die and go back to the Father in
Heaven.
"Thomas said unto Him,
Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know
the way?"
Now, Thomas deserves some
credit here, for he was not a man to pretend a faith he
did not have. And we should thank Thomas for such a stirring
question. You see if Thomas had been in harmony with the
Lord Jesus Christ he would have picked up on the statement
Jesus had been making and things would have been at least,
clearer to him.
But Thomas has his mind set
already; he has his own idea. Like Namman of old, he thought
the prophet would do what his mind had conceived but no,
the prophet does exactly what God’s mind had conceived.
That’s what Jesus is doing, what God’s mind has
conceived. See the need beloved for having the mind of Christ,
it really will make life a lot more understandable.
I say it again; even the
greatest preacher did not have the impact on Thomas he should
have. Why? A deep lack of faith and a mind, or idea all
of his own.
Thomas had his mind closed
to what the most wonderful preacher this world had ever
heard was saying. It was not getting through; it did not
sink in.
Hebrews 4:2
"For unto us was the
gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them
that heard it."
C. A Love Of Logic! John
20 v 25.
"The other disciples,
therefore, said unto him, we have seen the Lord. But he
said unto them, except I shall see in His hands the print
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails,
and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe."
Believe what you do believe
and stick to it, but don't profess to believe more than
you intend to stick to. If you say you believe God is love,
stick to it though all providence becomes a pandemonium
shouting that God is cruel to allow what he does. Oswald
Chambers.
The world’s attitude
is, seeing is believing, but Jesus said to Thomas.
John 14 v 29.
"Jesus said unto him,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
Jesus turns the logic of
this world upside down!
Those today who crave miracles
and signs are out of line with the Lord’s method in
this age of people’s faith being based solely on God’s
Word. As Paul put it, "Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God" Romans 10 v 17.
Those who insist on signs,
wonders, and miracles can have them—at a price. Satan
is only too willing to oblige. After the church age when
God once more takes up direct dealings with the nation of
Israel, signs and miracles will resume. Pentecost was only
a partial fulfilment of Joel 2 v 28-31. In the book of the
Revelation we see God’s "two witnesses,"
performing miracle after miracle Rev. 11 v 3-6. They of
course will be opposed by counterfeit, satanic miracles.
The church age however is one of faith, not sight. Hence
the Lord’s special beatitude to us. Do not depend on
feelings! Deepen faith!
"There is a touching
fact related in a history of a Highland chief, of the noble
house of McGregor, who fell wounded by two bullets at the
battle of Prestonpans. Seeing their chief fall, the clan
wavered and gave the enemy an advantage. The old chieftain,
beholding the effect of his disaster, raised himself up
on his elbow, while the blood gushed in streams from his
wounds, and cried out loud, 'I am not dead, my children.
I am watching to see you do your duty.' These words revived
the sinking courage of his brave Highlanders. There was
a charm in the fact that they still fought under the eye
of their chief. It encouraged them to put forth they’re
mightiest energies, and they did all that human strength
could do to turn and stem the dreadful tide of battle.
"And isn't it impressive
to believers that they contend in the battlefield of life
under the eye of the Saviour? Wherever they are, however
they are oppressed by foes, however exhausted by the stern
strife with evil, the eye of Christ is fixed most lovingly
upon them. Nor is Jesus the only observer of their conduct.
They are also 'a spectacle unto angels.' They are 'surrounded
by a cloud of witnesses.' Human and angelic minds are the
spectators of deeds. Thus is the theatre of life made sublime.
Believers contend for salvation under circumstances sufficiently
grand, and with results before them sufficiently awful to
arouse their most latent powers, and to stimulate them to
strive bravely, vigorously, and perseveringly even unto
victory."
D. Wise. (Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon.)
