Worship Preparation Guide for Sunday, May 3

In John chapter twenty we find four different scenes that record for us four different responses, four different examples of faith and how these four different encounters with the risen Christ changed these first disciples. Peter and John race to the tomb on resurrection morning and see the same evidence; John chooses to believe even though he still doesn’t fully understand.  Mary Magdalene met Jesus and her eyes were opened and her heart healed by the sound of His voice.  Last week we saw the risen Christ come to the frightened disciples huddled behind locked doors bringing to them peace, purpose and the promise of power. 

In this week’s passage we see Jesus come to Thomas.  Jesus appeared to the other disciples with convincing proof He was raised from the dead and very much alive.  Scripture does not tell us why Thomas was not there.  But because of his absence Thomas spent another week in fear, doubt and skepticism.

He has been called ‘Doubting Thomas’, but Thomas seems to be not so much a doubter as a pessimist.  John MacArthur writes in his book Twelve Ordinary Men:  “Thomas was a somewhat a negative person; he was a worry wart, a brooder, tended to be anxious and angst ridden.  He was like Eyore in Winnie the Pooh.  He anticipated the worst all the time; pessimism, rather than doubt, seems to have been his besetting sin.”

When the risen Christ comes to Thomas he comes in convincing fashion.  Since John does not tell us that Thomas actually felt the wounds of our Lord, it may well be that after seeing Jesus alive he no longer required this proof. It may have taken this sight to convince Thomas, but once convinced, Thomas got it right.  Thomas does not merely profess a belief that Jesus has risen from the dead. Thomas professes to believe in what the resurrection proved—that Jesus was God, and that He was Lord (verse 28).

We don’t know why Thomas was not with the other disciples that first Resurrection Sunday.  Yet we should be thankful Thomas was not there, because “in the providence of God his absence and subsequent coming to faith have generated one of the great Christological confessions in the New Testament.” (DA Carson) 

“My Lord and my God!”  Scripture is clear on this point: worship such as this is reserved for God alone.  Thomas did not call Jesus "Teacher," "Master," or even "Messiah."   The word translated as "Lord" here is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for God's high name, Yahweh. Thomas confessed that Jesus was Yahweh, His God, standing before him in the flesh.   Acts 14:15;  Rev 19: 9-10

“My Lord and my God!”   Jesus is clear on this point:  He accepts the worship of Thomas  - and all who offer the same confession.  When Paul and Barnabas healed a crippled man in the city of Lystra, those who saw the miracle began to hail them as Zeus and Hermes, and made preparations to sacrifice to them.  But Paul sternly rebuked them and said: "Men, why are you doing these things?  We also are men with the same nature as you" (Acts 14:15).  They stopped the people's attempt to worship them.  When angels appear in Scripture those who see them are often so awed that they fall down and worship.  In all such cases, the angels rebuke the people for committing an act of idolatry in worshiping anyone or anything other than God. 

“My Lord and my God!”  John is clear on this point:  

The Word made flesh is the Risen Christ, Lord and God.  “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:14) Thomas saw the glory of Christ, a glory that is full of grace and full of truth. Whatever doubts, whatever concerns, whatever frustrations, whatever anger, whatever unbelief, whatever it was that was on Thomas’ mind for those eight days; it's all gone now.  Because all that he can see now is the glory of Jesus Christ! 

The confession of Thomas is the confession we will make this Sunday as we gather to worship.  You and I should be thankful for the blessing Jesus promises people like us, people who, unlike Thomas, cannot see or touch Jesus’s physical body, but nonetheless believe in Jesus.  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” (Jn 20:29)  

This Sunday we will make our won confession of faith in Jesus as Lord and God through the Scriptures we read, the prayers we pray, the sermon we receive and the songs we sing.  One of those songs will be ‪This I Believe (The Creed)     The lyrics are a strong scriptural declaration of belief.  Prayerfully consider them as you prepare for worship.

Our Father everlasting, 

The all creating One, 

God Almighty;

Through Your Holy Spirit, 

Conceiving Christ the Son, 

Jesus our Savior.

I believe in God our Father; I believe in Christ the Son; 

I believe in the Holy Spirit; Our God is three in One

I believe in the resurrection, 

That we will rise again, 

For I believe in the Name of Jesus.

Our judge and our defender, 

Suffered and crucified, 

Forgiveness is in You;

Descended into darkness, 

You rose in glorious life, 

Forever seated high.

I believe in You, I believe You rose again, 

I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I believe in life eternal, 

I believe in the virgin birth, 

I believe in the saints' communion, 

And in Your holy Church.