Image: “My Lord and my God!” 

Jesus and Thomas

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:28 ESV

The moment he personally encountered the risen Christ, he fell to his knees in belief. Not only that, his description of Jesus as “my Lord and my God” becomes the highest Christological confession in the Gospel of John! His tipping point from doubt to faith is in many ways the pivotal moment the book has been building toward from the onset. Pastor Philip

WELCOME

Sunday, August 1, 2021

The Book Of John 

Series: LOVED BY JESUS

Message: The Lord

Scripture: John 20:19-31 ESV

Pastor Philip Miller

Scripture Reading Colossians 3:1-4 ESV

Colossians 3 ESV and Audio

Put On the New Self

3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Message: The Lord

Scripture: John 20:19-31 ESV

Pastor Philip Miller

Scripture: John 20:19-31 ESV

John 20 ESV and Audio

SERMON NOTES

Sunday, August 1, 2021

The Book Of John

Series: LOVED BY JESUS

Message: The Lord

Scripture: John 20:19-31 ESV

Pastor Philip Miller

The Lord: Will you allow Jesus to break your categories?

Breakthrough is the moment when everything changes. The old categories are shattered, and a whole new paradigm is born.

And the greatest breakthrough in all of history is when Jesus rose from the dead. It shatters the old categories and gives birth to a whole new paradigm.

In this passage form John 20:19-31, we explore a 4-dimensional breakthrough from Jesus’ resurrection. 

1) Breakthrough Resurrection: Jesus’ resurrected body broke through all the disciples’ categories. Neither Greco-Roman nor Jewish thought had categories for the kind of resurrection we see here in Jesus. This is important for two reasons. First, it explains their incredulity—the disciples were totally unprepared for this, and it took them a while to adjust. Second, it explains why they couldn’t have made up this story, because they didn’t have a frame of reference for this type of event. Will you allow Jesus to break your categories? We all have our categories for how a god ought to be, and we’ll believe when he fits our preconceived ideas. Of course, then we usually end up with a god who looks strikingly like ourselves and affirms the life we are already living.  But Jesus breaks through our reductionistic categories. In fact, breaking our categories is the only what you know we’re encountering the real, living God, and not just some figment of our imaginations. 

2) Breakthrough Blessings: Because the resurrected Jesus is alive forevermore, His blessings in this passage are breakthrough blessings greater and more powerful than any He had previously given. There are four blessings: peace, sending, spirit, and authority. The point of all these breakthrough blessings is that Jesus’ mission will go on through his disciples by the Holy Spirit. This mission continues today in all those who believe. We are Jesus’ ambassadors, emissaries, and representatives. Will you join Jesus on mission in the world?

3) Breakthrough Confession: Thomas did not at first believe in the resurrection. In fact, his initial reticence earned him the name Doubting Thomas. But when Jesus shows up in the flesh, Doubting Thomas becomes Believing Thomas when he confesses “My Lord and my God!”  This confession is like a theological earthquake; it’s the highest Christological confession in the Gospel of John. And it wasn’t just an academic confession, it was deeply personal. Jesus is risen as the Divine Lord of all. Doubting is not the opposite of faith, because doubting may actually be where faith begins. Will you invite Jesus into your doubts? Have you ever prayed your doubts and asked God to help? 

4) Breakthrough Opportunity: Jesus blesses those who will come to believe, but who unlike Thomas, will not have the benefit of seeing the resurrected Jesus first-hand. Jesus offers life in Himself to all who will believe.  Will you dare to believe in Jesus?

PASTOR TO PEOPLE

Sometimes I think Thomas gets a bad rap.

Growing up in church, whenever I heard Thomas mentioned, he was labeled “Doubting Thomas.” It’s true that Thomas had doubts. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead. But who can blame him, really? It was the first and only time a resurrection had taken place in the history of the universe. We can understand his reticence.

But the label “Doubting Thomas” is unfortunate. The truth is, he became “Believing Thomas.” The moment he personally encountered the risen Christ, he fell to his knees in belief. Not only that, his description of Jesus as “my Lord and my God” becomes the highest Christological confession in the Gospel of John! His tipping point from doubt to faith is in many ways the pivotal moment the book has been building toward from the onset.

So I like to remember Thomas as “Believing Thomas.” Because it is not where we start, but where we finish that counts. Every one of us could be labeled with all kinds of negative adjectives of who we were before we encountered the risen Christ. But that was before he came to us and changed everything. Now in Christ, we are new creations. The old is gone, the new has come. Who we are now in Christ is what defines us forever.

So let’s give Thomas some grace. We all need it, after all.

You are loved, more than you know!

Pastor Philip

> Sunday, August 8, 2021 ~ The Book Of John ~ Series: LOVED BY JESUS ~ Message: The Redeemer ~ Scripture: John 21:1-25 ESV ~ Pastor Philip Miller