Bible Text:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped; but some doubted.”                                                                       (Matthew 28:16-17)

Is it OK to have doubts? What do you think? A few minutes ago you sang a prayer hymn. Listen to the words from verse 4 one more time. 

            Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,

            To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh.

            Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer. 

I wonder what the hymn writer was feeling here. Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever had “rising doubt?” Have you ever offered a “rebel’s sigh?” Have you ever experienced unanswered prayer? Is it OK to feel that way? Is it OK to have occasional doubts? 

What about another great hymn we sang recently? You know the hymn. Did you ever stop and listen to the words? 

            Just as I am, though tossed about

            With many a conflict, many a doubt,

            Fightings within and fears without,

            Just as I am, I come, I come. 

That hymn has been the altar call for Billy Graham crusades for several generations. 

But have you ever felt that way? Have you ever had inner conflicts? Have you ever known doubts? Have you experienced fightings within and fears without? Is it OK to have doubts? 

The hymn writers apparently think it is. What about scripture? You heard a couple of scripture readings this morning which suggested that doubt is not an appropriate way for a Christian to live. (See James 1:2-8, Matthew 14:25-33) What about this post-resurrection story in Matthew? Listen to what Matthew says in this particular passage: “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:16-17) Here are the eleven disciples from the inner circle. They had been with Jesus for at least 3 years. These are the ones whom Jesus had been training. Yet Matthew says after the resurrection, “Many believed but some doubted.” I find candor and complete honesty in this passage. 

I also happen to believe that this is somewhat the character of any Sunday morning congregation in this church. Many of you are inveterate, indefatigable believers. Nothing can shake your faith. You are absolutely convinced. Some of you, in fact, have “faith” as your #1 spiritual gift. I know of at least two members of the staff of the church who have that same gift. I celebrate that. I am thankful for that.

 But some of you have nagging doubts. You keep coming to worship, as you should. But you still have doubts. Perhaps you are what someone has called a “hopeful doubter.” 

Garrison Keillor has a singing group on his radio show, “Prairie Home Companion,” which he calls “The Hopeful Gospel Quartet.” He’s never quite explained what it means, but that’s the name of the group. 

I read about a priest who was preparing a man for his final journey in this life. The priest said to the man, “I want you to renounce the devil and let him know what you think of evil.” The man did not respond. Again the priest said to him, “I want you to renounce the devil and let him know what you think of evil.” Again the man did not respond. Finally the priest said, “Why do you refuse to renounce the devil and his evil?” The man finally said, “Until I know where I’m headed, I don’t think I ought to aggravate anyone.” 

Some doubt is a part of authentic living. There are at least two kinds of doubt. 

FUNDAMENTAL DOUBT

 First there is fundamental doubt. Fundamental doubt says, “There is no God. Life is simply a cosmic accident.” Many of us have known people who have this perspective on life. It is often brash and caustic. It can even be reduced to ridicule. It is not unlike King Herod’s words to Jesus in the rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar” where Herod says, “Prove to me that you’re no fool. Walk across my swimming pool.” 

Fundamental doubt is perhaps reflected somewhat in the “Death of God” movement 40 years ago in this country. 

A little girl was saying her prayers one night. Normally her prayers went something like this: “Dear God, please bless Mommy and Daddy, bless my brothers and sisters, and bless all my friends and relatives. Amen.” But on this particular night she added a phrase. She said, “Dear God, please bless Mommy and Daddy, bless my sisters and brothers, bless all my friends and relatives, and God, please take care of yourself, because if anything happens to you, we’re all sunk.” 

There is a fair amount of fundamental doubt in our world. In all honesty, I have known very little of this in my lifetime. Only perhaps in a few fleeting moments have I ever had substantive doubt. 

Yet I know that Christians have battled this notion throughout history. Believers have always confronted some form of atheism. I remember confronting some of this in college—both from the student body and from a few professors. Then, when I entered the seminary I learned of saints in the life of the church who wrote about “proofs” for the existence of God. Those proofs were very heady and mostly unsatisfying. 

You need to know that the Bible knows very little of fundamental doubt. Perhaps the one place that expresses it well is in Psalm 53:1—“Fools say in their hearts, ‘there is no God.’” 

The Bible knows expressions of anger at God. The Bible knows frustration with God or alienation from God. The Bible knows what it means to shake your fist at God. But there is no fundamental doubt. 

In many places the Bible is a witness to wrestling with belief. But the Bible always bears final witness to the reality of God.

It is my assumption that few if any of you are here today with fundamental doubt. 

ORDINARY DOUBT 

But there is also what I call “ordinary doubt,” or common doubt. Such doubt is far more prevalent, even if it’s not talked about much. This doubt means you simply have a lot of questions. Did Moses really part the waters of the Red Sea, as shown in the Cecil B. DeMille movie, “The Ten Commandments” of years ago? Did the sun and the moon really stand still, as recorded in the 10^th chapter of Joshua? Did Jesus really walk on water? Did Peter walk on water, even for just a moment? How was it that after the Resurrection Jesus both ate fish and bread with his disciples, and at the same time passed through walls and disappeared out of their sight? 

A lot of doubt was reflected in books that I read right out of seminary. Perhaps the most famous was Bishop John A. T. Robinson’s book, Honest to God. Another was a book by Bishop James Pike entitled A Time for Christian Candor. A host of books have followed since that time. They keep coming. There are books concerning doubts about some of the traditions of faith. 

Sometimes our doubts include persistent questions, like “Why does God allow suffering? Why would a good and gracious God allow a child to die? Why are there natural disasters that claim human life? What about unanswered prayer?” 

We have a seeker service here every Sunday night. A friend of mine prefers not to use the word “seekers.” He says the service is for “wanna believers.” Perhaps that’s a more honest expression. 

I heard a while back about a Protestant church not too far from here that only wants Level 3 Christians. You can’t be a casual or partial Christian to be a member of that church. You must be at Level 3. You must be a solid believer, without doubt or reservation. There is nothing really Biblical about that stance. 

It’s important to know that the people of the Bible shared our questions. Richard Foster writes, in commenting on the words of Jesus from the cross (“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”) with these words. 

Times of seeming desertion and absence and abandonment appear to be universal among those who have walked this path of faith before us. We might just as well get used to the idea that sooner or later, we, too, will know what it means to feel forsaken by God.

Eugene Peterson, who has written a very fine paraphrase of the Bible called “The Message,” writes these words. 

Any time we look into newspapers, or into our own hearts, and despair, we do well to remember that God’s people have faced similar prospects, similar reversals, similar headlines, similar assaults on faith, and have recovered from the doubt, been rescued from the pessimism and foreboding and gone on to live in praise of God.

Frederick Buechner writes a bit more irreverently, with this comment: 

If you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep faith awake and moving.

On a Galilean hillside, eleven disciples gathered with Jesus. Many believed he had risen from the dead, but some of them still had doubts. 

We slightly changed the response to the reading of the Scripture today. This text is a good illustration of the reason for the change. “Many believed, but some doubted”… then to say, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.” And you respond, “Thanks be to God.” 

Scripture does not say some people “left” or “deserted” the church or deserted Jesus. It only says they doubted. In other words, it is OK to have doubts and still be here in this church. It is OK to worship, to pray, and to read Scripture, and still have a few doubts. 

Leslie Weatherhead was a great British preacher in the early part of the 20^th century. After he retired he wrote a book that many of you have read, called The Christian Agnostic. That book is still popular almost 100 years later. The interesting thing is that Weatherhead told people that he wrote what he did in the book because he was afraid to say it while he was leading the church. 

I don’t preach doubt. Jesus is the absolute center of my life. Jesus is my “global positioning system” for the journey. But I accept you here if you happen to have a few doubts. And you need to know that occasionally I wrestle through a few of my own. 

There’s a wonderful story from a beach in Jacksonville, Florida. A man spent the day at the beach. The undertow that day was unusually strong. Several times lifeguards jumped down from their towers and rescued swimmers from the treacherous surf.  

At the end of the day the man went to one of the lifeguards to express his appreciation. He had seen the dedication of these men. He walked inside the little room under the lifeguard chair and his eye spotted a sign on the wall in large red letters. The sign read, simply, “If in doubt, go!” 

These are the words that should be written on the walls of every church. They are also words that should be written on the walls of your soul. If in doubt—when in doubt—even when plagued by doubt—go. This is the place where you can confront your doubts and find nourishment for your soul. If you wonder if you can still be a faithful believer, if you wonder if you can still be a disciple of Jesus and still have a few doubts, the answer is “yes.” 

I want you to know that if any of this describes you, and if you are willing to try to confront and work on your doubts here, you are welcome in this place. 

Amen.