James Meehan - Questioning Jesus? How to Handle Your Doubts
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Well, have you ever wondered if all of this Jesus stuff is actually true? Like, have you ever wondered if Jesus is really real, or if all the stuff that the Bible says that he said and did actually happened? Have you ever wondered things like that? If you have, if you don’t mind, I would love for you to have the courage to just shoot your hand up if you’ve ever had questions about, is Christianity true? Okay, now, if you don’t mind, keep it up and just look around you. I think it’s important for you to recognize that you are not alone. Then, at some point! All of us are gonna have questions. We’re going to wrestle with doubts, and it’s really important for me to tell you that those questions and doubts don’t make you bad Christians, they make you human. What matters is what you do with your questions and doubts.
That’s why today I wanna tell you about a guy named Theophilus. He’s a dude who had questions. He wanted to know, is the Jesus stuff these other people are telling me actually true? So Theophilus asked a guy named Luke, «Luke, can you help me figure out if this Jesus stuff is really true»? And Luke is one of those people who does not do the bare minimum. He goes above and beyond. And so, he goes on this journey to investigate: is Christianity real? And through this journey, he ends up writing a whole bunch of stuff down so that he can give it to Theophilus, that has actually made its way into our Bibles today.
That’s the book of «Luke,» written by Luke for Theophilus, to help him know and to believe that what we believe is not just some made-up fairy tale that sounds good. It’s something that actually took place in history. So what we’re gonna do is look at the opening lines of Luke’s gospel so that we, like Theophilus, can have our faith built by seeing that there are good reasons to believe that what Jesus said and did actually happened. We’re gonna look at «Luke,» starting in chapter one, we’re gonna read verses one through four. And what I’m gonna do is attempt to draw on this as we walk through it, to help you put your attention where I think it needs to be for us to really grasp the power of these words, all right? Couple things you need to know is that I’m a terrible artist. The lowest grade I ever got in school was in my ceramics class because I cannot actually get my hands to do what they’re supposed to do.
So please do not judge me. Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But James 3:1 says that those who are teachers are gonna be judged more harshly, so whatever. First word, many. Many, I dunno if you know this, but the word many means more than one, but not just a little bit more than one. Many means a lot more than one. According to Luke, many people have undertaken, they have gone on a journey, to draw up an account. A whole lot of people set out to write down the things that have been fulfilled among us.
So something happened that led a whole lot of people to go on a journey to write it down. Now, this is really important for us to recognize because we live in the age of the internet, where to type up a tweet or to record a TikTok takes almost zero energy. But in the ancient world, to actually get your hands on paper and ink was really difficult. It was very expensive. And to actually have enough of the stuff that you could write it all down and it would be preserved so you could pass it on to other people? Was not an easy thing to do! So the fact that a whole lot of people set out on a journey to write down the things that were fulfilled among them, right there, that is a big deal. Because if it wasn’t a big deal, there wouldn’t be a lot of people talking about it.
Now, the other word I wanna bring your attention to is this one, fulfilled. So that word fulfilled is really important in the Bible because all throughout the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures, there are these prophecies, these predictions of what the Messiah would be like, what the chosen one of God would do, the things he would say. And this word is telling us that whatever happened that these people went to write about involved prophecies, predictions being fulfilled. In verse two, he says, «Just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first», so from the beginning, «were eyewitnesses». That means there were eyewitnesses, people who saw it with their own eyes, who had been telling people about what happened. And what all these other many people were writing down was just as it was the same story that the original eyewitnesses were telling.
This is important because they’re all saying the same thing. They’ve got the same version of events. It’s not «he said this, she said that, here’s my opinion, and there’s their opinion». They’re all telling the same story because they’re all talking about stuff that really happened, that people actually saw. And the people who saw it were still around to tell others about it and confirm for anybody who had questions, «Was that the real story»? And they could say, «Yes». We continue on, and because of this, in verse three, with this in mind, Luke decided to carefully investigate. He’s kind of like the ancient version of, like, a true-crime podcaster or documentarian. He carefully investigated all of the details! And then he decided to write an orderly account for you, Mr. Theophilus, the guy who had questions.
Isn’t it cool that because of Theophilus' questions, we now have the gospel of Luke? Because some guy 2,000 years ago was willing to be honest about his questions and ask somebody for help, we now, 2,000 years later, have an entire account of Jesus' life, his ministry, his death, and his resurrection. And in verse four, Luke tells us that the purpose of everything was so that we could know the certainty of the things that we have been taught. The purpose of all of it was so that we could know and believe that this Jesus stuff is really real, that the stuff Jesus said and did actually happened. And what I wanna do today in this message is help you believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be. He’s the Son of God and Savior-King who died and rose again to rescue all of us who sin. And that’s how we’re gonna kick off this message.
We are starting a brand-new message series called «The Lion and the Lamb». And what we’re gonna do over the next several weeks is look at the life of Jesus in detail to see how wonderful, how powerful, how humble, and how gentle Jesus really was. So that as we get ready for Easter weekend, the greatest event in history, we can celebrate it with newfound confidence because we know what it is that we are celebrating. And so in today’s message, what I wanna do is help you build your faith by giving you two categories of evidence, two whole buckets of reasons to believe this stuff is true, that connect to the stuff we just read from «Luke».
So if you’re taking notes, the main idea of this message is this, that both prophecy and history point to the divine identity of Jesus. Both prophecy and history point to the divine identity of Jesus. What we’re gonna do is throw up a timeline for you on this back wall that’s gonna have on one side prophecy. And this is a handful of scriptures from the Old Testament that predicted what the Messiah would be like, the stuff he would do. On the other side, you’ve got history, the stuff that comes after Jesus' life that points back to the fact that Jesus was no ordinary person, that there was something really special about this guy. So if we look at these prophecies, we’ve got over here, Genesis 12:3.
If you decide to read that for yourself, you’ll read that it’s about a guy named Abraham who would have a whole bunch of descendants. And through his descendants, God would bless the whole world. Through the person of Jesus, the blessings that had been given to the nation of Israel were given to the rest of the world, to anybody who chooses to trust in Him. And in Psalm 22:18, this one’s super interesting because it talks about how when the Messiah would be killed, the people who are killing Him would literally cast lots, they would roll dice, to see who gets His clothes. And that’s exactly what happened at the crucifixion of Jesus.
Micah 5:2, we’re gonna skip Isaiah 53 'cause we’re gonna come back to that. Micah 5:2 tells us that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem, which just so happens to be Jesus' birthplace. And in Zechariah 9:9, says that the Messiah would arrive in the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, riding on the back of a donkey. And if you’ve ever read the «Kids Bible» storybook, then you have seen the story of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Now, Isaiah 53 is super interesting, and I wanna spend a little bit more time here because, in that one passage of scripture that we’re gonna look at, you will see a whole bunch of details that showed up, that happened in Jesus' final moments.
Isaiah 53 was written an estimated 750 years before Jesus walked the earth. And it starts with this line, that, «He,» this is talking about Jesus, «was despised and rejected by mankind». Jesus, when He was put on trial, was put before a whole bunch of people, and they were given the choice, do you set Jesus free, the guy who claims to be the Messiah, or do you set Barabbas free, the dude who was a rebel and a murderer? Jesus was rejected, he was sentenced to death, and Barabbas was set free. Jesus was despised, and He was held in low esteem, because, in that day, there was nothing more humiliating than death by crucifixion. That was a death sentence reserved for slaves, for murderers, and for people who revolted against the Roman Empire. It was the worst death imaginable, and that was the death given to Jesus.
«Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God». The people assumed that Jesus was cursed by God because only somebody cursed by God would be sentenced to death the way Jesus was. If we keep reading, there’s this interesting line that says, that «He was pierced for our transgressions». When Jesus was nailed to the cross, his hands and his feet were pierced by nails, and Jesus' side was pierced by a spear. It says, «The punishment that brought us peace was on him,» that it was «through his wounds that we are healed». As Christians, we believe that it was through the sacrifice of Jesus that forgiveness was made available to anybody who puts their trust in Him.
Go a little further in Isaiah 53, and I love this one, it says, «He was assigned a grave with the wicked». Anyone killed by crucifixion got thrown into a pit with all the other losers who died that by crucifixion «But he was with the rich in his death». If you read the gospels, you find out Jesus wasn’t thrown into a pit, He was buried in the tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. He was supposed to go in the pit, but instead, He was buried in the tomb of a rich man. Last one we’re gonna look at, it says, «After he has suffered, he will see the light of life». After Jesus was killed, on the third day, Easter Sunday, light broke into the tomb where there was only supposed to be darkness. And Jesus walked out of His own grave, leaving death behind Him. After He suffered, Jesus saw the light of life, and He’s made that light available to everyone who calls on His name.
Both history and prophecy point to the divine identity of Jesus. And by the grace of God, we don’t just have prophecy, we also have history. So if you look at this timeline, AD 30 to 33, that is the estimated time when Jesus rose from the grave. And what is fascinating is if Jesus didn’t actually come back, all anybody would’ve needed to do to disprove Christianity was show His dead body. But there was nobody to show, Christianity continued to spread.
Now, people tried to shut it down, so that AD 40 to 80 range that shows the time when it’s estimated that of Jesus' 11 disciples, 10 of them were put to death for their faith in Him. Ten of the guys who were there, who saw it all firsthand, who were telling people about it, found themselves in a situation where they were given the choice, either tell everybody it’s made up or die. And they chose death, why? Because they believed, willing to put their life on the line, that what they were saying about Jesus was true.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not even willing to get in trouble for a lie, let alone die for something that I know is not true. Fast forward a little bit to AD 380. That’s the year that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the same empire that sentenced Jesus to death and called for the execution of most of His original disciples. Fast forward even further to AD 1540 to 1690. This one’s super interesting. This is when the scientific revolution took place. And you may not know this, but all of the pioneers of modern science were devout Christians. They all believed deep in their bones that science was an act of worship because they believed that God create a universe that made sense, that you could observe it, you could experiment on it, and you could see the results. And they believed deep in their bones that to do the work of science, to discover truths about the natural world, would help them have a greater understanding of their supernatural God.
You may not know this, but science and Scripture are not enemies. They work together to help us see the goodness of God and the beauty of His creation. And then that last date, AD 2014, a little over 10 years ago, that was the year that Jesus changed my life. Before that moment, I was a scumbag, a scoundrel, and a sinner. I was incredibly selfish. Most of my friendships were built around what I could get from them. Most of my romantic relationships were all about what I wanted or what I thought was good. The way that I treated my family was embarrassing to think about now. But God, on February 1st, 2014, in a Life.Church service very similar to this, I sat in a chair and I heard the good news of Jesus presented.
And I realized that I was a sinner and I needed someone to save me because I could not do it on my own. And now, almost 11 years later, I can tell you that I am different because of the grace of Jesus, because of the power of the Holy Spirit. I can tell you that now I’m a husband to an absolutely incredible wife. I’m a father to two fantastic kids. I’m a pastor at a church that I love. I get to stand on a stage and present the good news of Jesus to people weekend and week out, and tell them about how Jesus changed me! I believe in Jesus because prophecy and history point to His divine identity. I believe in Jesus because not only did He change history, but He changed my story. And so from now on until eternity, I’m going to serve Him as best as I can. I’m gonna do the best that I can to know Him better, to love Him more fully, and to do what it is that He has asked me to do.
And for those of you who are here who have questions, you are in the right place because this is a place that you can bring your questions to God, that you can talk about your doubts with people who aren’t gonna judge you for it. And no matter where you find yourself with us, you can follow Jesus. And we’re gonna be cheering you on every single step of the way. So if you are a Christian, this is your assignment. I want you to be like Luke. That means you do the work of investigating Jesus so that you can know what you believe, you can know why you believe it, and so that you will be ready to share it when somebody else has questions. 1 Peter 3 tells us this, that we should «Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have».
And so what we’re gonna do in our small groups in just a little bit is we’re gonna do a little exercise to actually begin writing out our testimony, how it is that Jesus has changed our lives, and we’re gonna use the framework, I was… But God… And now… And then what I really want you to do is to begin praying today, who it is that God might ask you to share your testimony with before Easter weekend? The greatest event in history. Who it is that God wants you to bring with you to switch into church so that they can also hear the good news of Jesus and be transformed in the process?
If you’re not a Christian, your assignment is to be like Theophilus. That means ask questions. That means seriously look for answers. And like, don’t even give me the «I don’t have time,» because I know how much time some of you are spending creeping on your crush. Take a fraction of that and devote it to reading the Gospel of Luke, one chapter a day, it’ll take you about five minutes. Investigate Jesus. Why do we do this? Because we believe that all of this Jesus stuff is really real, that it actually happened. And because of that, everything is different.
There is a God who loves you, who created you with and for a purpose. But as human beings, we have all sinned. We’ve fallen short of His standard. That means our relationship with Him has been broken. But by the stripes and the sacrifice of Jesus, we can be healed. This is why all of this stuff matters. Now, one last bit of evidence that I wanna share with you. This was a prophecy made by Jesus that history has proven to be true.
In Matthew 16, Jesus said these words, «I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it». For 2,000 years, people, groups, nations have tried to stamp out the Jesus movement. And for 2,000 years, followers of Jesus have advanced and pushed back darkness. That is why this year, on Easter weekend 2025, there will be an estimated 2.6 billion Christians around the world celebrating that Jesus did not stay dead, that He conquered death, sin, and the grave when He rose on that first Easter Sunday! This is why we believe, not because it feels good, not because it’s simply the way that we were raised, but because it is true. History and prophecy point to the divine identity of Jesus. And Jesus is inviting you to experience the goodness of God through a relationship with Him.
So, Lord Jesus, we come before you right now, so grateful for all that you have done and all that you will do in our lives. I pray that we would take you seriously, that if we have questions, that we would bring those to you honestly, that we would ask other people to help us in our searching. And that no matter what questions and doubts we might be struggling with, that you would encourage us to keep moving forward, trusting and believing that you are with us every step of the way. We pray all this in your name, amen and amen.