Tag: Faith

The Book of Matthew

How do you respond when your faith is questioned?

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Floyd Rogers – Texas Gospel Volunteer, Christian writer

Matthew 11:1-6 NASB: When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now while in prison, John heard about the works of Christ, and he sent word by his disciples, 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for someone else?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 those who are blind receive sight and those who limp walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is any person who does not take offense at Me.”  

Matthew 11:1-6 comes immediately after Jesus gave his apostles instructions as they headed out to preach to the lost sheep of the tribe of Israel.  In these verses, John is in prison and sends messengers to Jesus to ask if Jesus is the one, or if it is someone else. John is the one who baptized Jesus, but now that he is in prison for preaching the Gospel he asks if Jesus is the one!

We shouldn’t be surprised that John is in prison for preaching the Gospel. These verses follow Jesus telling his apostles they will be persecuted for delivering his message. An important lesson here is that hard times can make one question if his or her understanding of God’s word is correct. And even an Apostle of Jesus can lose faith.

Matthew told us in earlier verses  that Jesus’ disciples were in a boat with Jesus as a storm hit. Even though Jesus was in the boat with them, they lost faith until Jesus calmed the sea. Now we hear of John asking questions while he is in prison. Some say John lost faith and one could infer this from what Matthew wrote, and it would not be the first time an Apostle lost faith. But I think it’s more likely he’s questioning whether Jesus will be a military-political leader or if someone else is coming to rule on earth.  Could he be questioning his understanding of Messiah? I ask this because Matthew’s theme seems to be to convince Jewish people that Messiah will rule the Kingdom of Heaven.  He uses this phrase 32 times when other Gospel writers exclusively use the phrase Kingdom of God. I think he uses Kingdom of Heaven to drive home his point. 

My point in all this is it’s OK to ask God for faith when we have questions. It’s OK to ask God if we have it wrong. There’s no sense in being dishonest with God because he knows your thoughts whether you express them or not. The apostles in a boat, and John in prison began to have doubts.  But in both cases, they reached out to Jesus for answers rather than let any doubts they have fester. They were short sighted.  Jesus saw the whole picture which ended with his resurrection and salvation for anyone who accepts his call.

Shouldn’t our first response when doubt starts to creep in be to ask Jesus to strengthen our faith and to open our eyes to his will?

What are your thoughts?

Also on the web:

Why do the Gospels tell us about Jesus calming the sea and waters?

Published on by Texas GospelLeave a comment

Floyd Rogers

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell an account of Jesus and his disciples in a boat when the wind and waves grew to a dangerous state. It must be an important account because all four Gospels record it.  Was it just to show us what Jesus could do? He demonstrated his power by calming the water.  But is there more to the story than this?

Matthew 8:23-27 New American Standard Bible

23 When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, a violent storm developed on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” 26 He *said to them, â€śWhy are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. 27 The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Some have suggested that this scripture assures us that Jesus is always with us. But I think there’s a bit more to it than this.  Consider the apostles in the boat with Jesus were doing his work.  They were in God’s will.  But even though Jesus was in the boat with them, and they were on a mission for him, they doubted.  This is a very important distinction.  They were doing God’s work when they became afraid.

Scriptures that tell us we can do all things through God’s strength are popular, but I think they are often quoted without context, and there are a lot of scriptures that give us this context. James 4:3 tells us, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” (NASB) God will strengthen, and give us what we need, when we are doing His will.

Our faith needs to be guided by God’s will, not ours.

What are your thoughts?