Christians shouldn’t doubt. Right? Actually, doubting is one of the most Christian things we can do. John the Baptist doubted, and Jesus defended him. Jesus defends you too.

Sermon outline:
1. Jesus says doubt is understandable
2. Jesus dignifies the doubter
3. Jesus defends the doubter
4. Jesus (gently) admonishes the doubter

Quotes:
In science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.
-C.S. Lewis – Miracles

The coming of Jesus into the world is the most stupendous event in human history.
-Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus – The Man Who Lives

God is an intruder. He encroaches, presumes, invades, and infringes. He crashes the party. Tears aside curtains. Throws open locked doors. Hits the light switch in a dark room. God pulls the fire alarm in stuffy, sacrosanct hallways… God is a glorious intruder in my life, my thoughts, my pain, sorrow, and brokenness.
-Joni Erickson Tada, Glorious Intruder

I don’t’ understand many things about the incarnation, things that may be impossible for human beings to ever fully understand. But here’s something I know: Through the incarnation, Jesus entered into human suffering – both in the ultimate sense that He took our sin and God’s judgment on Himself and in the day-to-day sense that He made His dwelling in a human body with all its vulnerability to pain and brokenness. He wept. He sweated and prayed. He was beaten. He touched suffering people and power went out from Him to heal them. He did all this to satisfy God’s justice – and to live out God’s love.
-John M. Perkins, Dream With Me

Advent is designed to show that the meaning of Christmas is diminished to the vanishing point if we are not willing to take a fearless inventory of the darkness.
-Fleming Rutledge, Advent

Scripture Texts: Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

Luke 7:18-28
18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,
“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

“Doubt in the Dark Prison Cell” preached by Rev. Dr. Timothy R. LeCroy. Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 10:00AM. New Life Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY. Come see the beautiful Finger Lakes region, and worship God with us. www.newlifeithaca.org.

Sermon music is from “We Will Feast in the House of Zion” provided by Sandra McCracken and with her permission. www.sandramccracken.com.