I. Introduction
A. Fear of the Unknown
1. Anxiety
Anxiety, stress, fear, phobia, tension---technically these words have different meaning but they often are used interchangeably to describe one of this century's most common problems. Anxiety has been called "the official emotion of our age," the basis of all neuroses, and the "most pervasive psychological phenomenon of our time."
a. Bible - Fret and Worry
Anxiety as fret and worry comes when we turn from God, shift the burdens of life on to ourselves and assume, at least by our attitudes and actions, that we alone are responsible for handling problems. Instead of acknowledging God's sovereignty and power, or seeking his kingdom and righteousness first, many of us slip into sinful self-reliance and preoccupation with our own life pressures.
b. Theories about Anxiety
Later writers shifted away from the Freudian view of anxiety and saw anxiety as coming less from an internal instinctual struggle and more as the result of cultural pressures and threats from the world in which we live. Then came an emphasis on learning with the proposal that anxiety is a condition that we acquire through conditioning. More recent writers have focused on the biological basis of anxiety.
Sifting through these and other theories we might conclude that anxiety arise from threat, conflict, fear, unmet needs, physiology, and individual differences.
2. Mystery
Mystery. In a technological culture the emphasis is on mastery, not mystery; and what cannot be mastered may come to be seen as absurd or irritating. Nihilism dwells on senselessness. Positivism limits itself to what is tractable and graspable. Yet some major modern thinkers (Buber, Marcel, Kafka, Kierkegaard) hold that mystery is inherent in all deep human experiences and that it points to some transcendent power or quality. Unlike solvable puzzles or tractable problems, encounters with mystery reverse the normal subject-object relation: mystery grasps us rather than our grasping it.
B. Distressed because the Lord seems not to be presence
1. Spiritual Reaction
Anxiety can motivate us to seek the divine help that might be ignored otherwise.
But anxiety can also drive people away from God at time when he is most needed. Fraught with worry and distracted by pressures, even religious people find there is little time for prayer, decreased desire or ability to concentrate on Bible reading, reduced interest in church worship services, bitterness about heaven seeming silence in the face of crisis, and anger because God seems to let bad things happen to good people.
C. Mounting Anxiety
II. Body
A. Veerse 5-9
Doubt can overshadow what we already know
1. Doubting Thomas - Seening alone was'nt enough
John 20:25-28
John 20:25-29
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
(KJV)
2. Philip confidence/ in what he could see also cause anxiety because of what he didn.'t see
John 1:43-46
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
(KJV)
John 6:5-6
5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
(KJV)
John 12:21-22
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
(KJV)
3. Decision making
Doubting implies uncertainty and difficulty with decision making. Unbelief is a more definite and resolute state of mind, implying a fixed position that is considered normative. Many doubters conceal their uncertainty and indecision; many unbelievers proclaim their chosen stance. The opposite of doubt is certainty or confidence; the opposite of belief is unbelief or disbelief. Some theologians (e.g., Tillich) see doubting not as the opposite but as a dynamic ancillary to belief, leading to the synthesis of faith as an existential "affirmation in spite of.…"
B. Verse 10-11 - God is doing the work
1. John the Baptist
2. John 10:25; 32; 38
John 10:25
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
(KJV)
John 10:32
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
(KJV)
John 10:38
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
(KJV)
3. John 12:38-40
John 12:38-40
38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
(KJV)
III. Summarize Celebration
A. Something within to confront all our Doubts
B. Confident because of the Spirit Within
C. Verse 13-15
Confident because we know who to ask and what to ask for
