No room for doubt

Read Matthew 21:18-22

Stop the bleeding, restore the breathing, treat the wound, and treat for shock.  Are those the four life saving steps?  They used to be.  I think somewhere along the way one and two got switched, without my permission I might add.  Our circulatory and respiratory systems are the same.  Take care of those first, then treatment, and then deal with shock.  If I have to give you first aid, that’s the order I’m doing it.

Assault through.  Is that still the immediate action drill for walking into a near ambush?  If you stop to think or plan or do anything but assault through it’s game over. 

Stop, drop, and roll.  Is that what you do if you find yourself ablaze?

Aren’t those the standard actions that at some point many of us had drilled into our heads?

There are other things that seem to come automatically too.  Yes officer, I saw the speed limit sign.  I just didn’t see you.

There are some things that just come more naturally than others.  There are some things that come more naturally than they used to.  Let’s try one.

God loves you…

I am crucified with Christ…

God is Good all the time.  All the time…

We memorize scripture.  We have a good list going of those we memorized together. 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord.

We just memorized that one this morning.  We call these warm-ups and will have this worship service that we are calling Memory Verse Wednesday and many other things that are essentially indoctrination, with a slight qualification.

Indoctrination is the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.  That seems like a double-edged sword.  Shouldn’t we accept things only after critical examination?

The answer is, yes, to a point.

Once we believe that there is a God and he is good and that he loves us very much and that he made a way for us to be right with him, then we accept his word and his will much more willingly.

We become a teachable spirit.  We are receptive to God’s teaching and his Spirit that lives within us.  We are unshakeable in many things.  That may start out as a small list, but it should grow as we mature.

God is good.

God is the one and only Creator.

God loves us.

God loves us so much that he sent his one and only Son to die for us as an atoning sacrifice.

That’s a good starting point, but as we grow, so should our list.

God has good plans for us.

You will have trouble in the world, but take courage, Jesus has overcome the world.

God loves us with an everlasting love.

We should be joyful when we face trials of all kinds.

That should help us get through some tough days, but a little more of these rock-solid beliefs would help us more.

The word of God is living and active.  It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The Lord is my shepherd.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive.

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

These are helpful.  There are many more, but what exactly is it that I am looking to confront.  Satan?  Demons?   It could be.  Jesus endured temptation and used the word of God in his defense.

 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

But more often than we will be face to face with evil, we will wrestle with doubt.  When we deal with evil, we know that we are to call on the name of Jesus.  Doubt is perhaps tougher.  It already exists within us. 

It talks to us in our own voice.  It’s always available to offer its perspective and it knows how to make sense to our human nature.  Our doubt understands us.  We have to be ready.

We have been talking about faith for almost 3 months.  If we had faith as small as a mustard seed we could do incredible things, but doubt rears its ugly head again and again.  We all have to contend with doubt, but we don’t have to be content with doubt being part of our lives.

Doubt doesn’t give up but we don’t have to give in to it.

Doubt will always be there but it doesn’t have to be here, in our hearts and minds.

When the Spirit leads me to go talk to some people but doubt starts telling me that this might not be the best time, I remind myself that God is good.  God has good plans for me.  God loves me and he has sent me into this world to love others.  Those things that we remind ourselves and each other of time and time again become our self-talk.

God loves you…

I am crucified with Christ…

God is Good all the time.  All the time…

These things and more must take up so much of our mind that there is no room for doubt.

Paul counsels us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.  I am not going to argue with the doubt that somehow got in my head.  It either gets in line with the mind of Christ or it gets kicked to the curb.

At some point we embrace this indoctrination.  Remember the definition of indoctrination. 

Indoctrination is the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically. 

Most of us only accept things after critical examination, but at some point, we will just say, God said it, I believe it, that’s how I am going to live.  At some point in our growth we will stop wrestling with whether or not God got this one right and just accept that he got all of them right.

How do we do this?  We must have God’s word dwelling richly within us, and for that to happen we must be constantly in God’s word.  These short mantras that we say to reinforce the biblical witness that we know, the scriptures that we read and reread and sometimes memorize, and the faith that is put into practice are our best weapons against doubt.

If your life has balance between faith and doubt, then your life is out of balance for faith must overwhelm doubt.  OK, but how?

That brings us back to the near ambush.  If you find yourself in the kill zone of a near ambush, you assault through.  That means that you go directly into the gunfire without hesitation.  Any hesitation, and time used to plan, and any second thoughts decrease the chances of survival second by second.

It is not instinctual to run towards the people shooting at you.  This must be learned.  It requires training.  It requires indoctrination.  In practical terms, the young sergeant requires his Marines to run this immediate action drill a hundred times or more until they are assaulting through the near ambush in their sleep.  It’s part of their new nature.

Fifteen years ago, I came up with a lesson for overcoming profanity.  I was a counselor in a prison and profanity was a big problem.  Some of my inmate clients wanted to change this, but how?

First was to realize that the core definition of profanity and vulgar language involved the words characterized by ignorance.  Nobody, even the most profane person with the hardest exterior, wants to be labeled as ignorant.

There’s the motivation, but what is the methodology.  It’s simple.  Choose a different word than the one that is vulgar.

Yeah right.  When I hit my thumb with a hammer, I’m going to call time out and pick a word other than the one that first comes to mind.  Sure, that’s the ticket.

Actually, that is the ticket.  But those words will be selected and learned long before the precipitating incident.  How do I stop my profanity?  I’m going to learn some new words—lots of them.

The decision as to what words to use is moved from the time that I strike my thumb with a hammer to the days and weeks and years before.  I indoctrinate myself with a new vocabulary.  I add to my lexicon.

Oh by the way, this takes work.  It takes practice.  It is a continual process until you reach the point that your extensive vocabulary constantly annoys people.  But it works. 

What’s this got to do with doubt.  We indoctrinate ourselves against doubt when we read, study, memorize, and share God’s word.

We immunize ourselves against doubt when we have the word of God dwelling richly in us.

We close ranks against doubt when we put the words of our Master into practice time and time again. 

If you want your faith to do great things, then close the door on doubt.

Jesus told us that we have enough faith.  Just faith the size of a mustard seed—such a small seed—is enough to move a mountain or command a tree to go plant itself in the sea.  We have the faith so what we need to do is stop that which is working against our faith.

The biggest thing that works against us is doubt.  Jesus broke it down for us.  If we have faith and do not doubt, we will do incredible things.  We should expect our prayers to be answered. 

How do we do this?  Stop being critical of God’s word.  Accept it as true.  Receive it as a blessing.  Know it as a good gift from God. 

Immerse yourself in his holy word.  Let it dwell richly in you.  Speak it aloud.  Share it with others.  Testify as to how it has worked in your life.

Affirm your basic beliefs frequently. 

It’s really not indoctrination.  It’s discipleship.  When I say, I have decided to follow Jesus, I am saying, “I’m all in.”

Your salvation is a gift.  Receive it.  Celebrate it.  Praise the Lord for it.

Your discipleship takes work and perhaps the most work that you will do is doing away with doubt.  By all means, pray and ask for God’s help in doing this, but do your part.

Get your mind aligned with God’s word.

God said it.  I believe it.  I’m going to live it.  This is not to gain salvation for you have received this as a gift.  It is so your faith will be effective because it is no longer diminished by doubt.

Too often, we learn just enough of God’s word to sit in the judgment seat and start condemning others because their Christianity isn’t up to speed.

If you find yourself in the judgment seat, get out and get back to following Jesus.  Dig into God’s word.  Dismiss doubt and let your faith guide you.

Again, I ask you to consider the Son of Timaeus.  That blind beggar had no doubt.  He had faith and it was unencumbered by doubt.  Actually, I should say that once blind beggar had faith and no doubt for his faith healed him.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is the defining verse from the King James Version that has taken us from early in this year until now and it is just as applicable now as when we began.

If we want this to be a faith that is effective, we must close the door to doubt.  How?

We are going to be so full of God’s word and his truth, trusting only in him, and seeking his kingdom and righteousness before all things, that there is no room for doubt.  There will be no room for doubt!

Have faith.  Do not doubt.

Amen!