Teacher or Master?

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’” New American Standard Bible: John 20:24–25.

Do we sometimes think that the truly blessed ones were the ones who got a chance to see Jesus in His day? Do we sometimes envy them because they could see Him? What about those that still walked with Him who still needed to see Him again before they believed? Sometimes we think since it was such a long time ago that we are disadvantaged compared to those who walked with Jesus. The truth is though in some respects, we are, but more blessed as a result. “Faith is more difficult for us than them. But then we must not forget that, in proportion as faith is difficult, it is meritorious, and precious to the heart. It is a higher attainment to be able to believe without seeing, than to believe because we have seen; and if it cost an effort, the trial of faith but enhances its value. We must remember further, that we never reach the full blessedness of faith till what we believe shines in the light of its own self-evidence. Think you the disciples were happy men because they had seen their risen Lord and believed? They were far happier when they had attained to such clear insight into the whole mystery of redemption, that proof of this or that particular fact or doctrine was felt quite unnecessary.” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 513.

If you think about it, even though Thomas had seen and walked with Jesus many times before, he still refused to believe Jesus had resurrected without seeing Him again and being able to confirm in his own mind Jesus was alive. Still a second proof was demanded… How sad.

When you think about this, consider this; his belief system of Jesus being the Lord of all things was not affirmed in his mind until Jesus showed Himself to him. Then he exclaimed not only, “My Lord and My God” but then realized the evidence of the true God who defeated death and was Lord of all things. What I am trying to say is this; he knew Jesus as a man, but never realized His Lordship over all things. Only then his theology came full circle. He heard the teachings before but never comprehended the magnitude of Jesus’ theological sovereignty (as God Himself). In simple terms, he came to grips with not just the teacher of the truths of the kingdom, but came into contact with the Maker of the kingdom!

Today, is your theology based upon the teachings of a man named Jesus? Or are they centered in knowing the Maker of the kingdom? I challenge you to think hard about this subject. Our world today needs the latter. With a world in chaos all around us, we as the church need to be the answer to the world’s cry for help. When we take the latter approach, we can share with the personalized God we worship and help others to make this world a much better place to live. Otherwise we teach the words of someone who gives us great insight on how to live morally, but never allows us to have the indwelling Spirit of God which equips us to change the world.