Peace Be With You
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever had something that left you disappointed?
Some of you know this but a couple months ago I was in Florida for a conference and me and a few friends split the cost of a rental car while we were there.
And we wwere trying to keep the trip as low cast as possible so I think we picked one of the sketchiest car rental places possible.
And my friend and I reserved a decent minivan,
And I remember we got there and the guy goes I want to upgrade you guys for free to an SUV
And he continued to say you guys do not want to be driving around Flordia in a Minivan, you want to be in somthing cool!
And my friend kept saying that he really wanted the mini van
And I looked at him and said “You know Jessie he has a point, we want to be cool!”
We are driving around Flordia, if it was Michigan it would be different, but its Flordia!
And so we took the upgrade and he pointed us towrd the car, and we walked by all the minivans which looked really nice and we got to the one SUV on the lot and it had dents and scratches all over it. and was really old,
But it drove so we took and left.
But you know as I thought of that this past week in life there are things that seem great (like its an upgrade) but leave us disappointed (and probably more then a bad car upgrade right?)
Some of us have been promoted before and it was not what it was cracked up to be.
And even on a deeper level there are things we chase saying this is the thing that will change things for me.
But so often it leaves us disappointed. And today we are actually going to be starting a short series called “Life After Resurrection” and we are going to be focusing on the event we saw last week for Easter where Jesus was crucified, but he had risen and this really changes things ,
But not in a way that will disappoint
because of Jesus being alive we see these people who were in this dark, broken empty space given this extreame hope.
And so today we are going to be in John 20:19-23 and we are just going to start at verse 19 because this verse sets the scene for us today.
Because if you were here last week you probably remember there was a group of woman that heard this news that Jesus was risen, and they run to tell the disciples (who were followers of Jesus) and almost all of them look at this group of woman and go that is nonsense.
And this is where the passage start backs up. It says this:
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
So the disciples ignored what these woman told them, and we see them now sitting in a room with the doors locked.
And they felt the hopelessness that the woman had (that we discussed last week, but they also had fear, because the Jewish leaders had Jesus killed and not just that, but to put an end to this “Jesus thing” they most likely were coming for His followers next.
So you get this picture of them not only hopeless, but fearful, scared and defeated.
And I want you to notice what happens because in the middle of them being scared to death, Jesus comes into the room and says “peace be with you”
And I always read that and go first off that had to be terrifying to have someone you thought was dead just pop in the room,
But secondly Jesus says, “peace be with you” which I imagine was kind of the oppisite of how the disciples felt right?
But what I want you to get is what the disciples feared (which was the jewish leaders did not change.
The Jewish leaders still wanted to take the disciples lives,
but who was with them changed.
The situation stayed the same but the person with them is the reason they could have peace in the middle of a fearful situation.
Its almost like this… Does anyone have an animal or kid that is scared to death of storms?
If you do they freak out, but when you hold them there is a calming presence isn’t there?
Because the storm is still happening, but they know they are not alone, and they know you are with them.
And in our lives there are times where we face storms, but the person that goes with us in the storm makes the difference. Amen?
Look at verse 20 because it says:
20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
You know this next part of the passage is a little interesting, because Jesus comes in the room and the first things He does is actually show them his hands and side.
And this would have been where Jesus would have been pierced on the cross.
And even after this passage (which we are not looking at this today) but Jesus tells one of the disciples to touch where He was pierced.
I think I preached on this passage one other time and I pointed it out then, but does anyone read that and go this is a little disgusting.
Imagine I fell and scraped up my knee and said touch it.
You would probably go thats guys weird!
But this is what I want you to understand, is because Jesus was risen, I believe these were not wounds that were still bleeding, but they are scars that tell a story.
Because scars tell a story, don’t they?
I have a scar on my thumb from when I was a kid swimming in the ocean and n 80 pound great white shark actually came up and nibbled on my hand.
No really it was actually from taking a pop tart out of the oven, but thats not a cool story.
But a scar tells a story doesn’t it?
And the reason Jesus is telling them to look at His scars is because these scars tell a story about how death was defeated and Jesus had won.
And so before anything we need to understand that these scars should give us hope that if Christ could do that He can move in our life,
But secondly I think Jesus is modeling really how the body of Christ should function.
Because I believe we are a people who have wounds and scars.
Some of us have places in our life where there is a wound, maybe its an issue in our family, or an addiction we are hoping to overcome,
But whats amazing is some of us have scars, and when the people who have scars show the people who have wounds its amazing because sometimes when you have a wound it feels hopeless,
but what if we had a person to walk along side us who went through something simaler and they were able to say “this is how Jesus brought healing in my life”
I mean this is one of the reasons being tied into a church body is so crucial. Its not to hear a mediocre sermon every week (altough the sermon is important), but the further I get into ministry the more I realize the importance of being in comunity with other Christ followers.
And let me read the rest of this passage because look what happens (verses 21-23). It says this:
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus say’s somthing else interesting, because He says “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you”
You know Jesus is telling the disciples that He has come to tell them that He has some to heal the broken places in our lives and really ultimatley to heal and restore the brokeness of sin
But now He looks at the disciples and says now I want you to do that.
Because the truth is when there is somthing amazing you want to share it right?
I have a dozen of dounuts (if you were zoned out, you are paying attention now)
Who loves donuts, okay I am going to give you these donuts, now (insert name) you have 12 donuts, you are not going to keep it to yourself right?
Why? because you basically have unlimited donuts right?
so you are going to share them with this person (and that person is going to share them with another) Keep going…
But you know on a serious note when there is something good, we share it.
And Jesus in this passage is coming with this amazing news and really He has given us this amazing news that we do not have to sit in the wounds of life, but can find healing in Him and not just that but He can transform our lives.
I mean how can we not share that? And not just invite someone to church but tell them what God has done in your life and what He can do in theirs.
And I just want to focus on one last point, because you will notice all of this happens but in verse 22 somthing really important happens, because it says Jesus breathes on them and says “receive the Holy Spirit”
And this is another part of this passage that is a little odd, because if someone breathes on you, you would say thats gross right?
But whats neat about this is if you have read Genesis where God creates Adam whats the first thing He does?
He breathes life in Him and thats what makes the difference between Adam just being dust and Him being a human.
Because God has filled every person on this planet with His life giving breath (because we are created in his image), but here we see Jesus again breathing life and saying recieve the Holy Spirit.
Because if we want to see God heal the wounds in our lives or if we want to show or tell others about what God has done in our lives, we cannot do it without the presence of God.
Think about with this light, the purpose of this light is to shine light up this wall right? but if it gets unplugged what happens?
It turns off and really it can’t function how it was designed.
It does not matter if it is the nicest light you could fine, it is cannot work with out the powersource.
And really this morning I really believe God is calling us to be connected to Him.
First off because He loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us.
But also because I believe when God enters a broken place there is healing (and God has given us other resources like counseling and other things that are great!), but its amazing when God enters our lives
Because can we all agree that there are times in our lives personally and even in our world where things feel broken?
But the amazing thing is we serve a God that walks with us, heals the broken areas of our lives, and equips us to show and tell other about how He can drastically change their lives.
But we cannot do it without God.
What does it look like to have God enter your life?
What does it look like to have god enter this world?
I believe amaizng things can happen.
Lets pray.