There's More for the Bride

Text: John 20:19-29

Introduction

Our resurrected Lord has MORE, MUCH MORE for us as individuals and as His Bide, His Church.

There is so much more!

As Ephesians 3:20–21 (LSB) [says] Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly [the Greek word is “superabundantly] beyond all that we ask or understand [or even imagine!], according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

We can see that here in our text this morning.

As we consider this superabundance the Lord wants to pour into our lives and into His Bride, the Church, I want us to understand that a Biblical metaphor can only be stretched so far.

We are in error to try and take metaphors too far.

That includes the metaphor of us being the Bride of Christ.

At Youth camp, week before last, I was talking with a Youth Pastor in our dorm, Pastor Jake.

He wanted to talk to me after an incident at the altar on Wednesday night.

The incident at the altar involved Nathen.

It had really struck a chord with Pastor Jake.

During camp I tended not to push my way in at the altar.

And so the younger adults, youth pastors, youth leaders, college students, etc. would pray with the young people seeking God.

On Wednesday night, Pastor Jake saw Nathen at the altar at the end of the service and went to pray with him.

Nathen acted a little upset and Pastor Jake asked Nathen if he wanted me to come pray with him and Nathen said, “ Yes.”

Nathen hugged me as I prayed with him

and it made Jake think of how our heavenly Father hugs us when we run to Him.

But, Pastor Jake was talking to me about this after we had what the DYD called

“Facetime” — where me and the boys, Ethen and Nathen spent time processing what God was doing.

He had been trying to use the metaphor of a rubber band during Facetime with his youth group.

The rubber band being a symbol of our lives and how it can be stretched.

Our lives can certainly get stretched by different things that happen in our lives.

Well, one of the teenagers tried to take the metaphor too far being and asked, “What if the rubber band gets stretched so much it pops?”

Pastor Jake - said, “then you die.”

It immediately struck him that his answer wasn’t a good one and he had to backtrack and explain that metaphors have limitations.

For several weeks now I have been talking about the metaphor that the Bible uses for the Church.

A Bride.

And then Sunday before last we watched the film Before the Wrath that showed how Jesus used the a Galilean wedding to describe His sure return.

As we watched the film we were told that a typical Galilean betrothal was followed by a year of preparation by the groom.

During that time the Groom and the Bride had no contact.

But that’s where the metaphor gets stretched too far.

We are NEVER separated from our Jesus.

Our Bridegroom never leaves us.

No, we don’t have the relationship we WILL have.

A relationship that is hindered by our life in the flesh.

Our relationship that awaits the fulfillment of all the prophecies.

Even when we die we still don’t have what we WILL have.

2 Corinthians 5:6–8 (LSB) Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

While in the Body we are absent from full relationship with Jesus, we are hindered by these rags of flesh.

But even when we are freed from this flesh and “at home” with Jesus, as Paul describes it — we STILL haven’t arrived.

As 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (LSB) describes it, … after … a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, … the Lord Himself will descend from heaven

and [then] the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

ONLY THEN we will have the FULL relationship that Jesus envisions for His Bride.

Only once we have received our glorified bodies CAN we have the full relationship Jesus desires to have with His Bride.

But until then…

Even though we are now hindered by the flesh.

Jesus has constant abiding relationship with us.

And through that continuous relationship, Jesus has so much more in store for us.

Let me shamelessly adapt the message that Steve Svoboda, the Youth Camp speaker preached on Wednesday night of Youth Camp.

He preached on this text.

Obviously we are just considering a few of the MANY things this text tells us.

Jesus takes our doubts and replaces them with His Peace

First of all, in verse 19, we see that when the resurrected Jesus suddenly appears inside of a locked room with His terrified disciples , Jesus immediately speaks words that He repeats 3 times in our text.

“Peace be with you.”

Anytime you hear Jesus repeating something 3 times, we KNOW it is important.

Like the disciples we too wrestle with doubt and fear.

To all our doubts and fears Jesus tells us, “Peace be with you.”

Even in times of national crisis, like last night’s assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.

President Trump was literally a head-turn away from death.

God was watching over him and protecting him.

I pray that he will acknowledge that and refuse to speak of luck.

Luck had nothing to do with saving his life.

The devil wanted to take him out.

Just another of MANY ways the devil has been trying to “neutralize” President Trump.

Folks we need to seek God!

We need to heed: Isaiah 55:6–7 (LSB) Seek Yahweh while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to Yahweh, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

So, even in times of national crisis we can have the peace of God.

Rev. Svoboda quoted:

Philippians 4:6–7 (LSB) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

and

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Beyond national concerns we have personal concerns.

Maybe the doctor says it’s cancer, it’s incurable.

Or you look at your finances and you don’t see how you are going to make it with run away, ever-increasing inflation that continues destroy your ability to make ends meet.

Or we look at family situations and doubt that even God can bring reconciliation — the chasm is just too huge.

In all these situations and so many more, Jesus speaks into our soul saying:

“Peace be with you.”

He is telling us that WE don’t have to figure it out.

We don’t have to fix it.

We can’t!

Instead Jesus is telling you, He’s telling me, He’s telling US …

Let go of the stress, let go of the doubts, let go of the fear — and rest in Me.

Jesus says, as He did in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

Jesus takes our fears and replaces it with rejoicing and faith.

As Jesus continued to speak to the disciples, He reassured them that it was indeed the One they had followed to the Cross.

He was indeed the One who had been beaten, mocked, scourged, humiliated and crucified.

See the His hands, His feet, His riven side?

This is He whom you saw laid in a borrowed tomb.

The One you despaired had left you forever.

But NO!

Here He is, NOW.

Risen!

Defeating the devil, defeating death, defeating hell itself.

His Presence is real.

The evidence irrefutable.

May we, like the disciples, believe His Presence is here with us right now.

We have gathered in the Name of Jesus.

He is here!

And in His presence there is JOY.

As Psalm 16:11 tells us: In Your Presence is FULLNESS of joy.

So, in the midst of fear and anxiety.

In the midst of loss

May Jesus

Assure you of His Presence.

And

May He fill you with the fullness of His joy.

Jesus takes our powerlessness and breathes in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And finally, Vs. 22 tells us that Jesus breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

There is a whole big teaching on what Jesus was doing here.

Let me try and summarize what is happening.

First of all, before His death, burial and resurrection the disciples walked under the OLD covenant.

They walked according to Mosaic Law and rabbinical tradition.

Law and traditions that do not bring life, but rather bring death.

Romans 8:11–14 (LSB) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brothers [and sisters], we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Walking according to the Mosaic Law and Rabbinical tradition is living according to the flesh — such living is spiritual death.

That is NOT how Jesus intends for us to walk today.

So, here in verse 22 of our text we see Jesus is transitioning His disciples from the OLD covenant to the New covenant under which we now live.

Everyone who repents of their sin turns their back on the flesh and turns towards God.

They turn their back on the leadership of the flesh to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

All of that is embodied in NEW covenant repentance.

All who repent receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:8–9 (LSB) … those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, [that person] does not belong to [Jesus].

Notice the image of what Jesus is doing in verse 22 — He BREATHES on them.

It takes us back to the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:7 (LSB) Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being.

When Jesus breathed on His disciples THEY received the Holy Spirit who comes into and onto us at salvation.

Is this all of the Spirit that we get — not at all!

God still has the Baptism in the Holy Spirit available to all who desire Him.

All of this to say, that in our passage, Jesus is taking his weak, powerless, fearful disciples — giving them a measure of the Holy Spirit — with the promise of a Baptism yet to come.

I believe we are far from the MORE that Jesus wants us to have through the Holy Spirit.

Walking in the fullness of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit means:

More power in prayer as we pray in the Spirit.

More cohesion in the Body of Christ, the Church as we gather in the Spirit.

More Christ-likeness as we produce the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23)

More miraculous interventions that lead to more salvations, more spiritual discernment and wisdom as walk in the Gifts of the Spirit.

The Powerful Name of Jesus

As the worship team comes to the platform...

I would like to encourage us to receive A LITTLE of the MORE Jesus has in store for you.

Maybe you need salvation.

Repent of your sins and receive the more of His salvation.

Maybe you need healing.

Receive the healing for ALL your diseases” promised in Psalm 103:3

Maybe you just need peace in turmoil.

Or you need joy.

Or you need a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life.

As the Worship Team begins to remind us about the POWERFUL Name of Jesus…

I encourage you to come forward for prayer.