Peace Through the Holy Spirit

Defining Peace

It’s a finicky word - peace. It means so many things and I know that we have preached about it before.

Is it the absence of conflict? Is it the end of conflict?

Is it a state of mind? Through what means can it be achieved? Can it be achieved? Is it granted? This entire sermon could just be about how we define peace.

Peace is the presence, power, and personal nature of Jesus Christ that brings us into unity with God so that we can faithfully take on the challenges of this life.

Think of them.

John 20:19 HCSB

In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews. Then Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

Everything about Jesus from the resurrection forward must be viewed through the resurrection. And, like He often does, He greets the disciples with a customary greeting -

Peace to you -

But think of the situation -

The door is locked. There’s no way in. They’re gathered in fear of being killed. So they meet at night, in fear, and

then, unlike the Kool-Aid man who breaks the wall down on the poor kids, Jesus passed through the door and into their presence.

John 20:20 HCSB

Having said this, He showed them His hands and His side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Do you ever find yourself locked in a room of fear? And are scared because of this or that? Scared that you might look a certain way to your boss or to your spouse or to your kids? Fearful of the next thing.

Jesus is ready to bring the power of His presence into that locked room and offer you His peace. He offers His personal nature, His hands, His side, just like He did for the disciples. And they rejoiced - how about you?

He will stay there with you, but He doesn’t want you to stay there. He wants you to break free from the locked room and back into the world. That’s what he told the disciples.

Peace in Going Out

Now that they perceived Him as the Lord, the risen Lord, the one who fufilled the Scripture “Your sorrow with turn into joy”.

You’d think that to the disciples, peace means they can receive some rescue from the conflict of their current situation.

Try again.

John 20:21 HCSB

Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Think about it from the disciples’ perspective. Peace would be taking care of the Jewish leaders, causing us to lock ourselves in this room, causing us to find safety in comfort.

For their new commission, they needed spiritual power they had not yet received.

But we must realize that peace is not temporary, it is not a one-and-done experience, it is an going relationship and renewal.

The sending of the disciples is done with the same opening - peace to you - as a reminder that He is with them.

Both Jesus’ mission and the church’s mission originate from the Father and therefore the church’s mission is actually God’s mission.

The only hope of fulfilling this mission is by the same power, peace, and purpose as Jesus - and that is with the peace that only comes through the Holy Spirit. In fact, the task would be impossible for the church without the power of the Holy Spirit (see John 15 and Acts 1:8 as demonstrations).

Receiving the Peace of the Holy Spirit

John 20:22–23 HCSB

After saying this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

John: A New Covenant Commentary Appearance and Empowerment (20:19–23)

The purpose of Jesus’ appearance to his disciples is not only to show himself alive (cf.

So Jesus did for the church what God did for Adam in Genesis 2:7. What He did for Ezekiel in 37:9 and for countless others.

By receiving this new blessing through the Holy Spirit, for they were a new work and new creation, these disciples were embarking on a new journey. In order for that to happen, they had to receive the Holy Spirit. Certainly, theological questions exist around this passage, as it comes before the day of Pentecost, which is like 50 days after the resurrection. We know this - this breathing on of the Spirit was a partial work - for example Thomas wasn’t there. It speaks to John’s anticipation of the outpouring of the Spirit when the 12 are reassembled in Acts 1:21-26.

The church does not have this authority because it is the church but because it is indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The disciples, including Thomas, didn’t have faith in the risen Lord until they had witnessed the resurrected Christ firsthand. They needed to see Christ in the flesh before they could believe. Jesus did not forsake them for this. Instead, he met them where they were and gave them the evidence that they needed to believe. Jesus believed in the disciples before they truly believed in him. Most of the disciples had deserted Jesus during his crucifixion. But Jesus returns to them anyway. He calls them, anoints them, and commissions them (vv. 21–23), despite their faithlessness. The grace of God is bigger than our mistakes; the mercy of the Lord is greater than our sins! Through the presence and activity of the risen Christ, the disciples have become aware of the meaning of the cross. The cross and the resurrection have come together in this moment, and the meaning of it all has been revealed in their midst.

The church’s missional work should be unified through the Holy Spirit.

Are you receiving the peace of Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?