Sermon Tone Analysis

FOCUS- It'll Change Your Life! April 22, 2012/ a.m.

Joke: a pastor visited a house no one would come to the door so he left a note that on his card that said revelation 3:20 the next Sunday an usher gave him that same card and under his reference it said Behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone answers I will come in… I heard your voice but I was afraid because I was naked.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,”

It begins with the notation that the time was evening.

In other words, there was still darkness gripping the disciples.

That unbelievable day would change the way they would view everything.

It was a new day for worship and remembrance.

That day would become known throughout Christian history as the “Lord’s Day” (cf. ).

This first day of the week became the dividing day in history, the day when God revealed his power in an unmistakable manner.

It’s not like any other Sunday these men have ever experienced in their life.

Yet, they did not understand at this point how significant this day actually is.

It’s not because they were not told; remember Jesus tried to explain what would happen time and time again; yet the disciples would not understand it.

The King was alive, He had risen from the grave; yet the disciples still lived in fear and trembling.

It’s a great vision of the way many ‘followers’ of Christ live today.

The King is alive, He is not dead, and Death has been defeated!

Yet we walk around oblivious to that fact and we live our life in defeat.

Illustration: It was June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo.

The French under the command of Napoleon were fighting the allied forces of the British, Dutch and Germans under the command of Wellington.

The people of England depended on a system of signals to find out how the battle was going.

One of these signals was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral.

Late in the day it flashed the signal: “WELLINGTON DEFEATED.”

Just at that moment a fog cloud made it impossible to read the message.

The news of defeat quickly spread throughout the city.

The whole countryside was sad and gloomy when they heard the news that their country had lost the war.

Suddenly, the fog lifted, and the remainder of the message could be read.

The message had four words, not two.

The complete message was: “WELLINGTON DEFEATED THE ENEMY”.

It took only a few minutes for the good news to spread.

Sorrow was turned into joy, defeat was turned into victory; death was turned into life!

So it was when Jesus was laid in the tomb.

Hope had died in the hearts of Jesus’ most loyal friends and followers.

After the frightful crucifixion, the fog of disappointment and misunderstanding had crept in on the followers of Jesus.

They had read only part of the message.

“Christ defeated” was all they knew.

As they gather together they begin to recall just how terrible things have become over the last several days.

There entire world is shaken up:

They begin to recall the events they have experienced:

: Last Supper- Disciples will fall away

Prayer in the Garden- Disciples Fall Asleep

Garden- Betrayal of a Kiss

Garden- Arrest

Trials- Peter’s Denial

Sentencing

Beating

The Crucifixion

Could it possibly get any worse?

What is going on?

How could this have happened?

I wonder if you ever feel like this in your life.

Do you ever look at your life in disbelief and wonder how it has gotten so out of control?

· Family

· Finances

· Spiritual Health

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

“the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews”

But the disciples at this point of the story were still gripped with fear.

They were still terrified that security forces would find them.

After all, their enemies found Jesus at night and came after him with torches and weapons (18:3).

Now they were locked in a room and undoubtedly were reviewing their uncomfortable situation.

1. Focus Your Eyes

I find it interesting to note how quickly our courage can turn to fear when we take our eyes off of Christ.

The problem on this day is the disciples have lost all of their hope in Christ, in their minds it is finished, it’s over, and they are just trying to stay alive.

This is a huge contrast to what we see many times as the disciples abandon their fears to live a reckless life for Jesus Christ.

As they go out preaching and performing miracles, as they become the enemies to the religious leaders of the day, as they serve the Lord, however; now they have lost their focus and their world is unraveling quickly.

I wonder if you ever lose focus in your life…

Illustration: Peter walking on Water

Illustration: Preaching

13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I am convinced that someone’s happiness is not based upon their circumstances, yet it is based upon their focus.

This week I read about a fascinating research study done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University.

She studied Olympic medalists and she discovered that Bronze medalists were happier than Silver medalists.

Here’s why.

Medvec found that Silver medalists tended to focus on how close they came to winning gold so they weren’t satisfied with silver.

Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal at all so they were just happy to be on the medal stand at all.

I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: your focus determines your reality.

How we feel isn’t determined by objective circumstances.

If that was the case, Silver Medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result.

But how we feel isn’t determined by our objective circumstances.

How we feel is determined by our subjective focus.

Here’s another way of saying it: your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

The disciples were focused on their circumstances and because of that they totally dismissed any thought about Jesus… when we do that it is a frightful thing.

Life can be scary… If we are not careful we will spend our entire lives as the disciples are in this passage… Locked Up and Trembling in Fear.

2. Jesus = Peace

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

The disciples would indeed be found that night, but not by their enemies.

Jesus appeared in the locked room!

Can you just imagine?

Place yourself in that locked room scared to death when all of a sudden through the wall Jesus appears.

Readers of this story are often tempted to ponder what kind of body Jesus could have that passed through walls or doors and yet was physically present so that he could be touched and even eat physical food.

The Gospel writers did not and undoubtedly could not explain such a mystery.

What the early followers of Jesus did was witness to what they saw and touched.

For some contemporary readers trained in scientific rationality, such testimonies may not suffice.