Not Just Your Sins

The Scripture: John 20:19-31

John 20:19–31 NLT

That Sunday evening* the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),* was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe* that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

1 John 2:1–2 NLT

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

The Forbidden Fruit

My first memory of reading the bible was as a bedtime story spending the night at my cousin’s house. We read Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones. It is still one of my favorite stories. When I was a teenager I started a rock band and recorded an album with several songs. Several of them were about bible passages, one of which was that story from Ezekiel. We played for the local schools and the local town festival with some big crowds. Since we weren’t using swear words in the music and much of our music was being against smoking, drinking, and drug use, the adults gave us a lot of freedom. Those were exciting times.

I wasn’t a Christian though. I loved the Bible. But I was the Lord of my own life. I made my own choices. I would use the scriptures to try to figure out what good choices were for me and how to judge whether others were doing right or wrong, but I ultimately did what I wanted to do.

That was and is the forbidden fruit. Thinking that we can figure this life out ourselves and acting as our own gods. That is a rejection of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

How tempting, how easy that must have been for the disciples after Jesus died. Without Jesus there to lead them each day, weren’t they essentially on their own? How do you follow someone who isn’t there?

You get on with life. You go fishing. You go shopping. You go spend time with the family. You go back to normal and tell yourself that was a really wild three years with Jesus but it didn’t end up like you thought it would. Things don’t change that much after all.

We don’t know why Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus arrived there and showed them that He was alive. Maybe he was out getting food for everyone. Perhaps he was out visiting friends or family. Or maybe he was getting on with his life, heading out of town and never looking back.

Thesis: But Jesus wasn’t done with the disciples or Thomas, and He isn’t done with you and I until He has passed on His mission and power to rescue people from sin.

Freedom from Sin

This is John’s version of Pentecost: the day the disciples received the Holy Spirit. The emphasis here is not on speaking in other languages or even preaching, but on giving away forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the foundation of the gospel message. That forgiveness is not a blank check from God. It’s like getting a debt repaid. It is getting a second chance to do things right. Hebrews 10:26 says:

Hebrews 10:26 (NLT)

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

Jesus showed up to forgive them for failing him, to stop the disciples from going off and doing their own thing, to remind them of their purpose, and to give them the power of the Holy Spirit to no longer just be victims of sin anymore.

Do you know that song that goes “I’m no longer a slave to fear… I am a child of God.”? I caught myself singing it a couple of days ago, but I was singing the wrong word. I was singing, I’m no longer a slave to sin. I looked it up and was surprised to discover that I wasn’t wrong, I was singing the scripture, not the song. Romans 6:6 says:

Romans 6:6 (NLT)

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

I think if I sing that song, I’m going to sing the version from scripture, that I’m no longer a slave to sin, not just fear. If you do that with me you are proclaiming that you will live like Jesus and love like Jesus because He is your Lord and your God. You already proclaimed that in your baptism vows if you were baptized as an adult and in your membership vows if you joined our church. You accepted the gift and the responsibility of being one who bears the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That’s a lot.

But that’s only the first half.

God forgives us and then, instead of just taking us to heaven, builds us together into the Church so that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, living more righteously than the rest of the world, could stand back and judge people - but instead, we share the same forgiveness we received from Jesus with them.

Not Only Our Sins

John writes in his first letter to the churches:

1 John 2:1–2 (NLT)

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

Now, let’s go back to Thomas. He came back to the disciples and they shared this incredible experience they had with Jesus and all their excitement, but it didn’t mean much to Thomas. Thanks guys, I’m glad you were blessed by Jesus and now I feel left out. The twelve had become the eleven after losing Judas and now they were the Ten disciples. They wanted to include Thomas, but they could not figure out how to give him what they had received from Jesus.

“Pause”

That right there is the simplest way I understand what making disciples is: Giving to others what Jesus is giving to you.

I cannot give you everything Jesus has given me in 13 minutes or 13 months for that matter. And it really doesn’t work well giving it to you from a stage. We have to be in a relationship together. I used to think you really had to go to their home to get to know someone well, but my friend John who read our scripture this morning has proved otherwise to me. We’ve never met in person. We know each other from phone calls, emails, and lots of video chats, and have become good friends over the past 3 years.

Here’s the challenge though. If I have doubts that Jesus has really forgiven me, or chosen me to share in His mission, or I doubt that He has given me the power to live free from sin as a child of God and share that power and life with others… I’m not going to be able to share my faith very well. In fact, how many of you struggle with how to share your relationship with Jesus, with others? How many of you, when you think someone has questions about faith look around for the closest pastor to send them to?

How many of you, when you see someone really struggling and know they need the peace and comfort and hope of Jesus don’t know what to say, or how to pray with them?

That’s doubt. Sometimes it is not specifically doubting that Jesus rose from the dead, it is doubting that He rose and chose you. It is doubting that He has given you the power to say no to the sin that wants you back. You have a spiritual experience away somewhere and are able to say no to temptation once, but you hear sin singing King George’s from Hamilton, “You’ll be back”. So you doubt, just like Thomas. It was good for a moment, maybe I can share my faith again sometime, but I’m not going to change my whole life around serving Jesus and loving others. I will stay here and wait for others to come to me. I doubt I would have that much to share anyway.

Doubt is not what keeps you from Jesus. Jesus shows up and shows us otherwise, corrects us when we are unintentionally wrong and disciplines us when we are deliberately sinning. Jesus kicks over that kind of doubt all the time.

The problem of doubt is that it hinders us from sharing Jesus with others. It keeps us from doing more than talking about making disciples. Doubt convinces us to point them away from the Jesus in us rather than inviting them in to share that Jesus with them.

CTA

I know most of you are Christians. I know that because I’ve been to your homes, heard your stories, been in a bible study with you. Some of you are making disciples well and it’s easy to see. They tell me about you in their faith stories. I also know many of you struggle with the doubts that you really have something powerful to share that could change the lives of others. You, like the Ten Disciples, don’t know how to make Thomas believe, because He didn’t have that same experience.

Hear the good news of our Risen Lord and Savior. If you will go and meet those people where they are at...

If you will love them with the love of Jesus and forgive them for the ways they have sinned against you...

If you will take up the courage of the Holy Spirit to go be with someone and listen without fixing...

Jesus will show up, because Praise the Lord, He is Alive!

Jesus will show up because you are surrendering to Your Lord’s will and fulfilling the mission for which He created, saved, and redeemed you.

Jesus will show up and He will give them exactly what they need to believe.

Do you doubt that? Or Do you believe in Jesus enough to do that?