Living As One Who Is Sent

Intro: Can we pause everything that is going on around

and focus our attention on God’s word to us in the next 20 -30 minutes?

Every time we open this book we call the Bible, God is speaking to us. Can you pray this prayer with me “Lord open my mind so that I may understand your Word, plant your word in my heart so that I may be rooted in Christ, help me apply your word as i live out my life on this earth, Amen.”

In John 20 we read about when Jesus appeared to his followers. They were in the upper room, afraid for their lives because the People of Israel through the power of Rome just killed their Rabbi, their teacher, the one they followed for three years. They were thinking, “how long before they come after us?”

They been in the upper room for about 3 days, thinking about Jesus being crucified, about how many of them ran away when they arrested Jesus, all the emotions you feel when you realized you let someone down, guilt, shame, discouragement, the disciples have been experiencing this for 3 days now.

Then suddenly hope arrives.

Jesus suddenly appears in the room, stands among them and says “Peace be with you”

Can you imagine sitting there as one of his followers of Jesus who ran away when he was arrested and now 3 days later, you see Jesus alive standing there and the words out of his mouth are not words of condemnation, but words of Grace.

Peace Be With You...

Then Jesus shows them his scars on his hands and his side. When they realize Jesus is alive, when they see the Lord Jesus they are filled with gladness, their hearts are rejoicing because he is not dead, he is alive. Jesus again speaks words of grace.

John 20:21 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

I don’t know about you, but when I read the Bible and I read this passage, my mind begins to think of all the words Jesus could have said and I ask why did he say “Peace be with you”?

The reason Jesus says these words is very clear to me now;

Before God can effectively use us for the purpose of making disciples we must have both peace with God and the peace of God.

Paul tells us in Romans 5:1,

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Can I encourage you to go home and read Romans 5, everyday this week. What you will discover is Paul through the inspiration of the Spirit tells us, people who do not trust and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of all the bad and evil things we do, the Bible describes them as enemies of God.

But Jesus, who knew no sin, became the sin offering for us, he was the sacrificial substitute, meaning he died in my place and your place, so we can have the forgiveness sin. When we place our faith and trust in Jesus, we are justified, because we are justified by faith. Justified, which is legal term meaning you are legally set free from the punishment of your sin because Jesus took your punishment, and you are declared righteous before God. You are no longer an enemy of God, but you have peace with God, you are his child, his son, his daughter. When he looks at you he no longer sees you as sinful person, when he looks at you he sees the righteousness of Jesus.

To live as one sent by Jesus, you must have peace with God.

If you are new here and you have never experienced the peace of God through faith in Jesus, I would love to sit with you and talk more about trusting in Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, we must also have the peace of God. Can we all sit back and take breath.

We have been through a hard year, we are living through a global pandemic, we have experienced an economic shut down, we all have loved ones across the States and in other countries going through hard times, some of us have lost loved ones, we were having church online, then learning how to do church under Covid guidelines and as a church, we have experienced some shock and hurt these past few weeks. Can we just pause, breathe and meditate on Jesus’ words “Peace be with you”

Jesus’ words to us is the same words to the disciples 2000 years ago “peace be with you”.

Jesus’ life on Earth wasn’t a bed of roses, he lived under governmental oppression, systemic injustice by the religious leaders and political leaders, he lost loved ones, he was rejected by his family, he was arrested, beaten, abandoned by his friends, crucified and yet his dying words were “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Jesus who lived through all this, was able to do so because he had the peace of God

Jesus the one who is victorious over sin, death, hell and the grave, Jesus who has destroyed the works of the devil, that same Jesus supplies the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, in other words it is a peace that God provides to us when we are going through hard time that cannot be explained. It is supernatural.

The peace of God is not the removal of difficult situations, circumstances and troubles, the peace of God is trusting in a sovereign God who will use those difficult situations, circumstances and troubles for our good and His glory.

To live as one who is sent we must have the peace of God.

Jesus tells us we must have peace with God and the peace of God because he is sending us out into this world, like the Father sent him.

Many times we want to build up walls and protect ourselves from this crazy world. Jesus is telling his followers, you have peace with God and the peace of God, now leave the comforts of these four walls and go into the world, share the Gospel and make disciples.

This year it is our goal and our focus will be learning to Live as sent ones in this world, Sent by our Lord to proclaim the Gospel, love and serve our neighbors and make disciples.

As you live as sent ones in this world, Peace be with you.