John 20: Resurrection Life

John 20 ESV

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. 19 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.” 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Of the accounts of the Resurrection that we read, this one by far is my favorite.

I love the close, and very emotional interactions between Mary and Jesus, and between Thomas and Jesus

On Friday night, we read the story of the crucifixion. And I said, can you imagine the devastation that Jesus’ closest followers and family must have felt

As He was tortured and killed.

But now, just 3 days later, can you imagine the relief that they must be feeling. I mean, their heads must be spinning at all that has taken place.

The Apostle John is coming to the end of his account of the life of Jesus, and now he lets us in on why he sat down to record the life of Jesus.

verse 31

These are written so that you may…what?

be informed?

So that you may say, “Wow, what a great story! That Jesus was quite the guy!”

So that you would have a good example to copy

So that you might believe. I believe that John is talking here about all that he has written so far in his Gospel.

He wrote all of this down, not just for a historical record, but so

So that we might believe.

And that in our belief, we may have LIFE in His name.

And so there are two questions in front of us today:

Do you believe?

Have you found life? True and abundant life?

And really, these are not two different questions. It is one question sort of in two parts.

Because when it comes to the kind of life that we are talking about here, you can’t have that life if you don’t believe.

of particular interest to us today is the resurrection of Jesus.

Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus, and have you found the life that comes from believing in the resurrection?

If you are thinking, “yeah, I believe in the resurrection”

But on the other hand, you are saying, “But when it comes to the life that Jesus talked about in John 10, and the life that John seems to be talking about…well, I’m not sure.

I mean, I asked Jesus into my heart, and I believe as well as I can that I’m going to heaven when I die, but I don’t know about this abundant life bit”.

If that’s you this morning, that I would challenge you to consider whether you really believe or not.

Because what John is talking about here, and the abundant life that Jesus talked about in chapter 10 verse 10, is more than a “going to heaven when I die”, although that is important.

It is an experiential belief. A belief that is active and life changing.

As a pilot in Mozambique, I had a lot of people in my plane that had never flown before.

Other people, especially “westerners”, were experienced flyers but had never been in a small plane before.”

Some of them had this fear of flying

Now, I never really did this, but maybe I could have quizzed them a little bit.

I could have asked them, so what is it that you are scared of?

Do you believe that I’m a good and knowledgeable pilot and that I will make good decisions and get us there safely?

Do you believe that the airplane will stay in the sky? That it is well-maintained?

And they could have said,

Sure, we believe that you are a good pilot and will make good decisions

Sure, we believe that the airplane is well-maintained and will stay in the sky

But then could have still refused to get in the airplane and put their belief into experience.

But it was those folks who actually got in the plane, nervously strapped in, hung on, and gave me a big thumbs up during the flight

And who got out at the destination, shook my hand, and thanked me for the great flight

It was those folks for whom belief was now rooted in experience

And when it comes to the resurrection, that is my question this morning.

Have you experienced the resurrection? Is your belief rooted in experience?

I believe that this what John is concerned about as well.

Do you believe in the resurrection, and has that belief been rooted in experience? Is it going into your heart?

Maybe you still aren’t sure.

What does it look like for belief in the resurrection to go beyond head knowledge and into experience?

Well, again there is a lot we could talk about

Paul gives us a glimpse of this in Romans 8.

Paul is explaining in this chapter that we have been set free from the sinful nature so that we are free to walk after the Spirit instead of after the flesh

Romans 8:5-11 “5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.”

There are a number of things that Paul gives us as indications that the Resurrection of Jesus is changing our experience.

The Resurrection should change the way we think

Romans 8:5 “5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

The Resurrection should change what we think about.

Or, what we “set our mind upon”. What we fixate on. What we are controlled by

What is it that you think about?

For guys, it could be women

It could be money that we think about constantly

How to make it

How to save it

How to make the business succeed

It could be sports

We just came through March madness and I thought about my bracket a lot.

For an athlete to succeed at the highest level, his or her mind must be on their sport every day from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed

Even when they aren’t actively training, their mind still is on their sport, controlling what they do and how they live

What I believe Paul is telling us in Romans is that the resurrection should change what we think about

Those who live according to the Spirit “set their minds on the things of the Spirit”

Literally, he is talking about “what do you aspire to?”

Simply put, they think about How can I please God today?

That is what is on their minds.

They think about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise

All of these things are completely opposite from what our adversary would want us to think about, and sometimes, maybe all the time it is a battle

But the resurrection should transform our mind, our thinking.

Romans 12 calls it “the renewing of the mind”. It’s like new skin growing over a wound, it’s like restoring an old car or an old house.

Those old things that used to be on our minds, lustful thoughts, the pursuit of wealth, bitterness, all those things start to disappear from our thinking

Replaced with those things that please God. The things of the Spirit.

Those things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise

The Resurrection changes the way we live, what we do

Out of a transformed mind, the Resurrection should change how we live

Paul talks here and in other places about walking according to the Spirit.

Your “walk” has to do with the way that you live. It’s your daily choices, your daily decisions, how you spend your time

Our choices in life change because now we are submitting to the Spirit

Our choices and activities in life change because how we think changes

On the flip side, Paul says here that it is impossible for those who are not born of the Spirit to please God (verse 7)

Does that mean that those who are not Believers can’t do anything good?

No, it doesn’t mean that.

They can take care of their children or parents

They can give to the poor.

There are a lot of “good things” that people can do.

But they key is in what we talked about earlier. What is their mind set on as they are doing these things?

For those born of the Spirit, all that they do is for the glory and praise of God

But for many folks, the good things that they do is to make them feel good

Maybe to alleviate some guilt

Maybe to put another feather in their hat

Some do it out of a real desire to help

But again, the issue is, “Is it done for the glory of God”

The Bible tells us that in whatever you do, whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God

Do it so that He get’s the credit!

The resurrection changes our lives from being me-focused to being Him-focused

It changes the focus and often times the direction of our lives

The Resurrection Gives us power and life

Paul says in Philippians 3, that I have suffered the loss of all things in order to gain Christ and receive His righteousness that comes through faith

Philippians 3:10 “10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”

Romans 8:11 “11 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.”

Have you experienced the power, are you experiencing the power of the resurrection of Jesus?

How is it possible that the resurrection changes what we think about and what we do?

It’s because of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit dwelling (living) inside of those who believe.

We have a body that is still subject to death, still prone to get sick and die, yet our spirit is made alive

Yet, we are promised life right now. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in

It gives life to our mortal bodies.

That is, the body that we have right now

The resurrection power should strengthen a Believer in a way that is enviable for a person who does not know Jesus

I have the book and the movie called “The Insanity of God” and in that book, Nik Ripken tells the stories of the terrible things that people have endured for the sake of the Gospel

Men and women being drug away, enduring years of brutal treatment, man of them never coming back

Some of them coming back, stronger than ever

How is it that they are able to do that? It’s because of the resurrection power. It’s because the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is dwelling in them

Do you experience the life that the resurrection brings?

Does His resurrection power give strenght to your heart and body as you face trials, loss of loved ones, unexpected illness

Times when it seems like life is just too difficult

Folks, what we are remembering and celebrating today makes, or, should make, all the difference today.

in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says, “Look, if Christ was not raised from the dead, our faith is worthless and we are still in our sins. And besides, we have no hope for the future. And if we have no hope then we of all people are to be pitied.

But Jesus DID rise from the dead and for us it makes ALL the difference in the world.