Unleashed Power
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
19 It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.”
20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”
22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.”
24 Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”
26 After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!”
28 Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”
30 Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll.
31 But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.
Unleashed Power
Unleashed Power
Easter is a magnificent day! It is the most significant day of the entire year. It is a day of celebration ... the finest clothes, lilies trumpeting their beautiful fragrance, Christian fellowship, joyful greetings ... nothing can be too good. On Easter we celebrate new hope and the possibility of living life to its fullest. God is saying to us that his blessings and love are ours. Good and even great days are now possible for us with the best of days still to come in heaven.
What problems lurk in your life? Are you afraid of death? Are you afraid of life? Easter proclaims that you can be victorious over any problem that you might face. Victory can be yours by believing in Easter and by appropriating Easter into your daily life.
But what is Easter? Easter is power. The power of God released which raised a dead Son after he had been in the grave for three days. Many gravestones carry the inscription, "Here lies ...," but on Christ’s tomb are the words, "He is not here." In Joseph’s garden is history’s only empty grave. I believe Christ rose from the dead, and I believe the resurrection power of God is still being unleashed today.(1)
19 It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.”
John writes that it is still Sunday - it is still Easter Sunday. The disciples are in that upper room behind closed and locked doors. They were in fear. They were afraid that the Jews were on the look out for them. They were afraid that their fate would be the same as Jesus.
I’ve often tried to put myself in their places. Mary Magdalene had seen and talked with Jesus. She had told the disciples everything that Jesus had told her.
John and Peter had been to the tomb, they found it empty just like Mary had told them. John wrote
8 Then the other disciple, the one who arrived at the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
What did he believe? Jesus had told them that he would die and that he would be resurrected. They had witnessed Lazarus being raised from the dead so John knew that it was possible. Matthew tells us that when Jesus died that graves broke open in the cemetery.
51 Look, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split,
52 and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised.
53 After Jesus’ resurrection they came out of their graves and went into the holy city where they appeared to many people.
With all that had happened did John believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead? We know he did not understand what all was happening because he says so in verse 9.
9 They didn’t yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.
The reality of the resurrection had not hit them yet. They are hiding out behind a locked door. They are in fear that they will be arrested and die that horrible death that Jesus died. They are wondering what happened to Jesus body even though Mary said she had talked to him.
It is evening time, the doors are shut and suddenly the reality of Easter hits them. Jesus is standing there among them! For a moment time must have stopped for them. They were hiding out in fear for their lives and suddenly there is Jesus.
Jesus spoke to them he said:
Peace be with you.
Jesus knew exactly what they needed. He said to them Shalom, a very familiar greeting. Bruce Milne in his commentary on this passage wrote about Shalom by saying:
The Message of John 3. The Apostles (20:19–23)
It gathers up all the blessings of the kingdom of God; shalom is life at its best under the gracious hand of God. Jesus’ use of it on that Easter evening therefore represented the first truly authentic bestowal of shalom in the history of the world! Precisely because he has brought the kingdom of God into realization by his death and rising, now and only now is shalom a realizable blessing. Thus his “Shalom!” on Easter evening is the complement of his “It is finished!” on the cross, for the peace of reconciliation and life from God is now imparted. “Shalom!” accordingly is supremely the Easter greeting.
Jesus talked about this peace.
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid.
He is talking about his upcoming death. He is telling them that he is leaving them with a gift. It is the gift of peace - wholeness, completeness.
This idea of peace got me thinking. I looked up how Jesus used that word. I discovered there were several times when Jesus healed someone that he told them to go in peace.
The thought that ran through my mind was that he was telling them to go in wholeness or fulness or completeness. When Jesus healed someone, he didn’t just heal them a little bit, he healed them completely.
That woman who had been sick for twelve years was healed completely. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he not only brought him back from the dead, but he healed him from what ever it was that took his life in the first place.
When that woman who anointed Jesus with the perfume from an alabaster jar left his presence he said to her:
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
She was not just a little bit saved, she was saved wholly, completely, fully.
I believe that ties in to what Jesus says to the disciples. He says Peace be with you. He was offering them something that they did not have. He was offering them true and lasting peace.
John says that he showed them his hands and his side and then he says it again.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”
He didn’t stop with offering them this peace. He identifies a mission for them. He says that just like the Father sent him, he is sending them. Jesus was not done with his mission, but he was commissioning or deputizing the disciples to continue on in Jesus name. They weren’t to just sit around in Jerusalem. They were being sent on a mission.
Jesus does something interesting that we might pass over quickly. John says there in verse John 20:22 “22 Then he breathed on them.”
He breathed on them. That seems a curious thing to do. A couple of incidents came to mind as I pondered this thought.
The first was in the valley of dry bones. God said to Ezekiel
9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The Lord God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.”
10 I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company.
The breath of God entered that army and they came to life. It was new life because they were nothing but an army of bones.
The more significant passage that came to mind is found in Genesis.
7 the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. The human came to life.
Here is the creation of man. God formed the shape out of dirt. I picture in my mind a sand sculpture. Some of them look amazing. Some seem so realistic. God created this dirt sculpture and then he “blew life’s breath into his nostrils.” The sculpture became a living breathing man. New life was born that very moment. Life that had never existed before in history.
When God created the animals at creation he did not breath the breath of life into them. He simply created them with life.
With man, who was made in God’s image, he breathed the breath of life into him and he came alive.
Coming back to our text, the scripture says that He breathed on them. Could it be that he breathed on them to give them this new life that he has been talking about all during his ministry?
There is something that happens when a person comes to saving faith in Jesus. We are made new. The Apostle Paul wrote:
17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
When God created man in His image, that was life, new life. Sin broke all of that. Jesus came to set it all right again. He said John 10:10 “I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”
How can we have that life? We were dead in sin.
Paul states it this way
1 At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God.
2 You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.
3 At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.
4 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!
6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus.
7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed.
9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of.
10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that amazing that God wanted a relationship with us that he did all of that for us? That should make us a little bit excited!
We can live that kind of life because of what Jesus did. Notice his next action.
22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the source of life. To enter into this mission that Jesus was commissioning them for, they needed the Holy Spirit. We know that in a few short weeks the Holy Spirit would come on them in power. There would be no doubt that God was at work in their lives. On that one day more than 5,000 were added to that small group of believers.
Jesus didn’t stop with telling them to receive the Holy Spirit. He said
23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.”
One commentator wrote:
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 27: John Breathed on for Mission
Then these men are given the authority to continue Jesus’ “priestly” work, to carry forward His ministry of forgiveness. Jesus is the only one who can forgive; it is His blood that cleanses the sinner and sets Him free! But these who have been breathed upon are called to be a forgiving, healing people. They are given the right to speak a discerning word of power in Jesus’ name that will release the burden of sin. Wherever the breath of the risen Lord is, there is forgiveness. Jesus gives His people the boldness to speak this word in His behalf.
One of the greatest privileges that I have as a pastor is to be able to tell a person that their sins are forgiven. Jesus is the one who does the forgiving. I get to tell someone that their sins have been forgiven by what Jesus has already done. To see in their face the joy and relief that their sins are indeed forgiven is simply awesome.
That same author wrote
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 27: John Breathed on for Mission
Too often the institutional church has not been “breathed on” and consequently has lacked the spiritual authority to deal with sin. Then it becomes a “do-good club” enmeshed in a maze of legalisms or simply a friendly collection of people. But there is no loosing of sin.
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 27: John Breathed on for Mission
This authority to speak the word of release and forgiveness or retention and judgment is not given to a spiritually elite group or to specialized clergy, but to all the people who live under the authority of the risen Christ.
N.T. Wright wrote
Lent for Everyone: Mark, Year B Easter Saturday: John 20:19–31
Think back, all through the Lenten journey, to all that we have seen and learnt of Jesus. Remember, incident by incident, what he was doing, announcing God’s kingdom and making it happen wherever he went, bringing healing and hope, food for the hungry and wisdom for the foolish. Now ask yourself: what would it take for us to do that, to be that, for our world today and tomorrow? Answer that question, and you have found the key to Christian mission.
The power of the Risen Lord has been unleashed through the work of the Holy Spirit. God has given us all that we need to accomplish His mission. It seems that we often are content living like God hasn’t done anything for us. God Help us.
God help us to realize that God has blessed in the Heavenly realms with all spiritual blessings.
God wants to resurrect us from whatever defeat is in our lives and then give us a victorious death. He wants to resurrect us from a life of loneliness and gloom into one of meaning and joy. He wants to resurrect us from a life deadened by fear to a life enlivened by confidence. He especially wants to resurrect us from our own personal death into his very own personal paradise.
So roll back the stone of any unbelief in your hearts, behold the glory of the empty tomb, and thrill to the power that can now be yours. Place your weak and trembling hand into his and say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God." Belief in Jesus and his resurrection is the key that delivers us from fear and sorrow. Jesus is the key to personal happiness, to peace, and to life everlasting. You can know this peace, you can know this joy, you can have this power, if today you will commit yourself to him, and then say with your whole heart, "I know that my Redeemer lives!" (1)
(1) John H. Krahn unleashed | Search Results | Sermon and Worship Resources (sermons.com)