Sermon Transcript
to John 20. We’re going to be continuing the story the day Jesus rose from the dead, from Easter last week.
If you think to, you can say a little prayer for my voice. You might hear it in it, but I’ve had allergies and maybe a little cold, so I could use the prayers. But well, we all have life moments that have changed our lives. They’re just moments that just come up that just change the direction or course of our lives. And whether we remember them or not, I think we all have some— these sorts of moments, whether they’re small like a conversation we had with a high school teacher that encouraged us to pursue our dreams, or winning a contest that built the confidence that we, we had in order to start along a certain life path, or maybe something bigger like finding that the love of your life wants to marry you.
Recently on the Today Show, there was this really cool episode— episode— where the hosts brought in a couple off the street that had a big sign out there saying, we love the Today Show. You know how they bring them in. They’re standing out there in the cold. Come on in here, we want to talk to you. So they came in and talked to the hosts.
Martha Stewart was a guest that day, so she had a microphone. She’s sitting up there on the couch with all of them, just kind of taking this all in. And there’s a lot of chatter back and forth. And then at some point the host said, now sir, we understand that there’s some business you need to attend to. Why don’t you go ahead and take the stage?
He said, thank you. He said, Rachel, looking to his girlfriend, you’re the love of my life. We’ve been celebrating this weekend. It’s just been such a fun time, but really it’s been coming to this, and I just want to spend the rest of my life with you. Got down on one knee, took out a ring, and said, will you marry me?
Well, the best part is She didn’t respond right away. And you know how that goes. The hosts, professional as they are, fill the silence and say, okay, this is a wonderful thing. Wow, this is special. Martha Stewart’s over there saying, you better say yes, honey.
And so this keeps going. More silence. Eventually the guy starts to feel a little awkward and says, babe, I love you. You know, one of those things to kind of fill the silence. More silence.
And now you start to hear a little hiccup. Actually, it sounds like she might start to be crying. And at this point, it’s just intolerably awkward. The guy says, babe, your parents are watching. Can you please say something?
And just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, she says— she’s now crying full-on— and she says, I can’t do this. I can’t do this. Looks to the host, can you please turn off the cameras? I can’t do this. We need to turn off the cameras.
And so you’re just sitting there. The camera pans to Martha Stewart, and she’s just kind of— When you think you can’t take any more, the host says, surprise! April Fools! Of course, this broadcast last Monday. And the joke is on the audience.
The joke is on Martha Stewart. These guys were paid actors.
The best thing was, I went back to make sure I had the details all right. And so I was watching the little YouTube-like segment, and you know there’s little comments afterwards. The best thing is almost every comment was, I was not going to be fooled today, and the Today Show got me. So, wonderful thing.
It was after that, I was actually inspired after that to start looking at April Fool’s jokes, start messing with Cindy that day, but that’s another story. There’s moments like that, proposals like these, big life moments like these, when they’re real, You know, change us. They have a big impact on our life. Jesus’ resurrection, His post-resurrection appearances changed the life of His followers forever. Those who He first encountered, their lives were never to be the same.
Not in the least. And through them, through it being kept in the scriptures for us, His post-resurrection appearances are meant to change our lives as well. But here’s a question I have for you. If I were to ask you, why did Jesus appear after the resurrection? What would you say?
If I were to give you some time with your neighbor and you were to share with them why Jesus appeared after he died, what would you say? And I imagine for most of us the answer would be, well, to prove the resurrection, to prove the gospel. And you’d be absolutely right. But the thing is here, there’s much more going on here. Jesus has much more that He wants to have change us by these appearances than just proving the resurrection.
And so not only for His followers then, but for us today. And so as we look at John 20 today, starting in verse 11, we’re going to look with fresh eyes, hopefully, and see really that there’s more going on here. In my study, this has just been a fun thing just to see that Jesus has more in mind when He appeared. And so really what we’re going to be looking at today, because it has big implications for us, is we’re really going to be answering this question: Why do the appearances— why do Jesus’ appearances after He died matter? How are they to affect us?
Why do they matter? So we’re going to look at the appearance to Mary Magdalene, the appearance to the disciples, and the appearance to Thomas, finally. So first, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. You see there in verse 10, the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. Now, we don’t know a lot about Mary Magdalene.
Now, first of all, just so we’re all on the same page, Mary Magdalene is not Mary, mother of Jesus, right? There’s a lot of Marys back then. This is Mary Magdalene, and we don’t know a whole lot about her. I would say we really know just 2 things. We know, for starters, that she was demon-possessed.
That’s actually the introduction we have to her in the New Testament. One little line: Mary was possessed by 7 demons, and Jesus drove out those demons. Now, demon possession in that society, in that culture, was an unquestioned reality. And what we know from that, from seeing different accounts of Jesus running across people who were possessed by demons, is that the people who were affected by this were just in an incredibly hard place, just in a dark, dark place. They were harmful to themselves often, harmful to society physically, and just in a terribly dark place spiritually.
And Jesus, in healing her, had taken her what amounted to be hopeless life and completely right-sided it. The other thing we know about Mary Magdalene is she was a very devoted follower to Jesus, very committed. How do we know that? Well, we— the only other place that we see an account of her other than what we’re looking at today is at the cross. She was among the very few who stayed with Jesus as he hung there on the cross.
We won’t relive the agony that that must have been for her, but she stayed there when all others, just about all of His disciples, ran for their lives. So Mary was a completely devoted follower of Christ, probably because she felt a sense of indebtedness to Jesus for healing her, but He was her Savior. She loved Him, was committed to Him, and now as we pick up here in John 20, Mary has been having a rough last little bit, last few days. I mean, could you imagine? Has there ever been a time in your life where you just have thing after thing happen where it’s just been hard and hard and then one more thing happens and you just are an emotional wreck?
You just break down? That’s what happened with Mary. She went to the tomb the third day after Jesus died and was going there to honor his body. She finds that the tomb is empty. The body’s not there.
She draws the conclusion that Jesus’ body has been taken, and that’s just enough. She starts crying, actually weeping. The force of the word here is crying uncontrollably. Picking up again in verse 10, as she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw 2 angels in white seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, woman, why are you crying?
They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don’t know where they have put him. Have you ever thought about this from the angel’s perspective? I mean, just could you imagine the irony that they were seeing? I mean, here they were sitting and watching the moment of all moments in human history when we first encounter the risen Lord. And what should be the most joyous of all occasions, there Mary is crying.
Like a baby. And so when they ask, woman, why are you crying? It’s more than understandable of a question. Cindy often is looking for where you see that God has a sense of humor. This is probably one of those places.
Just the irony here. She’s crying. The angels ask, woman, why are you crying? At this, verse 14, she turned around, probably heard something, and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not realize that it was Jesus.
Woman, he said, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? Thinking he was a gardener, she said, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him. Then the most beautiful line of all, as this just comes together, Jesus said to her, Mary. The penny drops for her.
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, Rabboni! Which means teacher. Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, I have seen the Lord!
And she told them that he had said these things to her. Now what’s going on here? What is it in this account that shows us why Jesus appeared? Why it matters? And I think the biggest question for us here is this: why of all people did Jesus first appear to Mary Magdalene?
Why did he appear to her? Even in the Scriptures, she’s a little-known person. In society, she was a nobody. It’s not to be overlooked that she was a woman. And think about it in the culture.
We know enough about history that the society back then didn’t treat women in the best of ways. They were not counted in the census. In trials, their testimony wasn’t valid. And yet look that Jesus sends her to tell the apostles of his risen— resurrection. St. Augustine, I thought, said it best: In doing this, Jesus made Mary Magdalene apostle to the apostles.
What is Jesus doing here that he is first appearing to Mary Magdalene. And then you also see just the orchestration of it all. The angels, all of this for her. That Jesus would appear at a distance feigning ignorance as he’s just kind of having— as this plays out with her. And it all culminating in the moment when he would use her name to reveal it all to her.
What is going on here? The answer it seems to me, is quite simple. And that is the first thing we’re looking at. Jesus appeared to love us intimately. To show us that he loves us intimately, when Jesus said to Mary, and he saw, and she in that moment heard her name, recognized the Lord, knew that he was there for her to minister to her needs.
That when he was doing that, it’s as if you and I can take our names and place it in there for Mary. Jesus is saying, I came for each and every one of you. I love you intimately. One of my favorite things to do these days is to pick up my little boy Caleb, 17-month-old guy, from childcare. He’s in there part-time, but he loves childcare.
I mean, he’s just a little social bee. Loves the teachers, loves the kids. But when I go to pick him up, I’ll knock on the door and I’ll start talking to one of the teachers. It doesn’t matter where in the building he is. If he hears my voice, I hear from somewhere aloud, Daddy!
I don’t know where he picked it up, but he says my name with a British accent. Daddy! And then I just hear these little patters, and from one of the corners he comes around and just goes like this, and just, mm, mm, mm, because he can’t, you know, say, pick me up. And he is just— I just love it, man. And he does this because he knows I’m there for him.
I’m there for him. There’s all these other kids, but I’m there for him. Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of the living God, loves each of us, you and me, intimately with His infinite mind, with His infinite heart, deeply, personally. What’s amazing too, you see more here in the Scripture, He says, go and tell my brothers. If there’s a little phrase you can circle, it’s my brothers.
Go tell them that I’m returning to My God and your God, my Father and your Father. What’s mind-boggling to me is when Jesus appeared, He is showing that He has once and for all linked Himself with mankind. Do you see that? The Son of God has taken on our body and will forever be linked to us. He calls us His brothers and sisters.
And the meaning of this is just wonderful, the implications of this. It means that Jesus can completely relate to yours and my struggles. Whenever we come across hard times, Jesus knows exactly what He’s— He can sympathize fully with us because He’s been through it all and yet remained sinless. The Bible is chock-full of how this plays out. You think about Temptation.
Hebrews 2 says, because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. Suffering. Jesus, for the joy— this is also in Hebrews 12— Jesus, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus faced the most horrific of all suffering, and yet was able to do it with joy because of the love of God He had, and so is therefore able to help us in our suffering. Jesus has forever linked himself with us.
He loves us intimately. And in appearing to Jesus— in appearing to Mary, he was making it clear to her and us down the ages that he loves us intimately. Before moving on to the next account, I think it’s important to learn a lesson from Mary here, and that is, though Jesus loves us intimately, it needs to be embraced. I think that’s what’s going on when John spends this time Mary, in this moment of moments when she hears and understands that Jesus is there for her, yells out, Rabboni! And John spends some time saying that means teacher.
Mary is showing us that we need to embrace the love Jesus has for us. We have to do it with a humble, teachable heart. You see, Jesus loves us, but he’s not going to force it on us. That’s the gospel message. That’s why, for example, he didn’t first appear, it seems to me, to the disciples, His go-to guys, the guys He had been spending 3 years with, because He wanted to make it clear it’s not by works, it’s by you and me.
It’s by what I have done for you. But it needs to be embraced. So appearing to Mary, Jesus made it clear He loves us intimately. Jesus appeared to love us intimately. And then next, Jesus appears to the disciples.
We pick up in verse 19. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Now the disciples were in the upper room scared for their lives, locked the doors.
Jesus had just been stripped away from them, had been killed, crucified. The government had just brought their power on Him. The Jews had just succeeded in killing Him, and now they were worried that the same fate was going to fall on them. So they were staying in their rooms, not leaving to the best they could. And it’s in this moment In this state of confusion, they were probably trying to figure out what to do.
Jesus appears. And could you imagine? It says they were overjoyed. What an understatement. I mean, you know, think about reunions.
How fun are reunions? Well, how fun are most reunions supposed to be? This was the reunion of all reunions. Everything clicked for the disciples. Jesus had been talking about, I’m going to rise again.
I’m going to die, but I’m going to rise again. Didn’t even cross their minds that he was actually talking truth. And yet here in this moment, they see without any doubt that Jesus has done just that. The reunion of all reunions and the joy of all joys. And it’s in that moment that Jesus says something.
He has some business. He says, peace be with you. Verse 21, excuse me. And then he says it, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. In this moment of moments, Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
What’s going on here? Well, Jesus appeared, number 2, to get us into the game. I think it’s the way I thought to put it together. To get us in the game. Have you ever watched Little League baseball?
You know, 11-year-old, 12-year-old boys out there. I’m always thinking about when I’m watching these games about the pitcher. Because the pitcher, especially when you start getting to the upper levels of competition— all-stars, playoffs, whatnot, regionals— there’s a lot of pressure that is placed onto these little 12-year-old boys. Probably a lot more pressure than needs to be placed on a preteen kid. And as such, you know how the coach goes out and talks to them and will, you know, will go out to the mound and talk with them?
9 times out of 10, I can tell you from experience, they are not going out there to talk strategy in these pressure situations. Which is what I think most of us would think. 9 times out of 10, they’re going out there to help their boy stay emotionally stable. That’s what’s going on. And they do it a number of different ways.
My coach was kind of fun. He was a little creative with it. He’d come out there and he’d say, before anything else, David, what What’s the capital of Florida? Tallahassee. What’s the capital of California?
Sacramento. I thought I was having a little history exam. And then he’d get to the end of that and he’d say, look, you’re doing a great job. Keep throwing the pitches that you’re throwing. Trust your defense and you’re going to get out of this.
Jesus came to get us in the game. The disciples were stuck in the upper room. They were in fear for their lives. Jesus said, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. It’s a very real purpose if you identify yourself as a Christ follower, as we identify ourselves as Christ followers, it’s a very real purpose that we have to get the message out, is what Jesus is saying.
And the message is very clear. He says it himself, if you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. That’s the gospel. It’s not that Christians are the judge, that we say whether people go to heaven or— it’s that Jesus has entrusted to us the very words of life.
And we’ve got to get this message out. But the problem is, as I’ve said, like the disciples, we often lock ourselves in the room. We often psych ourselves out. We often dwell on our troubles, on our struggles, whatever it might be. Jesus is saying, I came to die for that, I’m appearing that everything is okay now.
So you need to go out and help others see the gospel. You need to get in the game. So I think how this bears for us is, are we looking for ways to share the gospel? Do we have our eyes open for opportunities in our life actions, in words, when appropriate, sharing the good message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And then finally, Jesus appears to Thomas. Now Thomas, called Didymus, one of the 12, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. He was out doing something else we don’t know. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my where the nails were and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.
A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Then He said to Thomas, Put your hand— put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.
Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to Him, My Lord and my God. Then Jesus told him, because you have seen, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Thomas could not believe without physical verification. And a week goes by, excuse me, a week goes by and the disciples have been talking to him, we have seen the Lord. It’s true. It’s true.
I mean, the only thing I can think of for Thomas was he thought they were hallucinating. I mean, what other conclusion could you have? But Jesus appears again to the disciples and look at this. Especially to address Thomas. He comes for Thomas, and he comes for us through Thomas.
And I think really the verse that really pulls it out here, what he was doing here in this appearance, is verse 29. If you look at it again, and then Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. You know, although it doesn’t work the same way for us today, We don’t have Jesus in the flesh to see Him physically. Jesus was still appearing for the same reason to Thomas as He does for us, and that is, even though it doesn’t work the same way, Jesus appeared to authenticate the message.
Something we talked about at the beginning, but it’s true. Jesus appeared to authenticate the message. And really, I think we see it in 2 ways in the Scripture here. First, the Gospel is authenticated through the resurrection. So that we would know that the resurrection actually happened.
Now the Bible has no qualms talking about how the resurrection is a historical fact. I think often as Christians we shy away from that. It’s a little, I don’t know. To the Bible, resurrection is historical fact. Paul, when he’s writing, says, if Christ did not raise from the dead, our faith is useless.
We might as well eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
Which also means, incidentally, if you can disprove the resurrection, the whole thing collapses. Christianity rises and falls on the resurrection. And many of you know Tim Riley. He preached here a couple weeks ago. He’s been doing the Monday training sessions.
He’s just a real go-get-’em guy, but he shares the gospel with a lot of people. He’s an evangelist, and he often says this with with people who are not Christ followers. He says, just look into the resurrection in a way Tim Riley only can. He says, and when you do, tell me when you want to be baptized. And that’s basically how he puts it.
And the reason why he says that in a sense is because that’s his story. He was a staunch atheist. He was so strong in his beliefs, he would go for Christians and try to convince them out of their faith. And then at one time he realized— he saw that verse that I just when Jesus mentioned that everything— it’s useless if Christ didn’t rise from the dead. He said, you know what?
I’m going to set out to disprove this. And in setting out to look into the resurrection, not just the biblical sources, a lot, most of which non-biblical sources, he came to the conclusion, whoa, the resurrection must be true. And now he’s a pastor and an evangelist telling people about Jesus.
More accounts of the proofs for the resurrection, I’d love to see you. You can come to me after the service. I’d love to point you in the right direction. There’s a lot of things, not just that scholars and skeptics agree, believers and non-believers agree together, that you can piece together based on the facts of the resurrection and make up your mind. The other thing here is the gospel is authenticated through the biblical accounts.
That’s what John is saying in verses 30 and 31. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. This is really John’s summation of the book. So he’s talking about all the miracles recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
In other words, the biblical accounts prove the resurrection, prove the gospel. They’re enough to believe. Now you might have the objection, Well, David, that’s circular reasoning. How can you say the Bible proves the Bible’s message? You know, how do we know these aren’t fabricated?
Well, there’s many responses to that, but John’s response for that, according to these verses, is this: decide for yourself. Decide for yourself whether you want to believe. C.S. Lewis, I thought, really talked to this well. He talks about how there’s 3 historical figures that we know from the writings, the recorded writings that we have of them, that you just know that they are not fabricated people.
We know their personalities intimately and fully. And then he talks about Plato’s Socrates, Boswell’s Johnson, of whom many believe to be the best-written biography in English, and Jesus of the Gospels. And so look at this quote. C.S. Lewis talking about this says, in the Gospels we see in Jesus a peasant shrewdness, intolerable severity, and irresistible tenderness.
So strong is the flavor of Jesus’ personality that even while he says things which on any other assumption than the divine incarnation in the fullest sense would be appallingly arrogant, yet we, and many unbelievers too, accept him as his own valuation when he says, I am meek and lowly of heart. Even those passages in the New Testament which superficially and in intention are most concerned with the divine and least with the human nature, bring us face to face with the personality. Jesus came to reveal the Father. He said, if you know me, you know the Father. And what John is saying, what Jesus is saying, is when you look to the biblical accounts, you have more than enough to make up your mind.
Jesus came to authenticate the gospel. The challenge is read and decide for yourself. I would say before moving on here and bringing it all together as we look to the appearance of Thomas here, this means we got to make the resurrection central. It’s the anchor. It’s where we got to start.
If you’re not a believer, if you don’t identify yourself as a Christ follower, I would say if you’re interested in finding out, is this really true, look into the resurrection. Look into the biblical accounts. Find somebody who you know and ask them, who’s a Christ follower, and ask them. And then decide for yourself. Jesus is not in the business of pressuring you.
But the promise is He’ll make it clear to you, give you enough. It might not be what you think you need, but He’ll always make it clear enough in some way for you to make the decision in faith. And then to people who identify yourself as Christ followers to us, I’d say help others look into the resurrection. It is the central piece, and there are even non-Christian sources that prop it up. But of course, look to the— help people look to the biblical accounts.
In appearing to Thomas, Jesus was authenticating the message. Appearing to Mary, he was showing that he loves us intimately. And appearing to disciples, he was telling us to get into the game. But how does this all come together.
Why do His appearances matter? And I think there’s more to it than what we were just talking about. I think the heart of it really comes in one phrase that occurs a number of times here in these accounts, and that is the phrase, peace be with you. Do you notice that that happens a couple of times? It happens 3 times.
He says it twice to the disciples, verses 19 and 21, and then He says it once to Thomas. Verse 26. If you look to the parallel account in Matthew, you’ll see that Jesus, in different wording, says something similar to Mary Magdalene in the same instance that we looked at today. Jesus is saying more than just, don’t be scared. I walked through some walls.
It’s pretty cool. Don’t be scared. He’s saying more than that. And it was something that the readers, the early Hebraic readers, would have known, and what He has for us. This is part of my story.
You know, when I was in college, I had a time of really struggling through what it is I believe and why I believe it. I just came to this point where I just did not want to believe. I did not want this faith to be mine because I was raised a Christian. And so I spent a lot of time thinking about these things. I looked into different religions, had conversations with different people, but mainly I went on a lot of long walks and had some internal dialogues.
David, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Well, yeah, I do. No, no, no, that’s not how it worked out. No, I just had a lot of long walks and really what brought it together for me, I believe God put this on my heart, was one verse.
There’s a passage actually early in John when Jesus is talking to the crowds and he has some evidently some very hard teachings because the crowds are just dispersing. They don’t want to be there. They don’t want to hear And so they’re all leaving. And in this moment, Jesus looks at the disciples and says, what about you guys? Are you going to leave me too?
And here’s the verse that I think really gets to the core of why I believe in Jesus. Peter, in response to that, said, to whom else will we go? You alone have the words of life. When Jesus was saying, peace be with you, when he appeared again, he was talking about the shalom of God, the peace from the beginning, the first pages of the Bible. Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace that the Greek word borrows from here.
A sense of completion, a sense of wholeness. What he was talking about was the restoration of our relationship with the living God. That our sin has been taken care of. Jesus, when he came, he said, peace be with you. He’s saying, everything is okay.
I’ve been talking about this. I’ve been saying this is true. Now see that it is true. I stand before you, and your relationship with the Lord is restored because of what I have been able to do on your behalf. I have given you shalom, the ultimate peace.
But the thing we see in each of these accounts is it cannot stop there. It cannot stop there. For Mary, She went and said, I have seen the Lord. For the disciples, they went off and said, we have seen the Lord. For Thomas, he fell at the Lord’s feet and says, my Lord and my God, and goes off.
And eventually, we know through historical records, is martyred in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ because he was changed that day. It cannot stop for ourselves. And I really think the bottom line of this passage really comes down to this. Jesus appeared to offer the shalom To offer shalom that we might offer it to others.
Imagine if there was some coffee, just the best brewed coffee down the street from where you live. I mean, it just tastes so good, incredible price. You’re going to be out there telling people about it. If coffee doesn’t do it for you— look at some people, coffee just doesn’t do it— chocolate, okay? There’s great chocolate, free chocolate.
We would want to be helping others experience it, telling people about it. The problem is we so often lock ourselves in the room. We psych ourselves out. And I think— and this is what’s really been hitting me as I’ve been working— the Lord’s been working through this in my heart. I think it’s because we take for granted that Jesus appeared those days.
And we— and the shalom that he offers, the peace of God, we allow only to minister to our hearts. Jesus is saying, this cannot be. You’ve got to be out there sharing it.
My father-in-law, whom I know I use as an example here— I’ve used a couple, so bear with me— but he just— my father-in-law gets it. He’s been a Christ follower for about 2 years. He’s had terminal cancer for about that same amount of time. The Lord, by His grace, has extended his time, but the cancer is really bearing down on him. And yet he holds this peace, this shalom, and he is just telling folks about it even in the face of death.
The other day we were on Skype with him. You know, we’re just trying to Skype as much as we can. Excuse me, not Skype, FaceTime. And we’re just trying to get Caleb on the phone with Grandpa, Grandma. And he has to give the phone— he’s not very mobile at this point, but he’s able to get around.
He has to hand the phone off to my mother-in-law because people had brought over dinner. For them. And so we’re talking to my mother-in-law, and he’s in the background speaking Chinese to these people. And Cindy’s like, do you hear what he’s saying? I said, well, I wasn’t really paying attention.
What’s he saying? He’s sharing the gospel in the background. People just came to have dinner. He’s just sharing the gospel. As he becomes less mobile, he’s using social media.
You should see his Facebook page.
He’s sending emails to his brothers and sisters who are not Christ followers. Because he has been changed. His sins have been forgiven. He wants others to experience it as well. May that be true for us.
May— I really think it comes down to this, even as we think about it this week. May our lives declare, I have seen the Lord. Or when the disciples say it, we have seen the Lord.
May the resurrection, may the appearances that happened that day change us, not only when we become Christ followers initially, but may they continue to change us. And may we offer freely that in which God has freely given to us. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we sit here today forgiven in you. If we’ve received you, Lord, you are our life.
And if you didn’t rise again and you didn’t appear those days, we wouldn’t be here. What would be the point? And that, Lord, and this is something I confess, you know, we often struggle with. We take your love, your peace that you offer us for granted. May that not be true, but may we depend on you with the Holy Spirit that you breathe upon us to share what it is you’ve given us, that the world might also receive the peace that you’ve given us.
Lord, that is our heart, that is our desire. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, this concludes our service. One thing I do want to mention is that today is is the day we collect benevolence offering for those who are less fortunate.
There are some plates in the back so you can find that and give as your heart feels led. But go in peace.
