NOTE: At start of service the following text is read – John 20:1-22 or 1,11(after ‘but’) -22. Only 20:19-22 are in bulletin insert
The following portion of text was included in sermon outline bulletin insert (but not read again):
John 20:19-22 (NIV)
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!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
Message
Today we gather around an event that has broken into human history like no other.
It’s vital to recognize that it is indeed into history… real history. It was the unfolding of what God spoke through the prophets was going to happen. He would send a Messiah… a figure would enter human history to redeem it… one who would suffer as a sacrifice for our sins and then be raised up. It is an event that was really seen… really touched. It was witnessed by hundreds. It was proclaimed from the start and a whole movement began based upon it. Paul’s own writings were within the lifetime of many who were there and could have challenged it’s credibility. Instead it spread.
More importantly it has born the power to piece the reality of the human soul like no other. People have not gathered for the past 2,000 years to say, "The stock market has risen. It has risen indeed." They have not gathered to say, "The dollar has risen. It has risen indeed." But across every continent and culture for two millennia of difficult times of poverty, disease, pain, hardship, and death itself, people have proclaimed "Christ is risen. He is risen indeed." (Last statement drawn from John Ortberg)
But for all the hope, to appreciate the power of this event, we need to appreciate where it begins… it begins in darkness… where one can see little hope. As we heard those accounts read at the start of our worship…we reminded that the resurrection comes as that which begins in fear and ends in peace.
‘while it was still dark,
While it was still dark… Mary Magdalene went to the tomb…when one can’t see clearly… and there is plenty to be worried about… plenty to fear.
That is precisely where Easter begins… The disciples had come to the big city… Jerusalem… filled with anticipation… only to have their door of hope closed behind a massive cold stone.
> Many of us can feel that way about life…. begin with ideals… doors we anticipate… and then find that they’re never quite open. So it’s no coincidence that Easter begins with the ultimate closed door of all doors… Faced with a massive stone… soldiers… and a seal… how fittingly it should represent the world’s greatest power… the Roman empire.
The world had closed the door to the presence and power of God which Christ represented.
But that wasn’t the only closed door….
Vs. 19 – “That evening, on the first day of the week the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid…”
(Locked behind closed doors in fear of the Jews.’ Of course they weren’t afraid of anyone because they were Jewish… for these men themselves were all Jewish..)
When doors are closed in front of us…sometimes we want to close the doors behind us and within us as well.
They were afraid of the leaders who had sought to silence the presence of the One whom they had found hope it. He had declared that God was at work setting everything right through him. He had called them to be leaders in that work… and imparted faith and courage… and suddenly he is dead… and they are in fear of their own fate.
Very natural fears. There are so many fears that we face and feel. Such fears can define us and confine us… as they appear to be all powerful. We all face fears related to safety… sickness… shortage. Each may claim to have a sovereign power over our lives.
All of us deep down know something about the darkness where fear of the unknown resides.
All of us know something about doors that have been locked in fear….
As this event unfolds… something dramatic happens. The earth shook… the stone is rolled away. Why is the tomb open? So that Christ could come out? No… it becomes quite clear that he would no longer need open doors to exit or enter spaces. No… the tomb is open so that they could look inside…. so that we could look inside.
We must see that it is empty… the body once crucified… could not be contained.
The tomb… the place that embodies fear is now empty… it’s openness declares the promises which God had been fulfilling… and out of the tomb came the One declared through the ages would save the world.
And what of the fears that enclosed the disciples behind closed doors?
Jesus appears… in some new form… His appearance is not expected and there isn’t much warning because it seems that Jesus doesn’t arrive through the front door like he used to. In fact… it’s as if God is making clear what he thinks of the doors of this world. He is lose in the world… and won’t be bound by any door…
He defies the door of the tomb… and with it the ultimate closed door of death itself.
Neither is the door of their own fears going to stop Him.
What are the first words that he speaks…
“Peace be with you.”
Many have noted the significance of the last words of Christ from the cross on which he died. Today we must hear the first words that are spoken to those who discover he has risen. “Peace be with you.’
> God is invading a world bound in fear with a new work of peace.
God calls us to hear what the angel declared… ‘do not be afraid.’… and Jesus declares… PEACE IS NOW WITH THEM.
Peace… it’s a word used on many levels… from a state of being to the state of a relationship to the state of affairs between tribes and nations. But what Jesus declares is not simply the absence of conflict but the presence of something greater.
“Shalom” (Peace from God) means being restored in a state of harmony; being reconciled and settled in a relationship often involving the completion of unresolved obligations or debt; It is life re-aligned to God’s good will and intentions.
• ’ It is a vitality of wholeness… of being connected…. of being settled and secure. (Like the satisfaction when you’re around someone who leaves you feeling more alive.) It carries the idea that one will have such an inner state… that it will effect the outer state.
• God is re-establishing shalom… harmony throughout all… and it is inaugurated in the sacrificial death and the victorious resurrection of Christ…. who now emerges as risen and ruling.
This is what God as our creator has always sought for us to know…
Heaven… His eternal existence…. Is defined by shalom… peace.
• The prophets declared God’s purpose as peace.
• The prophet Isaiah announced that a new covenant of peace would come through a child who would be born in Bethlehem… and be the “Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 6:9)
• At the very birth of Christ… the angels declare… ““Glory to God in the highest, and Peace on earth.” (Luke 2:14)
So with his first words “Peace be with you” the risen Christ is imparting the peace of eternity into the present world.
Many have noted that the new age of fear is marked by terrorism. Because when someone is willing to fly themselves into a building or blow themselves up… out of believing that they can send you to hell while they try to reach heaven. When someone is not afraid to die… they become dangerous. All the normal boundaries are lost.
But today we are reminded that there is one more dangerous.. one who willingly died in order to face the separation from God himself so that you could live forever with God. And he’s far more dangerous… because he already died. If somebody died and came back to life, that is a dangerous person because they're not scared of much. To the powers of fear… no one is more dangerous than Jesus.
He is greater than the powers of this world which we may fear.
This is a real peace that overcomes the world. As proof of this peace, Jesus shows them his wounds. This is no ghost but a new bodily Christ. This is no mere delusional vision of expectations being fulfilled.
• They never even expected a bodily resurrection.
• They were terrified before… and now they will face even a worse fate…. But prove willing to die.
• There are not only multiple accounts by different witnesses… but declared they hundreds saw him… and historians agree that the written accounts are within the lifetime of many still alive.
The resurrection doesn’t erase the reality of the crucifixion – it redeems it and transforms it. Without the resurrection, the crucifixion is nothing more that an unjust tragedy. Redefined by the power of the resurrection it becomes much more. Now the cross is the way of hope. Now suffering is not the final word.
What is the peace that Christ imparts?
He brings peace of life beyond fears.
There are so many dimensions and dynamics that such peace reflects. Let me simply note three facets of the life that Christ imparts.
1. Life beyond our guilt and shame
Guilt and shame that alienate us from ourselves. Guilt is fear of what we have done… and continue to do. Shame is fear of what we are.
We all know a lot about guilt trips and how shame can be used to manipulate people. But no matter how we try to deny it or denounce it… we all live with thoughts and things that make us far from innocent beings.
This past week I was on jury duty…. And the defense attorney kept challenging the prospective jurors to look at his client and presume he was innocent. I kept thinking… if you’d qualify that you are referring to this particular accused crime… it would be a lot easier for me. I can’t see any human life... including my own… and see a fully innocent person. Even the best of us know something of selfish orientation…that we have not fully given ourselves to God and our fellow beings.
Peter knew all about that… claimed he would never forsake Jesus… and now faced the despair that he wasn’t the person he knew he should be. Jesus tells Mary she must go tell the disciples. In one account he even states, go tell ‘the disciples and PETER.’ Strange… he was one of the disciples. Why does God include a specific instruction to be sure he hears the good news? Because he is the one most lost in his shame. He had thought he could do great things for God… and indeed he would… but he had just faced his own weakness… denied even knowing Christ in fear for his life.
Imagine what he felt when Jesus appeared in the locked room. Imagine the power of hearing Jesus declare ‘PEACE.’
And he showed them his hands and feet… for his new body would forever bear the scars of his sacrificial love. They are the scars that told Peter… I just bore your shame as the prophets foretold the Messiah would do.
He tells us he has born our shame… the separation from God… he took upon himself.
We often live between denial and despair. No more denial… no more despair… Jesus declares that he has defeated the power of our guilt and shame and brings PEACE.
The crucified Christ… now risen… has posted a message for us all.
Colossians 2:13-14 (GW)
“You were once dead because of your failures and your …corrupt nature. But God made you alive with Christ when he forgave all our failures. …He took the charges away by nailing them to the cross.”
According to an ancient Oriental tradition, whenever a debt was settled, either by payment or forgiveness, the creditor would take the canceled bond and nail it over the door of the one who had owed it. Anyone passing by could then see that it had been fully paid.
In this we transcend a life bound in the fear of our failure… the fear of what we deserve.
1 John 4:10, 13, 18 (GW)
“This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. …We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit. …No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment.”
No fear exists where his love is. When Jesus came among them… there was freedom… freedom from fear… life beyond our guilt and shame.
For Peter it was a new beginning. And it offers a new beginning for each of us.
“Easter is the New Year's Day of the soul.” (A. B. Simpson)
Another fundamental fear is that bring left alone.
It was the first day of school and the kindergarten teacher asked the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. One little boy spoke importantly:
"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a lion tamer. I'll have lots of fierce lions and tigers, and I'll walk in the cage..." he hesitated, then continued, "But, of course, I'll have my mother with me."
Jesus comes to bring…
2. Life beyond ourselves
Many of us may enjoy being alone… but complete and lasting isolation is another matter. There is a reason that the punishment given to prisoners who need further punishment… is solitary confinement…self confinement. To be left with ourselves is what some believe hell actually is… separation from all else.
Mary knew something of being isolated…. One had broken through… but then taken by death. Imagine what it meant to hear her name again.
No he cannot stay with her in his new resurrected body… but he will be with her. He can now be present by his spirit with all.
Matthew 28:20 (NLT)
“Be sure of this: I am with you always.”
We were created to live in permanent relationship… to live with God forever.
And running through the depths of our souls is the sense of both that longing and it’s brokenness. The parents who depart from us. The marriage that says divorce. The company who says we have to downsize.
Nothing this world can offer is forever. No relationship is permanent. No nation, no leader, no earthly institution, no corporation, no career, no human relationship has ever been able to promise permanence. Even the best of marriages is rooted in vows that conclude with the words, "Till death do us part." Much of the pain in our living comes from trying to fulfill the longing for permanence from some source that simply cannot give it. – William Hogan
That is the power of Jesus entering that room… risen and present even when the doors are locked in fear.
Without an abiding presence we will try to comfort ourselves with things… and try to force relationships… or numb it all out. (Could refer to Egyptian’s burying themselves with their slaves and material wealth…. To our own idea that “Those who die with the most toys win.”)
Hebrews 13:5-6 (TEV)
“Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never leave you; I will never abandon you." Let us be bold, then, and say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
Only the eternal, unchanging God is able to make the unparalleled promise of Hebrews 13:5, and keep it: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." The Greek verb translated "leave" actually has the idea of holding something loosely, or relaxing. The idea is that God is never casual or relaxed about his commitment to His people. He will never relax his grip of us.
Of course the final fear is that of death itself. We al have a fear of death we want to avoid.
A man heard that 80 percent of all traffic accidents happen within a mile of home. So he moved! But grief can't be avoided. It comes into every life. We all try to move away from the fear of death.
Jesus comes to bring…
3. Life beyond of the futility of death
Death defines our condition… that of futility and as such we naturally fear it.
We can try to deny it… we can recognize that in our current condition aging is natural….but the Scriptures declare… this isn’t the original nor destined condition.
The Apostle Paul is speaking at length about the resurrection of Christ, and declares…
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” - 1 Corinthians 15:26 (NIV)
> “Enemy” = not a part of God’s original plan and desire for us.
We were never meant to know death.
I remember being on a caterpillar expedition with my son Travis when he was just four years old during which at one point he reminded me, “We can’t keep butterflies, they were meant to fly.”
> Easter proclaims the reality that your very life was meant to fly.
Hebrews 2:14-15
‘Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.’
Jesus comes… “he showed them his hands and side”. … showing he really dies and it was not the end. One life now before us.. a life which was prophesied would rise… said he would rise for us … and then rose up and proved loose in the world.
Star Spangled Banner… “GAVE PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT THAT OUR FLAG WAS STILL THERE.” > He gives proof that life with God exists forever.
Romans 6:4-5 [NLT]
And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.
> “As he was…” - bodily resurrection… new and eternal life.
The Word of God clearly reveals that man is more than a creature of time. He is destined for eternity! Recognizing this truth, a famous American wrote his own epitaph as follows:
The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer,
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
Lies here food for the worms;
But the work shall not be lost,
For it will appear once more
In a new and more elegant edition,
Revised and corrected by its Author!
Far more than new bodies… it is the entering into eternal life which already exists.
John 5:24 [NLT]
"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
1 Peter 1:3-4 (MSG)
Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!
Notice the better life is not just an addition to your old life, something you just tack on. It’s a whole new deal. It’s brand new. God wants to give you a brand new life. Have you noticed how many packages say “New and Improved”? What that means is “Same old junk with a new title.” There’s very little new in this world. It’s all just repackaged, repositioned, relabeled, retitled. There’s very little that’s actually new in the world. But God says I want to give you a brand new life. I want to give you a chance to start over. I want to give you a chance to begin again. That’s the starting point of a better life. (Rick Warren)
And it starts NOW. Eternity isn’t ahead of us… it’s parallel… has always existed. Jesus has opened the door to begin to live out our lives connected to eternity… to heaven… as he did.
Conclusion:
Jesus wants each of us to know true PEACE… life beyond the fears that define us and confine us.
• Life beyond our sin and shame
• Life beyond ourselves
• Life beyond the fear of death.
Invitation
The question is whether we will receive him in the room of our souls. He doesn’t enter as anything other than Master. The Scripture declare that the beginning of wisdom is to fear God. Why fear God if He is good? Because He is BIGGER than all other powers… and you will either fear the good and therefore fear nothing else… or you will fear everything else.
PRAYER
Second conclusion (perhaps after closing worship):
It takes power and courage to choose to LIVE… and so he breathes Spirit… giving new life and power. Empowered with divine presence of the Spirit… breathing was a re-creating life.
It’s time to stop hiding behind locked doors… and come out and live.
Like those first followers he sends us out… with one purpose… to bring PEACE… shalom.
Let is go into the world bearing his peace and power.
