Title: Breathe On Me
Scripture: John 20:19-24; Revelation 1:4-8; Psalm 107:1-9;33-43
Summary: What happens when Jesus is in the midst of His disciples? If we allow Jesus to come into our midst, we shall be filled with peace, stability, joy, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Have you ever been in a room when suddenly someone walks in and there is this air of electricity; this certain spark of energy that accompanies them?
It seems that certain people just possess an added bit of charisma or charm that can change the very atmosphere of a room or a meeting. They possess a certain “specialness” that causes people to stop and pay attention.
Historians tell us that both Presidents J. F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan possessed that type of specialness. Whenever they would walk into a room, the whole atmosphere of the room was transformed. People stopped what they were doing to make sure that they could see them and hear what they were saying.
In our passage this morning, we see Jesus doing the same thing. He suddenly comes into the disciples’ room and the whole atmosphere is transformed. Things go from being downcast and negative to becoming electrifying and positive. The disciples go from being anxiety ridden and fearful to possessing courage. They go from experiencing feelings of confusion and sorrow to experiencing joy and happiness.
I believe this morning, that is what Jesus wants to do for everyone. I believe that is what Jesus wants us to experience when we come to a time of prayer and/or worship. I believe that when we allow Jesus in the room (in our hearts, our minds and our souls) we will be able to experience a presence of joy, peace, salvation and courage in amazing ways.
With that in mind, let’s look for a few moments what Jesus’ Presence was able to do for His disciples back then and what I believe His Presence can do for us today.
I. Jesus’ Presence Brought Peace and Stability
In verse 19 we read where Jesus’ disciples were hiding behind a locked door because they were afraid.
Even though they had heard the message of the Risen Lord from the women and had listened intently to what Peter and John saw at the tomb they were still afraid. They were afraid for their lives and for the lives of their families.
Down deep, the disciples knew it would not be long before the Sadducees and the Pharisees would want them silenced. They knew that both Pilate and the Temple would be doing all they could to destroy any teachings or influence of the Jesus Movement.
After all, the Temple had been successful in finding Jesus guilty of both treason and blasphemy. That meant that Jesus’ disciples could also be arrested for the same things; treason and blasphemy. They could find themselves arrested, beaten and at the very least thrown into prison and at the very worst hanging on a cross taking their last breaths of life.
I am sure the people huddled down in that room were wondering how long they would have to hide out in Jerusalem until things died down. How long would it take before they could safely go back to Galilee and disappear back into their old lives?
What would they do now?
+Could Andrew, Peter, James and John go back to fishing?
+Could Matthew go back to being a tax collector?
+Could Simon the Zealot get back into politics?
+Could Bartholomew go back to his royal family?
Would they or their families ever be safe?
What would the new normal look like?
Just as they were perhaps wondering about all of those things it happened. Suddenly, in the middle of all their anxiety and angst Jesus appears. Right there standing in front of them was Jesus, alive and well.
I am sure it had to startle them. After all, the doors were shut. But right here in front of them was Jesus. There was no denying that it was Jesus. He showed them His hands and feet. They saw the nail prints and they heard His voice speaking peace – “Peace be with you.”
“Peace – Be – With – You”
There is no fussing about why they were not at the tomb.
There is no fussing about locking the door in fear.
There is no fussing about how they had abandoned him.
There is no judgment or condemnation.
There was just the voice of peace. There was just the voice that was able to bring harmony, stability, courage and calmness.
That is what happens when Jesus enters our rooms when they are filled with fear, with doubt and despair. That is what happens when Jesus enters our rooms when they are filled with uncertainty, confusion and chaos.
Jesus brings peace. Our Risen Lord brings tranquility. He replaces doubt and despair with peace and salvation. He removes the negative and replaces it with positivity.
Remember the psalm we read this morning? Psalm 107
It is a song about peace. It is a song centered on how the LORD brought peace to four different groups of people:
+Verses 1-9 – Wanderers who have nowhere to go
+Verses 10-16 - People who find themselves imprisoned
+Verses 17-22 – People injured by their own sinfulness
+Verses 23 – 32 – Sailors who are overcome by a storm
All four groups are beleaguered and overwhelmed. In each case their only hope is in God. Only God can rescue them. Only God can bring them peace. Only God can bring them harmony, stability and joy and in all four cases God does bring them peace, harmony and stability.
It’s why we love some of the old hymns that speak of peace in the midst of trials and tribulations:
+I Need Thee, Every Hour
+It is Well with My Soul
+Peace Like A River
They all remind us that in Christ there is peace. They all remind us that when we feel like shutting and locking the doors we need to invite the Presence of Jesus. They all remind us that when fear, doubt and worry overtake us we need to understand that in the midst of it all is our Lord and Savior Jesus wanting to bring to us an amazing measure of peace, salvation, stability and tranquility.
This morning, no matter what we are going through the truth is right beside us is the Risen One. Right beside us is the Alpha and the Omega. Right beside us is the one who can bring peace to our troubled hearts, minds and souls.
Jesus can bring us a peace and a stability that is tangible. Jesus can bring a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7)
Jesus’ peace is a peace that we saw lived out concretely in the lives of Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie. These two ladies and their family (all members of the Dutch Reformed Church) were responsible for helping hundreds of Jews escape the clutches of the Nazis who were bent on hunting the Jews down, imprisoning them and eventually annihilating them.
On February 28, 1944 the Gestapo raided Corrie Ten Boom’s home and in just a few days garnered up some 30 people they believed had assisted Jewish people in escaping arrest and persecution. For their crimes, Corrie and her sister Betsie were shuffled from one prison to another until they were placed in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany.
It was there that the two sisters witnessed some of the most horrible scenes imaginable. The women at Ravensbrück were routinely beaten, experimented on, made to serve in brothels, subjected to hard labor and suffered severe malnutrition. Corrie and Betsie’s world had been shattered but they determined to stay true to their faith and to live a life of peace as much as it was possible.
Never did they think that they would go from being simple watchmakers to becoming enemies of the German State and then to becoming prisoners at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Never did they think that merely helping the Jews would cost them everything.
In the midst of it all, they stayed in faith and in peace. They did everything they could to bring comfort to others and share the Good News of Jesus with the hundreds of women that lived around them. Even when Betsie knew that she was going to die she did not lose her sense of peace. Listen to some of her last words as recorded by her sister:
"Must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He (the LORD) is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here."
I can’t imagine the pain, the suffering and the heartache that Corrie and Betsie went through. All I can do is to read their stories and be amazed at their courage and strength. It was a strength that came through the peace that Jesus gave them. That is their testimony.
It is that same peace that these disciples and that we can experience this morning no matter what we are going through today, tomorrow or for the rest of our lives.
II. Secondly, Jesus’ Presence brought Great Joy and Forgiveness
Not only did Jesus bring peace into the room but He brought a great deal of joy and forgiveness.
When those disciples saw Jesus’ hands and His side it revealed to them that what the women had said was true. Jesus had in fact risen from the dead.
The proof was right there in front of them.
He was there to see, to feel and to experience.
Can you imagine how much joy suddenly rushed into that room?
The one that they thought was dead was not dead; He was right there with them. Jesus had risen from the dead. He was alive. Their friend, their teacher and Lord was alive. There was no doubt now that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Today, there are a great many people trying their best to manufacture their own joy. Often, they take a similar route taken by the Prodigal Son that we read about in Luke 15:11-32.
+If you remember, that young man thought that he could find ultimate joy in possessing certain material goods or belonging to the right crowd.
+If he could just enjoy certain physical pleasures then he would have joy.
+If he could just have enough money then he could have joy.
He did everything he could to manufacture true joy. He spent everything to experience joy but in the end he discovered that true joy had escaped him. Instead of finding true joy he found himself sitting in a hog lot wishing that he had it as well as the hogs.
We know deep down that true joy cannot be bought. It can’t come from immoral pleasures. It can’t come from just having a bank account full of riches.
The young man found joy when he went back to His Father. He found true joy when he found himself surrounded again with people that truly loved and cared for him. He found lasting joy when he found himself surrounded with people that understood how to forgive him, accept him and that wanted him.
This is the joy that Jesus gives. It is the joy that Jesus’ church is able to give.
Did you notice the strangeness that we see in verse 23 –
“If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven”
At first it may seem like that Jesus’ disciples were given this amazing authority to forgive or not forgive sin.
But that has to be weighed with what Jesus had earlier taught His disciples in what we call the Lord’s Prayer:
“Forgive us this day our trespasses (sins) as we forgive those who have trespassed (sinned) against us”
You see, understood in that light what this verse really means is that you and I have the ability in Jesus to forgive people. We have the ability to release people of their shame and their guilt.
Let’s look at an example of this in practice. Let’s look at the man named Saul later called Paul experience in the Early Church.
When we first read about Paul in chapters 7 and 9 in the book of Acts, he is doing his best to arrest, persecute and get rid of Christ followers. It didn’t matter if it meant arresting senior citizens or children. Paul was on a mission. He was going to do everything he could to stop the Jesus Movement/the Early Church.
But then in Acts 9 we read about a miracle he experienced. In a vision, Jesus appears to Paul and as a result Paul comes to faith in Jesus. On the Damascus Road, Paul realizes once and for all that Jesus is the Anointed Messiah and Savior of the world. He understands that what he had been doing was terribly and horribly wrong.
But now, what does the Church do with this man who has caused some of their most faithful members to be imprisoned and murdered.
How do they handle this new convert named Paul?
The Bible shares how a man by the name of Barnabas saw Paul not as damaged goods but as a man who could be redeemed and restored. He took Paul under his wing and in time we see the Church not only receiving Paul but putting their faith in Paul. By the time we get to Acts 11-12, Paul and Barnabas have been commissioned by the Church to preach to the Gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles.
Now, think about that for a moment. The Church was able to receive a man who had for years done his best to destroy them. The Church was able to receive a man who for years had cursed the name of Jesus.
The Church was not only able to receive him but to work with him. They were able to accept him and teach him all about Jesus. And then they were able to believe in him so much that they anointed and commissioned him to be one of their greatest spokespersons.
Talk about joy and forgiveness.
This is what Jesus gives the Church to be able to receive and to give – joy and forgiveness.
No wonder the world looks at the Church as this strange place.
For the Church is a strange place.
+The Church is this place of peace in the midst of trials and tribulations, suffering and sickness.
+The Church is this place that understands what true joy is – fellowship with God and with one another.
+The Church is this place where people who were once outsiders, who lived lives full of sin, who were even enemies of the Church are forgiven, welcomed, mentored and allowed to become a part of the family.
All of this brings us to the greatest thing that Jesus’ Presence brought that day:
III. Jesus’ Presence Brought the Holy Spirit
In verse 21 we read where Jesus simply breathed on them His Holy Spirit. He filled the air with His Spirit for them to receive, enjoy and experience.
This is the same Holy Spirit that we read about in Genesis chapter one that helped creation take form.
It is the same Holy Spirit that God breathes into a lump of clay called Adam and he comes alive.
It is the same Holy Spirit that we read about in Ezekiel chapter thirty-seven where a valley of dry, dead bones comes to life.
And now Jesus breathes on those gathered there and gives them
+Peace +Stability +Joy +Forgiveness +New Purpose
They no longer have to live under their own power. They are now able to live with the breath of God inside of them, the Holy Spirit in their lives, revealing to them how to live and leading them into what Jesus earlier called the Abundant Life.
It is amazing what the Holy Spirit can do in a person’s life.
Take John Michael Talbot for example.
Here is a man who was changed by the breath of God. Today, those who hear him sing understand the power that God has given him. He is one most famous singers and songwriters in the Catholic Church.
John Michael didn’t start off that way. He started off confused. He started off trying to find peace in quite a number of different religious faiths. He tried the way of the Native Americans but he didn’t find peace. He then tried Buddhism but didn’t find lasting peace.
Finally, he decided to give Jesus a try and discovered the true way of peace, joy and forgiveness. He allowed the LORD to infill him with His Holy Spirit.
John left his Folk-Rock band and began singing contemplative folk songs centered on what it means to follow Jesus. Over the years John has won several Grammy awards along with Dove Awards. He has recorded over 50 albums and written over 30 books and has his own TV show, All Things are Possible on the Church Channel.
One of his most famous songs is one called Breathe On Me
BREATHE ON ME - BY JOHN MICHAEL TALBOT
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
Breathe on me, fill me anew
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
To love what You love and to do what You do
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
Breathe on me, fill me anew
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
To love what You love and to do what You do
Breathe on me, breath of God
Make my heart pure
Conform my will to Your holy will
To choose a life of virtue
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
Breathe on me, fill me anew
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
To love what You love and to do what You do
Breathe on me, breath of God
So I shall never die
But live in the Spirit eternally
Live in the Spirit of life
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
Breathe on me, fill me anew
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
To love what You love and to do what You do
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
Breathe on me, fill me anew
Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God
To love what You love and to do what You do
This morning our passage shows us that Jesus’ Presence can make all the difference in our lives.
+In the place of fear, anxiety and despair, Jesus is able to bring us peace and stability.
+In the place of sorrow, Jesus brings us joy.
+In the place of guilt, Jesus brings us forgiveness.
+In the place of loneliness, Jesus will breathe on us and in us His Holy Spirit.
As we close this morning let’s take a moment or two and listen to that song of John Michael Talbot. Let’s allow it to speak to our hearts. Let’s allow Jesus to come into our hearts and lives and bring peace, comfort, joy, forgiveness and the Lord’s Holy Spirit.
As you listen and perhaps even join in with John – let his words become your words – invite the Holy Spirit to fill you anew. Invite the Holy Spirit to bring you peace beyond understanding. Invite the Holy Spirit to bring you joy. Invite the Holy Spirit to bring forgiveness. Invite the Holy Spirit to be your guide.
Closing song – Breathe On Me
Open Altar/Prayer/Blessing
