We have a number of visitors here with us today
And I just want to remind you it seems like we
have a lot of up and down we have a lot of singing
and what we are doing is responding God speaks
to us. He calls us and we we stand up and we
respond We sing in response to what we hear from
God's truth It's an act of faith that we have
even in the Lord's service Jesus is risen. Our
sermon title today is peace. Jesus' gift of love.
And just like last week, it's subtitle would
be Jesus keeps his word. Let us pray. Glory be
to you, O God, the Father who did raise your
son Jesus Christ from the dead and has made us
partakers of his victory over sin and death.
Glory be to you, O Lord Jesus Christ, for our
sakes became flesh and has overcome death and
has opened up the gates of eternal life for us.
All glory be to you, O Holy Spirit, who has made
us your people, your temple, and who day by day
does lead us in all truth in Jesus Christ. We
ask that you please make the words of my mouth
and the meditations of all our hearts acceptable
in your side, O Lord, our nearest kinsman and
redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen. Again, for those
that are visiting, our method is to, from Advent
until Pentecost, to preach the Gospel reading,
to let the life of Christ be central for half
a year. Our focus is on Christ Jesus. And so
again today, we'll be looking at an Easter text
from John chapter 20, beginning in verse 19.
And then the same day at evening, being the first
day of the week, when the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said
to them, Peace be with you. And when he had said
this, he showed him his hands and his side, and
the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As
the Father has sent me, I also send you. And
when he had said this, he breathed on them and
said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. And if
you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them. If you retain the sins of any, they are
retained. Now Thomas called the twin, one of
the twelve was not with them when Jesus came.
And the other disciples therefore said to him,
we have seen the Lord. And so he said to them,
unless I see his hands the prints of the nails
and put my finger in the print of the nails and
put my hands in his side I will not believe and
after eight days his disciples were again inside
and Thomas with them and Jesus came and the doors
being shut and stood in the midst and said peace
to you then he said to Thomas reach your finger
here and look at my hands, and reach your hand
here, and put it to my side. Do not be unbelieving,
but believing." And Thomas answered and said
to him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him,
Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed. And truly Jesus did other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. But these are written that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you may have life
in His name. These are the words of Almighty
God. Receive them in your hearts. Dearly beloved,
this is the second Sunday of Easter. The church
calendar gives us 49 days of celebration for
Easter. 40 days after Jesus' resurrection, and
nine more days where the disciples had waited
in Jerusalem after His ascension. Easter, like
Christmas in the church, is longer than for the
world. As you know, many people, when they celebrate
Christmas, they do it on just one day. But when
you follow the church calendar, we celebrate
Christ's entry into the world for 12 days. For
the unbeliever, Christmas is a nice story where
after the hardships of the parents, a baby is
born. Christmas for most is like a hazy dream,
largely forgotten and maybe replaced. Gifts are
given. And some murky aspirations for peace are
grasped after like vapors that slip right through
your hands. As if to say, if you play some soft
melodic music and you get a little snowfall out
there, whoa, peace. What a swing and a miss.
For the church, Easter. is a grand celebration
of God's faithfulness for our deliverance. Easter,
that season, this season is afforded seven Lord's
days. We the church cannot contain the excitement
and joy of the good news found in Jesus crushing
the head of Satan in his resurrection. We sing,
we sing. The fulfillment of Hosea 13 -14 where
it says, I will ransom them from the power of
the grave. I will redeem them from the death.
O death, I will be your plagues. O grave, I will
be your destruction. And we see that echoed in
1 Corinthians 15 where it says, O death, where
is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?
And again, we see the fulfillment of Isaiah 25
-8. He will swallow up death forever, and the
Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.
The rebuke of His people He will take away from
the earth for Yahweh. That's the covenant name
of God, the covenant keeping God, for Yahweh
has spoken. Easter changed history forever. Children,
look up here. Easter's not about an egg hunt,
although that's fun. It's not about the inflatables
we're gonna go do. That's fun, too. It's not
about the feast. All you guys who are thinking
about lunch right now, it's not about that. No!
Easter changed history forever. Think about this.
In our reading today from 1 Peter, bless a bee.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy, that's for
you and me, has begotten us again to a living
hope, not a dead hope, not a wishful hope, but
a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. We are of course to rejoice
year round, but oh what joy there is in Easter!
Romans 5 8 says think about this. This is one
of the reasons for us to have joy Did you come
to church today being excited for this day? Or
was it another Sunday? Maybe you you came here
out of obligation Children, maybe you came here
because your parents say it's the day got to
go to church Got to put on those church clothes
No Think about this now. This is the joy of Easter,
but God demonstrates his own love towards us
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. There's a bunch of you young people out there
that are transitioning. You're transitioning
to new co -ops, to new schools. You're getting
older. What I'm trying to tell you today is this
is a great day. This is the Easter season. This
is a wonderful day. You need to be excited because
the world changed on Easter. And today's sermon,
although it's not Easter Sunday, is taking up
the latter half. of that day, the end of Easter's
day. Is your joy overflowing this morning? Oh,
the joy and the gratitude to God through Jesus
Christ, our risen Lord. There are three things
I want you to hear out of this passage. That's
all just prep. So are you excited for God and
his great mercies? Hear this now. Three things.
Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation. Jesus
is the firstborn of the new creation. It's really
important. Jesus' death and resurrection brings
peace. Jesus' death and resurrection brings peace.
And on that Easter Sunday, the breath of life
came from the Holy Spirit. The breath of life
in the Holy Spirit. Now again, John 20 19 tells
us the same day at evening. So this is the first
day of the week. It says When the doors were
shut the disciples were assembled for fear of
the Jews Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said peace Be with you now children. I'll
tell you this right now. God has blessed you
you live in a pretty safe country Right, you
don't have many things that get that gives you
thought of not being at peace. I promise you,
your parents, day in and day out, there are lots
of things that make them think about not being
at peace. Jesus says, peace be with you. Jesus
shows up the same day, this Resurrection Sunday,
the first day of the week, the first day of the
new creation. And Jesus appears to the disciples
and those that are with them in the house. even
though the door is shut and secured out of the
fear of the Jewish leaders. Throughout the day,
Jesus had appeared to the women, we remember
that, to Peter as it says in 1 Corinthians 15,
to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and
perhaps two more found in Mark 16. The disciples
have an abundance of eyewitnesses among themselves
of Jesus' resurrection. And, in spite of all
that, they are shut up securely out of fear and
uncertainty. The grave could not contain the
resurrected Jesus, nor could a shut and locked
door keep Jesus out from His people. Jesus' first
words to those assembled together on the first
day of the week is, Peace be with you. Here among
those who hold fear, doubt, joy and confusion
Jesus comes in and Establishes that he is at
peace with them peace Jesus is confirming upon
them the blessed fruits and effects of his death
and resurrection Because of Jesus atoning substitutionary
death for their sins and for all of us who are
his We are all at peace with Jesus which means
peace with the Father Now remember Jesus is leaving
his peace as a legacy. He makes the promise back
in John 14 and Of course the disciples don't
realize what it means and John 14. He says Peace
I leave with you my peace I give to you not as
the world gives to you Let not your heart be
troubled neither Let it be afraid. After the
resurrection, Jesus comes in and what does He
do? He establishes His peace. He makes it known.
Not just once, but twice. And a third time we're
going to find them in the following week. Are
you fearful and afraid? Are you troubled? The
peace of Christ is with you. All men have been
at war with God. Isaiah 59 has told us, but your
iniquities has separated you from God, and your
sins have hidden His face from you. And so He
will not hear. Later on in 59, it says the way
of peace they have not known, and there is no
justice in their ways. They have made themselves
crooked paths, and whoever takes that way shall
not. No peace. When left to our own, we're at
war with God. Our sinful natures run amok. We
cannot deliver ourselves, and the only thing
we want to do is go down the crooked path. And
when we do that, we do not know peace. The disciples
on that evening are desperately in need of peace.
Think about this. You've gone through the week,
right? You've forsaken Jesus. Everybody there
is turned away. We can only imagine their concern.
We already know. We talked about this last week,
right? We know that the chief priests, scribes,
and Pharisees, they were afraid if Jesus rose
again and for good reason. Right? They plotted
it. But what about His disciples? What about
His followers? They all forsook Him. So if Jesus
does arise I'm betting I'm not getting that that
seat at his right hand because I didn't stick
it through But we see that all those who should
have stuck with Jesus the king were guilty of
high treason abandonment and even denial of Jesus
They needed Jesus and yes, they desperately needed
Jesus to give them peace They were afraid of
the justice of God and they had forgotten Jesus's
promise of mercy through him. Jesus provides
for them all undeniable proof that he has truly
risen from the dead. He shows them his hands
and his side. He does that without them asking
in that first group. Jesus lovingly demonstrates
himself to them. And the scriptures tell us that
they are glad. And so Jesus said to them again,
peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also
send you. You know, they could have been caught
up here saying, oh my goodness. All right, he
says, is it peace with me? But I'm done. As a
disciple of his, I'm done. Because who am I?
Jesus re -emphasizes his peace given to them.
With this piece Jesus tells them that as the
father sent him He is going to send them out
he's gonna send the disciples out Not as the
disciples who did not know what was going on
around them And we're always bickering with one
another and striving for better position Thinking
about who Jesus was gonna be from their perspective
but rather You know and Jesus for three years
has been Correcting them teaching them and they're
just hard -hearted. Is that like us sometimes?
We're just hard -hearted about what Jesus Is
telling us who he is and how we are to live And
so they had been focusing in on their own glory
as Jesus disciple as You know Jesus came in humility
Every man, woman, and child in here, hear this.
This is important. Jesus came in humility as
a servant devoted to others' needs and to others'
causes. What causes that? The fact that they
are undiscipled, unproclaimed of the gospel,
in need of deliverance. And He did all this to
the disregard. of his own interests. He didn't
think, what, that his position as the Son of
God and being God was something to be held onto?
No. He didn't. He came down in the form of a
servant. Let me tell you something. Every one
of us is called just like Jesus was called and
sent to be the servant of others, not proclaiming
good works not proclaiming the good things we've
done but simply in quiet humility Serving others
that they may be delivered from their sin and
disciples Jesus called his disciples that day
and all those in the church to a life of serving
others So that others may know Christ Jesus So
every child in here Every person, every person
that you come into contact with, your children,
your husband, your wife, your extended family,
your coworkers in your community, we are all
called to proclaim the remedy to all men. Now
sometimes we think that that is just with our
words. You don't have to stand on the street
corner with a bullhorn proclaiming the good news
of Christ. How do you treat your coworkers? Does
your marriage reflect the gospel of what Jesus
is to the church? What do the neighbors think?
Can they hear you when you fight and drag it
on? What about those in your extended family?
Do they know that you are calling upon Christ?
Can they see Christ in you? You know, to be honest,
and I'm not talking about laying down For a lie
and not sticking with the truth But the but if
we're honest with one another our biggest arguments
and fights and beef with people in our lives
and our own lives Have to do with our desire
to be right ourselves To be vindicated through
our own mouth That's not what Jesus did Jesus
let the Lord the Heavenly Father raise him up
and finally vindicates him in AD 70. It wasn't
just at the resurrection, it wasn't just at the
ascension, but he closed off the old creation.
We are to proclaim the remedy to all men. Now
Jesus doesn't just leave the disciples with his
words, although his words are always true and
you can count on them. Jesus affirms his peace
by placing his disciples those who first followed
him into the new creation verse 22 said and when
Jesus had said this he breathed on them Received
the Holy Spirit Now this word breathe is only
used here in the New Testament But it is the
very same one in the Greek translation of the
Old Testament used in Genesis 2 7 When Yahweh
the Covenant God breathed life into Adam at the
first creation. It's also the word used in Ezekiel
37 in the Valley of Dry Bones, remember that?
God is speaking to Ezekiel, says speak to that
Valley of Dry Bones. Thus says the Lord God to
these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter
you and you shall live. I will put sinews on
you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with
skin and put breath in you and you shall live.
Then you shall know that I am Yahweh. In our
sins we are dead bones. But because of the death
burial and resurrection of Jesus, we are alive.
We are given the Spirit. The only way to be truly
human and alive is in Jesus. Everything else
is acting beastly. You think about that. In your
sins, the way you behaved, in the world around
us, we have people triumphing. Yeah, evolution.
We're just beasts, so we can act like beasts,
as long as you don't act like a beast to me.
First Corinthians 15 .45 tells us this, and so
it is written, the first man, Adam, became a
living being, and the last, Adam, became a life
-giving. Spirit. Jesus did not just come to give
eternal life, but life now. Life now. We're resurrected
in him now to good works, to service, to be proclaimers
of the gospel. Jesus shows up in his glorified
body and shows what is to come at the fulfillment
of all things when heaven and earth are no longer
separated. But just as Jesus was given all authority
in heaven and on earth He gives life and sends
us out with authority He says this and now he
is establishing in one sense the authority of
the church But this is important for us to realize
that this authority extends to all of us not
over people with whom Are not we're not responsible
before God But rather authority to speak the
truth and speak it just matter of factly. He
says this in verse 23, if you forgive the sins
of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain
the sins of any, they are retained. Now from
the church's perspective, from the authority
given to the disciples as the first ministers
of the gospel, part of this is the church holds
the keys. And forgiveness is for the humble and
the penitent. But there is judgment. for the
unrepentant. I got to tell you, one of the scariest
things that elders can do is to excommunicate
someone. This is why sometimes it seems like,
why are those guys taking so long to deal with
that guy? Well, if we see any spark of hope,
if we see any mercy, anything there, we're going
to work and be long suffering. Now, obviously,
the size of the sin, the public nature of it
all requires certain kinds of things. But for
every one of us you are given by God authority
in your life children look up here You have authority
over your own rooms. You have authority over
yourself you authority to Get up when you're
supposed to Of course that last one probably
has something for everyone in the room Parents
you're responsible for your family If you're
over other people in your job, you have responsibilities
to them, if you have responsibilities in the
church, what has God given you responsibility
for? That is your kingdom that He has bestowed
upon you. May it be small or may it be large.
Speak God's word truthfully and word indeed.
Jesus doesn't just provide us forgiveness for
our own benefit. but that we may as part of his
people be the living stones of his new temple
and live and speak that the good news of God's
grace and mercy may be found in his son Jesus.
Now, here's something important. I know you're
all here and in one way I might be speaking to
the choir, but you need to understand this. You
are the living stones of the new temple, right?
And so this is important. Every week you're going
to go out of here, commissioned by God to go
and spread the gospel. And then every week you
are called back and we take our stones with us
as we walk out. We're going to do that. And then
we're going to come back together and build the
temple of the living stones right here, together.
You can't worship God in the same fashion. and
you can't stay alive in isolation. If you take
your rock and proverbially go home, or as Israel
did, every man to his own tent, that's disastrous.
You have to be in the vine constantly in order
to stay alive. Now all this sounds great. A new
life, a new mission, and all by the death, burial,
and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But
here this morning, you may feel like you missed
the boat. You say to yourself, I have sins. I
have doubts. I had a feeling like I wasn't there
when everyone else was there. You don't have
the same experience as others. When God calls
a person, He sees it through. Thomas wasn't there
and we aren't told why. But as one commentator
says, it is a terrible thing to miss the assembling
together as God's people. You don't know what
you're going to miss. Right now, we confessed
our sins when we came in here. We responded to
God's call. We sang gloriously on the ascension
up the hill to assemble together. We confessed
our sins. We are in the heavenlies. And here's
something I read over and over again, and this
is kind of a terrible thing for me. Right? I'm
representing Jesus' words to you. Do you understand
that? I'm up here proclaiming Jesus to you, and
Jesus is speaking to you through me, and it's
very humbling. And I don't do this for drama's
sake, but I want you to understand what is happening
in this room right now. When God calls a person,
He sees it through. No ordinary salvation can
be had outside the church. And if you don't understand
that, just come to me afterwards, I'll talk with
you. Thomas, even with all these eyewitnesses
whom he knew, says he won't believe and he sets
up three things. Can you imagine? Like we read
this and we're just like, is Thomas out of his
mind? He challenged God. He wasn't there. We
don't know why it wasn't there. But he said this,
even with all these people he knew, who were
his friends, who had gone through these terrible
things together with him, seen the great mighty
miracles of God, and then suddenly say, well,
I wasn't there. So one, unless I see the prints
of the nails in his hands, but not just see him,
I got to actually put my finger in it. Two, and
then three. my hand into His side. Otherwise,
I won't believe. Jesus comes again on the eighth
day. You see this pattern, the eighth day, the
first day of the new creation. This is why the
church worships on Sunday. Again, the door is
shut. And then Jesus stood in their midst, and
even with Then barely figuring things out even
with what he's already told them about peace
even with one guy that he called Saying I don't
believe it unless I get all these proofs What
does he say? He stood in their midst and declares
peace be to you and Then he went and he called
Thomas out. Can you imagine? But he doesn't walk
up and stick his finger in Thomas's face or his
chest and say how dare you Instead he says the
times reach your finger here Look at my hands
reach your hand here put it in my side Do not
be unbelieving but believing and Thomas answered
and said to him my lord and my god Every one
of us in here should rejoice in the second chances
or chance after chance that God gives us. We
believe for a moment and then hardship comes
and we struggle. And we put up, man, if God just
does this, then I'll believe. And then we believe
for a short while, then we say, if God just does
this. He is so kind, so kind. Jesus is long suffering
for all those whom he has called. And first Timothy,
it tells us this, however for this reason I,
this is Paul speaking to Timothy, a pastor he's
mentoring, I obtained mercy that in me first
Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as
a pattern to those who are going to believe on
him for everlasting life. Remember, Paul was
Saul, the great persecutor of the church. He
threw them in jail. He killed them. He persecuted
them in every way. And Jesus was long -suffering
to those he called. And this isn't like an isolated
message by himself. The long -suffering of Jesus
towards his own is so important that the Apostle
Peter in 2 Peter points to Jesus' long -suffering
towards Paul. You don't believe me. Look at our
brother Paul. He says this in 2 Peter 3, 14.
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these
things, be diligent to be found by him in peace,
without spot and blameless. And consider that
the long suffering of our Lord is salvation,
as also our beloved brother Paul, according to
the wisdom given to him, has written to you.
See, he's referencing what Paul had already written
on these things saying, yes, Jesus is long -suffering.
He pursues those who are his. You're here this
morning. Jesus is pursuing you as his people.
You are his covenant people. Jesus died for you.
He rose again for you. He ascended to the throne
for you. And we can be full of joy and gratitude
for all of this. For Thomas he is blessed, but
Jesus says to us today and all who are afar off
Thomas you believe because you've seen me But
blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe
that's us praise God His peace is given to us
All these words in our text and throughout the
whole of scriptures are given to us that we may
believe in Jesus the son of God he is our Savior
and Mediator, and they're all given to us that
we may have life in His name. Dearly beloved,
Jesus' death and resurrection restores peace
with God for the collective of all y 'all. Jesus
is the firstborn of the new creation and has
given His church His breath of life and the Holy
Spirit for service in His kingdom. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have been
gracious and long -suffering to us in Christ
Jesus. We thank you for the peace and new life
we've received in Christ Jesus. We humbly ask
you to grant us belief, courage, gratitude, and
grace. We boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus'
death, resurrection, and ascension in your glory
and our humbling benefit. We ask all these things
for the sake of Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, who reigns with you in the Holy Spirit
forever and ever. Amen.