That You May Believe, John 20:19-31 (Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016)

That You May Believe, John 20:19-31 (Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016) 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. 24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. 27 Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. 28 Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God! 29 Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. PRAY Our text for this morning is an account by John the apostle, someone who knew Jesus personally and was in his inner circle for three years, about what happened the evening of that first Easter Sunday. In the first part of John 20 he tells us how that morning Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried the Friday before after his death on the cross and found that it was empty, and that Jesus appeared to her. And so that night the disciples gathered together, behind locked doors because they feared for their lives (the religious authorities had, after all, just killed their leader, Jesus), not sure of what to make of the empty tomb. Then Jesus showed up. He had been resurrected. He had been raised to life again. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the heart of the Christian faith. You cannot understand what it means to be a Christian without understanding what it means that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. 2016 J.D. Shaw 1

So, that s what we ll look at this morning: what does the resurrection of Jesus Christ mean for us today? Three things: first, the hope in the resurrection. Second, the mercy of the resurrection. Third, the mission of the resurrection. First, the hope of the resurrection. Let s re-read verses 19-20: 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. They were glad of course they were! Their leader, their teacher, Jesus Christ, was back from the dead. They saw him die, they saw the Roman soldier pierce his side with a spear and the water and the blood flowing out. Yet, here he was and it was Jesus. This wasn t some kind of mass delusion mass delusions don t happen. This is not some long lost twin brother of Jesus, because they can see the scars, they can see the holes in his body, where the crucifixion wounds were. So the first, and most obvious, hope of the resurrection is that in the resurrection death is overcome. Friends, as you walked in here this morning, what would you say is your greatest fear in your life? What is the worry that you just can t seem to shake? I ll tell you: it is your fear of death. You may think, J.D., I haven t thought about death today, and I haven t thought about death in the last month or the last year. I have a lot of worries and stressors in my life. I m worried about my grades, I m worried about my kids, I m worried about making enough money, I m worried about my relationships and my job, but I m not worried about death. With all due respect, yes, you are. You may not know it but you are. In Hebrews 2:15, the Bible says that all people are through fear of death subject to lifelong slavery. Our fear our death hangs over every one of us. You say, I m worried about my grades, I m worried about my marriage, I m worried I ll never get married, I m worried about retirement. What are you really saying? You re saying, I m worried my life will fall apart. That s my greatest fear. In the ways that matter most to me, I m afraid my life will fall apart. Friends, what is death but the ultimate way your life can fall apart? Death is everything in your life that can possibly fall apart falling apart. It s the ultimate enemy of mankind. All the worries on your conscious mind this morning are just projections, mini-fears, of your mega-fear, death. Death as man s greatest fear is not just a Christian idea. Every major world religion and every secular psychology has said that the main thing that stands in the way of human happiness and well-being is our fear of death. 2016 J.D. Shaw 2

Ernest Becker taught psychology and anthropology at Syracuse and later at Berkeley, and he wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Denial of Death. He was a secular, not a religious, person. But his book a wonderful survey of how all types of thought systems have grappled with the problem of death. And toward the end of his book Becker has this killer sentence: I think that taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation [by which he means death ], [and] of the rumble of panic underneath everything. One of my favorite movies, certainly my favorite Western, is Unforgiven, with Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman. At one point Eastwood s character and another character have just killed some bad guys. And Eastwood s character says, It s a funny thing, killing a man. You take away all he s got and all he s every going to have. His partner says, Yeah, but they had it coming. But what does Eastwood say to that? He says, We all have it coming. Friends, you walked in here this morning and you were worried that one day your life might fall apart. Guess what? It will fall apart. We all have it coming. But the hope of the resurrection is that in Jesus Christ we will overcome even death! It will all be put back together. Jesus was not resurrected as some kind of magic trick just to show off what God can do. No, the apostle Paul, who was the first great theologian of the church, wrote this in a book we call 1 Corinthians: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:20. Do you know what the firstfruits were back then? Whenever you harvest a crop, whatever the very first part of the crop that matures at the end of the growing season is called the firstfruits. In calling Jesus resurrection the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, Paul is assuring his readers because Jesus Christ overcome death as the firstfruits, as the first return on the resurrection crop, you can be sure that if you trust him you will overcome death just as he has. And if anyone is out there saying, J.D, I m still scared. I hear what you re saying about death, but I still fear my life falling apart in smaller ways. I still have all these worries. If that s you, you need must reason from the greater to the lesser. If God has destroyed death, your greatest fear, do you think he ll let some smaller problem take you down? It would be like a father who loves his child and is determined to care for him, protect him, put a roof over his head, make sure he has food to eat and good schools to go, plays with him, reads to him, tucks in at night and prays with him, he does all these wonderful things, but when it comes to having clothes to wear the father says, I m not going to buy him clothes clothing he must figure out for himself. Would that make any sense? Have you ever known a father like that? No and your Father in heaven is not like that either. 2016 J.D. Shaw 3

If Jesus Christ has defeated death, our greatest fear, he won t let our smaller fears and worries take us down. I love Isaiah 25:7-9: And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. The second hope of the resurrection is that it is physical. Jesus in verse 20 showed them in hands and his side. Up in verse 17, we read that Mary grabbed Jesus when she saw him earlier that day. In Luke 24, we read that Jesus ate a piece of broiled fish. Jesus resurrected body was physical. He could be held, he could be touched. In fact, in Luke 24:38-39 Jesus says: Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. All that to say, the resurrection of Jesus means that the disciples, those who loved Jesus the most in this world, got Jesus back. He was no ghost. He wasn t a vapor floating three feet off the ground. He wasn t a spirit that you reach out and try to hug and your arms just close around you again. He says, Look at me a spirit hath not flesh and bones. You thought you lost me, but you ve really got me back. That s why the disciples were so happy. Do you think they d have been as happy if Jesus was just a vapor floating in the room? Again, Isaiah 25 says: The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. You know one of the main reasons why? Because the resurrection means we ll get our loved ones back. The resurrection means that no one who dies in the Lord is ever really lost we get them all back. Real bodies, real hugs, real embraces. We can hold our loved ones again, we can kiss them, feel them. One of my favorite things to do is put my nose on the head of my kids and my wife and smell their hair. It s one of the advantages of being tall no one can do it to me but I can do it to them. The resurrection means I ll be able to do that forever. That s one of the real hopes of the resurrection we get people back. They may go away for a time but the separation will not be permanent. Now, of course, whenever I talk about getting loved ones back, I know some of us think about loved ones who do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we worry about them. Or, we think about those whom we love who have already died, and we are certain they died in a state of unbelief. And of course you think, I don t see how the Lord can wipe away my tears if I participate in the resurrection but this person whom I love will not. In response, I ll say two things: first of all, there will be surprises in heaven. We ll be surprised to not see certain people, and we will be pleasantly surprised to see others whom we did not expect. You can t say, I m certain this person won t be there. You 2016 J.D. Shaw 4

and I have no idea what really goes on between the Lord Jesus and the heart of another human being. The Lord Jesus is unbelievably merciful and they may have in their own way repented of their sins and placed their faith in Christ without telling you. There will be surprises. But more importantly, God promises that he will wipe away your tears. The same one who makes bringing you back from the dead possible makes this promise. Even if right now you can t imagine how you ll be able to enjoy the resurrection under those circumstances, if the God makes this promise, and if God can raise the dead, doesn t it make sense to trust him? Our God delights in bringing good and joy out of what look like to us the hardest imaginable places. Second, the mercy of the resurrection. In verses 24-28, we read Thomas encounter with Jesus. Thomas wasn t there that first Sunday night when Jesus appeared to the disciples, which just goes to show you shouldn t miss church because you never know when Jesus might show up. Thomas skipped church that night and he missed Jesus. The disciples tell him they saw Jesus, but in verse 25b he says to them: Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Henceforth Thomas is never called just Thomas again. He s called Doubting Thomas. But the next Sunday night, Thomas was there with the disciples. And Jesus shows up and starts speaking to Thomas. And what would you expect Jesus to say, especially since Jesus knows how Thomas doubted him the week before? I can tell you what I d have said to Thomas: On your knees, doubter! You re lack of faith is disturbing. Maybe give him a shot of Force Lightning to teach him a lesson. Something along those lines. Not Jesus. What does he do? Thomas says he needs evidence before he can believe that Jesus is resurrected. And so Jesus gives Thomas the very evidence Thomas seeks. He says, Thomas, put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. John 20:27. Jesus is so gracious to Thomas. He s not irritated at all with him, but is instead so patient and so kind that he gives Thomas the very piece of evidence Thomas thinks he need in order to believe. Some of you here this morning may not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. You do not believe that he is your Lord and Savior. You don t believe that you must give your life to him. You say, Before I can believe, I need some evidence. If you do and if you approach the Bible honestly and with as much of an open mind as you can muster, you will find all the evidence you need of Jesus life, his death on the cross for your sins, his resurrection, his divine nature enough evidence for everything the Bible says about him and trust him as your all-sufficient Lord and Savior. 2016 J.D. Shaw 5

But some of you I m sure are saying, I ve done that, but I still can t believe in Jesus. OK, have you actually asked him for the evidence? Have you, like Thomas, sincerely gone to Jesus and said, Please Jesus, show me what I need in order to believe in you? If you do, you will find that Jesus is far more anxious to reveal himself to you than you are to find him, and he will give you what you need. Plus, it s interesting that what actually convinced Thomas to believe in Jesus was not the evidence Thomas originally demanded. Thomas had said that he would not believe in Jesus unless he touched him. But then when Jesus actually shows up in Thomas life, Thomas is on his knees calling Jesus Lord and God without ever reaching out his hand toward Jesus. You may think, There s no way I can believe unless I have this much evidence and I have these things explained to me. But what you will find is that while Jesus may not give you what you think you need right now to believe, he will eventually give you precisely what you actually need to believe. Now, Jesus does say in verse 27: Stop doubting and believe. And unfairly a lot of people have taking that verse to mean something like this: Stop doubting and stop thinking, because you can t think and be a Christian. Christians must be like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz he s the one who said, If I only had a brain. The culture around us says, You can t have a brain and be a Christian. But that can t be true, because Jesus answered Thomas intellectual doubts. Jesus did not say to Thomas, Don t question me take it on faith. He gave Thomas evidence. If you go to Jesus and ask him, you will find everything you need to love Jesus with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Jesus makes a promise to us in verse 29: Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. He wants to bless you; he does not want to keep himself hidden from you. Will you go to him? Third, the mission of the resurrection. Verses 21-23: 21 Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. These verses have confused a lot of Bible readers over the years because it looks so much like Pentecost. We read in Acts 2 that at the feast of Pentecost which took place about six weeks after the events of John 20 the early church received the Holy Spirit. There was a sound of a violent rushing wind, or breath, and there seemed to be tongues of fire that came to rest on each one of the believers. And so readers of the Bible have wondered: is this some kind of pre-pentecost bestowal of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives the disciples in John 20? Does Jesus give part of the Holy Spirit here and the rest in Acts 2? And the answer, I think, is no. Jesus uses the 2016 J.D. Shaw 6

present tense here, but he s not saying the disciples will that night receive the Holy Spirit. He s referring to what will happen at the feast of Pentecost. Jesus does use the present tense like that to describe a future event back in John 12:23, Jesus says, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, talking about his death on the cross. But we know that Jesus would not die for another five days. So what is going on in these verses? Jesus is giving his followers both a mission and the power to accomplish it. Our mission is to tell everyone we can the good news of Jesus Christ (that s the part about the forgiveness of sins). We have all sinned we have hurt one another and hurt ourselves by what we ve done. Our wrongdoing has offended God and he will punish all sins. But rather than punish us, Jesus Christ went to the cross to die the death we deserve for our sins, and his resurrection from the dead was a receipt proving that the debt we owe for our sins has been forgiven and paid by Jesus Christ in full. If we have the hope of the resurrection in our hearts, and if we have experienced the mercy of it in our lives, then we are sent by Jesus Christ into the world and we are obligated to tell everyone we can the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not in the world bodily anymore to tell people the good news he has ascended to his throne. You know what that means? It means those of us on this mission are the only Jesus people will ever see. We Christ s representatives on earth, we are his ambassadors on earth. If people come to know Jesus Christ, it will be through our work. That s a tall order. That s a frightening order until you remember that Jesus hasn t left us alone to do this work. He s given us the Holy Spirit to finish the mission. Now, when we as Christians think of how the Holy Spirit works in us to accomplish this mission, we typically think in terms of the outward gifts of the Spirit preaching, evangelism, administration, leadership. And those are important gifts. But do you know what s even more important? The inward gifts of the Holy Spirit gifts like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, humility. And the one word that must characterize us as we go about the mission Jesus has given us is integrity. Our modern word integrity comes from the Latin word integer. Do you remember from junior high math what an integer is? It s a whole number, not a fraction. It s not divided. So, what does it mean to have integrity? It means you re the same person all the time in private and in public. You re whole, not divided. No matter who you are around, no matter the circumstances you re in, you act just the same. You re not acting this way in front of that group, and that way in front of another group, and like someone totally different in front of your family. No, same person all the time, the opposite of hypocrisy, integrity. My favorite illustration from literature comes from To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is visiting with her neighbor, Miss Maudie, and they are talking about Boo Radley. And 2016 J.D. Shaw 7

Scout asks if she thinks Boo is crazy. Miss Maudie says, If he s not he should be by now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets Scout felt like she needed to defend her father, Atticus Finch, so she says, Atticus don t ever do anything to Jem and me in the house that he don t do in the yard. Gracious child, Miss Maudie said, I wasn t even thinking about your father, but now that I am I ll say this: Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets. Doesn t everyone want to be strong enough to be a person of integrity? Jesus Christ was the most fully integrated person who has ever lived. He was no respecter of persons. He treated everyone from the most powerful person in the land all the way down to the prostitute and the leper the same. Friends, is that true of you? Or do you feel like you must impress this group of people over here and that group over there, well they re not important so you can ignore them. If you do that, the Bible says you lack integrity. But when the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope it brings is the most important fact in your life, you won t be a respecter of persons anymore. You ll be strong in him. The so-called important people around you who cares what they think if you know the Lord Jesus is alive and he loves you? And the so-called unimportant people around you? They re made in the image of God and are worthy of your respect and love, just as Jesus loved the nobodies in his day. And when the people around you see the integrity you have, they ll be far more likely to believe the resurrection you preach. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31. Friends, do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? If you do, you can have life in his name. Don t you want it? Amen. 2016 J.D. Shaw 8