Scripture: John 20:19-31
Introduction
- What a whirlwind, exciting, and exhausting, and traumatic weekend we celebrated last weekend – and that was just at our house.
- Imagine how the disciples felt by Sunday afternoon. I know I made a beeline for my recliner.
- They must have been terrified. So much had happened in such a short period of time.
- Thursday night they had a great meal together, went out to have a prayer in the garden, and watched Jesus get arrested.
- Then Friday was a day of injustice and mock trials and then torture and death on the cross
- Hurried preparations had to be made to place Jesus body in the tomb before the Sabbath or Jewish law would have prevented a proper burial.
- They got it done just in time to roll the stone in place in the knowledge that the body was safe.
- Saturday was the Sabbath so the Scripture is mostly quiet on what was going on though we have a few clues:
- First, we Baptists, don’t believe in creeds, but the Catholic church and all of the protestant denominations do believe in what is called the Apostle’s Creed that says Jesus was:
crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
- Also in 1 Peter 3:18-22
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
- Then finally, I redirect your attention to our Responsive Reading today that said:
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
- I’m not sure if we will ever know what really happened on Saturday this side of heaven.
- Then we get to Sunday morning and the tomb is empty.
- Mary hugs Jesus, but He says He has to leave and go to the Father.
- And now, the disciples are huddled in the upper room – locked in for fear of retribution
- Remember, their leader had just been brutally murdered by the Jewish religious authority.
- And then, in waltzes Jesus Himself; literally in the flesh – but different flesh because He is now in His glorified body; just hours after telling Mary to let Him go.
- Jesus has now come back to begin 40 days intense preparation for the work ahead:
- Encouragement
- Seeing is believing
- The Spirit
1. Encouragement
- As we just discussed, the team that Jesus built to take over His work was crushed.
- They were so down and despondent that only one of the men, John, was at the cross.
- They are hiding out in fear for their lives and maybe afraid they had wasted their time.
- For three years they have followed this man Jesus and the dream was crushed on the cross.
- No doubt the how the freedom marchers felt when Rev Dr Martin Luther King, was assassinated.
- He stood up for people in the name of Jesus and he was killed for it.
- Jesus recognized that His people were broken and lost and completely ineffective.
- His solution was to come back and encourage them and explain what happened.
- Oh sure He tried to prepare them before he died, but they just didn’t get it.
- So many people today still don’t get it and they have had 2000 years of hindsight.
- We sometimes overlook just how important encouragement is to people.
- If someone tells you that you are doing a good job or that you sang a song well, what do you feel? Uplifted, confident
- And when you get that encouragement, how do you think you will do next time?
- If there is one thing that I think I bring to this church fellowship, it’s encouragement
- God saw and sees the potential in Biltmore and He realized you just needed some encouragement.
- From everything I see, a little encouragement has gone quite a long way.
- Well that is why Jesus has come back to His fellowship for 40 days.
- He came back to encourage them that they could do the job He was asking them to do.
2. Seeing is believing
- The Apostle Thomas said what a lot of us have thought: “I’ll believe it when I see it”
- Jesus understood that doubt and confusion completely.
- After He greeted them with “peace be with you” what was the next thing He did?
- He showed them his hands and side. He understood.
- Sometimes we need to be shown that we are making progress; that things are happening.
- Thomas was away when Jesus first came back, so when the disciples told him he said:
“Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
- Its an understandable reaction since Thomas wasn’t around when Jesus showed the other disciples exactly what Thomas is asking for.
- We don’t really know why, but a week passes before Jesus pops in again,
- Again He appears in the middle of a locked room and greets them with “peace be with you.”
- And without a word from anyone, He says to Thomas:
“Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
- What went on during that week, the Bible doesn’t tell us.
- But here is Jesus making a special trip just to set things straight with Thomas.
- And Thomas was instantly convinced and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!”
- Jesus is making that special trip back here today to convince the doubters He is real.
- Where is He? You ask. He was standing in line for the clothes closet yesterday.
- He is sitting here with us now.
- He was on the playground last Saturday helping with the Easter egg hunt.
- He was with Susan as she shared the Bible lesson with children.
- He was on His hands and knees with Wayne and Mary Lou putting a new floor in the womens bathroom,
- He had been with Donna Fay painting the bathroom and Angie and Troy painting the playground.
- He said in Matthew 28;20 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- He is with us always and He is showing us daily so “Stop doubting and believe.”
- Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
- And there’s the challenge for us: convincing others what we see and believe.
- Do you believe He is here with us now
3. The Spirit
- A key part of Jesus’ visit is to both reassure and convince the disciples He was alive
- Knowing the work that He needed the disciples to do to build the kingdom, he gave them a dose of the Holy Spirit by breathing it into them,
- He told them: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
- And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
- Just as He originally breathed life into the first man, Adam, He breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples.
- The work that God has called us to do here at Biltmnre is difficult.
- Knowing the work that He needs us to do to build the kingdom, he has given us a dose of the Holy Spirit by breathing it into us.
- We couldn’t possibly accomplish what we are doing here if we didn’t have the Spirit helping us every step of the way.
- Jesus has breathed the Spirit into Biltmore Baptist church – I have no doubt.
- Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples.
- You can think of this 40 days as boot camp for the disciples.
- Jesus is doing everything He can to prepare the disciples for the work they needed to do.
- I feel like Jesus is trying to prepare us for what is to come.
- We are in business and He is gradually helping us to do more all the time.
- He is working gradually but deliberately to prepare us for the future,
- What an exciting future we have ahead of us,
- Jesus will be with us every step of the way.