Receive Peace; Give Peace

[0:00] I wanted to blow my nose.

[0:15] Take your Bibles out and please go to John's Gospel. John chapter 20. John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Page 90 in that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:30] Page 90. John chapter 20. This morning we're gonna look at verses 19 through 23. 19 through 23 of John 20. I prayed for Uganda.

[0:42] I had a friend of mine. I had got together with him on Thursday. He actually does a ministry called SOS, Sufficiency of Scripture Ministries. He's a TMS grad. I've known him for 25 years.

[0:56] So Shannon Hurley. And just a great brother. So very encouraging to meet with him. Thursday met for about an hour or so. An hour and a half. This is great.

[1:07] So that's why Uganda's on my mind. So we pray for Uganda. Because he does a ministry in Uganda. What they're doing there is wonderful. He's actually preaching. I think preaching. Is he preaching? I think he's preaching at Santan Bible Church where Michael, our son, attends there.

[1:22] He's a member there. So he's preaching this morning down there in Gilbert. Anyway, so that's encouraging. It's interesting too. Because talking about Uganda and missions and things like that. That's what you see here in John chapter 20, verse 19 through 23.

[1:37] Let me read in the midst of allergies. Therefore, when it was evening that day of the first of the week, and when the doors were locked, the disciples were because of fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace to you.

[1:55] And saying this, he showed to them both the hands and the side. Therefore, the disciples rejoiced seeing the Lord. Therefore, Jesus said to them again, Peace to you.

[2:07] As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And saying this, he blew and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

[2:22] If you forgive the sins of any, they have been forgiven them. If you retain of any, they have been retained. What if I told you that I inherited $5 million?

[2:42] And you can also inherit $5 million. Wouldn't you want to find out if what I'm saying is true? Wouldn't you want to inherit $5 million? And I can actually give that to you.

[2:55] I'll tell you about it. I've inherited $5 million. I can give to you $5 million. So you inherit that too. Wouldn't you want that? As Jesus followers, we're given such a treasure in Christ that's far beyond $5 million.

[3:15] He's given us his peace. He's given us forgiveness of sins. And we get to give this to others. We are receivers. And we're also givers.

[3:28] That's what we're going to see today. Come receive Jesus. Believe Jesus. Know Jesus. Come receive peace. But then you can also give peace. If you can sum up this passage in any way, you can sum up this way.

[3:44] We receive peace. And we're givers of peace. We are receivers of peace and givers of peace.

[3:55] We are takers of peace and givers of peace. I don't think I take it like, eh, take that. But we take the peace that's given to us. Jesus offers us peace.

[4:07] We take that and then we turn around and give it to others. We're receivers of peace and we're givers of peace.

[4:19] Here's another way to put it. We are heirs of grace and heralds of grace. You inherit grace and you herald, you proclaim grace.

[4:36] We're receivers of grace and ministers of grace. Or another way to put it as well, we are partakers of peace and participate in the mission of peace.

[4:56] Now that we're partakers of Jesus' peace, we participate with God, speaking to the world this message of peace and forgiveness.

[5:08] We find peace in the scars of the resurrected Jesus because in his death and his resurrection, we are forgiven of our sins.

[5:25] So we'll sum it up. You'll see, we'll sum up the passage like this. In Jesus we have peace. Like Jesus, we're on mission. By Jesus we accomplish this mission.

[5:39] From Jesus we proclaim with authority this mission. In Jesus we have peace. Like Jesus we're on mission. By Jesus we accomplish this mission.

[5:49] From Jesus we proclaim with authority. This is what we're gonna see in the passage. So we find peace in the scars of the resurrected Jesus and we are on mission and that we join God in the Spirit calling the world to find peace in Jesus.

[6:12] So that's where we're receivers but we're also givers. We find true peace in the sacrificial scars of the resurrected Jesus through whom we also receive forgiveness of all our sins.

[6:29] Now Jesus commands us to continue in the Spirit God's mission. Joining Him and calling people to find forgiveness of their sins in the scars of Jesus too.

[6:46] We find peace and forgiveness in the scars of Jesus. We say to people come find peace and forgiveness in the scars of Jesus. Receivers givers.

[6:57] You get that? And we as Jesus' church we have the authority to proclaim this forgiveness of sins through Jesus' redemptive work on the cross.

[7:09] Jesus gives us that authority to proclaim this to them. And the Spirit of Jesus the Holy Spirit He's with us and He empowers us to accomplish this mission.

[7:25] worth far more than five million dollars. This is our purpose as a church. We join in God's mission through Jesus in and by the Spirit to call people to repent and trust in Jesus through whom they can be forgiven of all their sins finding peace.

[7:47] That's our mission. That's our purpose. as we participate in God's mission we're really participating in the life of God.

[7:58] Clint has said this so well. He's been so helpful here he's been helpful so many times in John's gospel and he's very helpful in these few verses. All kudos to him.

[8:10] All kudos to Christ. We respond to God's nature by worshiping God. God who is the missionary God. God. We exist to worship Jesus alone.

[8:26] So we're partakers of this peace and forgiveness and we also join God in calling people to find peace and forgiveness which is a response of worship.

[8:39] That's a worshipful response. A worshipful response in praising the God who loves the world and calls them to repent. So if missions lacks in a church it's not because it doesn't have the right strategies.

[9:01] It's not because they don't have the right programs or it's not because they have any evangelistic programs for that matter. No. The problem is poor worship of God.

[9:15] That would be the problem. They're not worshiping God. Piper says it well. Missions exist because worship does not exist. That's why there's missions because people aren't worshiping.

[9:30] They're not worshiping God. And when you say worship I don't mean this music there's a singing. In churches they say that who's the worship leader?

[9:42] Why do they say that? It's just so annoying. The worship everything's worship. Right now we're looking at God's word that's worship that's just not the music.

[9:53] It's a church that aligns themselves to God's nature and character. The more we worship God the more we join God and the more missional we become in the mission of God.

[10:10] That's all introduction. Four aspects will arise from the text. Let me get this darn thing out of my pocket. Four aspects arise from the text that we're going to see this morning.

[10:30] Aspect number one in Jesus we have peace. This is where we see that we are receivers. Verse 19 and 20 Therefore when it was evening on the day the first of the week the doors were locked to where the disciples were because they feared the Jews Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them peace to you.

[10:55] Evening the first of the week. Excuse me again another allusion to the first day of creation. The first day of creation on that day and I don't mean the actual first day but that first time where God created everything the first man was made and you read God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living nefesh a living soul.

[11:22] here the new creation is going to happen. There was the first creation here's the new creation or the recreation if you want.

[11:35] There was the first humanity here is the new humanity. Jesus will breathe new life to bring a new creation a new humanity founded on Jesus' death.

[11:47] death. So notice it's the first the doors are locked because they feared the Jews that is the religious leaders.

[11:58] So here's ten disciples because Thomas wasn't there we don't know why and with these ten disciples this was really the day the church quote unquote met for the first time.

[12:13] It shouldn't have been a time of fear but joy but they were fearful. So Jesus he came and stood in their midst just as he passed through the grave clothes removing the headpiece headpiece cloth from his face he passed through the locked closed doors in his new glorified supernatural eternal resurrected body.

[12:43] and he says peace to you. It's like the shalom of the Old Testament and it was predicted and promised in the Old Testament that the Messiah would bring the eschatological peace the blessing from Yahweh for his people and here you see it fulfilled in Jesus when he says to these disciples peace to you the first time where the church met together peace to you.

[13:20] And then look at verse 20 and saying this he showed them both the hands and the side yes this act by Jesus where he showed them hands by the way probably most likely his wrists he didn't put the nails in the hands because it would rip out this act by Jesus was the way to identify himself as disciples yes as to what happened to him and that he's indeed resurrected from the dead yes true and it fulfilled what Jesus promised to his disciples as a night of his betrayal yes but see friends it goes deeper than that this and this is the source of their peace his scarred hands and the pierced side is the source of his peace God's peace or rather the peace that we have with God that's the source the eschatological peace promised to come in Messiah in the Old Testament was totally dependent upon the scars that came by Jesus crucifixion in other words peace with God can only come through the sacrificial scars of the resurrected

[14:47] Lord Jesus died as a substitute for us that's how you can have peace through the sacrifice of Messiah our Lord his death through his death you can have peace with God it's the only way do you want peace with God do you want to be freed from guilt free from the power of sin come to the crucified and resurrected Jesus and you'll find peace you'll have peace with God come trust Christ repent and believe he will save you you'll find peace and look what happens with the disciples they rejoice seeing the Lord duh yeah of course they would Jesus promised their grief would be turned into joy remember chapter 16 20 to 24 their joy was worshipful joy when we respond to

[15:56] Jesus we respond with worshipful trust worshipful joy the risen Lord is the crucified scarred Jesus what great joy receivers in Jesus as I said we have peace receivers of peace second aspect like Jesus we're on mission now there's this aspect of givers and givers goes from verse 21 all the way to verse 23 but we'll see different points in a third aspect and a fourth aspect but here's where we see givers now we're receivers 19 and 20 now Jesus moves into givers verse 21 like Jesus we're on mission verse 21 therefore Jesus said to them again peace to you God's peace now accompanies Jesus disciples as they embark on the mission given to them by

[16:58] Jesus as the father has sent me so I send different words different send words send you my disciples like Jesus we're now on mission from the father from Jesus the father sent the son the son sends his disciples so Jesus disciples really the whole church remember this is the first church meeting Jesus disciples are commanded to join the father participating in the mission similar to the sons Jesus prayed that in chapter 17 verse 21 that they may be in us that the world may believe that you sent me our mission is about peace we proclaim the shalom the old testament peace which comes because

[18:01] Jesus triumph over sin triumphed over evil so we join the father who sent his son on mission so we are participating in the same mission as the son which was what we join the father with what what's what's our mission we call them to follow Jesus and his words to trust Jesus to worship the son God is on mission to the world and so are you your givers you don't just take and then keep it for yourself you don't just receive and just keep it for yourself I mean you want to do that with chocolate well we shouldn't do it we should share your chocolate with everyone just don't take my chocolate true Christian worship of the father involves being a church that is missional that cliche word that was used like about 10 20 years ago missional that was the cliche word

[19:08] I'll bring it back missional in what in that we call people to become worshipers of the father and the son that's be missional that's why missions exist because worship doesn't thank you John Piper and it will be done it will be a mission done with the presence of God and the empowerment of God in the spirit we'll see that in just a few moments so we join the father's missionary life by staying in Christ and taking this by the spirit this aspect of missions we're on mission like Jesus so we looked at like Jesus we have peace in Jesus we have peace like Jesus we're on mission here's a third aspect by

[20:11] Jesus we accomplish his mission and I'm linking Jesus and the spirit the spirit in Jesus verse 22 and when he said this saying this there is no on them in Greek it just says he blew and said to them receive the holy spirit Jesus blew receive the holy spirit God's mission must have his presence and must have his empowerment the spirit gives life and only by the spirit can this mission to the world be accomplished by Jesus we accomplish this mission and remember we talked about this a few moments ago beginning of the message just as Yahweh gave life to Adam Genesis chapter 2 as the first man of creation he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life man became a living nephesh living soul so

[21:19] Jesus gave life to the disciples as the first among those who would be part of the new creation the new humanity the ones who would have this authority from Jesus these ten seem to be twelve men would be the foundation upon which the new temple the new humanity the new creation would be established this is what Jesus is doing and it's by his spirit by Jesus the spirit of Jesus we can accomplish this mission by the spirit we are the ministering agents in this fallen evil world and by the spirit we're empowered to accomplish this mission we are God's representatives and ministers in the world we're the ambassadors if you will you have different ambassadors the US has their ambassadors different countries they have their ambassadors and they're talking and yelling at each other and all this stuff but they're doing you know that's what they do they're ambassadors they're speaking for their nation that's what we are we are ambassadors we're representatives and ministers in the world

[22:33] God's representatives but Jesus says receive the Holy Spirit what does he mean by this well it seems to be I think Carson's right it seems to be a word of preparation from him about what would happen in the book of Acts when the spirit would come after Jesus ascended into heaven so it is symbolic of the soon to be power to be witnesses for mission which would come by the spirit of Pentecost Jesus act was done to make clear of the spirit's need in this mission to accomplish this mission we need the spirit with us we need the spirit's empowerment it really summarizes the purpose of John's gospel the church Jesus body we exist to call people to become worshipers of God by giving worship to the son of

[23:36] God who forgives sins and gives them peace and we do that in the spirit of God so we're one now with the trinitarian God where we join him and we work according to his nature we work for his purposes joining his mission to the world and it is only by the spirit that we can be true participants in his work and this act by Jesus emphasizes it see only by the spirit it can only be done by the spirit so we've received this work of renewal and we're ministers of God's work his work of renewal for the world we call the world to come and worship the risen scarred Jesus that's the reason we exist so like

[24:39] Jesus we're on mission in Jesus we have peace from Jesus excuse me like Jesus we're on mission by Jesus we accomplish this mission now here's the fourth aspect we'll see in verse 23 from Jesus we proclaim with authority from Jesus we proclaim with authority this has been twisted to mean something that does not mean so let's look at see what this means when Jesus says this when he says if you forgive the sins of any they have been forgiven them if you retain of any they've been retained see now in this verse Jesus addressed the authority these disciples really the church would have after his ascension and as his representatives on earth so as he spoke to these ten disciples they represented

[25:40] Christ's body the church it's the first meeting of the church which we've established by these apostles if you forgive they'll be forgiven they have been forgiven Jesus shares his authority with the church or rather it's more like this Jesus has joined us to himself as his representatives in the church's role in forgiving sins positively and negatively and notice the verb after the if clause if you forgive the sins of any they have been forgiven them it's passive so God is the active agent in forgiving people we don't forgive people God's the active agent in doing that Jesus made that clear and if we retain them they have been retained God is the active agent in causing people to stay in their condition of being unforgiven and God is the active agent in causing people to be in their condition of being forgiven this is all tied to what

[26:53] Jesus says to his disciples in verse 19 peace to you there's peace in the forgiveness of sins those who do not respond to this message of peace and forgiveness the message of the gospel they're left in their sins by God himself and those who do respond to this message of peace and forgiveness the message of the gospel their sins are forgiven by God himself peace comes from the crucified scars of Jesus these disciples Christ's body have joined the father on mission the spirit is present and powers a body on this mission so what's the mission we call people to repent and find forgiveness of their sins our mission is connected to forgiveness of sins our mission can be summarized in this way we forgive sins we retain sins here's the message come our message is forgiveness of sins and the sacrificial scars of the resurrected

[28:07] Jesus and our mission is as Klink says to liberate the world from the power of sin this only comes from Jesus God is the active agent here so Jesus sacrificial death has been accomplished bringing to us both peace and forgiveness and we join God as Christ's body on this mission of liberation to the world find peace forgiveness and as we participate in God's mission we really participate in the life of God we talked about that before Klink says that we respond to his nature by worshiping him God who is the missionary God we exist to worship Jesus alone only the wounds of Jesus can be the source of our peace with God only the wounds of Jesus can we find forgiveness of sins this is the message we proclaim we're the givers we give that to people we're partakers of this peace and forgiveness and we join in calling people to find peace and forgiveness we join

[29:23] God it's a response of worship and praise to the God who loves the world calling the world to repent so again if missions lacks in a church it's not because you don't have the right strategies or the right programs the problem is a poor worship of God we as a church body we must align ourselves to God's nature and character here it is the more we worship God the more we join God and the more mission we become in the mission of God we have God's personal presence with us dwelling inside of us it's his spirit who also empowers us for this mission and we're the new humanity the new creation founded on the sacrificial scars of the resurrected Jesus this is what Jesus was communicating to his disciples in these few short verses so we are commissioned by

[30:29] God to proclaim his peace and forgiveness which only comes by the crucified scarred Jesus and it's the spirit who's with us who unites us and who empowers us so we must realize that we've joined in the mission of the trinitarian God we've joined him and that we represent him the trinitarian God in the world speaking the message of peace and forgiveness to the world and as we're speaking this message we don't come with arrogance we don't come with arrogance we don't come with pride that it's ridiculous we declare this message to the world having become partakers of this message and forgiveness ourselves our very existence as Christ's body is a display of his peace and forgiveness is a display of the work of the gospel in us that's why we don't come with arrogance and now that we're partakers of Jesus peace we participate with

[31:45] God speaking to the world this message of peace and forgiveness in Jesus we have peace like Jesus we're on mission by Jesus we accomplish this mission from Jesus we proclaim with authority this is what Jesus was communicating in this passage so sum it up we we are partakers of peace and participate in the mission of peace we're heirs of grace and heralds of grace proclaim grace we're receivers of grace and we're ministers of grace we are takers of peace and givers of peace receivers of peace and we're givers of peace that's what Jesus is telling us from his word let's pray and ask him to help us and as we see this

[32:48] Lord Jesus we just know we fall so short and yet we can say thank you to your spirit who's with us in us and spirit we need you to empower us by Jesus we accomplish this mission empower us spirit of Jesus to accomplish this mission thank you that in Jesus in you Lord Jesus we have peace and yet we proclaim this to this world and we proclaim with authority we have the authority to do this authority comes from you use us in that way use us we pray thank you for your grace thank you for your peace thank you for your forgiveness help us not to just be receivers help us to be givers of this peace and forgiveness

[34:07] I want to encourage you to take these few moments to let your mind dwell on what we have seen from God's word in John 20 this morning let the spirit prick your mind and warm your heart to the truth fill your mind with this truth of what we seen here God has spoken from his word pray that God will have us be on mission we have this 2023 challenge maybe pray for the person you've been giving the gospel to that person pray for that person pray for others who are doing that too the 2023 challenge do that take this time to pray would do that now please

[35:19] Thank you.