Download May the God of peace fill you with all joy in believing. Amen. John 20

May the God of peace fill you with all joy in believing. Amen.
John 20:19-31
Dear Christian Friends:
The Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Christ Jesus. If the resurrection
never happened then the Bible is false, Jesus is not the Son of God, death and sin are not
defeated, and life after death at best is uncertain, and at worse nonexistent. But if the
resurrection did happen, then everything Jesus taught and promised in this Word is true.
So which is it? Did Jesus rise from the dead or not? Don’t ask me. I don’t know from my
purely human experience. My human experience tells me that dead is dead, and that’s the end.
Every dead person I know has stayed dead. Now if the living Lord Jesus appeared to me in the
flesh, then I would know for sure. But that hasn’t happened. So I am left with second-hand
information. I’m left with the human experiences of others who claim that Jesus did appeared
alive to them. And then I am left with the choice of accepting or rejecting their testimony.
Oh, this places a tremendous responsibility and burden upon me. I wish I wouldn’t have to
rely on the testimony of others. I wish I wouldn’t have to depend on my reason, my
intelligence, my choices. I wish God himself would reveal this truth to me. Well, my friends, I
have good news for you this morning, our
FAITH IN THE RESURRECTION IS ENTIRELY IN GOD’S HANDS.
Let me explain.
One man in our text who went through a similar mental struggle when it came to Jesus’
resurrection was a man by the name of Thomas. Thomas was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. We
don’t know a lot about Thomas. We know that he firmly believed in Jesus as the Son of God,
the Messiah. In fact, at one point, when it was plain to everyone that Jesus’ life was in danger,
Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). Thomas was ready to die
with the Lord. But Thomas is most famous for his doubting that Jesus rose from the dead, and
his need to have confirmation that he could see, and not even the testimony of ten close and
trusted friends could change his mind.
We don’t know why Thomas was absent the first time Jesus appeared to the disciples after
his resurrection. It was Easter Sunday evening. Jesus had already appeared alive to one
person—Mary Magdalene, who immediately went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen
the Lord!” Later in the day Jesus appeared to two disciples, not among the eleven, who were
on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem. They immediately
returned to Jerusalem to tell the disciples. But that evening while the disciples were behind
locked doors for fear of the Jews without Thomas, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
“Peace be with you,” the normal Jewish greeting. And he showed them his hands and side, and
the disciples were overjoyed.
Seeing the nail prints in his hands and side was the confirmation that it was really him in
the same body that died on the cross. It was not just his spirit that rose from the dead. It
wasn’t an imaginary ghost they thought they were seeing, A ghost doesn’t have flesh and
blood, but it was really Jesus in the flesh.
This is the reason for the sure hope we have that our same dead bodies too will rise from
the dead. Paul wrote, “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the
mortal with immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53). This body that dies, and is placed in the ground
or cremated, is the same body that comes to life and lives forever.
Then Jesus laid down the foundation for his church on earth. His church would consist of
his followers, his believers, for generations to follow, down to this day. You are his church
today. And his instructions to you were these, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”
(John 20: 21). The Father sent his Son to proclaim God’s love and mercy and forgiveness in
Christ Jesus, in other words, to proclaim the good news of the gospel. That is what the church
does to this day. The church proclaims the good news among themselves as a family of
believers, but then also in the community, the city, the nation, and the world. This is the
responsibility and privilege and joy of every follower of Christ.
But then Jesus put some teeth into that proclamation. He gave the church, and that means
every Christian, a power, an authority that would have a direct impact on all those who heard
the gospel. Was that the power and authority to physically heal? No. God doesn’t need the
church to heal, he does that all on his own according to his good will and pleasure. Was that
the power and authority to bring material wealth and prosperity to its members? No. He does
that all on his own according to his good will and pleasure. The power and authority that Jesus
gave his church was to forgive or not to forgive sins.
We are told that Jesus breathed on his disciples, a sure sign of the presence and power of
the Holy Spirit, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are
forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23). This power and
authority, backed by the Holy Spirit, has come to be known as the “Keys.” Martin Luther
defined it this way, “The use of the keys is that special power and right which Christ gave to his
church on earth: to forgive the sins of penitent sinners but to refuse forgiveness to the
impenitent as long as they do not repent.”
I, of course, used the Keys just a few minutes ago. You confessed your sins, and I
announced forgiveness in Christ. When I spoke those words, I hope you realize that it was as if
God himself spoke them, and at that moment forgiveness was conveyed and the doors to
heaven were unlocked. Some may think it strange when they hear the pastor say, “I forgive
you.” Who am I to be in the place of God and convey forgiveness? Only God can forgive, that is
true. But God gave his church the power and authority to speak that forgiveness. And when it
does, it is as though God himself is speaking those words. That is why those words called the
“Absolution” is the high point of the Lutheran liturgical service. It’s not the sermon, it’s not the
offering, it is the Absolute. Unless there is Lord’s Supper, then high point is receiving the body
and blood of the Lord.
Now can a believer receive that same forgiveness just by confessing their sins to God
privately and personally without a pastor or a fellow Christian announcing forgiveness?
Absolutely. But God is so gracious that he has multiple ways of announcing forgiveness. And
sometimes just hearing the words of forgiveness from someone else helps the sinner recognize
and accept that forgiveness, especially when they know that God is speaking to them through
that person. And then another way God uses to express his forgiveness, is as I mentioned
through the Lord’s Supper. And that is Christ coming to believers directly through his body and
blood.
But the church also has the power and authority to announce non-forgiveness to those
who do not repent. When a person does not repent of their sins, which they may indicate
either by their words or actions, then the church or individual Christians have the right and
obligation to speak words of non-forgiveness and to lock the doors to heaven. Those are
always difficult situations to be involved in. But the purpose of the locking keys is to shock the
person into repentance. So at this first meeting with the disciples after his resurrection, Jesus
told them to spread the gospel and use the keys, which we do to this day.
The disciples immediately told Thomas the next time they saw him, “We have seen the
Lord!” But he said to them, “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 it” (John 20:25). There are two kinds
of doubts that can come to a person’s mind. One kind says, “I will not believe it, because it is
not true.” Another kind says, “It may be true, but I will not believe it until I am given further
evidence.” The first is unbelief, the second is doubt. Unbelief is won’t believe; doubt is can’t
believe. Unbelief is obstinacy, doubt is honesty. Unbelief is content with darkness; doubt is
looking for light.
Some people seem to think that once you become a Christian you should never be assailed
by doubts. But that is not so. The great preacher and teacher G. Campbell Morgan, had grown
up in a Christian home and never questioned that the Bible was the Word of God. But in
college, his faith was severely challenged, and he began to entertain doubts. He later wrote,
“The whole intellectual world was under the mastery of the physical scientists and of a
materialistic and rationalistic philosophy. Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Spencer, Bain. There
came a moment when I was sure of nothing.”
C.S. Lewis, the atheist turned Christian apologist, wrote,
“Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing (Christianity) looks
very improbable; but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked
terribly probable.”
You see, that was Satan and the Holy Spirit struggling for his soul.
Jesus condemned unbelief, but he accommodated doubt. A father came to Jesus with a
son who was demon-possessed. The father said, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and
help us.” Jesus answered, “If you can?” “Everything is possible for him who believes.” The father
said, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22-24). The father was painfully
honest, “I want to believe in you, Lord, but sometimes I just have a hard time doing it.” Jesus
did not reprimand him or turn him away, but accommodated him by healing his son.
Peter showed great faith when he asked if he could walk on water to Jesus during a storm.
But doubts quickly entered his mind when he saw a huge wave coming his way. Jesus did not
let him sink but accommodated his doubt by rescuing him. Philip, Nicodemus, and many others
came to Jesus with questions and problems and issues and doubts, and Jesus accommodated
them all.
So also with Thomas. A week later Jesus’ disciples were in the house again, and Thomas
was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
“Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out
your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord
and my God!” Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are
those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:26-28).
Jesus accommodated Thomas’ doubts with a visible appearance. And Thomas was
immediately convinced. And then Jesus added that he would accomplish the same results in all
future generation of believers without a visible appearance. And how would he do that? With
the same Holy Spirit that he breathed on his disciples a week earlier, with the same Holy Spirit
that he would send on Pentecost and 3,000 were converted, with the same Holy Spirit you
received at the time of your baptism. Your baptism was your personal experience with Jesus’
resurrection. Paul wrote to the Romans, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism
into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4), that is, a new life of faith.
Your faith in the resurrection does not originate in you, nor is it the result of someone else
convincing you, but your faith is purely in the hands of God working through the Word and
Sacrament. Next to salvation, God’s greatest gift to you is your faith. And that faith is more
powerful than your human reason or a professor’s lectures or the devil’s lies. God’s gift of faith
is so strong that any attacks on faith only make it stronger. If you were the last believer on
earth and the whole world was against you, the world would not have the power to overcome
your faith. John wrote in his first epistle, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This
is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
And the Holy Spirit works his power through this Word. Paul wrote to the Romans, “Faith
comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ”
(Romans 10:17). Your faith today was strengthen through this word. That is why coming to
church is so important, the word is heard here. John wrote in our text, “Jesus did many other
miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these
are written 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). John wrote his Gospel for the specific purpose
that the Holy Spirit would use his power through these words, so that you may believe in Christ
and have eternal life in his name. You see, it is not you, it is all in the hands of God through the
Holy Spirit and the Word.
May we pray:
Lord, we believe, help us to overcome our unbelief. By your miracle of faith give us the peace,
the confidence, the hope of your resurrection that without seeing we do believe just as you
told Thomas it would happen in generations to follow. And not only keep us strong in the faith,
but keep our children and our loved ones in the faith as well. Where they have doubts help us
to point them to Word as well, so the Holy Spirit can work his power in them. In your name we
pray. Amen.