It Really Happened...Now What?

Connection Fellowship
Sunday, April 19, 2009
It Really Happen…Now What?
John 20:19-21

When I finished the worship guides this week, my father (who was visiting from Ohio) sat in my office and began to fold them. My mother has done their church bulletin for as long as I can remember, so my father has proofed well over 1,000 of them. And as he folded ours, he began to proof read my work. He found two errors. (Now I’ve fixed it, so don’t go looking for them.) But one of them was a simple typo. The other was in the schedule for Sunday. I forgot to remove the word, “EASTER” from the morning service.
I did what any good son would do…and that is to rationalize it. Then I did what any good pastor would do…and that is to spiritualize it. I said, “It fits with my sermon. By the way, do you only celebrate the resurrection one day a year? Our church is more spiritual than yours. We at least give it two weeks.”
I really made the error. But there is a point to it. Do we only celebrate Easter one day a year…and then just go on with our lives? Or does it really make a difference in our everyday life? This morning we come to the Gospel of John 20:19-21. Jesus had already appeared to a few, but now makes a public appearance to a whole group of His followers. He answers the question:
“It really did happen…but now what?”

TEXT: [John 19:19-21]
19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Why were they afraid? First of all, their leader had been killed because of the message He spread and they were identified as His followers. Second, now that He was not in the tomb, they were being blamed for stealing the body. And third, as if that were not enough, some of them had seen Jesus alive…the One most of them had abandoned or denied. Let’s give them a bit of a break about having a lack of courage.

Let’s look at the rest of the text. What does Jesus teach them?
UNDERSTANDING
First, in verse 19, Jesus declares PEACE to be with them. What does that mean? Jesus wants His disciples to know that because of His death and resurrection, the peace of Holy God is now with them individually. A lack of peace resulting from their sin and separation from God has now been dealt with on the cross.
Because of His holy sacrifice, Jesus had a legitimate right to declare judgment on all of them (and all of us). But He instead declares that the way of perfect peace – a right relationship with the Father – was accomplished for them. Peace is a certainty.

Second, in verse 20, Jesus displays His PERSON to be with them. Jesus had died…they watched Him. Jesus had been buried…they saw that too. Even if it was Him, certainly things would never be the same. No one had ever done this before. But Jesus took the time to reassure the ones that He loved that the same Savior they had followed for 3 years was still their friend.
Third, in verse 21, Jesus reassures them of His declaration of PEACE, but in a different tone. It is as if He says to them, “I don’t want you to hear me say it, I want you to experience it.” Just as they were again experiencing His person, His peace could be known in the same way…and with the same personally touch. But notice that in the same statement, Jesus says, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Finally, we see that Jesus teaches His followers that with His Peace and His Person comes His PURPOSE. The purpose of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not end with a cross, a tomb, and a coming back to life party with a few guys who had hung out with Him. No…it was to be the launching point for the entire world to hear about and experience of that same peace.
Would Jesus have died for just His disciples? I believe that the character of God displayed throughout history – especially in the case of Noah – says the answer to that question is “YES”. However, John 3:16-17 tells us that God loved the entire world and that His Son did not die to save a few and declare judgment on the rest.

No! Thanks be to God, the good news says He did it for all of us.

I don’t think that there is a more clear word picture that explains the content of this text better than 2 Corinthians 5. In verse 14:
14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

It is saying that we now live in the PEACE of that right relationship with God. And it changes us. In fact, the PERSON of Christ now lives through us. And His PURPSE of making known His available peace and reconciliation is our purpose…as His ambassadors.
I’m not sure if the disciples really knew what this would hold in store for them. As for us, we may not know all that being sent in the same way as Jesus was sent will hold in store for us. However, there are two key things about every ambassador:
(1) They represent the person and purpose of the one sending them.
(2) They cannot represent that person by staying at home.

CONCLUSION
A few minutes ago, I mentioned NOAH. In just a few moments, as we take time to respond to this message, we will commission our NOAH team that will leave Sunday for New Orleans, exhibiting their response to ‘so send I you.”
But each of us…right where we are on our journey…need to answer the question: Jesus has risen, now what? So here are some possible responses based on where you are personally:
(1) Know His peace…believe and be reconciled to God
(2) Know His person…experience letting Christ live in and through you.
(3) Experience His peace…by not allowing fear to hold you back.
(4) Answer the call to be sent…across the street or around the world.

Jesus is risen from the dead. It really happened…now what?