Sermon Tone Analysis

John 20:19-23

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Introduction

Bob and Nancy have two weeks for vacation before they have to be back at work.

Their main goal is to go to Edmonton to visit Bob’s sister.

Two weeks is a lot of time, so they plan to do a few things along the way.

Their first stop is at Moose Mountain south of Regina.

It is a beautiful area and the weather is great, so they stay a few days, after all, they have lots of time.

Then they head over to Moose Jaw because they have heard that there are some interesting tunnels there that date to the prohibition era and so they go there, take the tour and decide to stay the night.

While on the tour, they meet a couple who has just come from Cyprus Hills and tell them how beautiful it is there, so they decide that they can easily afford a few days in Cyprus Hills.

Although it will be a bit out of the way, they remember that they haven’t been to Waterton Park for a long time and decide that it would be good to make that journey, but they promise themselves that they will head right to Edmonton after that.

After a few nights there, they get an early start and realize that it will take them very little time to get to Edmonton and so they decide that they will take the scenic route through Banff and Jasper.

Four days later they find themselves with car trouble in Hinton Alberta just before the garage closes.

By the time the needed part arrives and is installed, it is too late to complete the trip to Edmonton.

They call Bob’s sister, to see if they can meet her for lunch the next day.

Now they need to head home and so that is all the time they will have, but they find that she is not available, so they head home without ever meeting their goal.

Is that happening in your life?

I don’t mean with something like a vacation, I mean with your whole life.

Do you know what your main goal in life is?

Are you being distracted by a lot of other things which are preventing you from accomplishing your main goal?

If you are a follower of Jesus, the main goal in your life has been defined for you.

One expression of it in Scripture is from John 20:19-23.

In the context of a resurrection appearance, Jesus affirms that He is alive and has gained a decisive victory over evil and sin and death.

Although we might expect that this would be a time for Him and His disciples to rejoice in the victory and settle in to enjoy the victory, Jesus leaves them and leaves them behind, very deliberately, with a responsibility.

We have the same responsibility.

Let us read the text and then think about what Jesus has Jesus left us to do?

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I.                   Peace Be With You

This text begins with fear.

They were afraid because of all the things that had happened in the last few days.

They continued to be filled with the fear that had gripped them when Jesus was arrested and they had all fled.

They were still fleeing.

When Jesus suddenly stood in their midst, without knocking on the door, they must have been terrified, but Jesus immediately removed their fear with the words, “Peace be with you.”

After demonstrating to them that it was truly Him and that He had been raised from the dead, He once again declared, “Peace be with you.”

Why did he repeat this phrase a second time?

I believe that the direction of the second statement was different than the first.

The first was to allay their immediate fears.

The second was to provide a foundation for the confidence they could have for the rest of their lives and in their the mission He was about to give them.

This peace was possible because of the resurrection.

He was giving them assurance of the power of the resurrection.

Because Jesus was alive, sin was overcome.

God had given forgiveness and therefore they could have the hope of peace with God.

Death was no longer the threat it once had been.

A new reality had pressed itself in on their consciousness.

The old paradigm that death is the end was no longer true.

They realized that they had a God of resurrection.

Therefore they could be assured that the plans that come from God can never die.

Therefore they could be assured that the church will reign eternally and that even those who die do not die eternally, but live.

As we follow Jesus, we follow Him with the same confident hope, the same sense of peace and the same knowledge of the resurrection victory of Jesus.

Jesus is alive and because He is everything has changed.

Jesus was saying that because of the certainty that He had risen from the dead and was alive, we can go out with confidence to proclaim Him.

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II.

I Am Sending You

Joseph Aldrich tells the story of what might have happened as Jesus returned to heaven from earth.

He imagines a conversation between the angel Gabriel and Jesus.

Gabriel says, “Master, you must have suffered terribly for men down there.”

Jesus says, “I did.”

Gabriel then asks, “Do they all know about how you loved them and what you did for them?”

Jesus replies “Not yet.

Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know.”

Gabriel was perplexed and asked, “Then what have you done to let everyone know about your love for them?”

Jesus said, “I’ve asked Peter, James, John, and a few more to tell others who will tell others until my story is spread to the farthest reaches of the globe.”

Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical.

He knew well what poor stuff men were made of.

“What if people who come after them forget?

What if twenty centuries from now people just don’t tell others about you?

Haven’t you made any other plans?”

Jesus answered, “I haven’t made any other plans.”

Aldrich says, “Twenty centuries later…He still has no other plan.”

!! A.                 Scripture Affirms the Assignment

What Jesus said to his disciples He also says to us.

“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

This is the assignment we have received from Jesus and it appears throughout Scripture.

Matthew 28 says, “While you are going about in the world, make disciples.”

In John 17 Jesus prays for his disciples and for those who will believe in Him “through their message” implying the same assignment.

Paul recognizes in II Corinthians 5:18, “All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.”

We cannot escape the reality from Scripture that God has left us here to serve Him and that God has in fact sent us to serve Him in this world.

!! B.                 The Need is Great

Not only does Scripture call us to communicate the message of good news to the world, but the desperate need of the people of the world also calls us to let them know that there is hope.

People in the world are utterly lost.

This is the language Jesus used in Luke 15 when he presented the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son.

These parables tell us of the heart of the Father who seeks those who are lost.

The lost condition of all people who don’t know Jesus is a powerful reason why we must be about the work of making His name known.

!! C.                 The Message is Great

But the desperate need of lost people is only half the reason.

The reason we have something to say to lost people is because we have a message about how to be found.

The message about Jesus is such great news.

If any person on earth is overcome by their sin and is wallowing in guilt and shame, the good news is that God will forgive them if they trust in Jesus.

If any person on earth is held captive under the power of sin, the good news is that Jesus can free them from its power through the Holy Spirit will live in them.

If any person is terrified of death, the promise of God is that Jesus has conquered death and through faith in Jesus anyone can live in resurrection victory for all eternity.

This is the best news in the world and because we have this great news, we must go where we have been sent.

!! D.                We Need to Focus

William Barclay points out about this sending that, “it means that Jesus Christ needs the church.”

We have an important assignment.

Are we doing the assignment?

Luke 16:13 reminds us, "“No servant can serve two masters.

Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."

If we are distracted by all the things in the world, we will not be diligent to be involved in the sending we have received.

We need to focus.

We need to be the mouth, feet & hands of Jesus.

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III.

As The Father Has Sent Me