John 20:19-31
Amazing Grace Sunday, April 11, 2010
"Blessed Are You! "
Today is “Amazing Grace Sunday” here at Christ Church in case you haven’t figured that out already. The grace of God and in fact “grace” itself is hard to figure out as you will see from the following on the street interviews. To understand “grace” it seems like you have to experience it through another.
LET’S WATCH SOME ON THE STREET INTERVIEWS:
SHOW THE CLIP “WHAT IS GRACE?”
In our scripture story today the disciples experience the “grace of God,” and Thomas in particular has an amazing experience of the forgiveness and grace of God.
Our scripture story opens on the evening of Easter. The disciples are gathered in a locked room out of fear of crucifixion. Suddenly, Jesus stands in the middle of them and says, “Peace be with you.” He repeats this twice to let them know what he is giving is more than the standard Jewish greeting of peace; it is the peace his presence brings.
Jesus’ presence confirmed his promise of resurrection. It confirmed his promises of peace, mission, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus’ presence validated all of his previous preaching, teaching, ministry and promises. Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead and truly was the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One of God.
Jesus in his appearance to his disciples granted several things.
First, he gave his disciples peace, a firm and sure knowledge that when most of them they were tortured and killed as he was, they would be raised from the dead.
Second, He gave them purpose and mission saying “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Third, Jesus gave them power when he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
And fourth, Jesus gave them a message, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven and if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now the Greek grammar points to the message actually being given to the whole Church through the apostles which is, “In Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven and outside of Christ they are not.”
What a powerful message that has propelled the Christian Church and message out until it has over 1 billion followers today of which at least 65 million are of Methodist heritage.
The sad thing in our story today was that there was one man absent, who missed these gifts of peace, the Holy Spirit, a mission and a message. Thomas simply was not there. It isn’t recorded why he wasn’t hiding in fear with the rest of the apostles, but he wasn’t there; so he missed out on the gifts, but more importantly he missed out on the Giver—Jesus Christ.
You and I can imagine his doubt for if we are honest we need to confess we’ve all had the same doubts and unbelief. In Thomas’ case his unbelief was also probably mixed with anger at himself for not dying with Jesus as he had promised he would. And he also probable held a lot of anger at Jesus for going and getting himself killed, rather than establishing an earthly kingdom like they expected.
Yes, our words might not have been different than his, “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.”
A very crude demand for physical proof, a demand for proof that one week later, Jesus was glad to provide.
For Jesus said, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop your doubting and believe.”
Well Jesus met Thomas’ demand with his very presence and Thomas did not follow through on his request. Jesus presence was proof enough.
And Jesus gives us all a word of hope and encouragement, “Because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
We today can be blessed believers if we commit or recommit our lives and hearts to Jesus Christ. The commitment and recommitment of our lives to Jesus Christ is a life long process. Usually as children we came to some sort of faith in God through Jesus Christ dependant on our parents. We formalized this belief when many of us were confirmed.
Each time I bring in a new member I ask everyone present to take the opportunity to review the vows of faith and commitment that we all at some point made and recommit to Christ.
When we are youths and go through confirmation and commit our lives to God, it is exciting, we feel it is what is expected and our knowledge and love is not very wide, or deep; but it is very sincere and honored by God.
When we are young adults, when we recommit our hearts and lives to Jesus it can be scary for we see that there truly are great consequences to our actions that can and will change the course of our lives.
As adults when we commit or recommit our lives it is in the midst of the struggles of married life and family, business and industry.
We see that our Christian commitment affects more than ourselves and the decisions we make can seriously hurt others, or help them greatly. We discover the true meaning of sacrifice, self-sacrifice when we chose the way of Christ and morality in family life, marriage relationships and business.
As older adults your very presence in the Church serves as a living testimony to the truth of the gospel and the validity of a moral Christian Life. You show that commitment and recommitment demonstrates that God’s way is the right way. The promises of peace, power, mission and message are true.
In the end, a life faithfully lived that has been reconfirmed and recommitted again and again through the valleys of doubt, despair, and depression will have led you in peace to meet God.
The world says, “Life is hard and then you die.” The Christian says, “Life is hard and then you live in peace forever more with Christ.”
To reach the sure peace and comfort of the Christian faith that I speak of, make commitment and recommitment a spiritual discipline throughout your life especially during and after times of doubt, despair. & trial.
Our scripture story today shows us one of the best ways of hanging on until our shattered faith is rebuilt and our lives granted peace by the presence of Christ.
Thomas before Jesus’ crucifixion and death had a tremendous faith and belief in Jesus. He was the one who encouraged the other disciples to go up to Jerusalem to die with Jesus. But that faith wasn’t as deep and sure as that which he had after the resurrection, after deep doubts and despair.
Thomas missed out on having his faith deepened and reconfirmed in Jesus on Easter simply because he wasn’t there that first night.
Many are the people who complain their faith is so weak and they feel so separated from God, but they like Thomas are not there when the Body of Christ gathers. They miss Jesus. They miss his appearance and his gifts of peace, mission power and message. As our “GodnDog” video said, it is not that God walked away, we did.
When you are present with other believers your doubts can be addressed and conquered for where 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus’ name he is present. He is alive and present!!!
The spiritual discipline our scripture begs us to follow is the discipline of Christian fellowship. I have said many times that Christianity is as much about belonging as believing. It is in the relationships of love and accountability within the church that the sense of belonging to God and each other is nurtured and grown.
In other words to meet Jesus it is important to hang out with other
Christians in worship, Sunday school, Bible studies, service opportunities like the Food Bank, UMW, Friendship group, NICE guys and more.
By being present with other Christians you will be present when Jesus Christ is present and your faith will be deepened and reconfirmed as Thomas’ was.
Make a commitment to a smaller group within the church where you have a sense of belonging, mission and even power because the Holy Spirit is present and moving among you. If you feel you don’t fit someplace or like some group, maybe God has you there to grow, but at times you need to seek a place to belong where you experience the peace and presence of Christ.
Don’t ever expect perfection anywhere within the church, but pick a place and make a commitment to work with those involved to make the best of things. Bloom where you are planted!
If Thomas had missed that second evening when Jesus showed up he might have missed forever that personal encounter with Christ that enabled him to recommit to his faith in Jesus and become a powerful evangelist for the Lord.
I may be preaching to the choir this Sunday, for this is what is called “Low Sunday”, the Sunday after Easter where attendance is usually low, but it always helps to hear encouragement before we need it. You know that it is good to be here for you are here!!!!!!
God is here, Jesus is here when we gather together. As our little children’s video made the point, that it is we who drift or walk away from God. God doesn’t walk away from us. And when we come back there is always a celebration, and here, every Sunday, its called worship.
I pray my friends that in some way you have experienced God today as we have worshipped and fellowshipped together. If you are confident look for the stranger in our midst and welcome them, help them feel they belong. And if you feel you are a stranger here reach out to another with the faith that God will provide you with a sense of belonging.
As the on the street interviews about grace said, “Grace comes from God. He is the only qualified to do so. But grace comes from God and we experience it through other people.”
Amen or Bow wow!
Today if you want to commit or recommit your life to Jesus Christ please pray the following prayer in your heart and mind. Please bow your heads.
Dear Jesus, I commit my heart, my life, my whole being to you. I pray you take me and use me as a conduit of you grace and love for other people. And as its prayed by some at times, “Please, dear God, make me the person my dog thinks I am.” In Jesus name, Amen.
