The Plowman

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Gospel of John #53; an exposition of John 20:24-29. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, February 26, 2012.

Intro:
I have a birthday this week.  I’m getting old.  I know I’m not as old as I look or feel.  My last physical my doctor said I wasn’t in bad shape for a man my age.  I said, “Doctor, I’m only 51.”  He looked at me and said, “You’re kidding!”  I’ve noticed something as I’ve gotten older – I’m far more skeptical then I used to be.  There is something about experience that turns you into a cynic.  They say middle age is that time when your broad mind and narrow waist change places and I guess that’s true.  I’ve become quite a pessimist.  When I hear about some injustice or someone swindled and I say, “Well of course, what did you expect – people are jerks!”  This, by the way, is a wonderful quality in a pastor – very helpful in pastoral counseling and when comforting others!

I guess that is why, as I get older, I have more and more sympathy for Thomas “the doubting disciple.”  I’m convinced that Thomas has received a bad rap over the years.  When you mention Thomas – immediately people remember the doubting.  He went on to make a great confession – but folks emphasize his doubting not his faith.  This morning I want us to take a look at Thomas and see what happened to move him from a doubter to a confessor.

Text: John 20:24-29

The last week had been a blur.
It was on that Thursday night as Jesus and His followers met in the upper room to celebrate the Passover that the strange events began to take place.
It started when Jesus put that towel around His waist and washed their feet.
It continued during dinner with talk of death and rising again.
There was talk that one of those at the table had already betrayed Him.
There was that eerie sense surrounding the Garden of Gethsemane.
The anger and hostility of the arrest.
The injustice and brutality of the trials.
The horror of the crucifixion.
The strange and wonderful stories of an empty tomb and appearances by the risen Lord.

We do not know where Thomas was, but we know he was not with the others on the evening of Resurrection Day.  Some have criticized him for that calling him a coward.  I don’t think that was it at all.  I that think in bitter sorrow he wanted to be alone in his grief.  Don’t forget back when Jesus said it was time to go to Jerusalem – the others pleaded with Him not to go because of threats on His life.  It was Thomas who spoke up and said, “Let’s go to Jerusalem and die with Him!”  (John 11:16)

To Thomas the cross was the inevitable result of this trip to the holy city.  Now, overcome with sorrow, Thomas shunned the crowd.  Perhaps out of shame – he did not want to be with the others.  Remember he had said, “let us go and die with Him” – then Thomas ran along with the others.  He was as guilty as Peter in his denial.

Thomas did what many of us do in the midst of our pain and heartache.  We withdraw.  We do not want to be with others – we’ll handle it on our own.  In the midst of our pain we need the comfort, support and encouragement of others more than ever.  We need the body of Christ.  Thomas was not present with the others and thus he missed the appearance of the Lord.  He has certainly heard about it and now he is present with them one week later.

When again they are behind locked doors.  The risen Lord is again suddenly in their midst and we discover:

Thesis: Doubts vanish in the presence of the Living Lord.

Watch as a process unfolds in our text.
We begin with Thomas, obstinate in unbelief, who then is moved to exuberant faith.

There are three things I want you to note as we move along.

1. First of all, note the doubt caused by shortsighted faith.  (20:24-25)
2. Now, note how the risen Lord lovingly, graciously challenged his honest doubt. (20:26-27)
3. In the face of undeniable proof pessimism gives way to vibrant faith.  (20:28)

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Gospel of John #52: an exposition of John 20:19-23. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, February 19, 2012.

Intro:
It’s a common problem.  It afflicts most of those who serve on church staffs.  It’s a little thing called “preacher’s tongue” or “liaritis.”  Its symptoms are exaggerated statistics and inflated numbers.  Those who suffer from this malady appear normal.  The problem is they are compelled to exaggerate their own importance!

The malady is not limited to pastors or preachers, though they represent the largest single group of sufferers.  This dreaded disease is no respecter of persons – it strikes the volunteer as well as the professional.  Usually a sufferer can keep it under control until he gets around others who suffer as well.  Before long the whole group is engaged in an all out war of statistics.

The sad reality is that no one needs to suffer from this dreaded disease.  No child of God, no servant of the Church of the Lord Jesus needs to engage in such futile attempts to inflate their importance because every child of God is granted the privilege of being involved in the greatest enterprise in all the world!  To us has been granted the privilege of taking the “good news” of the Gospel to a lost and hurting world.  The world longs for meaning and significance.  People long for a reason to live.  We have the only message that can fill the aching void in their heart.  We have the only answer.  There is no more important task in the world.  This morning I want us to consider the call and commission of the Church as found in John’s Gospel chapter 20 verses 19-23.

Text: John 20:19-23

We have been walking through John’s “history with a purpose.”
We spent that final night with Jesus and His disciples in the upper room.
We witnessed His agony in the Garden.
We saw His bitter betrayal.
We witnessed the injustice of His so-called trials.
We were witnesses of the horror of the cross.
We heard His triumphant shout – “It is finished!”
We saw the confusion of the empty tomb and the glory of the Risen Lord.

Now we come to what happened later in the evening of Resurrection Day!

In verse 19 we discover that the disciples were together.

We are not told for sure but it would be natural to assume they had met again in that same upper room where they had shared the Passover meal just a few days before.

We noted that when Jesus was arrested – the disciples were scattered.  They fled for their lives.  The only mention of any of them concerns Peter and John who followed Him that night and then John is present at the cross.

Peter had denied the Lord three times, as the Lord said he would, and then disappeared in sorrow and shame.  John stayed until the bitter end.  But now they are together.  Why?  What drew them back?

The day had been filled with strange rumors and growing excitement.

It began when Mary Magdalene came to Peter and John with the news that she had gone to the tomb and the body of the Lord was gone.  Peter and John hurried to the tomb and found the grave clothes in place “still in the fold” or undisturbed and yet the body was gone.  John, we are told, “saw” (the word means perceived or understood) and thus became the first to “believe” in the resurrection.

Mary then was given the privilege of being the first to see the resurrected Lord.  Jesus said to her, “Mary, stop clinging to me and go tell my disciples that I am alive!”

We know from other scriptural accounts that Jesus sometime during that day appeared to Peter privately and encouraged and restored him.

We know that he appeared to two men traveling on the road to Emmaus.  They did not recognize Him at first.  It wasn’t until He had given them a Bible lesson and sat down at the table to eat.  As He broke the bread they saw the nail prints and realized it was Jesus.  Suddenly Jesus was gone.  The men ran back to Jerusalem to tell the others.  All of these stories were circulating, excitement was building and the disciples spontaneously met in that upper room to try and make sense of it all.

John says they met behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.  Who could blame them?  They saw the anger and the bitterness of the Jews.  They saw what they did to Jesus.  It was natural to assume they would be next.  The Jews were already saying that His followers had stolen Jesus’ body.

John tells us that “suddenly Jesus was in there midst.”  The doors were locked.  No one let Him in but there he was.  Jesus said, “Peace be with you.”  That is the common greeting.  It is the normal way Jewish folks greeted each other yet I would suggest it is something more!  Do you remember Jesus promised to give them peace (John 14:27)?  The reason I think He is making a statement is the fact that He repeats it in 20:21.  He is saying, “I’ve done everything necessary to provide you the peace I’ve promised.” Peace, God’s highest and best, be upon you.  It has become far more than a customary greeting.

He showed them His hands and His side demonstrating that He really was alive and the evidence is seen in His body.  The body that had been nailed to the cross and that had been pierced by the spear.

The text says the disciples were “glad” when they saw Jesus.  There is another one of those great understatements of the Bible.  The word means to be exuberant.  They were ecstatic – they were beside themselves.  All the fear and anxiety were gone for that moment.  Nothing else mattered in that moment because the Lord was alive.

That brings us down to verses 21-23 and that is where I want us to focus this morning.  It is here that we discover:

Thesis: The risen Lord commissions every believer to service within His kingdom.

There are three things I want us to note.

1. Christ’s Commission constitutes your call to serve. (20:21)
2. The gift of the Holy Spirit enables and empowers your service.  (20:22)
3. The Gospel is the means/method of your service.  (20:23)

Conclusion:
The work of the church is a Gospel work.

I’m not suggesting there are not other, legitimate works to be done by the church but I am saying our primary task is the preaching of the Gospel.  If we fail in Gospel work nothing else matters.

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Gospel of John #51: an exposition of John 19:31-20:18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, February 12, 2012.

Intro:
You know the movie was good when you walk out of the theatre and you are drained.  You’re not even sure you’re going to make it to the car.  You’ve been sitting for the last two hours and watching a movie but you are drained.  You are exhaust because the movie was so intense.  You traveled the whole range of emotions.  You just don’t have anything left.  You’re worn out, drained, dead on your feet and you look at your spouse and you say, “I could see that again!”

The problem is when you see that movie the second time – it’s lost something.  It is not quite as intense the second time around.  You know the hero is going to make it out alive.  You know how it is going to end.  Oh, you may still enjoy the movie but it just doesn’t compare with the first time.

There is, however, a story that never grows old.  A story so shocking, so wonderful, so vivid and so significant – that no matter how often you hear it there are aspects you’ve never explored.  There are subjects you can never exhaust.  It is the story of the cross and the resurrection.  The old, old story of how Jesus, as the Lamb of God, secured our salvation.  The story of history’s most daring rescue mission.  The story of the final battle in the cosmic war for the souls of men.

John, the beloved, took up his pen to write an account of the life and ministry of Jesus.  He tells us that the purpose of his writing is that we might know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God and that we might have life by believing on His name.  John’s Gospel is not a biography, it is a selective history with a purpose and that purpose is to bring us to faith.  Throughout his Gospel John has referred to various “signs.”  Back in chapter 2 when Jesus cleansed the Temple at the beginning of His ministry – he was asked by the Jews to perform a sign to demonstrate His authority.  Jesus responded by saying,  “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  On another occasion He responded to those demanding a sign – “The only sign you will be give in the sign of Jonah.”  These were references to the cross and the resurrection.  This morning we look at the “great sign” of John’s Gospel.  Our text is found in John chapters 19 and 20.

Text: John 19:31-20:18

For several weeks now we have been treading on holy ground.

We have witnessed His betrayal.
We have witnessed the hateful mocking of the soldiers.
We have witnessed the injustice of the High Priest and the Sanhedrin.
We have seen the cowardice of Pilate.

Last time we entered behind the veil in to the most holy place as the Lamb of God was slain for our sin.  Jesus, the great high priest entered into the presence of God into that tabernacle not made with human hands and offered the once and for all sacrifice for sin.  Redemption’s payment was made.  Salvation was secured.  We heard the shout of triumph as Christ the victor declared – “It is finished!”

But the story does not end there.  The story did not end with a lifeless body on the cross.  That is only part of the story.

As we explore our text we are going to discover that:

Thesis: The horror of the cross is swallowed up in the glory of the resurrection.

As the drama unfolds in our text is naturally falls into three parts.

1. Note first of all, the horror of the death of Jesus.  (19:31-42)
2. Second note, the confusion of the empty tomb.  (20:1-10)
3. Finally note the glory of the risen Lord.  (20:11-18)

Conclusion:
In a matter of hours the disciples have moved from fear to despair,  from confusion to glory running the full gamut of emotions as the drama of redemption played out.  John says, “You want proof that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God?  There is no greater proof than the cross and resurrection.

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Gospel of John #50: an exposition of John 19:17-30. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, February 5, 2012.

Intro:
Have you ever been shocked or surprised by the unexpected?  One of those times when something came out of nowhere and slapped you in the face?  You stagger back and think, “where did that come from?”  Or maybe someone said something you never thought you would hear them say.  You know, like you heard a politician tell the truth!  Or even more unexpected, you saw a preacher perform manual labor!  From time to time we have all been surprised.  Sometimes it is a pleasant surprise.  At other times it is a devastating surprise.

When I read the Gospels, I’m often surprised by what I see and hear.  Sometimes I see the response of Jesus and it shocks me – usually because it is so unlike they way I would have responded.  At other times I hear the words of Jesus and I think, “that can’t be right.  I must not have heard that right.  The Lord couldn’t possibly expect me to do that.”  Without a doubt the most shocking portion of scripture to me is the account of the arrest and the crucifixion of our Lord.  To see Him abandoned.  To see the injustice.  To hear the lies.  To hear the bloodthirsty mob and to see the cowardice of Pilate – I want to cry out, “No!  This can’t be.  This can’t happen.”  Yet the majestic bearing of our Lord is evidence enough that He is in complete control.  The sovereign hand of the invisible God is guiding all things to a predetermined end.  Each participant is acting according to his own choice yet playing the role determined by the Divine Author.

I want to encourage you to keep all of this in mind as we explore John’s account of the crucifixion.  Our text this morning is found in John chapter 19.

Text: John 19:17-30

We have been treading on holy ground for the last few weeks as we have moved closer and closer to the cross.

This morning we step behind the veil in to the holy of holies or the most holy place.

This is the pivotal moment in all of history.

This is why the Lord Jesus left the glory of heaven to become a man.  This is the reason for the incarnation.  This is the “hour” that Jesus kept referring to throughout His ministry.  This is the revelation of those Old Testament prophecies.  This is the reality behind the symbols of bloody sacrifice and the various offerings.  Jesus, the great high priest is about to enter in behind the veil in that tabernacle not made with hands, into the very presence of God to offer that once and for all sacrifice for the sins of man.  Redemption’s payment is being made.  Salvation is being secured.  The cross of Jesus is not a tragedy, it is a triumph!

As I read John’s account, there is something that stands out in my mind.

It is something that John has done throughout his Gospel.

John has used contrast as a literary tool.  Light and darkness, spirit and flesh have been reoccurring themes.  And there are several contrasts in his account of the cross.  That is what I would like to focus on this morning.

I want to encourage you to look closely at the cast of characters surrounding this story.  Again, you’ve heard it so often that it is difficult to see it with new eyes or hear it we fresh ears – but try to this morning.  Experience the cross this morning as we explore our text.

There are three contrasts that I want to note.

1. Note the contrast between the blindness of the religious establishment and the orthodox confession of Pilate.  (John 19:17-22)
2. Note as well, the contrast between the indifference of the Roman soldiers and the loving concern of the crucified.  (John 19:23-27)
3. Finally, note the contrast between death’s arrival and our Lord’s shout of victory.  (John 19:28-30)

Conclusion:
We’ve been talking about contrasts.  Seeing and hearing the unexpected.  That’s what is unique about the Gospel.  It is not what you might expect.  The Gospel is the “good news” of how an absolutely pure and holy God reaches out to rescue dirty, sinful, stubborn folks like you and like me.

It’s not about what you do – it’s about what He did.
It’s not about your getting your act together – it’s about your declaring spiritual bankruptcy.
It’s about justification by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone!