Receive the Holy Spirit — Sermon by Ralph Roberts

Let us

pray. Come Holy Spirit and stir up our

hearts this morning. Empower us Lord by

your spirit. Draw us closer to you.

Soften our hearts towards you. Help us

to hear your voice, the voice that you

speak to each one of us this morning in

Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated.

When I first became a father, I was,

like many new parents, completely

unprepared for what I was getting into.

I had held a couple of babies during

Julie's pregnancy because I knew I

better start getting some practice at

this for what's coming. Uh, but I hadn't

really done much, just kind of held them

there, afraid that I was about to break

something. And I'm sure I made the

mothers of those babies a little bit

uncomfortable as I sat stiff and

motionless with their baby in my

arms. Uh, but our daughter Charlotte

ended up being born at about 8:00 in the

morning on the day she was born. And so

we spent that one night in the hospital

and then the next morning they're

getting us ready to leave. And as we're

getting our stuff packed up, I started

to wonder, are they serious right now?

They're just going to let us go home

with this baby? How do they even know

that we know what to do? Because the

truth is, I didn't know what to do. I

had no idea what I was doing. And I've

learned since then that no new parent

actually knows what they're doing. But

at the time, I felt so aware of my

ignorance and incompetence and also the

gravity of the task that was before me.

I wanted to take seriously raising my

child. Uh and it led me into a kind of

paralyzing fear. What if I did something

wrong? What if I did something to hurt

my child?

And at some point in that first day or

two, I remembered the advice of a friend

of mine who had become a father a year

earlier than that. And he said to me

that because as a father, you're not

giving birth and feeding the baby. You

don't have that same kind of built-in

connection with the baby that mothers

usually have. And so, as a new father,

you just have to jump in and just do

things and figure it out. And

thankfully, the Lord helped me overcome

my fear. and I jumped in and made a lot

of mistakes and figured it

out. And as every parent knows, you

learn as you go and you make a lot of

mistakes and that's just part of life.

But I think that feeling of paralyzing

fear when you don't know what will

happen or you don't know what to do is

something that a lot of us can relate to

in various areas of our life. I'm sure

many of us have felt that sort of

feeling before. And I think that's a

little bit of what the disciples were

feeling when we encountered them in our

gospel reading this morning. So if you

want to follow along with me, turn in

your Bible to John 20

19. I was very tempted to preach on our

Revelation reading this morning because

I love the book of Revelation. And I

think it's so energizing in how it

depicts the victory of Jesus and the

task of the people of God redeemed by

the blood of the lamb. But there's just

too much in the John reading that we

can't ignore. So that's where we're

going to be parking this

morning. So our passage picks up here in

verse 19 on the evening of Easter. Jesus

has risen from the dead that morning.

And in John's account, he tells us that

Peter and John run to the tomb and find

it empty. But they haven't actually seen

the resurrected Jesus yet. And so that

evening, the remaining disciples, minus

Judas, and then for some reason Thomas

isn't there. We're not told why. that

are all locked together in a room out of

fear. And it makes sense that they're

afraid. These disciples have followed

Jesus for three years. They saw his

miracles and the fruit of his ministry.

They knew that there was something

unique about Jesus. It seemed like he

really was the Messiah. And then he was

arrested and tortured and killed. And

his ministry seemed to end in a

humiliating failure.

It's completely understandable that

these disciples are locked away in fear

because they probably think they're

next. Their leader has been taken out

and now it's time for the authorities to

come for the rest of the followers and

clean up this little

movement. But then Jesus enters the

locked room where the disciples are and

declares peace over them. In his

resurrection, Jesus has won the victory

over sin and death and declares peace to

his followers.

A few chapters earlier than this in John

John 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 before Jesus's death, he was

teaching his disciples that he doesn't

give peace as the world gives it. And I

think we see an illustration of that in

this passage. Jesus here brings peace to

his disciples while also showing them

the wounds in his hands and in his side.

Peace for followers of Jesus doesn't

mean the absence of suffering. And in

fact, if we're following the way of our

Lord, being a Christian may actually

lead to more

suffering. The peace that Jesus gives

isn't about avoiding suffering or

hardship, but it's a much deeper and

more robust kind of

peace. We see this illustrated in the

next thing that Jesus says to his

disciples. As the father has sent me,

even so am I sending you.

This section is in a way kind of John's

version of the great commission that we

see at the end of the book of Matthew.

Jesus was sent on a particular mission

from God the Father and is now sending

his disciples to engage in that same

mission. And here in the book of John,

we've seen that mission described in

many different ways. I'll just read you

a few of them. So, John chapter 1, the

John 1 · chapter mention

prologue to the book of John, uh, says

that to all who did receive him, Jesus,

who believed in his name, he gave the

right to become children of God, who

were born not of blood, nor of the will

of the flesh, nor of the will of man,

but of God. John 3:16, which I'm sure we

John 3:16

all know, says that for God so loved the

world that he gave his only son that

whoever believes in him should not

perish, but have eternal life. And in

John chapter 8, Jesus says, "Truly,

John 8 · chapter mention

truly, I say to you, everyone who

practices sin is a slave to sin. The

slave does not remain in the house

forever. The son remains forever. So if

the son sets you free, you will be free

indeed." Jesus came so that we could be

reborn as children of God, so that we

could receive eternal life, and so that

we could be free from slavery to sin.

This is why we baptized Merta today. And

you probably heard some of these themes

in our baptismal liturgy. As her parents

in repentance and faith present her to

be baptized and vow to raise her in the

knowledge and fear of the Lord, she

receives the grace of adoption as a

child of God, dying to her sinful nature

and being reborn to new life in Christ.

Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim

this gospel that in his death and

resurrection. He has defeated death and

offers us forgiveness of

sins. The disciples are sent on the same

mission as Jesus. But they're also sent

in the same manner in which Jesus was

sent. Remember that in this moment as

Jesus is telling his disciples, "As the

father has sent me, so I am sending

you." They've just seen the wounds on

his resurrected body. As Jesus sends his

disciples, they see his nailpierced

hands and the hole in his side. The

manner in which Jesus was sent included

the

cross. Becoming a disciple of Jesus is a

call to sacrificial self-giving love.

It's not a call to triumphalistic

victory, but a call to empty yourself on

behalf of

others. Following Jesus will be costly

in ways that make you

uncomfortable. That's what Jesus is

teaching his disciples here through his

wounded and resurrected body.

Several times in my own adult life, I've

had a vision of what I thought my life

should be like that has had to be put to

death so that I could follow Jesus where

he was calling me. It hurts to do that.

It's hard to give ourselves

wholeheartedly to God and his

mission. But the key that Jesus shows us

in this passage is that we don't do any

of this in our own strength. As Jesus is

commissioning his disciples, he breathes

on them and says, "Receive the Holy

Spirit." It's only by the power of God

working in us that we can turn to him

and follow him. Without the Holy Spirit,

we would be just like the fearful

disciples, locked in a room, afraid to

bring the gospel to the culture around

us.

One of the cool things that we see in

today's lectionary readings with our

reading from Acts chapter 5 is that we

Acts 5 · chapter mention

get to see the disciples empowered by

the spirit go on to obey Jesus's

commands. Here they boldly proclaim the

gospel even as they're being persecuted

and

imprisoned. The disciples go from being

locked in a room for out of their

unbelief to being locked in prison

because of their belief.

The disciples are willing to take up

their cross and follow

Jesus. Then in our gospel reading, we

come to Thomas. And for some reason,

Thomas is so identified with this one

event in his life that we call him

doubting Thomas. Uh but I think doubt

isn't really the main point of the

passage. And we'll get to that, but it's

worth saying something about uh Thomas's

questions here. Thomas wants to see what

the 10 other disciples already got to

see. They saw the resurrected body of

Jesus and his wounds from the

crucifixion. And Thomas wants to see

that, too. He wants to know that Jesus

really is alive. That the one he put his

faith in didn't end in failure like it

appears he

did. And maybe some of you identify with

Thomas. Maybe you've heard stories about

the encounters that other people have

had with Jesus, and you're just not sure

what to think. Maybe you grew up in

church and believed everything as you

were taught it. But now you're

questioning if it's real. Maybe you've

faced real suffering in your life that's

caused you to wonder if God was really

with

you. The good news that we learn from

this passage is that Jesus loves to

reveal himself to those who are seeking

him. Jesus loves to reveal himself to

those who are seeking him. Thomas wants

to see and Jesus lets him see. And in a

similar way, Jesus wants to reveal

himself to you in your

doubts. It may not be in the way you

expect, but I believe that if you ask

Jesus to reveal himself to you, he will

answer that prayer.

Then when Jesus reveals himself to

Thomas, Thomas exclaims, "My Lord and my

God." And I think Thomas's confession of

faith here is way more significant than

the doubt that we remember him for.

Because Thomas gets it. He recognizes

what the prologue of John has told us

that the word was with God and yet the

word became flesh. that Jesus is the

Messiah, the one who will save his

people from their sins, that the God of

the universe has become a human being,

died on the cross, and risen from the

dead. And Thomas recognizes that this

changes everything. He knows what Jesus

has done for him because he doesn't just

say that Jesus is the Lord and God, but

my Lord and my God.

And then John does something interesting

here. It's like if you're watching a

movie or TV show and they're breaking

the fourth wall. John swivels the camera

around and turns it on us. And he says

that these things were written so that

we would believe that Jesus is the

Christ, the son of God, and that by

believing we would have life in his

name.

John has made bold claims about Jesus

and then challenges each one of us to

respond. Will you recognize Jesus as

your Lord and your God? Will you repent

of your sin and turn to

him? Jesus wants to give you life in

him, the gift of the Holy Spirit who

will live in you and transform you. Just

like we saw the disciples transformed

from their fearful room to bold

evangelism in the book of Acts. All it

takes is to turn from your sin and put

your faith in

Jesus. And so as we turn towards the

Lord's table in a few moments, I want to

call us to pray in response to what

we've heard today. We'll have prayer

teams available in the corners of the

nave during communion and they would

love to pray with you about any of these

things and any other requests. If you

see them praying with other people,

that's okay. Just wait. We can form a

line and everyone who wants prayer will

get prayer. But I'd encourage you if God

is stirring you now, don't let this

moment pass. Respond to his

invitation. And there are a few groups

in particular that I want to challenge

to pray this morning. First, there might

be some of you who are feeling stagnant

in your faith. Maybe like the disciples,

you're a little fearful of really living

out your faith. I want to challenge you

today to pray for a fresh filling of the

Holy Spirit. Pray for God's spirit to

empower you to obediently follow him

into the ministry he's calling you

to. There may be some of you today who

are doubting your faith in Jesus. Maybe

you identify with Thomas. Maybe you're

wondering if God is really for

you. Today, I want you to pray for God

to reveal himself to

you. And there may be some of you today

who have never put your faith in Jesus.

The call for you is to turn from your

sin and believe in Jesus that you may

have life in his name.

Jesus is calling all of us to himself to

come and receive life in

him. In the name of the father, the son

and the holy spirit. Amen.