SERMON: “Commissioned for Service” (John 20:19–23)
“Commissioned
for Service” (John 20:19–23)
Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name” #106 Text: John 20:19–23
By: Shaun Marksbury Date: June
15, 2025
Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: AM Service
I.
Introduction
Have you been afraid of something that never came to pass? Perhaps it was the dread of a conversation
that never turned sour or the anxiety of an event that passed without incident.
Fear can paralyze us and cloud our judgment.
If it seems strange to see the disciples of Christ huddled
together with fear in a locked room, we only need to remember this. They had just witnessed the murder of the
Lord Jesus, they might fear further actions by the Jewish leadership. Their fear seemed reasonable, but we know it
was unfounded. The resurrected Christ
was about to meet them in their anxiety and transform it!
It’s been a couple of weeks since we were last in John 20,
so let’s refresh ourselves. The
disciples didn’t believe that the resurrection was coming. When the women, starting with Mary Magdalene,
came to the tomb, she expected to find a dead body. When Peter and John arrived, they were
stunned to find the tomb empty. That
lack of faith explains how they can still be so afraid.
Fear can be the antithesis of Christian living. It can also keep us from gospel
ministry. We fear what others may say,
or the loss of friends, so we keep quiet about the Lord. Churches may avoid hard topics so they don’t
drive people away or attract unwanted attention from the state. However, the Lord would have us to be bold,
and we see how in this passage.
Here, the Lord appears to His disciples to comfort their
hearts, but He also commissions them, as well.
As we consider this interaction, we can glean three truths about
ministry. First, Ministry begins with
the joy and peace of the lord (vv. 19–20).
Second, ministry operates with the power of the spirit (vv. 21–22). Third, ministry proclaims the gospel in
purity (v. 23). Let’s begin with the
first of those.
II.
First, Ministry Begins with the Joy and Peace of
the Lord (vv. 19–21)
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.” And when He had said this, He showed them both
His hands and His side. The disciples
then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also
send you.”
Note that v. 19 states that it was still “that day.” In case it wasn’t clear, this is the same day
as where we started in v. 1. So, our past
couple of sermons on this chapter have all dealt with the same day!
It’s just later in the day.
Often, we read about doubt and turmoil in John’s Gospel in when the sun
is down. Nicodemus came to Jesus at
night. Judas betrayed the Lord at night.
Even Mary came to the tomb when it was
still dark. And here the disciples are
huddled together in the evening.
Yet, this is the evening of the resurrection day! This is the “first day of the week,” which marks
the beginning of a new era. Christ’s
resurrection redefines time itself, as the early church began gathering on the
first day to celebrate the risen Lord (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2).
Yet, though the disciples are gathered together, they are not
celebrating. They’re behind shut or “locked”
doors (ESV, NET, HCSB). The Greek word
implies the doors were securely locked,[1] reflecting their dread of
persecution (cf. Matt. 28:11).
They are gripped with fear.
The term is phobos — and it’s a fear of the Jewish leaders. As one commentary notes, “Fear of world forces
can often seize Christians who focus not on God’s power but on worldly might
(cf. Acts 12:1–16).”[2] Their fear is understandable but misplaced,[3] as
the risen Christ is about to demonstrate.
Suddenly, He came and stood in their midst or “among them”
(ESV). Now, this may be to subtle for
some, but this is a miracle! The locked
doors posed no barrier to His glorified body.[4] His body still was made of flesh, but it was
supernaturally glorified with immortality and incorruptibility (1 Cor. 15:53). Moreover, He demonstrates more of His miraculous
power in appearing to them.
Needless to say, this appearance would be shocking. So, He opens His mouth and says, “Peace be
with you.” Don’t think that He is giving
a casual greeting;[5]
His words echo His promise in John 14:27 — “Peace I leave with you; My peace I
give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it
be fearful.” His is a profound declaration of the kind of peace
He secured through His cross, reconciling sinners to God (Rom. 5:1; Eph.
2:14–17).[6]
This is the kind of peace we need in
ministry, and it is the peace that only Christ brings.
It seems like this is obvious, but we need Christ in
ministry. So much of ministry is done in
the flesh, and this is how people fall and burn out, whether pastors or those
involved in lay ministry. In 1 Peter
3:15, we read that you must first “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,” and
“always being ready to make a defense
to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet
with gentleness and reverence.” We
should share the hope of the gospel, yes, but only after sanctifying Christ in
our hearts. Ministry doesn’t too often doesn’t
begin there, but with thought to something other than Christ, whether good or
ill.
Note how Jesus shows Himself to the disciples in v. 20. He shows His wounds to confirm His identity
and physical resurrection. He invites
them to look at His hands, which likely includes His wrists or forearms, where the
nails would have been driven to support His body on the cross. His side would have been where the spear wound
entered (John 19:34). These scars not
only show that He’s the same Jesus who died,[7] but also that He’s not a
ghost (Luke 24:39–40)!
How do the disciples respond after considering Jesus? Their response is joy! This fulfills Jesus’s promise in John 16:20,
where He said, “Your grief will be turned into joy.” They were full of fear and sorrow moments ago,
and in an instant, they are rejoicing.
Such joy is the foundation of ministry. Many times, ministry can become bitter because
sinners are involved. There are people
who might become divisive, gossiping and slandering others. There are some who lie and mistreat others to
advance themselves. There are those who
might become angry and abusive. Others
may live sinful lives that have now been exposed. Those who are in ministry take hits and they
can become discouraged, but they must get their eyes off of people and back to
the risen Lord for their joy to be replenished.
Jesus repeats the words in v. 21, “Peace be with you.” This just underscores what we were saying. If they are to be engaged in mission, it must
be a mission that operates with the peace Jesus gives.
And, if it was somehow unclear that Jesus is preparing them
for their mission, consider what comes next. He says that “as the Father has sent Me, I
also send you.” This is profound; we’ve
already considered that Jesus is the great Apostle (“sent one”) from God. Now, the perfect tense of the verb in the Greek
for the Father’s sending here now extends to the disciples. This echoes Jesus’s prayer in John 17:18; “As
You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Now, Jesus is commissioning them for ministry.
This anticipates the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19–20.[8] There, we read, “Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Some have incorrectly seen this as strictly a
missionary passage, with the first word being “Go,” but it isn’t a command and
could be translated, “As you are going.”
Foreign missions are important, but so are local efforts. For instance, we just had our VBS this week,
and we taught Scripture as well as the shared the gospel message. We must engage in discipleship wherever the
Lord places us. We must ensure that we
are teaching all of the Word of God, and we can know that the Lord is with us
blessing these efforts.
Ministry is not about our agenda but continuing Christ’s
work of redemption. As one commentary
notes, this “indicates that the disciples were commissioned to carry on
Christ’s work, not to begin a new one.”[9] We are being sent on the Son’s mission, which
is the Father’s mission. We don’t get to
invent the parameters of the mission; we need Christ.
We want personally to proclaim Him boldly, as He has instructed
us to do. Yet, fear often hinders our
witness, as does discouragement. Like
the disciples, thought, we encounter the risen Christ in His Word and Spirit,
who brings peace that surpasses understanding (Phil. 4:7). He brings a joy that can motivate and move
us! If your witness or ministry feels
like it is stalling and sputtering, let Christ’s peace dispel your anxiety, and
let the joy of knowing Him embolden you to speak His name.
How do we access this joy and peace? Of course, it comes through the Holy Spirit. And that brings us to the next point:
III.
Second, Ministry Operates with the Power of the
Spirit (v. 22)
And when He had
said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
This is a debated verse, but it is full of precious truth. You might think it strange that Jesus
breathes on them, but He is reenacting Genesis 2:7, where God breathed life
into Adam.[10] By engaging in this act, Jesus indicates that
He is imparting spiritual life as well as affirming His divinity. After all, if He has the power to send the
Spirit, He is divine!
So, He then says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Some, like Pentecostals, see this as a
partial bestowal, distinct from Acts 2. They
have argued that Acts 2 is a second outpouring of the Spirit, a baptism of the
Spirit we must seek if we are to be empowered for ministry, and they evidence the
Pentecostal experience as a “second” experience by highlighting this verse as
the first experience. However, the text
doesn’t say they received the Holy Spirit now, and they are being commissioned
for ministry here without the supposed second experience of the Spirit.
This is a reminder of the promise of the coming Spirit He
made in John 14–16. Later, Jesus makes
it clear later that they are still to wait for this promise in Acts 1:8. This is a pledge[11] where Jesus is preparing
them for their mission.
It is absolutely true that they would not be able to fulfill
their commission without the Holy Spirit.
When the Spirit fills them on Pentecost, they boldly leave the locked
doors and proclaim the resurrected Lord to the gathered crowds! They face accusations of drunkenness, and
they take it in stride because they are filled with the peace and joy of the
Lord. The empowerment of the Spirit is
so significant that, when they do eventually face persecution from the Jewish
leaders, they walk away rejoicing that they were counted worthy of such
suffering!
Ministry without the Spirit is simply powerless. Just as Jesus sent the disciples with the
promise of the Spirit, we must rely on His power to proclaim the gospel. Hopefully, you are not trusting in your
strength but in the Spirit’s enabling. If
you are a believer, you already have Him, so pray for Him to fill you with the
boldness to speak and the power to live faithfully.
We need that power so we can fulfill the commission,
bringing us to the final point:
IV.
Third, Ministry Proclaims the Gospel in Purity
(v. 23)
If you forgive the
sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any,
they have been retained.
We are met here with some interesting theological questions. For instance, can humans forgive sins? The words here for forgive and retain suggest
a declarative authority, not an independent power. In other words, this is about the authority to
proclaim, not the power to grant something apart from God.[12]
Let’s consider this in context of gospel ministry. We are to teach all that Christ
commanded. As we do, people will
naturally become convicted over their sin.
They will know that they have not always kept God first, that they have
lied, that they have stolen, etc. Yet,
as they hear the good news of the gospel accurately explained, they will hear
the forgiveness of sins for those who believe against the and warning of
judgment to those who reject Christ (Mark 2:7; Acts 8:22). If someone responds, “I believe Christ died
for my sins,” then we have every right to declare what Scripture does, that those
sins are forgiven before the Lord.
Similarly, if someone says he rejects the offer of the gospel, we have
the ability to say that those sins remain;[13] we are not engaging in ungodly
judgment to say such things.
This goes beyond simple gospel proclamation. The language here also connects to what Jesus
said about church discipline (Matt. 16:19; 18:18).[14] This is an unpopular but necessary part of
church life; there are times when we must say of the unrepentant that we made a
mistake, that those sins remain. By God’s
grace, we may also say, “This person has repented, and the Lord has forgiven
him!” Jesus wants us to pursue purity in
the churches He is sending us to found.
Our calling is to proclaim the gospel clearly, offering
forgiveness through Christ alone. This
requires courage to speak truth, even when it’s unpopular. Are you faithfully declaring God’s terms of
salvation, or are you softening the message to avoid offense? Commit to purity in proclamation, trusting the
Spirit to work through you.
V.
Conclusion
The disciples’ transformation from fear to boldness previews
the church’s mission. This gives us
something to think about today. We, too,
are called to move from locked rooms to open proclamation, empowered by
Christ’s peace, joy, and Spirit. Let us
go forth, proclaiming forgiveness in His name, confident that He is with us
always (Matt. 28:20).
[1] A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament,
(Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 20:19.
[2] Gerald L. Borchert, John 12–21, The New American Commentary,
(Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 25B:304.
[3] “The disciples had
almost been arrested with Jesus. They
remained under the fear of death at the hands of the Jews (i.e., the Jewish
authorities), so they met in secret at night, with fear, behind locked doors. (What a contrast with their boldness about
seven weeks later on the day of Pentecost!).”
Edwin A. Blum, The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, 1985, 2, 343.
[4] Earl D. Radmacher,
Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, The
Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version, (Nashville: T. Nelson
Publishers, 1997), Jn 20:19.
[5] Blum, 343.
[6] John MacArthur Jr.,
Ed., The MacArthur Study Bible,
electronic ed., (Nashville, TN: Word Pub., 1997), 1627.
[7] Ibid.
[8] “This is the first of
the three commissions given by the Risen Christ (another on the mountain in
Galilee (Matt. 28:16–20; 1 Cor. 15:6), another on the Mount of Olives (Luke
24:44–51; Acts 1:3–11).” Robertson, Jn
20:21.
[9] Radmacher, et. al., Jn
20:21.
[10] John D. Barry,
Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot
Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA:
Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Jn 20:22.
[11] MacArthur, 1627.
[12] Radmacher, et. al., Jn
20:23.
[13] Blum, 343.
[14] Robertson, Jn 20:23.
