Series: Easter: This Changes Everything
Message: Believe?
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Sam Millen
Live Wonder: Bec Reid
Live Adventure: Jess Lee
Live Beyond: Art Preuss
Live Purpose: Don Pate
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: John 20:19-29 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: The Holy Spirit appears throughout John’s Gospel, becoming much more prominent in the discourse of the second half. For a detailed analysis, see Father, Son and Spirit: The Trinity and John's Gospel by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Scott R. Swain. Köstenberger and Swain draw our attention to Genesis 2:7:
There God breathes His Spirit into Adam at creation, which constitutes him as a ‘living being.’ Here on this occasion of the commissioning of His disciples, Jesus constitutes them as the new messianic community, in anticipation of the outpouring of the Spirit subsequent to His ascension. (p. 102)
God breathed life into Adam and Eve so they could be His image bearers, representing God to the world. As a result of the fall, Jesus became one of us and fulfilled this role perfectly. “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Hebrews 1:3a). Jesus then breathed spiritual life into His disciples, sending them into the world as His representatives. “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21). They will need the Holy Spirit for this task.
As J.I. Packer approached a church building for a preaching appointment one evening, the structure was beautifully lit by floodlights. Packer’s sermon that night was on John 16:14—“He shall glorify Me.” He was struck by the scene before him as a perfect illustration for the Holy Spirit’s role. The Holy Spirit shines the light on Jesus. Packer writes about his experience in the book, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God:
It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder, on Jesus, who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, ‘Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me,’ but always, ‘Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him, and hear his word; go to him, and have life; get to know him, and taste his gift of joy and peace.’ The Spirit, we might say, is the matchmaker, the celestial marriage broker, whose role it is to bring us and Christ together and ensure that we stay together. (pp. 57–58)
I’m concerned when people become fixated on the Holy Spirit apart from a primary focus on Christ. To be Spirit-filled is to be Christ-centered. The One project has it right—Jesus. All. It’s not a denial of the Holy Spirit’s work to have Jesus as our center of attention. On the contrary, a glorified Christ is the very result of receiving the Holy Spirit. As Christ’s disciples, we’re given the Holy Spirit in order to shine a light on Jesus in our dark world—to glorify Him. Christ’s commission completely relies on the Holy Spirit’s work in us and through us.
Recalibrate: What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? Why do we need the Holy Spirit?
Respond: Pray for the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ both to you, and through you.
Research: Watch this short and powerful lesson on the Holy Spirit from author and theologian, J.I. Packer.
Remember: “Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you see me. Those who believe without seeing me will be truly happy’” (John 20:29, ICB).
Sam Millen is the pastor at Anacortes Adventist Fellowship in Washington State. He his wife Angie is a schoolteacher on Orcas Island and their three children are really awesome!
Do you have a blindfold? Perhaps a scarf? If you do, tie it around your head to block your sight. If you feel like getting crafty, grab some sunglasses, or even goggles, and cut some paper up and attached it to the lenses with some sticky tape. If your little one is old enough, ask them to lead you around the room while “blinded” and explain to them how different it feels not to be able to see them and see where they are leading you. Time to swap turns. Ask them what it feels like not to be able to see. Sometimes this feels like ordinary everyday life; we can’t see God but we know and trust that He will lead us in a loving safe way.
If someone asked you to describe Jesus, what would you say? Would you use the word “friend?” While Jesus was here on earth He had lots of friends. He was teaching us all how to be a good friend. Jesus taught us to communicate with our friends by writing them letters, talking to them, visiting them.Jesus taught us that we can learn from our friends. Jesus taught us that friends support each other. Are you showing others how to be a good friend through your actions?
Luke also tells us that Simon did not consent to the decisions and actions that the council members made on behalf of Jesus. The text seems to imply that one of the things that helped shape his ideas about who Jesus was had to do with the place where he was from. This was not be limited just to the geographic location where lived, but also to the people that he hung around with, and the environment in which he lived. But notice something here in the text—though he did not agree with the decisions of the council. It doesn’t seem that he defended Jesus during His trial. The book of John tells us that he was a secret disciple of Jesus, just as Nicodemus was.
Let’s get real: The Bible tells us that there is a time for everything. If you were Simon or Nicodemus—both members of the council—do you suppose that you would have spoken up on Jesus’ behalf? Or how about this—are you a secret disciple of Jesus? What are some of the circumstances that are preventing you from declaring your love for Jesus?
In Luke 17:31 Jesus said that even if someone were to be raised from the dead that wouldn’t be enough to convince some people. Well, duh! We know that’s true because we know Someone who has been raised from the dead and a whole lot of people still don’t believe—even some of His friends didn’t believe back then! We see that twice in John 20. On the very night of the resurrection Jesus showed up while His friends were struggling. Then a week later Thomas still is on the fence about the whole thing. (In fact, Mark 16 tells us that Jesus had to chew them out a bit because they didn’t want to believe and Matthew 28 says those doubts didn’t completely go away!) Sometimes you and I want God to prove something to us: “Oh God, if you will just_____, then I’ll believe.” And God has already given us more than we need to believe if we choose to. When I cherish my doubts about God I hurt Him, I’m telling Him that I know better than He does and that He had better do it my way. That’s kind of twisted, isn’t it?
Bec Reid is a real estate agent within her family business. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and is a part of the Wahroonga Adventist Church community.
Jess Lee is an education consultant for the New South Wales Adventist education system. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and attends Kellyville Church.
Art Preuss pastors in Massachusetts at the Springfield, Florence, and Warren Adventist churches and serves in the U. S. Air Force Reserve as a chaplain.
Don Pate is “retired” in Tennessee after decades of teaching and pastoring but is still active in speaking and creating for the Kingdom.