Image: Rhododendron, North Garden, Virginia, May 2019
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 20:19-23.
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you
(John 20:19).
In
Christ’s appearance to his disciples on the first resurrection Sunday evening,
we have a pattern for what still happens in the assemblies of God’s people.
Admittedly,
Christ is not present physically now as he was in that forty-day period after
his resurrection and before his ascension, but he is nonetheless present by
means of the Spirit.
When
we gather as God’s people, Christ stands in our midst. We cannot see him, hear
him, touch him, but he is not less present. Our winsomeness as an assembly
comes not through who we are but through the one who stands in our midst.
There
is something more powerful that happens when we come together than when any of
us is alone in private devotion.
Christ
offers peace to us, as he promised his original disciples in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid.’
He
also gives us proofs and evidences of the truth and reality of who he is and
what he has done. On that first Lord’s Day evening “he shewed unto them his
hands and his side” (John 20:20) Now, he gives us proofs by the reading and
preaching of his Word.
On
that first Lord’s Day evening he commissioned his disciples, “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I
you” (John 20:21). He still sends us out into the world to be his witnesses. He
also gives us, as he did the first disciples, the Holy Spirit to empower our
ministry (John 20:22).
Finally,
he reminds us of the authority granted to us as the church founded by the apostles
on Christ the chief cornerstone: to announce forgiveness of sin and to evaluate
and condemn sin that is retained (cf. John 20:23).
We
are still assembling on the first day of the week, and Christ is still coming
to stand in our midst.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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