This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “John 20” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 2, 1996.

give your attention to God’s infallible Word. John 16, verse 7. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. concerning sin, because they do not believe in me, and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold me, and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak of his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you. And then turning over to chapter 20, verse 19. Chapter 20, verse 19.

When therefore 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 to you. And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. if you retain the sins of any that have been retained. Pray with me now.

Our God, we give you glory for the blessing of your spirit the spirit by which you created the world, the spirit present as he went forth from you and covered upon the face of the beast. He rejoiced, O God, in the ministry of that spirit as he proceeds from you in giving life.

Lord, we thank you for the evidence of the Spirit’s presence in the creation of Adam. We thank you for the promise of the Spirit to send ruined people. We thank you, our God, for the promise of the Spirit’s animating power to see people dead and likened. Thus the Spirit is spoken of in the context of the valley of the dry bones. And we thank you also, O God, for the Spirit as he is manifest with the ministry of Christ, and as the Spirit triumphs in the resurrection of Christ, and Christ himself gives the Spirit to the church. We know, O God, that your Spirit, the Spirit of life, is also at the same time the Spirit of order.

Therefore, Lord, we would not despise the structure and orderings of your Church, for surely they are the design of the Spirit. We thank you for opportunity. We thank you for government. We thank you for courts and their gradations within our church.

May it please you, Father, that they, all of them, might always witness the presence and power of the Spirit in proclamation, in teaching, in counseling, in conferring, and in judging deciding cases, even the success to the ordering and the instruction of the program of your These things we pray now, knowing that the Spirit and the Word come together, and we rejoin in the ministry that is brought to us. For Jesus said, Good night.

What stands at the center of the life of the people of God and their service to their Lord? The answer to that question is found in John chapter 20. For this chapter sets before us the center of the Church’s life and service in the setting of the Sabbath. not the old Sabbath of the former, the older administration, but the new Sabbath in the administration of the only begotten, now resurrected Son of God. Truly in the center of the Church’s life is the meeting of God’s people with the risen Christ on the Lord’s Day morning and evening, just as Mary and the disciples met with him on the day of his resurrection. The book of Revelation finds John, the servant of Christ who wrote this gospel, in the spirit on the Lord’s Day. Revelation 1, verses 9 and 10. In his vision, John sees the Living One, He who was dead but now is alive, standing in the midst of the seven candlesticks.

Here is the figurative portrayal of the life of the Church, which finds its proper historical foundation in the resurrection day of our Savior. as the power and significance of that day are extended in the weekly morning and evening Sabbath convocations of the Church. There is, therefore, an irrefutable Church and Sabbath focus through John chapter 20, and one that brings into clear view the pattern for worship among God’s people. Also irrefutable is the fact that John chapter 20 sets before us prescriptions for ministry, the ordained ministry of God.

The disciples are present here in their ministerial role. in their apostolic and official capacity. Words from Jesus recorded in John 15, verse 16, help us at this point, as they prepare us for what we find in this twentieth chapter. In that earlier text, Jesus says, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you. The translation in the New American Standard, in the King James, the words are, “…and ordained you that you should go and bear fruit.” The sense of these words is an official position, marked out especially by Christ. And with these words in tow, we are brought then into John chapter 20. sensitive to the official tone of Jesus’ words in verses 21 through 23 in that Son of Macbeth.

There is here, then, a commissioning for the ordained ministry effective in connection with the Church, the Sabbath, and the worship of God’s people. We are dealing with the whole and the interconnectedness of all the parts. You dare not diminish any one aspect of the revelation lest you do damage to the whole picture. In fact, with respect to the ordained ministry, The ministry of the Church is sent forth from heaven by the risen Christ, even as the Son is sent from heaven by the Father. That’s the effect of Jesus’ words in the 21st verse. I have already endeavored to show you, in another connection, the significance of these words that Jesus uttered.

Jesus’ words here do not pertain to his sending of the disciples from Jerusalem to other parts of the world. They pertain to his sending the disciples from himself, the resurrected Lord, as the center of their life, sending them forth from him in service. They are emissaries of, ambassadors of heaven as they go out. They are not emissaries of Jerusalem or any other place in this creation.

This ministry received empowerment from the sun through the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Verse 22, “…just as the Son received empowerment from the Father through the blessing of the Holy Spirit.” Such blessing is specifically attached to the Church and to its worship. Again, once more, the whole picture, not just part. Jesus, then, we can say, has the Church and its worship in view for the totality of His ministry, as it is recorded for us in the Gospel of John. The Holy Spirit rests upon Him beyond measure, to the end, that the new day of worship of the Father in spirit and in truth would be delighted in by the new assembly of the Lord, convened in untruth.

The Holy Spirit then is breathed out upon these disciples in verse 22 in this twentieth chapter to this very same end. So as the empowerment comes to the disciples in the Holy Spirit, they are given peace by Christ in pursuit of their mission, that mission being concretely set out with respect to its Sabbath, Church, and worship connection. However, the definition of the ministerial office becomes even more specific in these verses.

For verse 23 here is bound also to verse 22, just as verse 21 is bound to that 22nd verse. That is to say, the Holy Spirit mentioned in verse 22 is linked to the bestowal of peace upon the disciples as they are sent on their mission, the Holy Spirit empowering them in that mission, verse 21. But then the Holy Spirit in verse 22 is linked as well to the forgiving and the retaining of sins spoken of in verse 23. Verse 22 is the axis. This makes a plain bend that we must say the forgiving and the retaining of sins in verse twenty-three is dynamically related to the mission of the disciples spoken of in verse twenty-one through the Holy Spirit presented to us in verse twenty-six.

Behold, it all goes to death together. Ignore a part, you lose the whole. Again, it should be evident to us then that we are dealing with a concept of reality in the program and purpose of God, that which we have already articulated with respect to this chapter as a whole, namely the subject of the Sabbath, the Church, and worship. At the end of this chapter, John himself will speak about true faith, distinguishing it from false.

It is that true faith which he enjoys, which he encourages, that latches on to a faith in the context of the Church’s understanding of the Sabbath and its worship. In other words, there is no true grasp of a proper faith apart from the Sabbath and worship, in which the risen Christ visits his people. But you note now that the forgiving and the retaining of sins in verse 23 are inseparably bound to these features and realities these aspects and truths. It is therefore from and in the context of the Church, not irrespective of its Sabbath worship, that this enterprise of forgiving and retaining of sins takes place through the auspices of the ordained ministry of the Word. But how is this to be accomplished? It is at this point that the gospel of John becomes the object of fierce and bloody argument. Will this ministry be effective and effected by the sacraments, primarily, or even solely?

It must be remembered in this connection that John’s gospel is the consummate anti-sacerdotal gospel. He is the anti-many other things gospel too, but he is at least this. The consummate anti-sacerdotal gospel. And this is of interest because you see, it has been the sacerdotal churches that have particularly gravitated towards John’s gospel, as if John’s gospel was their province. When in actual fact, John is preaching against them. The irony is that in the economy of God, they would be drawn to the very gospel that is answering and refuting their position. Their blindness is underscored and measured.

John’s gospel is the consummate anti-sacerdotal gospel. That is, it is the gospel that cries out against the abuse of the sacraments, against an overemphasis upon the sacraments, against an over-expectation with regard to the sacraments. Do the sacraments, for instance, stand on their own as means of salvation? Do they have a power in and of themselves to work salvation and deliverance for the people of God? And in the case of John 20, verse 23, is there a special sacrament, the confessional? brought into connection with a sacrament marking the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that then provides absolution for sin.

It is interesting here that John avoids the mention of food, sacramental food or food of any kind altogether in this context. Not that he won’t mention food often in his gospel, but here it is not mentioned at all. In fact, later, in chapter 21, food is moved center stage.

It is brought up as focus for the ministry of Christ, which expresses itself in service to Christ’s lambs through the Word and the Spirit. in which the minister of the word is being conformed to the image of Christ, and you think of Peter in this respect, in that he is told that his death will itself be an imitation of Christ’s own.

It is this 21st chapter of John that convinces us that John’s gospel is as much the anti-clericalistic gospel as much as it is the anti-sacerdotal gospel. In other words, we dare not read chapter 20 and what it says to the Church about the ministry of the Word as if it has in mind the comfortable offices of predictable and regular, if not prescribed, routines for ecclesiastical bureaucrats. Rather, it has in mind the tending of Christ’s lamb that leads the shepherds to their own slaughter, if need be, because of their love of Christ and his flock. This is not to say that the legitimate New Testament sacraments have no role to play in John’s theology in his gospel. It is only to say that they are subordinated to the ministry of the word in the spirit through the proclamation of the gospel of the living Christ and the application of that gospel in the proper exercise of church discipline.

John 20, 21 through 23. I have made much in these messages about the connection between John 20 in the preceding chapter 13 through 19. Verse 23 in this 20th chapter has this antecedent. I think that you may have noted it. We read it this evening from chapter 16 verses 7 through 15.

Description given by Christ there of the coming judging ministry of the Spirit is what Jesus said. the Comforter, the Helper, the Paraclete, the Spirit, when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, verse 8, that the giving and retaining of sin which Jesus committed to the disciples is the fulfillment of the promise that He had uttered previously with regard to the Spirit and His approach with Adam.

But now to wrap things up for our messages on John 20 and Jesus’ gift of the Spirit. And to return to the theme, which is getting a little nervous, the theme that I articulated last week. It is of great importance that we not miss yet the whiter, more basic feature and the concern for this twentieth chapter in John.

To be sure, there is this unavoidable interest in the ministry of the word and the ordained Thus, we deal with the disciples as representatives and the prototypical of the ongoing ministerial calling in the Church. We have a unique role for the ordained minister who is commissioned by the risen Christ, blessed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, and affected in a ministry for the forgiving and the retaining of sins.

Yes, that is there to be sure. At the same time, we also have the figure of Mary. at the beginning of this chapter. And at its conclusion, we have the figure of Thomas, who, although he is a disciple, is in this twentieth chapter, with Mary, a picture of belayed response to the risen Christ.

The response of those who would be judged members of the flock and of the congregation, very indicative of the responses of the common believer. Not the office bearer, but the common believer, the Church as a whole. In other words, the congregation or the Church of Christ He’s as much in view in this chapter as is the ministry of the Word.

And is this not the case? as we consider the 22nd verse of this 20th chapter, where Jesus breathes upon the disciples and says to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Behind that action of Christ is the action of God himself in breathing into Adam the breath of life in Genesis 2-7. Adam, not just in an ordained capacity, but as he is the embodiment of the people of God, the community of God. And not only this, The Spirit also invoked in Ezekiel chapter 37, where the prophet is commanded with regard to the breath of God, that this breath shall come from the four corners of the earth, and it shall breathe upon the dry and dead bones, and the bones will come together, a community of God’s people, now an army of the Lord raised from the dead.

This means, then, that we can never be content now. You take away one of the parts, you lose the whole. We can never be content with merely concentrating upon ordained office as we look at John chapter 10. In view is the Church itself, in its totality, in its fullness, commissioned, yes, even commissioned by the risen Christ.

We have now left behind home in this creation. We are not being sent forth from Coriathlis or Switly. We’re not being sent forth from Albuquerque. We’re being sent forth as the people of God from heaven to be a colony of heaven in the world, a community of the elect.

We, the Church, then, are the begotten of God, born of God, born from him, sent from heaven, from the living Lord. In this context, our fears are conquered as we come into this world, even as Christ came into this world. He, with the gift of the Spirit, bearing that Spirit, we the saints, alive, because it’s And in the Holy Spirit, we are the means, then, of extending grace.

Oh, yes, there is a distinguishing work of the ordained office in this regard. But yes, we all are a means of the extending of grace and judgment, even judgment in this world. Such is our identity. This is who we are. In fact, the wide issue of the Church is the spirit context for the focused and special unique ministry of the ordained. This is confirmed by the obvious fact that one must be a member of the church before one can be a minister. You must be a she before you can be a shepherd.

The church precedes the office. The office rises out of the church. Office steers church, not the reader. As a result of this, the church must never, never be impressed by the independent style and attitude of people. claiming for themselves an ordination and demanding on the basis of that personal ordination a following. And the church is foolish to run after the character. But neither can the church treat the central matters of the ministry, such as mission in the world and proclamation of the gospel and the exercise of discipline, as if they were the concerns for the ministry alone.

Do you understand that when a letter goes forth from this session concerning discipline within this assembly, it is a letter from you? And don’t you dare say that it is only a letter from the session and I can disassociate myself from it. How dare you? This text in John 20 defines you if you don’t like it. Well, I won’t finish that statement. There is no other church. No other true church exists. This is it. Yet, indeed, your options are very limited. Isn’t life unfair? The special ministry, then, of the ordained is merely the extension of the Church’s identity.

Isn’t this underscored in one of Paul’s most marvelous letters? As he thinks about the way in which he gives himself for the service of the Church, extending for the church, and at the same time speaking so glowingly about the members of that church in Philippi as they are participants with him in his ministry in proclaiming the word. Does this mean that they’ve given up their homes and left town and joined up with Paul and they’re all running around the ancient world preaching the gospel every place they go? It means that there are participants, even where they are in that ministry, and they are so defined.

All understand. All that I’m saying here is not to trivialize office in the church or move us in a brethren direction where all receive the ordination. It is merely to say that church and clergy are one together in their respective relationships, that the Church as a whole has an identity in keeping with John 20, 21 through 23, while observing, Owens, the proper rights and authority of the office. But such is the union between Church and office that the Church participates in the service of the officer, even as the officer self-consciously labors for the sake of the Church, again, fall beautifully.

Where, then, in Christ’s mind and in His estimation, is there the Church without opposites? And where is the officer without the church? If you are holding out for some kind of other reality, you’re holding out for something that is contrary to the will of Christ. Where then is the Sabbath denying, worship ignoring and denigrating believing? For one who is declaring himself independent of restraint with regard to the Sabbath and with regard to its worship, does Christ have regard for such a believer? I dare say on the basis of the word of God, emphatically, no. Whatever that believer is engaged in, it is not Christ’s Church.

And what of that spirit usurping, spirit claiming, oh yes, ever so zealous for missions, gospel coding, opinionated Bible wills? iterating around not only the country but the world. This individual stands in his arrogance and in his autonomy contrary to the message of John’s point. Surely that Such individuals who are engaged in these things are at a distance from the picture and pattern presented to us in John 20. And I trust that it is abundantly clear to all of us that we stand at a distance, even from the beginning of the Church, from the intention of the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit, whom Christ has given. to his church. Father, what will come of marks many a self-proclaimed servant of Christ and even a wayward assembly.

Lord, from the beginning you set out the pattern and the plan. You set before your people the empowerment and the definition of ministry and service. and you made it plain where forgiveness of sin must be found. How foolish of us, O God, to come up with our own definition, have mercy upon. And upon all who would claim your name around the world, that we might be ever more zealous for the pattern of your revelation, the very content of it. even as you have set forth the nature of the life of your people in the context of the Sabbath which we set to worship regarding ministry and office and the totality of our life, the congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Help us, Father, with our attitude Keep us down, even in the resistance of our will to Your will. We might be found to be, then, Your obedient servants, who enjoy things wonderfully and fully in the blessings that You have ordained for Your people, even as You give to them a Spirit-endowed ministry and a Spirit-involved life. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.