John 20

Rev. Charles G. Dennison
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Eleven sermons by Rev. Charles G. Dennison, former pastor of Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Sewickley, PA, expounding the resurrection chapter of John's Gospel — Mary at the tomb, Christ's threefold word of peace, Thomas's confession, and the church's Lord's-Day life and mission. Preached March - June 1996 and drawn from the Dennison Sermon Library archive.

Episodes

  1. 06/02/1996

    The Church in John 20

    Lord's Day worship sits at the very center of the church's life, and careful exegesis of John 20:21-23 grounds that claim rather than assuming it. The Spirit's work of judging sin, promised in John 16:8 and enacted in 20:23, gives the church real authority beyond any ceremonial function. In a real sense, this closing sermon argues, the whole church in its totality is already present in John 20.

  2. 05/26/1996

    East, West, and the Trinity

    The Eastern Orthodox Church's history, including three reasons for its break with Rome, sets Eastern and Western views of the Trinity side by side. Theosis, the deification of man, marks the sharpest point of difference. John 20's commissioning raises the question of what kind of union with God Christ promises the church.

  3. 05/19/1996

    The Church Fulfills Christ's Prayer

    Christ's high-priestly prayer in John 17 finds its answer in the church's later life, which fulfills his words, prayers, actions, and service. New birth from above, from God, qualifies the church to enter Christ's own mission. John 20:21 sends the church into that inheritance.

  4. 05/12/1996

    Three Sayings of Peace

    Christ says 'peace' three times in John 20, and those words look back to his promises in 14:27 and 16:33, first given before the cross. The trial of John 18-19 connects directly to the resurrection of John 20. John 20 delivers heavenly peace, given through the risen Christ by the Holy Spirit, and it goes far deeper than relief that the ordeal is over.

  5. 04/28/1996

    Two Dimensions of the Return

    John 20 belongs with the upper room discourse of John 13-17, and together they show two dimensions of Christ's return from the tomb. Jesus names himself teacher, Rabboni, even as he promises the Spirit who will teach after he goes. The already and not yet shows up again in that double promise.

  6. 04/21/1996

    Abiding in the Risen Christ

    The Christ who spoke of abiding in John 14, before the cross, now stands risen among his disciples in John 20. The covenant language of abiding, we in Christ and Christ in us, makes the church matter as more than a gathering of people. That abiding ends in delight.

  7. 04/14/1996

    A New Pattern of Worship

    The resurrection creates a new pattern of worship, and John's Gospel shows it through its double language of physical and spiritual meaning layered together. To miss that worship is to miss Christ himself, a far greater loss than skipping a religious observance. Only Christ himself can give true faith.

  8. 04/07/1996

    No Resurrection, No Christianity

    Without the resurrection there is no Christianity at all. The power Paul describes in Ephesians 3:20-21 answers the darkness of John 20:1, and that power shapes a pattern of worship morning and evening. Mary calls the risen Christ 'Rabboni,' and there that power first becomes personal.

  9. 04/07/1996

    The Second Adam Speaks Peace

    The disciples locked away in fear stand as heirs of the first Adam's failure, still in spiritual darkness, until the second Adam speaks a single word: peace. That peace commissions the church, echoing Psalm 122, to go back into the old creation and help order it, far more than personal comfort. Christ's word does what Adam's disobedience could not undo on its own.

  10. 03/31/1996

    David, Christ, and the Sabbath

    The Pharisees reach for the Old Testament itself to accuse the disciples of breaking the Sabbath, and Christ's response in Mark 2:25-28 uses deliberate hyperbole to assert an authority the Pharisees hadn't reckoned with. David's own example foreshadows Christ's Lordship over both law and Sabbath. What looks like a technical dispute is actually a claim about who Christ is.

  11. 03/17/1996

    Illumination From the Risen Christ

    John frames the resurrection appearances around the Lord's Day, repeated in 20:19 and 20:26, against the spiritual darkness of 20:1. Verse 19 uses the language of new creation, which Christ accomplishes by the Spirit. Real illumination comes only from the risen Christ, and the darkness supplies none of its own.

  • 11 Episodes

About

Eleven sermons by Rev. Charles G. Dennison, former pastor of Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Sewickley, PA, expounding the resurrection chapter of John's Gospel — Mary at the tomb, Christ's threefold word of peace, Thomas's confession, and the church's Lord's-Day life and mission. Preached March - June 1996 and drawn from the Dennison Sermon Library archive.

Information

  • Creator
    Rev. Charles G. Dennison
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church
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    John 20