The Blessing of Grotesque: Week 1 Demand of Reality - Pastor Robert Clark

Apr 12, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Peace Through the Wounds of Christ

Jesus does not offer peace through sterile arguments but through the tangible reality of His sacrifice. His presence brings a peace that is grounded in the evidence of His love—the wounds He bore for us. This peace is not a mere sentiment; it is a profound reality founded on the finished work of the cross. He offers Himself, and in His incarnation, we find our rest. [55:25]

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:20-21 ESV)

Reflection: Where in your life are you seeking peace through information or control, rather than through the present, incarnate reality of Jesus and His finished work?

Day 2: The Purpose Found in His Peace

The peace Christ gives is not for our comfort alone; it is the very foundation for our purpose. His declaration of peace is immediately followed by a commissioning. We are sent into the world as He was sent—sacrificially, truthfully, and redemptively. Our mission flows directly from the peace secured by His wounds. [58:05]

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21 ESV)

Reflection: How does the peace you have received from Christ compel you to engage with the world around you in a new or more intentional way this week?

Day 3: The Breath of New Life

The same God who breathed life into creation breathes new spiritual life into His people. Christ’s breath upon His disciples signifies the impartation of the Holy Spirit, the very life of God. This is not a one-time event but the consistent pattern of a God who enters into death and speaks life out of it. [01:05:16]

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22 ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life do you need to consciously receive the breath of God’s Spirit to bring life to something that feels dry or dormant?

Day 4: The Cost of Isolation

Isolation can cost us the profound encounters with God that happen within the community of believers. While God is gracious to meet us in our absence, gathering with His people is where we often witness His wounds, receive His peace, and are filled with His breath. We were not created to walk this faith alone. [01:08:45]

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. (John 20:24 ESV)

Reflection: Is there an area of your faith where you feel you are living on borrowed testimony because you have withdrawn from Christian community?

Day 5: From Rumor to Revelation

God invites us to move from hearing about Him to truly seeing Him for ourselves. He is not offended by our desire for a real, tangible encounter with His presence. Faith must become our own revelation, not just a story we have heard from others. Christ offers His very real self to all who seek Him. [01:19:35]

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” (Job 42:5 ESV)

Reflection: What is one step you can take this week to move from knowing about God to seeking a fresh, personal encounter with the living Christ?

Sermon Summary

Worship opens with a heartfelt plea for "more of you," moving from gratitude into practical faith: missionary support, joyful giving, and communal celebration. The congregation celebrates baptisms and new converts, affirms missionary work across the nation, and frames giving as an act of worship that flows from generosity rather than obligation. Attention then shifts to the crucifixion and resurrection as the central paradox: the crucifixion’s brutality becomes the source of blessing. The phrase "the blessing of the grotesque" names how the torn, bloodied body of Christ transforms horror into peace, proof, and purpose.

John 20 provides the narrative backbone. Jesus appears among locked, fearful disciples, utters "Peace be with you," and shows the wounds in his hands and side. Those wounds authenticate resurrection identity, root peace in reality rather than sentiment, and confirm that the cross accomplished reconciliation. Christ hands peace to the disciples through the visible marks of suffering and then commissions them: as the Father sent him, he sends them. The wounds do not merely vindicate survival; they found the church’s mission and become the basis for sending.

The account of Thomas functions as a caution and an invitation. Thomas’s prior pattern of candid questions and loyalty reappears in his demand for tactile proof; his absence from the initial encounter leaves him with hearsay rather than revelation. The text contrasts secondhand testimony with embodied encounter: Jesus breathes on the gathered disciples, repeating the pattern of creation and imparting the Holy Spirit. That breath links resurrection to ongoing life and equips the sent ones.

The call moves from theology to response. Faith must shift from rumor to revelation; no one may inherit the resurrection by borrowing another’s encounter. The wounds that once signified shame now give peace, purpose, and power. The congregation receives a clear altar invitation to exchange secondhand stories for a breathed, risen presence—and then to carry that peace outward, praying for others, speaking Christ’s name, and engaging the mission given by the risen, wounded Lord.

Key Takeaways

1. Peace rooted in wounded hands The visible marks of crucifixion authenticate the risen identity and ground peace in reality, not sentiment. Those wounds make peace credible: peace issued from suffering that conquered death, not from comforting words alone. Believers can stand in that peace amid pain because the cross converted brokenness into reconciliation. [56:37]
2. Incarnation over secondhand information Faith requires personal encounter with the incarnate Christ rather than mere agreement with facts. Hearing testimony can point toward God, but the breathed presence of the Spirit turns rumor into revelation. Seek the living exchange—Christ standing, speaking, breathing—so belief becomes encounter. [65:16]
3. Wounds give mission and purpose The scars of the cross become the grounds for commissioning: peace is handed off through broken hands. The church’s sending flows from a wounded, risen Savior who imparts authority and mission by virtue of what was finished. Purpose arises when suffering is reinterpreted as the means to make disciples. [58:36]
4. Don't live on borrowed testimony Borrowed faith leaves a person one step removed from life in Christ; Thomas’s absence shows the cost of missing an encounter. The invitation stands: move from rumor to reception, allow Christ’s breath to renew and to root assurance in personal revelation. Only a received resurrection reshapes identity and fuels obedience. [81:54]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[19:55] - Prayer: More of God
[22:25] - Why and How We Give
[27:04] - Missionary Testimony
[44:13] - Reflection on Cross and Resurrection
[46:22] - Title: Blessing of the Grotesque
[48:17] - John 20: Introducing Thomas
[53:50] - Jesus Appears: Wounds and Peace
[58:36] - Commissioning: As the Father Sent Me
[65:16] - Breath of the Holy Spirit
[68:20] - Thomas Was Not There
[81:54] - Altar Call: From Rumor to Revelation
[95:05] - Announcements and Close

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
John 20:19-29 (ESV)
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Observation questions

What did Jesus show the disciples when He first appeared to them, and how did they respond?
What two things did Jesus say to the disciples after showing them His wounds?
How did Thomas respond when the other disciples told him they had seen the risen Lord?
What did Jesus invite Thomas to do when He appeared to him eight days later?

Interpretation questions

Why do you think Jesus showed His wounds before speaking peace to the disciples?
What does it mean that Jesus sent the disciples “as the Father has sent me”? [58:36]
Why was Thomas unwilling to believe based only on the testimony of the other disciples? [11:11]
How does Jesus’ response to Thomas emphasize the value of both physical encounter and faith without seeing?

Application questions

Peace is rooted in the wounds of Christ—not in comfortable circumstances. Where in your life do you need to receive His peace that comes through suffering and redemption?
Some people have only heard about Jesus but haven’t personally encountered Him. Have you moved from knowing about Jesus to truly knowing Him? [16:35]
Jesus sends His people into the world just as the Father sent Him. What would it look like for you to represent Christ in your everyday life—at work, in your family, or in your community?
Thomas refused to settle for someone else’s story. Are you living on borrowed faith, or have you personally received the breath of the Holy Spirit in your life? [18:06]
The scars of Jesus became the grounds for His mission. How might God use your own wounds or past struggles to bring hope and purpose to others?
Jesus met Thomas in his doubt and invited him to touch His wounds. How can you create a safe space for people who are skeptical or spiritually searching?
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” What helps you trust Jesus even when you can’t see tangible evidence of His work?

Sermon Clips

41s

#FromRumorToRevelation

“Jesus is not offended by your need for reality, but he will not let you live forever on someone else's encounter. Hear me now. Your mama can't save you. Your daddy's faith can't save you. Your aunts, your uncles, your grandfather, your niece, not even your own child's salvation can save you. You can't live on borrowed testimony of salvation. You can't you cannot enter into eternal life and have the blessings of righteousness in this world without moving from rumor to revelation,”

38s

#ShowUpForEncounter

“His isolation cost him the encounter. It cost him the sight of the wounds. It cost him the gladness that he would see his friends have. It cost him the peace of Christ, the sending of Christ. He didn't get the purpose. He he didn't even get the breath of Christ because he wasn't there. He wasn't there to receive. Have you heard about miracles but been absent? Have you heard about the movement of God but been absent?”

37s

#JesusIsReal

“Just because you're watching this on a TV set, understand this is not a story. This is not entertainment. If it was, I would be a lot more entertaining. This is something very real and you have to accept this reality that it's not a real. Jesus is not hearsay. He's not. He is an incarnated living God. And I'm not laughing because of the the the moment or because of the joke or anything else. I'm laughing because of the joy that brings my spirit.”

40s

#CrossBringsPeace

“The agony, the blood, the water, the the vitriol of the moment was the way that Christ brought peace into the world. The sanctity of it was confirmed on resurrection morning. God said, no, that was real. He's living and he's alive and he's bringing the news. The cross means my sins are forgiven. Peace. It means my slavery is broken. Peace. It means my future is secure. Peace.”

54s

#StopBorrowingFaith

“before we go any further in our worlds, before you go any further, let me ask you this plainly. Are you living on a borrowed testimony? I don't care how long you've been borrowing. There may be some people in this room that are living on a testimony. They have been borrowing for seventy years. Probe your life. Probe your heart. Ask if you've been running with a rumor or if you've been running with the incarnation of Jesus Christ in your life. Only you can answer that. Have you received that breath from Christ, that living breath that renews and revives and sets free?”

36s

#PeaceThroughTheCross

“Making peace with the believers through the blood of his cross is quite literally what the word of God says. The blood of his cross is how he brings peace into our world. You can have peace amidst hardship. You can have peace in this struggle because the very way that Jesus brought peace into the world was a cross being nailed to a piece of wood, hoisted into the sky, and put on display before the world was how he brought peace into the world.”

37s

#BreathOfTheSpirit

“He breathed on them. He said, as the lord sends me, so send I you. And as he said this, he breathed on them. That breath of life, that breath that spoke the cosmos into being, and he said, receive the holy spirit. Alright. Y'all need to wake up this morning. He breathed on them and said, receive the holy spirit. This is a beautiful beautiful moment inside of this. It's the pattern of creation.”

35s

#SameGodSameBreath

“Like God is consistent. Like we we pretend like the New Testament savior and the God of creation aren't the same. He does the exact same things. He follows the exact same patterns. In Ezekiel, it says, he breathed on these slain and they were that they may live. Right? It's it it is consistent. The same god that breathes life into dust is the same god who spoke life into dry bones and he is now standing in the room with them breathing the holy spirit into their lives.”

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The Blessing of Grotesque: Week 1 Demand of Reality - Pastor Robert Clark

Devotional

Day 1: Peace Through the Wounds of Christ

Day 2: The Purpose Found in His Peace

Day 3: The Breath of New Life

Day 4: The Cost of Isolation

Day 5: From Rumor to Revelation

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

The Blessing of Grotesque: Week 1 Demand of Reality - Pastor Robert Clark

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