Scripture Introduction
My uncle had cancer surgery Friday. The prognosis is not good; the disease has spread.
Since I cannot receive any Social Security or Medicare, I have a retirement account. So far this year, it has lost $7,204.55, 30% of its value.
This week a pastor sent me this note about what was going on in his life: “I lost hearing in my right ear three weeks ago (and gained a constant ringing). Two week ago, an ear specialist put me on steroids to see if there would be some healing. He said that I had an injured nerve. One of the side effects of the steroids is that it can lower your immune system and I have developed a small infection in my finger that seems to be spreading. So, tomorrow, I have to go to the doctor to have that looked at in the morning, and then in the afternoon, I meet with the ear specialist. I am guessing he will want me to have an MRI as there is a chance I have a benign tumor that is causing the problems. So, if you would pray. My spirits are good, and I trust God in all this. The hard thing for me is going to the doctors and taking the time to deal with this stuff.”
Trials and tribulations strike from coiled behind different rocks, but all can make us wonder if God is on the throne. They tempt us to doubt whether there is a designer with a good plan. They frighten us, make us anxious, trouble our hearts. We may not even want to trust God and keep our spirits up.
The men chosen by the Lord as his witnesses and the future leaders for the church are about to face great difficulties. Until now, when a problem arose, they went to Jesus. For example, when they could not heal a young boy, an argument developed and tempers rose. Then Jesus arrived and drove out the demon and healed the boy. Another time there was not enough food for everyone: “What do we do?” they asked. Then Jesus blessed the bread and miraculously fed the multitude.
But now he is leaving, and they are anxious: “To whom will we turn when troubles abound?” Earlier (in John 14.1), Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He returns to that theme in the paragraph we are reading this morning. [Read John 14.25-31. Pray.]
Introduction
The letter read: “Dear Abby, I have found the secret to inner peace and I want to share it will all your readers. The secret is to finish the things you start. Today alone I finished two bags of potato chips, a chocolate pie, a bottle of wine and a box of candy. I feel better already.”
Though it may make you feel better, this is not what the Lord promises. But he does promise. In fact, peace is a promised effect, or result, of knowing God and having him truly working in our lives. Galatians 5.22: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
I notice that neither in Galatians 5 nor John 14 is there any qualification about circumstances. So I take that to mean we can have peace (some kind and somehow) even in the midst of chaos.
In our church (denomination) we put some of the Bible’s most significant teachings in question and answer form to help us teach ourselves and our children. One of those questions asks: “What are the benefits which in this life accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? Answer: The benefits which in this life accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are: assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, and increase and perseverance in grace to the end” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, #36).
In other words, peace can flow into our lives as a result of salvation. Jesus taught that in John 14, so it is our topic this morning. To get there, I think we must first…
1. We Must Recognize and Reject False Peace
Note well what Jesus says in the middle of verse 27: “Not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14.27b).
Jesus clearly contrasts his gift with the world’s. The world offers a form of peace, and by alerting us to that fact, Jesus is asking us to recognize false “peace” and reject it. (This is a pattern throughout the Bible – before we “put on” the new, we must “put off” the old.) So what false peaces tempt us in such a way as to keep us from the peace of God?
The one I mentioned in the opening illustration is a little silly, but it is real. Losing one’s anxieties in an excess of alcohol or dessert is a common form of temporary peace.
As I’m sure you can imagine, the internet overflows with the world’s “peaces.” As an example, I searched for “forget your troubles,” and the first hit was SelfGrowth.com: “So how do you forget your troubles when life seems to be riddled with them? Find something everyday to feel good about, even if it is something small, will create feelings that will add up to a huge emission of happiness. Find a solution that you feel you will be happy with, and even if you are unable to implement it immediately, just revel in the feeling that the problem is solved. The Universe will pick up your hints and start working on the solution. Focusing on the solution in any situation will bring you a solve of some sort through the Universe. The more exact you get with the image of your focus, the more the Universe has to work with and will bring you a solution just as you see it…or better. And don’t fret if your problem seems to get worse, sometimes this is how the Universe will bring you an answer.”
Wealth also promises peace. Jesus spoke specifically of this danger: a farmer’s land produced so many crops he had nowhere to store them. So he said, “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” [That is the world’s offer of peace.] But that night the man died, and his goods did him no good. (See Luke 12.15-21). But notice especially this: he was not interested in God’s peace because he was chasing the world’s. Until we put off (or reject) the false, we will not receive (put on) the peace of God.
The book that our morning men’s group used this past semester gave an example. Dan Doriani pointed out that even the words we use to describe our money have this temptation built in. When we put aside money for a special use it is placed into a trust. When money is promised you upon retirement, it is called Social Security. Sometimes we describe our money as “The Almighty Dollar.” As if money could free us from troubles.
I’m sure you could add your own examples. Let me finish this point by reminding us of some of the problems with the world’s gifts (from Boice, 1154):
* Insincerity: worldly offers of peace almost always have a hook hidden in the bait.
* Impotence: worldly offers deliver less than they promise.
* Scantiness: the peace the world gives is rarely generous.
* Selfish: worldly promises usually hide selfish motives.
* Temporary: what is offered today is taken back tomorrow.
Now that we have been alerted to the danger of the world’s offers,…
2. We Must Value and Receive Jesus’ Peace (John 14.27)
Discussions of peace often focus on “the horizontal” aspect – peace between people or social institutions or governments. This absence of violence or conflict is a worthy goal, both for the broader society and the interpersonal relationships we all must live with. But I do not believe that is the peace Jesus refers to in this passage.
Instead, he speaks of the “vertical” aspect of peace, that which concerns our relationship with God. And that peace has two parts: 1st, an objective part, which the Bible calls “peace with God,” (in which we are declared to be no longer his enemies); and 2nd, a subjective part, the “peace of God” (when we know in our souls the presence and acceptance of God even in the midst of chaos). It seems to me that the main thrust of Jesus’ words here in John 14 have to do with the subjective, the peace of God, which I would define this way: The confidence in your soul which results from faith that there is a sovereign and omnipotent (all powerful) God who is both good to you and present with you through all circumstances.
Three observations:
2.1. Knowing the Peace Of God Requires Peace With God
Not every true Christian experiences peace and joy in the Holy Spirit every day. Troubles get us down and we need to be reminded of the promises of God. That is exactly what Jesus is doing here, and we will look at another aspect on Wednesday night in Philippians 4. It is also what the author of Hebrews does when he writes: “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet….” We all need lots of encouragement to not allow our hearts to become troubled. But please realize that before we can have the peace of God, we must be at peace with God.
The Bible teaches that the greatest enemy of those who are not yet Christians is – God! It sounds strange, but because of our sin, apart from faith in God’s Messiah, we are God’s enemies! And what an enemy! Though we fight against him at every turn, he woos us, calls us, works for our conversion, and loves us while we curse and despise Him. I wish all my enemies fought this way!
Be sure of this: though you desire to experience true peace of soul and conscience, such is impossible unless you are at peace with God. Is that true of you? Have you come to the place in your life where you admitted that you made yourself God’s enemy? Have you laid down your weapons at the cross and accepted Jesus’ peace treaty in your behalf? Are you confident that he knows you personally and that nothing can separate you from his loving presence? Do you believe that all his power and mercy is converging to ensure all your chaos is ordered for your good? Have you been reconciled to God through faith in the finished work of his Messiah?
My sin nature hates to be humbled like that. I like to think far too well of myself than to confess that I fought against the God who is known by love, compassion, mercy and grace. Yet until we own our enmity and receive Christ’s peace treaty for us, we have no peace with God and cannot experience the peace of God in this life.
2.2. Biblical Peace Does Not Come by Changing Circumstances
Every day people seek peace by controlling chaos, by changing people or circumstances. The angry husband who yells, “I just want some peace and quiet”; the bitter wife who clams up when her feelings are hurt; the hopeless parents in Nebraska who “returned” their children to the hospital when they realized they did not want them anymore; the desperate person who kills themselves rather than face the pain another day. These share the hope of peace by a change in externals.
The Lord does not promise the men a bed of roses; he offers them peace in along the thorny path. Biblical peace is not the result of avoiding conflict or changing circumstances.
2.3. Biblical Peace May Not Result in a Reduction of the Chaos
Before I came to faith in Christ, my great enemy was God, and he loved me. Now that I am Christian, I have a host of principalities and powers of this age who hate me and seek to make life and circumstances miserable. This means that a Christian may appear to have less peace even while she knows the peace of God in her life. Biblical peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the presence of God in the midst of your chaos.
So far we have 1) Recognized and rejected false peace. Then, 2) we realize that we must be reconciled to God through faith in Christ in order to have peace with God. Now, 3) how do we receive and experience the peace of God.
First, be aware that this is a supernatural work, an act of God’s sovereign Holy Spirit. We cannot command this gift; it is the gracious promise of a merciful Savior. We ask and trust, all the while remembering that God must do a work in our souls.
Second, know that this is a promise received by faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and you must hear the truth and believe it in order to know God’s peace. The truth is that God is on the throne and, despite some appearances, his good and perfect will is being done. Let the cleansing grace of Romans 8 wash away anxiety: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.… What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?... Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When this truth is screwed into the soul and ignited by the Holy Spirit, it burns away the dross of anxiety – let not your hearts be troubled!
Third, we live like believers. I plan to pick up this theme on Wednesday night in Philippians, but I will remind you now. 1) We rejoice in the Lord; 2) We lean on the nearness of God; 3) We pray with thanksgiving; 4) We desire the peace God promises; 5) We intentionally and actively think about Biblical truth; 6) We live out our faith. And the God of peace will be with you.
3. Conclusion
Harry Ironside used to tell the story of a troop of Union cavalry that was riding on the road between Richmond and Washington right after the end of the civil war. They come across a poor wretch of a soldier, clothed in the ragged remnants of a Confederate uniform. He called out to the captain of the cavalry unit: “Can you help me? I’m starving to death. Can you give me some food?”
The captain said, “Why don’t you just go into Richmond and get what you need?”
The soldier said, “I do not dare; I will be arrested. Three weeks ago I became so discouraged because of our losses that I deserted from the southern army, and I have been hiding in the woods ever since, gradually making my way north, hoping for a chance to break through to Federal lines. If I should be caught by southern soldiers I would be shot for deserting.”
The captain asked, “Haven’t you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“Why the war is over. Peace has been made. General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox two weeks ago. The Confederacy is ended.”
“What?! Peace has been made and I have been starving in the woods because I didn’t know it?”
When Jesus said to his disciples, “My peace I give to you,” he was saying, “I’m leaving to make peace between the Father and his wayward children. I will complete the work, and all that know me can know my peace. Will we believe and receive this gift of God’s grace?
