God's recipe for Peace
John 16:25-33
Many of you are familiar with the name Ted Tuner, he is the founder of the cable news network and controls most of the media in this country, which is one of the reasons I choose to get more information from other sources than the nightly news. Ted is strongly opposed to Christianity and has even said that mankind has no need for Bible teaching.
A few years ago Ted Turner wanted to see if anyone had the answer to world peace so he financed a competition to see if anyone could come up with a plan which he agreed to purchase and print in book form.
10,000 people from all around the world submitted manuscripts for Ted Turner to review, which he reported that none of them presented a workable plan for world peace. Turner went on to say without a plan, the possibility of world peace is at the best grim,
While I do not believe that there will ever be world peace until Jesus Christ rules and reigns supreme from the Throne of David in Israel for a 1000 years I do believe that it is possible to have peace and be at peace with God in your soul.
I believe there are some here today who if they were honest would say, I need to have peace in my life, I would love to have a tranquility in my soul!
For the past few weeks we have been looking into this passage of John, the last few moments of Jesus' life before his arrest and death on the cross
As more and more of what is about to take place is starting to make sense to the disciples they are very upset, scared and visibility saddened. Their hopes and dreams of reigning with Christ is his kingdom is coming to an end.
They have given up family, friends and occupations to follow Jesus and now he about to leave them.
Because of that Jesus has been encouraging them with the news that they Holy Spirit was going to come after he goes into heaven. And Last week we looked at how Jesus said that the same event that was going to bring them sorrow, his death, was also to bring them joy when they discovered that it also bought their salvation.
Today in this passage that we just read together Jesus gives them the recipe for peace, inward peace in a world that is full of trouble and tribulation.
A peace that the angels knew what possible when at the birth of our Lord they proclaimed in Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he is pleased!”
many of you know that I love to cook and I like to try new recipes. One of the differences between my wife and I is when she cooks she seasons to taste and I follow the recipe like its the Ten Commandments. If it calls for 1/2tsp thats what it gets, it it calls for a spice we don't have, Wal-mart is only a ΒΌ mile a way so I go get it.
Jesus, knowing his disciples are upset and knowing that after his resurrection they are going to face even more persecution gives them the recipe for the peace they would need to sustain them in difficult days. The days he was talking about in verse 33 when he said, “in the world you will have tribulation but take heart, I have overcome the world.
The Greek word for peace used in this scripture is “I'ra'na”eirēnē “ it means “Harmony, security, safety,
the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, having nothing to fear and perfectly content with its lot in life.”
That's where Jesus wanted his disciples, and where he wants us to get in our spiritual growth. Just like when I cook, I refuse to use cookbooks without pictures because I want to see the finish product and what its suppose to look like where I'm trying to get
the place that we are going today in our walk through this passage is to that state of peace the tranquil state of the soul. That is safe and secure in its relationship to God the, the creator of all things
I'm not talking about living in harmony with nature or with animals but with God almighty, the one who controls every breath that we take who hold the world and our eternal destiny in his hands
Jesus begins by telling them that it would all very soon make sense to them. In verse 25, “I have said these things to you in figures of speech, the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.”
part of what was causing the disciples to be frustrated and upset was their lack of understanding they couldn't get their hands around the truth at this point. Jesus taught in parables such as three days destroy this temple and I will raise it up but he was letting them know they would have a much better understanding after the Holy Spirit comes.. He will teach you all things. That's why there are no parables in the epistles written to the church. The instruction is very clear because the time was right for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of God to man
Turn to
2 Cor 3:7-
see the Old Testament it was veiled because it hadn't all been fulfilled, but now the Word of God comes to us in plainness of speech. Which removes our inward frustration because now we can know God and His truth through His Word and Spirit
People new to the faith may not know everything in the scripture but they can know the Father
1Jo 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
This is something that was impossible before Christ came, the truth about God is no longer veiled but revealed to us
In this passage back in John he gives them the tree primary ingredients of peace that all come from knowing the Father
Love, Faith, and Hope
First let's look at love
Love
Every human being has a need to be loved. Love is how we determine our worth, If no one loves me than I must have very little worth. We want to believe that we are worth something to someone which is why we spend such a great deal of our time pursing love.
There is a certain type of love we have for our friends and neighbors, a love that causes us to check in on them to see how they are doing, visit them when they have need, help them when we can. That tells our neighbors and friends that they have worth enough for us to care about them.
When we love our spouse by being faithful to them, supporting them, caring about their needs it tells them that they have worth to us
Now I want you to see this from the scripture today look there in verse 26 and 27, “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
Jesus' words here would have literally knocked their socks off, their mouths would have probably hit the floor when Jesus said this.
You see, in the Greek language there are many different words for love.
We all know the verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe th in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
and the greek word for love in that verse is Agape, it means to welcome or want the best for. And thats the word we are famailiar with as the disciples were for describing Gods love
but Agape is not the word used here its Phileo, which means to be kindly affection for. It means that God really, really likes you and is crazy about you.
God Agapes everyone but you, he Phileos you, he loves everyone, but you he likes you. Jesus is moving mankind here to a whole new way of looking at God. Not just as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, but a God you can call father. A God who really cares about you
A God who gives you all the worth you need. For when I realize that God likes me, my self worth is nor wrapped up in people loving me, because Gods is crazy about me.
In essence Jesus was telling the disciples here that they had more value than the angels, they Gods prized possession. When the angels sinned he cast them out of Heaven, when we sinned Jesus came and gave his life to redeem us back to the Father
and the reason that God loves us so much is because we have accepted Jesus Christ. Right there in verse 27 he says, “because you have loved me and believed that I came from God.”
On that basis Jesus says that you can go to the father and ask for the things you need and the father will give them to you when we ask on behalf of Jesus.
Let's get our hands around this truth today. I love my kids and would do anything I could to help them out. There are also other kids in our neighborhood that sometimes hang out in our house. The neighbor kids will usually come to the door and ring the doorbell or stick there head in and yell to ask if they can come in. But if they are outside with one our kids they can come with them and have full access without asking because they are coming in with one of our kids,.
Jesus says now we can go right to the father, who likes us and we can ask for the things we need on behalf of Jesus, We walk into the door with Jesus who has full access to the fathers house and resources
That's why Paul wrote, “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.” Romans 8:34
Love is one of the ingredients of having peace, grasping the truth of how much God loves you so much that he gives us access to his house, his throne to bring our prayers to God. How much worth do you have in Gods eyes, more than human tongue could even begin to communicate, or earthly mind comprehend.
Writing to the church at Corinth Paul said, “so now faith, hope and love abide, these three but the greatest of these is love.”
God loves you!! hear it, believe it, see it, experience it, claim it as your victory and when you get feeling down and out know that in Gods eyes you were worth his son dying on the cross which is why he wants to answer our prayers.
The second ingredient of peace is
Faith
In verse 31 it says, “Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?”
God has designed man to operate in the realm of faith.
Christians and non Christians live everyday exercising faith. You go to the grocery store and purchase a can good, and you trust that its safe to eat. You go to a restaurant and eat the food and you trust that it was handled and prepared in a safe way. You drive over a bridge and trust that the contractor built it the right way and that its sturdy enough to hold you up. When you turn on the faucet at home you have a certain amount of trust that the water is not going to harm your body.
Everyday we use faith, that's the way God designed us
But what was Jesus asking them when he said do you now believe? He wasn't asking them if they believed the sky was blue, or if they thought the water was safe to drink.
He was asking them do you now believe that God loves you, Do you now believe that this was all part of Gods plan, that Jesus would die on the cross. Do you now believe that God in his great and awesome power will raise up the body of Jesus Christ from the Grave. Do you now believe?
The same people who believe that it will rain enough to make the crops grow and to keep the ground water supplied for our survival, the same people who believe that when they open up the can good that it will be safe to eat are some of the same people who say I just can't believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I need more evidence
but the reality is that everyone believes in something.. One person believes in money another believes in religion. Alcoholic anonymous believes in a higher power and many choose to believe in themselves
yet in order to have peace we must place our faith in the finished work of the cross which was God's demonstration of His love to us, giving us the greatest worth in the world. And in the resurrection which was a demonstration of Gods power over death.
Believe that by his death and resurrection that He has made peace between God and man,
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.
Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Now listen to what Paul wrote to the church in 1 Thessalonian 1:3, Turn there if you will “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.”
Did you see it again, “Faith, love, and hope” all three of these are necessary to have peace
You have to have faith in the love of God, Faith and love have to be mixed together
Lets close by looking at
Hope
Now look at the hope that Christ gives his disciples, towards the end of verse 33 “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”
Faith is the substance of things hoped for....
the word Hope used in scripture means the “to live in the expectation of eternal salvation.”
Jesus told the disciples it is going to get tough, and life is going to be hard but you can live in hope because Christ has overcome the world, which means that we who believe are guaranteed by Christ to be saved eternally.
1Th 2:19 For what [is] our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? [Are] not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
Tts 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
It's not just hoping that its not going to rain tomorrow or hoping that things are going to get better. But its a living hope that we too will soon see Jesus and be with him for all of eternity
and my friends that is the recipe for the peace Jesus mentions in verse 33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace within your mind and soul
you have to understand and know the love of God, have faith in the work of Jesus and hope for eternal salvation
