THE SIXTH SUNDAY IN THE SEASON OF EASTER,
THE MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY THE 20th OF MAY, 2001
THE TEXT ARE: .....JOHN 14: 23-29
PRAYER...MAY THE WORDS OF GOD AND HIS MESSAGE SPOKEN THIS HOUR BE BOTH A WORD OF COMFORT AND CHALLENGE
WE PRAY THAT IT WILL CHALLENGE THOSE WHO ARE COMFORTABLE
AND COMFORT ALL THOSE WHO ARE BEING CHALLENGED THIS DAY.
INTRODUCTION;;;
Two things Jesus high LITES this morning IN JOHNS GOSPEL MESSAGE 14: 23-29..
His presence and His peace IN OUR LIVES... Jesus promises His presence. He had told them that he was going away and they would see him no more, and yet by going away he would come to them.
VERSES 28.."I go away, and I will come to you."
NOW The disciples didn’t quite get this talk of going away and coming.
BECAUSE Jesus was speaking His death and resurrection and RETURN BACK TO HEAVEN.
YET EVEN THOUGH, they would no longer see Him, He would still come to them and be present with them, present in an even greater way than He already was with them - present with His words and the Holy Spirit.Not only Jesus, but His Father will be present too, because the Father and the Son are one in essence.
They are but one God. Jesus’ words are the Father’s words. And where He is, there also is His Father.
SO NOW With His presence, Jesus also promises peace.
Peace is His legacy: "Peace I leave with you."
Peace is also His gift. "My peace I give to you."
The peace He gives is an unworldly peace, a peace that the world cannot give.
The world’s peace comes through war, TRAUMA, VIOLENCE,,. But Jesus’ peace comes through His wounds, His broken body and His shed blood.
His peace holds though the world’s peace fails..
Even when all seems to be breaking loose around us, we have peace with Jesus.
Unshakable peace.
Eternal peace.
Peace that exceeds our MIND ABILITY TO COMPREHEND.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. — John 14:27.
AS OUR Lord JESUS was now about to die, to depart from this world. and to ascend to his Father; he therefore makes his LAST will AND TESTAMENT..; and this is the blessed legacy. birthright. inheritance endowment which he leaves to the faithful--"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."
The Hebrew word "shalom" describes the deep sense of
peace and
well-being,
the contentment,
the confidence,
the security that is the heritage of the people of God.
That word SHALOM, could well be the theme word in OUR passage which we will be looking at today.
a.......This SHALOM might be considered as being peace with all the creatures.
BECAUSE God has made SHALOM between his people and the whole universe. FOR THE beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." ".
B...The words of our Lord may also refer to the SHALOM which exists among the people of God toward one another.
There is a peace of God which reigns in our hearts through Jesus Christ, by which we are bound in closest ties of unity to every other child of God whom we may meet.
BUT Leaving, however, these two sorts of peace, which I believe to be of great value... let us proceed to consider two other kinds of peace, WHICH I FEEL may be surely the richest OF AL EXAMPLES OF SHALOM.
WHAT I FEEL Our Savior MEANS here IS FIRST SHALOM with God, and SECOND SHALOM with our own conscience, MORALITY SOUL
FIRST,IS SHALOM with God,
Jesus Christ;" he hath put away the wall which separated us from Jehovah.
ace on earth" and "goodwill toward men."
SECOND ...Christ has put our sins away. and therefore there is peace established between God and our souls.
You may be familiar with the song, I HAVE peace like a river NOT IN my mind, no in my soul..
This peace of Christ is a twofold peace: a peace of friendship, of agreement, of love, between YOU and God.
It is next a SHALOM of sweet enjoyment, of quiet rest of the understanding and the SOUL,
This is a peace with God FOR those of you who have never enjoyed peace with God, and never have had true peace with yourselves.
THIS SHALOM WHICH A TRUE CHRISTIAN ENJOYS WITH GOD AND HIS SOUL HAS A SOLID GROUNDWORK TO REST UPON.
It is built on facts,
on positive truths,
it is founded upon a rock,
and though the rains descend, and the winds blow, and the floods beat upon that house, it shall not fall, because its foundation is secure.
SECONDLY, The believer enjoys, in favored seasons, such an intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, that he cannot but be at peace.
It is a SHALOM which God the Father gives, for he is the God of allpeace;
It is a SHALOM which Jesus Christ bought, for he has made peace with his blood, and he is our peace;
And it is a SHALOM which the Holy Spirit works--he is its author and its founder in the soul.
It is, then, a peace born of GOD and nourished BY GOD
IT is a peace that lives above circumstances.
AND ALTHOUGH The world has tried hard to put an end to the Christian’s peace, it has never been able to accomplish it.
KING DAVID PRAYED, - "O Lord, give unto thy servants that SHALOM which the world can neither give nor take away."
THIS JOY I HAVE THE WORLD DIDN’T GIVE IT TO ME,
THIS LOVE I HAVE HE WORLD DIDN’T GIVE IT TO ME.
THIS PEACE I HAVE THE WORLD DIDN’T GIVE IT TO ME
THE WORD DIDN’T GIVE IT AND THE WORLD CAN’T TAKE IT AWAY.
The Antidote to distress.tribulation anxiety... Philippians 4:6,7
Have you ever had a time in your life when things were so overwhelming that you could not sleep? Have there been times when you were so preoccupied with a problem that you didn’t seem to be able to function?
Paul understood the natural tendency to become anxious. He knew that anxiety is one of the greatest thieves of joy. Because of this Paul wrote,
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7)
Don’t you hate when people tell you not to worry? It is so easy for someone to say and a lot harder to do. Don’t you sometimes feel that the person who is telling you not to worry is the one who doesn’t fully comprehend the problem because if they did they would be worried too?
WELL In Matthew 6 Jesus TELLS US NOT TO worry. He says worry is foolish and shows a lack of confidence in the ability of God.
Listen to the words of Jesus......
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Mt. 6:25-33)
So why is worry wrong? Jesus gives us several reasons.
First, It puts the focus on the wrong issues. Jesus said, "Is not life more important than food?" When we worry our perspective gets skewed. We begin to focus on things that are secondary and in the process lose sight of what is really important. Let me give you some examples,
You are so worried about a graduation party that you miss the joy that comes from the accomplishment of graduating.
You worry so much about the winter weather that you don’t enjoy the Christmas holiday with family (I’m guilty of this one)
You worry so much about looking good that you find you are so absorbed with yourself you can’t enjoy the people you are with.
You are so worried about not having enough money that you don’t enjoy the journey of life.
Second, worry causes us to lose sight of who we belong to. Jesus argues that God is more than capable of taking care of us. He cares for the birds, the flowers, and the animals. When we worry we show that we think that we are less important to God than these things. We aren’t. God will take care of us. Jesus tells us that God knows what we need. And because God knows what we need He will take care of His children.
THE PRESCRIPTION
O.K., so worry is wrong. But what do we do about it? How do we combat this very human tendency?
THE PROMISE
This leads us to the promise that Paul gives. He tells us instead start turning to God with the trusting attitude of a grateful child. "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
We are not told that all our problems will go away. We aren’t told that we will immediately understand the circumstances we are dealing with. We aren’t even told that the problem will won’t seem to get worse before it gets better. We are told that the churning will be replaced with peace.
If we turn to God worry gives way to faith, anxiety gives way to a calm confidence.
This peace passes all understanding; it is of a very different nature it is a peace which God dispenses; it is felt by all the truly godly, but can be explained by none; it is communion with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, by the power and influence of the Holy Ghost.
LASTLY I FOCUS ON THE EFFECTS OF THIS DIVINE PEACE.
The blessed effects of this divine peace are, first of all, joy.
Oh! that look of joy! It is as if the gates of heaven had been opened for a moment, and some flash of glory had blazed upon the eye and had been reflected there from.
Then follows another--love. He that is at peace with God through the blood of Christ is FOCUSED to love.
Then next, there comes an DESIRE after holiness. He that is at peace with God does not wish to go into sin; for he is careful lest he should lose that peace.
He walks humbly with his God. Compelled by grace, this sweet fruit of the Spirit, peace, leads him to endeavor to keep all the commandments of God, and to serve his Lord with all his might.
LASTLY, I tell you ONE MORE of the blessed effects of this peace;
That this peace gives boldness at the throne, and access to a Father’s mercy-seat.
We feel we are reconciled, and therefore we stand no longer at a distance,
but we come up to him,
even to his knees;
we spread our wants before him,
plead our cause, and rest satisfied of success,.
We are one with God, and he is one with us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
CONCLUSION:::INTERRUPTIONS OF PEACE.
All Christians have a right to perfect peace, but they have not all the possession of it.
There are times when doubt OVER TAKES US, and we fear to say that God is ours.
How is this? I think these interruptions may be owing to SEVERAL causes.
Sometimes they are due to the ferocious temptations of Satan.
There are periods when Satan assaults the children of God.
He comes against us with all his might, with his mouth open ready to swallow us up quick, and were it not for divine mercy he would do so.
It is but little marvel that sometimes our peace is affected, when Satan is fierce in his temptations.
Then again, this peace is ALSO AFFECTED by sin.
WHEN THIS OCCURS God hides his face FROM US.
MY ADVICE IN SEEKING THE PEACE OF GOD......
Live near the cross and your peace shall be continual.
Another piece of advice. Walk humbly with your God.
Peace is a jewel; God puts it on your finger;..
Peace is a noble garment; WEAR IT WITH GODLY PRIDE..
And again, walk in holiness, avoid every appearance of evil. "Be not conformed to this world."
Seek the Holy Spirit that you may live like Christ, and live near to Christ, and your peace shall not be interrupted.
Oh! seek this peace and pursue it; and above all, seek the Peace- maker, Christ Jesus,
THE SHALOM OF CHRIST CANNOT BE PURCHASED, IT IS GIVEN.
a. The world tells us that we can purchase peace by giving up our freedoms; by compromising our value systems; by trying to become comfortable with sin.
b. Christ tells us that His SHALOM is bestowed upon us by Him, completely at His discretion. The only way for you to own this peace is to "own" Christ as your Savior and be in a real relationship with Him.
HOW DO WE RECEIVE THIS PEACE?
a. Is there nothing that we must do to receive this SHALOM? Only one thing: receive it, by truly receiving Him.
It is not received by faith, it is received by relationship. You must know Him, not just know about Him.
b. Many claim to be Christians yet know nothing of this peace, because they do not intimately know Christ. They do not pray to Him, they do not study His Word, they do not live for Him.
c. As your relationship with Him grows, as you begin to experience life with Christ, your peace will grow. It begins by making a commitment to Him, then continues by spending time with Him..
The apostle gives a series of commands aimed at reminding us how important is the heritage of SHALOM that should be and can be the hallmark of every Christian life.
And the SHALOM of God which surpasses all comprehension. shall guard our hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
AS HUMANS We are discouraged by many things, but we have an antidote to our anxiety here: "in everything let your requests be made known unto God."
BECAUSE Nothing is too insignificant for God. EVEN THE HAIRS ON YOUR HEAD,,
The deep sense of SHALOM and well-being which should be every Christian’s heritage is sometimes lost in the bustle of life’s daily demands.
This peace, which should be our everyday experience, suffers from a low exposure in relation to other truths of the good news.
Scripture tells us we are to have harmonious relationships with each other.
We are to rejoice in the Lord, we are to be gentle as we encounter people around us, we are to pray instead of being anxious, and we are to think and act as we ought to.
All these things remind us that the God of peace himself is with us to support us.
LET US PRAY....
Thank you, Lord, for your great love for us.
Thank you that you are the God of peace and that you minister to us in our need.
Help us to learn the lessons that the apostle lived out himself, and to become the kind of people others will emulate in this respect. In Jesus’ name,
AMEN....................AMEN.....................AMEN
