John 14:25-27
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Phil 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
John 14:27 is an often quoted verse. We’ve probably read it a couple of times.
• I was thinking through this verse for last Sunday night service, and something dawn upon me.
• The way Jesus talked about peace is odd – He says He can give us peace, as if it is a gift, and then He says that this is His peace, which is different from the world.
• This is what we’re going to think through today. There is something for us to learn.
We all need peace, but what give us peace really?
• Is peace just an absence of any trouble or problem?
• Is peace just an atmosphere of quietness or serenity?
• The world defines it this way. It has to do with the surroundings.
• If you are strolling along the path in Botanic Gardens and not downtown Orchard road, you would probably say it’s peaceful.
If peace is the absence of any noise, problem or trouble, then peace is a product of the surrounding.
• Yet when we look at what Jesus said here, this is not what true peace is all about.
WHY DO WE NEED TO PRAY - because only in Jesus can we find true peace.
• If Jesus says, “peace I leave with you…” – it means He is the SOURCE of peace.
• If He says, “my peace I give you…” – it means He is the GIVER of peace.
• If He says, “I do not give to you as the world gives…” – it means only in Jesus can we find true peace - something that the world do not have.
In order words, it has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with the surrounding or to what is happening in our world today.
• His peace is different from the world, and something you can’t find in the world.
• No wonder Paul says it is a peace that surpasses understanding!
What is the practical implication of all these:
• If you’re worried over some things, anxious or disturb, and you needed peace in your heart – you have to turn to Christ. That’s the only way.
• You may find some sense of comfort by hiding in a quiet, serene place, but you’ll never find true peace. Emotionally you may feel good, but only Christ can give us true comfort and peace.
No wonder Jesus needed to say this – the disciples really need it.
• They were about to face the greatest shock of their lives – Jesus would soon be arrested and crucified.
• Their Master for > 3 years will be taken away from them forcefully.
• They would be left on their own, for the first time… without a teacher, a guide, someone whom they have depended upon for 3 years.
The disciples need to know that NOTHING has gone out of control.
• You see, everything will look like a defeat to them. They are defeated.
• Judas managed to betray Jesus, he won. The soldiers arrested Jesus without a fight. The people succeeded in killing Jesus.
• Circumstances tell them it’s a FAILURE.
They need to understand – and we need to understand that today – that nothing has really gone wrong in the eyes of God.
• Everything was in God’s plan. Everything is still in God’s control.
(1) BELIEVE IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
What Jesus says is very true. Only He can give us peace.
• Why - because only God is in control of all things.
• If God can handle this whole universe, He can handle your problems.
• If He cannot, He is no God. Then we’ll have no guarantee of peace.
If we believe that God is Sovereign, then we have nothing to fear.
• Man cannot find peace because he is not in control.
• We cannot control the circumstances, we cannot control the future.
• It would be so nice if we can plan our future and everything works exactly as we have planned it. We love to feel that we’re in control but the truth is we are not, and we’ll never be.
So we need to look to the One who is in control.
• We need to learn to LET GO and LET GOD.
Peace is not a product of the circumstances; it is a product of God!
• It is a GIFT. Not something we earn through our hard work.
We need to recognise is that LIFE IS NOT IN OUR HANDS.
• It has never meant to be. David penned Psalm 23 to tell us God is our life’s Shepherd.
• We have to learn to let go and let God helps us.
Since we can’t depend on the circumstances and we can’t depend on self, our only option is to turn to God, and take the PEACE we need from Him.
(2) LEAVE YOUR BURDENS WITH HIM
Don’t be overwhelmed by the thought that you need to be in control of your life.
You know why man suffers from stress, depression, anxiety so much?
• Because men rely upon themselves to control the situation and manage the problems.
• We want to be in control and once we find that we lost that control, when the problem is bigger than our ability to cope, we fall into depression and lost all hope of living.
POEM – ROBIN AND SPARROW
Said the robin to the sparrow; I should really like to know,
why these anxious human beings rush around and worry so.
Said the sparrow to the robin; Friend, I think that it must be
that they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.
What is Paul’s advice? This is so important - Phil 4:6-7 (church theme)
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
There is this interesting poem about two boxes:
I have in my hands two boxes, which God gave me to hold
He said,"Put all your sorrows in the black, and all your joys in the gold."
I heeded his words, and in the two boxes, both my joys and sorrows I store
But though the gold became heavier each day, the black was as light as before.
With curiosity, I opened the black box. I wanted to find out why
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole which my sorrows stored had fallen out.
I showed the hole to God, and mused aloud, "I wonder where my sorrows could be."
He smiled a gentle smile at me. "My child, they’re all here with me."
I asked, "God, why give me the boxes, "Why the gold, and the black with the hole?"
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings, the black is for you to let go."
We are told not to forget God’s benefits, to count His blessings.
• We must remember them and give thanks to God for them.
• But we are not told to remember sorrows and pain. We are not told to carry our burdens alone.
Only when we “present out requests to God”, can we “not be anxious about anything.”
• By letting the One who is in control of all things to take care of our needs – only then can we be really at peace.
• If we do not let go and let God, we’ll have to carry the weight of the burden by ourselves.
And the next verse says, 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
• Only when we do verse 6 can we have verse 7.
• All we are told to do is to entrust our needs and problems to Him. And then we’ll experience His peace.
You see, His peace is not dependent upon the circumstances. The situation may have not changed yet – the issues intact, the difficulties still around – there’s peace.
• How can it be? That’s why the Bible says it’s the peace which transcends all understanding!
• No wonder Jesus says in John 14:27 – “I do not give to you as the world gives…”
(3) RECEIVE HIS PEACE BY FAITH! IT IS A GIFT.
Bro/sis, peace is the Lord’s promise to us. It is a GIFT. You don’t have to earn it.
Entrust your cares and needs to Him. Tell it to Jesus, and receive His peace.
This is very real – look at the disciples.
• Jesus offered it to them, and we noticed a big change in their lives.
• After His ascension, we saw in the book of Acts the disciples showed little worry or fear. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
• In fact, the situation in Acts was more adverse; they faced greater persecution, yet the disciples showed little worry. They preached the Gospel with greater courage; they sing with joy even when imprisoned.
Jesus also said it is MY peace that He gives to us.
• It is not a fake, it’s real. Jesus was persecuted, rejected by his own, betrayed by his own disciple, yet in all of these He still had peace.
• His peace was not in the absence of difficulties, but in the PRESENCE of God.
Jesus was completely at peace because
• He knew that God the Father was with Him
• He knew his Father was in control
• He knew his Father would take care of Him
• He knew his Father was always right
• He knew his Father could be trust
He says to His disciples that He is giving them this same peace.
• Isn’t that great – this is the same peace that Jesus gives us today.
• Whatever the difficulties, we can still have that same peace Jesus experienced.
• It is not something you can muster up. Peace is God to give.
So let us (1) put our trust in a Sovereign God who is in control
(2) pray and leave our burdens with Him, in his safe hands
(3) receive the gift of His peace, in faith
STORIES - The Caterpillar’s Voice
…Eugene Loh, in A Slice of Life, FM93.8LIVE, 17 May 2006
Once upon a time a caterpillar crawled inside a hare’s house when the hare was away, and set about making himself comfortable. When the hare returned home, he noticed new marks on the ground going into the cave. He called, "Who’s in my house?"
The caterpillar boomed, "It is I! Yes, I who crushes rhinos to the earth and tramples elephants into dust!"
The hare hopped about, crying, "What can a small animal like me do with a creature who crushes rhinos and tramples elephants?"
He soon met a jackal, and asked the jackal to talk to the terrible creature who had taken possession of his home and to convince him to leave. The jackal agreed, and when they reached the place, he barked loudly and said, "Who is in the house of my friend the hare?"
The caterpillar replied, "It is I! Yes, I who crushes rhinos to the earth, and tramples elephants into dust!"
On hearing this, the jackal thought, "Certainly I can do nothing against such a creature," and he quickly left.
The hare then fetched a leopard, a rhinoceros, and even an elephant. All their hearts shrank when they heard the caterpillar’s menacing claim. None of them dared to challenge this fearsome creature with the earth-shaking voice.
In despair by this point, the hare asked a frog passing by if he could possibly make the creature who had frightened all the other animals leave his house. The frog went to the cave door and asked who was inside. He received the same reply as had been given to the others. Then the frog went nearer and shouted, "I, who am the strongest of all, have come at last. I am the one who crushes those who crush the rhinos! I am the one who tramples underfoot those who trample the elephants!"
When the caterpillar inside the hare’s cave heard this, he trembled. He inched out of the hare’s den along its edge, trying not to be noticed. But the animals that had collected around the hare’s house seized the caterpillar and dragged him out.
"What, you?" they all cried in disbelief.
"I would never dream of staying in that cave!" said the caterpillar with his nose in the air. "An echo like that is far too crude for a refined creature like myself!" As he sniffed away, all the other animals laughed at the trouble he had given them.
Many of our fears and worries sound much larger and more frightening than they really are.
Do not be troubled and do not fear. Come to Him and RECEIVE His peace.
• Life is difficult and hard times do come, but we need not have to live in anxiety.
• God will not put more on us then we can endure. He will give us the strength.
• We can have peace. Peace comes from God.
In closing, let read together – Psalm 29:11
"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."
