September 16, 2001

John 14:23-27

How to Have Peace in a Troubled World

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – It was about ten minutes before seven in the morning. I was sitting on a sofa in the lobby of Hallauer Hall at the Evangelical Center. I was beginning to pray through my daily list when my cell phone rang. I thought that was a bit odd, because nobody would call me that early unless it was an emergency. I answered. It was Kim. "Have you been watching the news?" "No." She told me that two planes had smashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, and that she had been watching when they showed the second one hit. We talked for a minute longer, and I hung up in disbelief. I still couldn’t believe it when I turned on the TV. The two towers and the Pentagon billowing smoke and fire. The shock and fear on people’s faces as they came running from the burning rubble. The pain and anguish on the faces of those suddenly realizing that their loved ones are missing. The devastation when they realized their loved ones aren’t ever coming home. The overwhelming sorrow all of us felt at the terrible loss of life. The anger we have felt that someone with a twisted and evil mind would dream this up and have the guts to make it a reality. The fear that it could happen again. What’s the world coming to? It was one of those "where were you?" days, like the Challenger disaster or when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. I may not remember the date, but I’ll always remember where I was when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, when the Challenger blew up, when Mount St. Helens erupted, when terrorists took our sense of national security and forever destroyed it.
    2. Context – One of the problems we face is that, as time goes on, we can see more and more trouble on the horizon. Wars, crime, and senseless destruction fill the news. Where in the world can we find peace? Jesus answers that question in John 14:23-27, and that answer is more than able to transform our lives.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. John 14:23-27 – Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, 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.
    2. Peace. So elusive to us. But not a problem to God. Let’s see how we can have peace, how we can experience it to the fullest, even in the midst of a troubled world.
  1. Love, Obedience, and Peace
    1. Christians often like to quote verse twenty-seven, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives, like it’s some kind of magic formula. Ask for peace and you get it. It’s not like the world’s peace, so just ask for it. But that system just doesn’t work, because that is taking the verse out of the context it was written in. Since that’s the case, just what do we have to do to have peace in this world today?
    2. The answer is found in the context, and that’s why we started reading in verse twenty-three. The disciple Judas, not the one who wound up betraying Jesus but the other one, asked Jesus why he wanted to show who He really is only to His disciples and not to the world at large. What Judas was really asking was how someone who had claimed and proven He is the Messiah could overthrow Roman control of Israel and take the throne if everyone didn’t know who He is. Judas didn’t get it. He didn’t understand. And that’s why Jesus answered him the way He did. Jesus got to the heart of the matter. The most important thing was not for Jesus to become the earthly king of Israel. The most important thing was for the disciples to love Jesus.
    3. In verse twenty-three, Jesus ties love to obedience. He says that anyone who loves Him will obey His teaching. In other words, you can’t claim to be a Christian if you don’t do what Christ commanded. That’s a tough one for us, because it doesn’t fit in with our idea of a lovey-dovey God who couldn’t possibly send anyone to hell. Our idea is a bit off base – it’s not God who sends us to hell, but we send ourselves by the choices we make. So one proof that we’re real Christians is that we obey what Jesus said, because that shows our love for Him. What happens when we show our love by obeying Him? Jesus says, My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. When we love Jesus, God will love us and will demonstrate that love by coming to us and making His home with us. In other words, in demonstrating love by obedience, we are freeing both the Father and the Son (it’s a package deal!) to have their presence constantly dwell with us. That’s powerful stuff! Having the presence of Almighty God dwell with us in the midst of our troubled world is some of the best news we could ever hear! But there’s also a powerful warning.
    4. Jesus next warns us that he who does not love me does not obey my teaching. Note the contrast: loving and obeying Jesus and as a consequence having God’s presence with us, or showing that we don’t love Jesus by not obeying Him and consequently not having God’s presence with us. I like the first concept a lot better! I’d much rather have God’s presence with me as a consequence of my loving obedience! But Jesus doesn’t just leave us to draw the conclusion that all of this is His idea. He continues, These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. Jesus’ disciples, as Jews, would understand that He was saying something sacred. The Old Testament prophets often used similar language when proclaiming what God told them to. Jesus says this is serious business. We would do well to listen to Him if we want to follow this process toward having real peace in our lives.
    5. Then Jesus shifts the thought slightly. It’s still all connected, but He starts giving it a future focus – pointing to the time when His physical body would no longer be present on earth. He says, "I’ve told you all this while I’ve been here with you. But soon you’ll have another way of hearing from me." This new way of hearing from Jesus is called the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. In verse twenty-six, Jesus says that the Father will send the Holy Spirit in my name. In other words, with all of Jesus’ power and authority and with the same holy character as God-in-the-flesh. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. That doesn’t mean we get to learn everything in the world. It means that anything spiritual that we truly need to know the Holy Spirit will teach us and remind us of. But it’s all tied to love and obedience. It’s not enough to claim to be a Christian. We’ve got to have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, where we love Him enough to obey Him. Love isn’t merely a feeling that’s tied to our obedience, it’s the only way we can get the power to be able to obey. When we lovingly obey Jesus, we get the presence of God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit with us. It’s so important that we get this down. We can’t have peace if we just think we’re a Christian. We can’t have peace if we think we’re a Christian but don’t have that loving relationship with Jesus that empowers us to obey Him. We can’t have peace if we lack loving, relational obedience to Jesus, because then we don’t get God’s presence through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and with us. It’s all connected.
    6. Illustration – Theologian James Edwards, in Christianity Today, said, "The more we obey God, the more real God becomes to us and the greater our love grows. And the more we love God, the more we become like God. It is like a good marriage: People who love their spouses want to please them; and if they do not want to please their spouses, they can hardly talk of loving them." Love and obedience are connected.

III. Peace of Jesus vs. the Peace of the World

    1. So now we come to verse twenty-seven, which Christians tend to quote quite often but understand very little. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Our world tries to give peace through military defense, through law enforcement, through monetary riches. But the peace Jesus gives is nothing at all like that. Jesus uses an interesting word when He says Peace I leave with you. The word translated "I leave" actually means "I let go" or "I forgive." Just think about that for a minute. Peace is like a captive that is only released to us when we allow Jesus to release it to us, to leave it with us, to forgive us. Because forgiveness and peace go hand in hand. Peace is released to us when we both accept God’s forgiveness and lovingly obey Him. If you aren’t forgiven, you can’t have peace. Forgiveness isn’t necessary in the world’s system of peace. The world’s system of peace is based on power. Jesus’ system of peace is based on forgiveness, which frees loving obedience to transform our lives.
    2. Peace is something we long for, something we cry out for. As the events of this week showed us, our world is a place sorely lacking in peace. Jesus offers us peace. He says the road to peace is this: ask God to forgive you for the wrongs you’ve done against Him and forgive others for the wrongs they’ve done against you. Forgiving others is an act of loving obedience to Jesus. Refusing to forgive others brings eternal consequences. In Mark 11:25, Jesus says, And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. God can’t be free to forgive us if we don’t forgive each other. So ask Jesus to forgive the wrongs you’ve done against Him and then, as a result of His forgiveness, forgive others for the wrongs they’ve done against you. Once you’ve taken those steps, lovingly obey all that He teaches you through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. God will be freed to send His presence to dwell in and with you in the person of the Holy Spirit. Then His peace comes on the scene – peace that doesn’t depend on circumstances. Jesus commands us not to allow our hearts to be troubled and not to be overcome with fear, cowardice, timidity. You can’t have peace if you have doubts and fears filling your heart. There’s only one way we’ll be able to overcome the doubts and fears of our hearts. That’s by depending on and trusting the Holy Spirit to do God’s will in our lives and in the world around us. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and you’re lovingly obeying Him, the only person who can rob you of peace is you. You have to choose whether you’re going to listen to God or to Satan. Jesus Christ is the only way to real peace. It’s up to you to choose if you’re going to believe Him. Relying on the world’s system of peace only brings trouble.
    3. Illustration – Tim Riter, in Deep Down, writes, An art competition awarded a prize for the best expression of peace. One painting depicted a deer and a fawn grazing at the skirt of a mountain meadow rimmed with pines and cedars stretching heavenward. Another showed a cat curled up in a basket, resting with all its being, as only cats can do. But the first prize went to the painting of a tumultuous waterfall. Torrents rushed downward, crashing on the rocks below, sending spray high above. A tree branch extended just above the mist, with a bird's nest in a fork. Safely within were the mother bird and two babies. That's tranquility. The ability to relax in the most rushed circumstances. Serene surroundings don't produce peace. The absence of animosity doesn't. If peace depended on the setting, many could never find serenity. Peace is being in harmony, allowing God to fit all the pieces of our lives together. As we cultivate the presence of the Holy Spirit deep down, he brings peace. Loving obedience to Jesus brings the Holy Spirit, who brings us peace. In the midst of a troubled world, what will we choose? We know that war is coming, and that those who are behind the attack on our country will be brought to justice. But our peace doesn’t depend on those things taking place. We still have a choice: the peace the world’s system tries to bring to our hearts, or the peace Jesus promises to bring to our hearts. It’s up to you whose peace you will choose.
  1. Conclusion
    1. Who or what are you relying to give you peace? Money? Power? Military might? People? Jesus is the only one who can bring you peace. Will you choose to take the steps to allow Him to give you the peace you so desperately need? It’s up to you. We’re going to take a few moments of quiet to allow the Holy Spirit to continue to speak to our hearts about the peace Jesus gives.
    2. Now’s the time for decision. If you came in here today and you didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, the only who can give you true peace, and you want to begin a relationship with Him today, please raise your hand. I’ll lead you through a prayer that will help you get started. If you’re beginning your loving relationship with Jesus Christ today, repeat after me, either out loud or in your mind: Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, that I’ve done what is wrong in Your sight, and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust You now and follow You as Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen. If you just prayed that prayer, please tell someone before you leave today.
    3. Now if you came in here this morning with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but you’ve been struggling to find peace, there’s hope. You in faith give Jesus your loving obedience to His teachings and He fills you with His Spirit and gives you His peace. If this morning you want to commit to lovingly obeying Your Savior so you can begin to experience His peace on a daily basis in your life, now’s the time. If that’s you, please raise your hand.
    4. Let’s pray.
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