Jesus Offers Peace
Sermon Notes
Today we’re getting back into our teaching series called Visible God, which is all about seeing God through the life of Jesus. It’s a series based on a book of the bible called the Gospel of John, which records the life and words of Jesus as it was written by an original source, an original follower of Jesus, and today we’re talking about peace. We’re talking about having peace, especially when it comes to facing hardships. I mean we want peace, we want freedom from hardships, and we spend most our lives trying to avoid hardships. But it’s inevitable! Eventually we’ll faces hardships. Eventually every Christian, non-Christian, everybody that breathes faces situations that feel like a punch in the gut. They feel like the wind gets knocked out of you, and so the question isn’t will you face hardships? It’s how can you have peace while facing those hardships? How can you have peace when life’s punched you in the gut? That’s what we’re gonna talk about today, so let’s turn to John 14:27-31 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn a few books to the right, you’ll find John. We’ll be in John 14:27-31. The title of today’s message is Jesus Offers Peace, and here’s the big idea. Jesus offers peace, while facing today’s troubles...Jesus offers peace, while facing today’s troubles.
Context:
Here’s your context. John 14 is a part of what’s called Jesus’ Farewell Discourse. Jesus knows he’s about to be crucified and he’s saying some final words to his disciples. He tells them things like don’t be afraid, he’s preparing a place for them, and he’s sending the Holy Spirit to help them after he’s crucified. It’s all a part of his Farewell Discourse to his disciples, and today we’ll see him offering them peace for their troubled hearts. I broke this message down into three sections: #1 Jesus offers peace, #2 The world offers counterfeit peace, #3 How to receive Jesus’ peace? So it’s peace, counterfeit peace, and how to receive Jesus’ peace. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 14:27-31 states, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.” Okay there’s my 1st point, it’s that Jesus offers peace. He says “Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you,” and I love the display we’re getting here of Jesus’ compassionate character. I mean he’s about to die, he’s about to suffer one of the worse torture methods in history, yet he’s focused on caring for his follower’s hearts. His heart’s focused on giving their troubled hearts peace. He says “Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you,” and the Jews understood that word peace according to the Hebrew word shalom. To have peace, to have shalom, meant you’re reconciled with God, you’re at peace in your relationship with God. And because you’re at peace in your relationship with God, you’re able to say all is well with your life, even when facing hardships in life. Since the beginning of creation sin’s been destroying our peace, especially our peace with God and each other. But Jesus came to restore what was lost, to restore our peace by reconciling us with God and each other. Jesus came to die for our sinful souls so we could literally say it’s well with our souls. It’s what the apostle Paul means when he says “grace and peace” in the greeting of his letters. He’s reminding us to rest our souls in the eternal assurance of peace Jesus has given.
Again vs. 27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” There’s my 2nd point, it’s that the world offers counterfeit peace. Jesus says he doesn’t give as the world gives, meaning the world gives us counterfeit peace. For example the world offers financial peace with things like pensions and IRA’s, but you’re only 1 global crisis or personal tragedy away from losing it. The world offers peace with our healthcare system, but that healthcare can’t resurrect you from the dead. We have people in our church who are doctors, nurses, EMT’s, somebody who sells defibrillators, and I’m thankful for all of them! But they’ll tell you they’re not the savior and that eventually the healthcare, CPR, and defib won’t be able to save you...The world offers peace when it comes to law enforcement and military security which I’m also thankful for. Do some abuse their power? Yes, but there’s also a lot who don’t and some of them are in our church. They speak against abuse of power while living out the slogan Protect and Serve. I’m thankful for that. But nobody can guarantee your safety and security. As great as Jack Bower and the task force on Blindspot are, they can’t guarantee you safety and security.
Look my point is the world promises us peace in many different ways, and many of them are good things I’m glad exist. But it’s counterfeit peace because it’s situational peace. In other words if the stock market crashes, the peace you had from your pension and IRA’s crashes with it. If you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness, the peace you had from your healthcare becomes terminal with it. Jesus is saying “The peace I’m giving you is different than that. It isn’t the kind of peace that can be easily stripped away if the stocks crash, your health fails, the police officers leave, or you start running out of Lysol and toilet paper...It’s the kind of peace where you don’t have to freak out like the rest of the world. The peace I’m offering you isn’t stripped away with situational hardships, it’s still available despite your situational hardships!” It’s different than the world’s counterfeit peace, because it’s still available despite our situational hardships. Psalm 46:1-5 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. 2 Therefore we will not be afraid though the earth trembles, and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, 3 though its water roars and foams, and the mountains quake with its turmoil. 4 There is a river, it’s streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. 5 God is within her; she will not be toppled. God will help her when the morning dawns.” In other words the entire earth, mountains, world as we know it can completely topple over in turmoil, but our peace doesn’t have to topple with it because we still have God. The world’s peace is like a bubble floating on a river. But Jesus’ peace is like a river that’s constantly flowing and won’t ever run dry. It’s a peace that’s still available despite our situational hardships.
Again vs 27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.” Jesus isn’t saying you can’t be sad or express grief in hardships. He isn’t saying put on a fake happy Instagram face, act like you’re okay, and just suck it up buttercup! I mean the entire reason he’s saying this is because he knows his followers will be sad and experience grief when he dies, otherwise he wouldn’t be saying all this. So don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re less of a Christian, or you lack faith because you’re not happy enough. In the bible Jeremiah’s known as the weeping prophet who one time wished he’d never been born. One of the greatest preachers ever was Charles Spurgeon and he battled with depression. Mother Teresa often wrestled with her faith because she grieved the suffering she witnessed in the world. Jesus himself wept when his friend Lazarus died, and was under such distress in the Garden of Gethsemane, that he suffered Hematidrosis. His capillaries literally busted open and he sweat drops of blood...So clearly Jesus isn’t saying we can’t ever be sad or express our grief in hardships. Instead he’s saying we can still have peace despite our hardships. The peace Jesus offers isn’t freedom from hardships, it’s peace in the midst of hardships.
Look the world tends to give you 2 ways in dealing with hardships. The 1st is to think about your hardships so much, that it creates worry, fear, anxiety, even self-centeredness as if you’re the only one in the world with issues. The 2nd is to think about your hardships so little, that you burry it instead of dealing with it. You try distracting yourself from your hardships by having a few drinks, reading a good book, binge watching Netflix, which is all counterfeit peace. But Jesus is offering us a 3rd option where we face our hardships, and find peace in knowing the future’s always bright with him. If you’re a skeptic or if God’s just an afterthought in your life, then your future’s dark, worrisome, hopeless because this life’s all there is. Your future’s limited in joy because your time’s limited, and time’s running out. The further you move away from Jesus; the darker, less peaceful your future will be, as you start to feel your own finitude. You and I weren’t meant to go through life without holding God’s hand. The world’s too big, too sinful, too dangerous for that. You need to take God’s hand like a child takes their parents hand. You need to hear Jesus saying “It’s okay. I’m here for you. So don’t let your heart be troubled.”
Vs. 28, “You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe.” When Jesus says the Father’s ‘greater than I’ he doesn’t mean greater in divinity, he means greater than his incarnate humanity. Jesus is predicting his death here. He’s predicting that it’s time for him to lay down his incarnate body on the cross and die for the forgiveness of our sins. He’s predicting his death, resurrection, and ascension. He says this before it happens the text says, so they’d believe in him and all his promises, including his promise of eternal peace with God. In John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that in me you’ll have peace. You’ll have suffering in this world. Be courageous! For I’ve conquered the world.” He’s saying he already knows the end of the story, and it turns out very well for those who trust in him.
Vs. 30, “I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. 31 On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me. Get up; let’s leave this place.” The “ruler of the world” Jesus is talking about here is Satan. He knows Satan’s coming to try to squash his plans, but he says Satan has no power over him. Again Jesus already knows the end of the story and Satan doesn’t get the final victory Jesus does! In fact the phrase Get up; let’s leave this place, was a phrase used outside the bible in military contexts. It was the military’s way of saying “Get up. It’s time to go to war.” So Jesus is saying “Get up. It’s time to go to war, it’s time to crush Satan,” and like a solider he goes to the cross to sacrifice his life for our life. Like a soldier he goes to the cross to die the death we deserved to die for our sins, so we can be reconciled with God and enjoy eternal peace with God. The only reason we can have peace with God, is because Jesus won the war over Satan, sin, and death when he died and rose again for our sins.
This leads to my 3rd point which is how to receive Jesus’ peace? We talked about Jesus offering us peace and the world’s counterfeit peace, but how can we receive Jesus’ peace? It starts with believing in the gospel, believing Jesus lived, died, and rose again for our sins. If you believe that message he’ll immediately put your name on his final will. If we’re not careful we’ll miss it. In vs 27 Jesus says peace I leave you…Jesus says peace I leave you...He’s telling them he’s about to die and leave them peace in his final will. Just like it takes a person dying to receive the inheritance they leave you, it takes Jesus dying to receive the inheritance he’s left us. It takes us believing he died for our sins, to receive the inheritance of his eternal peace, joy, love, forgiveness, adoption into his family. You need to believe in his death to have the peace of his inheritance. Knowing this helps you face the world and its hardships with confidence, because you know it’s already been determined in the will, that your future’s bright and ends with peace.
Now the way you live this text out is by preaching the gospel of peace back to your heart. Jesus said don’t let your hearts be troubled. Some of you have troubled hearts and you need to preach the gospel of peace back to your heart today. It’s okay to talk about your hardships like I said earlier, just don’t let your hardships take control of the mic. Instead take the mic back and preach the gospel of peace to your heart saying “Be quiet hardship! It feels like you’re breaking me but I know there’s an inheritance of peace awaiting me!..Be quiet world with your quick fixes and counterfeit peace! Be quiet Jack Daniels, computer lust, beauty products covering up identity issues, Kohl’s cash keeping me coming back to buy more, because you’re just quick fixes and counterfeit peace...Be quiet disgustingly pathetic presidential debates, you’ll never be my peace either!” The way to shift your troubled heart is to preach the gospel of peace back to your heart. The way to shift your troubled heart is to go to Jesus with your troubled heart. It doesn’t mean you’ll always feel peaceful, but it does mean you should always be mindful. You should always be mindful of the hope and peace you have in Jesus. The more mindful you are of Jesus, the more your heart will be filled with the peace of Jesus. The more you think about his compassion, goodness, power, wisdom, and faithfulness despite your hardships, the more you’ll experience his greater peace instead of the world’s counterfeit peace.
The Big Idea:
Look the big idea is Jesus offers you peace, while facing today’s troubles...Jesus offers you peace, while facing today’s troubles...It’s the kind of peace that the world can’t ever give us, and it’s the kind of peace that led Horatio Spafford to write the 1873 song It is Well. He wrote it after he received a message from his wife titled Saved Alone. The reason she titled it that was because she was sailing to Europe with their 4 daughters, Spafford was planning on meeting them there later. But while his wife and daughters were sailing the ship had a terrible collision, the ship sank, and all 4 of their daughters died. That’s why she titled the letter Saved Alone.
But that wasn’t the only tragedy they’d experienced. 3 yrs earlier their son died, the year after that they had a massive fire that ruined them financially, and then came the horrifying news of his daughters dying at sea...He wrote the words It is Well, while sailing to meet his grieving wife. While sailing across the very sea that took his 4 daughters lives, he wrote these words:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way.
When sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
What caused this troubled man’s heart to say that?..What caused this troubled man’s heart, this man who’d lost everything that mattered to him, what caused him to say “It is well with my soul?” Spafford gives the answer in the song, he says it was Jesus. He says it was his savior Jesus Christ who took his sins and nailed them to the cross. He then says Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight, meaning his soul longs for the day when he’ll see the fullness of Jesus and his eternal inheritance of peace...Only Jesus was able to carry this busted up man’s soul, through the violent waves of hardship. He’ll carry your soul too if you trust him...He’ll carry your soul through the violent waves of hardship, and he’ll help bring you to that place where you can literally say, “It is well with my soul.”