Scripture: John 16:16-33
Introduction
- Jesus said in John 14:27:
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.
- Our theme for today in this Advent season is PEACE.
- What do we think of when we think of PEACE? Cease fire, no war, getting along.
- These are great images for peace in our world, but they are just that: images of the world.
- It may surprise you to note that these are NOT the images of peace that Jesus gives us.
- Jesus created this world, and He is the Lord of all, but His peace is not from the world.
- Today I want to talk about REAL PEACE – the peace that only comes from Jesus Christ.
- A peace that makes you feel like no matter what the world throws at you, you’ll be OK.
- The kind of peace that makes you feel at ease and satisfied with your life.
- We live in a time of high anxiety; the stresses of this life are coming faster and bigger.
- We turn to many different things to try to cope, but there is only one solution.
- We have a hole in our lives that can only be fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
- Everything else is just like jamming a square peg into a round hole – it just doesn’t fit.
- When you have Jesus in your life, you have HIS peace, and it is sufficient.
- In today’s message, we hear the promise of the peace that only comes from Jesus:
- The peace of this world
- The peace of Christ
- The peace that is to come
1. The peace of this world
- When we seek the peace of this world aren’t we simply reacting to the horrors that this world creates?
- Let’s face it, we live in a world that is being led by a destructive creature who never rests.
- We live in a constant cycle of upheaval and repair. I think Solomon in Ecclesiastes (or the Byrds in their hit song from 1965: Turn! Turn! Turn! ) said it best:
To everything turn, turn, turn. There is a season turn, turn, turn. And a time to every purpose under Heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
- We have horrible people during horrible things to other people like Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
- This is not just some unknown, unnamed people on the other side of the planet.
- Yesterday, I had a face-to-face conversation with a young Ukrainian mother whose child had just seen our Santa Claus.
- All I could say to her (after I butchered the few Russian words I know) was “we are praying for your family and friends in the Ukraine.” She was grateful for that.
- We have atrocities being committed against innocent people in the horrible conflict in Israel by terrorists who are being supported by other horrible countries.
- And of course, the Israelis are being criticized for their role in the conflict.
- This world is cruel and confusing, yet we grasp for human ways to bring about peace.
- Hitler rose up to corrupt the German people in their humanity by promising them human solutions to their problems.
- And then his Nazis proceeded to kill millions of Jews.
- We defeated the Germans in World War 2 and split Germany in half with our Russian allies.
- Then, years later, Germany is reunited as the Soviet Union collapses.
- The Japanese viciously and ruthlessly bombed Pearl Harbor and then we nuked two of their major cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- Hiroshima has nearly 1.2 million residents now — around 3 1/2 times the population it had in 1945.
- Tourism is a major facet of Hiroshima’s appeal. The number of visitors to the city exceeded 10 million for 15 consecutive years after 2005.
- It’s a never-ending cycle of destruction and rebuilding in this world, but this is not peace.
- John Lennon said, “give peace a chance” and a man shot him dead.
2. The peace of Christ
- In Matthew 10:34-39, Jesus says:
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
- Jesus draws the line between His peace and the world’s version of peace.
- The peace of Christ is a burden that is placed on those who follow Him.
- It’s a burden of service that is our cross to bear.
- Our church has discovered what it means to serve, and we have picked that cross up.
- We are discovering what the peace of Christ looks like.
- Christ has not come to make life easy for us.
- Christ has come to put opportunities in our path to serve Him by serving others.
- In our Scripture today we are hearing Jesus prepare His disciples for His departure.
- We know that His departure will be violent and terribly destructive.
- But His disciples didn’t yet know what He was talking about.
- They were asking what He meant by: “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
- Jesus responded in verse 20:
Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
- You can see the conflict between Jesus and the world in His few words.
- He has an enemy in the world and the world is out to destroy Jesus and us in the process.
- Jesus has not come to bring peace in the world.
- So, if not peace on earth, what does His peace look like?
3. The peace that is to come
- Jesus tells them in verse 22:
Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
- We are going to talk about Joy next week in our next installment of Advent, but can you see how Jesus has linked peace with joy?
- When our peace comes from Jesus, we do experience a kind of joy not found in the world
- Here’s why: the peace of Jesus is connected to HIS world; that is the kingdom of heaven.
- Jesus explains this connection to the disciples in verse 23:
In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
- Jesus is EMPOWERING us to go directly to the Father in His name. He says:
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
- Why would the Father be willing to do this? LOVE
- Jesus makes the point that He is not going to ask the Father for things on our behalf.
- He is setting us up for self-service and we can go directly to the Father.
- It all comes down to LOVE. Jesus says in verse 27:
The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
- Jesus asked them the same question in verse 31 that He asks us today: “Do you now believe?”
- It all comes down to connections.
- God loved us, so He sent His Son to begin the connection.
- We accept Christ as our Savior which, in turn, glorifies God the Father. Connection!
- Because we believe, God the Father is pleased to welcome us to himself. Connection!
- When we ask for something in Christ’s name, that completes the connection.
- What an enormous gift this is: the power to invoke God’s mighty power in our world.
- The enemy cannot stand against this power.
- Nothing in this world can stand against this power.
- So why do we try to solve our problems with the world?
- Why don’t we just turn to the Father and ask for help in Jesus’ name?
- We have learned how effective this relationship is at Biltmore.
- We ask the Father for help in Jesus’ name, and He provides for all our needs.
- This is the peace of Christ that is to come.
- Jesus said: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
- In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”