Pentecost
“Jesus Leaves Behind Peace”
John 14:25-27
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.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Our heavenly Father has flung
open his heart and has generously blessed us with many, many gifts. God has given the gifts of our children and
grandchildren. Not one single child has
been born apart from the blessing of God’s hands. God has given the ability to work for an
income that is sufficient to provide for our basic needs, our future needs and
much, much more. Not even one cent of
all the money you have made in your life has come apart from the hands of the
heavenly Father. You didn’t earn it; he
gave it to you. On top of all that, God
has given a country in which we can live and share His Word freely, good
weather, good friends, and the like.
And those are just the
physical gifts. God has also flung open
his heart and blessed us with spiritual gifts.
He has given us the ability to love others. We wouldn’t do that on our own; that is a
gift of God. He has given us joy in our
lives, he has given peace and quietness for our hearts. He has given us confidence to stand before a
holy and perfect God and know we are going to heaven as soon as we take our
last breath. Our heavenly Father has
been so good to us; so good.
Satan knows that too. He knows how good God has been to us. And do you know what the devil’s goal
is? His goal is to rob us of each and
every one of those gifts God has given. If Satan had power to decide how gifts would
be distributed, he wouldn’t let us have even one morsel of bread and not one
penny of income; he would not give one drop of joy with our children; he would
not yield even one moment of peace with God.
If he could, Satan would rob us of everything physical and
spiritual.
But since it isn’t in his
power to determine the gifts we have and don’t have, Satan instead does something
else. He tempts us to misuse the gifts
God decides to give us. God gives us
peace, but Satan tempts us to crumple up peace and throw it away for worry. God gives us trust in Him, but Satan
suggests, “God doesn’t know you very well.
He can’t - and
The devil speaks powerful
lies. And the world backs up what the
devil is saying. The world does not lead
us to lean on God. Instead it says, “You
wanna have peace? You’d better pile up
money in your investments. You wanna
have peace? You’d better make sure you
are accepted by all of your peers. The
world says, “You wanna have peace? The
burden is on you to find it and earn it.”
The world says, “You wanna have peace?
Pile up as much wealth as you can, get to a place where you can control
everything in your life, and then you will finally arrive at finding peace.” And that is a big, fat, hideous lie. PEACE IS NOT FOUND IN THIS WORLD.
Do you struggle to keep your
heart at peace? We all struggle to keep
our hearts at peace. We don’t know
exactly how the disciples felt after they watched Jesus be arrested, tortured
and killed on Good Friday, but we know enough to know their hearts would not be
at rest after that trauma. The hearts of
the disciples were restless. They were
spinning and afraid and troubled. Satan
was yelling at them to be anxiety-centered and not peace-centered. And Jesus saw it coming. He knew this was all going to happen. The night before he died, he said some
awesome, comforting words to them, reminding them what real peace was all
about. Real peace, the kind that lasts,
centers on what Jesus has given to you.
Listen to what Jesus promised to give the disciples as I read John
14:25-27. (read text)
So what had the disciples
been given?
They had been given the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described as
the Counselor. When the Holy Spirit
counsels, he doesn’t come up with anything new.
He just reminds us about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. He reminds us that Jesus is God eternal and
that he has done everything to save us from hell. That is the work of the Holy Spirit – to
testify to us about Jesus.
2.
Jesus left behind peace.
The disciples had been given
the Holy Spirit to testify to them about Jesus.
The disciples also had been given peace. Notice that this peace is something that had
been left behind for them. Jesus
said, “My peace I leave you.” So what do
you want your parents to leave behind for you?
We all want our parents to leave us lots of money. Well, look what Jesus leaves behind for
us. It is the very thing we need the
most. “Peace I leave with you; my peace
I give you.” What a marvelous
inheritance!
3.
Jesus gave peace that is not of this world.
Jesus described the peace he
is leaving behind as a peace that is not of this world. Let’s compare Christ’s peace and worldly
peace. When you compare the two, the
differences are amazing.
The world says… “Peace only
comes after hard work.” Jesus says,
“Peace is a gift and not earned.”
“Peace comes with strings
attached.” Jesus says, “Peace is free for nothing.
“Peace is a moment of instant
gratification.” Jesus
says, “My peace lasts forever.”
“Wealth is security.” Jesus says, “I am
security.”
“If you want peace, it’s up
to you to find it.” “You’ve
found the peace you need in me.”
Peace that is fleeting and
short-lived. Jesus gives peace that is superior.
The bottom line…
The world says, “Peace is
about what you need to DO!” Jesus says,
“It’s about what I’ve DONE.”
My dear friends, why, why, why
would ANY of us ever throw Christ’s peace away for the peace of the
world? Would you ever throw away your
parent’s inheritance? Then why do we
throw away the inheritance of Christ’s peace?
Yet just think about how easy it is for me and you to do just that. Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you.” (But
how can I be sure???) “My peace I give
you.” (But when will it come???) “I do
not give to you as the world gives.”
(But I wish you would – that world-kind of peace is so much better!!!) “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do
not be afraid.” (But I struggle to trust
you!!)
We throw away God’s peace so
easily. We struggle to trust Him above
all things. It makes God angry when we
tell him, “Hang on to your own peace, God, I don’t need it. I’ll provide for myself.” He is angry when we boldly tell him, “I can’t
trust the future you’ll provide for me.
I need to give myself a future instead.”
God promises to punish each and every time we trust in our own power and
wealth and fail to trust in Him.
Yet, here’s the amazing part,
even though he is a holy God who punishes sin, when we repent in Christ, God
comes yet again to us with the message of peace in his hands. He announces, “I’ve punished your sins on my
only Son. And since I have punished him
for your sins, I will not punish you.”
God forgives us in Christ and sets our hearts at rest once again. And after we have been through the ringer of sinful
anxiety, and after we have had our hearts set at rest in forgiveness once
again, we renew our motivation to keep Christ’s peace in the center.
So how can we keep Christ’s
peace in the center of our hearts? Try
this test: if the greatest problem you face each day is not, “How can I crush
the part of me that is me-centered and instead remain Christ-centered;” if that
is not your greatest problem each day, then you are spending way too much time
on the wrong problem.
Don’t listen to the devil’s
lies. Don’t let Satan steal away your
peace. Listen to Jesus. Listen to him tell you about all the gifts he
has given to you. Listen to him tell you
about all the gifts he has in mind for you.
Wake up every day begging God in prayer to keep you Christ-centered all
day long. And you will take full
advantage of the gift of peace Jesus has left behind for you – a peace that is
not of this world. Christ’s peace is far
superior to that. Amen.