Peace

Jesus is speaking to His friends in that upper room. He understands the confusion and the sorrow that they are feeling and will feel over the next few days. So, He responds to their need and speaks words of comfort to them. He tells them about a gift that He leaves with them. Listen.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Jesus gives to these few - and to all who follow Him - peace, His peace. It's this peace that we are going to look at this morning.

Let's start with understanding what this peace actually is. And we'll do that by first looking at what it's not. Peace is not a truce. What's a truce? It's when people stop shooting at each other. Sometimes we're talking about bullets, and sometimes we're talking about words. Whichever it is, in a truce, all the shooting stops. But understand that no one is saying that they're friends or even pleasant acquaintances. All they're saying is that they won't shoot at each other. That's a truce. And there are lots of people who have a truce with those around them. In fact, most people these days have a truce with themselves; a truce but not peace.

But peace isn't a truce. While a truce is about the absence of something bad - the shooting - peace is about the presence of something good. When there is peace there is a sense of well-being. This sense of well-being can be something that an individual feels. But it can also be something that can describe a marriage or even a church. There is a certain fragrance surrounding those who have this peace, individuals, couples and groups. And that sense of well-being is there even in the midst of troubles. It might be dimmed a bit, but it's still there. The person with this peace knows that, at its most basic level, life is good, and it will be good. And he knows this is true because of the promises of God made to him.

Peace is a sense of well-being. Jesus promises this sense of well-being to all of His disciples. He promises it to you.

Did you notice that Jesus makes a contrast? There is, on the one hand, the peace that He gives, and then, on the other hand, there is the peace that the world offers.

Not as the world gives do I give to you.

There is a fundamental difference between these two. That's what I want to look at next.

It's helpful to see that the world, the culture around us, does, in fact, offer peace. It's not a real peace like the peace Jesus gives. It's a counterfeit. And that shouldn't be surprising. Satan is always counterfeiting God's good gifts. So, the world offers its own kind of peace, a peace that isn't really peace. And people are fooled by this counterfeit. There are reasons why. For one thing, it does make people feel better. It covers over troubles. A truce will do that. The chaos and turmoil of life is kept at bay. And most people are content with that. They figure that a truce is better than open warfare. But it's not as good as a real peace. A truce will always come to an end. At some point the shooting will start again.

How does this counterfeit peace work? Well, there are several ways. For one thing, the world provides distractions. You can't be thinking about the troubling issues of life if you're caught up with something else. And that something else can be anything. It can be shopping for a new outfit or new tool or a new book. It can be about a favorite sports team or TV show. It can be about devoting yourself to your job or your kids or some community service group, even your church. It can be anything. And what is so intriguing is that none of those things are necessarily wrong. Remember, Satan is crafty. He won't tempt you with something that you know is obviously off limits. That won't work. He'll use 'innocent' things. It's just that he uses those things so that people can avoid reality. The troubles are covered over. But you can avoid reality only for so long. You can extend that time, but it becomes increasingly costly. Shopping for a new something doesn't distract enough anymore. So, you need to ramp it up somehow. If you don't, the shooting will start again. Distractions.

Another way that the world offers its counterfeit peace is by presenting goals that are supposed to satisfy. The hope is that when you achieve some goal or other you will have this sense of well-being, peace. So, you go through all sorts of hardships and sacrifices because you just know that the promised peace is just up ahead. That's when life will fit together in ways that it certainly isn't at the moment. Peace. And, again, the particular goal doesn't have to be something evil. For most people it's something we'd all say is fine: a rewarding job, successful kids, decent health, a good reputation. Good things. So, this kind of life is lived by faith in the promise of the world that peace will be enjoyed at the end. Jesus warns us that the promise of the world is hollow. There is no peace at the end of that path. The thing aimed for may be innocent in itself. But when it becomes the means to enjoy peace, well, that's when things fall apart. So, the world makes large promises of peace if you achieve some goal. But it cannot keep those promises.

There's another way that the world offers peace. Here, the world offers to deaden the pain of life. Some of the ways it offers are illegal, but that doesn't stop lots of people. I understand that the use of heroin is on the rise. But again, Satan doesn't need to go that route with you. Instead, he will use something legal and so innocent-looking. Prescription medications can deaden the pain of life. I understand that the use of certain kinds of prescription drugs is also on the rise. Now, again, note how Satan does his work. Is the use of such meds necessarily wrong? No. There are some situations where their use can be very helpful. But consider the claims being made. At best, all that such meds can do is establish a truce. So, the shooting can be stopped. The feeling of being overwhelmed by life can be pushed to the side. And sometimes that is the first step to a solution. But it cannot, by itself, be a solution. Meds cannot give peace. Only Jesus gives peace. So, if someone uses them he or she needs to understand that along with taking these meds there are other things that need to be dealt with. The question that must be answered is, 'How can Jesus give me peace in this situation?'

All of this gets a bit more interesting when you notice that Jesus is not just making a promise. He's also giving a command. There are two imperatives in what Jesus said, two commands.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

So, there is something that you need to do. Enjoying Jesus' peace is not done by being passive. You need to act. So, what do you do? What does obeying these commands look like? Something that Jesus said earlier in this conversation fits here. He starts with one of those commands.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

So, what do you do so that your heart will not be troubled or afraid? What do you do to enjoy the peace Jesus promises? You believe the Gospel. You believe what the Gospel has to say about who the Father is, what Jesus has done and how the Spirit is busy. So, you believe the Gospel when it teaches that God is, that He can do anything and that He is devoted to you. You believe the Gospel when it teaches that He is your heavenly Father who is with you at all times to do you good. You are not an orphan. You are never alone. Jesus promises this. The Spirit makes it yours. Your hope of enjoying the peace Jesus offers is tied to your believing the Gospel.

Now, let's break that down. When you face the temptation to let your heart be troubled, the first step in believing the Gospel is simply to remember the Gospel. It's like remembering your math facts. 'Two plus two is four.' 'The all-powerful God is my heavenly Father who loves me to bits.' You start by remembering the facts. And then, you choose to believe that these facts are true. This is critical because when some crisis hits the natural tendency of so many has nothing to do with the Gospel. The spectrum of alternatives runs from being mildly annoyed to out-and-out panic. If you would enjoy the peace of Jesus then start by remembering basic Gospel facts and then choosing to accept them as the truth.

But this is not a mind game where you try to give yourself peace by remembering some facts and then forcing yourself to act as if they are true. That is trying to save yourself all on your own. It will never work. You remember the facts, choose to believe them and then, because you do believe them, you cry out to God. And your prayer goes something like this. 'Father, You are my God. You have promised me Your presence. You have told me that You love me and that You are devoted to my well-being. I need You now. Rescue me from this crisis, this pain, this lack of peace. Help me.' At that point, the ball's in His court. He has to do something. If He doesn't do something to give you His peace there is nothing that you can do to create that peace. So, if He doesn't do something, the Gospel is a scam. Give it up and go with the world. But understand that the best you can hope for is a truce. And what good is that? At some point the shooting will start again. And now you can see why people commit suicide. There is no peace, no hope and no reason to live.

If this is going to work God has to act. He has to do something. And I can tell you from my own experience that when I have cried out to God He has always done something. Some of those times have been life crises and other times have just been normal troubles of daily living. I'm not going to tell you that once I cried out I immediately felt this heavenly peace and everything was perfect. But I will tell you that He acted in such a way that there was movement toward peace. As a result, I can tell you that my own sense of peace has grown over the years. Dramatically. It has been a lot of little steps, but they have gotten me from where I was to where I am today. Huge difference.

And that leads to this. Enjoying the peace that Jesus has promised is a process. It's bit by bit, a little progress and then a little more progress until what was once just a little seedling becomes a mature tree with some fruit to pick and enjoy. And you know the dynamics of that process. There you are and something bad happens. Your sense of peace, to whatever degree you enjoy it, is shaken. You feel things begin to crack a bit. Life is taking a turn for the worse. So, you pray. 'Father, You've got to help me now. If You don't, I won't be able to handle this at all well. Rescue me from responding badly to what just happened.' It's important to remember that nothing just happens. The Spirit brought that 'something bad' into your life. And, at times, it's a little worse than the previous bad things you've experienced. But this 'something bad' that the Spirit brings into your life is an opportunity to trust Jesus and see that He really is faithful to His promises. And seeing Him in action builds your faith. As a result, He blesses you and your experience of peace grows. Lots of little steps.

There will be those times when you choose poorly and you opt to panic in some way or other. That's not good, but it's not the end of the world. When you come to your senses again and realize what you have done, confess your sin and come again to Jesus for forgiveness and change. And you may want to consider first, what happened that you panicked instead of believed and then, how you can choose more wisely in the future.

Let me end this with a bit of Scripture that fits.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

That's from Jeremiah. God is commenting on the false prophets of that day. There are false prophets in our own day promising peace when they have no peace to offer. And there are many who are being fooled, whose wounds are being healed lightly, which means not really. It is as you grow in your experience of the peace Jesus offers that those same people will seek you out and ask how you do it, how you deal with life so calmly, so peacefully. That's when you will be able to tell them about a Savior who promises peace, the only real peace that there is.