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Finding Peace That Conquers Troubles and Fears John 14:27 Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

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Finding Peace That Conquers Troubles and Fears John 14:27 Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church 07/21/19 Finding Peace that Conquers Troubles and Fears John 14:27 Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church Summer is a season known for eating lots of fresh fruit. The New England Journal of Medicine had an article about a connection between eating strawberries and being more loving, eating blueberries increasing joy, and eating bananas was corelated to being more peaceful. Of course, that’s not true, I made it up, but wouldn’t it be great if it was? Wouldn’t life be better and simpler if we could just eat certain fruits to grow in the fruit of the Spirit? If eating strawberries gave us a boost of love and eating watermelon filled us with kindness, etc., and these things would be healthy for you anyway. Wouldn’t it be nice to just eat the fruit you need, and have it change your heart, mind and spirit? It’s too bad it doesn’t work that way. Why didn’t God do that? God designed a more challenging process that requires more active participation on our part. I still think it would’ve been nice if God had made it so all I had to do to become more peaceful was to eat bananas. Listen to the process for finding peace that conquers troubles and fears that Jesus describes in John 14:23-27 (NRSV), “Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.’” 2 Corinthians 13:11, “Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” What does the word “peace” mean to you? What do you think of when you hear it? Do you think of something personal, something inside you, a feeling? Do you think of your relationship with God or your relationship with other people? Do you think about the struggle between competing groups of people or political parties, or nations? This past week, from July 15-20 the 2019 Global Baptist Peace Conference took place in Cali, Colombia, with attendees representing approximately 30 countries and 6 continents. American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ associate executive director of Communications, Susan Gottshall, attended and shared the following on Wednesday. “How easy it is to take the word peace for granted. Peace is never taken for granted, however, in Colombia. It’s no wonder. After more than five decades of armed conflict involving guerrilla and paramilitary groups and the Colombian military—further complicated by the production and trafficking of illicit drugs—the pain of murder and mayhem still rips at the fabric of this place. It’s palpable. You can feel the deep, ongoing need for healing.” There is a “deep, ongoing need for healing” not just in Columbia, but all over the world. The history of the human race including our nation is one of hostility, division and violence, which make peace seem 1 elusive and even impossible. The need for understanding and healing is urgent and elusive. A Peanuts cartoon has Lucy saying to Charlie Brown, “I hate everything. I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!” Charlie Brown says, “But I thought you had inner peace.” Lucy replies, “I do have inner peace. But I still have outer obnoxiousness.” Currently, there’s way too much “outer obnoxiousness” in our country. I’m appalled, embarrassed and ashamed at the language and behavior too frequently on display from the President, from Senators and Representatives, all the way down to common citizens. Every week we’re subjected to language and behavior that my parents and grandparents, my Sunday School teachers and School teachers, would have responded to very firmly with strong disapproval that it was not acceptable. I would have been told, “That’s not the way you speak or act as a Christian or as an American.” If our life regularly displays outer obnoxiousness, anger, fear, dishonesty, anxiety, snide condescension, racism, and even violence, there’s clearly a need for us to have more of Jesus’ peace in our lives and for us to work much more diligently at nurturing the fruit of the Spirit that is peace in our heart, mind and spirit. How do we do this? Thomas a Kempis in his classic book, Of the Imitation of Christ, wrote, “First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. A peaceful and patient man is of more profit to himself and to others, too, than a learned man who has no peace.” If we’re not at peace with God and with ourselves, it shouldn’t surprise us if we are more like Lucy than Thomas a Kempis. We can’t share with others what we don’t possess ourselves. This is especially true of peace. The dictionary has many definitions for peace including: agreements between nations, public order, harmony in personal relations, and freedom from fear. Peace is a significant word in the Bible. Last week I mentioned that Jesus wants us to have his complete joy. In John 14:27 and many other scriptures, we learn Jesus also wants us to have his peace. In the New Testament peace is often used as a virtual synonym for the gospel, summing up all the benefits that Jesus brought to humanity. When Peter summed up the gospel in Acts 10, peace is at the heart of his proclamation (Acts 10:36). “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.” It’s through our full acceptance of and obedience to Jesus that we can have peace with God and ourselves. Too many people think being a Christian just means saying a few magic words. Jesus makes it clear in John 14 that’s not the case. He said, “Those who love me will keep my word,… Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;” If we don’t keep Jesus’ words, we don’t love him. The proof that we do love him is in our obedience to his commands including his focus on peace. Peace is both a gift of God and a fruit of the Spirit for us to cultivate. Jesus came to bring peace on earth and once we have received the peace of Christ, we have a responsibility for living in peace and making peace. The Hebrew and Greek words for “peace” are “shalom” and “eirene” (eye-RAY-nay). These words are active, positive words, communicating much of what we desire in life: health, security, long life, harmonious relationships with other people, and blessing. There are approximately 250 uses of shalom in the Hebrew Bible. One of the best known is Isaiah 9:6, “And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Shalom.” 2 Eirene appears about 90 times in the Greek New Testament. It’s more common than “joy,” “gospel,” or “hope.” The angels use it to announce the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:14), “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth eirene among men with whom he is pleased.” Eirene became part of the standard greeting and closing blessing of most of the letters in the New Testament. Romans 1:7 for example, “Grace to you and eirene from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In Colossians 1:20, Paul tells us how reconciliation and peace come through the cross. “For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross.” There are even some unusual uses of the word peace such as Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” At first that may sound contradictory to John 14:27, but Jesus is saying that following him comes first, which means sometimes when someone accepts and obeys Christ and experiences the peace of Christ, there may be an increase in conflict within a family or in other relationships if others don’t share our view or experience. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t exempt us from storms in life, but we can have peace in the midst of the storms that come. When we put our problems in God’s hands, God puts divine peace in our hearts. Peace is at the heart of Paul’s blessing in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul says the peace which the church can know doesn’t have its source in the church—there is some discord or dissension in the Philippian church—peace isn’t found outside the church—where there is opposition to the church and the gospel—but in God.
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