Peace

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 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. Jn 14:25–27.

A man by the name of Horatio Spafford lived from 1828- 1888 and penned a hymn that many of us know today. “The author and his family were prosperous and revered members of Chicago society in the 1860’s and were part of the Presbyterian subculture in that city. Various calamities then struck them, including the loss of a real estate fortune in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1873, while Horatio remained behind to settle business matters, his wife and four daughters embarked on a ship for Europe. The ship collided with another one, the four daughters drowned as the ship sank in twelve minutes, and when Mrs. Spafford landed in England, she sent a heart-rending telegram to her husband that began with the words, “Saved alone. What shall I do?” When Horatio sailed to meet her a few days later, he penned his famous hymnic poem, “It Is Well with My Soul,” on a piece of stationery from a Chicago hotel as he neared the site of the shipwreck.” With as much loss as Horatio had experienced, and for him to be able to pen these words: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, It is well with my soul.”

In a world full of busy schedules, honking horns, traffic jams, children, and doctors’ appointments, it can be difficult to find peace. Yet, as Christians, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been gifted by the Holy Spirit this wonderful gift of peace. So this morning, as we explore this third Fruit of the Spirit, may we discover the true peace that the Spirit offers and see how we can find more of it in our lives today. Because, I don’t know about you, but I sure could use some. And with that being said, “May God Bless the preaching of this, His Most Holy Word.”

This morning, in our study of Peace, I was led to a passage from the book of John, where Jesus prepares His disciples for His crucifixion and ascension, telling them that He will not be with them for much longer in the physical sense. Then we pick up with our passage for today. We read, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.” He didn’t want to leave them dumbfounded and surprised. Yet even with as much warning and preparing as possible, the disciples, as we know, were still scared and fearful. Then Jesus says in the next verse.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Jesus had a plan. He has always had a plan. Even though Jesus would soon be crucified and then ascend to the Father. Jesus never planned to leave His people in this world alone. Praise the Lord! He would send us the Helper. I thought it fitting that, since we were discussing the Fruit of the Spirit, this passage would discuss the Holy Spirit, or the Helper, as He is called here.

So, here in this verse, the Holy Spirit has two main roles. First, He teaches. According to GotQuestions.com, “After the Lord’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples as recorded in Acts 2:1–13. Note, immediately after that, Peter addresses the crowd and explains what is going on at that moment and preaches the resurrection of Christ. Thus, the first fulfillment of John 14:26 occurred. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things,” and on the day of Pentecost the disciples understood what happened regarding Jesus and especially the meaning of His death and resurrection.” But what about for us today?

Once again quoting from GotQuestions, it reads, “For believers today, the Holy Spirit illuminates the Bible for us. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit indwelt us, and we were given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). As the Lord told Israel, “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:27). Without the Holy Spirit enabling us to understand the Bible and God’s commands, we could mever understand nor obey them. Paul states this reality in 1 Corinthians 2:13–14: “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” Thus, for us today, the Holy Spirit enables us to understand, live out, and apply God’s Word in our lives.” Aren’t we grateful for God’s great gift of the Holy Spirit?

The second role of the Holy Spirit is to “bring to remembrance all that I have said to you.” We do this today by reading our Bibles and praying. But this also makes me think of what Christ says in Luke 12:12: “for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” The Holy Spirit’s role is to remind us of, and bring to mind, all that Jesus has taught and instructed us.

Then Jesus transitions in the text. Next, we read, “27 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.” This is our key verse for today, for if you will remember, today we are studying the 3rd Fruit of the Spirit, peace. Christ has taught His disciples who the Helper is that He will be sending; then He describes one of the major ways in which the Spirit will help us, and that is through the avenue of peace.

Once again, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you.” So not only will He be sending the Holy Spirit, but He will also be leaving them and us today with peace. How comforting is it to know that even after Christ was crucified, brutally beaten and torn, He did not leave us alone. No! He left us with His peace. What is interesting about this is that what Christ is saying here, “was a common thing to say at a departure in that culture, to wish peace (shalom) to others as you left them. Jesus took this normal good-bye and filled it with deep strength and meaning.” Isn’t that jsut like Him? It is amid the trial, turmoil, and anguish, that Christ is attempting to prepare His flock. And it is amid the trial, turmoil, and anguish of the world today that I as your pastor am attempting to prepare you as well. We must remember, that even amid the trial, turmoil, and anguish there is alwasy peace.

Because let’s be honest, we could all use a little more peace in the world today. Amen! So today, I am grateful that Christ did not leave us alone but gave us His peace.

But that’s not all. Let’s continue reading. Christ continues by saying, “my peace I give to you.” You see, Christ knew that there was a difference between the peace of this world and His peace, therefore it is here that Christ makes a special note of specifying exactly whose peace He would be giving. He says once again, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Warren Weirsbe writes, “The world bases its peace on its resources, while God’s peace depends on relationships. To be right with God means to enjoy the peace of God. The world depends on personal ability, but the Christian depends on spiritual adequacy in Christ. In the world, peace is something you hope for or work for; but to the Christian, peace is God’s wonderful gift, received by faith. Unsaved people enjoy peace when there is an absence of trouble; Christians enjoy peace in spite of trials because of the presence of power, the Holy Spirit.

People in the world walk by sight and depend on the externals, but Christians walk by faith and depend on the eternals. The Spirit of God teaches us the Word and guides us (not drags us!) into the truth. He also reminds us of what He has taught us so that we can depend on God’s Word in the difficult times of life. The Spirit uses the Word to give us His peace (John 14:27), His love (John 15:9–10), and His joy (John 15:11). If that does not calm a troubled heart, nothing will!”

Just the other day I found myself irritated at myself because we had gotten a fly in the house and it took my three swats to kill the fly. I was irritated and frustrated, a lack of peace if you will, because I was looking at myself, my own abilities or lack thereof and was discontent. You see my dear brothers and sisters, anytime we look at or towards ourselves we will always be disappointed, filled with discontent. Why? Because we are not perfect. I’m sorry, maybe a wake-up call for some of you. Therefore, it is ONLY when we look at ourselves through the lens of the Holy Spirit that we can see fulfillment, beauty, perfection, and most importantly, peace.

So I encourage you today, stop looking at yourself and the world through the lenses of this world and start looking at things through the lens of the Holy Spirit. You will have a lot more peace.

Our text for this morning ends with Christ saying, “Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” As I said earlier, there is a big difference between the peace that Christ gives and what this world calls “peace.” He says, “Not as the world gives do I give to you.” Then He wraps this up by giving us a command. He says, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The other day, I had the honor of being able to go to the funeral of a beloved Christian lady. Was it sad that she had passed away? Yes. Was there grief present at the funeral? Yes. But was there also peace and joy? Oh most definitely. For it was in that moment that Christ’s presence was present and therefore so was peace.

So today, my dearly beloved. I want to remind you that through the power of the Holy Spirit, no matter how desperate or horrible our plight may be, we can have peace. May we put on the lenses of the Holy Spirit and through prayer may we begin to see our world and our lives through the lenses of the Holy Spirit and may we find that peace, oh that peace that surpasses all understanding. We can try the methods of this world for peace: drink, massage, yoga. But nothing will fill us with an everlasting peace like that peace of the Holy Spirit. May the world stop and look and ask, “Why are you so calm?” Because of the peace of Christ given to me by the power of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you. Shalom.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!