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i. 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. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Pheasant vid?

Moments of Crisis tend to reveal what we really believe.

The Instructions: Don't let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Moments of Crisis tend to reveal what we really believe.

Ok, so how do we even do that?

When everything is going great, we will give lip service to things we don’t really believe.

A lot of times, even we believe what we say.

First lets identify the problem:

A lot of times, even we believe what we say.

But how we act and the things we turn to in a moment of crisis give us a much more accurate picture of our character and true beliefs.

The Struggle: The Disciples in vv. 28

But how we act and the things we turn to in a moment of crisis give us a much more accurate picture of our character and true beliefs.

One of my favorite pictures of this truth is in :

You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

One of my favorite pictures of this truth is in :

The disciples self-focus has them in disagreement with God's plan and priorities.

Jesus says to his disciples “let us go across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.”

They are thinking about the circumstances instead of seeing how they fit into God's plan.

So they get in a boat, Jesus falls asleep, and a huge storm comes up. So great that even the professional fishermen among the disciples were afraid for their lives.

And we face that exact same struggle

They wake Jesus up, “Jesus, don’t you care that we are perishing!”

Jesus wakes up and says to the storm “Peace, be still.”

But If we saw things how God sees them, we would have a totally different perspective on life.

Jesus wakes up and says to the storm “Peace, be still.”

This is such a perfect picture for us, because at this point, it’s early in Jesus’s ministry. He has just called the disciples, so they still don’t fully understand who He is.

And that would radically change how we live.

But before they got in the boat He said “let’s go to the other side.”

The Example: Jesus in verses 30-31

But before they got in the boat He said “let’s go to the other side.”

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

If the God of the universe tells you you’re going to the other side of the lake--where are you going to end up?

The other side of the lake!

See Jesus is staring down suffering that we can never imagine.

The other side of the lake!

Satan is putting in place a plan to prosecute and murder Jesus.

But in the midst of the journey, this storm arises, and it makes the disciples afraid. And in human terms they are totally right: this storm even scares the professional fishermen like Peter, James, and John.

It’s a big storm. So they are concerned that the plan has changed, and that they are going to die.

"The ruler of this world is coming."

It’s a big storm. So they are concerned that the plan has changed, and that they are going to die.

And even to the disciples, it's going to temporarily look like the enemy wins.

But what did Jesus, the Son of God, tell them before they got into the boat?

Let’s go to the other side.

But Jesus knows something He doesn't: "He has no claim on me."

Let’s go to the other side.

At this point they didn’t fully know Him, so it makes sense. But even when we know God, and the truth of His word, in the midst of a storm it is easy to let go of His truths and his promises.

Satan doesn't win because Jesus is defeated. Jesus goes to the cross out of obedience, not obligation.

And through this defeat He accomplishes God's ultimate victory, and the devil's ultimate defeat.

And this is the exact challenge the disciples are facing in , at the Last Supper before Jesus is betrayed and executed:

Jesus keeps saying scary things: I’m gonna die. You are going to be scattered. You’re going to betray me. I’m leaving you, and going back to the Father.

The Equipment: (à don't read italicized) God's Presence, His Plans, and His Promises.

So Jesus has told us to not be troubled or afraid. And we see this awesome example of Him living that out.

Well naturally that freaks them out. And as Peter is going to find out just hours from now, fear can make you do things you’d be ashamed of.

And Jesus knows this about them, and about us.

But what about us?

And as they stand on the precipice, overlooking the “valley of death” they are about to walk through over the next 72 hours, Jesus comforts them with this: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

How can we navigate the difficulties of life in a broken world?

And as they stand on the precipice, overlooking the “valley of death” they are about to walk through over the next 72 hours, Jesus comforts them with this: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

The thing that Jesus comforts them with, that He’s leaving them with, is His peace.

Well He's given us what we need to follow in His footsteps:

The thing that Jesus comforts them with, that He’s leaving them with, is His peace.

See what we need as we go through life is the Peace of Christ. Because the storms of life are going to come. And we’re going to be tempted in those moments to forget ourselves and the God whom we serve, and start acting out of fear.

First: look at verse 26:

See what we need as we go through life is the Peace of Christ. Because the storms of life are going to come. And we’re going to be tempted in those moments to forget ourselves and the God whom we serve, and start acting out of fear.

The first thing He promises us is God's presence:

This is something we struggle with all the time. And the answer to living is fear is resting in the Peace of Christ.

But what does that even mean? And how do we live in it?

“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.

But what does that even mean? And how do we live in it?

So He's sending the Holy Spirit, not as a temporary fix, but as a permanent presence in our lives.

Well before we get into that, let’s get the whole picture that Jesus is painting for the disciples here at the end of .

He just told the disciples in verse 16-17 that the Father "will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth."

Let’s start reading in verse 25:

If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Spirit of God living inside you. And we're actually going to take a deeper look at what that means in a couple of weeks.

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. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

But for now, let's just think about it this way: We are never alone in our circumstances. We always have the presence of God in our lives. Even when it doesn't look like it. Even when it doesn't feel like it.

Look again at verse 27. I love this, because Jesus is meeting us in our fear and providing us with the thing that we really need. SLIDE

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

And look what the Holy Spirit brings with Him:

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

Have you ever noticed how much God tells people not to be afraid?

In verse 26 it says "He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

Have you ever noticed how much God tells people not to be afraid?

One thing I want to encourage us in as we read scripture, is to not get lulled into just saying “yeah, yeah, yeah” as we read it. Because some of the stuff the bible says sounds crazy to us. And it’s supposed to. Because the bible confronts the way we live our lives--and if we don’t read it honestly, and take into account what we really believe--we won’t let the Bible teach us what God wants to teach us.

These are the Promises of God:

One thing I want to encourage us in as we read scripture, is to not get lulled into just saying “yeah, yeah, yeah” as we read it. Because some of the stuff the bible says sounds crazy to us. And it’s supposed to. Because the bible confronts the way we live our lives--and if we don’t read it honestly, and take into account what we really believe--we won’t let the Bible teach us what God wants to teach us.

So Jesus says “Don’t let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

The disciples weren't going to have to sit around swapping stories about Jesus and the good times they had. The Spirit was going to come live in them, teaching them, and reminding them of all Jesus taught.

That's where the Gospels came from. After Jesus went back to heaven, the Spirit helped four different men write down different aspects of Jesus's life and teaching down for us to have with us.

Now let me stop you right there Jesus. You have told us you’re going to die. And that you’re leaving us. And that one of us is going to betray you. And that another one of us is going to deny you.

So why are you talking crazy? Sounds like we SHOULD be afraid.

Combine that with the Old Testament, and the letters the Holy Spirit would later inspire other men to write, and we get the scripture: The Word of God.

See it’s so important for us to have an honest reaction here, because otherwise we’ll miss the point, and think Jesus is asking us to PRETEND that everything is ok, that there is nothing to be afraid of.

And in it are so many truths and promises of God,

See it’s so important for us to have an honest reaction here, because otherwise we’ll miss the point, and think Jesus is asking us to PRETEND that everything is ok, that there is nothing to be afraid of.

that remind us who we are, and who He is. That He is faithful. That he's coming back for us. That His blessing is based on his work for us, not how well we work for Him.

And that is not what He’s saying. It’s so much more than that.

We have his promises to hold on to.

See what Jesus is offering us is His peace. And as He says He’s giving us His peace, he contrasts it with something else: SLIDE He says I give you my peace; not as the world gives do I give to you.

Even when it looks bleak. Even when the going gets rough. God has given us an unchanging reminder of His faithfulness and His word. And long past the time human memory goes dim, we have the life and teaching of Jesus preserved for us, by the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is the danger of misreading the text. Because like I said earlier, if we don’t read this right, we’ll think Jesus is asking us to pretend to not be afraid. But it is just the opposite. Pretending it’s going to be ok isn’t what Faith in Christ is all about. That’s not the Peace of Christ.

So we have His Presence and His Promises.

That’s the Peace of the world. That’s the counterfeit peace the enemy wants us to accept.

Peace of the World vs. Peace of Christ

But that's not all.

Slide

See living with the Peace of Christ changes What we look at, Who we look to, and What we look for:

Symptoms (vs. Solution)

Look in verse 29: And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

See Jesus does something God has been doing all along for His people:

What we look at:

The Peace of the world gets us focused on the symptoms of the things that trouble this earth, rather than the things that are the real problem. Worldly Peace is achieved by managing the symptoms of our problems rather than

Remember earlier when we talked about Jesus and His disciples getting caught in a nasty storm on the Sea of Galilee?

He doesn't just make promises. He proves his faithfulness by revealing parts of His plan.

Pretending (vs. Depending)

When the storm comes up--when the wind and waves are crashing all around--what did the disciples focus on?

We're not just blundering around in the dark humming "this little light of mine" to ourselves.

Situational (vs. Universal)

Solutions He has provided us in this battle:

Here in he's revealing what the following days will hold for his disciples.

The storm.

See this is what we do: inconvenient, difficult, or even tragic circumstances arise in our life, and we get focused on those circumstances.

Jesus is giving us what we need before He leaves:

Why?

Holy Spirit

So they can see it happening as He predicted, and hold on through the darkness, and once it comes to pass, have an even stronger faith in Him. In His power and goodness. In who He is.

Then we try to bring God into it, generally by demanding that he fix the situation. And if He doesn’t. We get mad at him. We start questioning Him. We start doubting Him.

This is what happens with the disciples: They look at the storm. They’re freaked out, and they come see Jesus sleeping peacefully in the boat. And they want to kick Him awake.

And He's done the same for us.

His Word/Promises

They ask “Lord, don’t you even care that we’re dying?”

His Peace

His word is full of predictions about what life will look like after He ascends, especially what things will look like when His time to return draws near.

What does living this out look like? Christ is showing us in verses 30-31:

What did they forget to look at?

Why? Because as we see His plan unfolding, it gives us hope, and builds our faith.

The Plan.

Living with the Peace of Christ means looking at the short term trials in light of God’s long term victory/character/etc.

So where does that leave us?

Jesus’s place in God’s plan gives him confidence to walk through the trials of the cross.

See Jesus told us to not be troubled or afraid. And all of this was overshadowed by very troubling and frightening circumstances?

Before they got into the boat, Jesus--who is God himself--said lets go to the other side.

That’s the plan.

Because even though Satan is at work bringing about Jesus’s betrayal and murder, he’s actually accomplishing God’s plan for him.

So how do we live this out?

And Jesus knows this. And He knows that although Satan will win an apparent victory, Ultimately He has no claim on Jesus. No right to take Jesus’s life. He’s only successful because Jesus surrenders to that apparent defeat to accomplish God’s plan.

Cause the circumstances--the storm--haven’t changed the plan.

Well remember earlier I said

So what keeps us from living this out? Jesus shows us a little picture of this in v. 28

But it changes how well we think the plan is going.

If we saw things how God sees them, we would have a totally different perspective on life.

And that would radically change how we live.

But the plan hasn’t changed. Jesus had already told them what was going to happen.

Self Focus: The reason the disciples were afraid was because they were focused on themselves. How frightening and painful, and disappointing the next 24 hours would be.

In doing so they were losing sight of the big picture of God’s plan.

And Here Jesus has given us three powerful tools to walk through life with:

The disciples simply lost sight of what the plan was, because the circumstances started looking dicy.

God's presence

Instead of worrying about Jesus leaving, they should have rejoiced. The faithful messenger was about to accomplish His mission, and return back to his rightful place at the Father’s right hand.

Slide

His promises

So as we look at this contrast, it’s easy to see why the worldly peace we look for is so deceptive and quickly upset: We focus on our circumstances. And in this broken world, those are bound to go south fast.

He’s about to take back his glory, authority, and honor that rightfully belonged to him, that he lay down voluntarily to accomplish our reconciliation with God.

But with the Peace of Christ, we are able to remember that in the midst of difficult circumstances, God’s plan is going to happen.

This is what’s supposed to happen!

And parts of His Plan.

And He’s not leaving them alone. In fact He’s giving them the Holy Spirit to live in them (and us) forever!

See all of these things help us see things in God's perspective more and more. And that takes us out of our self-focused life where the immediate circumstances rob us of joy and make us extremely troubled and afraid.

And nothing can stop that. And the peace of that knowledge can hold us up in the midst of even the most terrifying circumstances.

Our self focus takes our eyes from where they should be: Focused on God, and his call and promises in our lives.

As we see things from God's perspective, we realize that no matter what the circumstances. He is always with us. His spirit lives inside us.

Look at what Jesus points the disciples to here in

And no matter how dark it gets, we learn to hold on to His promises. Seeing how He's been faithful in the past, and trusting Him to continue being faithful in the future.

And when we do that, it’s no wonder that we get confused and scared and lost.

Jesus says “And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”

And even when we are bewildered and confused by what is going on around us,

The circumstances are about to get very scary. They’re going to watch Jesus die and be buried.

That’s what was happening with the disciples:

But He’s telling them the plan in advance. And watching it unfold is going to strengthen their faith--and give them ability to trust Him more the next time they encounter difficulty.

They were afraid because they were focused on the pain and dismay they were going to experience during Jesus’s betrayal, crucifixion and burial.

We get to see little pieces of the plan. We get the big picture plan: He's redeemed humanity and will restore all who believe in Christ to perfect relationship with God forever in Heaven.

And he's given us little pictures of what that will look like as time goes on. So we can be confident that He knows what He's doing, that He's in control.

And that fear made them lose sight of the big picture. That what was happening was a part of God’s glorious plan to bring us back into relationship with him. That they were about to watch Jesus defeat Satan in front of their eyes.

Who we look to:

How can we sum that all up? The confidence that God's presence, His promises, and His Plan bring to our life?

See we get so wrapped up our own circumstances and struggles. And we don’t see God stepping in to fix them like we want Him to. So we get disappointed and disgruntled. And we start to think, maybe His promises aren’t really true. Maybe he can’t be trusted.

The Peace of Christ doesn’t just change our perspective about our circumstances. It changes who we look to.

Jesus calls it His Peace

This is why God’s word is so powerful. Because in it we are able to see ourselves. And the people who chose to act out of fear, who ultimately end up causing so much more pain and heartache because of it. And we see the people who instead live in the Peace of God, trusting that in the midst of our circumstances, God is still faithful. He’s still true. And that He’s at work, bringing about His perfect plan.

See the human way of solving a problem is trying to fix it ourselves, or trying to pressure the people we think can fix it to do just that.

Conclude with the Peace of Christ

But those solutions are usually just temporary. They never solve the root of the problem.

Conclusion: We live in communion with the God who can say to the storm “Peace, be still.” That means if we’re in the midst of a storm, and He hasn’t calmed it--He has a good reason for it. And even in the midst of that storm, we can trust that His promises are true.

And when people let us down or get in the way of us fixing circumstances the way we want--we want to let them have it. We want to punish them.

But none of that addresses the problem.

See All of the problems humanity experiences on a daily level are rooted in the day that Adam and Eve chose their own way over God’s way.

The Peace of Christ means we can stop chasing those solutions around, and look to Christ, and the solution he has already provided.

Because our real problem is not other people. Our problem is that in our natural state, we are separated from God. In rebellion to Him.

But Christ has bridged the gap between us and God. He paid our debt by his death so that we could live.

And if that is true, we can stop pushing and pulling and battling the people around us for the things we want. For the temporary fixes and highs and selfish things we seek.

Because our ultimate fate has already been settled by Christ’s work on the cross.

Christ has bought us peace with God, and through that peace, enabled us to begin having peace with one another.

If our life is found in Christ and the things He values, we no longer have to try to get life, worth, value, self-esteem from the people around us. Because ultimately we’re demanding something from those people that they can never give us.

Looking to Christ, recognizing the freedom He has bought us, frees us up in our relationship with Him, and with those around us

SLIDE

So with the Peace of Christ, we’re no longer looking at the circumstances, we’re looking at the plan. We’re trusting Christ to accomplish what needs to be accomplished despite our circumstances.

And furthermore, in our lives we are no longer looking to ourselves or the people around us for the things we need. We are looking to Christ and resting in what He says about us, and the victory He has already won for us.

The final way His Peace changes us is it changes what we are looking for:

I’ve already outlined the negative side of this, but just to put it super clearly: all the things we spend our lives looking for, fighting for, finding our identity in. All those things are temporary solutions.

None of these things can give us ultimate meaning. And as we come into relationship with God, He begins to change our perspective and priorities. And we start to want what He wants.

As a result, we stop looking for temporary solutions to our problems, we stop seeking our own agendas, and start seeking the number 1 thing Jesus taught us to pray for: Your Kingdom come, your will be done.

SLIDE

See as we live and rest in the Peace of Christ, our focus shifts. We’re no longer preoccupied with our “negative circumstances”, and we’re no longer trying to strangle one another to get what we want for ourselves.

Because our focus isn’t on ourselves. It’s on Christ. It’s on God’s plan to redeem the world. It’s starts by his redeeming us individually, and continues as He invites us into this work of redemption!