March 22, 2020 - Biblical Peace In Worldly Crisis
Notes
Transcript
Thinking through how I should handle this message today...
I contemplated what I should speak about...
Should we continue through the Gospel of John....and just pick up from where we left off last week..
OR
Do we step outside of all that and address what’s going on in our country…and all around the world...
God is awesome - We’ll get to do both today...
Our text today in John is going to speak into what is happening around us…and so hopefully it will help us in how to think through the times that we’re in...
Last week we began to hear Jesus - BRING SOME MUCH NEEDED comfort to the disciples...
Prior to last week - for the past several chapters - Jesus has been preparing the disciples for his DEPARTURE...
His crucifixion...
And in doing so, He no doubt caused the disciples to be anxious…in how things were going to play out!
We heard that anxiousness the past several weeks as the disciples sought to find answers from Jesus...
37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
You can hear the tension in their voices...
And it was Jesus Himself who spoke comfort into the situation...
He said...
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
And so IN THIS - we see that FAITH ITSELF is a remedy to anxiety...
If we just turn on the news...
Go to the internet...
ALL OVER THE WORLD - we see - anxiety...
And we talked about it last week - what we’re seeing is the “FEAR of DEATH” on display...
See the world views life from - BIRTH to the GRAVE...
That’s it...
And when THAT”S ALL YOU GOT - disease brings ultimate FEAR....
But what we’re going to see today is that there is actually BIBLICAL PEACE in the midst of Worldly Crisis...
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
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.
So…many verses to walk through - BUT
Overall - if we were step back and look at this section as a whole...
we’d see there are several things that jump out at us…completely RELEVANT for today...
In context - in relation to the story that is unfolding..
Jesus is now PREPARING the disciples…for His departure…and encouraging them along the way...
Jesus had become THE SOURCE of comfort for the disciples...
Worry and ANXIETY was flooding their minds...
And so Jesus is going to ADDRESS that ANXIETY…in this text...
And HOPEFULLY it will land on us TODAY as we walk through - Coronavirus, or cancer…or loneliness…or WHATEVER…you’re going thru.
SLIDE: In Worldly Crisis: Godly Help Through Love For Christ
In Worldly Crisis
In Worldly Crisis
Let’s look back at our text...
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
What I want / What we NEED to see here is that the YOU in v16...
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give YOU another helper...
That YOU - is DIRECTLY related to the YOU in v15!
“If YOU - - LOVE Me!!”
Those WHO LOVE Jesus...
Those who OBEY Jesus (not perfectly - those who DESIRE to OBEY)....
Those who SEEK after Jesus...
THOSE people will - be GIVEN another HELPER - The Holy Spirit!!
And what does the Holy Spirit DO for us…?
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
In our WEAKNESS - the Spirit helps us!
Isn’t that the best news?
Most things in this world today will ONLY HELP YOU - if you FIRST - reach a certain standard.
*When does the benefit of the WORK-OUT COME? - when it’s over
*When does the benefit of the diet come? - When it’s over
*When does the benefit of the surgery come? - When it’s over
The Holy Spirit HELPS US - [IN] our weakness
No, not after you figure it all out...
Not after you’ve given it your best shot...
{IN} your weakness…WHILE you are weak...
The Holy Spirit helps us!
We look out at our country right now....the world right now...
And there seem to be a LOT of UNKNOWNS...
What can the virus really do?
Who does it most affect?
What happens if I get it?
How long will we be on lock down?
How many people are going to die?
How many people are going to lose their jobs?
All these questions! - No answers...
And as you KNOW - when we don’t have answers...
When there are more UNCERTAINTIES - than - CERTAINTIES...
What rises? ANXIETY…FEAR!!
Further down in our text we read this...
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.
SLIDE: In Worldly Crisis: The Peace of Christ Trumps All Fear
In Worldly Crisis
In Worldly Crisis
NOW - this sounds good right…but do we EXPERIENCE this?
You might even say - THAT’s NOT true!!
I would say - Yes it is true -
And here’s why...
What did v27 say…?
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.
[MY] peace i give to you...
We get - the PEACE of JESUS -
Does the PEACE of Jesus - Fear ANYTHING??
Anything at all??
No - it doesn’t...
So WHY then do we STILL fear?
BECAUSE - when FEAR rises up in us - it’s tied to a LACK of TRUST...
When our TRUST in Jesus goes down (falls) - our FEAR of coronavirus, cancer, persecution, death - rises!
And so what we need to HOLD ONTO is that - we have THE PEACE of JESUS…in us...
When we BELIEVE in Christ...
AS - FOR Jesus is the Father, so the Father IS FOR US!
To the degree that the Father is FOR Jesus - so is the Father FOR us...
SLIDE:
The peace that exists between the Father and the Son exists between God and those who believe.
I saw an amazing quote this week from Charles Spurgeon...
SLIDE:
Fear to die? Thank God, I do not. The Cholera may come again next summer - pray it may not. But if it does, it matters not to me. I will toil and visit the sick by night and by day until I drop. And if it takes me, sudden death is sudden glory.
What’s the message?
FEAR NOTHING!!
Really - - ???? NOTHING?
Fear NOTHING!
“Let NOT your hearts be troubled”
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Do NOT BE anxious…about - anything
How HARD is that?
And yet the call for us is - DON’T BE ANXIOUS…over anything...
DON’T WORRY...
SO - if that’s true:
Coronavirus
Cancer
Cancelled plans
Falling Economy
Loss of job
Loss of loved one
Now - We BALANCE this with - we MOURN with those who MOURN...
We seek to LOVE NEIGHBOR as SELF...
You might be thinking - Well, if we’re called not to FEAR ANYTHING - why are you preaching in front of an empty room??
Why are we at home??
As I said in the message I sent out this week - NO, we shouldn’t live in FEAR of this virus...
But we should live IN LOVE...
Think back to these verses right here.
Who wrote these verses?
Where was Paul when he wrote these verses?
He was IN PRISON…writing how we should not - WORRY
Should Paul had been IN PRISON - did he DESERVE to be in prison??
NO - and yet -
Did he RESIST the authorities decision to imprison him?
Was he plotting his escape - KNOWING he shouldn’t be there??
NO - He actually DECLARES...
15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.
16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
Paul KNOWS that God PUT him in prison - to ADVANCE the GOSPEL!
Couple this with 2 timothy 2:9
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,
9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
Paul ACCEPTED the decisions of those in authority OVER him....
He didn’t WAR against those things...
And he DID SO - knowing that the Gospel can’t be IMPRISONED...
It can’t be PUT on LOCKDOWN...
Paul knew that HOW HE HANDLED those decisions would either:
Advance the Gospel
OR
Trample the gospel
And so he COMPLIED...
He also tells us of his companion Epaphroditus...
This guy was sent to Paul from the church in Philippi…to bring Paul a gift and show support for him...
On his way to Paul - he got sick....nearly died
The church HEARS of his sickness and becomes concerned! Worried!
The VERY thing Paul is telling us NOT TO DO...
So how does Paul respond?
Does he proclaim - DO NOT WORRY! He’s fine…he’s going to CONTINUE with ME because we FEAR NOTHING!!
No - he says this
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,
26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,
30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Paul wanted to send Epaphroditus back to the church...
Could Paul have proclaimed Epaphroditus to CONTINUE with him....NOT WORRY about dying or the church’s concern and just continue on...
He could have…but he didn’t.
Paul assessed the situation…and out of love FOR Epaphroditus (who was concerned about the church’s concern for him)....
…And out of LOVE FOR THE CHURCH - Paul sends Epaphroditus back to the church.
Paul obeyed the authorities over him…and he operated IN LOVE for his brothers and sisters in Christ...
THIS - is why you are at home right now…and I’m preaching in an empty room...
PAUL lived - FOR Christ (His mission and message) - IN LOVE for neighbor
And so Paul LIVED out Phil 4:6
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
We know Paul did this…because the NEXT VERSE...
displays for us what was so OBVIOUS in Paul’s life...
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul HAD THIS PEACE...
It surpassed ALL UNDERSTANDING...
Paul LIVED his life -
NOT as a Thermostat....which RISES and FALLS depending on outside circumstances...
BUT..
He lived as a THERMOSTAT....which dictates the temperature of the environment around it.
Paul didn’t ALLOW the circumstances of life to DETERMINE his level of PEACE...
HE SOUGHT to DETERMINE “the temperature in the room” - by DISPLAYING the PEACE of GOD...
Which surpasses ALL understanding.
And so in this CRAZY time we walk through now...
Be THERMOSTATS....not Thermometers...
Seek to INFLUENCE the room with the PEACE of GOD and that we HOLD ONTO!!
As John Piper would say....
“Don’t waste your coronavirus”
Display Jesus to the world!
HE’s the remedy the world needs!!
CORONAVIRUS is not the world’s BIGGEST problem right now...
The failing ECONOMY is not the worlds biggest problem right now!!
Jesus is the answer - His peace can be ours...
Back to our text today...
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.
We see in these last few verses…that YES - the ruler of this world...
Satan - he will do his thing...
Viruses will come...
Disease will come...
Death is REAL...
BUT YET>…!!!
these things have NO CLAIM on our KING....
“BUT I DO AS THE FATHER HAS COMMANDED ME...”
GOD is IN CONTROL!!
Viruses KILL....
Economies CRUMBLE...
and yet - GOD IS IN CONTROL!!
And BECAUSE He is...
The question goes out!!
Have you SURRENDERED your life to HIM?
Gospel:
Sin
Have you laid all your efforts to get to God - DOWN?
TRUST in Him? His work?
Salvation
So that - Whatever comes (we have Jesus who IS eternal life)
These times are MEANT to get us thinking about: WHO WE ARE before God… WHO HE IS
Don’t waste this time!
SUMMARY:
In Worldly Crisis:
Godly Help Through Love for Christ
Peace of Christ Trumps All Fear
Close with v18-19
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Let’s pray