Unworldly Peace - John 14:27-31

©August 1st, 2021 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: John

In the movie Miss Congeniality FBI agent Gracie Hart goes undercover as a contestant in a beauty pageant in order to foil a bomb plot. The movie has several funny moments, and much of the humor is based on the stereotypes people have of people who compete in pageants. One of the running gags is that contestants can’t come up with original thoughts and that all any of them want is “world peace”, an answer that is safe and will always play well with the judges. During the pageant, we see a montage of all the contestants being asked what the world needs more of, and they all answer “world peace”. When Agent Hart is asked the question, she gives her own answer, then realizes that it doesn’t play as well as the stock answer, so she says world peace too. At the end of the movie, she’s had a change of heart and tearfully tells people that she really does want world peace.

Obviously the movie is intended to lampoon real life and plays into many of the stereotypes we have of pageants, law enforcement, and others. I’m not saying it accurately depicts any of those things…but I do think it gets one thing right. Most people would say they desire peace, for the world, for our nation, and for themselves.

The good news is that in our text this morning Jesus promises peace to his disciples. But the kind of peace Jesus promises is wildly different from the kind of peace the world desires. Jesus’ peace is foreign to the world at large, but the peace He gives is far better. We’re going to unpack what this kind of peace looks like and how we can get it in our lives.

What Is Peace?

Let’s look at the promise Jesus makes in verse 27,

27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27, NLT)

Jesus promises his disciples that he is leaving them with the gift of peace of mind and heart. And He says this peace is a gift the world cannot give. This means we must change our definition of peace, because this peace is different than the peace our world knows. This peace is something far deeper.

Generally, when the world speaks of peace, they mean the absence of conflict. This is what is in view when people say they hope for world peace or peace in the middle east. The idea is simple: if nobody is fighting anymore, then there will be peace. And that is the general idea behind most forms of diplomacy. The goal is to get people to agree to stop fighting, and then we declare that we have made peace. But there are several problems with this definition of peace.

First, we will never get to a point where there is no conflict. People disagree with one another, and things don’t go as planned. Peace based on everyone getting their way simply doesn’t work, because it’s an axiom of life that you can’t always get your way. And when that happens, conflict enters the picture and often peace disappears.

Which points us to the second problem with the world’s definition of peace—it is always temporary because it is conditional. The kind of peace the world seeks is one that depends on everything going as planned. When someone doesn’t do what we expect, or the situation changes, the peace is gone. So any peace that depends on our circumstances going as planned will never last, because inevitably our situations change, often in unexpected ways.

But Jesus is promising a different kind of peace. The peace the Bible speaks of is not dependent upon circumstances. It is not dependent upon getting our way. It is not even dependent upon things going well for us! Jesus does not promise us peaceful circumstances, He promises peace of mind and heart. This is a very different kind of peace—but one that is far greater and long-lasting.

So where does this kind of peace come from? It comes from a fervent trust in God. In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul speaks about this kind of peace as well.

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7, NLT)

Paul tells believers to rejoice in every circumstance, and not to worry about anything but to pray about everything. Then, he says, we will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. But how does that work? How does peace come from simply praying to God?

Well there’s another step in the process—we have to trust God with our circumstances. The believer can have peace in every circumstance, and can even rejoice always, because we are trusting in God to work out the things we cannot. Much of the worry and anxiety we experience in our world is a result of trying to control things that are outside of our control. A far better approach is to do the things we can do and then rest in God’s control of everything else. But we struggle to do this.

Why is this a struggle? I think it’s because we are afraid that God’s plan may be different than our plan. Do you see the foolishness of this attitude? When we worry that God won’t do what we want, we are assuming that we know better than Him! And that is why we don’t have peace. The peace of God promised in the Bible surpasses our understanding. It comes from recognizing that God is in control of all things, so we don’t need to worry about the things that we can’t control or don’t understand. That doesn’t mean we should become apathetic or passive, but rather that we choose to trust God’s plan, rather than trying to force our own. When the circumstances change, we don’t need to worry—because even though we might not have foreseen the change, God did. Unlike us, God is never caught off guard, so we must learn to rest in His perfect plan, trusting that He is working even when we can’t see it.

This kind of peace is only accessible to Christians though. Because the only way you can have peace is by submitting your life and your will and your plans to God. Non-believers absolutely refuse to do this because they believe they know better. If we’re honest, Christians often do the same thing. And so, this peace is often elusive even to believers. The way we find peace is to learn to trust God more than we trust our plans and our perspectives.

Jesus told his disciples about this kind of peace because He knew it would be vitally important to them in the coming days. In less than 24 hours they would watch Jesus be executed. Their faith would be challenged and shaken to the core. They would find themselves reeling because the story was taking a turn none of them expected. But Jesus promised that by trusting in God, they would be able to find peace even in a tumultuous situation.

So, what keeps us from experiencing this kind of peace in our lives? What obstacles stand between us and this kind of peace? I’ve got a list:

· Sin—when we rebel against God, we are putting distance between us and Him. We are choosing to trust our own judgment rather than His by doing what we want instead of what He commands. Every act of sin is an act of rebellion and refusal to submit…and it robs us of peace.

· Ignorance—in order for us to trust God, we need to know Him. We need to know His promises, and we need to learn how to see Him even when it’s hard. This is why personal Bible study is so vitally important. The more we know God, the easier it is for us to trust Him.

· Unbelief—people who refuse to believe and trust in God cannot have this kind of peace. Even Christians can struggle with unbelief. We know what we’re supposed to believe, but we struggle to truly embrace it. Peace comes when we believe that God is in control. It comes when that truth penetrates our hearts rather than just something we acknowledge with our minds.

True peace comes from learning to trust God’s plan. When we trust that God has a plan, that His plan is perfect, and that it will come to pass, it enables us to rest, even in the storms of life.

Putting it into Practice

Jesus makes the promise of peace to His disciples, and then He goes on to tell them a little bit about what is going to happen in the future.

28 Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. 29 I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. (John 14:28-29, NLT)

Jesus tells his disciples that He is going away, but that He will come back to them again. I don’t expect that the disciples understood what this meant at the time. Later they would, but I suspect they thought maybe Jesus was going to go on a trip. They did not expect that He would be executed. His point in telling them about this ahead of time was simply to let them know that God was still working, that all of this was according to His plan, even though it would be hard for them to understand what that plan was.

The second part of verse 28 is somewhat confusing for us, because Jesus says the disciples should be happy that He is going to the Father, who is greater than He is. This is troubling for a couple of different reasons.

First, why should the disciples be happy for Jesus? Isn’t Jesus content in all circumstances? Of course He is, however, we must also understand that when Jesus came to earth, He humbled himself. He made himself subject to the limitations of a human being, rather than continuing to act with all the power and freedom of God.

In Philippians 2, Paul quotes what was likely an early hymn or creed that talks about this,

6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11, NLT)

These verses give a clear picture of what happened when Jesus came to earth. Jesus did not stop being God, but He did choose to limit himself. Rather than exercising His power as God, He chose to live by the same constraints any human being would have. As you might expect, this was a tremendous sacrifice, and a far cry from what Jesus deserved. But He did it because He loved us.

But the second part reminds us of the upside of all of this. After Jesus died and rose again, He was elevated to the place of highest honor, that everyone would ultimately worship Him in the way He deserved. So the disciples should be happy that Jesus was returning to His rightful place of exercising His power and authority.

In some ways this is like how we view the death of believers. When a Christian dies, it is not a tragedy for them. They are experiencing life as it was meant to be. They have been freed from sin, sickness, and the troubles of this world and are instead experiencing life everlasting in Heaven. So we are happy for believers who die, even as we grieve for ourselves. We grieve because we miss them, but we are happy for their deliverance from this world of sin. This is what Jesus was telling His disciples; they should be happy for Him, because His work was finished and He was returning to the place He deserved to be.

The second issue is when Jesus says the Father is greater than He is. This statement has led to many false teachings about Jesus. Many so-called Christian cults teach that Jesus was somehow less than God the Father, or that He somehow became God, but was not always God. They point to this statement by Jesus as proof.

But Jesus was not saying the Father is greater than Him in an absolute sense. He was saying that He had chosen to submit Himself to God the Father during His time on earth. He was returning to God the Father, and this was a cause for rejoicing. All Jesus was really saying with this statement was that He was serving the plan of God the Father, not that He was not truly equal with Him. If we look at every other time Jesus speaks about the Father, He declares that He and the Father are one. They are equal. Taking this verse to mean anything other than that involves taking it out of the context of everything else Jesus said.

The overarching point, however, is that Jesus was saying the disciples could have confidence in God’s plan, even as everything seemed to change all at once. He was encouraging them that when their world got turned upside down, when everything they believed was challenged, to remember that God was still working out His plan. Nothing surprised the Lord or took Him off guard—so they should rest in the peace of knowing He was still in control.

Satan’s Power

This leads to the last two verses in our text this morning, where Jesus speaks of Satan’s power.

30 “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, 31 but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going. (John 14:30-31,NLT)

Jesus says the ruler of this world approaches. In this statement, he is referring to Satan. Again, this is a statement that is oft misunderstood. Some people hear Jesus refer to Satan as the ruler of this world and assume that means that Satan has ultimate power and control. Many have the idea that God and Satan are equal and opposite forces locked in an eternal battle. But that’s not at all what Jesus was saying.

Immediately after Jesus says that the ruler of this world approaches, he explains that Satan has no power over Him. Jesus is clearly saying that He is more powerful than Satan is. So why would He allow Satan to continue to act? He is using Satan’s actions to ultimately accomplish His plan. By allowing himself to be crucified, He is submitting to the will of the Father and ultimately bringing glory to Himself. Satan may be the ruler of this world, but he is still subject to the power of God. And nothing Satan can do can thwart God’s plan.

That’s important for us to remember as well. There are times when it seems like evil is winning. In those times, it is tempting for us to conclude that somehow Satan has bested the Lord. But we know how patently false that is. God is in control, and He has a plan that’s bigger than Satan, and bigger than you or me. Just as God used Satan’s evil plans to ultimately accomplish His perfect plans in Jesus’ life, He does the same in ours as well. We must not despair, because we know who is on the throne.

Conclusion

The message Jesus declares to His disciples (and us) in these verses is not complicated, but it is also not easy for us to embrace. Jesus promises us that we can have a peace that is utterly foreign to our world. The peace He promises transcends our circumstances and enables us to rest in Him, no matter what we are facing. That kind of peace is something every one of us longs for, but something we often find elusive. So let’s look at several steps we need to take to enjoy this kind of peace.

First, trust in Jesus to save you. As long as you are relying on your own goodness or your own abilities to secure your future, you will find peace elusive because you do not have the power to secure your future. Jesus alone does. When you rely on your goodness you will find that when you fail you worry that somehow God will reject you. When you recognize that you are not saved by your goodness, but by trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice, you can have assurance that you are forgiven and your eternal home is secure.

Second, recognize God’s plan is bigger than your vision. We don’t like not being able to see where we’re going. We like to have everything all figured out in advance. If we know what’s coming, we can prepare and don’t have to worry about surprises. But that’s not how life works. We must learn to accept the fact that we cannot see everything that’s coming in our lives. But rather than being a source of despair, it should drive us to remember that even though we can’t see what’s coming, God can. And God already has a plan for what He’s going to do. The more we come to understand our own weakness, the easier it becomes to rest in God’s power.

Third, see God’s track record. Look through the scriptures and see how often God kept His promises (ALWAYS!) But often the way He kept them was not in the timing or way people expected. The greatest example of this is of course found in the life of Jesus. God has an amazing way of working out His perfect plan through unexpected means. One of the best ways for us to learn to trust Him in our lives is to look at the way He has been faithful and trustworthy in our lives and in the lives of others.

Our world desperately wants to experience peace. But if we have to wait until circumstances are perfect for that peace to happen, we’re going to be waiting a long time. Jesus promises that we can have peace of mind and heart, regardless of circumstances. But the only way to take hold of that promise is to learn to trust in Him. Take Him at His word, embrace His promises, and follow Him wholeheartedly, and you’ll have the kind of peace the world around you longs to have.

©August 1st, 2021 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: John