SERMON Pastor Michael McAllister John 14:23-29 May 5, 2013

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1 SERMON Pastor Michael McAllister John 14:23-29 May 5, 2013 Over the past decade or so a whole host of new vocabulary words have been added to our dictionary of fear, including: 9-11; Al Qaeda; suicide bombing; dirty bombs; anthrax; bio- chemical; homeland security; weapons of mass destruction Around the globe, we ve been made anxious by the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within our own borders, we live with uncertainty as more terrorist attacks are regularly presumed on American targets. I believe a response to our times is represented in the actions of a Connecticut man who actually wrapped his entire house in plastic sheeting and duct tape as an attempt to isolate himself from the hostile environment that is this world. It s a symbol of the anxiety felt across the country if not the world. In response to this kind of anxiety, there was a story in Newsweek magazine several years ago about living with fear. The author, Geoffrey Cowley writes: We re living in a chronic heightened state of alertness and helplessness, prompted by a poorly defined danger that could strike at any time in any form without warning. Such feelings can be as unhealthy as they are unpleasant, impairing immunity, 1

2 interrupting sleep, and intensifying everything from acne to ulcers ( Our Bodies, Our Fears, p. 44). So, how do we respond when the world we live in is interrupted by fear, uncertainty and danger? Well, that s exactly the setting of our text from John s gospel. Jesus is preparing his disciples for his betrayal, rejection, trial and death. He s comforting them as he prepares to return to His Father and complete his work on earth. In the chapter before today s reading, Jesus announces the devastating truth, saying: My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. For three and a half years they walked with him. They watched him heal the sick, they saw him bring comfort to the afflicted and laughter to the face of children. Not a day past where Jesus has not been with them. Their sole thought and attention had been Him since the day they were called. And suddenly they were faced with continuing His ministry without Him. Like a child lost in a department store, the disciples were afraid, uncertain, confused, depressed, frustrated. And it was in the midst of these anxieties 2

3 that Jesus spoke words of promise, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Peace. Did you know that since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time? In a study conducted by The Personnel Journal, it was determined that of 3,600 years of recorded history, there have been only 286 years of peace. Even though during this time an excess of 8,000 peace treaties were made and broken. During this same period of time there have been 14,500 wars in which 3.6 billion people have been killed. History shows us that the world has not known peace. Yet peace is what Jesus promises to his followers. Jesus says there are two kinds of peace: One kind is offered by the WORLD. The other is the promise that I give you. And when John uses the term WORLD he is not referring to the planet Earth, but to the people who are ruled by unbelief. They are blind to the things of God and want nothing to do with the Christian faith. So, the only kind of peace that the world can only offer us is a peace that is devoid of the presence of God. It s a peace that does not have God as its source or as its inspiration. Instead, it s typically defined by the absence of something. World Peace is the absence of war, inner peace is the absence of 3

4 conflict. Apart from God the World basically defines peace based upon two factors: CONTROL and CIRCUMSTANCES. When a situation gets out of hand the world says, Maintain Control. Alter your circumstances. You must take charge of the situation and make it turn out your way. You are the only one who can alter your future and destiny. When you ve lost your job; when you ve been diagnosed with a life threatening disease; when you ve lost someone close to you, the world says Maintain Control. According to the WORLD, there is no God to grant us peace so peace must be a product of human effort. Is it any wonder that so many of us suffer from ANXIETY and DEPRESSION when the world says the answer to peace is found in your ability to Maintain Control and alter your circumstances? You have only one person to rely upon yourself. But the peace that Jesus offers is altogether different than the peace offered by the world. He says, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives 4

5 Jesus faced every difficult earthly situation imaginable. Early on he lost his closest partner in ministry, John the Baptist, who was beheaded by an easily seduced ruler. He felt the rejection of his own family who didn t understand his mission. He suffered persecution from angry religious leaders and unwelcoming peasants. He knew hunger, he experienced thirst, he went days without sleep and had no place to lay his head. Ultimately, he was betrayed by a close friend, beaten, forsaken, and murdered. Yet Jesus life was characterized by peace, and it s this peace that he offers us. The peace of Christ is just that Christ s peace. The same peace he had in life can be ours to the same extent even in the midst of life s many trials. One of the things that the book of John teaches us is that Christianity was and is not the invention of humanity. Peter, James, John and the others didn t understand what was happening. It s the activity of God whose ways are above our ways and whose thoughts are above our thoughts. When humans invent religions, they invent ways by which they can work their way through life bringing honor to themselves so that they may earn their peace. In Christianity, however, peace is bestowed by God in response to what God does on our behalf. We can have confidence in God s peace because God is in control. To the disciples the death of Christ must have appeared like a defeat. Judas 5

6 won he betrayed Jesus; the Chief Priests won they accused him and brought him to trial; the Roman s won they murdered him, Satan won Jesus was killed. But they didn t understand that all these things were under God s watchful eye. Peace comes when we acknowledge that God is in control. I heard this story from a friend who woke up early one day to read the morning paper. Glad to have time to himself, he brewed some coffee, and began to read. Three sentences into the first article, he saw his five- year- old daughter descending the stairs. He looked up and said, "Honey, go back to bed." And she insisted, "But I m not sleepy. Determined to read his paper, though, he again urged her to go back to bed. And again, she told him she wasn t tired. Looking at the newspaper, he conceived a plan. In the paper was a picture of the world, which he cut into several pieces. And, handing the pieces to his daughter along with some Scotch tape, he instructed her, "Now go sit in the dining room, and see if you can put the world back together." His daughter accepted the challenge, and he went back to the kitchen to 6

7 finish his coffee and read the paper. After only a few minutes his daughter came bounding into the kitchen. "Here, Daddy, I m finished!" she said, showing him the picture of the world put back together. Quite impressed, he asked, "How did you do that so fast?" To which she replied, "It was easy. On the backside of the page was a picture of a person. When you make the person right, you make the world right." THAT is real peace when we are reconciled in a right relationship with God and with each other. THAT is a peace the world cannot offer us it s the gift of Christ a gift that comes when we believe in the work of Christ a gift that comes when we relinquish control to the hands of God and a gift that comes only when we allow the Spirit to lead us in accomplishing God s will of bringing that same peace to all those around us. AMEN 7