Pentecost Sunday May 15, 2016
John 14:23-31 The Language of Peace
Dear
fellow redeemed,
I’d
like to read you something from Scripture you’ve never heard before.
“Eἰρήνην ἀφίημι ὑμῖν, εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν·“
*
Well, actually you have heard that
before. In fact, you heard it just a
moment ago.
It’s the first part of today’s text
. . . in Greek.
*
So what would you think if a
preached the entire sermon in Greek?
Would you think I was nuts, a bit confused?
* I might claim as some do that I have
the gift of speaking in tongues. Of
course, that would
only elevate me as being more
spiritual, and leave you among the have-nots.
Language
is not intended to divide or confuse.
It’s
supposed to bring us together so that we may be at peace with each other and
with God.
* It’s the only way we can understand
Pentecost.
In our second reading, we read of devout
men from every nation who came together.
“Filled with the Holy Spirit (they) began to
speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
*
At first they were confused. “They were
bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in
his own language.”
Imagine having the sudden ability to
speak and understand a language you’d never studied before!
*
What did this mean? This wasn’t reason for alarm. It was a reason to be at peace.
The Holy Spirit and the saving
message of the Gospel was intended for all nations!
Every last one of them could believe
that Jesus had redeemed them with his blood!
*
It’s what Pentecost has been about
ever since. God the Holy Spirit
communicates through a
common language, the Gospel; what he
would have us know about God the Son and he gives
us his peace.
It’s
also why the words of our text were written; not to create awe or envy, not to alarm
or confuse.
They
were recorded so that we might understand them and be at peace.
*
So let’s hear those words again,
this time in English. “Peace I leave with
you; my peace
I give to you . . . Let not your hearts be troubled, neither
let them be afraid.”
* Those sweet words of the Gospel we may
call The Language of Peace; God’s
words intended
for every sinner.
But
are God’s words always understood in this way?
*
That certainly was not the case
with the disciples, not in the beginning.
For some time now Jesus had taught
them concerning his mission as the Son of God.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am
still with you” he tells them.
* “While I’m
still with you?” Would the Lord leave
them? Where was Jesus going?
What
would this mean for them?
* The disciples may have imagined Christ being victimized by
some out-of-control mob.
Or maybe he was moving on without them. Would he now declare himself the king of the
Jews?
*
Well, Jesus was getting ready for
a departure. But he wasn’t leaving them.
He was equipping them.
“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 I said to you.”
*
He would soon go to heaven.
And at first the disciples would be quite
alarmed and confused.
But then the Holy Spirit helped them
remember and understand these
words of Jesus:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you.”
* Jesus wasn’t leaving them in the
truest sense of the word.
It was only his bodily image that
would leave them.
*
In place of his visible presence
he would leave them his peace.
And they’d have access to it in his
Word. Christ’s message concerning the
cross and his payment
for sin would give them peace in
every one of life’s circumstances.!
So
what about today? Is there still such a thing as a common Language of Peace?
*
I suppose some might say no. We’re not like the disciples, who may expect
the Holy Spirit
to teach us all things. Will he breath into our minds his exact
thoughts; supply us with a perfect
understanding of Christ’s
teachings?
*
Obviously
not. Today there are no more apostles.
But is that to say that The Language of Peace is a thing of the
past?
Is the peace which Jesus promised
his disciples, out-of-date and obsolete?
*
Sometimes that’s how we feel; that
Christ’s peace has vacated our life.
In the office there’s nothing but
turmoil and conflict.
At home I’m receiving the silent
treatment.
* Or maybe there’s no longer anyone at
home. I’m living alone now.
How can I be at peace, when I have
no one with whom I may enjoy this peace?
*
Sometimes we may be just as
convinced as the disciples that Jesus is leaving us.
“I’m not feeling any peace. My life is only experiencing confusion.
But
nothing could be further from the truth.
The
only language that confuses and divides is the language of the world.
*
Recall the Tower of Babel. The
people wanted to make a name for themselves.
So they made plans to build a city “and a tower with
its top in the heavens.”
*
Having no desire to remember God
and his Word, they desired only that they
be remembered
for all generations to come.
*
God’s judgment was to confuse
their languages, so they could no longer be one.
Removing from them their one
language, he gives them the language of confusion.
*
And to this day, this confusion continues
to be the language of those choosing to be of the world.
People are not interested in a
language about our God who so loved
the world.
They don’t want to hear about their
Savior’s peace.
They want to hear about how I might
be at peace with myself.
I will make a name for myself.
*
People know the world can never be
one again, and that’s why they seek to be one all
by themselves. Apparently it doesn’t matter to them if they
understand each other,
for the language of confusion is the
only language they’ve ever learned.
We’ve
all seen it. People are into being individuals
like never before.
*
I can find peace if I just
discover who I
am; what makes me different.
How can I make my little sector of
the world a better place?
What can I do that no one else can
do quite like me?
*
No wonder church attendance has
dropped so drastically in recent years.
People don’t attend church as a
family anymore.
*
The only reason for going anywhere
is if it’s my thing.
And what if it’s not? Monday through Saturday are all about me!
Why not Sunday mornings.
*
So it’s Mom flying out of town for
one of those person-enhancing seminars.
Or it’s Dad finally getting the
chance for some outside time up north.
Or it’s Junior who’s got to play at
another basketball or hockey tournament.
*
We’ve all seen it. We’re not communicating, for it’s all about
me.
Our language is not uniting us and
giving us peace.
It’s only confusing us causing us to
be divided.
This
mindset unfortunately may even seep into the church and affect our beliefs.
*
We don’t want a peace that stems
from God becoming like me; taking on
my human flesh.
We want a peace that stems from me being me.
* So what
about owning up to what’s most apparent about me; my sin?
* According to the world, I don’t have
to, for peace comes not from recognizing your sin and
having
that sin taken care of. It comes
from recognizing how you can tweak your personal
status, reshuffle the cards life has dealt you.
* “I’m not
at peace because I’ve been justified by the blood of my Savior.
I’m at
peace, because I know I’m indispensable.
The
church needs me because I’m better at this than anyone else.”
*
Or “I’m at peace not because I
know my God and Lord, who came down from heaven, was
made man, was crucified, suffered, and
rose again on the third day.
*
I’m a peace, rather, because the
Lord knows me.
He knows what’s in my heart. He knows my private prayers. He knows my pious goals.”
This
isn’t to say, by any means that God is not
into individuals.
*
Why he created each of us in the
most unique manner imaginable!
Each of you have your particular
gifts. No two people are the same.
*
However, if you’re only an individual, there will be a
very sad ending to your journey through life.
And it will have nothing to do with
peace.
*
If you insist on making it through life on your own,
you will also finish life on
your own.
Without God talking to you The Language of Peace you’ve got only
yourself talking to you.
* I’ll never forget the first time I saw
someone talking on a cell phone in a shopping mall.
I was convinced he was talking to
himself and that he was lacking a few screws.
*
Fast forward to the present and
the last time I was at the airport. Taking a look around me,
about seventy-five percent of
those waiting to get on board were glued to their cell phones.
*
We don’t visit with strangers any
more. We hardly talk in person with
anybody.
We text and tweak and chat and play
games with animated creatures.
*
“But I’m at peace, because I’ve
got this world, which I can download and upgrade or put on mute!”
The
world’s peace which is centered on the self is only temporary.
For
it doesn’t account for what sin does to this life and what happens next.
* What happens
when I can no longer make this world a better place?
What
happens when my name no longer means anything to anyone?
What happens
when I no longer fit in, except with those at that assisted living facility?”
* When you
know only the language of confusion, you’re bound to lose your sense of peace.
What
happens in the end is that you’re alone, you’re confused, you’re troubled, and
you’re afraid.
The Language of Peace concerns a
different kind of peace.
* Christ’s
peace is eternal since it covers
our sin, forever blotting it out from God’s sight.
Listen again to Jesus’ promise. “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.”
* The peace
Jesus refers to here, is the Christian’s peace of conscience; the peace which
knows
no guilt
or sorrow. It’s the peace that
belongs the one who knows Christ and is happy in that
knowledge.
*
“If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father,
for the Father is greater than I.”
Jesus
isn’t saying that he’s not fully God. He’s
saying he’s the God-man. As a man he
can
place himself under his Father’s authority and suffer as our substitute for our
sin.
* And as God, he can pay for our sin carrying out his Father’s plan.
That’s why he’d go to the Father.
Having completed his mission of suffering, dying, and rising again,
he could now ascend into heaven
where he forever rules as our Savior.
Jesus is in heaven sitting at the right hand of the
Father.
* You know
what that means?
Assuming
his position as God, he gets the last word.
* So there’s
no longer any need for our hearts to be troubled.
No matter what
our troubles, we may trust what Christ’s Word has to say.
* We believe the
words of John, that we may “set our hearts at rest . . .
whenever our hearts
condemn us,
for God is greater than our hearts, and knows everything.”
* Yes. He knows how we’ve failed to live up to the
demands of his Law.
He knows
how our life and family are suffering because of our stupid selfishness.
He knows how
our faith has wavered because of silly fears and resentment.
* But he also knows
that Jesus took our place on the cross to earn our forgiveness.
You
think about it and God is into individuals more than anyone.
*
He’s proven it by dying for our
very personal sins.
And he continues to prove it by
talking to us individually in his Word.
*
“If anyone loves me” Jesus declares, “he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him.”
*
It’s The Language of Peace. And
there’s nothing confusing about it.
As one who keeps Jesus’ Word, even today you may be at peace, for God is no
longer your angry
judge who’s set on condemning you
because of your sin.
He’s the God who’s been reconciled
to you through the blood of his Son.
It’s
something you joke about.
A
certain somebody doesn’t hold to the same opinion and you say, “he’s confused!”
*
Underneath it all, however, you’re
thinking he’s made a choice.
And it was the wrong one.
*
There are just two languages
people learn on this earth; the language of confusion and the language
of peace. The language of confusion is
spoken by the self-righteous, those who choose to be confused,
having rejected Christ’s saving
message known as the Gospel.
*
The Language of Peace is spoken by the humble, those who know
they’re sinners, but also that they’re
forgiven on account of the ransoming
blood of Christ.
*
Thank God for his Word through
which we’re given real and lasting
peace.
For his language is one we can understand.
*
Our God and Savior has made our home his home in order to save us from our sin.
And he will come to us again and
make his home our home. Amen.
May
the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
