By Receiving Peace That Comes from God

I’m sure you have noticed over the years how your tastes and appetites have changed.

Perhaps when you were a child, you would run from a salad or a veggie that your mom made, but when you got older, not only did you not wrinkle up your face when these greens were put before you, but you actually began to enjoy and then even embrace them.

I know that for my wife we love something that our children (all four of them) just can’t understand. The other day they went to their grandparents house for the weekend and my wife and I had a Friday evening and Saturday to ourselves.

We not only got a lot of focused time together…can you guess what we got that we really enjoy….we got _____peace and quite…

As a child, we didn’t long for these things….even as a college student we didn’t see the joy in it.

Our kids think we are a bit crazy when an evening can be spent sitting on the porch rockers with a beverage, chatting everyone once and a while, perhaps reading a book, listening to the birds, and even watching the sun set.

To our kids…that has zero appeal…to us….it brings intense joy and delight.

The point is, our appetites definitely changed as we got older and now, when we are promised and given a little piece and quite…it’s a rare and valuable as finding $20 in your wallet.

I don’t think that is a stretch to say that the peace is a universally longed for desire in most people….for example…

Consider a passage in Numbers 6 that I am sure many of you have heard before.

Numbers 6:24–26 — 24 The Lord bless you, and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’

Or notice

Psalm 29 says….

Psalm 29:11 — 11 The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.

And that promised enticement of peace is not just an OT Promise….

2 Peter says….

2 Peter 1:2 — 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

So…We all want peace…

Yes, we might enjoy a bit of activity, excitement…but what folks long for…what people desire more than all that, and what the scriptures seem to promise all over is peace.

Now peace can have a lot of different nuances, but all being applicable.

You can have peace whereas before you had conflict—and that is one of the major uses in the Bible.

You can have peace whereas before you had noise and clamoring.

Often when we have people out to our house…we live in the middle of a corn field up north…one of the first things folks comment on is….it is so peaceful out here. There are no noises from the city…just the quite air blowing in the wind.

You can also have peace internally….when you think about that inner peace that one can possess….the idea here is that they have a soul that is undisturbed. It is not full of anxiety, anger, sadness…they have a state of peace.

If we are to enjoy life in His name, part of what is promised for the followers of Christ is…. Peace

And so today as we continue our annual them of Enjoying life in his name…

And we are going to think see how we can receive peace that comes from God

With that in mind please turn in your bibles to John 16:16-33…that is on Page 86 in the chair under the seat in front of you.

• Read John 16:16-33

This peace is all about being in a right relationship…it does not mean everything is going perfect, or that you know everything that is going to happen, or that you never have any fear…

• …but that you have a relationship with God that impacts how you view life so that you have the peace of Christ.

When you are abiding in Christ, and you have the peace of Christ…there is fruit…there is change that is not based on your circumstances,

• but it is based on Christ…trusting Him, and trusting God’s plan…even if it involved hardship and suffering…

So today we are going to look at….

3 Changes that result from trusting God’s Plan.

When you don’t know what is going to happen, or you think things are going to turn out badly…there can often be sorrow….we can experience sorrow because all we can do is focus on the negative of life…what might come.

Consider even recently the increasing news around COVID-19 for a moment.

You could read the news, hear the headlines and it could produce a lot of sorrow in you…I know that in my own soul that there is a proclivity to this every emotion….But…if we are trusting in God and his plan…we will be at a place of peace…because our

Sorrow is changed to joy (v16-24)

Don’t hear me say that if we are going to get God’s peace…that somehow that is the only emotional state that we can be in…God has made us very complex…so we can have both peace and joy in our hearts simultaneously.

We can have this transformation from sorry to joy…even when…

God’s plan may seem confusing at first, but clarity will come. (v16-19)

John 16:16–19 — 16 “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” 17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?

Is it fair to say that the disciples are confused???

Christ is trying to prepare them for what is about to come, but it is a bit like explaining how a TV works to a child….it seems the more Christ attempts to explain…the more confused everyone gets…

And it is easy for us, on this side of the Cross, to “see the big picture” but for them…what was to come just didn’t make much sense…

Since we know the end of the story, it is easy for us to read each part of this and know what Christ meant, but for them, they were just confused.

But how many times in our own lives, as we see what God is doing…has it just left us befuddled.

Back in 2013, we launched Faith West…it was an exciting time for so many of us…some of you even remember being here for it.

This for me was my first year that I was fully on staff as a pastor and part of that was I was being assigned an intern for my very first time.

Looking back, there was a lot of things that I needed to learn personally about how to be a shepherd to young men who were wanting to enter the ministry.

In that particular cohort…I was assigned Stefan Nitzschke as my intern….back then…let’s say, Stefan and I were about as opposite as they came.

We both were going to go to Heaven…but I’m sure that we were going to live in different areas of the city :)

As the first year went on, it was clear that our differences were…well causing a bit of friction in our relationship….

Both Stefan and myself would go home to our loving and caring wives and seek counsel from them about what to do about this other person….

To say that things were a bit tricky was an understatement….and I think that it is fair that if you went back to 2014…we both would have no idea…why in the world did God put us together…this relationship is really hard.

But little did either of us know, that during the challenges of those early days of the relationship that God was doing something in each of us…he was working in both of us…but oh was it confusing….

I know that each of us at certain points thought…if we could like do a swap…if I could have that intern…or for Stefan…I could just have that overseeing pastor….things would be so much better…

But, the beauty was, through that struggle, and through God’s plan…something even better came about it…it took some time…but what God had planned was even better….

Now, we are thicker than thieves…to put it in the language of Frozen…we finish each others….sandwiches.

My point is, that when we are seeking the peace that God promises, not the world, by trusting in his plan…he promises to bring joy when we trust him….

But we also must realize that….

God’s plan may bring sadness………. until you consider the result. (v20-22)

John 16:20— 20 “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. 21 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Jesus is saying, you are going to weep and lament….and I am sure that is exactly what happened when Christ was crucified.

All those preconceived notions of who Jesus was and what he was going to do were dashed when he was nailed to the cross.

We get a picture of this in Luke 24:17 when Dr. Luke pics up the scene on the road to Emmaus.

Luke 24:17 — And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad.

The world did not lament…they were happy…they were joyful. They were joyful for a number of reasons….as Caiaphas said in John 11—Jesus would die to put down this new following of his and therefor the Jesus movement would die and so the nation and their positions would be saved

But there was also just the crowds that enjoyed a good crucifixion. Pastor Viars mentioned last week Foxes Book of Martyrs…a powerful book that seeks to document that deaths of many saints in the church…many times these people were put to death

Notice this account of Lawrence in AD 257…

"Kindle the fire of wood make no spare. Hath this villain deluded the emperor? Away with him, away with him: whip him with scourges, jerk him with rods, buffet him with fists, brain him with clubs. Pinch him with fiery tongs, gird him with burning plates, bring out the strongest chains, and the fire-forks, and the grated bed of iron: on the fire with it; bind the rebel hand and foot; and when the bed is fire-hot, on with him: roast him, broil him, toss him, turn him: on pain of our high displeasure do every man his office."

The word was no sooner spoken, but all was done. After many cruel handlings, this meek lamb was laid, I will not say on his fiery bed of iron, but on his soft bed of down. So mightily God wrought with his martyr Lawrence, so miraculously God tempered His element the fire; that it became not a bed of consuming pain, but a pallet of nourishing rest.—Foxes Book of Martyr’s

How could someone go through such pain and suffering, and the conclusion was…a bed of rest?

Or this one.

Blandina, a Christian lady, of a weak constitution; …on the day when she and the three other champions were first brought into the amphitheater, she was suspended on a piece of wood fixed in the ground, and exposed as food for the wild beasts; at which time, by her earnest prayers, she encouraged others. But none of the wild beasts would touch her, so that she was remanded to prison. When she was again produced for the third and last time, she was accompanied by Ponticus, a youth of fifteen, and the constancy of their faith so enraged the multitude that neither the sex of the one nor the youth of the other were respected, being exposed to all manner of punishments and tortures. Being strengthened by Blandina, he persevered unto death.

Because of the result…

How could Christ say, there will be pain…but…the pain will bring about something….

Well, he uses the metaphor of childbirth

John 16:21-22 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

If you’ve been in labor, seen labor, heard stories of labor…you get it…

What Christ is telling his followers…what he is telling us today…you may experience pain in the short term, but it is doing something….

2 Corinthians 4:17 — For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

Brothers and Sisters…we can have peace because we know that God is doing something….we know that he has a plan.

If you are suffering right now…if you are confused by what God may be up to you in your life….look to Christ’s words here…look to the pain that he promises will come…but the promise of something greater to come….

Isaiah 26:16–21 — 16 O Lord, they sought You in distress; They could only whisper a prayer, Your chastening was upon them. 17 As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth, She writhes and cries out in her labor pains, Thus were we before You, O Lord. 18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor, We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth, Nor were inhabitants of the world born. 19 Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. 20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its course. 21 For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain.

And in the confusion….and in that suffering see that….

C. God’s plan may seem impossible to comprehend at the moment. (v23-24)

Therefore, we are to pray according to his will (v 23-24)

But one day, it will be made clear.

John 16:23–24 — 23 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.

There is quite the interesting promise made here in our passages…anything you ask in my name…I will give.

I remember as a child reading this and praying, “Jesus, in your name, I would like a million dollars..” I think I can honestly say I believed that prayer with every ounce of my being…

As you can imagine, my bank account did not swell with cash after that :)

The important qualifier here is “In my name”

What it means to ask something “In Christ’s name” means to ask according to the things that Christ would want. According to his heart…

That is a pretty big qualifier here…and you find out what that means when you get to know Christ’s heart.

What does that mean practically for us?

It means….that as we pray to God, our prayers are to line up with what we see in scripture. So, we don’t have to be rushing out looking for pain and suffering, but when that pain comes our way…we can’t jettison our beliefs.

Again, let me bring you to another famous martyr—Polycarp and his last hours…

After feasting the guards who apprehended him, he desired an hour in prayer, which being allowed, he prayed with such fervency, that his guards repented that they had been instrumental in taking him. He was, however, carried before the proconsul, condemned, and burnt in the market place. The proconsul then urged him, saying, "Swear, and I will release thee;--reproach Christ." Polycarp answered, "Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who hath saved me?" At the stake to which he was only tied, but not nailed as usual, as he assured them he should stand immovable

All of this seems impossible, but it is the peace that surpasses understanding…because it is not based on all that you can understand, but it is based on trusting Gods plan of the Messiah…

…and so when we are focusing on God’s Messiah and God’s plan…the second thing that changes is…

Doubt is changed to belief (v25-30)

Make no mistake that the disciples trust Jesus as the Messiah, but struggle with trusting God’s plan for the Messiah to be killed.

• There is doubt, there is fear, there is worry…

• …doubting Thomas is a great example of the reality that followers of Christ still struggle with doubt…and so focusing on what God says about His love for us is key…because….

God’s love for us is clearly demonstrated in His plan of redemption (v25-28)

Notice that Jesus admits again that this is confusing, but an hour is coming when things will be made more clear.

John 16:25–28 — 25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

Christ promises that one day, all these things will be made clear…one day we will understand…and that day was not far off…for we read how that began to happen even in the opening of the books of Acts…

Acts 1:1–3 — 1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Sometimes, however, we can get a bit accustomed to hearing these words….

Notice what the text says…

“the Father himself loves you, because he has loved me”

In my time of doing pastoral counseling…people can be going through incredible amounts of suffering and pain…and wonder…how can you say God loves me…look at all this pain…look at all this suffering I am going through…

One of the most helpful verse to frame that question is Romans 8:32

Romans 8:32 — He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

The logic in that passage…and the logic in the one we are studying is….how can you wonder if God loves you…he gave you his Son!

We can receive peace from God by trusting in his plan because we know…we really know that our doubts can be turned to belief when we see how much God loves us.

I’m sure that every parent at some point has had a child, probably in a moment of pain for the child because of some consequences, cry out…You don’t love me…

For a parent to hear that…while they might admit that they don’t love perfectly…to them that accusation probably seems absurd…

I’m sure that you, if you have experienced this…began to list all the ways in which you demonstrate love for your child…you can’t communicate the emotional affections that you have for the child…so you being to point to the evidence.

The scriptures use a similar way of arguing….

You want proof that God loves you…look at the cross…look at Christ…look at his d/b/r and the salvation that is freely offered to you by trusting in his work.

Here, as we consider the peace that God promises…he says that all the doubts you have will be turned to a deep and abiding trust in him…when you believe what his word says…

One of the most helpful tools that you can arm yourself with as you fight against temptation and the Devil are the precious promises of God that are littered all of the Bible…and the most precious of all those promises is God’s revealed plan of salvation…because it has been…

God’s plan has been clearly revealed (v29-30)

John 16:29–30 — 29 His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 “Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”

This is an interesting section as the disciples are chomping at the bit…and they say…oh now you are being more clear….

Jesus just provided a really great simple summary of the whole book of John…when he said “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

What is clear is that they believe Jesus is from the Father, He is the Messiah…but they don’t fully understand what it all means…

What is more faceting here is the declaration, “We know you know all things…” Their doubts are being changed to belief not just because they hear the explanations that Christ is giving…but because they come to know him more and more fully.

This will happen to you as well.

The more you come to know Christ, the more you come to know God’s word…and the more you see his plan, not only of salvation, but what he is doing in this world…your doubts of God will be transformed into a deep faith in him.

If you are doing that, trusting God’s plan and participating in God’s plan, then…

Fear is changed to Courage (v31-33)

because

God’s peace is offered even in the midst of our confusion. (v31-32)

God’s peace is offered to all who believe in Him (v31-32)

John 16:31–32 — 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

Jesus demonstrates what the peace that He provides looks like…even though everyone deserts Him, the relationship with the Father is the source of peace. Jesus says he is not alone even though everyone is scattered…

Even though the disciples say they believe, they are going to falter, they are going to scatter…and Jesus knows this, and points it out to them, and again direct them back to the Father….He is the only true source of peace…not other people…but the Father.

We can have courage…we can find strength, when we see that God is a God who provides rest, even in the midst of the hard times…because…

God’s sovereignty over all results in our ultimate peace. (v33)

John 16:33 — 33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Knowing how the story ends…brings about a certain unshakable faith…take courage…I have overcome the world.

Just pause and consider this morning all the trials, pain, suffering and so on that may be going through now…or may go through in the future…if you truly know and truly believe that you can have peace because he has overcome…because he has conquered the world…you can have piece.

Your doubt can be transformed into faith…your confusion into clarity… and that peace, that we all enjoy and long for…will be given…

So, dear brothers and sisters…

1. Do not view God’s peace as the absence of trials in your life…view God’s peace as available to you in Christ in the midst of tribulations.

1. Trusting God’s plan even though it involves suffering is a key aspect of peace…

1. God’s plan is to conform you to become more like Christ…

1. there are going to be lots of times you don’t know how that is all going to work out and it may be confusing, and there may be lots of unknowns that are scary…

1. you must fix your eyes on Christ because that is where Peace, blessing, assurance, and our purpose is found…

1. and let that be the basis of your peace….

1. so that you can exalt the prince of peace to a world desperately in need of a savior.