Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Sixth Sunday of Easter - 05/01/16 Sermon - “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give."

Sunday 05/01/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you.”

                            

New Testament Scripture: Psalm 67

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Acts 16:9-15

Gospel Lesson: John 14:23-29

          My brothers and sisters, my friends, welcome on this the Sixth Sunday of this season of Easter, where we continue to proclaim, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! We will remain in this season of Easter through next Sunday. Next Sunday, while being the Seventh Sunday of Easter, is also Mother’s Day, a day that we honor all women who take on the roles of motherhood. Next Sunday May 8^th, is also called Ascension Sunday, as the church this Thursday celebrates Jesus Christ ascending into heaven. As such, next Sunday we will also celebrate that.  

          The week after next Sunday, will be Sunday May 15^th, which is Pentecost Sunday. We are all encouraged to wear red on that day to celebrate the Holiday of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit moved in and through the disciples.

          With this said, last Sunday, I talked about what Jesus meant when he told the disciples and us to love each other. I hypothesized from my own opinion that Jesus was calling his disciples and us to a deep and sacrificial level of love. A level of love that is giving, generous, and caring. A love that is deep and abiding.

          This morning though, I want to talk about the idea of peace. In many Christians Churches, there is a time during the service or after the service, when we are encouraged to greet each other. Sometimes we say “hello,” sometimes we say “God bless,” sometimes the kids say, “What up,” and often we might say, “Peace be with you”.

          This morning, Jesus says to the disciples and us, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you”. Similar to the way that I dissected what Jesus meant last Sunday when he said “Love each other,” I want to talk about what I think Jesus meant when he said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you”.

          Well for some of us, some of the words in the Bible can be barriers to us understanding what God is trying communicating to us in the scriptures. For this reason, I wanted to define the world “peace”. So I went to www.merriam-webster.com and looked up the word peace. The online dictionary said:

1:  A state of tranquility or quiet: freedom from civil disturbance: a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.

2:  Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions.

3:  Harmony in personal relations.

4: A state or period of mutual concord between governments: a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity

5: used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell.

This is certainly a long and a comprehensive list of what the word peace means.  By the way, the word peace is not mentioned in the gospel of John, until Jesus introduces here this morning, in the fourteenth chapter.

In the ancient Jewish world, and in many ancient cultures, and even today, there were and are hospitality rules and customs that many people followed. For example, when someone comes over to our house, we greet them, maybe take their coat, we ask them if they want something to drink or to eat, and etc. Among other hospitality customs, the ancient Jewish people had hospitality rules and customs that were very similar to these one. One such custom was to greet a person and to say goodbye to a person, by saying “Shalom” or peace. “Peace be with you,” is what we sometimes say to each other in church.

Yet, for Jesus Christ, when he said this this morning, I wonder, was this simply a culturally expected greeting, or did he mean it more deeply? I believe myself, that he meant it more deeply, as he explained that the peace he is offering is not the peace that the world offers, but the peace that he offers (Jn. 14:27, CEB).

You know, I have known various people that at different times in their lives have had struggles of all different kinds. Sometimes I or others, among our various prayers and actions, would include helping the person to find peace in God, in Jesus Christ. When we have a lot of stress, worry, or struggle in our lives, it can affect everything we do. It can cause us to get less sleep, to be more edgy or irritable, and etc. Some off the people that I have known that are going through a tough time might even get offended if someone says, “Well I hope you find peace”. Or, “well isn’t that terrible! I pray that you find peace.”

Having peace is not always easy, but Jesus did promise it to us if we trust in him. I also think that the choices that we make and how we chose to live our lives can also affect our sense of peace. Yet finding peace in Jesus Christ, in our Christian faith, is one of the great goals of our faith. As Jesus says that his yoke is easy, and that his burden is light.

I believe that if we truly reach a place in our own lives, whereby we realize the damage of our own sin, our own brokenness, and our manifest need for God’s love, that when we repent to God and ask for forgiveness, we in return, we receive God’s love, God’s grace, the Holy Spirit’s power, and yes, peace. How do I know this? I know this, because I have watched it happen in front of me over and over, and it has happened to me.

I remember when I used to watch Billy Graham’s Crusades for Christ, and I would hear Rev. Graham talking about laying all of our worries, our burdens, and our sins down at the cross of Jesus Christ. Rev. Graham would say how when we did this, we would be offered, freedom, life, light, love, salvation, and peace through Jesus Christ. For those of us who have had a moment of repentance and drawing closer to God, we know what that feels like.

Yet many of us know that God does call us to stay on the mountain top, even though we would like to. Instead, God calls us to go down into the valley, where we will see and experience great suffering and hardship. Keeping our sense of peace in challenging times, is the challenge that all of us people of faith have had, and still have today. Jesus Christ though, gave us this gift called the church, so that we would laugh, cry, struggle, celebrate, and in general, be together. That God might have peace flow from one person unto another.

We certainly live in a world that so often seems so harsh and so unloving. Yet Jesus says “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you”. Someone might say, “Well pastor, how do we get peace?” I say we do this not only individually, but together. Got has called us not to be rogue agents of faith, but to be together. This is why I believe that Jesus Christ called twelve disciples and not one. Jesus also probably called the twelve disciple, as there are twelve tribes of Israel, but I also believe that Jesus did this, so that we would be together.

When a calamity or a tragedy hits your lives, or my life, can we turn to our brothers and sisters in Christ for help? I know that I can. I know that I have. I have discovered that when I am struggling to have a sense of God’s peace, that one of my sisters or brothers, or many of them, are there to help me find peace in God again.

Some people have asked me, “Pastor, why do we greet our neighbors, before, during, or after church? Why do we say ‘God bless’ or ‘Peace be with you’. Well among other reasons, this is why, because Jesus Christ offers us peace. If we have peace, and if God is using us, God can use us to offer peace to each other.

I think that a bi-product of our own peace, is peace within our families, peace within our church, peace within our communities, peace within our states, peace within our country, and peace within our world. When people are oppressed, when they are starving, and when they are living through war and disease, it is awfully hard to find peace. Yet so often, peace must begin with us.

In the reading from the Book of Acts from this morning, a woman named Lydia and her family converted to Christianity (Acts 16:14b-15b, CEB). In fact, the scripture says, “the Lord enabled her to embrace Paul’s message. Once she and her household were baptized, she urged, “Now that you have decided that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded us.” (Act 16:14b-15, CEB). Lydia and her household repented, were change, and found peace, love, and joy, like never before. Now they probably lost it at points, but that day they had great peace, love, and hospitality, and they shared it with the Apostle Paul and others.

In this morning’s Psalm reading, the Psalmist asked God to bless us, and for us to realize how great God is. The Psalmist writes of God, “so that your salvation becomes known among all the nations. Let the people thank you, God! Let all the people thank you!” (Ps. 67:2b-3, CEB).

 Yet we have times though, where we lose our peace. As a church, as God’s people, we seek peace through God, through Jesus Christ, both individually and together. This is why it is so important that church be a place of peace, love, harmony, and joy. Does it mean that we agree on everything? No, it sure doesn’t. Does it meant that everyone here is in the same political party? No, it sure doesn’t. Jesus Christ though, promises love, light, life, salvation, hope, and peace to all people. He offers it to all of us, without distinction, and if this is true, we must strive to be united in the love, the grace, and the peace of Jesus Christ.

In looking more closely at our gospel of John reading this morning, Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (Jn. 14:23, CEB). This morning when Lydia converted to Christianity in the Book of Acts, she told the Apostle Paul and others, come into my home. Let me extend love, peace, joy, and perhaps the near third sacrament of coffee, she might have said.

Jesus then says, “Whoever doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word that you hear isn’t mine. It is the word of the Father who sent me” (Jn. 14:24, CEB). So number one, according to Jesus, he is the authoritative and true mouthpiece of God, and thereby is God, the word, made flesh. Number two, if we don’t have peace, if we don’t have love, if we don’t have hope, haven’t we at least in that moment lost God? When we lose God, fighting occurs, hardship happens, wars rage, because sinners rage. Sinners rage and often do not have peace.

Jesus then says, “I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. The Companion, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you” (Jn. 14:25-26, CEB). So Jesus is saying, God has created everything, I have spoken God’s words, and the Holy Spirit will come and teach you more. Jesus is saying that God will send to the disciples, to the early church, the Holy Spirit, in “his name” (Jn. 14:26a, CEB). Jesus is saying then, that in order to truly know God, you must know the Father, the creator, you must know me, the savior, and you must know the Holy Spirit, the third person of God. In knowing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you can then more fully understand God’s peace. One of my bible commentaries, the Africa Bible Commentary says of the Trinity, “The Trinity are interested in teaching a particular curriculum” (Africa Bible Commentary, page 1310). Jesus is saying then, that love, that hope, that peace, and salvation, come from God in heaven, through him, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus then speaks of the words that were the focus of this sermon this morning. Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid” (Jn. 14:27, CEB). So as Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ, “what is truth,” this morning I pose the question to us all, “what is peace?” To me, peace is fully trusting God, when the whole world around you seems like that it is burning. Not easy to do, but this I believe is exactly what Jesus is asking the disciples and us to do this morning.

The gospel reading this morning concludes with Jesus saying, “You have heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away and returning to you.’ If you loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than me. I have told you before it happens so that when it happens you will believe” (Jn. 14:28-29, CEB). I believe that Jesus’s human part of himself was speaking here, as he professes other times that he and God are one in the same.

So do we have peace this morning? If we don’t, why not? Is our lack of peace, due to worry about our family? Is it financial worry? Is it some other problem? While we can pray for and can call upon God for peace, what can we also do for each other with God working through us this morning? Friends, there are days that I struggle to find peace, but today I hope that we may all find the peace that Jesus Christ talked about this morning. So when church ends today, and when we share the love of God, of Jesus Christ, and the peace of God, of Jesus Christ, let us realize just how significant this is. With this said, I say shalom or peace to you, and to all the earth, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.