Jesus left his disciples to a broken world filled with evil, hardships, confusion, pain, and death. As I meditate on Jesus' departure from this world and his departure from his beloved disciples whom he has just invested three years of his life with it dawns on me that he didn't leave them alone. Yes, Jesus left them. No, he did not leave them alone. At the time when Jesus left I wonder if it ever dawned on you that the kingdom of God was going to sink or swim with these guys. These guys! One of them had betrayed him for enough money to buy a nice used car, another got scared by a middle school girl and denied him three times, all of them were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Modern Americans with all of our efficiency and protocol probably would have thought Jesus was irresponsible for leaving the work of the kingdom to these guys. Yet, Jesus leaves them but he doesn't leave them alone.
Maybe this is why Jesus tells them this:
"But 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 said to you. 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." -John 14:26-28
Americans have experienced some traumatizing things over the past three months. Lockdowns. Pandemics. Fearing death. Fearing sickness. Fearing tyranny. Disunity. Tensions. Economic catastrophes. Recessions. Going out of business. Government overreach. And on top of all of the problems connected to COVID-19 why don't we just go ahead and throw in riots, racism, sketchy leadership, revolution, politicization and the potential undoing of our society as we know it? If you didn't believe Jesus already you believe him now when he says: "in this world you will have trouble."
Here are three things I can say about Jesus' command in John 14:26-28
You are in Control of Your Heart
First of all, I should say that fear is a natural response to a scary world. Jesus understands this and God our father understands this. Second, it is possible for Christians who have the Holy Spirit to obey Jesus when he says, "let not your hearts be troubled." In other words, we can't excuse ourselves to a state of panic because of our surroundings. While Jesus shows compassion on his people who face turmoil he also charges them with the responsibility to control their hearts. He does this because it is possible.
The heart is the center of our being. The NT views it as the control center of our emotions and our identity. It both involves our emotions but in a literal sense, when our hearts stop beating you stop living. So when Jesus targets our hearts he is targeting the center of our lives, the engine that drives us forward and keeps us ticking. While we are often taught that our heart is out of our control, it isn't. Jesus teaches us that we are in control of our hearts when he tells us not to let our hearts be troubled.
The question is how? The answer is simple but maybe not easy. Losing weight is simple, not easy. Set aside Christ as Lord in our hearts. Worship is something God calls the individual to. Revering Christ as Lord and setting him aside as God over our lives is an act of worship and when we do this we don't allow the deconstruction of our society (if that is what it is) to control us. Worship means we allow Jesus, his reign, and his rule to control our lives so that we can find peace in being anchored in him. Through the power of the Holy Spirit believers in Christ can experience the peace of God despite the world around be melting down.
In other words: simply believe in Jesus. When Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would bring to mind all that I have commanded you Jesus is making a distinction between knowing and actually believing. Sure, the disciples heard his teaching. Jesus is talking about believing it and building their lives and their hopes upon it. This is belief. This is worship. This is what God calls us to when he says "let not your hearts be troubled."
People Who Panic Cannot Love
Jesus doesn't want his disciples in a state of panic. After all, he was going to leave their presence (but not leave them alone) and the work of the kingdom would be up to them! This feels a little bit like leaving my 11 year old son at home by himself for a month. Do I have much confidence that something major would not go wrong? Well, maybe if I left a month supply of Captain Crunch and the passcode to the video game console everything would work out fine. However, if those things were not in place I would expect flooding or fires, maybe both.
One question that has come up for me and my wife several times is this: what does it look like for us to engage in this cultural battle when we seem so far removed from it? I mean, we live in the suburbs with little racial tension, how do we engage in it and bring the love of Christ to bear? Here is one answer: don't panic. Jesus leaves his disciples with his peace and the Holy Spirit. Not a cheap peace but his peace that is ministered through the power of the Holy Spirit. Panicking people cannot love because panic is essentially a form of self-consumption. Any help that Christians will provide won't be motivated by panic but in love that is the fruit of peace in the inner being from the heart that is satisfied and confident in Christ.
Jesus Has Left...But He Is Still With Us
The Holy Spirit has a role to play and it is this: to minister the presence of Christ to all believers. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will "bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Jesus follows this up with saying that the peace he gives is not like the counterfeit peace that the world offers.
Many people have said Fox News is guilty of fake news as well as other broadcasts commonly labeled as such. I agree. Let me give you an example. On several occasions I have heard analysts say things like, "we are going to come out stronger and better than we were before this." This is fake news. There is no way Laura Ingram knows this, as much as I respect her point of view. This is fake news that provides fake peace that is rooted in the "pride of life" that John talks about elsewhere (1 John 2:16). Here is real peace: Jesus is with his people through the turmoil. Here is more real peace: Jesus is setting up his kingdom through the turmoil. Here is even more real peace: God works all things after the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11) and no plan of His can be thwarted (Job 42:2). And here is the whole enchilada of real peace: “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:7).
Dear Christians, these guys that Jesus entrusted the kingdom of God to are now us. We find ourselves really no better off than the original 12 and our world is just as confusing, just as harmful and just as troubling. Remember that Jesus left us but he didn't leave us alone. Thus, "let not your hearts be troubled." Sanctify Jesus as Lord in and over your heart, not the turmoil that we find ourselves in and you will have his peace that this world so desperately needs.
In Christ,
Pastor Kevin
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