Sermon on John 14:23-31, for Pentecost (1 Yr Lectionary), "He Brings Peace to His Home"

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Gregory the Great, a theologian of the early church, once said the truth is not known unless it is loved. You could be brilliant and know all about the Bible, but if you don’t also love the Truth of God, you don’t really know it. Knowing Christian truth is not so much a test of your Bible knowledge, or your smarts—but rather loving Jesus and His Word. Loving His truth means you recognize it is good; that you want your life to follow that truth, even as you recognize your sins and mistakes, you love what is good and desire it. On the other hand, a person who does not love or keep God’s Word doesn’t truly know it. A twisted view of God or of life, can lead someone to know the facts, but not love God or His truth. Perhaps we mistakenly fear that God is not love; against the witness of the Bible. Maybe a person is captive to the power of sin in their life, and they resent the truth, because they don’t want God’s freedom, they want their sin instead. If you find that hard to believe, consider what happened after the Israelites were free from slavery in Egypt—as soon as their stomachs were growling in the wilderness, they longed for that no-responsibility-captivity again.

Knowing God’s truth means loving the truth. It means experiencing and receiving the incredible love of God in Christ Jesus. John writes it later in his letters: “We love, because He first loved us.” If anyone struggles to love God’s truth—they first need to know and experience God’s love. Jesus begins the reading: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (14:23-24). Loving God and keeping His Word go hand in hand.  It follows from loving His Truth. On the other hand, not loving God goes hand in hand with disobedience.

God is after this relationship with you! God so loved the world for this reason—so that the Father and Son can love you and make their home with you. What kind of home does God desire? A place for God to dwell with us. God is deliberate and intentional about making His home with us. He’s not seeking a temporary home, just to stop by, or test us out, and maybe leave later. Not to be a visitor or guest, but to make His home with us, to covenant with us for life. God desires our hearts. There’s a bedtime prayer: “Ah dearest Jesus, holy child, prepare a bed, soft; undefiled. A quiet chamber set apart, for you to dwell within my heart” (LSB 358:13). The prayer is for Jesus to find a room, a dwelling place, in our heart. A pure and clean home. The Holy Spirit enters our hearts by faith, and Jesus cleanses us by His blood, shed on the cross. It’s God’s house-cleaning, to purify us as His home, His dwelling place. In baptism we’re washed over in our conscience and heart, under the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins to set our lives into order, teaching us Jesus’ words so we can learn to walk in His ways.

Jesus says, “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.” Note that the Holy Spirit is a Teacher. Teachers are near and dear to our heart, here at Emmanuel. Teachers help our youth and children to learn, mature, and grow. The Holy Spirit likewise teaches us and guides us in our Christian growth and maturity. Our school teachers have their lesson plans, and they have their knowledge base of many years of teaching and their own learning. The Holy Spirit’s “curriculum” and “lesson plan” is to teach us and remind us of everything that Jesus taught. We re-live the experience of the disciples, walking alongside Jesus and learning all the things He first taught His disciples, with the Holy Spirit as our Teacher. The Father sends the Holy Spirit in the Name of Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in a tight unity, a tri-unity, or Trinity, to make His home with us, fill us with His love, and teaching us to keep His Word.

The word “home” is a powerful word. It brings up either strong positive or negative emotions. Positive if we’ve had a loving, safe, and caring home—negative if it was abusive, unloving, or uncaring. All across our country, and right here in our own communities, we know the stories of broken homes, of wounded lives. But don’t you think that especially for those who hear “home” as a painful word—those with troubled homes—that it’s even more precious and desirable to have and to know the loving home that God creates? Built on the solid Rock of Christ’s Word, and assured by God’s unbroken promises and steadfast love.  

What does Christ bring to His Home with us? John 14:27 “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.” Christ brings peace into His home. His peace is not like the world’s. What’s the difference? In our bulletin quote, author D.A. Carson explains: “Jesus says, I do not give it to you as the world gives. The world is powerless to give peace. There is sufficient hatred, selfishness, bitterness, malice, anxiety and fear that every attempt at peace is rapidly swamped.” Attempts at peace are everywhere. Bumper stickers with “peace” in the slogan are everywhere. Governments and leaders throughout history attempt peace, but it’s almost always a frail, fragile, and temporary thing. How quickly do attempts at peace get swamped and shipwrecked by hatred, selfishness, bitterness, malice, anxiety and fear?

Forget for a moment about peace between nations, which is mostly beyond our individual control, and “world peace”—however fleeting that might be—just think about the personal level. Between family members, between father and son, husband and wife, brother and sister. Between co-workers or fellow church members. Do you recall a time when you were convicted or motivated to make an “attempt for peace”, by your conscience, or the Word of God? How did it go? Did an irritable word or gesture cut it short, and you reversed course? Did your inner resolve crumble? Was it short-circuited by fear, selfishness, worry, or jealousy or anything else? Or did it succeed, and you’re building on that peace now? Did you draw on the strength of Christ’s love to dispel your frustration, worry, or fear? Consider how easily our human attempts at peace are derailed or surrendered, and how badly we need the peace of Jesus, that’s not like the peace that the world gives. If every interaction, conversation, day, and thought began with a reflection on Jesus’ incredible love for us and the peace that He gives, how differently would we act? This is why we continually, week in and week out, set Christ before your eyes.

And consider how incredible is the love of Jesus, sent on God’s mission to give us and leave us His peace. Over countless rejections, over hatred,  over fear and selfishness pushed in His face, Jesus did not surrender His mission. He endured the cross, despising its shame, because He had joy in His sights. The joy of redeeming us. The joy of creating that lasting peace between us and God, where before there was sin and enmity. Human peace can be gone in an instant—but Jesus’ peace rests deeply in our hearts, and secured by His forgiveness of our sins by His death on the cross.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. This inner peace of heart and mind, a confidence in the midst of a world of suffering and trouble, is an irreplaceable gift. A couple of chapters later in John 16:33, Jesus says, “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Notice where the peace is located—in Jesus. Tribulation or suffering is found in the world, but peace comes from Jesus and His victory over the world, on the cross. And here, the “world” means the sinful creation as opposed to God—humanity in rebellion against Him. Our entire disharmony, war, division, personal fights and lack of peace flows out of our sinful rebellion against God. If we don’t love God, we won’t keep His Word.

But if we love Him, His peace is at work in our hearts, in the home He made with us. His peace is flowing from His promised gifts of forgiveness—the Lord’s Supper of His body and blood—done in remembrance of Him, just as the Holy Spirit calls all Jesus’ words to our remembrance. The Word of Absolution also speaks that peace with God. Baptism cleanses you to be His Holy Temple. Believers in Christ are not troubled or afraid in their hearts, because they know that Christ brings His peace to us, all our life long. Whatever suffering or crosses we bear, Christ’s peace is ours here and now. He has promised to transform our lives, conforming us to His Word, shaping us into His children. This peace and wholeness of Christ is for others, not just for ourselves.

This passage ends with Jesus saying His obedience shows His love for the Father. Just like our obedience shows our love. And what about our stumbling, sinful failures? Does God forsake us? If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us—but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The word for “sin” in that familiar verse, means literally to “miss the mark.” We’ve all “missed the mark” of God’s law in countless ways. But God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. God does not give up on us so easily. When we turn away from our sin, we are turning into God’s welcoming arms. His love and peace are never in short supply, for this is what God brings into His home with us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

.

Sermon Talking Points

Read sermons at:   http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com

Listen: search your podcast app for “The Joshua Victor Theory” or

listen online at http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com

1. Loving Jesus and keeping His Word go hand in hand. John 14:23-24. How do we “keep” Jesus’ Word? What are we to do when we fail to keep it (miss the mark)? 1 John 1:8-9.
2. God the Father and Jesus His Son “make their home” with believers that love His Word. What does it mean for God to “make His home” or dwell with us? John 14:23-24; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 3:20. Does the Holy Spirit have anything to do with this as well? 1 Corinthians 6:19; John 14:17, 20.
3. The Holy Spirit is a Teacher. What does He teach? John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-15. If we think of His teaching as shining a spotlight—who is that Holy-Spirit-spotlight focused on?
4. Read the bulletin quote. What’s the failure of worldly peace? Why is Jesus’ peace different? John 14:27; 16:33; 20:21-23. Why can’t the world take this peace away?
5. Jesus’ love for the Father, and His keeping of His Word shows His obedience and love for the Truth, just as our lives are to mirror the same to the world. How is this a challenge? Who strengthens us to do it?