The Peace Jesus Gives Us
Download MP3John 14. The text is in your worship God, and I'll also be reading a couple of verses from Philippians 4. John 14, verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 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.
Joel Brooks:Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Philippians 4, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
Joel Brooks:In the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This This is the word of the Lord. In Jesus name. And pray with me. Our father, we ask that right now you would send your helper, your comforter to us to open up dull hearts and minds that we might hear from you.
Joel Brooks:And not just hear from you and understand, but to believe and to be transformed. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. One of my favorite chapters in the book of Proverbs is chapter 31, which if you know anything about the book of Proverbs, you might be scratching your head because chapter 31 is all about the excellent wife or the excellent woman. And I don't love it just so I could kinda hold it up to Lauren and you know, tell her maybe some of the ways she's not measuring up.
Joel Brooks:I love it because it can be applied to men and to women. I mean, men, we ask women all the time, we call them brothers in Christ. We try, we ask them all the time to apply the passages that speak about men. Equally, we can look at these passages that are about women and we can apply them to us. And so this standard that Solomon sets up about this excellent woman can be applied to us as well, and I love it.
Joel Brooks:Proverbs 31, Solomon, he puts out there and he puts this standard, this lofty standard of what this godly person, this godly wife should look like. She's one who always does good to her spouse. She does all the shopping. She does all the cooking. She does all the cleaning.
Joel Brooks:She also dabbles in real estate. She runs a small business. In her spare time, she makes all of her own clothes and the clothes for her kids. She maintains her beauty. Everybody respects her.
Joel Brooks:This is the woman that if she had an Instagram account, you would all follow her and hate her. Your lives will become very bitter because of all of those incredible photos and everything that she's doing that you are not, yet you can't look away. You have to keep following. But there's this one characteristic when you read through it that stands out above all of them. She's got this one characteristic that is far harder to attain than just making one's own clothes, or running your own business, or taking care of the kids.
Joel Brooks:And it's this, Proverbs 3125 says that she is a woman who laughs at the future. She laughs at what is to come. This excellent woman, she looks ahead with all of its uncertainties, with all of its unknowns, and even though she has no idea what is coming her way, she could go ahead and start laughing at it. She she laughs in joy at all of the potential blessings that might be coming her way, But then she can also laugh in derision at all the evil or the sorrow coming her way because she knows ultimately it cannot harm her. So she laughs in joy and she laughs in derision, but she is laughing as she looks at the future.
Joel Brooks:And this is that one quality that, to me, stands above all of the others that I just, I am in awe at, that she could laugh when she doesn't know what is to come. So let me ask you this, are you like her in this? When you look at the future, do you laugh at it? When you see all of those uncertainties, you know, if you're single and you're wondering, will I ever meet the 1? If you're married and you're wondering, will I ever have kids?
Joel Brooks:Or if you have kids, you're wondering what kind of kids are they gonna turn out to be? If you're wondering, am I ever gonna be able to save up enough to have a retirement? If you look into the future and you wonder, am I gonna be healthy enough to ever and enjoy a retirement? All of these uncertainties there, when you think about those things, can you laugh at it? Can you?
Joel Brooks:This woman in Proverbs 31 is a woman who is defined by peace. Peace. She's not full of fear. She is full of peace. She's not full of anxiety.
Joel Brooks:She is full of laughter. Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you like your life to be defined by that? Now, the writer of Proverbs very well might have been writing about a person whose lifestyle is unattainable. I don't know many people who could run the small business, run the home, you know, launch new enterprises, stay beautiful.
Joel Brooks:I don't know many people who could do that, but this idea of laughing at the future and having peace is something that Jesus himself has promised us. That peace is possible because Jesus gives it to us. Verse 27, Jesus says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Jesus is filled with peace here, even though in just few hours, he's about to be dragged away, tortured and killed.
Joel Brooks:And now he's comforting his friends by saying, I'm gonna give you peace. It should be the other way around. His friends should be coming alongside him in a time like this, So Jesus, who has this piece at this time, it says the piece I give you. The word here is shalom, shalom. Shalom was said both as a greeting, and it was also said as a goodbye in the Jewish culture, a greeting and a goodbye.
Joel Brooks:And here it is Jesus's word of departure. It says goodbye. And when he says shalom, he doesn't just mean, I'm giving you peace as an absence of conflict. He is saying, I give you prosperity. I give give you well-being, both spiritually, mentally, physically.
Joel Brooks:May this well-being and peace go to you. And he's not just saying it, Jesus is giving it. It might be helpful to think of this as Jesus' last word and testament. You know, when somebody dies, the family gathers around and the deceased, their last will and testament is read. And it's a very special and emotional time that this is read because when the deceased writes this, it's a way even from the grave that they could communicate once again, I know you and I love you.
Joel Brooks:And so, the last will and testament often there's things that kind of are given to show how much you were known and how much you were loved. And so a grandmother might give the granddaughter something like, you know, it's my granddaughter, I give this red ruby ring. Because I noticed every time I wore it, she just looked at it and she loved it. And I know she will treasure it. Or to my son, I give them my 57 Mustang, that you help me build and repair because I know you'll love it and you will take care of it.
Joel Brooks:And so these gifts show that I know you and I love you and this is something that you will use. So what Jesus is doing here, he lacks any physical possessions. He doesn't have any physical things he could give them, but he's gonna give them the the one thing that they really need and the one thing that they will really treasure in the days ahead. He says, I'm gonna give you peace. Peace.
Joel Brooks:Shalom. Through my holy spirit, I will give you peace. And this is a peace that is so great that nothing in this world can match it. And the world's worst cannot take it away. It's a unshakable peace that allows us to laugh at whatever is to come.
Joel Brooks:So let's define peace. What's what's the definition of peace? When you look at this text here, we can define it by its opposite. What is the opposite of peace? It's not anger, it's it's not sadness, because there's actually times where anger and sadness are appropriate.
Joel Brooks:Peace is the opposite of fear and anxiety. Peace is the opposite of fear and anxiety. Chapter 14, it begins with, let not your hearts be troubled or anxious. And then Jesus has to repeat this later in verse 27 when he says, let not your hearts be troubled and neither let them be afraid. And then Jesus gives his peace to act as a remedy to both fear and anxiety.
Joel Brooks:And Jesus, he doesn't say to his disciples here, let not your hearts be sad. Because sadness and sorrow are a part of the Christian life. I think Jesus would expect His disciples to be sad at the events that are coming. Jesus himself was a man of sorrow. He was acquainted with grief.
Joel Brooks:So sadness is a regular part of the Christian life. But anxiety and fear are never to be a part of the Christian life. They have no part in the life that God has called us to live. The life of a Christian unshakable confidence in the goodness and the sovereignty of God. So how do we get it?
Joel Brooks:How do we get this peace? Well, Jesus, he he he tells us the peace comes to us not as the world gives. So it's the opposite of how the world gives. So we need to kind of know how does the world give us peace. Well, the world gives us peace through circumstances.
Joel Brooks:You know, we need to be able to control our environment. We need to control our circumstances. And then if we could control it enough, we can somehow manufacture peace. If we work really hard, peace is something that we can achieve. But there's a huge problem with this.
Joel Brooks:Let me just ask, how many of you have blown it this week? How many of you blown it? All right, hands. I'm going to want hands, all right? If you're not raising your hand, you're lying, all right?
Joel Brooks:We've all blown it. You don't have to answer this one publicly. But how many of you parents have lashed out in anger and frustration at your children? I mean, you've really lashed out, not so much to scar them for life, but, you know, scar them for a few hours. How many of you have said something that was really unkind to someone you actually love, maybe a dear friend or a spouse?
Joel Brooks:How many of you slept in a little too late and you weren't able to get up early to read your Bible and to pray because you had to rush off to work? How many of you are behind in your laundry? Behind in mowing the lawn? Behind in paying your bills? How many of you haven't returned your mother's last phone call?
Joel Brooks:It was 5 or 6 days ago. Alright. I'm gonna give you I'm gonna give you just a phrase, just a few words as they're going to change your life. Here is a one sentence sermon. You could fit this whole thing in a fortune cookie and hold on to it and the rest of your life is gonna be changed.
Joel Brooks:And it's this, try harder. Alright? I'd like you to try 10 times harder this week. 10 times harder and make it a stellar marriage. If your laundry is backing up, I want to spend twice the amount of time that you normally spend on your laundry so you could get it all accomplished.
Joel Brooks:If you've missed your prayer time, I would like you to get up 1 hour earlier every day this week so you can pray and read your bible. If you've neglected your kids, I would like you to spend double the amount of time with each child so you can invest in them. If if you're eating unhealthy, I would like you to spend more time and more money on your grocery shopping, more time cooking, perhaps time growing your own food. Alright? Maybe get one of those sleep mattresses, keep a sleep journal, get one of those watches that tell you how much you have sleep.
Joel Brooks:I want you to crush your sleep time this week, all right? Get out there and just conquer it. Bottom line, I want you to work harder in every area that you are failing at so you can achieve peace. Don't you feel better? I mean, I can end here every head down, every eye closed.
Joel Brooks:No. I won't do that. I mean, didn't didn't when you hear those words and it just make all of your anxiety just kinda melt away, like, oh, finally, finally, this is what I can do. No. No.
Joel Brooks:You hear these words and you're completely overwhelmed. You're like, there's there's no way I could do that. So let me ask you, why? Why, why, why do you actually believe that? That if you were to just try harder, That if you were to just try harder, if you were to just control your environment a little bit more, then you could finally get that peace that you've been longing for.
Joel Brooks:That's the peace that the world offers you, and it's a peace that lies to you, because you cannot work hard enough to control your environment to ever achieve peace. It's a lie. Even if you could work hard enough, the peace that the world offers you is a false peace. It has no anchor in reality at all. The peace that the world offers you is the type of peace that says, if you work really hard and you have enough foresight, you could do things like you could build a giant ship that will never sink.
Joel Brooks:God himself would not be able to sink a ship like this. Or you could say, if I just work hard enough and I just, just plan it out enough, I could build a home or a skyscraper. That could be earthquake proof. Then I'll never be anxious again when earthquake comes. Or you think if I just work hard enough and I just plan enough, I can move into that that nice neighborhood, the one with the really good school systems and a nice wide sidewalks and if I just, I could get there, then my family's gonna be safe and my children are gonna turn out exactly how I want them to turn out.
Joel Brooks:And it's a lie. And listen, this is a lie that we believe all of the time. Jesus says no. Peace is not something you achieve. Peace is something you receive.
Joel Brooks:It's not something you achieve, it's something that you receive. The the peace that Jesus gives here, it does not come from us working harder to just try to change all the circumstances around us. Jesus doesn't give us circumstantial peace because the problem with circumstantial peace is it can never outlive the circumstance. It's always gonna fail you. So instead, Jesus gives us a peace that won't change the circumstance, but a peace that will protect us from any circumstance.
Joel Brooks:That's what Paul's talking about in Philippians 4. When he says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I I love that phrase, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. You could translate it this way.
Joel Brooks:The peace of God that makes no sense whatever to your friends, because it's not based on any circumstance. That's the peace that will guard your hearts and your minds. The peace of God does not change our circumstances, but it guards our hearts and our minds from these circumstances and the dangers they would normally bring. Paul uses military language here when he says the peace of God, it guards us, guards us. Later when he talks about peace, he also uses military language.
Joel Brooks:In Ephesians 6, when he talks about the readiness of the gospel of peace, he says, this is part of the armor of God that we wear. We put on these shoes that are the readiness of the gospel of peace. And the shoes that he's describing, there are these army kind of boots. And on the bottom of them, they have things like cleats to where a soldier could be very sure footed and he would not slip so when the assault is coming to him, he can hold his ground. And when Paul uses that language, he is saying that peace is this to us.
Joel Brooks:Peace makes us sure footed. When we have the peace of God, our feet aren't gonna be knocked out from underneath us, in which we lose our bearing and we fall down. The peace of God guards us so that no matter what assault is coming our way, we can withstand it. So when things like financial troubles, or sick children, or failing relationships, they come and they hit us, we don't lose our ground. Our feet aren't swept away.
Joel Brooks:But Jesus says we are now guarded from these things. But Jesus says, we are now guarded from these things. We're guarded from the damaging effects of them, and we no longer have to fear them. The key to receiving this peace that we read in Philippians 4 comes from that simple word, thanksgiving. Thanksgiving.
Joel Brooks:It says, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and in the peace of God. Paul says that when we that we are to pray and we are to make a request, and then we are to thank God before we ever get an answer. It's kinda opposite of what you would think. Usually, you get the gift and then you thank. But Paul says, no, you let your request be made and then you go ahead and you thank God.
Joel Brooks:If you thank God before He gives you an answer, you're showing that the peace that God has given you is not gonna be based on any circumstantial change that might happen. You don't know what will happen, if anything will happen, how it would happen, when it would happen. You don't know those things and it doesn't really matter because you're gonna thank God for whatever he gives regardless. Because it's a peace that can withstand any circumstance. When you know God is sovereign and you know God is good, you could go ahead and thank him before you ever get an answer.
Joel Brooks:Our church goes to Hades several times a year to work in, the Christian community called Canaan. My wife has been, 5 times now, I've been a couple of times. I always feel that no matter how much we try to prepare ourselves or prepare the teams that are going for what they will experience and the mindset that they're gonna try to bring. We never are quite prepared. In some ways, we still come in and kinda see ourselves as the savior of Haiti.
Joel Brooks:You know, like Haiti, it's okay. We're gonna fix it. We're here. And we come in, and we essentially, we wanna teach these people how they can achieve peace. Let me tell you how you can achieve peace.
Joel Brooks:You can achieve it by, you know, we're gonna build these new structures. You can achieve it by, we're going to give you all these clothes. You can achieve it by we're gonna teach you how to farm even in this poor soil. Let's teach you how to achieve peace. And we kinda go in with that mindset, and then we were just rocked because we look at the people who have peace.
Joel Brooks:They already have it. And so then we walk away once again realizing, okay, peace is something we receive, not something we achieve. And I feel like I have to learn that lesson over and over. Pastor Henry and Sister Gladys, they have been a great example to to my wife and I over the years. No matter what happens, you you will hear pastor Henry well, who's been to Haiti?
Joel Brooks:Who's been to Haiti with them? What does pastor Henry say after everything? Praise God. Praise God. That's right.
Joel Brooks:Praise God. So if it's, hey, Pastor Henry. The water pump just went. We don't have any water. Praise God.
Joel Brooks:Pastor Henry, the the truck just broke down. We had no transportation or money to fix it. Praise God. Pastor Henry, the rats have come and eaten through all of the food and all of the fresh fruits. Praise God.
Joel Brooks:Those are all real examples that have happened in our time there, and and the response has always been one of thankfulness, Now, some of you might even as I'm saying that you might think, okay. That that might be a kind of peace, but it's a delusional peace. Well, let me tell you, I say you were wrong and Jesus says you were wrong. You know what is delusional? Is doing the same thing you have been doing over and over and over again thinking that this time you're gonna get a different result.
Joel Brooks:That's actually the definition of insanity. And some of you keep thinking, if I just could control a little bit more, if I could just maybe earn just a little bit more, In fact, I just hold this together just a little bit more. I'm gonna finally have peace and it comes crashing down and your solution is why I just need to work harder. I just need to hold it together a little bit more. And you do that over and over.
Joel Brooks:That's delusional. This is being set free. Lauren actually got to lead the trip to Haiti this past time, and she brought our 10 year old girl, Natalie, with her. And Lauren said after they arrived in Port au Prince, you know, and you navigate through the airport, which is always kinda crazy, and trying to find your transportation back to, to Canaan. And the driver pulls up in a cattle truck to pick up everybody.
Joel Brooks:And Lauren sees this old beat up cattle truck that they're all just gonna be thrown in the back, and she looks at this and and she is thinking as she is about to lift up Natalie in there, she's like, what am I doing? What am I doing? She goes, all my life, I have tried to protect this girl. She gets born and we buy a Volvo, you know. Alright.
Joel Brooks:We're protecting this one. We protected Caroline too. Every time, you know, Natalie's in there, it's a, you know, it's the 4 4 point harness you gotta put in there. Natalie rides a bike. It's always with a helmet.
Joel Brooks:So Lauren has worked really hard trying to protect this girl, and now she's thinking, I'm about to throw her in a cattle truck in a 3rd world country where so many people die on the road. And she just had this little moment. Like, what am I doing? And, she said, she just consciously made a decision. She said, Lord, I recognize you're sovereign, you're good, you're in control, and she loaded up Natalie.
Joel Brooks:She's like, I release Natalie into your care. And, it was just like this peace. I I got to ask Natalie about the same experience. I said, Natalie, tell me about, you know, what happened when you arrived there. She's like, well, I got to go into the back of this large truck.
Joel Brooks:I said, were you scared? She's like, it was awesome. It's like, it was awesome. I mean, we're being bouncing around. Sometimes I felt like I was gonna fly out and she says, cars are zipping everywhere.
Joel Brooks:Animals are getting in the road. We're just swerving around. I was like, well, weren't weren't you scared? She goes, no. Mama was with me.
Joel Brooks:Mama was with me. Just the presence of a parent was such a comfort and peace to her. She was oblivious to her circumstances, having the time of her life, laughing at the future. That that is a perfect picture of 2 different ways of looking at peace. 1 is saying, I trust in your sovereignty, and I trust in your goodness no matter what comes.
Joel Brooks:And the other is this, I am comforted by your presence. And that's what Jesus promises in John 14. When he says, I give you my peace, he says, I am giving you my peace because he is giving us his presence through his holy spirit. The peace He gives is His Holy Spirit. It's His presence that He is now with us.
Joel Brooks:This is the piece that says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. And your rod and your staff comforts me. You still have to go through the valley of the shadow of death. The circumstances have not changed, but the fear is gone. Why?
Joel Brooks:Because of the presence of God. I will fear no evil for you are with me. Let me just ask a simple question. Do you know this peace, or does it sound completely foreign to you? This is the peace that God gives us through his gospel, in which we believe Jesus was forsaken and he was abandoned so that we might never be.
Joel Brooks:So that we would always know the presence of God. The gospel is one that believes that even though we we walk through a valley of shadow death, even when the death comes into our life, there is always resurrection. There's always new life to come. Jesus died to give us this peace. What I want us to do for our response time is to have a time in which we pray for this peace.
Joel Brooks:The band, you could go ahead and come on up here. What I want us to do is we're gonna have a time where we, if you wanna sing and just celebrate the truths that we have heard, I would love for you to do that. If you want to just stay seated where you're at and spend time praying through these things, asking Christ to give you his peace. May you do that. If fear and anxiety is something that you really struggle with and you would like somebody to pray for you, just come forward.
Joel Brooks:I would love to pray for you or one of our elders or wives would love to just take time and to pray for you during this time. But take time to reflect, take time to pray, take time to celebrate. If you're weak in this, which I know we have people who are weak in this, allow others in to pray for you. I wanna encourage you to do that. So take this time to just spend with the Lord.
