My childhood pastor was a talented preacher. I tell you that so that you do not hear what I am about to say as a criticism of his speaking ability, but rather a confession of my listening ability. When I was a young boy about the age of Reece, Elijah, Evan, or Nathan one of my favorite parts of the worship service was the Votum. Does anybody know what the Votum is? Don’t feel bad if you don’t, I didn’t either. As a young boy I called it the 7th inning stretch. It was that part in the service right after the sermon was finished and the pastor invited us all to stand and stretch. But instead of singing, “take me out to the ballpark”, he would say, “Now may the peace of God which transcends all understanding guard and keep your hearts and minds in the one true faith, amen”. I loved hearing my pastor say that “the peace of God transcends all understanding” because it meant we were in the home stretch of the worship service. Only an offering, prayer, blessing, and a closing hymn stood between me and the playground. For all the wrong reasons “the peace of God that transcends all understanding” was one of my favorite parts of the worship service.
These days I find myself on the other side of the pulpit. The “peace of God that transcends all understanding” is no longer one of my favorite parts of the worship service. Not because I have matured so much as a Christian but because I haven’t. I am ashamed to say this, but these days I treat “the peace of God that transcends all understanding” like a toss away phrase that I say after I get done preaching, and I don’t mean to project my weaknesses upon you, but I suspect many of you feel the same way. I have noticed, as I half-heartedly mumble the words, there is a lot of stretching, rearranging, and shuffling going on. Bulletins are being opened to see what comes next and how much of the service is left. The more seasoned worshiper senses that an offering has to be coming soon so purses are opened, and envelopes are retrieved. I’ll take some of the blame. My mindlessly mumbling the words does not really encourage you to pay attention, I get that. However, I wonder if another reason, a more telling reason might be because we all need a reminder of what “the peace of God that transcends all understanding” is.
In our lesson for today from John 14:23-27 Jesus’ disciples are troubled and afraid. Jesus has increasingly been talking about beatings and betrayals and the Pharisees and Sadducees have become increasingly menacing. Those were dark days for the disciples and the future wasn’t looking that bright either. Yet in our lesson for today, Jesus speaks to His disciples, and to you and me as we struggle with our own troubles and fears, about the “peace of God that transcends all understanding.”
In verses 25-26 we read, “25 All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” Jesus told His disciples the Holy Spirit would be the bringer of peace. Here, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit a παράκλητος or a Paraclete. Some people prefer to translate παράκλητος as “counselor” or “advocate”. Personally, I prefer translating παράκλητος as “encourager”. I like thinking of the Holy Spirit as the “encourager”. I imagine Him as my biggest fan, yelling at me to get back up when I get knocked down by a temptation and cheering me on when, having been empowered by Him, I manage to bring glory to God with my words or actions. I like the idea that, even if no one else is a fan, I always have the Holy Spirit cheering for me.
I’ll confess that, in my warped mind, I do see the Holy Spirit wearing a jersey with my name on the back of it and He is holding up a big red foam finger that says I am number one, but better than that Jesus tells us how the Holy Spirit encourages us with a message of peace. Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach and remind them of everything Jesus had said to them. We read about that happening in our second lesson for today. Luke wrote, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”[1] And Peter preached peace to the crowds that had gathered, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[2]
The Holy Spirit taught and reminded the disciples of everything Jesus had said to them and the disciples then shared those things to bring peace to the people of the world. The Holy Spirit is still sharing the teachings of Jesus with the people of the world. No longer through violent winds or tongues of fire, but through the pages of Scripture, the Holy Spirit seeks to encourage us with a message of peace. When we are troubled by the events of the past or present, or find ourselves fearing the uncertainty of things yet to come, it is not a personalized jersey or foam finger that will bring us peace, it is the words of Jesus that have been taught to the disciples and shared with us in the pages of Scripture that will ultimately bring us peace.
From time to time I have people come to me with their troubles and fears. I have learned often the first thing people need is for someone to just listen to them as they speak. But the most important thing people need is to listen as someone else speaks, and that someone else is not me. Though I might be able to offer some minor insight, The Holy Spirit is the one they really need to listen to. They need to spend time reading their bibles. Yet I have noticed when I tell people to spend some time reading the bible, they think I am trying to cop-out of counseling them. I can almost hear what they are thinking, “I’m in real trouble here, pastor. My fears are well founded. The bible is a great book, but how is reading it going to bring me peace?” Maybe you have had those same thoughts? But think about the logic of that line of thinking. Imagine if a person came to you and said, I have this ache in my stomach, there is this persistent grumbling sound that it is making, and I can’t stop thinking about chocolate covered bacon. You might tell such a person to eat some food. Now, imagine how foolish it would be if they asked how eating food would help their hunger. When you are hungry, you need to eat some food. When you are troubled and afraid, you need to read the bible.
The bible is not like other books. Through the bible the Holy Spirit seeks to give you real peace. Listen to what Jesus says in verse 27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” The peace that the Holy Spirit offers you in the bible is different than the peace that the world offers you.
First of all, the peace the Holy Spirit offers is based on a relationship not on resources. The world seeks peace with its resources. The busy people of the world believe that more time will bring them peace. The lonely people of the world believe that more friends will bring them peace. The poor people of the world believe more money will bring them peace. The people of the world seek peace in their resources. In contrast, the Holy Spirit offers a peace that comes from a relationship. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit’s peace as “my peace”. The peace the Holy Spirit shares with you does not come from you. You, and people like you, have done nothing but disturb the peace. Your sins and the sins of others are the source of your trouble and fears. It is not lack of time, friends or money that is your problem. You are your problem. You are the reason you are not at peace. Peace does not come from you. It comes from Jesus. It comes from the perfect life Jesus lived in your place and the sacrifice He made on the cross to pay for your sins. It comes from the fact that, because of Jesus, you are no longer an object of God’s wrath, but rather, you have become His dearly loved sons and daughters. The kind of peace the Holy Spirit brings you does not come from your resources in this world, it comes from your relationship with your Father in heaven.
Another difference between the peace of this world and the peace the Holy Spirit seeks to give you in His word is the Holy Spirit’s peace is a gift that is given and not a work that is accomplished. The people of the world work hard to get peace. They read books about purpose driven lives and the power of positive thinking. They feng shui their furniture and declutter their closets. They do the downward dog and detoxify their diets. The people of this world work hard to remove stressors and disturbances of the peace from their lives, but, as I have already said, we are the disturbers of our own peace. So, in order to accomplish the task of obtaining peace on our own, we would have to get rid of ourselves. Peace is not a work that disturbers of the peace like you and I can accomplish. Thankfully, however, peace a gift that can be given. Jesus describes the Holy Spirit’s peace as a “peace I give you”. The peace the Holy Spirit share with you is a gift. You have not earned it. You do not deserve it. The Holy Spirit gives peace to you only because God loves you and decided He would show His mercy to you. Jesus accomplished a great work in order to purchase this peace. Having already been paid for, the Holy Spirit offers it to you as a gift.
This is the peace that transcends all understanding. It is a peace that is given to you as a gift. It is a peace that has been established between you and the heavenly Father by the perfect life and innocent death of your savior Jesus. It is a peace that the Holy Spirit shares with you through the Word of God. Having been taught and reminded what the peace of God that transcends all understanding is, it makes sense that following every sermon there would be a request that this peace guard and keep our hearts and minds from troubles and fears.
Having been reminded what “the peace of God that transcends all understanding” is, I intend to be more conscious of the words I speak at the end of every sermon and I pray that you pause to appreciate the blessing that is being placed upon you. But even more than that, I pray that we take this “peace of God that transcends all understanding” home with us. I pray that when troubles come and fears arise, we take a moment or two, open our bibles, and listen as the Holy Spirit teaches and reminds us everything that Jesus has said. Only then will we be at peace. Amen
[1] Acts 2:2-4
[2] Acts 2:21