John
“YOU SHOULD BE GLAD NOT SAD”
John 14:27-31
We’re going to finish up John Ch 14 this morning – only 5 verses. But these 5 verses are really important. So I figured what we would do is slow down our pace just a bit and camp out here at the end of this chapter and reflect on what Jesus is saying to His disciples and to us. We might even finish up early today, but that would be OK, right?
What’s the setting? Upper room, Thursday of Passion Week, Passover meal, Jesus with His 11 true disciples, Judas has left
What will happen later that night? Betrayal, Peter’s denial of Jesus
What will happen the next day? Mock trial, interrogation, crucifixion
Does Jesus know all this? Of course He does – after all, He’s God! That is the whole message of John’s gospel. Do His disciples know what’s about to happen? What’s their state of mind? Sad, confused, disappointed. Why? Because Jesus has told them He’s going away and they don’t like it. They had been expecting Jesus to set up His kingdom and to reign over His people right there in Jerusalem (Messianic prophecies in O.T.). Instead Jesus has told them He’s going to die! Things are just not going the way they anticipated.
So in these Chapters, 13-16 Jesus addresses His disciples who are in a fragile state to say the least and He offers them words of hope and encouragement. Ch 13, v 1 says, “Jesus knew His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world (these disciples), He loved them to the end.”
What has Jesus taught these guys so far in Chapters 13 and 14? He, their Master, washed their feet, a lesson in humility – remember they had argued about who would be the greatest in the kingdom, so they needed this lesson. He had exposed Judas as His betrayer. He predicted Peter’s denial. He gave them a new commandment – “that you love one another just as I have loved you… by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And then Jesus promised them several things – exciting things. He promised them a home in heaven in a place that He Himself would prepare. He promised that He would come again for them. He promised that they would be with Him again someday. They really needed to hear this because Jesus had been telling them He was going away and that where He was going they could not go. So Jesus promises to come back for them and to take them to where He is. He promised that if they asked anything in His name, according to His will, He would do it. He promised to send the Holy Spirit, “another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…” Not only that, He promised the abiding presence of Himself and the Father. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we (Father, Son and HS) will come to him and make our home with him.” And that’s where we left off last week.
Questions?
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. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ [he told them that back in v 3 – “I will come again and take you to Myself”] If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.
30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,
31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”
V 27 is the v Gayle brought up last week. But I saved it for this week because I wanted to spend some time on it.
There is a lot of talk about peace in our day. But the reality is that the world is not at peace. There is conflict everywhere – even in our very own families! But Jesus tells His disciples, and us as His followers, “Peace I leave with you.” Jesus gives us a going away gift. It’s a promise, a promise of peace. What kind of peace? “My peace I give you.” Jesus is the source of the peace. It is divine peace. It comes from God. This peace is “not as the world gives.” What kind of peace does the world give? Their peace is superficial, inadequate, not really peace at all. In fact Isaiah 48:22 says, [the Lord speaking]: “There is no peace for the wicked.”
Jesus goes on in v 27, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Jesus sees the hearts of His disciples at this time. They’re troubled. They’re afraid. Are these disciples truly believers in Jesus? Yes. But they’re human. And so are we. This certainly applies to us many times, doesn’t it? We believe in Jesus. We’ve trusted Him for our salvation. We believe what the Bible says. And yet, we often lack peace. Maybe you’re going thru something right now. You can have the peace of Christ. How can I be so certain about that? Chris, you just don’t know where I’m at. Remember what Jesus told His disciples earlier in this chapter? “Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do…” So, if Jesus gives us a gift of divine peace, don’t you think that He wants us to have it and enjoy it even right now? Romans 5:1 says, [based on what Jesus did on the cross] “Therefore… since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ.” So we have peace with God. And do you know what this peace does for you personally? Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding [it’s beyond our comprehension], will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” What does it mean to guard your hearts and minds? As a believer in Jesus Christ, God’s peace guards you (keeps watch over), keeps you from worry, anxiety, doubt, fear and distress.
So here is another really important promise from Jesus to us.
Questions
I just want to say something about the nature of gifts. Here we see that Jesus has given us the gift of peace. Just like we got the gift of salvation. Just like we received the gift of the Holy Spirit. When somebody gives you a gift, is it yours? Well they’re giving it to you. They want you to have it. But it doesn’t actually become yours, not in the fullest sense, until you accept it and appropriate it to your life. [example]
V 28, Jesus has told His disciples that He’s going away but that He is coming again. “If you loved Me [if you hadn’t been so focused on your own selfish reasons], you would have rejoiced… [you wouldn’t be sad, you would be glad, you would have rejoiced]. Why?
Jesus knows what’s going to happen – all the events that we will read about in the coming chapters – and here in these few verses at the end of Ch 14 He gives His disciples 4 reasons why what’s about to happen to Him is good. Frankly, the disciples, who are looking at the cross before it happens aren’t viewing it the way we do sitting here 2000 years later with the benefit of knowing the whole story and having read the N.T. We can see that it is a good thing. It was a great thing! But they can’t. Not yet. So Jesus tells them why it’s good.
- Jesus is going back to the Father, back to the glory of heaven. V 28, “I am going to the Father.” Jesus is about to return to the glory He once shared with the Father. It’s been 33 years! Theologians refer to Jesus leaving heaven to come to earth as His humiliation. Paul says, “He humbled Himself” (Phil 2:8) When Jesus says, “the Father is greater than I” He is NOT talking about His nature, He is equal with the Father (Jn 5:17, 8:58, 10:30, 14:9-10) He is talking about this temporary period in history when He “emptied Himself by taking on the form of a servant, becoming human” (Phil 2:7) He did that because He loved us and submitted to His Father’s will – to fulfill God’s plan of redemption.
- What’s about to happen will validate Jesus’ claims, V 29. In Jn Ch 2 Jesus predicted His death and resurrection in 3 days. “When therefore He was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered… and believed what Jesus had said.” Throughout the Gospels we see that the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them but after His resurrection, and certainly after Pentecost when the HS came, they did understand.
- His enemy, Satan, will be defeated, V 30 “the ruler of this world is coming.” The next few days will be as Luke 22 calls it “the hour of darkness.” Satan will come and bruise Jesus on the heal (Gen 3:15). Satan is going to think that he’s won. But Jesus will rise from the dead and conquer Satan. As Hebrews 2:14 says, thru His death, Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered all those who had been enslaved to the fear of death. Satan may bruise Jesus heal, injure Him, but ultimately Jesus will crush Satan’s head, destroy him.
- The world will know that Jesus loved the Father. V 31, Jesus demonstrated His love for us and for His Father “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8)
“So, My disciples, don’t be sad – be glad – rejoice! For the cross, My going away, My death, that you look at as a bad thing, it is really a good thing. It’s the whole reason I came, to seek and to save those who were lost. It was all part of God’s plan.” A divinely orchestrated chain of events – the betrayal led to His arrest which led to His scourging and mock trial which led to His crucifixion and death which led to His glorious resurrection which led to His ascension back to the Father which led to the coming of the HS at Pentecost which ushered in the church age and millions have been saved.
So with that Jesus says to His 11 true and faithful disciples, “Rise, get up, let’s go from here.” And off they go out of the upper room, outside the city walls, down the hill into the Kidron Valley and then up the Mount of Olives where Jesus will finish talking to them beginning in John Ch 15.
Questions – let’s sing Jesus Loves Me. The second verse specifically will be words of our commitment.