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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Today’s Gospel centers on the peace of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, a peace our hearts seek amidst fears and anxieties, often mistaken as achievable through controlling our environment, as seen in Roman ideals of dominance or modern practices like mindfulness. Yet, true peace is a divine gift, not an achievement, revealed when Jesus, appearing to His fearful disciples in John 20:19-31, declared “peace be with you” three times, reconciling us to God through His resurrection. This peace, received by faith, restores our relationship with God, sustains us through life’s conflicts, and offers a glimpse of the eternal peace to come, reminding us that despite ongoing struggles, we are God’s beloved children, covered by His unending grace.
Transcript
Well today as you probably heard in the in the gospel reading our our theme is uh the peace of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I want to do something a little bit different uh this morning because I know you you hear from me all the time uh up here and sharing kind of my stories as uh as we open the word together uh but God’s in at work and moving in the midst of us in our community and he he he has he continues to uh and he will forever and so I want you to hear from uh from one of the congregation of the way God has moved and worked his peace in their lives and so Charlie stand by I’d love to uh invite to come up to the the podium and just share a little bit of his testimony uh with us as we enter into talking about uh the peace of God in our lives charlie morning friends good morning the um a few days ago I was with um like-minded Christian men and we were looking at a video um of a famous wealthy um media star um an arrogant fool but anyway um and he was um saying how he couldn’t understand he he knew some friends that he thought were intelligent but he couldn’t understand how they could believe in a virgin birth or or um life after death and you can imagine our conversation concerning him um but then all of a sudden I realized and I mentioned to the group that that was me um back in my early 40s um I had accomplished everything I thought I wanted and needed um and I thought I was a self-made man and um hadn’t been in church since I was 18 um and and I was living the good life um had great job a lot of money um and Tom will appreciate this i had a champagne colored Porsche um and um and uh but and I was walking along um and I was single by the way um and I was walking along the beach and um I was recalling that a fellow had recently passed and uh he um the the funeral service was well attended lots of people and in fact he had so many speakers speaking so highly of him in so many different ways and I I just started thinking I said “Well gee if I died tomorrow who would
come?” And what would they say you know that was heavy anyway so I I felt this whole I mean truly it was like somebody had taken an ice cream scooper and just gutted
me so I said a prayer um some vague thing about if you’re there right and uh it was u just a couple of weeks if not days later where my life changed um totally the whole value system turned upside down i was at a meeting I was not supposed to be at my wife Camila she was at that meeting she was not supposed to either either um and after looking at her for two days my the first words I said to her in effect was a proposal
unbelievable um and we were married within six months and all that so anyway the um but the interesting thing is I still did not understand why didn’t have any more conversations with God and before the wedding she would as was with me at lunch with my 18-year-old daughter and um Jamila said something about church or God whatever and my daughter and I just ridiculed her laughed at her i mean you can’t believe in that stuff right um long story short within four years I was on the vest of St john’s Cathedral we were having our wedding vows blessed i was having my daughter two daughters and two grandchildren
baptized you know exactly so I guess the ending of the story is that um and by the way since then I can’t tell you the number of times the Holy Spirit has intervened in my life
unbelievable um but the I guess I’ll end it by saying that if I were to pass tomorrow I’m okay i’m feeling good and by the way for the first half of my life for all those relationships that I damaged if they were to show up and dump their bucket fair fair enough but I’m still okay
[Applause] charlie what a what a great way of talking about uh the peace of God which you found in Christ you know his gracious intervention in your life and the truth of the the resurrection and how uh he impacted you it’s powerful thank you for for for sharing with us because you know the human heart longs for peace all of us everyone everybody that you meet uh on on the street everyone despite what you might think or how annoyed you might be at them they’re longing in their heart of hearts for peace last week week I talked to you about uh doing internet searches for what are the things that that people search for most and what I didn’t mention last week was what the number one search is the number one search is has to do with the these topics why do I feel so overwhelmed all the time what’s causing my anxieties how about this one do I have ADHD that’s attention deficit uh hyperactivity disorder uh people asking that question like a lot of people asking that question why do I feel so much stress at work or in Florida why am I so afraid of storms um you know there’s ex there’s deep anxiety there’s deep worry there’s deep fears that are happening in the human heart and people are looking for answers and of course you go to Google for the answers right u to to why you’re feeling this way and what what is peace this thing that we’re longing for well the way we tend to think about it is that that peace is the absence of all conflict in our lives right that when if we can if we can control our environment and we can just do away and put aside all conflict then we’ll have peace we’ll have peace so peace is something that we experience when when all when all conditions are absolutely perfect in our life there’s no conflict anywhere how often does that happen it seldom right there may be brief moments there may be brief moments when we can be lulled into thinking that we have peace and we’ve we’ve controlled our environment completely and we’ve subdued every conflict that’s in our lives and we have peace but then we wake up the next morning if conflict is the the main enemy to our peace who is the enemy then well the enemy is must be the people who are getting in the way the people who are getting in the way of my peace or maybe ourselves how we ourselves are getting in the way of of our peace or natural disasters or something happening in our environment that’s constantly getting in our way from what we really are longing for and then we think if we can just deal with them if we can just get them out of the way if we can just pacify them or better yet even if we can conquer them then we’ll have peace you i was driving to work a couple weeks ago and uh I was coming to a light and there was a lot of traffic and I was just in the line of traffic uh couldn’t go any faster there was nothing to change and the person behind me was just honking their horn and I looked you know in the rearview mirror uh and this woman’s just flailing her arms in the air and she is so angry uh which of course made me angry and she ruined my piece um but I remember then just thinking what in the world is going on in her life that like I you know I couldn’t do anything about it like no one could do anything about it we were just in the regular flow of traffic um that was just messing with her so much i think that the way that we understand peace we’ve inherited uh from those who have come before us this is a universal problem it goes all the way back to the beginning of time but we can especially see it prominently uh in the Roman idea of peace this was a big big deal in uh in the Roman Empire they believe that peace was achieved through strength and through conquest and through order and there and I think that understanding of peace that mentality is something that continues to shape the way that we think about it when our hearts are longing for it about how we can find it you know and when it comes to societal peace I don’t know maybe they’re right i I don’t know enough i’m not smart enough to know i’m not an expert on how to achieve whether it’s through it diplomacy or strength or whatever all those things other people can have that argument i don’t know uh but the glory of Rome was the pox romana uh that 200year period where they uh exper and that was the time period by the way in which Jesus lived uh and he died and he rose again was during that 200year period of of of Roman peace uh they believed that they had achieved that peace by uh the central control and law and security uh all which was enforced uh by their military might and for the Romans peace was less about harmony uh and it was more about dominance and control uh and that and find and the stability that it brought to their public life uh peace was achieved when everyone else yielded to their control that’s where that’s where they believe peace came from uh again that’s not about the best way to govern i’m not smart enough to know about that it’s just a glimpse into I think what’s affected us and how we process how we can achieve peace in our own lives uh that we can achieve peace when we are in control when we are in domination over the environment around us whether it’s people whether it’s ourselves whether it’s the just the events and the circumstances around us but the Romans also had an obsession with inner peace uh that it was achievable through personal virtue of self-control again this idea of control was so central to it uh being chief among those those virtues or their their idea of reason through reason we can uh we can find peace that mind over matter again it’s an idea of controlling uh our environment and how we think uh and this this all shapes how we think about peace how we can achieve it the steeping this deep longing that’s in all of our hearts and is in everybody’s heart that you’ve ever met or come in contact with uh through dominating our envir environment controlling people and the things around us uh through personal virtues like meditation and practicing mindfulness and v various therapies and yoga or journaling or whatever it is that I’m going to do this because it’s going to give me peace uh in my in my life and most of those aren’t bad things at all they’re good within themselves but they’re just our attempt to gain dominance over our own environment our own thoughts our own lives and all of these things expose that we think that when we can gain control when we can finally gain control then finally we’ll experience that peace that we’re so desperately longing for you know one of the popular techniques is uh the practice uh the practice of simplicity you know simplicity and uh with to live life with a minimalistic uh philosophy by the way that’s not a bad thing none of those things are bad uh nothing’s wrong with it but again can you see it’s just another attempt to control the
environment to achieve peace in our lives by dominating and controlling what’s happening around us that that’s going to be the answer that’s going to be when I can finally live in peace and all of these fears and the worries and the anxieties and the stresses will finally be gone the problem is all the things that we eliminate as good as it might be to eliminate them they aren’t the ultimate cause of our anxieties and our fears and our
worries and our stresses and the and will not achieve ultimate peace that peace that our hearts are so longing for there’s something deeper there’s something much deeper going on inside of us something that we need but we can’t control that we can’t uh that we can’t achieve on our own and on our own strength and power all of the fear and the anxiety and the worry what they’re really doing is they’re pointing us to go deeper they’re directing us to go deeper to the only thing that can actually satisfy that desire which is in every one of us they’re pointing us to the peace that comes through only through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave in John 20:19-31 our gospel reading this morning over a period of 8 days Jesus appeared twice to his disciples he appeared to them where when they had been locked up in fear and worry and anxiety through their own failures in the outside environment that they couldn’t control whether it was the Jewish authorities or the Roman authorities that they were in fear of that they were going to be after them uh and there’s they’re in that place of of personal failure for what how they had abandoned Jesus they had they had uh when in his time of need they had run away and yet in the midst of that Jesus appears to them he appears to them over that period of eight days he twice appeared to them and in those two appearances Jesus said not once not twice but three times peace be with you meaning peace be in your lives peace be in your lives jesus in his love and grace for those who had abandoned him and betrayed him who were stuck in the not being able to control the environment that was around them and fear and anxiety and worry he declared to them the ultimate power of the resurrection in their lives and that ultimate power is his
peace that’s the thing our hearts are longing for what Jesus alone can give and declares and so in these verses we learn three things uh about the peace of God the peace of the resurrection and that number one is peace is the power of the resurrection at work in our lives the second thing is this peace is the gift of God that comes by faith and not by achievement like our hearts want to believe and think they can find and number three peace is not a one-time gift but one that comes over and over again even when our lives are seem to be spinning out of control you know it’s what Charlie was talking about when he said “You know what there’s so many times the Holy Spirit has come to me.” He was talking about that peace that he experienced as the as the Holy Spirit continued to come to him even after he first came to Christ and received that first power of the resurrection but let’s look at these for just a little bit deeper for peace is the power of the resurrection the deep longing that we have for peace is the longing we have for a personal relationship with God that’s what we’re longing for that’s what’s that’s what’s missing we were created to be in perfect relationship with God but through our rebellion which began with Adam and Eve in the garden trying to control everything on their
own a rebellion that we have inherited because of that we’ve become separated from him and worse than separation in our sin and a rebellion we’ve actually become enemies of God in Romans 5:10 while we were enemies of God Paul proclaims we’re enemies because we want to rule and we do rule our own lives in his place and think that we can find peace by dominating uh our lives the people around us controlling everything and everybody in other words trying to be God exactly like Adam and Eve were doing all of our longing for peace is the longing that our relationship would be restored to that ultimate relationship that we were created for and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God that restores our relationship with him jesus died on the cross making the full atoning sacrifice for our sins he died in that sense as an atoning sacrifice in this mystery of God he died as an enemy because he took our place on the cross but in his resurrection from the dead he conquered death once and for all so that all who put their faith in him are raised to new life new and unending life in him and that new life is a life that’s reconciled to God it’s not just eternal life it’s a relationship with the father what we were created for romans 5:11 says “For or 5:10 the rest of the passage says,”For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life by Jesus’s new life we’re saved when we put our trust in him and in his resurrection are we are reconciled to God we have a personal relationship with him.” Once again this is this is why Jesus the resurrection Jesus proclaimed peace to the disciples three times in the midst of their own failure in the midst of their worry and their fears and their their doubts even for Thomas and when Jesus comes into your life you are reconciled to the God of peace that’s the power of the resurrection we have given we have been given peace with our God he is now our father and we are his beloved children that’s the ultimate power of the resurrection that our hearts are longing for but then we also find that peace is a gift it’s not an achievement in John 14:27 so just uh a little bit before Jesus’s uh when he appears to them and says this before he died before his passion he said “Peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you you know again we talked about the way the world gives peace and offers peace through human achievement through strength through dominance through seeking to control everything around us i mean when Charlie was tell telling his story right i had achieved I had achieved everything that I thought that I wanted right had a great job had uh had what I wanted had money had all those things and yet there was still a longing for something more something deeper that was within him
the world offers the idea of peace through human achievement but it can’t ever deliver it because it all has the goal of pacifying our environment people ourselves our surroundings dominating them and that’s when we’ll have peace but the ultimate peace of a restored relationship with God it doesn’t come through our hard work and our achievement as Jesus said it’s a gift in Romans 6:23 for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord it’s the free gift peace can only be received then by faith through trust trusting in Jesus’s death and resurrection that through him and him alone we are at peace with God through the finished work of Jesus for us not our own you know John Newton the author of of Amazing Grace the former slave trader uh and sea captain uh who who w was redeemed uh and restored by Jesus Christ he said although my my my memory is fading he said later in his life I remember two things very clearly i am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior that my friends is the gift of peace that continues to abide in our lives as long as there is breath in our lungs it continues to abide because nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus that means his peace continues to abide through it all in our hearts and minds which brings us to the the last and the third point that peace isn’t a one-time gift you know it can be really discouraging in the Christian life really really discouraging when we know that we’ve been saved by grace the grace of God through faith uh in Jesus and yet we continue to experience conflict in our lives we’re still find ourselves gripped with fear and anxiety and worry and it causes us to our temptation is to doubt our salvation at all or or to question the reality of the resurrection or that it has any power at all in our lives you know we can see that that that salvation that we’ve received and the ultimate uh the peace we’ve received from God and our uh restoration into a relationship with him maybe with a false sense of security like that that’s it you know I uh we we had in our neighborhood we we live in a nice neighborhood but uh for some reason there’s people that like to come around and if you don’t lock your car go through them uh looking for things and we don’t have a garage we have a carport and uh you know a couple years ago after twice uh getting up in the morning and finding just you know our cars trashed even though there’s nothing in there just junk um uh but you know finally I got one of those cameras you know to kind of put up that I’m like this will do it this will keep anybody from coming in here uh and so for the past couple years I’ve had this false sense of security that hey I don’t need to lock my car at all cuz I’ve got a camera uh and it’s got a light on it so it’s going to scare anybody away and I’ve been living in that of even you know I used to be diligent about watching it every morning and all I ever saw were cats you know cats on the car cats you know everywhere um and so I had this false sense of of security until this morning I got up to leave to come to church and of course the car’s trashed uh wasn’t locking it they didn’t take anything don’t worry well as far as I know uh except for some change they left the holy oil just want you all to know i keep I keep I keep anointing oil in the car and that was of no value to them what whatsoever they forgot the most important that’s right that’s right if they only knew if they only knew but we have we we can get lulled into that that false senses of security that when we come to Christ that we have peace with God that nothing we’re never going to experience any conflict anymore and that’s just not true notice Jesus doesn’t declare his peace to them once and then it’s done he reminds them three times three times on two different occasions god’s peace doesn’t change but we need reminders we still seek control we’ve been we’ve been forgiven our our relationships restored but the sinful nature still continues in us and we still think that we get lulled into this idea that we can find peace if I can just control everything if I can dominate my environment if I can dominate the people around me if they’ll just do what I tell them to do then everything will be fine
we need reminders and Jesus comes by the power of his Holy Spirit over and over and over again to us in our lives to remind us by declaring to us again and again that when we trust in him our lives are claimed by his peace we’re covered in his peace this is why in Philippians 4:7 Paul declared “The peace of God,” it’s what I declare in and the blessing at the end of the service because we need the reminder over and over again the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus because the peace of God while meaning the sessation of conflict with God the ultimate conflict in our lives it does not mean the absence of all conflict in this life at least not yet at least not yet yet even the in the midst of the conflict in the midst of the broken relationships the the troubles that we face at work financial hardships the the political unrest and anxiety the natural disasters that that we face our own health concerns and the concerns of our loved ones even in the face of death itself through it all we’re still at peace with God and nothing can ever take that away from us the peace of God surpassed all understanding because it’s a peace that abides even in the midst of the conflict not in the sessation of it in the midst of it in the midst of the fears and the worries and even the doubts as those disciples were experiencing and ultimately the peace of the resurrection is just a glimpse and a picture of what’s to come and what God has begun doing through Jesus it’s just a foretaste the beginning of God’s reconciling work reconciling all things through his son Jesus as Colossians chapter 1 tells us by granting peace in the locked room and in the locked room of our own hearts today Jesus is giving us a glimpse of the eternal peace that is to come of his kingdom that we will all share in its fullness when he does come again the conflict we experience now those of our own making those that are outside of our own control they just remind us that we’re not there
yet the best is yet to come friends peace is what we’re longing for and the peace of the resurrection it’s the power of God’s reconciling work in us turning us enemies into beloved his beloved children it’s the free gift of his love that’s received and never achieved and it’s not a one-time gift it comes over and over again giving us peace even in the midst of our struggling even in the midst of our suffering thanks be to God amen
