John 14: 18-29
May
20, 2001
Bring A Friend Sunday
Some of the things that children learn growing up are certain social
skills. These skills are learned by
observation as well as by instruction from parents or other adults.
We learned to say, “please” and “thank you.”
We learned to use a knife, fork and spoon properly instead of our
fingers. We learned behaviors that
help us fit in with our peers – whether good or bad.
One of the social skills we learned early on is that when we are greeted
with, “Hey, David, how are you doing?” we know that people really don’t
want to know how we are doing; this is just a greeting. So we learn not to give our laundry list of aches, pains,
frustrations and fears. Only with
close friends and on rare occasions do people really want to listen.
We have learned that social skill well.
The truth is that though we learn to function in every day life doing our
jobs, there are a number of us who carry heavy burdens and fears on our
shoulders every day. We do a pretty good job of hiding them, but they take their
toll. “I’m afraid to send my
child to school because of the violence I see.”
“My body isn’t what it use to be and it takes a lot of effort to get
up and get going in the morning; you wouldn’t believe the pain and hurt.”
“If people only knew that though our marriage looks wholesome on the
outside, at home it is a shambles and I don’t know how much longer I can put
on this front.” “I want my kids
to have the nice shoes and clothes like the other kids at school, but we are
barely making it financially; one little disaster and we would be bankrupt. I
would be embarrassed for my friends to know.”
As I have said before, you don’t have to scratch very deep to uncover a
lot of hurts and fears.
It is mistaken theology to believe that if one truly loves God then God
will bless you, and your life will be full of happiness and health.
If bad things happen then it is because you don’t believe enough or you
did something wrong. Some people
believe that – but it is totally mistaken.
If we make good choices and live a Christian life, we may avoid some
pitfalls and life will be richer, but that is no guarantee everything will be
roses.
The Gospel reading for today (John 14: 18-21) is a part of the farewell
speech Jesus is giving his disciples on his last night with them.
The context of this passage is all-important.
Jesus is preparing his close friends for the fact that he will shortly no
longer be with them. This comes as
a shock to the disciples since they have had 3 good years with him and things
are going well. What is all this
talk about him not being around any more? Jesus
begins this passage by talking about “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
He talks about going to prepare a place and will come and get them –
they thought a physical place on the other side of town, or maybe in Galilee.
Then he talks about God sending someone else, the Advocate, the
Comforter, to be with them. The
beginning verse of our text today starts out saying, “I will not leave you
orphaned.” Red flags are going up
all over the place!
Have you every had the experience of feeling abandoned?
Of being lost and alone? We
all know the experience of leaving a child with a baby sitter while the parents
go out for the evening; the child cries and cries because she is being left; her
parents are leaving her. Have you
ever seen a toddler in a large store lose sight of mother for a moment?
The panic and fear that arises. All
those big people and none of them are his mother, his protector, his life.
Or the panic on the mother’s face when she realizes her child is not
right there! Scary stories come to mind real quick.
It happens with big people, too. I
was not ready for the news on January 3rd of this year that my father
had a heart attack. I was in a
meeting out of town and I figured I would conclude my meeting, get in the car
and drive to Federal Way. Everything
would be okay. But before I got out
of town I got the word that my father had died.
That’s part of life, but I didn’t like it.
A big part of me just died. Thank
goodness for family, friends and faith.
A minister friend of mine headed for church one Sunday morning.
As he left he told his wife, “See you in a little while.”
She replied that she wasn’t feeling well and was going to stay home
that morning. He left, thinking all
was okay. When he returned home
from worship, the house was empty; there was a note saying she was wanting a
divorce. It was totally unexpected;
he didn’t have a clue.
In the midst of this conversation Jesus was having with his disciples, he
comments, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”
We have heard these words many times, especially at funerals; yet, what
does it mean to hear the word “peace” when your life is flying apart?
In Jesus’ time the word peace was a greeting, but much more. Peace was more than the absence of war or violence.
Peace was more than complacency or sentimentality and happy feelings.
In our culture we try to make everything fine and wonderful by going
shopping and buying new clothes or surrounding ourselves with gadgets, family,
toys, food. We seek peace and
happiness in alcohol and drugs, sex and power; yet they are only addictions that
destroy lives, not build them up. We
work at financial security in the hopes that having lots of money will make us
happy. We buy bigger homes and
bigger automobiles in hopes that the good life will make us happy and protect
us. We buy guns and build gated
communities and build bigger weapons and bombs hoping that we can achieve peace
by defending ourselves; it only makes us more fearful.
Jesus said that true and lasting peace is not something that can be found
in this world, not something that we can manufacture or buy or build.
Peace – wholeness of life that is grounded – comes from within as a
spiritual relationship with God is developed that transforms lives.
A few years back there was a Country & Western song that hit it big
that we did some line dancing to in Oklahoma City, “Looking for Love.”
“Looking for love in all the wrong places; looking for love in too many
faces, searchin’ their eyes and lookin’ for traces of what I’m dreamin’
of. Hoping to find a friend and a lover; I’ll bless the day I
discover another heart lookin’ for love.”
Too many people are looking for peace in their lives in all the wrong
places.
A true story is told of a retired couple several years ago that were
deeply afraid of the threat of nuclear war.
They undertook a serious study to find where in the world would be the
place to be least likely affected by a nuclear war, a place of ultimate
security. They studied and traveled
the world over. They finely found the place, moved there and settled in.
At Christmas they sent to their pastor back in the U.S. a picture of
their “paradise” home. Shortly after that, their paradise island became the center
of a war – the Falkland Islands off the coast of South America, a war between
Great Britain and Argentina.
Peace, true peace, cannot be found in escaping reality, or denying it by
trying to fool ourselves by satisfying ourselves with surface pleasures.
Peace comes from within when we embody the Spirit of Jesus Christ and
seek to obey his commandment to love one another in the community where we live.
Our
community has been shaken by the deaths of two teenagers that are gang related.
There is brokenness and pain; youth are looking for ways in which to find
meaning in their lives. They have
chosen a way that only brings destruction.
Dave
Roberts, pastor of First Baptist Church has taken the initiative to hold a
prayer time at the site of the acts of violence.
The Yakima Association of Churches is joining him.
On Monday at 5:15 p.m. people are invited to gather at the site on Nob
Hill and Fair to pray for peace, for the youth and families, for the community.
It is in the midst of the pain, the brokenness, the fears, the anxiety
that Jesus comes to speak and stand with us.
His words call us not to deny or escape the realities of life, but to
address them. Jesus Christ offers a
peace that the world cannot give. Whether
it is something personal, within the family or involves the entire community,
the only lasting peace that can calm a troubled soul is found in the presence of
God in Christ.
A lot of people are searching for peace in a lot of different ways.
You can find the source right here.