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 heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 (NKJV)
The one thing that has eluded our generation today is PEACE. The individual has no peace, the family has no peace, the city has no peace, the nation has no peace and our world at large has no peace. We talk about peace summits and yet we walk out of those conferences with more chaos than we had. Jesus left us with peace and the angel announced at His birth that there is now peace on earth. So then the big question is, why is there no peace?
Jesus said in John 14:27 that His peace He leaves with us. In other words there are different kinds of peace; we know from the scripture that there are at least two. The one He gives and the one the world gives.
Ladies and gentlemen, the peace of Christ is that inner peace that is hard to explain. A. T Pierson puts it this way, “The peace of God is the eternal calm which lies far too deep in the praying, trusting soul to be reached by any external disturbances” Only Jesus gives that peace and surprisingly enough He is the one most of us are rejecting today; hence the chaos. What the world needs is peace that surpasses all misunderstanding. No Jesus, No peace; Know Jesus, Know peace. There will be no peace as long as God remains unseated at the conference table. But guess what? In the midst of the chaos, we can certainly have peace.
A ship was wrecked in a furious storm and the only survivor was a little boy who was swept by the waves onto a rock. He sat there all night long until, the next morning, he was spotted and rescued.
“Did you tremble while you were on the rock during the night? Someone later asked him.
“Yes” the boy said. “I trembled all night – but the rock didn’t”
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a rock called Jesus, if only we will rest on Him, we will have peace even in the midst of the storm. He did not promise us a safe ride, but He did promise us a safe landing. God did not promise us an easy way, but rather he promised us peace in the center of the hard way.
I want to leave you with an old poem by Mrs. Cowman…
In the center of the whirlpool, while the waters rush around
There’s a space of perfect stillness, though with turmoil it is bound;
All is calm, and all is quiet, scarcely e’en a sense of sound.
So with us-despite the conflict-when in Christ His peace is found.
The message bible puts John 14:27 this way, “I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.”
Maybe this Christmas you didn’t receive any gifts, friends deserted you, you couldn’t give any gifts because you couldn’t even make ends meet, and most of all, no one called to wish you a merry Christmas. Let your heart be at peace. It is well, you are not alone. Jesus is with you. He came into the world with a song of peace: “On earth peace …” He went out of the world with a legacy of peace, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you.” Shalom!
I will leave you all for now, if we don’t meet again, I will see you at the dinner table in Papa’s house.
Rev. Kingsley Ayesu.