Love one another, John 15: 12-17

The most desired ambition of the popular culture is that of love.  Love is the theme of more songs, more books, more poetry, more art and more movies than any other theme.  And I believe this is so because it is the most essential need of the human condition.  It is as fundamental to life as food and water, if not more so. God declared at creation that it was not good for man to be alone.  It is an essential component of the human psyche.  Everyone wants to know love.

However, human nature is not satisfied with unrequited love.  Neither does this need find fulfillment in undesired love.  In other words, one doesn’t find satisfaction in being loved by someone whom you don’t love in return.  What satisfies this great human need is reciprocal love.  Love of relationship, where each one loves the other, and they receive love in return.  

This is the human condition because God created us for love.  He created us for Himself.  He loves us, and desires that we should love Him in return.  The relationship that God wants to have with us is pictured in the scriptures by the love of a husband and wife.  We just recently studied that principle in Ephesians chapter 5, in which Paul talks of marriage between a husband and wife, but says he is speaking of the relationship of Christ and the church.  The church was designed to be the bride of Christ. 

In the mystery of God, it pleased God to procure a people for Himself from the nations of the earth to be the bride of Christ.  In that purpose He appeared unto Abraham, and called him out of the Ur of the Chaldees, and told him to go to the land that He would show him.  Whereupon, after many generations, God raised up from Abraham’s offspring a nation, a chosen people, for whom He would be their God, and they would be His people.  God established a theocracy, based on His law, given through the prophets.  

But this was only Act One of God’s great plan.  In the first Act, the nation of Israel was not much different than the kingdom’s of antiquity that ruled through a feudal system of serfdom.  Serfdom was a system of bondage in which the people were given a plot of land to tend and produce crops and herds, of which a percentage went to the King, and in return the King provided services and protections for the people.  Jesus  often uses the analogy of stewardship which is a form of serfdom as an illustration of that relationship with God.

However, the birth of Christ ushered in Act Two.  And in this act man’s relationship with God was changed from that of servanthood, or serfdom, to that of an intimate relationship.  Believers in Christ were no longer servants, but bond slaves, set free by redemption, but cleaving to their master out of love.  And as a result of that commitment, God actually makes us part of His family, sons and daughters of God.  And because we are His family, we are elevated to a position of heirs, heirs of God and co heirs of Christ.   So that Peter might proclaim in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 

Paul presents the same principle in Titus 2:14, saying, “Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Now this relationship is the subject of Christ’s teaching in this chapter.  He illustrated this relationship in vs.1 by the analogy of He being the vine, and we being the branches.  His lesson that He taught in that picture was that we should abide in Him, and He in us.  That relationship is the key to the full Christian life.  The principle of “abide in Me and I in you” is the fundamental relationship out of which everything else flows, even as the life of the branch and it’s fruitfulness flows from it’s abiding in the vine.

In this chapter John describes  three things that will happen when this principle of Christ abiding in us and we in Him begins to work in our lives. The first result is described in the opening verses which we looked at last week, which is the fruitfulness that abiding produces. We begin to grow more Christlike. We display the "fruits of the Spirit” which are the characteristics of Christ.  

We look now at a brief paragraph in which our Lord describes the change that will happen in our relationships with each other within the community of faith as a result of abiding in Him. Then, in the last section of Chapter 15, Jesus states the relationship that we will have with a hostile world.

There are three points which Jesus makes in speaking of our relationship with others.  The first is the mandate to love, then the motive of love, and finally the manifestation of love.  Let’s consider first the mandate to love.  Jesus says in vs 12, ““This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”

It’s noteworthy that we are commanded to love.  I believe that is because though the need for love is intrinsic, it’s not something that we do as we should. I’m sure we all think we are loving people, but I would suggest that the majority of the time we base our love for others on how much we like them.  Our idea of love is based on a feeling of attraction towards someone, and that perspective limits love to only those we like.  And we like certain people more than others, perhaps because we are like them, or we are attracted to them, or we think we can benefit from our relationship with them in some way. 

But the command of Christ is quite different than the typical concept of love.  The Lord puts it as a command because real love, according to God’s standard of love, is a decision to act for the benefit of someone else no matter how you feel about him or her. Love is based on a commitment, not a feeling or an attraction.  Love is a decision, thus it can be commanded.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extrapolated that principle of deciding to love out to it’s furthest possibility. He  declared that we should even love our enemies.   Matthew 5:43, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”  If we are to be like God, then we must love like God loves.

That’s the example that Jesus gave to us, even while we were enemies of God, He died for us on the cross.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  So then in like manner should we love those that are unlovable, that are unattractive, that are not like us, even those that are opposed to us.  

Notice that Jesus has given only one commandment, that you love one another.  In  Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” All 612 commandments found their root in those two commandments.  And now in this statement, Jesus is saying those two have now become one for those that have believed in Christ.  

John explains how that consolidation is possible in  1John 4:20, in which he said, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  So we understand that our love for God is evidenced by our love for one another.

So that is the mandate, the commandment, that we love one another. Next let’s look at the motive for love.  Jesus doesn’t just give us a command which we must do grudgingly, but He gives us a motive, that we might be compelled to love, and do it cheerfully.  That we might be enabled to obey this command. And that motive is found in the words, “as I have loved you.” 

That raises the question, how did Jesus love His disciples? The answer is found in vs.9. “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.” So we love one another as Christ loved us, and as the Father loved Christ.  In other words, love flows out of a heart that is conscious of being loved.  As John said in  1John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.”  

Think about vs.9 for a moment.  As the Father loved Jesus, so Jesus loves us. That’s amazing.  Jesus was sinless.  Jesus was perfect.  Jesus was one with the Father and had been with the Father from eternity past.  And yet that kind of love is the same kind of love that Christ had for us.  That love Christ had for us compelled Him to suffer to a degree far beyond what we can imagine, as the holy, righteous God humbled himself to become our servant, to shed his blood on a cross, that we might be reconciled to God, that our dirty sins might be put upon His back, so that His righteousness might be transferred to us.  That is how God can love us as He loves Jesus, because we are righteous and holy in His sight, even as Jesus is. 

That love is our motivation.  It constrains us, controls us, compels us to do what is pleasing to Him.   2 Cor. 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ constrains us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”  When we really come to understand the love of God for us, then we should have no problem loving one another as He has loved us.

It’s like a young man that falls in love with a girl.  He is madly in love her, and he knows that she loves him with all her heart as well.  In that kind of relationship, there is nothing that he wouldn’t do for her.  I knew a young man once who ran 30 miles one way to see his girlfriend.  He didn’t think it was a big deal.  Great distances sometimes separate young people who are in love.  Yet it doesn’t affect their love for one another.  But as the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Love flows naturally out of a heart that knows love.

Not only does Jesus give us a mandate  to love and a motive to love, but He also tells us how love will manifest itself. How does love, God's kind of love, manifest itself when it is worked out in life?  The kind of love Jesus is talking about is manifested in deeds.

He states three ways in which true love will be manifested: First, love is sacrificial.  Vs.13,  "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."   Even though Jesus will die for His friends, He is not necessarily talking about dying for someone, like the kind of ultimate sacrifice one might make on a battlefield. You can only do that once and then you can’t do it again.  Rather, He is describing a lifestyle, a process. There are varying degrees of "laying down your life." It simply means to give of yourself, to take part of your life and to give it on behalf of someone else. It is not putting yourself first, or your needs first, but being willing to lay down your prerogatives, your rights, even your self preservation  for the sake of someone else. That is the first way love appears. Love will be manifested by sacrificial, self-denying service.

The second manifestation of love is found in what Jesus says in vs14, "You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." 

This is the new relationship that I was speaking of in my introduction. Jesus is lifting these disciples up from the level of mere slaves, who must obey because it is to their best interests to do so, to another, more intimate, level.  The level of friends who want to obey because they have been brought into an intimate relationship with God.  

James said in James 2:23, that “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.”  Abraham believed God.  And God called him his friend.  That’s an amazing testimony.  To be called the friend of God.  The intimate of God.  Enoch was another man that we can assume was a friend of God.  The Bible says that he walked with God, and God took him to be with Him.  We have that same tremendous opportunity; to be the friends of God.  

Once again, I can’t help but think of a young couple in love.  They have no problem spending hours talking to one another.  It’s amazing to see a young couple in love and how much they speak to one another, and then on the other hand see a couple who have been married for 20 years, and how little they speak to one another.  That reminds me of another adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”  That’s not in the Bible however.  And that isn’t something we should aspire to.  That’s a love that has grown cold.

But we should be so in love with Christ that we talk to Him without having to be coerced.  We should desire to spend time alone with God.  Jesus said He has made known to us all that He heard from His Father.  And Jesus had perfect communion with His Father.  So from Christ’s perspective, He has communicated perfectly to us.  We need to reciprocate.  We need simply to start spending time alone with God, and when we do that, our lives will manifest  love for one another.  We will love what God loves, and hate what God hates. Because we are intimate friends of God.  And because we are intimate friends of God we will do what He commands us to do.  If I ask a stranger to take me somewhere, or go out of his way for me, or give me something that I need, I can’t expect much of a response.  But when I ask a friend, I can expect that my friend will do what I ask, because of our relationship.  So God expects us to do what He commands, because of our intimate relationship with Him.

Then the third manifestation of love follows in vs.16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." First note that the love of God towards us is deliberate.  He chose to love us, even though we were sinners.  He deliberately sought us when we were in rebellion to Him.  God’s love, and by extension our love, is not based on attraction, but on a decision.

Secondly, Jesus is saying to these men, "Wherever you are, remember that I put you there." That is what He meant by appointed you.  It means strategically placed you.  And He is saying this to us, too. "I strategically placed you right in the midst of those difficult people you have to work with, so that amidst the difficulty, the pressure and the pain you might become an example of Christ;  gracious, loving, patient, merciful. So that you might bear fruit, that you might bear the image of Christ.

Furthermore, when you are bearing fruit, bearing the image of Christ, then whatever you ask in my name the Father will give it to you.  Personally, I think that this promise is related to the promise of loving your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  When you pray in Jesus’  name then you are praying according to His will, according to His purpose, His ministry.  Jesus prayed for those that nailed Him to the cross.  When we pray for people according to the will of God, God will provide it.  

There’s an old story in mythology about a knight who encountered a hideous dragon in the forest. And disregarding the ugliness of the monster, this bold young knight walked up to it and kissed it three times whereupon it became a beautiful maiden. And, of course, they lived happily ever after. MacLaren who told the story comments, “Christ kisses his enemies making them his friends. And if he had never died for his enemies, he would never have possessed his friends.” Or as John puts it, “We love Him, because He first loved us.”

In vs.17, Jesus restates the commandment again.  ““This I command you, that you love one another.”  The fact that He said it twice emphasizes the absolute necessity that we take it to heart. The longer I am in the ministry, the more I am convinced that this is the way to victory in the Christian life. This is the way to effective evangelism.  This is the way to overcome addictions of every sort.  We must show the world the love of God by loving one another. We must love sacrificially, deliberately, without concern for what we can get out of it, without consideration of how much we like someone.  We must love even those who hate us, or hateful to us, forgiving them as God has forgiven us.  Giving love sacrificially even though it means that we give up things that are important to us in order to love them. 

And we do this by starting with knowing the love of God for us. The more we know the love of God for us, the more we will want to love one another.  The more we know the love of God, the more we  will want to obey God. And to love one another is the way to obey Him.  And to obey Him is to love Him.  

God said in Genesis 2:24, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”  When a couple become one flesh, then they have one mind, one heart, one purpose.  They are united.  They abide in one another.  Love then comes naturally.  As the body of Christ we are all united in Christ as the church.  Love should come naturally.  And as we love our neighbor, Jesus said we should love them as we love ourselves.  So that our love for our neighbor comes naturally because we naturally love ourselves.  We are commanded to love one another.  But to do so, we must come to know the love of God for us. And God has chosen to exhibit that through His people loving people.  That knowledge of God’s love is almost too much to comprehend.  But when we consider how much He loves us we find joy and fulfillment and it over flows in love to those around us.  

So as we leave here today, I would remind each of you to love one another as Christ loved the church.  And I would like to read from Romans 8:28, which is a great summary of the love of God towards us, that you might be motivated to go forward from here and love one another.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Just as it is written,

“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;  WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

The Vine and the Branches, John 15:1-11

The other day I was listening to a Christian radio broadcast as I was driving back from seeing someone who is in prison in Princess Anne, Maryland.  I won’t say the name of the pastor, but doctrinally he is considered sound and he seems to be relatively popular.  And at the end of the sermon, the announcer came on and gave a commercial for the opportunity to go on a luxury cruise with the pastor to some exotic destination which I think was in the Caribbean.  I found myself feeling a little jealous, I guess.  I had just spent four hours visiting some guy in prison who is facing a life sentence, who lost his career, his wife divorced him, and now he just lost a custody hearing for his children and he has no way of seeing them or contacting them anymore.  And I had to try to comfort him as he sat there and wept openly behind the glass partition.  I had to try to convince him that God still loved him.  That God would use this for good in some way.  And I felt that I had failed to comfort him as I would have liked to.  I found myself wanting to question God’s goodness and justice just as he was doing.  Both of us struggling to keep the faith in the face of terrible circumstances.  And against that background, the incongruity of the commercial juxtaposed with the reality of the prisoner’s ordeal seemed almost ludicrous.

There is nothing wrong with going on a luxury cruise with a Bible teacher I guess.  But somehow I have a hard time reconciling drinks by the pool, and dancing on the Lido Deck after the evening Bible teaching seminar as being the epitome of the Christian life.  That sort of thing sounds great and is certainly appealing on some level, but I find it at odds with the reality of my own and very many other’s experience as a Christian.  And I find it at odds with the teachings of Christ and the apostles as well.  We are told in Romans 8:17 that our glorification with Christ is directly tied with whether or not we partake in the sufferings of Christ. It says we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  

So at the risk of sounding “gloom and doom” and offending someone, I urge you to consider the context of the passage of scripture today, because Jesus is preparing His disciples for the rigors and trials and tribulations that are a real and present companion to the Christian experience which was true not only for the disciples, but for the modern church as well. So as we begin this chapter, let’s remember the context; it is dark, and the disciples are walking from the Upper Room where they had just observed the Passover, and where Judas had deserted them after being prophesied by Jesus that he would betray Him.  Jesus has just told them that He is going to die, that He is going back to the Father, and that He is leaving them.  He’s told them that He is going to send the Holy Spirit from heaven to comfort them, but they aren’t sure exactly what that means.  Now it’s dark, and they leave the room and wind their way through the city of Jerusalem and around the temple walls, down into the ravine where the Kidron brook is flowing dark red with the blood of thousands of lamb sacrifices offered in the temple, as they make their way up towards the Mount of Olives.  

The disciples are undoubtedly disillusioned,  saddened, and probably more than a little depressed as they climb the hillside expecting to spend yet another cold night out under the stars as was their custom.  And as they walk, Jesus is still talking to them.  He is still teaching them, right up to the last moment.  In spite of all the stress and concern that Jesus must have been feeling as He anticipated the torture that was in front of Him, yet His primary concern is for His followers.  He has just said to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.”  “Peace I leave unto you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives.  Let not your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Then He said, “Let’s go, Let’s get out of here.”  And they began their journey to the Mount of Olives, not knowing what distress was ahead of them, yet Jesus knew it full well.  

As they are walking in the dark up the hillside, perhaps they passed a vineyard that someone had planted.  And as was His custom, Jesus picked up on the metaphor at hand to teach them an important final lesson.  He speaks of a vine, and it’s branches, and the fruit that one would expect from a vineyard.  It was a metaphor that they were very much familiar with.  Vineyards were everywhere in Israel.  And Jesus had spoken of vineyards many times in His preaching, using them often as settings for parables.  But they certainly also knew of them first hand.  They were quite common in Israel.  

In fact, they were a common metaphor for Israel in the Old Testament scriptures as well.  For instance, Psalm 80 says in vs.8, “You have  brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it in this land.” And Isaiah expounds upon that picture in the 5th chapter, vs.7, “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.”  Isaiah goes on to paint a picture of a nation that had abandoned righteousness, and justice, and had spent it’s affection on drinking and carousing and taking advantage of others so that they might live luxuriously.  And he prophesied that God would take vengeance upon them, vs.24, “Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

As the disciples walked past the temple, they may have noticed on the gates of the temple was carved a large gold covered vine, symbolic of Israel.  Israel had been the chosen vine of God, illustrated by the temple, the religious system which God had planted in Israel to give life to the Jews.  But everything that the sacrifices and temple and ceremonies had portrayed, was actually a picture of Jesus.  All the religious life that had been centered in Judaism, actually found it’s source in Him.  The true vine was Jesus.  The religious system centered in the temple was just a picture of Christ.

So Jesus says, “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser.” Jesus is the life, He was the source of life for creation, nothing was made without Him it says in chapter 1 of John.  He was the source of life for Israel, of which the temple and sacrifices merely pointed to. He was the Lamb that was sacrificed for the sins of the world.  He was the rock in the wilderness from which came the living water.  He was the manna from heaven. He was the light that was over the Tabernacle.   And in the same way He is the source of life for the church. He is the Word of God. He is the Way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.  The disciples make up the first church who will represent Christ even as the temple and Israel was to have represented the Lord.

"My Father," Jesus declares, "is the vinedresser." This is the Father's work - he is the "vinedresser," the gardener who takes care of the vineyard. In Verse 5, Jesus clearly identifies that believers, the church, are the branches of the vine: "I am the vine, you are the branches." Furthermore, he indicates there are two kinds of branches - fruitless branches and fruitful branches. Thus right at the beginning of this teaching there is a clear indication that there are two kinds of believers. The difference between them is whether they produce fruit or not.

The first work of the Father in this great vineyard is: "Every branch in Me that bears no fruit'' (every fruitless believer) "he takes away.”  I believe that this statement is actually made about believers, not unbelievers.  In vs.6, Jesus speaks of branches that do not abide and are thrown away and burned.  They are the unbelievers.  But notice Jesus says in vs.2, “In Me.”  He is talking about branches that are His, they are in Him.  He is talking about a believer.  But He is not saying that if they do not bear fruit God will condemn them to be burned with the unbelieving branches in vs.6.  The Greek word translated “takes away” is airo, which actually means to raise up, or lift up from the ground.  It’s not producing fruit because it isn’t getting enough sunlight, it’s lying on the ground.  So there is a work of the vinedresser to lift up unfruitful believers by exposing them to the light.  Fruitfulness is the result of maturity and training and discipline.  So there is a need for that with unfruitful believers and God knows those who are His, those who are in Christ, and He will lift them up to make them productive.  He will raise them up to get them up out of the earth, out of the world, so that they might be exposed to the light of truth, which will train them in righteousness, producing productivity.   So lifting up is speaking of training, discipline which leads to greater fruit.  As  Heb. 12:11says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

The second work of God towards believers is to cleanse the fruit bearing branches.  Jesus said in vs.2, “every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”  The word here, "prunes," really should be “cleanses."  Because vs.3 uses the same word translated as prunes and has it as cleans. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” Now they are both referring to the same thing, so it’s just a matter of semantics.  But for consistency they should be the same. 

But perhaps the reason why the word "prunes" is chosen is because it’s speaking not as being "cut off" but "cut back." This is also what vinedressers do. They not only go through a vineyard and cut off shoots, but they cut back others so that they will bear more fruit.  They are cleaning up the branches by cutting them back.  

I have these knock out rose bushes by my house that I transferred years ago from a development that I was working at.  And in the development, every so often the landscapers would prune those rose bushes back so much that I thought it was ridiculous.  I thought it looked terrible when all these thriving rose bushes were cut so far back.  I didn’t understand why it was necessary.  So I left our bushes alone.  I let them grow bigger and bigger. Today I have the biggest knockout rose bushes that I’ve ever seen.  But the thing is, they don’t produce many roses nowadays.  They have bare areas where nothing grows and sometimes hardly any roses bloom at all.  

So it is with vines and fruit.  God sometimes cuts back fruitful vine to the point of one thinking that they are cut too far back.  They look like He might have killed them.  But God knows that the trials and tribulations that we experience which we think are killing us are only designed to make us more productive.  As the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”  we just sang says, “The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.” 

Pruning, or cleansing is a drastic process. Jesus is clearly teaching here that this is what the Father will do in our lives to make us bear more fruit. He will drastically cut back our lives in a cleansing process. In a vineyard, pruning also removes dirt, cobwebs, dried leaves, and fungus that chokes out growth. And according to the Lord in vs.3, in the life of the believer, this is done by the "word which I have spoken unto you.”

God will use circumstances and trials in a Christian’s life to bring us to the point where the word of God can cleanse us.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  

So the word of God is the knife that does the pruning.  Affliction exposes those areas that need pruning.  Charles Spurgeon spoke of affliction as the dresser, someone that dresses out game.  He said, “Affliction is the dresser that removes our soft garments and lays bare the diseased flesh, so that the knife may get at it.”  Affliction makes us ready for the knife, to prepare us for the Word of God.  So Spurgeon continues,  “It is the Word that prunes the Christian.  It is the truth that purges him.  The Scripture made living and powerful by the Holy Spirit eventually and effectively cleanses the Christian.”

    

Has the word of God ever corrected you in some painful way? I know in my life I went through a time of severe trial, of severe affliction, and I turned to the scriptures to try to understand what was happening.  To know what God was doing, or if in fact it was Him that was doing it.  And why was He doing it.  And ultimately, the word worked in me to prune away deadness, to cleanse me from corruption, chipping away to change me and make me look more like Christ.  To conform me to the image of Jesus by taking away things that were hindering me in my Christian life. It was painful, but it was necessary if I was going to be fruitful.

Many of you have had some experience of this. Sorrow, disappointment, los, or some experience of life left you shocked and hurt, feeling cast off and rejected. Yet here we are encouraged to remind ourselves that this is the work of a loving Father who does it so that we may "bear more fruit.”  

But that raises a very important question. "What exactly is this fruit that God is expecting from us?" The reason our Lord does not identify it directly is because it was already clearly identified in the Old Testament. There, in the passages on the "vine," especially in Isaiah 5, the prophet says that God came to the nation Israel, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, "looking for fruit," which he identifies as "justice and righteousness." But what he found was oppression and misery - mistreatment of others without, and hurt and misery within. He calls these "sour grapes" - not fruit of justice and righteousness that he had every right to expect,  but twisted, self centered, sour fruit.

Paul speaks of the fruit of self centeredness and fleshly living and contrasts that with the fruit that God desires in Galatians 5:19. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

it is clear that the fruit which Jesus is referring to here is Christlikeness - his character reproduced in us.  He is refining us, changing us, transforming us through trials and through the Word into representatives of Christ.  2 Cor.3:18 says, ”We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.”  It”s a process. Sometimes it’s a painful process.  It does not happen by magic, all at once. We are being changed from one degree of glory to another, "for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." The image of Christ is the "fruit" that God is looking for.

I used to think that fruit was people that I had led to Christ.  That was the emphasis that my church gave to fruit when I was growing up. Another misconception is that fruit is how much a church grows or how many people attend.  But that’s not accurate.   Bearing fruit is bearing the image of Christ in all that I do and say.  Fruit is not more people, but people more like Christ. And doing that is made possible as you abide in Christ.  Look at vs.4 and 5.  “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  

That makes sense doesn’t it?  If we are going to look like Christ, then we must have Christ in us, and we have to be in Christ.  Now how does that work?  Well, first of all, we must have the Spirit of Christ abiding in us.  This is a supernatural transaction that comes as a result of our salvation.  We repent of our sins, we are made holy by faith in Christ, and we are given new life by being born again in the Spirit.  The Spirit of God takes up residence in us.  

But we can have the Spirit of God in us and yet not be filled with the Spirit, nor do the works of the Spirit.  It takes more than just a spark to make a car’s engine run. It also takes gas.  So though we have the Spirit in us, we must also be attuned to the Spirit through the word.  It’s not enough to say we have the Spirit in us, we can just lay back and cruise through the Christian life and if God wants something done He will do it all by Himself.  We need to depend upon God, but we also need discipline.  That’s the spark and the gasoline.  

Some Christians emphasize dependence on God. But they don’t like the idea of discipline. They never read the Bible. They don’t go to church unless it’s a holiday or some special occasion.  They don’t want to worry about training in holiness.  They expect God to speak directly to them, and put them into automatic pilot. They float around expecting God to do all the directing, open all the doors, and they seldom bother to deny themselves. That kind of dependence without discipline results in empty spirituality, a fake piety that sounds good, but is in fact worthless.  It’s what James referred to as “faith without works.”  It’s dead.  It’s like dead branches that produce no fruit.   Abiding in Christ is a very practical thing.  It’s abiding in the word.  It’s abiding in His body, that is the church.  It’s abiding in His commands, which produces holiness and Christlikeness. That’s the peaceable fruit of righteousness according to Hebrews 12:11.

But not everyone who says that they are in Christ actually are.  Jesus said twice in Matthew 7, “By their fruits you shall know them.”  So He says in Vs.6, ”If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned." If you are not Christ’s, then God will remove the fruitless branch and cast it into the fire.  He is speaking obviously of the judgment against the ungodly.  

That again is the  work of the Father - removing the fruitless branches. Those like Judas who gather with the people of God for awhile and appear to be believers - they show a certain degree of life. Leaves may be present, they hang around with all the fruit bearers,  but there is no fruit in themselves. Ultimately these people eventually leave the vine. They do not stay with the body. As the Lord makes clear, it is a process: There is first the "withering" of the life they apparently had for awhile. Then the branches are "gathered," then "thrown into the fire," and ultimately "burned." This is a reference to Matthew 25:41, when Jesus speaks of the end of the age, when the angels will come and gather out of the Kingdom of God all that are not His, and throw them into eternal fire, and they are burned. These are those that are not truly saved.

Like Judas, they may have looked the part.  They were part of the church.  They even performed works like healing and casting out devils.  But they are not saved.  Jesus speaks of these folks in Matthew 7:21, saying, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Listen, this is a fact about church growth that doesn’t get any traction today in the relevant, seeker friendly church.  God is not interested in numbers.  He isn’t interested in large crowds of people that give lip service, but who are not truly being transformed into the image of Christ.  He cuts away those that are not abiding in Him.  He doesn’t want pew fillers.  He wants disciples who are being made in the image of Christ.  Don’t be discouraged when people leave the church.  God adds, and God takes away.  The church is the Lord’s and He will build the church. And God in HIs wisdom knows which branches to cut away so that the church will bear fruit.

Finally, let’s look really quickly at four evidences of fruit in the last five verses.  Vs.7, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."

The first evidence of a fruitful life is the impact of answered prayer. You become effective at praying. I’ve said it before, when James says the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much, the emphasis should be on righteous. God hears the prayer of the righteous.  So when you are abiding in Him, and His words are abiding in you, then you will receive what you ask for.  

We must never forget that prayer and promise are linked together. Prayer is not a way of getting God to do what you want him to do, rather it is asking him to do what he has promised to do. We pray according to the promises. So if you want to make your prayers effective begin to read and study the promises of God. When you do, you will pray according to the mind and will of God. And, as Jesus says, whatever you ask will be done. That’s the first fruit.  Abiding in Christ produces effective prayer.

The second fruit is in vs.8, ”By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." Your righteous life will be a testimony to the transformative power of God.  There is no greater witness for God than that of a transformed, sold out life.  And that is how you glorify God.  Again, not by lip service, but by proving to be a disciple.  Abiding in Christ produces righteous living, which proves you are His disciple to a watching world.

Thirdly, vs.9-10, ”As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." The third fruit of abiding in Christ is that you will keep HIs commandments, and thus you will love Him.  The fruit of love is that you keep His commandments, even as Christ kept the Father’s commandments.  We are like Christ, because we are to Christ as Christ was to the Father. So abiding produces love, and love produces obedience.

Then the last evidence of fruit is in vs. 11, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."  Notice, that My joy may be in you…What was his joy? In the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews vs.2 it says of Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.”  What was it that filled his heart with joy as he faced the cross, and enabled him to go through that terrible ordeal? It was the expectation that he would be the instrument of redemption for the entire world - that a host, a great harvest of people, would be changed and redeemed and restored, real life given  to them - by his work on the cross. In other words, his joy was the joy of being used of God.

That is the greatest joy anyone can know. There is the inheritance of the believer; the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, and peace.  Those are the three themes of chapter 14 an 15.  Not as the world gives, but as God gives, as Christ illustrates, and we imitate.  And as we abide in Christ and He abides in us, we can experience true love, joy and peace because He is the source, the Vine,  and we are the branches which abide in Him.

The peace of God, John 14:27-31

The two biggest themes of the 60’s generation, aka, the hippie movement, were peace and love.  When you look at images from that era, whether they be concerts or sit ins, or protests, or whatever, you often see them holding signs professing their desire for both. In fact, it was trendy in those days to espouse both of those as ideals.  I remember very well as a young person holding up two fingers in a peace sign and saying “Peace, man,” in place of the usual hello and goodbyes. It was the thing to do. Young people drew peace signs everywhere.  It was a popular concept, but unfortunately, they had a much different type of peace in mind  than that which was traditionally thought of up until that point in society.

I have spoken many times in my messages concerning love, and the biblical view as opposed to the world’s view, particularly as expressed by that generation, but I have not said as much about peace.  However, today we find ourselves at a passage of scripture when Jesus Himself speaks of peace.  The peace which He offers though, He said is not as the world gives.  So once again, we see biblical principles co-opted by the world, and a need to define our terms according to sound doctrine in contrast to that of popular conceptions.

In the 60’s, peace came to mean a lot of things.  Peace came to mean a state of mind, like “a peaceful, easy feeling,” according to the Eagles, perhaps induced by drugs or dropping out of society and forming a commune.  But I would suggest that it’s origin as a mantra of the hippie movement stemmed from their desire to see the war in Vietnam come to an end.  And that ideal seems to still be most associated with the concept of peace in the world today.  For many in the world, peace is an ideal that is worth any cost, even the loss of many freedoms.  Many people just feel that peace, or the absence of war or hostilities or violence is an end that justifies any means necessary.

My goal here today is not to debate that kind of idealism, or the politics of appeasement in the name of peace.  But my goal is to explain what kind of peace Jesus was referring to.  Because it is important to note that Jesus is making a promise of peace. He is leaving them a promise of their inheritance.  He has said repeatedly that He was leaving the disciples.  He was speaking here in this passage on the night before His crucifixion.  This whole passage of several chapters is called the Upper Room Discourse.  And as the disciples begin to understand that He has been betrayed by one of their own, and that He is leaving them to go back to heaven, they are troubled.  They are understandably upset.  So He begins this chapter by saying, “Let not your heart be troubled.”  He offers them assurance and comfort that He will be with them in the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  And that one day He will physically return for the church and they would be with them for ever.

Last week we looked specifically at the promise and purpose of the Holy Spirit, and that Jesus refers to Him as the Helper, or the Comforter. So today’s passage must be considered in that same context.  Jesus’s promise of peace is given in the context of “don’t let your hearts be troubled.”  It’s the context of “I will send you a Helper, I will not leave you as orphans.  I will come to you.”

So in that same train of thought, Jesus says, ““Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” It’s an echo of verse one, to some extent.  I would say that it is an extrapolation of verse one.  You should not be troubled in heart because Jesus leaves you peace, He gives you His peace.

So within that context we can be pretty certain that Jesus is not talking about the cessation or absence of war.  He is speaking of a peace of soul, of the heart, of the mind.  It is the peace spoken of in Philippians 4:7, which says, “And the peace  of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Now that is the peace that we all need, is it not?  That is the peace which Christ promises.  And yet I would suggest that is not the daily experience of most of us.

I believe that most doctors would agree that stress and anxiety are at the root of many of  our health problems today as a society.  And I can assure you that Christians are not exempt from it either.  I read an article the other day that claimed antidepressants showed up in significant, measurable amounts in most cities tap water in the United States. That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “drinking the  koolaid,” doesn’t it? I don’t know what that means for the safety of our drinking water, but I will say that it indicates that our society is still trying to find some sort of peace through drugs.  So I believe that this promise of Christ is one that is especially pertinent today.  And it’s especially pertinent for Christians whose hearts are troubled by the trials and tribulations that we endure in this world.  That we might find the peace that Christ spoke of at the end of this Upper Room Discourse, in chapter  16:33, saying, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

So as we consider this vital text, I would like to break it down into four points, which hopefully will help us to see it in the light it was intended.  First let’s look at the principle of peace, then the promise of peace, then the possession of peace, and finally the practice of peace.

First the principle of peace.  And I deliberately use that phrase because it is sort of a play on words.  See, the principle of peace belongs to the Prince of Peace.  Jesus says, it is “My peace.”  It belongs to Him.   It is His to leave to us, and it is His to give.  It is His peace.  We just inherit it, if we are His disciples.

This title for Christ is found in the prophecy made familiar by Handle’s Messiah.  It finds it’s origin in Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness, From then on and forevermore.The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Now that is obviously referring to the Kingdom of God, of which Christ rules. In this present age we experience the Kingdom of God spiritually, but upon Christ’s return we shall see it in glory.  But for now, Christ rules over His people, through whom He rules the world.

But there is a rebellion against the Kingdom of God.  That rebellion began in ages past when Lucifer desired to be like God and took with him in his rebellion one third of the hosts of heaven.  And then Satan seduced God’s creation,  the crown of His creation - man who was made in the image of God, to be like God, who was to rule the world with God - Satan seduced mankind to join him in that rebellion, and so mankind fell and has become a slave of the kingdom of darkness, even willfully participating in that rebellion against God.  So that James 4:4 says, the world is an enemy of God.

Christ then is the Prince of Peace because He came to earth to reconcile mankind to God.  To make peace with God through His atonement for their sin.  Hebrews 2:14 says, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”  Christ defeated the power of death, and Satan, so that whosoever believes in Him, would be saved from their sin and be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of LIght, being born again as sons and daughter’s of God.

That transaction, where God places the punishment for our rebellion against Christ, and transfers Christ’s righteousness unto those who by faith believe in Him, is what Ephesians 6:15 calls the “gospel of peace.”

And that is how Christ can refer to it as His peace.  It is His gospel, it is His good news, it is His victory which produces that peace, it is His to give to those who by faith believe in Him, because He won it, He purchased it with His blood.  So because He purchased peace with God, we can have peace of mind.  I have made a statement for the last couple of weeks, and I will say it again this morning: The greatest comfort in life is to know God, and to be known by God.  Perhaps you have seen the bumper sticker which says, “Know God, know Peace.  No God, no peace.”  Because we are His, and He is mine, I can have a peace that passes all understanding.  Because I know Him who knows the future.  I know Him who triumphed over Satan.  I know Him who stilled the storm, who raised the dead, who healed the sick.  I know Him who was from the beginning, and who always will be, even through eternity.

Now there is so much more that I could say, but let’s move on to the next point.  But that first point, the principle of peace is foundational.  All the rest build upon that rock.  So we had to establish our foundation for peace, which is the principle of peace, made possible by the Prince of Peace.

Secondly, there is the promise of peace.  Really, it is our inheritance.  This is in effect the last will and testament of Jesus Christ.  He who had no earthly goods, left us the most priceless treasure that no amount of money can buy.  He leaves us peace.  You know, a will is only a promise while the person is living, but when they die, the executor acts in accordance with the will and makes it so.  However, I’m sure you have all heard of cases where the people who were supposed to receive an inheritance ended up getting cheated out of the will of the deceased.  And in such cases, it is possible to hear someone say, “Oh if so and so were alive, he would have wanted this person to get the inheritance, and he would make sure that they did.”  But of course, the person is dead, and that sometimes doesn’t happen.  But we have an inheritance made sure, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead and lives and rules from heaven.  We can be sure of our inheritance because He lives to make intercession for us.

We are entitled to this promise because we are the children of God by faith in Christ. We are not of this world, as Jesus says His peace is not as the world gives.  But a peace from God. Rom 8:16, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Our promise then is not founded upon wishful thinking.  The world cries for “peace, peace, but there is no peace.”  But peace is promised in God’s word.  And His word cannot fail.  His word is forever settled in heaven.  HIs word is doubly guaranteed by the Father and by Jesus Christ, and He has given us the Spirit of God as a pledge of that promise, the same Spirit who is called the Comforter.  The very presence of God is our peace.  The Comforter is who Jesus was promising would come, who would testify of Him, who would indwell His disciples and be with them forever.  That is why He could say in vs.28, “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.  Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.”

We know that the promise is sure because we know that Jesus died and rose again and is now seated at the Father’s right hand.  Because God raised Him from the dead, we know that we have the things that He has promised us.  Because Christ was counted righteous, and His sacrifice was sufficient, and the penalty was paid in full, therefore God did not allow Him to stay dead, but raised Him to show that He had triumphed over the devil and sin and the grave.  That is why Jesus says in vs.30, “the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.”  His resurrection proved His words were true, and thus we can have the assurance that His promise to us of peace will be true. Thus, I am His and He is Mine, and nothing can touch us without His approval.

Thirdly, not just the promise but we have the possession of peace.  How do we go from the promise to the possession?  I would submit to you it is by the same principle found in all of our salvation.  The just shall live by faith.  It is by faith that we possess the promise of peace.  That is how we receive peace with God.  And that is how we will achieve peace of heart and mind.

The best example of having that kind of peace is found in the life of Jesus. What kind of peace did Jesus have? Did he have the peace of a placid, stress free existence? Did he have the peace of an emotionless, stoic kind of life? Well, no, he had  peace born out of the confidence that He was God’s Son. But if you look at our Lord’s experiences, his experiences were anything but emotionless or stressless. He was a man of griefs, of sorrows, of emotions like anger and heartache and feelings of rejection and unbelief. Often we have seen that Christ was troubled in spirit.  Yet in HIs troubles He had peace.

It’s interesting to note that at the very time that our Lord talks about peace and presents this peace as His own peace that He’s granting to His followers, He is at the most dramatic, disturbing, distressing moment in His life.  He is leaving the world in hours through the means of execution on a cross, and He knows that, and He knows the details of it full well.  And yet He is at peace.

Why?  Because He knows that He is in the will of God.  He knows that He is working in conjunction with the Spirit of God.  He believes in the sovereignty of God.  He believes in the Word of God which prophesied all that happened and would happen to Him.  He had peace because He knew that He was the Son of God and all that happened was working according to the plan of God.

But, you might protest, “that was Christ.  Christ was sinless.  I am not.  How can I have that same peace?”  Well, we can have that same peace when we abide in Christ.  That is what Jesus goes on to teach in the next chapter.  As we abide in Christ, specifically, as we walk in the Spirit of Christ, as we follow His leading, as we live by His teaching, we have peace knowing that we are in accordance with God’s will, and He hears us in whatsoever we ask of Him. Jesus was confident, at peace, in spite of the circumstances, because He knew that the devil had nothing on Him.  He had not given the devil a foothold in His life.  He had not lowered the armor of God to allow the devil an opportunity in any way.  He knew that He had been faithful to the word of God, that He was living in the will of God.  And that confidence is available to us as we abide in Christ.

Listen, you may not be able to say that today.  I think all of us will find ourselves from time to time compromised in our spiritual situation.  That is why we need our feet washed on a regular basis.  We need the daily cleansing and confession and restoration every day to maintain that peace with God.  Our possession of peace is tied to our perseverance in our faith.  That is why we are commanded to be sanctified, to be holy even as God is holy.  That is why James says we are to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts, so that we might have a clean conscience before God. That the devil will have no hold on us, no part in us. That is how we possess the promise of peace.

If God is the source of peace, then we need to draw near to God and He will draw near to us.  When you know that you are right with God, then you will know the peace of God.  You will know that peace which transcends our circumstances, without the fear that we are experiencing sin’s consequences.  There is a great difference between the two.  Those who are out of step with God and running after the lusts and passions of the world suffer the consequences of doing wrong.  And there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord.  But those who walk in the Spirit, know the peace of God which transcends whatever circumstances that may come.

And that brings us to the final point, the practice of peace.  About 20 years ago, I found myself at a point where I had no peace.  I almost lost my mind.  I went through about 4 years of daily anxiety attacks which were absolutely crippling.  In the process, I lost my home which I had built with my own hands, I lost my career as a nationally recognized antique dealer and authority, and I lost all my money, furniture, and cars eventually.  During that time, God used those circumstances to prune away all those things which were keeping me from communion with Him.

I wanted nothing more in those days than peace.  I wanted mental peace.  And so I turned to the source of peace, the word of God.  But it wasn’t just as easy as name it and claim it. It was a long process of proving scripture to be true and trustworthy.  There was one passage of scripture in particular though that came to mean a lot to me, and through it I found the formula for peace.  We like formula’s, don’t we? “Three ways to prosperity.”  “Five ways to peace.” “Ten steps to marital reconciliation.”  Pastor’s obviously love them too.  But this passage really does seem to be a formula from God specifically to help us find this peace that Jesus promises.

It’s found in Philippians chapter 4, and I will read from vs.6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Well, that sounds an awful lot like the first  verse of John 14, doesn’t it?  “Let not your heart be troubled.” And also vs. 13 and 14, when Jesus says, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” Maybe there is a pattern here. Peace starts with prayer.

Then Paul says in vs.7 of Phil.4, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Well, that’s what Jesus promised in vs27, isn’t it?  That’s what we want, our hearts and minds at peace.  Notice that Paul says that peace is found in Christ Jesus.  But then Paul goes from the theological, to the practical, as he so often does in his epistles.  First he gives us the doctrine, and then he gives us the application.  And so he does in vs8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”  So the formula so far is pray, praise, and ponder.  Ponder means to think on these things.  Meditate on them.

So peace comes as we think on those things, whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute, worthy of praise, let your mind think on these things.  Listen, there is so much there that I could preach on that list for a week.  But let me just highlight one, briefly.  Our trouble is in our minds.  The mind is the battlefield, more often than not.  And where we get off track usually is in the first one on the list; truth.  Whatever is true.  We need to start practicing peace by telling ourselves the truth.  The devil is the father of lies.  And he has engineered the world system to be a system of lies.  So that the average person doesn’t or can’t tell the truth from a lie.  They want to believe the lie because it sounds so appealing to the flesh.  A person becomes a drug addict because they have bought into the lie that drugs are fun, that they won’t hurt you.  A person becomes an adulturer because they believe the lie that a little flirtation is harmless, or a little pornography isn’t such a big deal.  You get the picture.

I believed the lies of “what if’s” that constantly bombarded my mind during my anxiety attacks.  If I believed the lies, I was crippled and couldn’t work or travel.  But when I believed the promises of God, then I found deliverance.  So let your mind dwell on the truth.  And I can assure you that the truth is found in God’s word.  And all of Paul’s list can be found in God’s word.

Then Paul says in vs.9, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”   Practice what things?  The things which are taught in God’s word, the truth, the right things, the honorable things, the principles of sanctified Christianity.  Those things.  Practice the application of sound doctrine.  Practice those things.  Oh my!  Sounds like legalism doesn’t it?  You mean peace doesn’t come by just giving lip service to God but living like the devil?  No, I’m afraid not.  If you are truly a child of God, then He says He chastises those He loves when they disobey.  So instead practice righteousness.  Practice holiness. You say, well I’m not very good at it.  I sin a lot.  I can’t help it.  Well, Paul says practice some more.  It’s like learning to play the piano.  It takes practice.  And the more you practice, the better at it you will get.  Practice makes perfect.  And Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”  So practice what we learn by pondering God’s word and we will have perfect peace.


Heb.5:14 tells us, “that because of practice we have our senses trained to discern good and evil.”  Peter tells us in  2Peter 1:10, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.”  So we practice the things which Paul and Peter and John give us as applications of righteousness in their epistles. and when we do them, Paul says, the peace of God will be with you.”  “The peace that passes all comprehension.”

Listen, in this world you will have trouble.  If we get caught up in the lies of this world, we will not have peace.  But I can assure you that Jesus has left us His peace, it is a gift of God.  By faith in Christ we have peace with God.  And then practically we let our minds ponder on the truth of God, and we practice the doctrines of God, so that we might have our hearts and minds fixed by the peace which only God can give, in spite of whatever circumstances we might find ourselves in.  We know we are His, and He knows us.  That is the comfort which we can all appropriate through faith in Christ.

John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”