The most common disease afflicting mankind today is not cardiovascular disease, but it is heart trouble. Heart trouble plagues far more than cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer combined. Symptoms include – anxiety, worry, fear, dread, panic, difficulty sleeping, discouragement, depression, gloom and despair.

I’m not fully cured of heart trouble. I have flare ups here and there of worry and discouragement. But I’m on my way to being cured. My flare ups are becoming less frequent and less intense. My steady improvement is all thanks to my physician, the Lord Jesus.

I’d like to take us back in our minds to the same time and place we went last Sunday, to the upper room where Jesus was gathered with His disciples for a meal the night He would be betrayed, arrested and begin to suffer for our sins. We saw how Jesus that night sought to impress upon His disciples the most important skill for disciples to develop, and that is loving one another as He loves us. We will see in John 14, on that night Jesus also sought to relieve them of their troubled hearts, relieve them of worry and fear. They were troubled because they knew Jesus was leaving them. Where and why, they didn’t know. They had not yet caught on to the fact He was actually going to die, rise, and ascend to heaven. They just knew He was leaving. They had heard that one of their number was going to betray Him and they didn’t know what that was all about. They were worried about the future.

Twice in John 14, Jesus says to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” (John 14:1, 27) It’s incredible! The one who knows that in less than 24 hours He will be hanging in agony from a cross is the one trying to comfort the others.

 He also words it this way in verse 27…

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”

It’s not peace with all people or peaceful circumstances. He will tell them later in the same talk, “They persecuted Me, they will persecute you.” (15:20). And “In the world you will have tribulation.” (16:33). I think it’s an inner peace primarily that Jesus had in mind, the opposite of being troubled in heart. Jesus always had an unusual peace about Him in the midst of frightening and difficult circumstances.

Remember in the one glimpse we have of Jesus’ childhood, when He was twelve years old and He had come with His family to Jerusalem for Passover and His family accidently left Him when they set out for home, and didn’t realize it until they were a full day out. Imagine being twelve years old lost in a big city for a couple days with no cell phones and the authorities are not going to be bothered with your problem? I’m pretty sure they would have found me in a panic or crying in a corner somewhere. But a couple days later, where did they find twelve year old Jesus? He was just sitting in Bible class in the temple, discussing God with the Rabbis, amazing people with His theological understanding at twelve years old.

Think of all the things in His ministry that would normally frighten, worry, discourage, or depress a person.  He had offended most of the Jewish leaders. The people of His hometown wanted to throw him off a cliff. Some in Jerusalem wanted to stone Him. Sometimes He had nowhere to lay His head at night. Everybody misunderstood Him. False rumors were being spread about Him. People were constantly demanding His time and energy. Yet He seems to take it all in stride. He never freaked out. He never ran away. There’s no indications He was stressed out, worried or scared.

The only time I find Jesus really scared and anxious was this day and night before He went to the cross. But even then He handles it unusually well.

Remember one evening sailing across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus went to the back of the boat, laid down on a cushion and went to sleep. It says a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, the waves got so high they started to break over the boat and fill it. The disciples went into a panic, thinking they were going under for sure.  Jesus just continued to sleep amidst the chaos… until they woke Him up. “Teacher! Do you not care we are perishing?!”  He rolled His eyes, sat up and told the wind and the sea to knock it off. It all became perfectly calm. He turned to His disciples and said, “Why are you afraid?  Where is your faith?”

Do you have the peace of Jesus? How well do you sleep in storms? How about when they’re not happy with your performance at work, you’re not able to meet the demands and likely you’ll be let go, and you’re not sure where to find another job? Or when the bills are more than you make, and the car and washing machine are on their last leg? Or when the doctor’s report is “It doesn’t look good”? When there are people threatening you? Are you still okay? Are you still calm, thankful, positive? Can you sleep in the midst of it?

Jesus could. And before He left the world He said, “My peace I leave you. I want to you to enjoy the peace that I enjoy. And I’m making it available to you.”

Then He adds in John 14:27…

“Not as the world gives do I give to you.“

How does the world give you peace? Or try to give you peace?

Some may prescribe you some pills, some Prozac or Celexa or Zoloft. Others may pour you a strong drink.

I did a Google search on “how to have peace.” I was advised to practice some relaxation techniques like belly breathing, long walks, yoga, music, meditation, swimming. I heard I should set limits to how many times I check my email and social media. I need to slow down. I need to unclutter, simplify, and organize. I need to develop the habit of being 10 minutes early to everything. That’s supposed to help me not be so stressed.  I need to escape on occasion in a good book or movie. I need to always bear in mind the five words, “one thing at a time.”

Pascal, the great 17^th century French philosopher and physicist, observed another method the world employs and would advise for peace. He wrote, “Being unable to cure death, wretchedness, and ignorance, men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things.”  In other words, when confronted with the realities of our existence that trouble our hearts, like death and injustice and the futility of what we’re doing and such, we need to just put our fingers in our ears, and go  “Na na na na na na…” Or distract ourselves with yard work, television and games and hobbies and our career, just try not to think about the negative realities of our existence so we can have some measure of peace.

But you know, any peace experienced through those methods is shallow and momentary. The drugs wear off and have side effects. The realities of death and evil and the futility of things and such, you cannot always keep out of your mind. And none of those methods give you peace when you’re caught in the storm of cancer or bereavement or being hated by people or divorce or losing your home or things like that.

Jesus offers His deep, lasting, storm-enduring peace. And the way to receive it is not through any of the world’s methods.

It’s a joint effort with Him and the Father. It’s not something we achieve all on our own. Nor is it something He just does for us without requiring any change or choices on our part. It is a cooperation.

What’s our part? What does the Lord require of us?

According to John 14, it is the attitudes toward Jesus and the Father of trust and love.

The emphasis of the first half of the chapter is on the importance of trust. Though you probably don’t find the word “trust” in your version. But that’s the idea of the phrase, “Believe in…” that you see repeatedly. Like in 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” To believe in someone in Scripture and first century language meant not simply to acknowledge the person’s existence or some facts about him. It was to trust the person. It is to accept what they say as truth. It is to acknowledge they know better than you in the matters about which they speak. It is to be confident that what they promise will happen is going to happen. To believe in God and in Jesus is not to simply acknowledge they exist somewhere in the universe. It is to accept as true what they tell us in Scripture about the world, about themselves, about us, about the future. Verse 1, “Believe in God; believe also in Me.” Verse 10, “Do you not believe…?” Verse 11, “Believe me…” Verse 12, “Whoever believes in me…“

The emphasis of the second half of the chapter is on the importance of loving Jesus. Verse 15, “If you love me…” Verse 21 is about he who loves me. Verse 23, “If anyone loves me…” Verse 24, “Whoever does not love me…” Verse 28, “If you loved me…” Verse 31, “… I love the Father.” To love another is to value and treasure them, to desire the best for them, for them to be pleased, honored, exalted, happy.

Now, trust/belief and love are not inconsequential attitudes that can be hidden and inactive in your heart. They are the controlling attitudes that govern all that we say and do. We always behave according to what we believe and love. Our outward actions are inseparably connected to our inner beliefs and loves.

When you head out this morning I suspect you will drive on the right side of the road, not the left. Why? Because you have some measure of care for yourself and others and you believe that’s in the best interest of yourself and others to drive on that side. What you care about and believe makes you drive on the right side.

When you go sit down in a chair for lunch, because you care for yourself, you only sit in a chair that you believe is structurally sound and is not going to collapse underneath you.

But what if your spouse is about to sit in a chair that’s missing bolts, which you believe will easily collapse? Do you warn him/her? Well, it depends what you believe about how fragile they are and how difficult they’ve been the last few days.

… The beliefs and love in our hearts controls what we say and do.

Jesus brings that out here and elsewhere in the gospel of John about trust and love for Him. It’s exhibited in the actions of listening to Jesus and obeying Him and imitating Him.

Jesus says repeatedly here if you love me you will keep my commandments or you will keep my word, which requires first listening to His word.

It’s also what trust makes you do. John 3:36, “Whoever believes in [trusts] the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.” He identifies the opposite of one who trusts the Son as someone who does not obey the Son. If you don’t obey Him then you do not really trust Him. He promises He has your best welfare at heart and has a better way for you to deal with people and handle your money and your business and time and so forth, expressed in His commands. If you trust Him, you do things His way. John 10:26, Jesus said to some, “You do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.” Sheep trust their shepherd has their best welfare at heart and He knows best, so they’re attentive when He speaks and follow where He leads.

So this is our part. It’s nothing complicated. And it’s certainly nothing that merits or makes us deserving of anything from God. We don’t deserve the air we breathe. But it’s God’s simple requirement of us. We must trust and love the One He sent for us, exhibited in listening to Him, obeying and following.

Are you doing your part? Do you trust and love Jesus? Are you keeping His commandments? Remember the main one. Jesus said, “Love one another like I love you.” How we value and treat one another I think is a gauge that reflects how much we trust and love Jesus and the Father.

Now, last thing I want to point out. Four promises that heal our troubled hearts if we believe them.

Four promises Jesus makes to those who trust and love Him.

1. We have rooms in the Father’s house.

“2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

I have questions about that. What did Jesus mean by “prepare a place for you”? Did He mean just make a place with the Father possible for us through His death on the cross? Or did He mean, more like how it sounds, that He would go to where the Father lives, do some more construction and decorating, something like that? I don’t know what that means. Is the Father’s house what Hebrews 11 calls the heavenly city who’s designer and builder is God? Will this city come onto the new earth when Christ comes back as pictured at the end of Revelation? Or am I taking the imagery too literally? I don’t know for sure.

But it sure gives me peace to know that where God lives, there’s a room, an apartment, some dwelling place that has my name on it. And nothing I face in this world, no catastrophe or devastation or problem is going take my name off it or keep me for going there. I have a room in the Father’s house.

2. We need nothing more than our relationship with Jesus.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.“

If we know Jesus we know the way through life, the way to live, by which we can live again, with our Father in His house, in new bodies on the new earth and in a new heavens. If we’re hearing His voice and following Him, we’re following the way. If we know Jesus we know the truth about God and the world and ourselves and the future. If we have Jesus we have the life that’s possible beyond this little sample that everybody tastes in this world.

3. The Father to whom we’re going is exactly like Jesus.  

Philip says, “The Father as you call Him, Jesus, that you’re going to and You say we’re going to, what is He like? We don’t mind coming to live with you forever, but what is the Father like?” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. My words are the Father’s words. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

The Father is not the remote, impersonal, uncaring God that some people believe in. He is as wonderful, kind, patient, and delightful to be around as Jesus. When you know Jesus you know exactly what God is like.

4. If we trust and love Him, the Holy Spirit of God will come into us and remain in us to help along the way.

I really think this promise is not just for these particular disciples. This is for us. Before we read about it in John 14, let me remind you of Peter’s words in Acts 2:38-39 to the crowds in Jerusalem who had become convinced Jesus is the risen Lord, and they said what shall we do, “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.””

John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth [perhaps because this Spirit opens people’s eyes to see truth], whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him [you know this Spirit that will come and be with you. Sounds like verses 7-8, where Jesus told him, “You know the Father. And Philip said, ‘No we don’t.” And Jesus said “Yes you do because you know me.” And now He says you know the Spirit that You will receive. And here’s the reason], for he dwells with you and will be in you. [The Spirit is with you now. Outside of you, but close to you. You’ve been living with Him, but soon He is not just going to be with you, but in you.] 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Wait a minute Jesus, you’re coming to us? Are you coming in addition to the Helper, the Spirit? Or are you the Spirit you’re talking about? (cf. II Corinthians 3:17-18) Well, Jesus doesn’t explain it to them here, but He does promise more explanation in the future.] “19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” [I will show you my glory. I will help you understand me.] 22  Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. [That word for home is used one other time in the gospel and it was 14:2. “In my Father’s house are many rooms (homes),” same word in Greek. Jesus says He’s preparing our rooms in His Father’s house. And He and the Father make their room with us, I think in our bodies.”  24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. [So those who reject Jesus reject the Father. They don’t receive the blessing presence of the Father and Jesus.] 25 These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

The presence of the wonderful, kind, patient, powerful Jesus is in me to help me through life. Jesus doesn’t get into many details here about how all the Spirit helps us. But He wants His disciples to know that though we don’t see Him anymore, He has not left us as orphans who have to take care of themselves; learn and do everything on their own. Though we don’t see Him, He is very present to help us get through life to where we want to be.

Let not our hearts be troubled. God is with you, God is in you, to help you along the way. The more we see those four promises, the less trouble our hearts have, the more peace we enjoy. Trust and love Jesus and we can have the peace that Jesus had.

-James Williams