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JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
“OUR VICTORIOUS SAVIOR
GIVES US PEACE IN HIMSELF”
Sunday, May 13, 2007
6th Sunday of Easter
[Acts 16:9-15; Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27]
In the name of the Triune God—Father,  Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“I have said these things to you, that in me
you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the
world.”
(John 16:33)
INTRODUCTION: Dearly beloved fellow peacelovers as well as, hopefully, peacemakers.
Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount,
(Matt 5:9)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called sons of God.”
Faithful God-fearing mothers play an important
role of peacemakers in Christian families. No matter how young or old their children may be, Biblebelieving Immanuel-loving mothers devote much
time and energy to making and preserving peace
among their children. For that and many other selfsacrificial acts of love we thank all the mothers here
[this evening/morning] [and listening in on our radio
broadcast] and we honor you as Jesus honored His
own mother, Mary. May you have a truly wonderful
and God-blessed “Mother’s Day.”
A very brief sampling of His “peace” statements
reveals the following things Jesus said about peace
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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that the four Gospel-writers recorded. From the pen
of St. Matthew we hear Jesus say,
(Matt 10:34)
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace
to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a
sword.”
We hear Jesus through the pen of St. Mark say,
(Mark 9:50)
“Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with
one another.”
St. Luke wrote the following statement that Jesus
spoke,
(Luke 7:50)
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Finally, St. John recorded that Jesus said,
(John 14:27)
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.”
“Peace” was a major topic with Jesus. That was
also true with the Apostle Paul, who began each of
his letters that are collected in the New Testament
with a greeting that included at least,
(Rom 1:7)
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That peace about which Jesus spoke and St.
Paul wrote is not what the world understands to be
merely the absence of war, conflict, and contention.
Rather, it is God’s gracious gift of being reunited
with our heavenly Father and one another through
the God-man Jesus Christ (something that results in
the absence of war, conflict, and contention). It’s
what St. Paul stated in his letter to the Ephesians,
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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“For he himself [Jesus Christ] is our peace,
who has made us both one and has broken down in his
flesh the dividing wall of hostility.”
Our text for today emphatically drives that message home by informing us with our Lord’s own
words that ...
(Eph 2:14)
Transition: OUR VICTORIOUS SAVIOR GIVES
US PEACE IN HIMSELF knowing that Through
Jesus We Have Peace with the Father because
The Father Is Always with Jesus.
I. THROUGH JESUS WE HAVE PEACE WITH
THE FATHER. [24-28: “Until now you have asked
nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that
your joy may be full. I have said these things to you
in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will
no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will
tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will
ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will
ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself
loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father
and have come into the world, and now I am leaving
the world and going to the Father.”] We struggle
with the twin challenges of peace and prayer.
When in one or more situations of fear, fright,
anxiety, or whatever Satan uses to try to disrupt
peace, we do well to pray. When we do so it’s
absolutely essential that we …
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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A. Pray to the Father through Jesus. A brief
Bible-based catechetical review reminds us
that
(LUTHER’S SMALL CATECHISM WITH EXPLANATION, © 1991
“We should pray A. in the name of Jesus, that is, with faith in Him as our Redeemer; B.
with confidence, that is, with firm trust that for Jesus’ sake our prayers will be answered; [and] C.
according to God’s revealed will.”
Could it be that when it seems that God
doesn’t hear or answer our prayers it’s because we neglected to pray in Jesus’ name
and according to God’s will? Jesus gave us
the perfect example of praying according to
God’s will when, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said,
(Matt 26:39)
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as
you will.”
After all,
(Ibid,, © 1991 CPH, pp. 172.)
“God hears the prayers of
all Christians and answers them in His own way
and at His own time.”
God Himself reassures us of that when He
tells us in His Spirit-inspired Holy Word,
(Isa 65:24)
“Before they call I will answer; while
they are yet speaking I will hear.”
and St. Paul testified to that when he said,
CPH, pp. 171.)
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“Three times I pleaded with the Lord
about this, that it should leave me. But he said to
me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power
is made perfect in weakness.’”
Consider also God’s gracious invitation to
pray and His promise to respond that Asaph
composed,
(Ps 50:15)
“... call upon me in the day of trouble; I
will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Jesus personally invited our prayers and
promised to respond when He instructed in
His “Sermon on the Mount,”
(Matt 7:7-8)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to
you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one
who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will
be opened.”
Our prayer activity both honors and glorifies the Almighty Triune God and confesses
our trust that He cares for us. In fact, ...
B. Our Faith in and Love for Jesus Invites the
Father to Love Us. Earlier in John’s gospel
narrative he recorded that Jesus said,
(John 14:13)
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I
will do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son.”
That is, all that Jesus said and did was for the
purpose of honoring the Father. In like manner, the faith we confess in and the love we
(2 Cor 12:8-9a)
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have for Jesus honor the Father and, thereby, invite Him to love us. Of course, His love
for us is a completely self-sacrificial love that
moved Him to send Jesus into this sin-filled
world to atone for our sins. He accomplished
that with His holy life, innocent suffering and
death, and triumphant bodily resurrection
from the dead. He did so to defeat Satan,
sin, and death itself thereby gaining for us
forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life.
The result of His atonement activity was
that ...
Transition: OUR VICTORIOUS SAVIOR GIVES
US PEACE IN HIMSELF knowing that Through
Jesus We Have Peace with the Father because
The Father Is Always with Jesus.
II. THE FATHER IS ALWAYS WITH JESUS. [2932: “His disciples said, ‘Ah, now you are speaking
plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we
know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you
came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now
believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has
come, when you will be scattered, each to his own
home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone,
for the Father is with me.’”] The “KISS” acronym
tells us to “Keep It Simple and Succinct.” Like
many present-day preachers, Jesus often went
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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beyond keeping things simple and succinct because He had to give extra explanation for His
hearers to understand what He was telling them,
even as we often have to do today. After doing
so on this particular occasion, His disciples excitedly exclaimed that they now grasped His
message, believed that He truly was the Son of
God, and would remain faithful to Him! Nevertheless, …
A. His Disciples Would Be Scattered. That
activity of being scattered referred specifically
to the time of Immanuel’s capture, trial, and
crucifixion. Fear, fright, and despair filled
them to such a degree that they abandoned
Him who had never abandoned them. Fearing for their own safety, they “scattered to the
four winds,” so to speak.
Jesus said about this scattering activity,
(Matt 12:30; Luke 11:23)
“Whoever is not with me is
against me, and whoever does not gather with me
scatters.”
He also warned that,
(John 10:12)
“He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf
coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them.”
Not only would they be scattered, but ...
B. His Disciples Would Abandon Him. Jesus
knew that the scattering activity would lead to
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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desertion. So, He warned His disciples even
as Zechariah had prophesied hundreds of
years earlier,
(Matt 26:31)
“You will all fall away because of me
this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
Sadly, many people—even we who profess
to possess the Christian faith—scatter and
abandon Jesus today. How? The most prevailing way some do so is by giving priority to
activities of this world over gathering together
with fellow believers in the public setting of
the divine service where God nurtures us with
His Holy Word and the Blessed Sacrament of
Holy Communion. Others do so by neglecting to pray and read the Bible daily; by refusing to tell the Good News about Jesus; and
by disobeying God’s clear commands about
obediently living our lives for His glory and
honor and our personal good health and welfare.
Yes, His own disciples scattered and
abandoned Jesus and we do so today as
well. But His Father never abandoned Jesus
except the one time when our Savior had to
bear the full load of our guilt on Calvary’s
cross for us alone. That guilt that He bore in-
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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cluded our sins of scattering and abandoning
Him Who promised,
(Matt 28:20)
“... I am with you always, to the end of
the age.”
His real presence with us through Word and
Sacrament gives us real strength to remain
faithful to Him in the face of the many temptations, trials, and challenges Satan, the world,
and our sinful flesh throw at us.
That is, His presence with us is proof positive that ...
Transition: OUR VICTORIOUS SAVIOR GIVES
US PEACE IN HIMSELF knowing that Through
Jesus We Have Peace with the Father because
The Father Is Always with Jesus.
CONCLUSION: We heard in today’s 1st Bible Reading that
(Acts 16:9 & 15)
“... a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a
man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and
saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And after she [Lydia] was baptized, and her household as well,
she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she
prevailed upon us.”
Acts of merciful help by personal presence promote peace and tranquility. Paul personally went to
help the Macedonians by telling them the Good
News about Jesus. Lydia gratefully responded by
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urging Paul and his companions to receive her hospitality. Togetherness is the emphasis. And that’s
what peace is … togetherness with God through
faith in Jesus Christ and thereby with fellow Christians. In the divine service setting, God gives us His
peace-giving presence through His Holy Word and
His Holy Supper.
In addition, we heard in today’s Epistle Reading,
(Rev 21:9-11)
“Then came one of the seven angels who had
the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke
to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife
of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a
great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the
glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a
jasper, clear as crystal.”
The ultimate and eternal peace-presence with
God will be when He brings His faithful elect to live
with Him in His glorious mansions of heaven. There
His saints will be forever united with Him in “the holy
city Jerusalem”, where the relationship will be restored to what He originally intended and even created. As we continue our journey there, let us follow the example of our victorious Savior, who gives
us peace in Himself by being peacemakers who
promote and pass on His peace to one another,
others, and the whole wide world.
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His
humble Son, our holy Savior. Amen.
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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In the name of the Triune God—Father,  Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen.
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
“OUR VICTORIOUS SAVIOR GIVES US
PEACE IN HIMSELF”
INTRODUCTION: (Matt 5:9) Faithful God-fearing
__________ play an important role of peacemakers
in Christian families. (Matt 10:34; Mark 9:50; Luke
7:50; John 14:27) “_______” was a major topic with
Jesus and the Apostle Paul. (Rom 1:7) That peace
about which Jesus spoke and St. Paul wrote is
God’s gracious gift of being __________ with our
heavenly Father and one another through the Godman Jesus Christ. (Eph 2:14)
I. [24-28] THROUGH JESUS WE HAVE PEACE
WITH THE FATHER. We struggle with the twin
challenges of peace and _______.
A. Pray to the Father through Jesus. Could it
be that when it seems that God doesn’t hear
or answer our prayers it’s because we neglected to pray in _______ name and according to _______ will? _______ gave us the
perfect example of praying according to
God’s will. (Matt 26:39) “God hears the prayers
of all Christians and answers them in His own
_____ and at His own _____.” (Isa 65:24; 2 Cor
12:8-9a; Ps 50:15; Matt 7:7-8) Our prayer activity both _______ the Almighty Triune God
JOHN 16:33 (23-33)
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6th Sunday of Easter
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and ____________ our trust that He cares for
us.
B. Our Faith in and Love for Jesus Invites the
Father to Love Us. (John 14:13) All that
_______ said and did was for the purpose of
honoring the _______. The Father’s _____
for us is a completely self-sacrificial _____
that moved Him to send Jesus into this sinfilled world to _______ for our sins.
II. [29-32] THE FATHER IS ALWAYS WITH
JESUS. The “KISS” acronym tells us to
“K_____ I__ S_______ and S__________.” Jesus often went _______ keeping things simple
and succinct because He had to give extra
____________ for His hearers to understand
what He was telling them.
A. His Disciples Would Be Scattered. That
activity of being ____________ referred specifically to the time of Immanuel’s capture, trial, and crucifixion. Fearing for their own
_______, they “scattered to the four winds.”
(Matt 12:30; Luke 11:23; John 10:12)
B. His Disciples Would Abandon Him. Jesus
warned His disciples even as ____________
had prophesied hundreds of years earlier.
(Matt 26:31) His own ____________ scattered and abandoned Jesus and ___ do so
today as well. (Matt 28:20) His _____ presence with us through Word and Sacrament
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6th Sunday of Easter
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gives us _____ strength to remain faithful to
Him in the face of the many temptations, trials, and challenges Satan, the world, and our
sinful flesh throw at us.
CONCLUSION: (Acts 16:9 & 15) Acts of merciful
_____ by personal presence promote peace and
tranquility. Peace is togetherness with _____
through faith in Jesus Christ and thereby with fellow
____________. God gives us His peace-giving
presence through His Holy _____ and His Holy
_______. (Rev 21:9-11) The ultimate and eternal
peace-presence with God will be when He brings
His faithful elect to live with Him in His glorious
mansions of _______. As we continue our journey
there, let us follow the example of our victorious
_______, who gives us peace in Himself by being
peacemakers who promote and pass on _____
peace to one another, others, and the whole wide
world. Amen.