Imagine receiving an overnight letter from an attorney. This letter explains that a long lost relative had died leaving you an enormous fortune. All you need to do is claim it.

Most people probably wouldn’t ignore a letter like that.

But imagine those same people who received that incredible, life-changing inheritance continuing to live the same lives that they had lived previously without allowing it to make things better. Crazy as it sounds, that describes the lives of many Christians.

The Upper Room Discourse

The Gospel of John chapters 13-17 records what is known as the “Upper Room Discourse”. This is when the Lord Jesus had completed His earthly ministry and took the Disciples to the upper room where He fed them the Last Supper, washed their feet, and began what would be His final instructions before going to the cross.  

John’s gospel has twenty-one chapters covering the three years of Jesus’ ministry. Five of those chapters focus on this one meeting that lasted only a few hours. That tells us something of the gravity of this teaching. 

The Upper Room Discourse was the last one-on-one time the Lord would have with the twelve to prepare them to start the New Testament church. 

Jesus’ Last Will & Testament

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

John 14:27

This is a wonderful truth, but set in the context of the Upper Room it takes on a different tone. This is our Lord’s last will and testament. He knows that He is going to His death. He has no money or possessions and the only things He owned were His clothes.  

But Jesus is leaving something of priceless and intangible value to His disciples—perfect peace.

He left the Upper Room to go to Gethsemane where He was arrested. But in this verse, He gave His peace to those closest to Him. He emphasized that it was His peace He was giving them, not as the world gives.

Inheriting Peace

The world’s peace is circumstantial. When things are going well, when the bills are paid, the kids are well, our retirement plan is good, then we may have peace—at least until something unforeseen happens.

Jesus’ peace is different because it’s based on His relationship with the Father, not on circumstances. Likewise, our peace is not based on our circumstances, but rather on our relationship with Jesus.  

Isaiah spoke of this when he said in verses 26:3-4:

“Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.  Trust in the Lord Jehovah for in Him is everlasting strength.”

Isaiah 26:3-4

The promise in this passage is that if we control our thinking, then He will control our emotions, keeping us in His perfect peace. Conceptually, this is quite simple, but not always easy in practice.

Focusing on Peace

It requires constant effort and discipline to keep our focus on Jesus, not on our circumstances.  When Peter focused on the Lord, he walked on the waves. But when Peter saw the wind and waves, he sank like a rock. 

Being peaceful requires basing reality on Scripture, not on what may be happening around us. We must remember that:

• Nothing can separate me from the love of God. (Romans 8:35-39)
• Any sufferings in this life are accomplishing something greater for eternity. (2 Cor 17)
• For every trial there is a corresponding grace. (1 Peter 1:6; 4;10)
• Trials are a necessary part of life. (James 1:1-4; 1 Peter 4:12-13)
• God uses trials to purify us. (Psalm 66:10; Isaiah 48:10)
• He’s got this. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Not only has Jesus given us His perfect peace, He also left instructions not to be troubled or afraid.  His intent is that we use these assets in real time to not allow worry to enter our minds. Worry and fear are a part of the fallen world, but His perfect peace is the remedy for both. 

Learning to walk by faith is one of the Lord’s primary goals for us. By learning to keep our focus on Him, we can keep our temporal circumstances in our peripheral vision. 

During a baseball game, the batter keeps his focus on the pitcher. The batter is oblivious to the chatter and commotion around him. We may not hit a home run every time at bat, but with time and practice our batting average will improve greatly.