YOUR WILL BE DONE!
Matthew 26:36-46
INTRODUCTION: This morning would you stand and join me in reciting the model prayer more commonly known as “the Lord’s Prayer”. “Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done...” Wait! Stop! Did you hear what you just asked God? “Your will be done!” Do you understand what that means? Do you know the ramifications of these words? Do you really want God’s will to be done? To see more clearly what is involved let us look at Christ in Gethsemane.
I. Your will be done – regardless of the pain and suffering.
A. Luke 22:42 - 44 “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
B. The pain, the grief, the agony – Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
C. Sometimes the will of God may involve going through very difficult waters.
D. If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably does not lead anywhere.
E. 1 Peter 3:15 - 17 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
F. To "suffer as a Christian" is not to be marked peculiar because of your views, or because you will not bend to conventionality; these things are not Christian but ordinary human traits from which all men suffer irrespective of creed or religion or no religion. To "suffer as a Christian" is to suffer because there is an essential difference between you and the world which rouses the contempt of the world and the disgust and hatred of the spirit that is in the world. To "suffer as a Christian" is to have no answer when the world’s satire is turned on you, as it was turned on Jesus Christ when he hung upon the cross, when they turned his words into jest and jeer; they will do the same to you. He gave no answer; neither can you. – Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
G. Hebrews 11:24 - 26 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
II. Your will be done regardless of the direction.
A. John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
B. He could have remained in glory but chose to come to a sin laden planet.
C. Doing the will of God may involve going outside of your comfort zone and cause you to go where you don’t want to go.
D. Jonah 1:2 – 3 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
E. Genesis 12:1-2 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
F. In order for Abram to receive the promised blessing, he had to be willing to break out of his “Comfort Zone”, and leave the things, people, and place with which he was most familiar.
III. Your will be done regardless of the rejection.
A. Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
B. Doing the will of God may be unpopular and humble you.
C. Ezekiel 3:4 – 9 Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
D. During WWI, Donald Grey Barnhouse, led the son of a prominent American family to the Lord. He was in the service, but he showed the reality of his conversion by immediately professing Christ before the soldiers of his military company. The war ended. The day came when he was to return to his pre-war life in the wealthy suburb of a large American city. He talked to Barnhouse about life with his family and expressed fear that he might soon slip back into his old habits. He was afraid that love for parents, brothers, sisters, and friends might turn him from following after Jesus Christ. Barnhouse told him that if he was careful to make public confession of his faith in Christ, he would not have to worry. He would not have to give improper friends up. They would give him up. As a result of this conversation the young man agreed to tell the first ten people of his old set whom he encountered that he had become a Christian. The soldier went home. Almost immediately—in fact, while he was still on the platform of the suburban station at the end of his return trip—he met a girl whom he had known socially. She was delighted to see him and asked how he was doing. He told her, “The greatest thing that could possibly happen to me has happened.” “You’re engaged to be married,” she exclaimed. “No,” he told her. “It’s even better than that. I’ve taken the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.” The girls’ expression froze. She mumbled a few polite words and went on her way. A short time later the new Christian met a young man whom he had known before going into the service. “It’s good to see you back,” he declared. “We’ll have some great parties now that you’ve returned.” “I’ve just become a Christian,” the soldier said. He was thinking, that’s two! Again it was a case of a frozen smile and a quick change of conversation. After this the same circumstances were repeated with a young couple and with two more old friends. By this time word had got around, and soon some of his friends stopped seeing him. He had become peculiar, religious, and—who knows!—they may even have called him crazy! What had he done? Nothing but confess Christ. The same confession that had aligned him with Christ had separated him from those who did not want Jesus Christ as Savior and who, in fact, did not even want to hear about Him. – Christ’s Call To Discipleship, J. M. Boice, Moody, 1986,
E. Matthew 10:34 - 39 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
IV. Your will be done regardless of the cost.
A. A husband on a business trip decided to buy a gift to take home for his wife. He asked the store clerk, "How much does this perfume cost?" "This bottle costs $30," she answered. "Thirty dollars! For that little bottle?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "Can you show me something cheap?" "Sure," she replied. She handed him a mirror. -Kent Crockett’s Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
B. Are we cheap or selfish when it comes to God’s will in our lives?
C. Consider the price that Christ paid for your redemption.
D. John 20:24 – 27 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
E. Forever He will bear the scars of the cross.
F. Doing the will of God may cost you dearly.
G. Ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing. - John Henry Jowett
H. Matthew 16:24 - 25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
I. Can you say, I will glorify God by confessing Jesus as Lord and by yield my all to His lordship no matter what that costs me?
To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement! - George W. Truett, quoted in “Toolkit,” Cell Church, Winter, 1996, p. 10.
Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible. Please feel free to use this message as God’s Holy Spirit directs your heart.
