AM sermon preached at Central Christian Church March 9, 2008
Jesus at the “Cross”roads sermon series. The Off-road Excursion
Last Sunday morning we began a new sermon series called Jesus At The “Cross”roads and we looked at Jesus’ determination to walk the road that would take Him into Jerusalem. Jesus knew when He made that last trip into the city that it would only be a matter of days before the people would turn against Him. He knew that once the tide had turned He would be mocked, beaten and crucified. Jesus also knew that that had been the plan all along. It was for that very reason He had left the glory of heaven and become a human being. Jesus came to earth so He could die on a cross and pay the price of our sins. Jerusalem was where all of this was to take place. He knew it. He knew the time had come for that last trip and He had decided nothing was going to keep Him from going there.
This morning we’re going to catch up with Jesus in the midst of an off road excursion, a little but oh so important side trip Jesus took after arriving in Jerusalem but before He travels the road leading to the cross. Today we find Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, a place Jesus often retreated to, located on a hill called the Mount of Olives. Before we read what happens there I think it would be good for us to catch up on some details and fill in some blanks as to what’s happened since Jesus made that decision not to let anything or anyone keep Him from going into Jerusalem.
Last week we saw how Jesus set His heart on going to Jerusalem. That’s exactly what He did. And when He got there, His arrival generated a lot of fan fare. And here’s why, the locals saw Jesus as something of a prophet, healer hero type. So when He got close to Jerusalem, crowds formed an impromptu parade. They shouted “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Pretty much everybody, except the religious leaders, was smiling and grinning and having a grand ole time. They waved palm branches in the air and if they’d had a street sized red carpet they probably would have rolled it out ---but apparently they didn’t so they improvised and threw their coats on the road in front of the donkey Jesus was riding into town. It was Sunday and everybody was celebrating.
The next day---On Monday Jesus had something of a violent run in with some of the traders and money changers which ended with Jesus overturning their sales tables, grabbing up a whip and chasing them from the temple. In spite of that run in Jesus took some time to do some teaching in the temple. He stayed the night on the Mount of Olives. As Tuesday unfolded, it looks as if Jesus spent the most of His day teaching in the Temple. When night rolled around He again retreated to the Mount of Olives. We’re not given any information about how Jesus spent Wednesday, many Bible scholars believe Jesus simply took the day off and rested. It’s sheer speculation. But Thursday we know something about it. He spent it with His disciples, celebrating the Passover meal with them. When the meal was over, they sang a hymn together and then went back to the Mount of Olives---just like they’d done the previous three nights. Only this night was different. Because on this night Jesus was going to be arrested. Open your Bible if you have it with you to Matthew 26. I’ll begin reading at verse 36…
36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane {the word Gethsemane by the way means oil press and was probably a fenced in garden area on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives}, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
40Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
42He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
43When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
In his sermon, “The Many Christ Jesus,” preached on April 12, 1885 Charles Spurgeon exclaimed “It will not be enough for you to hear, or read [about Christ]; you must do your own thinking and consider your Lord yourselves…Shut yourself up with Jesus, if you would know Him.” Just before that he had said, “I am never more vexed with myself than when I have done my very best to extol his dear name. What is it but holding a candle to the sun?” Spurgeon concluded “I cannot speak as I would of Him. The blaze of this Sun blinds me!”
I can relate to Spurgeon’s feelings of inadequacy when it comes to preaching about Jesus. Especially when we encounter Him in passages like the one we just read. Here He is, Jesus, God the Son pouring His heart out to God the Father. The prayers are intense. And the moments we’ve been allowed to read about are incredibly intimate. I don’t know how these things effect you but I feel somewhat unworthy to even be given knowledge of them. To try and describe the agony Jesus went through there in the Garden is like Spurgeon said---it’s like trying to hold a candle to the Sun. John MacArthur in his commentary on this passage writes “We cannot comprehend the depth of Jesus’ agony, because, as sinless and holy God incarnate, He was able to perceive the horror of sin in a way we cannot. Therefore to attempt to understand the suffering of Jesus that night on the Mount of Olives is to tread on holy ground. The mystery is too profound for human beings to comprehend and even angels. We can only stand in awe of the God-Man.” I agree. Even in our most imaginative moments, I don’t believe we can begin to scratch the surface of the pain and sorrow Jesus felt that night in Gethsemane. But what we can do is learn from His example and the failures of Peter, James and John what to do and what not to do when tempted to turn aside from God’s will at those times when it’s tough to follow.
{SLIDE}
If we’re honest with ourselves we’d have to admit that sometimes it’s easy for us to follow God’s will and sometimes it’s not so easy. Biblical examples are easy to come up with. Take for instance God’s command to the nation of Israel that they observe a national holiday to remember the Passover. Time off work, family get togethers, feasting. I’d say that was pretty easy to keep. God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Talk about a hard one… God’s command to Moses to march into Pharaoh’s court and demand the release of the Israelites. Tough assignment. God’s command to Adam to be fruitful and multiply. Piece of cake. Remember what Jesus did for you when you take communion. Easy. Love your enemies. What? Are you kidding? Yep, sure enough---that’s what God commands. Like I said sometimes it’s easy to obey, other times we struggle with submitting our will to God’s will.
In this garden scene that leads to Jesus’ arrest it’s easy for us to see that this was a tough time for Jesus to choose God’s will, after all following God’s will for Him at this point was going to mean---being beaten and mocked and crucified---and as bad as those things were they microscopic in comparison to the suffering that would come upon Jesus as He took on our sins and was forsaken by the Father. So we see some of the tough part that was there for Jesus. But his disciples that night? What was so tough for them? All Jesus asked them to do was stay awake. Sounds easy---at first. But then as we begin recalling what they’ve been through we can begin to understand some of their struggle. It’s probably about midnight when Jesus asks them to watch and pray. And remember the guys had just finished off a great big ole meal. There was also the late night hike to the Garden. And let’s not forget all the sad news Jesus had broken to them during the Passover Meal. All that talk about suffering, being beaten and killed---had to be depressing. Late night. Big meal. Hard hike. Depressing news. Any one of these things can make us feel tired. All of them together are a sure formula for wanting to get some sleep. But Jesus asks them to stay awake. It wasn’t an easy thing for them to do---but it wasn’t impossible either. They failed miserably and that no doubt added to the anguish Jesus dealt with that night. But now go back to Jesus---the time, meal, sleep and depression factors were present for Him too----and they were there on top of the inner spiritual struggle Jesus was facing with taking on Himself the punishments for our sins and being rejected by the Father----yet Jesus was undeniably victorious.
So let’s dig a little deeper and look a little closer at what happened that night. What lead to the disciples’ failure? And what helped Jesus to succeed? I believe one of the biggest reasons the disciples failed that night was pride. Proverbs 16:18 reads Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. And 1 Corinthians 10:12 carries this warning about temptation---So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! Just before their failure to stay awake and keep watch---Jesus’ disciples had boasted some about their loyalty to Him. They had swore to Him--they said something to the effect of---Jesus, you don’t have to worry about us. We’re with you, man. No matter what. Right guys? Yeah, yeah! You know it! Sure thing! If need be, we’ll fight for you! If you think it best, we’ll go to prison for you! Why, we’d even die for you! ----Mighty big boasts from guys who couldn’t even stay awake.
[SLIDE]
You see, they were overconfident. There’s no indication anywhere in any of the gospel accounts that any of these guys prayed and asked God for help, strength or wisdom in fighting off sleep that night. I’m guessing they assumed that they could manage on their own. If so, they gave themselves more credit than they deserved. They were proud---and foolish. As a result, they dropped their guard and went to sleep even though Jesus had specifically asked them to stay awake and alert.
[SLIDE]
What we see in their actions is a very typical pattern for disaster among believers. Overconfidence. Lack of prayer. Dropping one’s guard. Falling to temptation. Here’s how that kind of thing might play out in our culture. A Christian who goes to church on a regular basis begins to take pride in his or her personal spiritual growth. They get to thinking about certain things---Ah, no problem or threats here. I’ve mastered this stuff so well it can’t bother me. Proverbs 1:32 red flags that notion. It tells us “the complacency of fools will destroy them…” Ever heard a Christian say “I know these books have got some stuff in them that’s not good, but I just ignore it.” Or maybe this “Yeah there’s some bad language and there’s a sex scene in it. But I can watch movies like that without their having any effect on me.” Perhaps you’ve heard this “Don’t worry about me. I can handle my liquor.” Or this--- “I just gamble for the entertainment side of it. I know when to stop. It won’t become a problem for me.” How about “It’s just a harmless chat room conversation---I know better than to let myself get caught up in it.” People who talk like that are needlessly putting themselves at risk. Proverbs 6:27 Warns---Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? The obvious answer is “no” but there’s always the temptation to try and be the one who beat the odds, isn’t there?
[SLIDE]
There’s such a strong warning here for all of us not to foolishly overestimate our power of resistance and not to write God out of the equation when it comes to handling temptation. We saw what the disciples did and how they failed. Let’s take a look at what Jesus did and how He won. [SLIDE] One of the first things we notice about Jesus’ actions that night is that He readily admitted He was struggling. I get the impression from the way the different gospel accounts read that when Jesus and the 11 arrived at the entrance to the garden---Jesus told 8 of the men to stay by the gate. Stay here He told them while I go over there and pray---I’m guessing He pointed to the place He was headed about a 150 or so feet away.. Then he asked for Peter, James & John to go with Him. As He got closer to the place He’d chosen to pray---the inner struggle within Him intensified and He told the three walking with Him about it. “My soul is so overwhelmed. I‘m feeling so much sorrow right now, it’s killing me.” By the way---I don’t think Jesus was using a figure of speech here. I think He was speaking literally. People die from the emotions of fear and anger---and sometimes grief. The human body can only handle so much overload.
And here we have Jesus--- God the Son. He hated sin and He loved the Father. He’d never been separated from the Father. And He’d never known the weight of sin. And all that was about to change---not because Jesus was going to sin, but because Jesus was going to take the weight, the guilt, the punishment of our sins upon Himself. I believe the prospect of it all---and the resulting emotional and spiritual pain and sorrow He was feeling ---was becoming so great that His very life was in jeopardy. Perhaps His heart was about to give out. Luke, the doctor among the group, writes how Jesus sweat that night became like drops of blood. Luke might have been speaking figuratively---He might have been simply been describing how Jesus’ sweat was dropping from His head like blood drops to the ground from an open wound. But I don’t think so. I think Luke also was speaking literally. Doctors like Luke know that in rare cases under extreme stress people develop a condition known as hematidrosis where blood actually begins to seep out of a person’s pores. In any case whether Jesus’ words and Luke’s were meant to be taken figuratively or literally----- the fact remains Jesus admitted He was struggling with temptation---perhaps like He’d never struggled before.
Now, I know Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness---and we have at least three different temptations Satan threw at Him in the wilderness recorded in the Bible. But when you look at the nature of those temptations you see that they were quite different from the nature of the temptation He was facing in the garden on this night. The three temptations we know Jesus faced in the wilderness were temptations to do something wrong for the personal pleasure it would bring. The temptation Jesus was facing in the garden was the temptation to not do something good because of the personal pain it would bring. We also will face both kinds of temptations in our lives. And the example Jesus set for us in the garden can help us deal with both types.
Humbly Jesus admits it is a struggle. [SLIDE] Then almost immediately He goes to God in prayer asking first of all for God to remove Him from the situation if possible. This shows some of the wisdom of Jesus. Not only does He show wisdom in asking for God’s help but in what He asks for… Because removing oneself from temptation is one of the best ways to avoid giving into it. I love the story about the guy who had recently celebrated his fiftieth wedding anniversary. When interviewed and asked the secret of their successful marriage he replied---well if your marriage is gonna make it you got to know how to fight and deal with conflict. It doesn’t do you any good to vent all your anger on your spouse. When my wife and I get into and I feel myself getting really angry and approaching the point I might say something I’m gonna regret…I excuse myself and I head outdoors to take a long walk and cool off. My wife knows what I do and why I do it and she’s okay with it. I guess you could say the success of our marriage rests on the fact I like the outdoors and long walks…” Seriously removing yourself from tempting situations is a great way to avoid falling prey to it. Jesus asks the Father to change the situation if possible. But He adds---not my will but yours be done.
Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. His disappointment is seen in His words “Couldn’t you keep watch for an hour?” Does that mean that Jesus has already spent an hour in prayer? We can’t be sure. Maybe He was indicating that the whole time in the garden was only going to last an hour before the mob came to take Him away. We just don’t know. We don know Jesus tells them again to keep watch. He says “watch and pray so that you don’t fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.” You know I’d always thought before that Jesus words here “the spirit is willing but the body (or the flesh) is weak” were kind of cutting and critical. Kind of a slam, a rebuke for these guys who’d sworn they were willing to fight to the death but who weren’t even fighting sleep. But while studying for this morning’s sermon the thought came to my mind that maybe Jesus wasn’t slamming the men at all. Maybe He was trying to encourage them. Maybe Jesus was admitting to them because of His own struggle that He understood that sometimes it is hard to do what God wants us to do. I think maybe He was.
[SLIDE 23]
He leaves them and goes off by Himself to pray a second time. This time He prays “My Father if it’s not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Notice that in this prayer and the first how Jesus addressed God. He called Him, My Father. Mark has Him calling God “Abba, Father.” In all of the other prayers we have which Jesus prayed He always simply addressed God as Father. Here it’s My Father---and Abba (that’s Hebrew for daddy). Like I said earlier these were incredibly personal moments between the Father and Son. In this second prayer Jesus doesn’t ask God to remove the cup---that is say He doesn’t ask the Father to take away all the physical, emotional and spiritual suffering if possible---He says if it’s NOT possible I still want your will to be done.”
He goes back to the three disciples again---and finds them asleep again. None of the gospel writers tell us if Jesus woke them purposefully or not when He came back the second time---only Mark in his account implies that Jesus raised the same questions about their inability to stay awake because according to him when Jesus returned that second time “they did not know what to say to him.” Mark 14:40
[SLIDE 24]
Jesus leaves the groggy disciples again to go off and pray. Luke tells us He prayed the same thing. “If it’s not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Now Jesus has already admitted that His body has taken about all it can handle---that the inner grief He was feeling was so strong that He could probably lay down and die from it---but He knew that the plan called for Him to be beaten, whipped, mocked and then crucified. And it looks to me as if Jesus was saying---Father, give me the strength I need to go on. My spirit’s willing---but this body of flesh---I’m not sure if it can handle it. Only Luke in his retelling of what happened in the garden that night tells us that after Jesus had went back and prayed that third time that an angel appeared to Him and strengthened Him. [SLIDE25] Jesus had His answer---the cup wasn’t going to be taken away. Instead He was given the additional strength He needed to endure it.
[SLIDE 26]
After receiving this special dose of strength in answer to His prayers---Jesus gets up, goes back to the disciples, finds them asleep again, wakes them up and says “Get up guys! It’s time to go and meet my betrayer and the angry mob that’s coming this way.” Then, according to John 18, Jesus heads right out through the gate and meets the oncoming crowd. He asks them “Who you looking for?” They say “Jesus of Nazereth.” He replies “I am he.” And when He does they all drew back and fell to the ground. And let me tell you why I think they did that. I think at that moment some of the glory and power which Jesus had stripped Himself of when He left heaven to come to earth and to become a human being---I think for a few brief moments some of that glory, majesty and power was again seen in Him. And it was too much for the crowd to handle. Even though they were armed and greatly out numbered Jesus and the fem men with Him---at that moment when Jesus said “I am he” they became terrified. Remember the great Yahweh name of God means “I am that I am.” Remember that on many occasions during His public ministry Jesus spoke of Himself in “I am” terms…”I am the good shepherd” “I am the light of the world” “I am the resurrection and the life.” Perhaps the boldest “I am” statement Jesus made during His public ministry was “Before Abraham was I am.” The religious leaders who heard Jesus say that got really angry at Jesus because they knew what He meant when He said it---He was claiming to be God.” And now here in the garden you’ve got this angry mob sent by these same religious leaders falling to the ground because Jesus spoke once again in terms of His being “I am.” And in all of this Jesus was making a point---He wasn’t being taken by force. He was choosing to completely submit to the Father’s will. And then in the most lopsided surrender in human history, Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested and taken away. Once again He had won a battle with temptation.
In contrast to the disciples whose activities illustrate what we should not do when confronted with the temptation to not do something God wants us to do---Jesus’ behavior set an example of what we should do. [SLIDE] Humbly we should admit we’re struggling---if not to others, at least to ourselves and to God. [SLIDE 28] We should pray. If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we? Specifically we should ask God to help us deal with whatever temptation we’re facing the way He wants us to. [SLIDE 29] And then when His way becomes evident we should move forward with faith. Jesus did and it worked for Him. It’ll work for us too. You see the difference between falling into temptation and standing up to it is taking God’s way out. It’s not just mouthing the words “Not my will but your will be done.” It’s living by those words. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. We have this promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 [SLIDE]
“…God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Our decision hymn this morning is “Have Thine Own Way.” I encourage you to make it your prayer to God. And if you find as you’re singing that God speaks to your heart about a problem temptation area in your life. Don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. He knows better. Admit the struggle to Him. Ask for His help. And make Jesus’ prayer your prayer.
And as always if anyone would like to receive Christ in baptism or would like to make some other public decision we’d welcome it…
[SONG SLIDES]
NOTE TO THOSE WHO READ AND OR CHOOSE TO MAKE USE OF ANY OR ALL OF THIS SERMON: I am sharing this sermon with the hopes it will be an encouragement to others. I apologize for any blatant typing errors! If you find any I’d appreciate hearing from you so I can correct them. I try to give credit where credit is due, noting writers and or sources to the best of my ability. I have for years been drawing from a wealth of sources including this website. I recognize that my mind and writing processes are fallible. I may occasionally fail to properly identify a source. Please do not take offense if you see anything of this nature. I never intend to plagiarize. Having said that I want you to feel free to draw from my message. When appropriate I hope you will give credit as I do. But most of all I hope Christ will be lifted up and God will receive the glory in all things.
